nimble fingers

A level 10 Rogue utility power from Heroes of the Fallen Lands:

Nimble Fingers
Minor action, Melee 1.
Prerequisite: You must have training in thievery.
Target: One creature
Effect: You draw one weapon that is sheathed or worn (but not held) by the target, stow a single item on the target, or retrieve a single item the target has stowed. If you are hidden from the target, the target is not aware that you have used this power.

The phrase that grabs my fancy is stow a single item on the target. Offhand, I can’t think of a combat use for for stowing a single item on the target, but I’m itching to stow. Rather than a complete tactic, it seems to offer a tactical hint or puzzle – a tactical building block – like my beloved mage hand. I hope some Essentials thief makes Nimble Fingers the cornerstone of an extremely irritating career.

More Essentials thoughts…

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9 Responses to “nimble fingers”

  1. Cody says:

    Maybe you can stick a lit bomb on them or something? Just remember, you always reap just what you stow.

    Sorry.

  2. paul paul says:

    My only regret is that I didn’t think of saying that myself.

  3. Baf says:

    Do cursed weapons exist in this setting? You know, the old-school ones that weld themselves to your hand so that you can’t use anything else until the curse gets removed?

    How about the Explosive Runes spell?

  4. paul paul says:

    hmm… there’s no 4e version of Explosive Runes?! Shocking!

  5. Philo Pharynx says:

    Most of what I’m thinking has the payoff out of combat or after combat. I like the idea of planting something stolen on somebody that you cannot take down by conventional means. Or hiding something on a noble or diplomat while crossing the city gates (to be retreived after passing through). Taking a key off of a guard as you’re being dragged into a cell. Putting a message with a threat on it on somebody who will only find it at the end of the day when they take everything off. Putting something on somebody that will attract creatures (like raw meat or of of that creature’s eggs).

  6. Moon DM says:

    I just read a book where a guy used this to stow a stolen pearl necklace on an innocent bystander, then let themselves be searched by the police.

  7. Dave says:

    Personally, I’m glad to see a utility power that doesn’t have an obvious use in combat. My friends are always complaining that 4e is missing so many things from 3e that were useful outside of combat. But this one has so many uses!

  8. […] this book is an elaborate answer to a question I asked a while ago: what use can be made of the 4e rogue power which allows one to stow an item on an unsuspecting […]

  9. […] combat. The coolest utilities grant abilities that are useful out of combat: high jumps, disguise, pickpocketing, stuff like […]

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