How do I get away with stealing?

[✪Asielra✪]

Was probably asked a thousand times, but a quick search didn't give me any results, so here we are.
How do you steal so they dont send you to prison? In divinity it was really simple - you stole goods proportionately to your theft skill level while talking to the merchant with your other character, then ran away, dropped everything to the ground, waited for them to calm down and moved on with your game. Here this just doesnt seem to work, and even when I have no stolen goods in my inventory, NPC still acts as if they know 100% it was me and try to send me to prison. What do? Perhaps there is a limit to how many times you can steal from one NPC or something like that? Cause I stole one thing, and everything worked out. I stole the second, and now nothing works.

[Nauct]

You gotta be out of the sight cone and high tail it. You can cause a distraction with minor illusion or turn the characters away by talking to them with another party member if possible. Usually the NPC will notice they were robbed, so you gotta run away for a minute before they catch you and come back. Some NPCs move around so when they're facing away enter turn based mode, sneak, steal, run away

[Noctoculus]

BG3 theft is similar to what you said about DOS. Use turn-based mode and send all your stolen stuff to a different character who is out of the immediate area or quickly teleport to a random fast travel location until the NPC gives up.

[Zoid13]

turn off Karmic Dice

stack sleight of hand and other buffs

don't be greedy as stacking that stuff only goes so high you can still fail pretty frequently tryign to steal a 12+ item (or get as greedy as you want if you want to re-load your save a billion times to steal everything)

use the left shift key to see their visibility cones then when its clear lock it into turn based mode.
use turn based mode so patrols don't walk past or the npc doesn't turn around

dash away in stealth while still in turn based mode then deactivate it and run further away before they realise they have been pickpocket and search the surrounding area (quickly teleporting to a nearby way point is easiest) then just approach them slowly again and let them finish their search from a distance before you go closer again

[eldiabs]

Use the same system cheese as Divinity. Use one character to lock the target down in a convo, switch to your thief, steal what you want (save scum of course, because there is no penalty for doing so), move thief well away from target or teleport them to camp when done. End convo, target will accuse you of stealing, deny it and all good, target will wander around a bit and never find thief. You can also lock targets down with a bard performance as well. Also don't forget any roll bonus spells to cast on your thief before stealing. It's all very cheesy, but I've come to find it's more enjoyable spending time stealing from people than it is clicking endless barrels and crates for single gold items. And more profitable.

[Okat]

There are two factors that determine whether NPCs spot you or not: sight and sound. Crouching reduces the amount of sound you make and lets you make a stealth check to remain hidden when you are in line of sight.

When NPCs are in problematic positions, you can do the following, and probably more with some creativity: put them to sleep with a spell or potion, cast fog or darkness to obstruct line of sight, distract them with a familiar or minor illusion to lure them away.

NPCs will notice an object was stolen if it was in plain sight, but probably not if it was in a container. If they do notice, but don't know that it's you, run away. They'll pin it on you if you stick close to the scene of the crime. If you were seen committing the crime, you can use Disguise Self to slip away, or if you were under the effects of Disguise Self during the crime, you can drop it to cast off suspicion.

[Ouroboros8Fate]

I use Shadowheart to use Command on an NPC and use Approach on the vendor to pull them to a more isolated and hidden area away from prying eyes of other NPC's. Once I do that I use Astarion or any thief you may have, make sure they have Guidance on and the Sleight of Hand boosting items.

And you put them in a Hide position so the NPC that is being pulled away can be pickpocketed. Make sure to turn it on Turn Base Mode and pull your other Party members out of range. Then you just simply quick save and start running them pockets. Make sure you get all the lower roll required items. And once you get that done, save and start working through the higher save items. And Save before each one and reload if you have to. Though when you save you'll have to do it again after you reload since you won't be able to pick the pockets.

Rinse Repeat. And make sure you take your thief in turn base mode and leave the area of the person you robbed and hide it out then get out of turn base mode and repeat the steps.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Ouroboros8Fate:

I use Shadowheart to use Command on an NPC and use Approach on the vendor to pull them to a more isolated and hidden area away from prying eyes of other NPC's. Once I do that I use Astarion or any thief you may have, make sure they have Guidance on and the Sleight of Hand boosting items.

And you put them in a Hide position so the NPC that is being pulled away can be pickpocketed. Make sure to turn it on Turn Base Mode and pull your other Party members out of range. Then you just simply quick save and start running them pockets. Make sure you get all the lower roll required items. And once you get that done, save and start working through the higher save items. And Save before each one and reload if you have to. Though when you save you'll have to do it again after you reload since you won't be able to pick the pockets.

Rinse Repeat. And make sure you take your thief in turn base mode and leave the area of the person you robbed and hide it out then get out of turn base mode and repeat the steps.

Damn, that is evil.

[Banelord]

Originally posted by ✪Asielra✪:

Was probably asked a thousand times, but a quick search didn't give me any results, so here we are.
How do you steal so they dont send you to prison? In divinity it was really simple - you stole goods proportionately to your theft skill level while talking to the merchant with your other character, then ran away, dropped everything to the ground, waited for them to calm down and moved on with your game. Here this just doesnt seem to work, and even when I have no stolen goods in my inventory, NPC still acts as if they know 100% it was me and try to send me to prison. What do? Perhaps there is a limit to how many times you can steal from one NPC or something like that? Cause I stole one thing, and everything worked out. I stole the second, and now nothing works.

1. change appearance to soemone else via spell or scroll
2. stealth
3. pickpocket
4. change back

[Tingly]

Kill the person you want to steal from, along with any witnesses.

[MewTressym]

Method 1:
Disguise Self, steal, run away, steal, run away, if you get caught just go to jail and break out and loot the evidence/equipment boxes and then remove your disguise, add a new disguise and do it all over again till you get whatever things you want.

Method 2:
Have someone use "Hold Person" on the vendor, steal to your hearts content, whether they "catch" you or not they're held so they won't be able to do anything, such as turn and see who stole. When you're done just run away.

Method 3:
Cast Fog Cloud/Darkness and Silence over the vendor you want to steal from.

There's a bunch of ways to get Advantage on slight of hand and stealth checks, easiest is probably "Enhance Ability" cleric spell, lvl 2 spell, and just select Dexterity. Keep the cleric well away from both the thief and vendor you want to steal from.

[Fringehunter7719]

Someone tested the disguise self aspect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGbLSKtMkLk&t=170s

It doesn't work.

Fog cloud to block lines of sight, or minor illusion to turn NPCs away, entering turn based mode to make sure nobody turns back, then using "go to camp" to get away does though.

You just need to be careful when you re-enter the area (after fast travelling from camp, not just using leave camp) to stay away while the NPCs run through their search animation.

[DDVaMpZzz]

i just steal from merchants ... ungroup your thief ... start dialog with merchant than switch to thief, sneak up to merchant than save and steal what you can dont forget to use quick save/ load if you failed when you done run away with theaf and switch back to other character if merchant asks to serch you alow that and since you dont have anything you are off the hook

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Either be Rogue or Bard. Equip gloves of thievery to have advantage on rolls. That's 99% success on common items, unless it's a legendary or gold.

[cecilnezuto]

Plus a bard playing a tune can distract a large crowd long enough for you to sneak through, good stuff

[lawjax]

Create a bank.