Class rework: Thief

The goal with the class rework is to fix the B/X (OSE) thief. There are various issues with it as written, but Hear Noise is the worst offender.

As the table shows, Hear Noise is not a good tool. Not all rooms are populated, and so we're looking at maybe 75-80% chance of "hear nothing", all things considered. Even when you succeed, you might get "hear nothing."

We can leave it on the thief, and rework the function instead. Here's a sketch:

Hear Noise
When there's an encounter, the GM rolls Hear Noise for everyone.  Those who succeed are not surprised. Those who fail roll for surprise.

This makes the thief marginally better at not being surprised, but still not immune to it.

The class itself needs reworking though, so here's a sketch. Inspired, obviously, by the OSR discord.

Thief

Has access to Thieves' Equipment List. Rolls 5d6 * 10 for starting money if buying from Thieves' Equipment List only.

Open Locks: Requires Thieves' Tools. A lock can be automatically picked if you spend enough time for an Encounter check (whatever that is in your system). If you want to pick a lock immediately, you need to roll for it. A failure means you cannot pick the lock again.

Remove Traps: Requires Demolition Kits, expensive single-use items that disable traps (small explosives, acid to destroy gears etc). To use it, the thief needs to know where the mechanism is.

Pickpocket:  Leave as-is.

Move Silently, Hide in Shadows: Requires Thief Clothing.

Climb sheer surfaces: Thief skill only. Requires Thief Clothing.

Equipment list (no costs have been balanced or considered for more than a few seconds, sue me)

Thieves' tools -- 25gp
Thief clothing -- 60gp
Black clothing, muffles sound. Small hooks in the palm of fingerless gloves to aid with climbing. AC as Leather.
Crowbar -- 10gp
Backpack -- 5gp
Grappling hook -- 25gp
Mirror -- 5gp
Rations (iron, 7 days) -- 15gp
Rations (standard, 7 days) -- 5gp
Rope (50') -- 1gp
Lantern -- 10gp
Oil (1 flask) -- 2gp
Waterskin -- 1gp
Sack (small) -- 1gp
Sack (large) -- 2gp

Smoke bomb -- 25gp
Fills a 10' square area with smoke. Within the smoke, it's impossible to tell friend from foe. Certain monsters are immune to the effect (infravision, undead). Lasts for 1d6 combat rounds; lingering smoke afterward means all combatants fight with disadvantage.
Flashbang -- 25gp
Hits automatically if the thief is in the first row (marching order). Roll to hit from 2nd row. It cannot be used further back. Save vs Paralyze or stunned for a combat round. The thief automatically pass their save, allies roll with Advantage. Noisy, check for Wandering Monsters/Encounters.
Disguise kit -- 50gp
Demolition kit -- 50gp
Document forgery tools -- 10gp
Wax to copy keys -- 10gp

Poisons
Each poison coats 20 arrows (if you bookkeep these) or 1 blade, and the poison is potent during the entire delve (that is, returning to town means the poison loses its potency).
Paralyze -- 50gp
Save vs Paralyze or paralyzed for the next activation.
Anti-magic -- 25gp
Save vs Spells or lose casting ability for 1d4 combat rounds.
Murder -- 75gp
Save vs Death, can only be delivered by a blade. Only potent for 1 victim. Perhaps gate this by HD, where 4HD or greater only take additional damage? I dislike Finger of Death-ing a dragon (ya'll know what I'm talking about).

Thoughts

The main problem is if we're creating a checklist. You know what  I'm talking about. Where players always look to their character sheet for the answer to whatever situation. We don't want that. We want to give the thief tools that they can use occasionally. Not always. There should never become a "standard approach" to something.

How do we curtail this? Risk/reward is certainly something we can use. The flashbang, in particular, has both good and bad things that can happen. Document forgery tools might land you in trouble with the authorities. Climb sheer surfaces still require a climbing check, and with quadratic falling damage (10' = 1d6, 20' = 3d6, and so on) there's enough risk there.

Within my own mutilated corpse of OSE, there's another limit: inventory. Each item takes a slot. Cost is also a thing that can limit things, although perhaps not as much as soon as the PCs have had their first successful run. A minor treasure is 400gp, that's enough to buy plenty of smoke bombs and whatnot.

Have we moved too far away from the B/X thief now? Are we in GLOG territory? I don't know.

I might give this a try.