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"One creaky floorboard in the whole place and I'm the one to find it…"

—Alette Zimmermann, thief, jailed.[3a]
Thief

A Thief.

The Empire is home to many honest, hard working citizens and Thieves are dedicated to taking as much of their money as possible.

Overview[]

Thieves tend to be jacks-of-all-trades, willing and able to take advantage of any moneymaking opportunity that comes along. Specialist Thieves include blackmailers, embezzlers, kidnappers, pickpockets, and cattle thieves. Towns and cities of any size have Thieves' Guilds, which control and organize criminal activity.[2a] Working together, professional thieves can pull off heists it would be impossible to do alone.[3a] A few towns have more than one guild, which leads to vicious fighting until one guild eliminates its rival. The most successful Thieves' Guilds own so many legitimate businesses that over time they turn into Merchant Guilds. It is a rare guild that leaves its larcenous ways behind, however.[2a]

Types of Thieves[]

  • Burglars specialise in entering and robbing houses, mainly at night. They are adept at spotting the tell-tale signs that show a house is not occupied and are skilled in dealing with locks, alarms, and other security devices.[1c]
  • Clippers are petty crooks who earn their living by tampering with coinage. Old World coins are irregularly-shaped things, whose value is determined by the weight of metal they contain; the stamp of the issuing government on both sides of a coin is a guarantee of its weight and consequently of its value. The Clipper exploits this by clipping or shaving a small amount of metal off the coin. By doing this to ten or twenty coins, the clipper can recover enough metal to make a new coin. One trick, which requires considerable expertise, is to saw a coin in half from edge to edge to give two coins which can be passed to the unwary.[1c]
  • Embezzlers are highly-skilled rogues who work, undetected, for an individual or organisation, syphoning off money through various methods. They place themselves in positions of trust and then help themselves to the monetary wealth of their clients.[1c]
  • Footpads are gangs of outlaws that work together to waylay and rob travellers along the Empire's roads.[1a]
  • Fishers are Thieves that specialise in stealing goods through broken or open windows and similar small openings by using a hooked pole. This method attracts less attention than breaking and entering and a Fisher has less chance of getting caught than a burglar who is detected inside an unfamiliar building - all he has to do is drop his pole and run. Fishing is called 'curbing' in Thieves' Tongue, but this term is not known to the law-abiding.[1c]
  • Pickpockets are specialised Thieves whose forte is stealing valuables from pockets and purses. The Pickpocket is a regular curse in cities and, on crowded market days, there can be any number of individuals or teams operating through the crowds. Cash, of course, is the favourite, the most common technique being to cut the purse from the victim's belt with a small, sharp knife or straight razor. Jewellery has a high value, but is too often difficult to steal unnoticed and can be easily traceable - which makes it difficult to dispose of without the help of a reliable Fence, who will probably rob the Thief even more than the Thief has just robbed the true owner...[1c]

Sources[]

  • 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
    • 1a: pg. 26
    • 1b: pg. 37
    • 1c: pg. 40
  • 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
    • 2a: pg. 55
  • 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG
    • 3a: pg. 107
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