Pickpocketing advice

[Tyros the Demon Slayer]

I have read that a patch placed into one of the later versions of the game made it significantly hardly to pickpocket NPC's.

Notwithstanding that, I have tried, with a little bit of success, to filch from Burz, and more recently, Kunar. I have had less success with the merchants in Arnika, the Trynnie Shaman and Fuzzfas.

My question is, assuming I have a felpurr rogue, maxing out dex, speed, and the pickpocketing skill, the best I can do is about 29 in the skill when I hit Burz. Even after getting a filcher's band later on, I rarely, if ever, get above 50.

Do any of you have any advice, other than save and reload, which the purist in me will not do, to try to boost my chances of successful filching?

I have snagged a death bomb from Burz, which was nice, but I've been dying to get Kunar's key, a Diamond Eye from the Trynnie Shaman, etc.

Thanks.

[SpitBall]

I've read somewhere that some NPC's are less likely to catch you - and so may offer training. Major Gari was my first successful pick-pocket and he is still the easiest, but he has crappy stuff.

Next was Antone, then Anna and He'Li. Never tried Burz. Crock always catches me, as does Braffit. Braffit won't go hostile, just gives you a lecture about stealing from the clergy - Crock, of course, starts a fight that he can't finish. Only tried Barlone once - bad result. Fuzfass and Madras are OK, because when they catch me, they just go neutral and don't start a fight like the others.

So, it seems that the way to train is to steal from the vendors. I prefer to shop-lift because you get to choose the item, which is great for spell books. I tried to shop-lift the special item that Barlone gets for the group, but no such luck.

[Scatter]

Shop-lift is bad for two reasons: they notice, and when you come back they're yellow or red; and you can't get things they don't sell but do drop.
In a game with the last patch, whenever you enter a zone all the merchants roll for how many attempt you get before they catch you. This rerolls when you reenter any zone at a higher character level. So, anytime you level, go through all the zones you can and PP some more...
In a less-patched game, you can save each successful PP, and exit/load when you have been caught (or think the next one would be a bust) and get a fresh set of chances. The latter is the only way to get PP over 60 or so.
There are more than one Filcher's Bands in the game.
NPC's that are easy:
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
_
_
_
Lorrac is the easiest, and has forty items and a lot of gold. Then prolly in order of difficulty: He-Li, Burz, Bildublu, Anna, Panrack, Vi, Gari, (the T'rang in the mine), Sadok, Saxx, Urq, Scrag, Madras, Braffit, Anselm, (the HLL boss), Fuzzfas, Antone, Rattus, (the Rapax Mage), Croc, Al-Adryian, Calzone, Ferro, Balbrak, Z'ant, Borlone. Many of these have forty items. I may have forgotten one or two. I forgot the names of the ones in parentheses. (i don't bother with them any more)

[vesselle]

advice:
watch wolfie's site. he told me he was gonna find the pre pickpocket change patch and get it posted up on his page as soon as he could.

[img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by SpitBall: I've read somewhere that some NPC's are less likely to catch you - and so may offer training. Major Gari was my first successful pick-pocket and he is still the easiest, but he has crappy stuff.

i can pickpocket from everyone and get good stuff, it's just when i return later on (usually leaving the map and coming back) the npc will turn on me. sometimes it happens as late as a second or third return. but it always happens at the most inconvenient time. i've given up on pp in this playthru.

i haven't found anyone who'll train me tho. anyone know who these guys are?


V***V

[ 03-29-2005, 07:40 AM: Message edited by: vesselle ]

[SpitBall]

I have shop-lifted quite sucessfully - although limited times. Always just before a long journey. Perhaps they simply forget while I'm gone? But, like most things - doesn't pay to be greedy. Never shop-lift from the same place twice. No reason one can't pick-pocket AND shop-lift. I also tend to give every one I will shop-lift from some useless knick-knack whenever first see them after a long separation. Its like anything else - you have to train for it.

[babar]

anyone know if giving away stuff (or even giving pack the stuff you pick) belps your reputation with the merchant?

[Nightowl2]

Supposedly, offering bribes to unhappy merchants will raise your rep with them and allow you to buy stuff again. Only works if they aren't in the red. However, I never tried that myself, just reloaded if I got caught (before I got bored with PP eventually and stopped doing it). Note that that was with the game patched only with the AP fix; I never patched beyond that.

Nightowl2

[babar]

yeah, that's the only way I can get them to talk to me after I get caught. threaten and friendly don't seem to do jack. but I was wondering if it helps at all before you get caught.

[bladedog]

Friendly works sometimes if you cast Charm.

And I'm pretty sure they get mad if you try to give them back what you lifted.

[SpitBall]

Ok, I don't have the experience that many of you seem to have with this game - I'm still on my first time through - but I have been experimenting with Shop-Lifting. In theory, it should be more effective than pick-pocketing because you get to choose the item you are stealing. I want the Spell Books.

Now, how do you train for shop-lifting? This is one area where putting points in at level up is very important, I believe. Now, don't start by stealing Spell Books - or any other high value item. Go for the cheap and abundant stuff. Do not attempt to resell, or give it back to the NPC from which you lifted it. If they get pissy because you got caught - give them something else. But, I believe, I have found an exception to this - which is discussed below.....


If you are one of those players that likes to set yourself up for training in certain areas, I stumbled across a method that may work for this skill, but it takes some effort.

Each merchant has certain items that they will BUY from you, but would not normally stock on their shelves. As I have no gadgeteer in my party, I use the various gadgets I find for profit and training. Once you have identified which Arnika vendors will buy the stuff, but don't usually sell it - sell it to them. Now, when you look at their stocks, you'll see that item - shop-lift it. They may catch you, but they can still be bought off with a small token that you give them. In my limited experience, I have also been successful simply leaving the shop and returning only after some extended mission, or adventure. I think that they do not really get that upset because you are stealing something that they do not generally stock. Caution - you must SELL then the item you want to shop-lift, don't GIVE it to them, otherwise it won't show up in the stocks to be stolen. You can see how this can become a "perpetual training cycle" of selling and lifting. My Bard's shop-lifting/pp skill is in the mid-30s and he can lift spell-books at about 65% success (with Charm in place). In fact, I cannot remember a successful shop-lift without Charmed targets.

[ 05-10-2005, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: SpitBall ]