The Expanded Thief

A small collection of alternate rulings for adjudicating some thief-like

abilities for B/X, BFRPG, and similar games

Written by: Benjamin Levesque

Playtested by: Bryan Larkin, Eon Fontes-May, Terra Smith,

Kayla Banks, Samson Saville, and Tim Carson

Proofread by: Kayla Banks

Extra thanks to: Bryan Larkin

All written portions of this document are distributed using the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The full license text can be viewed at:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/25670/Empty-Castle-Press

Copyright © 2023 Benjamin Levesque

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 Table of Contents
Preface - Introduction - Core Mechanic........................................3
Player Dice Roll - Thieves................................................................4
Open Locks.........................................................................................6
Pick Pockets........................................................................................8
Remove Traps..................................................................................10
Additional Rules - Forcing a Lock................................................13
Snatch Theft.....................................................................................14
Visual Example................................................................................16
Collected Tables.............................................................................18
Postface............................................................................................20

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 Preface
A number of months ago I had read someone’s house rules online
about picking locks in B/X. The rules involved having the referee
and player roll dice and arrange them along a grid but, even after
reading them a few times, they were incomprehensible. What I took
away from it was the concept for an alternate thief skill resolution
system. The idea of having a dice based mini-game of sorts to ac-
complish a task that’s normally just a percentile dice roll makes the
task a little more fun to complete, and also allows the player more
control over the outcome. I hope with these rules you’ll be able to
try out another, more hands-on approach, to thievery.

Introduction
Included within this document is an alternate way of adjudicating a
handful of thief abilities to allow both thief and non-thief characters
a different, and more hands-on way, to pick locks, pick pockets,
and disarm devices. These rulings are designed in a way to be eas-
ily inserted into B/X, Basic Fantasy RPG, or similar older editions of
fantasy roleplaying games.

Core Mechanic
This new system of opening locks, picking pockets, and removing
traps are all based on the same core mechanic where the referee
will roll a number of six-sided dice, depending on the difficulty of
the presented task, and the player will also roll a number of six-
sided dice. The dice are then compared. If the dice the player
rolled match the dice the referee rolled, the task was completed
successfully.

If all the dice didn’t match, in most cases, the player can roll the
dice again, keeping the dice that matched from their previous roll.
A very important thing to note is that each attempt takes time. Any
changes to this concept will be noted in its section.

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 Player Dice Roll
In each of the three situations presented in this document, the player
will roll a number of six-sided dice (d6’s) when attempting to com-
plete any of those actions.

The number of dice the player rolls is dictated by the table below:

Condition Number of Dice

All classes 4d6
Each positive Dexterity modifier* +1 die
Each negative Dexterity modifier* -1 die
*A dexterity modifier could be equal to the missile fire or armor class adjustment bonus/penalty.

Thieves
If the player making the attempt is a thief, they are given the op-
portunity to modify the pips of one or more of their rolled dice up
or down by the number of bumps they have available. If a player
has multiple bumps they can use them all on one die or split them
between multiple dice. These bumps can only be used once per ac-
tion, meaning that if a level 5 thief was picking a lock they would
have a pool of 3 bumps to use on that lock. A bump can only move
a die up to 6 or down to 1. It does not cycle around.

Condition Bump
Odd-numbered thief levels 1 - 9 +1
Thief levels 13, 17 +1
Thief level 20 +1

The thief also receives the ability to use their existing thieves’ abili-
ties as a form of saving throw to save them from a failed result.
This will be most useful when checking for picking pockets and re-
moving traps. This pseudo saving throw is made in the way the
standard thief ability is normally checked for.

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5
 Open Locks
A hands-on approach

There are times when the players attempt to open a door or chest
and find it to be locked. If the party has a thief, they will most like-
ly use their “Open Locks” ability and call it a day. If no thief is
around (or the other players are impatient) someone will inevitably
break the lock open. But every once in a while a non-thief will ask
if they can pick the lock. How does the referee make that call?

This set of house rules offers a solution to that. They can be applied
not only to non-thief players picking a lock, but also for thief char-
acters to have a different way of lock picking.

Lock Picking
First, the referee decides on the difficulty of a lock. This will deter-
mine the number of dice the referee rolls to generate the lock. Be-
low are some examples of lock difficulties and the number of dice
rolled:

Lock Difficulty Dice Rolled

Very Easy: Iron gate or crude lockbox 1d6
Easy: Door/chest found in a peasant’s house 2d6
Average: Door/chest found in a dungeon 3d6
Hard: Door/chest of a merchant or noble 4d6
Very Hard: Jail door or NPC leader’s chest 5d6
Masterwork: Bank vault or dwarven lock 6d6

After the referee has decided on the lock difficulty, they roll the
dice and show them to the player picking the lock. The player then
rolls a number of 6-sided dice dictated in the section of Player Dice
Roll.

If the dice the player rolled matches the dice the referee rolled,
they have successfully picked the lock.

If a player states they are using a lockpick, they are allowed to

reroll one die. If the rerolled die doesn’t meet a required lock re-
sult, the lockpick breaks. If a lockpick breaks, a player is allowed

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to use another one, if available. A successful Open Locks ability
made by a thief will negate the breaking of a lockpick.

If none of the dice match, the player may wish to continue picking
the lock by keeping their matching dice aside and rolling to pick
the lock again with their usual complement of dice. This subsequent
roll will add an additional turn to the lock picking attempt.

Example 1: A fighter wants to pick a lock. The referee decides the

lock is of easy quality and rolls 2d6 and receives the results of 6 and
2, and shows them to the fighter.

The fighter rolls 4d6 and receives the results of 6, 4, 3, and 2. Since
they have the required numbers of 6 and 2, they have successfully
picked the lock in one turn.

Example 2: A first level thief with a +1 dexterity score modifier and

a lockpick wants to pick a lock. The referee decides the lock is harder
than average and rolls 4d6 and receives the results of 5, 4, 4, and 3,
and shows them to the thief.

The thief rolls 5d6 (4 + 1 for their dexterity modifier) and receives
the results of 3, 3, 2, 1, and 1. The 3s match and they use their bump
to bring one of their 3s to a 4.

Because they are using a lockpick, they decide to reroll one of their
dice. They reroll a 1 and receive the result of 2. This doesn’t help
them, so they have broken their lockpick. Since they’re a thief they
can roll their open locks skill to see if their lockpick doesn’t break.
They fail their open locks skill, so their lockpick breaks as normal.

Since they cannot use their other dice, they roll another 5d6 to pick
the lock again, keeping the 3 and 4 from earlier. This second roll
takes another turn.

On the second roll they receive 6, 6, 5, 4, and 2. Since they already

had the 3 and 4 from earlier, they’re able to use the 5 and 4 to finish
the lock. This lock took two turns to pick.

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 Pick Pockets
A hand-in-pockets approach

Much like lockpicking, picking pockets is something that thieves have

a defined ability for, yet non-thieves may want to try to pick pock-
ets as well. Unlike lockpicking, at least in my experience, not many
players necessarily pick pockets, so this could also be a catch-all
including sleight of hand or palming goods in plain view. These
rules will give a more interactive, and hopefully more fun, way of
adjudicating larceny.

Picking Pockets
These rules function in an almost identical way as the rules for
opening locks with the inclusion of an additional hidden die rolled
by the referee. This additional die symbolizes the awareness of the
person having something stolen from them, as well as the number of
attempts/turns the would-be thief has before they’re caught.

Below is a table outlining some examples of pick pocketing targets,

their state of awareness, and the dice to roll. The number of dice
the player will roll is detailed in the Player Dice Roll section.

Target Type Awareness Dice Rolled

Very Easy: Asleep or drunk 1d8 2d6
Easy: Distracted or busy 1d6 3d6
Average: Undistracted 1d4 4d6
Hard: Watchful or cautious 1d3 5d6
Very Hard: Under guard 1d2 6d6

The awareness die is rolled separately by the referee and is not

shown to the player attempting to pick a pocket. This die informs
the referee the number of turns until the target, or someone nearby,
notices something is happening.

If a thief is picking a pocket and they would normally be discov-

ered because of the awareness die being reduced to zero, they
can attempt a Pick Pockets ability roll to grant them one additional
turn to make one more attempt at picking a pocket.

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Example 1: A fighter wants to steal a key off a guard’s belt. The ref-
eree decides it will be a very easy target since the guard is asleep.
They roll 2d6 and receive the results of 5 and 1. Behind their referee
screen they roll 1d8 for the awareness die and receive a 4. This
means that if the fighter doesn’t successfully pick the pocket in 4
turns, the guard will awaken and notice their attempt.

The fighter rolls 4d6 and receives the results of 5, 2, 1, and 1. Since
they have the required numbers of 5 and 1, they have successfully
stolen the key from the guard in one turn.

Example 2: A first level thief with a +1 dexterity score modifier wants

to palm a necklace from a stall in the marketplace. The referee de-
cides the merchant isn’t overly watchful, so they roll 4d6 for an aver-
age difficulty and receive the results of 4, 2, 1, and 1. The referee
then rolls the hidden awareness die, 1d4, and receives a 2.

The thief rolls 5d6 and receives 6, 3, 2, 2, and 1. Using their bump
for being a level one thief, they move one of their rolled 2s to a 1,
now having 6, 3, 2, 1, and 1. With the 2, 1, and 1 matching, they
roll 5d6 again, keeping the 2, 1, and 1 from before. This second roll
takes another turn.

On their second roll they receive 6, 4, 4, 3, and 1. Since they were

only missing a 4, this second roll allows them to snatch the necklace.
This theft took two turns - any longer and the merchant would’ve no-
ticed something.

Example 3: An overconfident magic user wants to slip a drop of poi-

son into a baroness’ wine goblet. Since they’re having dinner with the
baroness, and are thus surrounded by servants and guards, the refer-
ee decides it will be very hard and rolls 6d6, receiving 5, 5, 5, 4, 3,
and 1. Rolling 1d2 for awareness, they roll a 1.

The magic user rolls 4d6, receiving 6, 6, 3, and 1. This takes one
turn. While not looking good, the magic user decides to press on.

Since the awareness die has been reduced to zero, and the player isn’t
a thief, when the magic user rolls again the referee steps in and has
one of the guards notice what the magic user is attempting to do. Bad
news for our magic user…

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 Remove Traps
A tinkerer’s approach

Like the rules composed about opening locks and picking pockets,
another way these mechanics can be used is in the act of disarming
traps or other mechanical devices. I initially worried that writing a
set of rules for disarming traps would nullify how referees and
players in classic D&D normally deal with disarming traps and de-
vices; by asking questions and experimenting rather than a die roll.
But both of these methods can exist simultaneously. A player can
simply disarm the trap by destroying it or rendering it inoperable
by doing something like sticking an iron spike into a hinge. But if the
trap is complex, or the player wants to preserve the trap to either
reset it or replicate it, the following method can be used by the
referee.

Disarming Devices
As mentioned previously, this method of disarming devices works in
the same general way as lock picking and picking pockets. The dif-
ference here is that if failure occurs, it may result in the trap or de-
vice being set off, leading to possible harm to the player, and their
nearby allies.

Using a difficulty table similar to that of the lock picking rules, the
referee would first determine the general construction of the trap
or device, from something simple to something technologically ad-
vanced, and then proceed with the referee and player rolling a
number d6’s as previously described.

The difference is that if none of the player’s rolled d6’s match the
trap’s d6’s, the device is immediately triggered.

This triggering applies on the first and all subsequent rolls.

A thief can make a successful Remove Traps ability to reroll their

non-matching dice if they don’t have, or don’t want to use, their
bumps.

If a disarming attempt was previously made on a device, but it was

not successful, nor did it trigger the device, any subsequent at-
tempts are a binary pass/fail; all the rolled dice need to match the
trap’s roll, else the device is triggered.

Example 1: A third level thief comes across a chest with a trapped

hinge. The thief wishes to disarm the trap with the intention of learning
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how it works. The referee decides the trap is quite average, so they
roll 3d6, receiving 5, 3, and 1.

The thief rolls and receives 6, 6, 5, and 1. The 5 and 1 match, but
even with their bumps, they would not be able to match a 3.

They have the choice of either leaving the trap alone and finding a
different way to disarm it, or they could spend another turn in an at-
tempt to finish the job. They choose to continue, knowing the risk that
if they fail the trap could be triggered, and receive 6, 5, 1, and 1.

Using their two bumps for being a third level thief, they bump a 1 to
a 3 and successfully disarm the trap.

Example 2: A cleric comes across a tripwire in a hallway that, when

triggered, will seemingly shoot something out of the wall and into
whoever trips the wire. The cleric wants to try and disarm the trap in a
way that will allow them to move it elsewhere. The trap is older, so the
referee rolls 2d6, receiving 6 and 1.

The cleric rolls 4d6 and receives 5, 4, 3, and 1. The 1 matches and,
knowing the risk, the cleric wants to continue.

Another turn passes and the cleric rolls 4, 2, 1, and 1. Even though
the 1 matches one of the referee’s rolled dice, it had already been
matched during the first roll.

Unluckily for this cleric, that means none of their dice match on their
roll, meaning the trap is triggered and a projectile will soon be head-
ing towards the cleric.

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12
 Additional Rules
Found in this section are a couple of situations that use the mechan-
ics introduced in this ruleset as a way to adjudicate related actions.

Forcing a Lock
Picking a lock as described earlier is for using skill and a delicate
touch to move pins and rotate cylinders to open a lock. Forcing a
lock is a less gentle method of opening a lock. This is when the
player wants the lock open quickly without having to destroy the
lock, but at the risk of jamming the locking mechanism altogether.

When forcing a lock, the referee will roll d6’s as normal, and the
player forcing a lock will roll their full complement of d6’s or the
same number of d6’s as the lock (whichever is higher), but in this
case, all the dice have to match and no dice get to be kept from
turn to turn. If the player forcing the lock is a thief, they do not get
to bump any dice but they may make an Open Locks check for
each successful die to keep it from attempt to attempt. The player
receives a number of attempts equal to the number of d6’s the ref-
eree rolled. So if the referee rolled 4d6, the player has 4 chances
to force the lock.

If the dice don’t match after the maximum number of attempts is

met, the lock is considered damaged and can no longer be picked.
If a player stops forcing a lock before meeting the maximum num-
ber of attempts, the lock can still be picked normally but the lock is
counted as being one step more difficult.

The benefit to forcing a lock is that the lock is considered to be

opened in one round, no matter how many times the player rerolls
their dice.

Example 1: A cleric comes across a locked door and wants to open it

quickly. They decide to force the lock. The referee rolls 3d6 and re-
ceives 5, 2, and 1. Since the referee rolled 3d6, the cleric has 3
chances to force the lock before it’s damaged.

The cleric rolls 4d6 and receives 5, 3 ,3 ,and 2. While the 5 and 2
match, they don’t have a 1, so they try again. This second roll is 6, 6,
3, and 1. Again, not a full match. Their last roll is 6, 5, 2, and 1, so
on their last try they successfully force the lock open in one round.

Example 2: A thief has a small lockbox that they had previously at-

13
tempted to force the lock on. They had stopped trying to force it be-
fore damaging the lock. The thief then attempts to pick the lock as
normal. Since they had attempted to force the lock previously, but
didn’t damage the lock, the referee rolls an additional die when de-
termining the lock’s difficulty. In this case, the referee originally rolled
3d6, now they roll 4d6.

Snatch Theft
While the rules for picking pockets describe attempting to sneakily
take something, the following are used during combat to snatch
something easily accessible from an opponent. This could be grab-
bing a sword from a sheath, a pouch dangling from a belt, or an
amulet from a neck. The goal is to quickly grab an item from anoth-
er person in a not-so-subtle way.

This is not the same as attempting to disarm an opponent, this is for

taking items that are dangling, accessible, and not currently being
used. A dagger hanging from a belt would be a valid target, but if
the dagger was in someone’s hand being used, that is not what
these rules cover.

Attempting to snatch something uses the same rules for picking

pockets except this is done in combat or as a surprise, so no aware-
ness die is rolled.

The difficulty of snatching something depends on the comparison of

the hit die of the snatcher to the hit die of the target. The following
table outlines the difficulty levels and dice to roll when snatching.

Target Hit Die Comparison Dice Rolled

Very Easy: Half or less than HD 2d6
Easy: Less than HD 3d6
Average: Same as HD 4d6
Hard: More than HD 5d6
Very Hard: Double or more than HD 6d6

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When someone attempts to snatch something, it takes their entire
melee/hand-to-hand combat action.

The following table outlines situations where the number of dice the
player rolls could be changed.

Situation Dice Rolled

Target surprised/Unaware +1
Target guarding against snatching -1

The bonus for the target being surprised or unaware can only be
achieved once and when not in one-to-one combat with the target.
After a failed attempt, the target will be aware of what’s happen-
ing. If a target is guarding against a snatching attempt, they re-
ceive a -1 to hit in combat.

Unlike lock picking and picking pockets, successful dice from a pre-
vious attempt are not kept for subsequent attempts. All the dice
must be rerolled if an attempt fails. The exception to this is a thief
who makes a successful Pick Pockets ability roll. They get to keep
any matching dice for a future snatch theft chance against the same
item on the target.

Example 1: A third level fighter is currently fighting a troglodyte and

sees it has a sword sheathed in its crude belt. The fighter only has a
dagger, so they want to snatch the sword from the monster.

Comparing the hit dice of the fighter (3) to the hit dice of the troglo-
dyte (2), the troglodyte has a lower hit die total than the fighter,
meaning that the referee rolls 3d6. This results in 6, 5, and 3 being
rolled.

The fighter rolls 4d6 and receives 6, 5, 5, and 3, successfully grab-

bing the sword from the troglodyte.

Example 2: A third level thief is hiding in the shadows during a fight

with an evil priest, who is wearing a magic amulet the party needs.
The thief sneaks up behind the priest, who is being attacked by some-
one else in the thief’s party, and attempts to grab the amulet.

Comparing the thief’s hit dice (3) to the priest’s (5) means the referee
will roll 5d6, due to the priests’s hit die total being higher than the
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thief’s. They receive 6, 4, 4, 3, 3.

The thief has a +1 dexterity modifier and the priest is unaware

they’re attempting to snatch the amulet, so the thief rolls 6d6, receiv-
ing 6, 6, 3, 2, 2, 1. Even using their two bumps, they would be unsuc-
cessful.

Since the priest is now aware of the attempt, if they try to snatch the
amulet again, the thief will roll one fewer dice. Also since they were
unsuccessful, they normally would not be allowed to keep any of their
successful dice from this round to use in a subsequent round. But since
they’re a thief, they are allowed to make a Pick Pockets ability roll to
keep their matching dice.

Visual Example
Found here is a visual example using the lock picking rules. Since
these rules use the same core mechanic, they can help to understand
pickpocketing and disarming devices.

In the example diagrams, the referee is using black dice and the
player is using white dice.

A first level thief finds a locked chest in a dungeon and wants to

pick the lock. The referee decides the lock is of an average quality,
and rolls 3d6, receiving the following scores: 6, 5, and 2.

Since the thief doesn’t have any dexterity modifiers, they roll 4d6
and receive: 5, 2 ,2 and 1.

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Comparing the dice rolled by each person, the thief’s 5 and 2
match the referee’s 5 and 2. To make it easier to visualize which
dice match, the thief puts the matching dice together and moves
them to the side. This leaves the 6 unmatched.

The thief spends another in-game turn to continue picking the lock
and rolls another 4d6, receiving: 5, 5, 3, and 2.

Since they’re a thief, they are allowed to bump one of their dice up
or down by 1 pip (other classes do not receive this) and bumps the
5 to a 6, matching the final die and successfully opening the lock in
two in-game turns.

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 Collected Tables

Player Dice Roll

Condition Number of Dice
All classes 4d6
Each positive Dexterity modifier* +1 die
Each negative Dexterity modifier* -1 die
*A dexterity modifier could be equal to the missile fire or armor class adjustment bonus/penalty.

Thief Bumps
Condition Bump
Odd-numbered thief levels 1 - 9 +1
Thief levels 13, 17 +1
Thief level 20 +1

Lock Picking Difficulty*

Lock Difficulty Dice Rolled
Very Easy: Iron gate or crude lockbox 1d6
Easy: Door/chest found in a peasant’s house 2d6
Average: Door/chest found in a dungeon 3d6
Hard: Door/chest of a merchant or noble 4d6
Very Hard: Jail door or NPC leader’s chest 5d6
Masterwork: Bank vault or dwarven lock 6d6
*Also difficulty for disarming traps

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 Pickpocketing Difficulty
Target Type Awareness Dice Rolled
Very Easy: Asleep or drunk 1d8 2d6
Easy: Distracted or busy 1d6 3d6
Average: Undistracted 1d4 4d6
Hard: Watchful or cautious 1d3 5d6
Very Hard: Under guard 1d2 6d6

Snatch Theft Difficulty

Target Hit Die Comparison Dice Rolled
Very Easy: Half or less than HD 2d6
Easy: Less than HD 3d6
Average: Same as HD 4d6
Hard: More than HD 5d6
Very Hard: Double or more than HD 6d6

Snatch Theft Modifiers

Situation Dice Rolled
Target surprised/Unaware +1
Target guarding against snatching -1

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 Postface
When writing this document, it was easy to imagine other ways that
this mechanic could be applied to each thief skill. Climb sheer sur-
faces? The referee rolls a number of dice depending on how chal-
lenging the surface is to climb. Hide in shadows? The referee rolls a
number of dice depending on how perceptive someone is. In a way,
this mechanic could be used as a form of skill system on its own. But
be aware that when playing these old school styled games, good
planning is vastly superior to having to roll the dice (much like in
real-life), but that’s why the codified skills available to the thief
cover common situations where good planning may still require tak-
ing a risk.

If you do decide to adapt these rules to adjudicate other situations

in your game, keep in mind what was written in the Core Mechanic
section: that each attempt takes time. And depending on the situa-
tion, there may be some risk involved. If the player’s in a situation
where time doesn’t matter and there’s no risk, do they have to roll
the dice at all?

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