Revisiting some of the latest thief posts, I don't really have a complaint about the way thieves are run, just suggestions. Obviously, the thief system isn't perfect. Of all the thief paths, you see specific paths containing the majority of thieves and other paths having near none. People can nitpick on the little bits all they want, but I'm more interested in thieves as a whole.

What does everyone think about making thieves more adventure oriented? I saw someone mentioned about D&D thieves. People liked playing thieves from that game because they had a good all-around use. This game... the thieves seem pretty much stuck to PC populated areas, and most people groan when thinking of allowing a thief in their group. "What use are they? How are they going to help the group?" If they had just a few more skills that made them more group-friendly, I think things would balance out a bit better. Bards are great active group-pleasers, how about thieves being passively so? Umm.. explanation:

Thieves can get a few automatic skills, perhaps based on their different thief paths, that only work on NPCs and in groups. A trapper thief might auto-set a trap behind an enemy, and then next time the enemy falls or stumbles, he triggers the trap and X happens. Pickpocket thieves may find extra money/items (keeping a larger portion for themselves) and split it with the group. Thugs bully their prey and leave them more vulnerable to attack, a la orc, but a bit nicer. Poisoner thieves could auto-violently-poison mobs without expenditure of poison ingredients. Binder thieves could lasso a sword arm or leg and reduce dodging or parrying. These are just some suggestions. It could go well beyond this too, so that just having a certain kind of thief while traveling could lead to some beneficial surprises (Party travels with a thief, they find a batch of copper behind a rock, or are lead past an aggro mob without being hit or something).

So, what's everyone think of this? There are plenty of problem with thieves already, but if we could find a short-term fix until whatever major changes take place, perhaps people would be a little more complacent.

One last thought. In the assassin room in the academy, it talks about assassins not really matching up to thieves in the shadows. Assassins are much more combat-suited to be able to take on thieves. Perhaps if thieves could hide better than assassins could, so that assassins can't detect thieves, but only their own kind, the statement would be more true. Assassin hides, can't see thief, thief hides, can see assassin except in the wilds, duergar sees both, but not assassin in the wilds.