Pickpocketing in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be frustrating when you keep failing. MeinMMO tells you why that is.
Why do I fail at pickpocketing? A common misunderstanding is the interpretation of the displayed number (the required roll) when stealing. This number is the actual number you need to roll – your bonuses have already been taken into account. Even if a low number is displayed, it does not necessarily mean that the roll is easy.
An example: Let’s say you have a bonus of +10 for pickpocketing as a rogue (through Dexterity, Proficiency + Expertise). If the displayed number of the required roll is at least a 12, this does not mean that you only need to roll a 2 to succeed. In fact, you need to roll a 12.
The actual height of the required roll is shown in the combat log. There you will see the actual sum that you needed to reach in order to successfully steal. In this case, the actual difficulty of the roll was a 22. You had to roll at least a 12, and your +10 has already been considered.
- Just a little tip: If you roll a 1, it is always an automatic fail. And if you roll a 20, then it is always an automatic success (regardless of how high the difficulty of the roll is).
Tips and tricks for better stealing
There are several ways to best pickpocket. We have summarized a few tips for you.
- Hide well: Make sure your thief is well hidden before you start the theft attempt. So make sure you are out of the line of sight of the NPCs (press the shift key) and sneak. As a thief, you should take someone with high dexterity – for example, Astarion.
- Group members: Ensure that your members are far enough away from the act. So divide the group.
- Always save, except in Honour Mode: Save the game once so you can reload again and again. If you fail the roll or get caught, you can go back to the previously saved game state. However, this does not work in Honour Mode, where you cannot do save-scumming.
- Use turn-based mode: Activate the turn-based mode as soon as you have initiated your theft attempt, i.e. when the window opens (the opponent’s inventory). If you were successful, you can close the window. If not, you can reload the previously saved game state and try again. After that, you can switch back to real-time mode. Then it’s best to travel to camp and wait a few minutes before returning to the pickpocketed NPC.
- Use distractions: Alternatively, instead of using turn-based mode, you can distract the NPCs by using other members of your group to, for example, start a dialogue with the target. This makes it easier for your thief. If you are successful, then travel with your thief to another area. The group member can then finish the dialogue. However, this doesn’t always work well as you often get caught by passing NPCs.
The items and also the gold that you can steal all have their own difficulty level. This means that you need to roll a different number for stealing a potion than for stealing an expensive weapon. The difficulty depends on the value of the item and can therefore vary.
A player from the MeinMMO community has also explained how you can consistently steal from merchants in Baldur’s Gate 3 with a simple trick – without scaring them away.
