Here's where I am right now:
Class Name: Freebooter
Why freebooter? It sounds very in-genre. And the literal definiton (from Dutch) is "plunderer". While it often is used to mean pirate, the actual definition of a freebooter is "a person who goes about in search of plunder". "a person, such as a pirate, living from plunder"; "a person, especially an itinerant, who seeks pleasure and wealth without responsiblity"; "an adventurer who pillages, plunders, or wages ad-hoc war on other nations"; "one who plunders or pillages without the authority of national warfare"; "a member of a predatory band"; "a pillager"; "one who wanders about in search of plunder, a robber, a pillager, a plunderer"; "someone who takes spoils or plunder". Perfect!
Paths:
- Expeditionary - a looter of tombs and delver of dungeons [optimized for dungeon thievery]
- Ruffian - a cut-throat and killer [a sneaky damage dealer, similar to the 3.5E rogue]
- Scoundrel - the gentleman-thief [optimized for disguise and charlatanism]
- Wayfarer - a bandit, highwayman, or scout [optimized for wilderness thievery]
Build:
Build will be HD 0, FIghter 2, Thief 2. Trade Fighter value down to broad weapons (+1 power), narrow armor (+2 powers), 2 fighting styles (+1 power), and one damage bonus (melee or missile) (+1 power), to yield 10 powers.
XP per level will be 1000 + 400 + (150 x 5) = 2150XP.
This will give a class with the level of proficiency of a thief combined with the hitting power of a fighter. However, its staying power is only half that of a fighter, and less than that of an assassin, paladin, etc.
NOTE that only the thief value can be used for the thief skills so this requires some careful thought. The exclusive thief-only skills are Pick Pockets, Open Locks, Find Traps, Remove Traps, Backstab, Move Silently, and Hide in Shadows (Climbing and Hear Noise are available as proficiencies). So that means each of the 4 paths can only have 5 of these 7.
I'd love your recommendations as to which of each they ought have.