Thief

Thief is one of twelve guilds in. Thieves have little fighting and magic ability, but excel at disarming traps, opening chests, and preventing thieving monsters from stealing. It is notable for having the highest thieving and backstabbing abilities of any guild.

Hits
When gaining a thief level, if the new thief level is a character's single highest guild level and is 21 or below, the character gains 3 hits, plus a random bonus for high constitution. If the new thief level is a character's single highest guild level and is 22 or above, the character gains 2 hits, with no constitution bonus. If the new thief level is tied with or lower than any of the character's other guild levels, the character gains no hits.

Spellbook
The thief spellbook contains 2 spells.

Strategy
The thief guild is one of the three guilds, along with seeker and healer, to have a member in nearly all experienced parties. Parties with a thief will acquire gold and treasure more quickly, and retain it more reliably, resulting in faster progress for the entire party, and more funds to pay for city services.

Initially changing from a somewhat experienced nomad to a level 1 thief may seem like a poor upgrade at first. A low level thief doesn't do anything a higher level nomad can already do, aside from backstabbing. Nevertheless, the thief's thieving ability will rapidly overtake the nomad's. In addition, thieves learn Charm of Opening earlier and can cast it at lower cost than any other guild. For this reason, a thief will open more magically locked chests over a longer dungeon run before needing to return to town or replenish spells.

Some solo characters will be unable to become thieves due to race or alignment restrictions. For those characters, it will be important to get thieving and Charm of Opening ability from another guild, likely scavenger. In the case of giants, who can become neither thieves nor scavengers, nomad offers the only access to Charm of Opening and best thieving ability. Care must be taken to keep the giant's warrior or seeker level above the giant's nomad level after 30, otherwise the nomad guild's hits penalty will take a toll.