Baldur's Gate 3: Pickpocketing Tips and Tricks for any trader even those in Baldur's Gate.

Still working as of patch 6!
A tips and tricks video showing the best ways to steal from any trader, even ones in crowded locations!
Two of my tricks abuse the game mechanics a bit and may be patched out at somepoint. On my 2nd method I also show a tip to make it so you can pickpocket indefinitely without risk.
My last tips section shows how to pickpocket 100% legitimately for your best chances of success.
*As a note the Feign Death trick apparently does not work in Honor mode, feel free to skip it and jump ahead using the time stamps to method 2.*
00:00 - Intro.
00:30 - Method 1 - Feign Death.
03:29 - Method 2 - Part 1 Hold person in a busy location.
04:38 - Method 2 - Part 2 Hold person in a secluded location.
05:30 - Method 3 - Legitimate method what stats you need.
07:05 - Method 3 - Legitimate method what gear you need.
08:01 - Method 3 - Legitimate method shown in action.
09:41 - Outro.
Good luck stealing everything!
Please like and subscribe if you found this entertaining or useful! It helps the video get shown to more people! (Also it is always nice to see those numbers go up!)
And feel free to comment with any tips or tricks you have found along your way.
Thanks for watching!

[@Superdonko]

Silver necklace for guidance, Gloves of power, smugglers ring, shapeshifters boon ring, and enhance ability. By level 3 you can get between a +12 and a +18 on your sleight of hand checks, with advantage. If you’re a halfling, you have an almost zero chance of falling any check with a difficulty of 4 or lower. Combine this with splitting gold stacks (100g or less), and you can pickpocket thousands of gold with almost no chance of getting caught. Also, don’t pickpocket Auntie Ethel, she has mad perception.

[@Ianistoocommon]

Great tips! I missed the smugglers ring, it's definitely the better option!

[@SilverStarGG]

Unlucky Thief's Gloves provides a +2 bonus to Sleight of Hand, better than Gloves of power which you can receive from spinning Akabi's wheel! Don't forget to use its Reverse Rain Cloak reward as well to not get burnt ;)

[@Superdonko]

@@SilverStarGG good to know, but you get gloves of power almost right away, and with basically no effort. I have things to steal before act 3. ;)

[@SeventhheavenDK]

Kind of newbie here. So, sorry of the question is dumb. Why does a Halfling have less chances to fail the pickpocket?

[@Ianistoocommon]

@SeventhheavenDK not a dumb question, if you never played as a Hafling or just read the descriptions for every race you'd never know! The Halflings have a racial feature that if they roll a 1 for an attack, saving or abilitycheck roll they can re roll and take the new number. Because your slight of hand bonus is generaly really high you usually just fail when you roll a 1 unless you are going for really difficult items.

[@jimking8342]

If you're incredibly stingy and don't want to spend a spell slot for Fog Cloud/Darkness or use an Arrow of Darkness, the Cloak of Cunning Brume (sold by Mattis at the Last Light Inn) generates a small fog cloud that lasts 1 turn when you Disengage. A level 2 Rogue can do this with a Cunning (Bonus) Action, and use your Action to pickpocket. It helps to cover your getaway too.

[@Ianistoocommon]

Biggest mistake I made was letting Roland or what ever his name was leave the grove in act 1! If he leaves you don't get Mattis in act 2 or 3 and miss out on a couple nice items! Unfortunately I was already in act 3 by the time I found this out and was not about to essentially start my game over haha!

[@tantalus_complex]

The Cloak of Cunning Brume is one of the best-in-slot items for the cloak slot, in my opinion, for rogues or monks. But I'd also consider it for a party without those classes. A wizard, for example, who is concentrating on an important crowd control spell could use this to avoid being targeted on subsequent turns, even without 2 levels of rogue. And it could be used on a solo run to great effect.

[@Dragons4Dummies]

This was by far my favorite way to steal in my main playthrough

[@MadAtMax.300Blackout]

Must be why mattis isnt at last light. At least i dont think so but roland is, drinking and crying and blaming me for his stupidity lol​@@Ianistoocommon

[@XH13]

In a crowded location, a bard, or any PC with musical training (either a feat or a specific dialog in act 1) can act as a distraction. Have a party member talk to the merchant, then move your music player near a wall front of the merchant and start playing. Most NPC in the vicinity will go and listen to the music, except the merchant who is speaking to you

[@janesbarnes1012]

You could also at late game go to 11 in rouge, basically garuntees a 28 every roll. They get Reliable, meaning they cant roll lower then a 10 if there proficient in a stat.

[@Ianistoocommon]

Yea, late game rogue is a powerhouse when it comes to stealing!

[@sebastienxing8372]

having proficiency in persuasion should make the pickpocketing build better, as it should decrease the perceived value of items and thus, the dc of the pickpocket iirc

[@shiki0836]

I will use this for my LockpickingLawyer Thief build

[@eclecticx]

Smuggler's Ring > Ring of Trading. Gloves of Dexterity > Gloves of Thievery (unless char has 18+ dex). Nice mention of using feign death. You can always use Shadowheart or Wyll, etc. for guidance, so necklace isn't really a must have.

[@Ianistoocommon]

Yea, I am really kicking my self for forgetting to grab the smugglers ring before I locked that area out! The gloves you mention are a great option too!

[@Chonus]

Why would you use gloves of dex it caps your dex at 18 so it can't get to 20....

[@eclecticx]

@@Chonus Not everyone plays the same. Sure, you can focus on maxing out dex, but maybe someone else wants greater strength so they decide to improve that attribute for a more balanced character. This would come in handier for a Rogue Assassin, of course, than a pure thief. Or maybe someone determines they want extra wisdom and/or intelligence for perception checks and investigation.

[@Chonus]

Oh boy, you don't have to explain that to me, the whole premise of the video is about a dedicated thief character 🤷 @@eclecticx

[@eclecticx]

@@ChonusI was simply talking about items that help in thieving and are better than the ones mentioned in the vid. Note I stated gloves of dex > gloves of thievery unless char has 18+ dex. 18+ in dex renders those particular gloves useless, of course.

[@WhyYoutubeWhy]

Awesome thanks! I am a noob at this game and all things DnD and always ended up getting caught stealing even if no other NPCs around. Didn't think to even go into turn based mode lollllll 😅

[@Ianistoocommon]

Glad this helped! I spent far too much time in the game stealing lol!

[@Jimbob1337]

Enhance Ability for advantage pretty much prevents you from getting Nat 1 Sleight of hand rolls.

[@soloalencon2909]

Instead of the Firzu ring should have the smuggler's ring. GIves +2 to Sleight of hand and Stealth.

[@Ianistoocommon]

That is very true! I missed that ring on my playthrough.

[@FullBring88]

Bard Lightfoot hireling, throw everything you need into Sleight of Hand, cast Enhance Ability: Dexterity on yourself. Boom, you now have advantage on Sleight of Hand rolls and re-rolling any double 1 rolls.

[@Chonus]

Needs to be lore bard for expertise

[@msuphoto]

This is the video i was waiting for!

[@AzuristSky]

you can sell an NPC a pouch or a backpack and move all there stuff in there and then steal the backpack/pouch

[@Ianistoocommon]

I have heard people using this effectively I just couldn't get that to work for me, it always made the bags have a high check.

[@MrBlitzballer]

@@Ianistoocommon That exploit was patched so the containers will now accurately reflect the value of the items inside of them. Last time I checked there is still a way to loot said container while it is still in the trader's inventory to steal everything without a check but I don't know if they have fixed it yet.

[@demon_otf_1803]

@@Ianistoocommon I just used this technique today in my honor mode run. The patch did make the pouch accurately reflect the items inside as far as buying value, but for pickpocketing it is still totally worth doing since even if the check is super high (mine was DC 22) it's one single roll as opposed to all the rolls you'd need to make for each individual item, and with all the items and buffs getting your SoH bonuses super high, you should be able to make the roll anyway.

[@jonaswestman1245]

Can firzu ring of trading be swapped with Thieves ring for a +2 sleight of hand check?

[@Ianistoocommon]

Yes, that is a much better option! I missed getting that ring in my playthrough.

[@Dragons4Dummies]

One tip for that last part about long resting - I can confirm as of writing this that even in honor mode they won't search for you after about 1 minute/10 turns. Kill all concentration spells on them before the countdown though.

[@Ianistoocommon]

Thanks for confirming the time it takes to stop them searching in honor mode!

[@babayaga4320]

I must not be setting this up right, when I set up method #1 or #2 while also using one of my party member to enter conversation with the merchant, and a couple of things are happening that messes things up. First off when I'm in turn based mode, when it gets back around to the person talking to the merchant, I cannot end turn until I end the conversation with the merchant, so I can't get back to the person that will do the pickpocketing, pr when I can that person is blinded by darkness and cannot pickpocket, and also the environment is always getting a turn and I can't figure out why these things are happening, I've set it up in the past perfectly, but I can't replicate it now.

[@Ianistoocommon]

So for the hold person method don't enter turn based mode. Just have someone talk to the person, then cast hold person, then pickpocket. But this only works if no one else is around. The reason for talking to the merchant is it will prevent them from taking a turn, so they never get a chance exit the spell. For the feign death method (doesn't work in honor mode) don't talk to the person just cast feign death then darkness then pickpocket and enter turn based mode. Once you fail leave turn based mode crouch and re enter it as soon as it let's you. Then you can pickpocket again, sometimes you have to move the mouse around a bit to find the person in the darkness. To make that a bit easier use a elixir or dark vision on who ever you have pickpocketing. Hopefully this helps!

[@babayaga4320]

Thank you for the reply@@Ianistoocommon

[@spyrochrisgaming]

Can you cast Bane on the NPC to make them fail the Hold Person Saving Throw more often?

[@Ianistoocommon]

In therory, but you would have to do it in turn based mode, because bane is a hostile spell so the NPC would react as if you just attacked them. Also Bane has a saving throw itself, so it might not even work anyway.

[@Voeluspa45]

Do the methods still work?

[@Ianistoocommon]

I just tested them now, yes they do! (Just dont use the feign death one on honor mode, and be cautious with hold person).

[@Forsaken-_]

Feign death method works still

[@Ianistoocommon]

Thanks for confirming!

[@shayhenderson6211]

Does this not work for consoles? I have +89 attitude on a shopkeeper and it says feign death can’t be cast on him cause he’s not an ally.

[@Ianistoocommon]

It should work? Unfortunatly I cant test it because I dont have this game on console. Just to make sure whoever is casting feign death needs the good reputation. So you have to start the conversation with your caster and have them donate items to get the good reputation, it wont work if anyone else does it. Also I have heard it does not work on Honor mode. Worst case the hold person should work fine. Or just the basic stealing.

[@SouPNaZi316]

Sell empty bag. open bag in vender and switch to barter. fill bag with everything. leave. have gloomstalker assasin with greater invis/pass without trace murder trader and pick up the bag with thier entire inventory. greater invis + passwithout trace is crazy.

[@Ianistoocommon]

Thats a great trick too! It would speed things up alot vs just pickpocketing each item individually!

[@lordofthemordor]

*7:20** that char looks good, what race is that bro?*

[@Ianistoocommon]

She is a halfling. Its the bard hireling from withers, I edited her appearance in that clip to the first choice of faces, everything else was default for the appearance.

[@lordofthemordor]

@@Ianistoocommon *TBH, I've never seen them before for 400h in BG3 ;). I was creating simple race everytime, like in multiplayer. I see that witners guys have some bonuses, plus race bonus, which means they are cooler, am I correct?*

[@car34bx]

Act 1. I'm in act 1. lol

[@nekonekomikan]

Do traders roll against us? Or do I have a affinity for natural ones?

[@Superdonko]

With advantage, you have a 1 in 400 chance of rolling a 1 on both dice. If you’re a halfling, that chance drops to almost zero.

[@nekonekomikan]

@@Superdonko Soo its just my affinity that my rogue is caught multiple times stealing alchemy herbs with a lvl 1 difficulty ... Yeah, sounds about my luck in life.

[@Ianistoocommon]

Don't feel too bad I have the same bad luck, except when I am actually trying to fail then I never do haha!

[@koga6422]

For me the Feighn death method says "invalid target". Am on Pc rn

[@Ianistoocommon]

Two things to make sure you are doing: 1. not playing in honor mode (it does not work in honor mode). 2. make sure the person who is casting feign death is the person you used to talk to the trader and donate items with to get the good reputation. It will not work if you start the conversation with anyone else even if durring trade you switch people. Hopefully it is just one of those things and you get it to work!

[@_Travey]

I’d rather do the take all their items/dupe their gold glitch/ bug. No chance of getting caught and I can get unlimited gold from the first vendor I’m the game. 😂

[@Re3Ns]

What bug are you talking about?

[@mandemarso]

I put everything I want in a bagpack, take a potion of invisibility, get into position, save, and just reload until I get it.

[@BruceLee-kf7rl]

This guy needs to quit smoking, ASAP

[@Ianistoocommon]

??

[@iseeyou733]

Easy way to get 100% attitude bonus. Re spec someone to level 1 and give them 400 gold. This works on xbox atm

[@Ianistoocommon]

This is a great tip!

[@iseeyou733]

@@Ianistoocommon thanks to yt lol. No guides as good as yours tho boss please keep it up ! good sh*t brother 🤝🏿

[@iseeyou733]

This still works on xbox

[@iseeyou733]

Feighn death still works on xbox

[@Ianistoocommon]

Thanks for confirming!

[@iseeyou733]

@@Ianistoocommon 🤝🏿

[@RocKaFella57]

On honor mode?

[@iseeyou733]

@@RocKaFella57 im not that good. On tactition 😶‍🌫️

[@Ianistoocommon]

@@RocKaFella57 I havent tried myself, but from what I know the feign death does not work on Honor mode. Hold person should however.