The Skelmir

A Shady Living

Every township and king's seat has a Skelmir or two lurking in its darkest alleys. Many of them live up to the worst stereotypes of the class, making a living as burglars, assassins, cutpurses, pirates and con artists. Often, these scoundrels are organized into thieves’ guilds or crime families. Plenty of Skelmirs operate independently, but even they sometimes recruit apprentices to help them in their scams and heists. A few Skelmirs make an honest living as locksmiths, investigators, or exterminators. As adventurers, Skelmir fall on both sides of the law. Some are hardened criminals who decide to seek their fortune in treasure hoards, while others take up a life of adventure to escape from the law. Some have learned and perfected their skills with the explicit purpose of infiltrating ancient troves and hidden crypts in search of treasure.

Skill and Precision

Skelmirs devote as much effort to mastering the use of a variety of skills as they do to perfecting their combat abilities, giving them a broad expertise that few other characters can match. Many Skelmirs focus on stealth and deception, while others refine the skills that help them in a dungeon environment, such as climbing, finding and disarming traps, and opening locks.
When it comes to combat, Skelmirs prioritize cunning over brute strength. A Skelmir would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most, than wear an opponent down with a barrage of attacks. Skelmirs have an almost supernatural knack for avoiding danger, and a few learn magical tricks to supplement their other abilities.
Skelmir rely on skill, stealth, and their foes’ vulnerabilities to get the upper hand in any situation. They have a knack for finding the solution to just about any problem, demonstrating a resourcefulness and versatility that is the cornerstone of any successful adventuring party.

A Word of Caution

Among the Astari, a thief can be rewarded for their trouble with the loss of a hand. More so than almost any other class, yours is seen as dishonorable. Any Skelmir worth their salt has an alias, a cover story and an alibi for their crimes, otherwise someone clever enough will be on your trail sooner or later.

Class Features

As a Skelmir, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1D8 per Skelmir level
Hit Points At 1st Level: 8 + your Consitution modifier
Hit Points At Higher Levels: 1D8 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier per Skelmir level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor Proficiencies: Light Armor
Weapon Proficiencies: Darts, Hammers, Hand Axes, Nets, Seaxs, Short Bows, Sickles, Slings and Swords
Tools: Thieves’ Tools
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence
Skills: Choose four from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

3 Daggers

Leather Armor

a Shortbow, a Quiver of 20 Arrows

a Skelmir’s Pack, and Thieves’ Tools

Expertise

At 1st level, choose two of your skill proficiencies, or one of your skill proficiencies and your proficiency with thieves' tools. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies. At 6th level, you can choose two more of your proficiencies (in skills or with thieves' tools) to gain this benefit.

Sneak Attack

Beginning at 1st level, you know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe's distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon. You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll. The amount of the extra damage increases as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the Sneak Attack column of the Skelmir table.

Thieves' Cant

During your Skelmir training you learned thieves' cant, a secret mix of dialect, jargon, and code that allows you to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation. Only another creature that knows thieves' cant understands such messages. It takes four times longer to convey such a message than it does to speak the same idea plainly. In addition, you understand a set of secret signs and symbols used to convey short, simple messages, such as whether an area is dangerous or the territory of a thieves' guild, whether loot is nearby, or whether the people in an area are easy marks or will provide a safe house for thieves on the run.

Cunning Action

Starting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.

Steady Aim

At 3rd level, as a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Uncanny Dodge

Starting at 5th level, when an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you.

Evasion

Beginning at 7th level, you can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a red dragon's fiery breath or an Ice Storm spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Reliable Talent

By 11th level, you have refined your chosen skills until they approach perfection. Whenever you make an ability check that lets you add your proficiency bonus, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.

Blindsense

Starting at 14th level, if you are able to hear, you are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet of you.

Slippery Mind

By 15th level, you have acquired greater mental strength. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.

Elusive

Beginning at 18th level, you are so evasive that attackers rarely gain the upper hand against you. No attack roll has advantage against you while you aren't incapacitated.

Stroke Of Luck

At 20th level, you have an uncanny knack for succeeding when you need to. If your attack misses a target within range, you can turn the miss into a hit. Alternatively, if you fail an ability check, you can treat the d20 roll as a 20. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.