AD&D - Was the Thief Actually Useless?
Let’s talk about the most questioned class in AD&D 1st Edition.
The Thief.
You know the drill—d4 hit points, weak armor, and a list of skills that barely worked at level 1. You had a 25% chance to hide in shadows and maybe a 15% chance to move silently. Your job was to sneak, disarm traps, climb walls, and maybe stab someone in the back… if the dice didn’t laugh at you first.
So the question stands—was the Thief actually useless?
Not quite. But it was close.
The Thief was one of the few classes that brought utility outside of combat. Traps, locks, stealth—no one else had those tools. Fighters didn’t disarm anything, and Clerics sure weren’t scaling walls. But the problem was always reliability. Most of your skills failed more than they worked, especially at lower levels where most campaigns lived and died. It wasn’t fun to fail over and over, even if the class had flavor.
Then there was Backstab. Sounds great, right? Double damage, surprise attacks, sneaky kills. Except it required surprise, positioning, and luck. Not easy to pull off, and not worth it most of the time. You usually just got caught, stabbed, and had to be dragged out by someone else.
Still, with a good DM and a creative player, a Thief could shine. Not with the numbers, but with the opportunities. You weren’t the tank or the mage—you were the wildcard. You were the scout, the infiltrator, the problem solver.
Was it broken? No. Was it rough? Absolutely.
But useless? That depends on who was playing it.
good episode, some nice examples of thief activity, would be worth a few more episodes.
Would you allow thieves to "back stab" using a missile weapon, the core rules seem to imply the thief would use a melee weapon but there is nothing explicit, is there really a difference putting a dagger into a vulnerable spot than putting an arrow there?
on the subject of thieves using ranged attacks, this seems to be their primary involvement in combat, getting involved in direct engagement is not going to end well due to low AC and HP, however ranged attacks are safer and also benefit from dexterity bonuses which most of the better thieves will have.
as an aside this is why I don't approve of "friendly fire" or "firing into melee", as it really nerfs the thief's ability in combat situations (and the magic user)
My first DND character ever was a rogue. I loved playing the rogue and will forever have a soft spot for rogues. 😊😊