As I'm closing in on 100th, I figured I'd look back and post some rules that I've gleaned over dozens of conversations and wish someone had told me off the start. These rules are not designed to be an all guiding force or even the measure of a good Thief. They're meant to keep you out of trouble until you figure out what sort of Thief you want to be.
1. Don't interrupt a scam in progress. Protection scams, smash and grabs, simple pickpocketing. It's part of what we do and you wont agree with all the different methods out there but they have a right, as guilded members, to succeed or fail without you sabotaging it. If you really just can't stand watching some stupid sheep get fleeced take a good long look at being a thief in general and then I'd suggest explaining your objections privately to the person offending your delicate sensibilities. Might earn you a knife in the back or a handshake, that's on you.
2. Kill, maim, cheat, steal from and otherwise harass your guildmates if a situation calls for it. Kalag the Sly doesn't care about that sort of thing. Keep it off the gweths, discretion keeps those same gweths from getting smashed and your name from circulating about. As a rule, the Guildhall is sacrosanct. Keep your temper in check, your pockets free of anything you don't want stolen, and your ears open. Plenty of wisdom in there.
3. Take your lumps. No one's successful 100% of the time in any endeavor that's worthwhile. If someone takes exception to your behavior and decides to make kibble out of you with a couple of friends, well that's a lesson learned. Moaning about it doesn't change what happened and only draws attention to yourself. If you're worried about fair, ask a guard about the Paladins guild.
4. Don't steal from high risk targets until you're absolutely sure you can handle the consequences. Graverobbing anyone is high risk. The Sly frowns on it, most of your guildmates will thug you for it and you'll have no end of people willing to kill you for someones garbage. Stealing from Empaths while in the course of their duties is also high risk, nevermind that 9 out of 10 of them could feed you your own teeth. Nothing gets the sheep riled up like a good old witch hunt for an Empath bully.
5. Don't out a fellow thief. You can choose to teach backstab/stealing, carve lockpicks and talk about 'cookies' out in the open (it will likely get you thumped) but don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you can see someone is a thief that they want the world to know.
Feel free to add your own wisdom for newcomers or augment what's already been said.
People will find you just as tedious and boring to talk to at 1000 ranks as they did at 100.
