Manual of Stealthy Pilfering: This is a guide to expertise at thievery. It is so effective that any thief or bard who reads it and then spends one month practicing the skills therein will gain enough experience points to place him at the mid-point of the next higher level. The text disappears after reading, but knowledge is retained for three months. As with other magical texts of this sort, however, the knowledge cannot be recorded or repeated to others. Any additional reading of a similar manual is of no benefit to the character.

Fighters and wizards are unable to comprehend the work. Priests, rangers, and paladins who read even a word of the book suffer 5d4 points of damage, are stunned for a like number of rounds, and, if a saving throw vs. spell is failed, they lose 5,000-20,000 experience points as well. In addition, such characters must atone within one day or lose one point of Wisdom.

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