This section examines most of the core bard's common abilities. These include pick pockets, detect noise, climb walls, read languages, and the bard's 10th-level ability to use any written magical item.
The first four of these abilities are collectively known as a bard's "thief skills," as they mimic the thief skills of the same name. As stated in the Player's Handbook under the section on the thief class, thief skills cannot be raised above 95%, no matter what modifiers are applied.