Make Thief Mode less effective

[Egon the Monkey]

Since this thread basically turned into an off-topic discussion about cheesing Thief Mode, I reckoned it needed it's own discussion thread.

Yeah, I can think of the IC solution of "Yeah, you keep that stuff where we can see it and show us what you're taking there" with a PM "//that means "Turn thief mode off or get backstabbed"", but that's going to get tiresome fast.

With it on, you can discreetly acquire a two meter long, 50 pound clanking metal suit of halfplate without anyone noticing. For a quick comparison, that's like trying to palm a freaking *radiator* and slip it into your bag.
Is there any way to attach a scaling penalty to the thief mode roll, something based on item size multiplied by weight maybe? That would make things like potions and clothing still easy to skim off, but armor and decent sized weapons pretty much impossible.
Or, even a random critical fail chance that causes the message "Clang! "Player X" fumbles a palmed item onto the floor"

[Aldrick Tanith]

Why not have thief mode use pick pocket as a skill check?  It would work similarly to the normal pick pocket skill:

There are two parts to successfully stealing an object. First the item must be acquired, and then a witness must not notice the theft. Stealing the item is a simple skill test against the items weight. The base DC for an item with no weight is 5, and a +2 for every pound of weight thereafter.  This roll is modified by armor check penalties.  All targets within spotting range of the theft then make an opposed Spot check against the thief's Pick Pocket check.  Thieves who are concealed or in stealth mode have a +10 bonus to their Pick Pocket check.  If the witnesses succeed at this opposed check, then they detect the theft attempt.  If the thief is successful at both checks, then he steals the item without being detected.

This means to steal a 50 lbs suit of plate armor will require a DC of 105.  Not going to happen on EfU.  However, stealing an object that weighs 10 lbs requires a DC of 25, which is something obtainable by those with enough skill.

[pyth]

I like the idea of PP being modified like that.

Currently I think it's just PP vs spot of everyone in range, which still doesn't aid against people that just stealth and act like you can't see every chests lid open 1 by 1.

Or people that claim they were "just looking" when called on it, when you know goddam well they just looted the entire end quest stash.

[Cruzel]

Why not just make it so certain item basetypes ( like armor and large weapons) are impossible to steal without notice in theif mode + picking them up sends the message to all who can see the culprit rather than those within a certain radius like it currently is.  It's way easier than the previous suggestion and accomplishes almost the exact same thing with less hassle >.>

Weight based systems are almost always flawed because there are some large objects that weigh almost nothing or have the  reduced weight property.  Quarterstaves, spears, longswords, etc. are all pretty light, but they are not exactly easily  hidden as you pick them up.

[Aldrick Tanith]

True, but then again it's also completely possible to walk around with eight different weapons, six boxes, ten different potions, a bag of herbs and a large assortment of other nick-knacks.  

Face it:  The way NWN and D&D handles carrying capacity is retarded.  I don't know anyone who can -reasonably- carry as much crap as all my PC's carry and still be able to fight.

So with that in mind, stealing a spear doesn't seem that ridiculous in comparison.

[9lives]

Uh.. I'm pretty sure Pick-Pocket DOES modify thief-mode.