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All thieving skills are resolved using the following progression:

Levels 1-2: 2 in 6
Levels 3-5: 3 in 6
Levels 6-9: 4 in 6
Levels 10-14: 5 in 6
Levels 15+: 1% chance of failure

This is pretty much how it goes for Hear Noise, but it seems so simple and intuitive that I can't see any reason not to use it for all the other skills. The only significant downside is that Climb Walls takes a significant hit, but the chances of success for all the other skills are markedly improved (with some exceptions at 5th and 9th levels). I think this makes low-level thieves more effective, and thus more enjoyable to play.

One variant that I'm also considering is using an equivalent d12 regime, with high DEX giving a +1 bonus.

I like that progression

I like it, but id consider tweaking it to d10, d12 or even d20. I like to give modifiers. Bonus for good thief tools, Elves are better at moving silently, Dwarves better at locks, conditions like rushing, poor light, hard to pick locks or difficult traps, bonus for DEX, etc.

Blood axe wrote:I like it, but id consider tweaking it to d10, d12 or even d20. I like to give modifiers. Bonus for good thief tools, Elves are better at moving silently, Dwarves better at locks, conditions like rushing, poor light, hard to pick locks or difficult traps, bonus for DEX, etc.

Yeah, I'm going to go with the d12 version:

Levels 1-2: 4 in 12
Levels 3-5: 6 in 12
Levels 6-9: 8 in 12
Levels 10-14: 10 in 12
Levels 15+: 1% chance of failure

Exact same odds, but it lets me say that a thief with high DEX (16+) gets a +1 bonus to his rolls. Using a d20, on the other hand, is just too "d20," if you know what I mean. Plus, getting a little mileage out of the d12 is always a bonus in my books.

I like this - not a huge fan of the BtB % rolls. I'd make this change though:

Rather than introducing a d% roll at the top end, and to increase the chance of failure to something a bit higher, I like the idea from... Lamentations of the Flame Princess I think? At the top end, success becomes 6 in 6 (or 12 in 12) but you roll two dice and fail on double 6/12s.

I use this method:

All skills start at a level of 1 - 2 on one six-sider. At level one you select one skill and increase it to 1 - 3. When you gain a new level, you allocate a new point with the caveat that your highest rated skill must have two skills rated just one point lower. So, to have a skill rated 1 - 4 you must have two other skills rated 1 - 3 (at least).

Before that I used percentiles but increased all skills at level one to a minimum of 25% then only improved them as the table dictated an increase in excess of 25%. All of the skills don't need to increase every level. My players never bothered using skills rated at 10% and 15% - no point.