Thief enemy line

Thief, Bandit, and Brigand are enemy types found in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These enemies, which are human beings armed with daggers/short swords, are palette-swapped variants of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the game. These are not randomly encountered enemies like monsters: A Bandit and two Thieves are a set of minor characters appearing in both games, while all fights with Brigands in the first game are scripted encounters.

The trio of enemies that are one bandit and two thieves are the first boss encounter in Golden Sun, transpiring in the attic of the Inn at Vault. The same trio make a return appearance in Golden Sun: The Lost Age in a bonus event that occurs as a result of password data transfer: Later in the first game, the player should return to Vault and talk with the mayor there, who will tell you that the thieves escaped. Talking with the mayor is the prerequisite necessary. Then after that game file of Golden Sun is saved as a Completed data file and your game file in The Lost Age is enhanced with the password data of the first file, the bonus event will trigger at the point when Felix's party attempts to leave the town of Madra after having encountered Karst for the first time; a scripted battle will automatically ensue, and after it is won you will earn the one-of-a-kind Golden Boots, a superior version of Quick Boots.

Plot significance
The town of Lunpa was originally founded as a bastion for honorable thieves by Lunpa the Righteous Thief, but by the present day and age, it has become the bastion of an empire of ruthless brigands ruled by the conniving Dodonpa, Lunpa's grandson. Brigands operate as agents and extensions of Dodonpa's society, and the overall aim of the thieves is to continually gain wealth and resources by illicit means.

A particular trio of traveling thieves and bandits may or may not be affiliated with the Lunpa brigands, however. By the start of Golden Sun, the unnamed three are staying as guests in the Inn at the town of Vault a short ways south of Lunpa; when Mt. Aleph cataclysmically erupts, the townspeople at Vault fall under a state of panic and confusion, and the trio immediately take advantage of the chaos. They pilfer valuable objects from the mayor's manor and the sanctum among other places, and they even get a hold of the Shaman's Rod, a wooden stick that is the property of two other people who happened to be staying in Vault at the time, the wealthy merchant and landowner Hammet and his young servant Ivan. With their ill-gotten goods hoarded in the attic of the Inn, the trio are of course suspected by the populace, but they cannot accuse the thieves and put them in Vault's jail without proof.

Hammet, angry that his Shaman's Rod has been stolen, leaves Ivan behind at Vault to search for the Rod while he himself resumes his travels, relying on Ivan's strange, seemingly supernatural powers to aid Ivan in his search. Hammet and his caravan try to return south to Kalay, which Hammet is the lord of, but he finds that the eruption has destroyed the bridge he crossed previously to get to Vault, so he decides to travel north to Lunpa and attempt to do business there. Dodonpa, of course, considers this an obvious opportunity, so he has his brigands take Hammet captive and imprison him within Lunpa's fortress. Dodonpa would proceed to use Hammet to extort money out of Kalay.

Ivan, in the meantime, is met by traveling warriors from the town of Vale, Isaac and Garet, and he appeals his plight to them. The three of them, who are all similar in that they are Psynergy-wielding Adepts, agree to team up and look for the Shaman's Rod and the other stolen goods. The other two help let Ivan read the minds of the thieves, which helps them discover the stolen hoard in the Inn's attic, and the trio of thieves come in and attempt to silence the three by engaging the Adepts in battle. The Adepts defeat the three in battle, and the stolen goods are returned to their rightful owners and the thieves are proven guilty, and they are locked up in Vault's jail. The trio of thieves, whether or not they are affiliated with the Lunpa empire, know what fate has most likely befallen Ivan's master, Hammet, for having traveled north to Lunpa, and notify Ivan of that before they are jailed. Ivan attempts to enter Lunpa on his own without success, so he decides to accompany Isaac and Garet on their own journey from then on.

The trio of thieves develop deep resentment for Isaac as they remain in their cells. They get to work on figuring out how to pick the locks to their own cells over time. Later, however, they decide that they want to break out of the jail before the Colosso season in Tolbi begins, for whatever reason, and they eventually succeed and flee Vault. Free men once again, the trio began a search for Isaac across the world.

Isaac and Ivan's party of Adepts, in the meantime, eventually decides to deviate from their main quest objective and go to rescue Hammet from Dodonpa's fortress. Using a veiling Psynergy they recently acquired in Tolbi, the friends sneak into the guarded fortress at Lunpa, engaging and silencing various Brigands standing guard in their way and avoiding detection from other patrolling brigands. At the end of the episode, the Adepts have successfully confronted Dodonpa and imprisoned him within his own fortress with the help of his own father, the elderly Donpa, and the Adepts sneak their way back out with Hammet in tow; however, since many brigands are still loyal to Dodonpa, the Adepts and Hammet have to be just as secretive coming out of Lunpa as they entered, and Hammet is covertly escorted back to his palace in Kalay in a way that would avoid detection from Lunpa spies that would likely be stationed in Kalay.

In The Lost Age, the trio of thieves begin traveling abroad in their search for Isaac, and eventually end up in Madra. They are apparently around to overhear/eavesdrop when Felix and his own party of Adepts have their first encounter with Karst, who has her own personal vendetta against Isaac and who declares that she intends to seek out and slay herself. After she leaves, the trio step in to accost Felix's party and demand from him the whereabouts of Isaac's party; Felix and his friends do not know, but the thieves then decide to give them "a little taste" of what they have in store for Isaac and attack his party. They are easily defeated, though, and express disappointment that they'll have to go back to jail, but they briefly attempt to appeal to Felix to join his party, then place one of their (possibly ill-gotten) possessions - a pair of Golden Boots - on the ground before scampering off, apparently having made the resolution to stop seeking vengeance upon Isaac.

Thief
A Thief is a variant palette-swapped to have decidedly non-human purple skin and hair color as well as purple clothes. Exactly two are fought in each game. In the first game, statistically this enemy has 110 HP, 42 Attack, 5 Defense, 9 Agility, and 1 Luck, and in the second game he has 212 HP, 196 Attack, 38 Defense, 87 Agility, and 26 luck. In terms of resistance, every one of his four resistances are 72.

A thief's battle commands are exactly the same in both Golden Sun games: This enemy also carries one consumable healing item that it may use in place of something else from its normal command list. What it is differs between each game: An Herb in the first game to heal an enemy by 50 HP with, and a Nut in the second game to heal an enemy by 200 HP with.
 * Attack: Used 3 out of 8 times, this is this enemy's standard physical attack.
 * Threaten: Used 2 out of 8 time, this is a Monster Skill that causes the battle text to read "Thief glowers ferociously!". This does nothing, in other words, and helps make the Thief an easier enemy to deal with.
 * Tremble: Used 2 out of 8 time, this is a Monster Skill that causes the battle text to read "Thief cannot stop trembling!". Just like Threaten, this does nothing beyond helping make the Thief an easier enemy to deal with.
 * Stand Ready: Used 1 out of 8 times, in spite of this ability's coded name, this appears to be an exact duplicate of the ability to use the Defend command, which halves all damage the Thief takes for a turn.

In the first game, felling a Thief yields 15 Experience Points and 32 Coins, which adds up with the other two enemies in the battle to 66 EXP and 110 Coins as well as the guaranteed Bandit's Sword. In the second game, felling a Thief yields 115 EXP and 169 Coins, which adds up with the other two enemies in the battle to 366 EXP and 521 Coins. If a Thief is felled with an offensive Venus Djinni such as Echo, his rewards increase to 149 EXP and 219 EXP.

In both games the thieves do not add very much to the battle they appear in, particularly because they will just as often do nothing at all as they would perform an attack or maybe defend themselves. The two thieves are easily taken care of with area-of-effect offensive Psynergy like Ray in the first game, while the Bandit leader also takes heavy damage.

Bandit
The Bandit is a normally-colored variant. Exactly one is fought in each game. In the first game, statistically this enemy has 244 HP, 46 Attack, 8 Defense, 20 Agility, and 3 Luck, and in the second game he has 346 HP, 200 Attack, 41 Defense, 98 Agility, and 34 luck. In terms of resistance, every one of his four resistances are 72, and he uses his available Jupiter attacks with a Jupiter power rating of 80.

The Bandit's battle commands are exactly the same in both Golden Sun games: This enemy also carries at least one consumable healing item that it may use in place of something else from its normal command list each time he acts. What the Bandit is in possession of differs between each game. In the first game: He has a different and larger selection of items in tow for his return appearance in the second game:
 * Slice: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is a monster skill where the user bolts forward to deal either one or two slices in a row, dealing a Jupiter-based attack equal to his normal physical attack multiplied by 0.9, but with the chance that the result will then be multiplied by 2. This is a reference to the sword he's using.
 * Attack: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is this enemy's standard physical attack.
 * Threaten: Used 2 out of 8 time, this is a Monster Skill that causes the battle text to read "Bandit glowers ferociously!". This does nothing, in other words, and helps make the Bandit an easier enemy to deal with.
 * 1 Herb: An item that heals either himself or another enemy on his side of the field for 50 HP.
 * 2 Nuts: An item that heals either himself or another enemy on his side of the field for 200 HP.
 * 1 Sleep Bomb: An item that envelops a single targeted Adept in a smoke cloud, having a chance to inflict that Adept with the Sleep status condition.

In the first game, felling the Bandit yields 36 Experience Points and 46 Coins, which adds up with the other two enemies in the battle to 66 EXP and 110 Coins, and he is guaranteed to drop the unique Bandit's Sword. In the second game, felling the Bandit yields 136 EXP and 183 Coins, which adds up with the other two enemies in the battle to 366 EXP and 521 Coins. If the Bandit is felled with an offensive Venus Djinni such as Echo, his rewards increase to 176 EXP and 237 EXP.

In the first game, the Bandit is obviously the more noteworthy enemy in the battle with himself and two Thief accomplices, dealing damage more consistently. Nonetheless, the overall boss battle should be won very easily just by having Ivan rely on casting the Ray Psynergy, and perhaps having the other two Adepts cast offensive Psynergy as well. In the second game, despite the Bandit and two thieves having received major statistical enhancements, they should still be very easy to defeat by your party of four Adepts.

Brigand
A Brigand is a normally-colored variant looking identical to the Bandit. Statistically, this enemy has 421 HP, 251 Attack, 69 Defense, 104 Agility, and 5 Luck. In terms of resistance, every one of his four resistances are 72, and he uses his available Jupiter and Mercury attacks with power ratings of 80.

A Brigand can use the following battle commands: This enemy also carries the following consumable items, which it may use in place of a move from its normal move list each time it acts:
 * Slice: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is a monster skill where the user bolts forward to deal either one or two slices in a row, dealing a Jupiter-based attack equal to his normal physical attack multiplied by 0.9, but with the chance that the result will then be multiplied by 2.
 * Attack: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is this enemy's standard physical attack.
 * 2 Crystal Powders: An item which generates a usage of the Hail Prism Psynergy when used; thus, four large ice spheres slam into the party of Adepts and shatter in quick succession, dealing a Mercury-based attack with a power rating of 90 and a range of 5.
 * 1 Sleep Bomb: An item that envelops a single targeted Adept in a smoke cloud, having a chance to inflict that Adept with the Sleep status condition.

Felling a Brigand yields 162 Experience Points and 190 Coins, and there is a 1/32 chance that the monster will randomly drop a Crystal Powder. If felled by the effect of an offensive Venus Djinni, its rewards increase to 210 EXP and 247 Coins, and the chance it will randomly drop its item becomes 1/8. Brigands are fought in Lunpa Fortress, but not randomly; each one of them is a scripted encounter. One scripted encounter in particular that can be repeated pits you against three Brigands at a time.

Compared to the random monsters fought in the basement of Lunpa Fortress, the brigands are a lot more durable and have more power as well. The ones that are fought one at a time, though, should still be easy for a party of four Adepts to dispatch. And depending on the development of your party, the encounter with three Brigands together should not be life-threatening.