***Well, the new Guildmaster class has a few similar themes/mechanics to this class. Some sort of rework/retheme will be necessary, let me know if you have any thoughts!

A. Should Thief be retired and the best mechanics/ideas moved to other classes?

B. Should Thief remain a stand alone class, and replace Thief Guilds for the Guildmaster with something else?

C. Should Thief be reskinned/rethemed to something else? A fallen empire, mage hunters, ratmen?***


Thief is a warlord type class with an emphasis on developing towns/cities, stealth units, and unique thief units that can travel to key locations to promote, have a chance to raise dark blessing and create randomized gold/items.

Described below are an overview and aspects of the class that are nuanced.

Commanders

Thief - The core of the faction, non-leader stealth commanders that come with 1 of 3 "Steal From" rituals for a type of terrain. These rituals require that the thief is adjacent to the specified location to cast and will summon and start a "battle" with "loot units".

"loot units" have Gold/Iron carrier traits and sometimes carry items and auto-kill themselves at the start of battle to give you the loot. The ritual will also promote the Thief to a more powerful form, possibly increase the Dark Blessing stat for the faction, and give the thief a new "Steal From" ritual for the next level.

Guild Master - Another core part of the faction, the Guild Master has many rituals that focus on developing towns/cities and boost gold/iron income. Only 1 Guild Master will exist at a time, but you will get a recruitment offer for a new one if he dies. Listed below are a few nuanced rituals.

Hire Informant - This ritual summons a stealthed non-combat unit with farsight at a settlement. Very useful for early scouting and you may maintain vision of stolen tiles if the enemy army doesn't have acute senses.

Usurp Throne - Useable at either the King's Castle or the Capital, this summons a "Throne Pretender" stationary unit that will generate gold and either boost recruitment for Thieves or Black Guard/Black Knight.

Found Guild Academy - Promotes a Magic Library to an Academy of Higher Magic, requires one Throne Pretender is owned befor it can be used. Can only be cast once per game.

Dark Rider - Cavalry commander recruited from Old Castle Ruins. Owning 1 enables the recruitment of Black Knights, powerful Dark Bless cavalry.

Dread Pirate - Commander recruited from Ports. Can spend Gold + Iron at a port to build Pirate Ships. Pirate Ships are faster than normal ships and enabled the use of the Dread Pirates Cannon Barrage ritual.

Cannon Barrage - Requires the Dread Pirate is on the same space as a pirate ship. Summons a "Cannon Barrage" unit up to 3 spaces away. The unit will make 5 prebattle cannon ball attacks and then self destruct. The cannon barrage will also destroy itself at the end of the turn if there is no combat.

Dread Pirates can perform a special "X Marks the Spot" ritual at Ancient Temple of the Deep terrain. This promotes the Dread Pirate to a Sea Scourge, a stronger undead caster that will periodically summon undead reinforcements and gains a few new rituals. Only 1 Sea Scourge can exist at once. The Sea Scourge can call in Cannon Barrages inland.

Plague Doctor - Level 2 Alchemy caster with unique rituals. Can spend a small amount of gold to cure battle afflictions/disease and can consume corpses/old battlefields on the map to generate gold/iron.

Units

The only unit recruitment available on all turns is Bandit Militia, which are non-stealthed archers. All other recruitment offers have a 10-20% chance to be offered each turn. Faction troop recruitment are not standard Elysium human troops but "Guild" troops. Guild troops are more expensive, being recruited 4 at a time instead of 5, but all have stealth + evasion.

Tips

It is important to plan your defenders for fortified locations due to how stealth mechanics work. If you don't want your defenders to fight an ambush battle instead of as defenders of the fort make sure to include a few non-stealthed units. Bandit Militia are always available for recruitment and are not stealth units.

Thieves are not very powerful initially and require gaining Dark Blessings and magic items to become powerful combatants. Avoid having thieves move alone early game and escort them with armies. Moving with an escort is also beneficial to ensure there is plenty of inventory space to pick up any gained items. When wandering independents and monster spawning locations in an area have been cleared it's less risky to have thieves run around as lone agents.

Send out patrols and explore. Thieves depend on special terrains to develop and locating all of them is highly beneficial.

Multiple Dread Pirates may cast multiple Cannon Barrages from 1 Pirate Ship.

Dark Blessing is only increased by performing Thieves "Steal From" rituals. Troops with Dark Blessing are: Thieves, Dark Riders, Black Knights, Black Guards.

Your staring terrain is a City of Vice that counts as a level 1 library. Try to bank ~100 Gold as soon as you can to be able to purchase Wizard offers. Your starting troops are at a disavantage without a caster.

Casting Hire Informant as you explore can be more effective than moving 1 extra space.

Brigand Lairs not only have a unique interaction with Guild Master rituals, but count as a citadel.

Guild Captains are more than just leaders, they know Guild Master Level 1 + 2 rituals.