The Rake for B/X

The Rake was an alternative version of the Thief class introduced in the 1989 Dawn of the Emperors boxed set for the Mystara campaign setting,but was further refined in DDA1 Arena of Thyatis. Most of Gazetteer line of books for the Mystara setting introduced new abilities or new classes based on the culture presented in the particular Gazetteer. In the case of Dawn of the Emperors, two new classes were presented, the Forester and the Rake. The Forester was a class that was intended to capture some elements of the traditional fantasy “Ranger” archetype and was a human version of the Elf class. It combined Fighter and Magic User abilities. Like the Elf class, it was limited to 10th level. While the Companion and Master rules sets provide rules for Elves of higher than 10th level, no similar extension was offered for the Forester in the Dawn of the Emperors box. One could easily expand the class based on the advice given for the Elf to make it compatible with higher level play. When using the Forester for the B/X rules, no such expansion is necessary due to the experience point requirements to reach level 10.

Similarly, the Rake class was designed for the BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, Immortals) Dungeons & Dragons rules set, but can be easily adapted to the Moldvay/Cook B/X rules. The description of the Rake in Dawn of the Emperors reads:

“Another character option for Thyatian characters is that of the rake – the non-thief thief.”

Player characters in Thyatis are more than able to take the Thief class if they desire, but the Rake class was created to convey the swashbuckling attitudes of citizens of Thyatis who were born in the Pearl Islands. These people “admire the trickery, agility, and cleverness of the thief. But they don’t like stealing…” Imagine if you will a swashbuckling class rather than a class that hides in the shadows, backstabs, and steals. The concept is intriguing, but the execution in Dawn of the Emperors (and DDA2 Legions of Thyatis) leaves a little to be desired. While the Rake in Dawn of the Emperors (page 19 of the Thyatis Player’s Guide) has most of the skills of the Thief class, two skills in particular are missing. Rakes have no ability to Pick Pockets or Backstab. They lose the ability engage in petty theft, which is fine. But they also lose the single combat ability of the core class, which makes the class less appealing. The only “benefit” of the class is that they don’t belong to a Thieves’ Guild, but that too brings penalties as well as benefits.

The Rake as presented in DDA1 Arena of Thyatis is a far more playable replacement class and is the one I will be adapting to B/X. The basic theme remains, as does the loss of the abilities to pick pockets and backstab. In this case, the character receives two benefits to make up for the loss of these abilities. The first benefit is a +1 bonus to Charisma. This is due to the character being deemed more “trustworthy” and genteel than most characters. Think of it as the swashbuckling charm bonus. The second benefit has a very “swashbuckler” feel. Instead of an ability to backstab, the Rake has the ability to dodge melee attacks. If the Rake chooses to attack in a melee round, it can only dodge one attack. If the Rake declares that it will be making no attacks that round, it can try to dodge every attack against it in that round. The chance to dodge attacks is equal to the character’s “Hide in Shadows” percentage, with the caveats that it can’t be used against ranged spells, area effect spells, or missiles. Whether it can be used against thrown weapons might be something that has to be adjudicated by the DM. I would rule that arrows, bullets, and bolts couldn’t be dodged, but thrown axes/daggers could. I don’t know if this feature was created by John Nephew or another designer because Nephew wrote both Arena of Thyatis and Legions of Thyatis, but these benefits are only listed in Arena. Interestingly enough, Arena comes before Legions so one would expect the update to be the same in both books, but it is not.

It is this second version of the class that I am converting to B/X and it should be noted that when I write “converting” that only means that I’ll be using the Saving Throws and Thief Skill values from B/X which are slightly different than those in BECMI.

Without further ado, I bring you the Rake.

Rake Abilities by Level
Character Level Experience Hit Dice Open Locks Remove Traps Move Silently Climb Sheer Surfaces Hide in Shadows Dodge Hear Noise
1 0 1d4 15 10 20 87 10 10 2
2 1200 2d4 20 15 25 88 15 15 2
3 2400 3d4 25 20 30 89 20 20 3
4 4800 4d4 30 25 35 90 25 25 3
5 9600 5d4 35 30 40 91 30 30 3
6 20000 6d4 45 40 45 92 36 36 3
7 40000 7d4 55 50 55 93 45 45 4
8 80000 8d4 65 60 65 94 55 55 4
9 160000 9d4 75 70 75 95 65 65 4
10 280000 9d4+2* 85 80 85 96 75 75 4
11 400000 9d4+4* 95 90 95 97 85 85 5
12 520000 9d4+6* 96 95 96 98 90 90 5
13 640000 9d4+8 97 97 98 99 95 95 5
14 760000 9d4+10* 99 99 99 99 99 99 5
Rake Saving Throws by Level
Character Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods Staves or Spells
1 13 14 13 16 15
2 13 14 13 16 15
3 13 14 13 16 15
4 13 14 13 16 15
5 12 13 11 14 13
6 12 13 11 14 13
7 12 13 11 14 13
8 12 13 11 14 13
9 10 11 9 12 10
10 10 11 9 12 10
11 10 11 9 12 10
12 10 11 9 12 10
13 8 9 7 10 8
14 8 9 7 10 8