Making Tools Useful in 5e: Thieves' Tools
Alright, maybe this tool doesn’t actually need to be made useful. From what I can tell, this is the only tool that WotC ever cared about and is probably one of the most used tools. This tool is talked about in the Player’s Handbook, and sure, the Herbalism Kit, Poisoner’s Kit, and a few others are talked about there, but… I’ve ranted about those tools and how WotC just shrugged when it came time to actually use those tools, so let’s see if Thieves’ Tools also gets the shrug.
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Thieves’ Tools
Alright, let’s check out what Xanathar has to say. Then, and I’m really excited about this, we get to gripe for a paragraph or two about how what they said was a lot of nothing and how they weren’t even trying… unless you happen to be a WotC employee, in which case, these tools in Xanathars are the best—please hire me!
Page 84 of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything states:
Perhaps the most common tools used by adventurers, thieves' tools are designed for picking locks and foiling traps. Proficiency with the tools also grants you a general knowledge of traps and locks.
Components. Thieves' tools include a small file, a set of lock picks, a small mirror mounted on a metal handle, a set of narrow-bladed scissors, and a pair of pliers.
History. Your knowledge of traps grants you insight when answering questions about locations that are renowned for their traps.
Investigation and Perception. You gain additional insight when looking for traps, because you have learned a variety of common signs that betray their presence.
Set a Trap. Just as you can disable traps, you can also set them. As part of a short rest, you can create a trap using items you have on hand. The total of your check becomes the DC for someone else's attempt to discover or disable the trap. The trap deals damage appropriate to the materials used in crafting it (such as poison or a weapon) or damage equal to half the total of your check, whichever the DM deems appropriate.
This tool just… leaves me lost for words. More specifically, the fact you can make a history check to determine places that are renown for their traps. THOSE TRAPS AREN’T WORKING IF PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THEM!
If a place is so well known that there is a pit trap at the entrance, that trap is failing completely. First off, its not killing off anyone who is surprised by that trap, and secondly… its not a trap if you know it is there! That’s just a painful obstacle. I’m trying to think of a situation where I’d have someone roll a history check to tell me about a place that is incredibly well known for being trap, and I guess you could say a wizard’s tower? Or maybe some old ruins? But can those really be that famous for traps? Maybe the tomb of annihilation is famous, but what are you going to say? It’s not like the DM is going to tell you, “Oh, the first five feet have a pressure plate that shoots jets of flames up, DC13 to avoid.” NO! You might be told, “Yeah, that tomb is heavily trapped. Surprise.”
Maybe I’m thinking too much into that, so lets go on to the next part. Don’t you just love it when you get insight when looking for traps? What does that even mean?! I know what Insight is in 5e, it’s your ability to read someone. It just makes me think someone is looking at a trap, and the DM is telling them that the trap is lying to them and that it isn’t a tripwire trap but a pressure plate trap… which could be pretty funny. Make a trap with an almost obvious tripwire so they don’t notice the pressure plate that makes the ceiling fall on them. … Maybe that is what they meant. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s one of those case-by-case basis things everyone is always talking about.
Here’s My Attempt
In my attempt to make this tool better, I didn’t do much to the tool itself. I like that the tool is pretty limited and self-explanatory. It picks locks and disarms traps. I don’t need more than that for my Thieves’ Tools. What I do need is more locks and traps for my Thieves’ Tools! So that’s what I did.
For this tool, I provide a variety of inspirations for traps and locks. Let’s start with Locks.
Locks
Locks come in a variety of flavors, and while we all think of the standard pins and springs inside of a modern lock, the original locks were actually created by using a piece of metal with two sides that would spring out to hold it closed. The key was a simple loop of metal that would hold the two sides of the metal close to each other so that you could remove the lock mechanism, and it wasn’t any more complicated than that. Frankly, you could probably tie some string around that locking mechanism and pull it taught to release the lock, it is incredibly simple.
Speaking of simple, there are two main types of mundane locks available to adventurers. Spring Locks and Pin Locks, with spring locks being what we talked about above, and pin locks being the more modern style of locks. Spring Locks are cheaper to produce, but are easier to break into and easier to break, while pin locks are harder to get into and cost way more gold.
Part of these locks I introduced is that they have a way for you to break them. A thief who keeps messing up on the lock and just can’t get it open can always turn to their favorite barbarian and point Belac the Stronk to strike at a certain point on the lock. This was inspired by those movies where you see rogues with swords strike out at a lock, cutting it off. Or when they are chained in manacles, just slamming the manacles on a hard surface and breaking the manacles off in a single fell swoop. It's pretty fun and means that even if you don’t have tools on you, you can always try and break the lock blocking your progress.
The more exotic locks I included are to give you inspiration for your own games, and to introduce more puzzle-based locks. These locks break away from the normal and create different barriers that are hard to enter. Wizards aren’t always going to trust a Pin Lock and may set up an overly complicated lock that requires the passage of the Moon to unlock. Or maybe, the dwarf blacksmith is really an asshole and has a tumbler inside of the lock that just breaks and destroys any picks that try to enter it. These locks are to provide inspiration and to give more exciting locks than just… a rogue rolling Thieves’ Tools to see if they open yet another lock.
Traps
Next for our tools are traps. These traps are pretty standard, and quite frankly, you should totally read your copy of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. It has some good information in it… even if I’m not always very happy with how it is laid out or what they chose to include in the book.
This section of the tool is purposefully left a bit sparse because traps are incredibly varied and detailing a hundred traps just isn’t my idea of fun. These traps should be built on a party basis because a trap designed for level 5 characters could easily kill off a group of level 3 characters, and the environment will often dictate what traps do what and how you flavor the traps. A crossbow trap that is triggered the same way as a flame trap and deals the same damage is the same trap, just reskinned.
I just grabbed some information out of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. I’ve always found those two charts to be incredibly handy for building traps, and why fix something that isn’t broken? The only thing I added was a new column offering suggestions for the DC of disarming the traps, which I’m surprised they left off of their tables. But then again, not every trap can be disarmed… which is something we learned in the Exotic Traps!
Exotic Traps are offered as inspiration for your own traps and aren’t things that every thief is going to be able to disarm. You can’t disarm a Sphere of Annihilation with Thieves’ Tools, but dammit, those danger spheres are some of my favorite traps for high-level play. I once had a trap where a permanent orb of darkness was cast on four doors. The first three orbs of darkness had nothing in them; the fourth one had a Sphere of Annihilation inside of it. The person who walked into it lost a huge chunk of health, and their armor, which was non-magical, was permanently destroyed. They were fine, though… until the Bodaks came out of the sphere… Thank you, Tomb of Annihilation!
Give Me That Magic
Sometimes, tools just ask for a few magic items to be thrown into the mix, and while some of these aren’t magical, they can be given out like magic items due to their ability to bend the game just a little bit. Adamantine picks are a must for any adventurer dealing with Wreck Locks, just as a 10-foot Pole is a must for any adventurer dealing with traps trying to kill them at every given opportunity.
Thieves’ Tools
And that’s all I added for the Thieves’ Tools. It’s a simple tool that I think has a very established idea of its uses in D&D, and frankly… I’m OK with that. I like the limited use of the Thieves’ Tools because it sees a lot of action just sticking to unlocking locks and disarming traps. It’s a handy tool, and hopefully, my additions to the tool give you ideas on how you can make it an exciting tool for your players to use.
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Other tools: Weaver’s Tools, Painter’s Supplies, Calligrapher’s Tools, Jeweler’s Tools, Carpenter’s Tools, Forgery Kit, Disguise Kit, Herbalism Kit, Glassblower’s Tools, Navigator’s Tools, Leatherworker’s Tools, Cobbler’s Tools, Poisoner’s Kit, Cartographer’s Tools, Alchemist’s Supplies, Mason’s Tools, Gaming Sets, Tinker’s Tools, Healer’s Kit, Brewer’s Supplies, Smith’s Tools & Cook’s Utensils.
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