Reconsideration of who gets Theives Cant.

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Hinty
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Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 1:03 am

Reconsideration of who gets Theives Cant.

Post by Hinty » Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:49 pm

I kind of understand why Rogues get Thieves Cant for free, however I think this is a deeply flawed system. Sure most rogues are thieves, but it does not make sense for every single thief concept, many a rogue concept will have no reason to know the language. (Not to mention the issue of the crazy popularity of combat characters dipping into rogue levels for KD/Sneek and tumble. Why do they suddenly know thieves cant when they probably had 0 interaction with any thieves ever.)

My main issue with this is a purely RP one. What about the non rogues that don't get it but should? What about the Bard Con Artists? What about the Sorcerer shunned for their magics as a child who found shelter and protection amongst the lost and desperate of the city? Fighter/Barbarian Enforcers?
Most importantly of all what about the clerics of the thievery gods?


My suggestion is to assign Thieves Cant to a character upon creation only (if you join a thief community later, learn it.) based upon Deity, not class.

Whilst many characters with rogue levels are appropriate speakers of Cant, there are many many characters that should have it but don't.
By assigning it to followers of Mask, Vhaeraun, Abbathor, Vergadain, Erevan Ilesere, Baravar Cloakshadow, Brandobaris, Set, and Shargaas, you assure that the vast majority of characters with a thievery background and focus have access to the Cant. Yes, there will still be some concepts that are not covered, particularly Guild based characters who do not venerate a thievery god primarily, but unless a divine caster (so lets face it, cleric) is it a major issue if the banite fighter/rogue enforcer puts Mask in the deity box? This method leaves far far less characters with the appropriate background without Cant, and far fewer characters with Cant that shouldn't have it.

Obviously there is room for perhaps adding some other deities who while not thievery focused may well find their followers interact with the thief community frequently (Cyric and Shar spring to mind) but since a much lower percentage of concepts for those gods would have reason to know the language...



I don't know how mechanical doable this is, but it might also be considered that the free cleric languages could be assigned based upon deity too, rather than alignment. Why shouldn't the LN cleric of Try speak celestial for example, and why would the LG follower of Tempus get access to celestial? (In the case of LE clerics following NE deitys, perhaps still assign them the LE language since the NE deity would have interest in both languages.)

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