Opions on stealing/pickpocket? Possible small spoilers.
John Andersson
It is way to easy to drink a couple of potion to raise once pickpocket
and steal everything you need at the beginning of the game. Selling the
wands you pick up in the dungeon, steal them back, fully recharged. Steal
the Mace +2 and other weapons from Gorch at Mae'Var's Guild. And not to
forget the Glasses of Identification, Ring of regeneration, etc, etc.
Even if I play a Evil charachter it's sometimes difficult to convince
myself to steal the equipment I need for my party. If I'm good I don't do
it, neutral I usually take a few "important" items.
If you play evil (and not a thief) and have Jan or Yoshimo (who both are
neutral) in your part party, how do you justify the stealing they have to
do? "Oh, come on Jan, it's best for the group, we need that mace +2." And
then give it to, let's say, Minsc (who is goddy-good-good). Dosen't he
wonder where the mace comes from? "Eh... we found it?" He would probebly
drop Boo in your pants right away.
I know it's just a game, but I always try to play as true to my
charachter (and party members) as possible which I belive gives an extra
challange to the game. If stealing was hard, a challange, I probably
wouldn't have this problem, but it's so damn easy that even my chaotic
evil assassin has second toughts...
--
http://medlem.tripodnet.nu/johnandersson/
Dianne McKinzie
forehead!). While playing with my evil party, I did pickpocket some items
that I really wanted and didn't have the money at the time to purchase. It
was fairly early on in the game, our reputation was fairly low, and it made
sense to me to give it a try in a role playing sense. This character is a
lawful evil dwarven fighter, and being lawful evil, he really only cares
about himself and furthering himself. Also, silly me, was concerned about
having enough money later on in the game (this party, in spite of it's lower
reputation than my good parties, had more money when entering Chapter Seven
then my previous two good parties!)
It was a bit of a pain in the ass, really, without the potions. Jan, with
his pick pockets at 110 still was not always successful. Since I REALLY
wanted the Dwarven Thrower, I had to reload a bunch of times. I reloaded,
not because of the reputation hit, but because I didn't want this particular
merchant pissed at me as he had more items I wanted to purchase at a later
time. Later on I screwed around a little bit out of curiosity and had Jan
steal some gems we had sold to the merchant Bel. But once again, it seemed
like he got caught more often than he was successful and it wasn't worth the
hassle of reloading over and over again just to pickpocket a diamond. Bel's
another merchant I didn't want to piss off, primarily because his location
is so convenient to sell stuff.
I haven't been able to justify pick pocketing items while playing with my
good aligned characters. It's enough of a stretch for me to march into a
house with Keldorn in my party and have my thief steal that horn of Valhalla
(spelling). I certainly would not pickpocket gems we've sold to merchants
to sell again while playing my good aligned party. But that's just me.
Besides, I have my seven year old son watching over my shoulder telling me
not to steal because it's wrong. Minsc is his favorite character. He's
currently very upset with me for dropping Minsc and Boo from my evil party.
Loketar
you have a pickpocket in your party, then obviously they don't have any ill
feelings towards pickpocketing or they wouldn't have the skill in the first
place. Personally though, I like to "earn" my magical items, not steal them
in or shadowkeeper them. It just gives me that sense that I accomplished
something, which I believe is what the designers intended.
Dianne McKinzie <dc...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:a33x6.1403$IJ1.1...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Bob Tokyo
stealing. He's a thief! That's his job!
Besides, is killing people and taking their stuff (which is how you get most
things in Baldurs Gate 1 & 2) morally superior to stealing? ;-)
If you think it's "too easy", then stop using the potions, and don't reload
when caught. I play in a "no reload, no bug exploit, no player knowledge"
style right now (with the fixpack in so that the wand is no longer an
uber-weapon and dragons are no longer idiots), but what suits me might not
suit you.
"John Andersson" <no....@to.me> wrote in message
news:MPG.152ed4a02...@news.chello.se...
John Andersson
# When playing a thief, or an Evil character, I have no problems with
# stealing. He's a thief! That's his job!
I don't have trouble with justifying the stealing it self, especially
when playing a evil theif (like you wrote: thats his/hers job). I just
think it's to easy to steal, it's not really a challange and the main
reason for the posting was to start a discussion and to see what others
think about it.
# Besides, is killing people and taking their stuff (which is how you get most
# things in Baldurs Gate 1 & 2) morally superior to stealing? ;-)
Definitely not, but I never attack inocent people. Those that dies by my
hand deserve it! And I deserve the items the leave behind. ;)
# If you think it's "too easy", then stop using the potions, and don't reload
# when caught. I play in a "no reload, no bug exploit, no player knowledge"
# style right now (with the fixpack in so that the wand is no longer an
# uber-weapon and dragons are no longer idiots), but what suits me might not
# suit you.
I have a couple of partys going right now (I play the party that most
suit my mood for the day) and one of them (ch. evil swachbuckler) - which
I've been playing a lot the last couple of days...) I'm actually playing
the "no reload" way.
Thanks for the input.
PetHmll
>wonder where the mace comes from? "Eh... we found it?"
Erm Minsc being Minsc he'd probably believe you!
We are talking about a man who talks to a hamster afterall!
Sleepy Pete
jess
for you starving family? and what if you family doesnt like bread, they
like cigarettes?"
The Rat
thief, have..
1. Cleared a horde of bloodthirsty trolls from some damn womans keep and
lands....and who could only remark as to how we weren't helping the poor all
the time we were doing it.
2. Prevented a badass beholder, and his merry bunch of followers, aka the
'unseeing eye" cult, from aquiring the rift device...something a whole
district full of palladins and priests apparently couldn't do.
3. Removed a demi-lich, lying dormant in a basement in the docks district,
from any chance of coming back to life...hell, this alone probably saved the
whole damn sword coast from certain "inprisonment"
These and many more tales of derring do we did..and what galls me is the
merchants still want money for there crap! Hell, they should be giving us
the shit and paying us for taking it!!!
Nope, I have no qualms about pick-pocketing those greedy bastards...lol.
Derville
> What is your opinion on stealing/pickpocketing?
>
> It is way to easy to drink a couple of potion to raise once pickpocket
> and steal everything you need at the beginning of the game. Selling
the
> wands you pick up in the dungeon, steal them back, fully recharged.
Steal
> the Mace +2 and other weapons from Gorch at Mae'Var's Guild. And not
to
> forget the Glasses of Identification, Ring of regeneration, etc, etc.
>
>
> I know it's just a game, but I always try to play as true to my
> charachter (and party members) as possible which I belive gives an
extra
> challange to the game. If stealing was hard, a challange, I probably
> wouldn't have this problem, but it's so damn easy that even my chaotic
> evil assassin has second toughts...
>
> --
> http://medlem.tripodnet.nu/johnandersson/
First up, stealing is not all that easy. Try nicking a Summon Fiend
spell from the storekeep in the Coronet - as far as I can tell, it's
damn near impossible to steal that spell. I can nick axes, swords,
maces and suits of armour, but even with 250%+ pick pockets I can not
steal that scroll.
Anyway, at the start of the game I used Jan to give me a few thousand GP
by sinking our gold from chez Irenicus into potions of master thievery,
then going to clear out Roger. It's not as quick as one would like
until the group actually collects some decent equipment (I recommend
armour - full plate +1 sells for well over 2000GP IIRC, yet +2 weapons
generally only go for 500-600GP or thereabouts - Carsomyr being the
costliest at 6000GP), but I couldn't be bothered with waiting around for
inevitability to kick in and for the cash to pile up. Besides, I see
this as completely legit - thieves can drink potions and thieves can
steal, therefore I'll take advantage of that. The fact you can't now
charm shopkeepers to talk to them again makes stealing a risky business
still, at least if you want to use a shop more than once.
Personally, I'd suggest that an absolute limit is put onto thieving
skills for Throne of Bhaal (about 200% or so), but this leaves me with a
slight worry: considering mages with 90%+ chances to learn spells are
likely to fail more than 1 time out of 10, the mind boggles as to how
thieving modifiers will be implemented. The other, less favourable
choice, would be to nerf potions to limit how much they raise skills by
and/or reduce their duration on the character.
--
Phil
(Remove 'your.inhibitions' to reply)
Read the alt.games.baldurs-gate Usage FAQ:
www.demonspawn.net/bg/usage.htm
Loketar
> this as completely legit - thieves can drink potions and thieves can
> steal, therefore I'll take advantage of that.
True. But selling Corsymyr, stealing it back, then turning around and
selling it right back again seems pretty bogus. I can see it now:
Char: Hey look, this is a one of a kind piece, give me $6000 for it.
Shopkeep: Ok, deal.
<3 seconds later>
Char: Hey look, this is a one of a kind piece, give me $6000 for it.
Shopkeep: Ok, deal.
<3 seconds later>
Char: Hey look, this is a one of a kind piece, give me $6000 for it.
Shopkeep: Ok, deal.
You get my point. Seems to me if you steal something from a shopkeep, you
should never be able to sell it to him again if it's a rare item. Only to
another shopkeep, and then again only once.
Jeremiah
"Loketar" <lok...@home.com> spake thusly:
>> Besides, I see
>> this as completely legit - thieves can drink potions and thieves can
>> steal, therefore I'll take advantage of that.
>
> True. But selling Corsymyr, stealing it back, then turning around and
> selling it right back again seems pretty bogus.
No way man! If the game lets you do it, it's perfectly legal!
*ducks*
Bob Tokyo
tell a stolen item from one you'd come across honestly (by murdering the
previous owner), but I'd be fine with a system where shopkeepers recognized
items stolen from them and called the guards. Even better would be any
shopkeeper you steal from more than twice becoming hostile and refusing to
deal with you. After all, even if he can't catch you, he knows that every
time you come in to his shop things go missing. ;-)
"Loketar" <lok...@home.com> wrote in message
news:gXnx6.10306$Os.26...@news1.rdc2.pa.home.com...
Loketar
> *ducks*
Don't put words in my mouth young man. I didn't say it wasn't legal, just
slightly bogus. Therefore I don't do it. I mean, seriously, if it wasn't for
the satisfaction of EARNING the cool stuff in the game, how much fun would
it be really? My son uses every cheat known to man. He has like a billion
gold, every item he finds is duplicated to every other character. He
basically can't lose a fight. I keep telling him he might as well play
Diablow because he's already ruined BG.
Htn963
>Well, lets see...my group of hardy adventurers, with me, as a swashbuckling
>thief, have..
>1. Cleared a horde of bloodthirsty trolls from some damn womans keep and
>lands....and who could only remark as to how we weren't helping the poor all
>the time we were doing it.
Not to mention the other woman who thought you weren't too much above the
trolls you cleared out. That was the only time I wanted to violate my No
Killing Civilian rule.
>2. Prevented a badass beholder, and his merry bunch of followers, aka the
>'unseeing eye" cult, from aquiring the rift device...something a whole
>district full of palladins and priests apparently >couldn't do.
Those paladins have a sweet racket going, and their inaction was likely
deliberate: without continuing nearby evil, they'd be out of their fancy
homes and titles.
>3. Removed a demi-lich, lying dormant in a basement in the docks district,
>from any chance of coming back to life...hell, this alone probably saved the
>whole damn sword coast from certain "inprisonment"
>
>These and many more tales of derring do we did..and what galls me is the
>merchants still want money for there crap! Hell, they should be giving us
>the shit and paying us for taking it!!!
>
>Nope, I have no qualms about >pick-pocketing those greedy bastards...lol.
Well said. Stealing, as Gabriel Knight remarked in Sins of the Fathers,
afterall serves a good cause...yours!
Jeremiah
"Loketar" <lok...@home.com> spake thusly:
>> No way man! If the game lets you do it, it's perfectly legal!
>> *ducks*
>
> Don't put words in my mouth young man.
Ha. Young man my arse... tho maybe younger than you.
> I didn't say it wasn't legal, just slightly bogus.
Good... we wouldn't want another "is it cheating?" thread
starting up...
Loketar
Unfortunate, but true.
> Good... we wouldn't want another "is it cheating?" thread
> starting up...
I certainly wouldn't.
Derville
> > this as completely legit - thieves can drink potions and thieves can
> > steal, therefore I'll take advantage of that.
>
> True. But selling Corsymyr, stealing it back, then turning around and
> selling it right back again seems pretty bogus. I can see it now:
>
> Char: Hey look, this is a one of a kind piece, give me $6000 for it.
> Shopkeep: Ok, deal.
>
> You get my point. Seems to me if you steal something from a shopkeep,
you
> should never be able to sell it to him again if it's a rare item. Only
to
> another shopkeep, and then again only once.
Well, it has to be that way for we who need to recharge wands. You'd be
amazed how quickly I can use up 50 charges when I'm not rationing myself
;-). However, the code flags that would be needed to say which
storekeep has and hasn't bought the item once would be mammoth. And,
for wallies like myself who save up to buy the Sword of Slicing, only to
pick up a Sword of Slicing +2 in the next map area, it is nice to be
able to offload the item and get a bit (although not much) of money back
for it. Now if only BG2 merchants gave me a 7 day cooling off period
after I spend 20,000GP with them...
Actually, it was easier to justify this trick in Fallout 2. Use healing
powder on merchants to lower their perception, then they probably will
think they're getting a whole new item every time you offer it ;-).
Loketar
> powder on merchants to lower their perception, then they probably will
> think they're getting a whole new item every time you offer it ;-).
Well, no need to justify to me. I just don't do it. Cash never seems to be a
problem after about the first chapter.
Derville
Ah well, I'm not one of these people who think they always have enough
cash. I'll tell you what, though - if NWN would allow it, I'd love to
be an online taxman. Let's see these munchkins with 3 intelligence try
and pass off their hundreds of thousand of plundered loot as non-taxable
benefits ;-).
Loketar
> cash.
Normally I wouldn't be either, but the tedium of stealing/selling and
sitting through the conversation string each time just isn't worth it to me.
Hey Ranger, look, I snipped!