Welcome to the best Stealing and Pickpocketing Guide for BG3.
This is the ultimate guide to stealing and pickpocketing successfully and getting away with it. This mechanic is crucial in Baldur’s Gate 3, particularly in late-game or higher difficulty settings, because it allows you to accumulate vital items you’ll urgently need.
This guide teaches you how to master thievery in Baldur’s Gate 3. Before you know it, you’ll be planning your own heists and slipping away before anyone knows what’s happened!
Table of Contents:
BG3 Stealing Overview
Stealing is typically done in three different ways in BG3, depending on where the item is located. These are standard stealing, pickpocketing and lockpicking.
The main Skills used for stealing are 
Stealth and 
Sleight of Hand; both of these are Dexterity skills, so the party member with the best Dexterity and available Proficiency in these skills (usually a Rogue or a Ranger) should be your party’s dedicated thief. You can give them items that will improve their success chance, and always ensure you switch to that character before trying any theft.
Even if you want to play honourably and refrain from stealing any items from civilians, Lockpicking is still a vital skill for getting all of the available loot in the game – you might miss out on some important items if nobody in your party is good at it!
We will now go into more detail about the three types of stealing in BG3, and how to maximise your success chances at each one.
Standard Stealing in BG3
This is the simplest form of theft: you steal an item lying in plain view or from an unlocked container.
You can easily do it with any character, although having a high Stealth skill will make it a little easier.
Any item or container that shows a red icon when you hover over it is owned by somebody. Taking any such item is considered theft, and any NPCs who witness the act will be upset and may attack you or summon guards to arrest you.
Illuminated – You will be instantly detected
Lightly Obscured – You must pass a Stealth check to stay hidden. Once per turn or every 6 seconds.
Heavily Obscured – You will remain hidden unless you get too close to an NPC.Remain undetected while taking the item(s), then get away from the immediate vicinity quickly – NPCs will often notice that the item has gone missing, and will frantically search the area for a thief.
Getting familiar with these mechanics is vital for the second type of theft in BG3 – pickpocketing.
Pickpocketing in BG3
To carry out Pickpocketing in Baldur’s Gate 3, you must approach an NPC from behind while sneaking and remaining undetected (see above).
Select the NPC to initiate pickpocketing. You can see the items they are carrying on their person. You may want to enter turn-based mode first, which will give you more time to look at each item.
Perception SkillIf successful, the item will be added to your inventory. Just like with standard stealing, you shouldn’t hang around the scene of the crime. The NPC may realise they’ve been robbed and start searching for the culprit.
Lockpicking in BG3
Lockpicking is not always considered a criminal act. If the container or door is marked in red, then Lockpicking it will be considered a crime, but otherwise it will be fine. Indeed, lockpicking chests and doors found in the world is vital for finding all of the hidden items and secrets in Baldur’s Gate 3.
In any case, Lockpicking also uses your Sleight of Hand skill, but the Difficulty Class of each lock is set in stone. You need to roll higher than the Difficulty Class (after modifiers have been applied) to open the lock.
If you fail the Lockpicking, you can try again by spending Inspiration or a set of Thieves’ Tools.
Once again, if you successfully steal an item after lockpicking, leave the area before anyone notices.
How to Improve Theft Success Chances in BG3
We will now look at how to build your character for the best possible theft success rates in Baldur’s Gate 3. We can do this with three methods: character build, equipment and buffs.
How to Make a Good Thief Build in BG3
As mentioned earlier in the guide, the two important Skills for stealing in BG3 are Sleight of Hand and Stealth. These are both Dexterity skills, so having a good Dexterity score is vital. Start the game with 16 Dexterity, then later on increase it with Ability Improvement up to 20. You can optionally use the Mirror of Loss to get a further boost to 22.
Besides this, ensure your character has Proficiency with both the Stealth and Sleight of Hand skills. This will add your Proficiency Bonus to all rolls with those skills (starts at a +2 buff, but increases as you level up.
Finally, if you picked the Rogue class, getting to Level 11 grants you the 
Reliable Talent feature. This will guarantee a minimum roll of 10 on your Sleight of Hand and Stealth rolls, along with any other Skills you are Proficient in.
Ticking all these boxes gives you a strong foundation for improving your success rate with stealing. But to really become the best possible thief, you’ll have to combine it with other bonuses.
Best BG3 Equipment for Stealing
You can find a range of items to help you steal in BG3. The list below shows the most important ones, ordered by how early in the game you can obtain them.
Advantage on 
Spells and Buffs for Thievery in BG3
Finally, you can boost your character’s ability to steal successfully by applying various spells and buffs to them.
Happy – Only available for 
Tips & Tricks for Stealing in BG3
We will wrap up this guide with a range of tips and tricks that will help you to steal successfully without getting caught as often as possible in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Tip 1: Party Positioning
One of the most important tips for thievery in BG3 concerns your party’s positioning.
- Separate your thief so their allies will not follow.
- Keep your allies far enough away so that if you get caught, they won’t be pulled into any potential combat.
- This allows your thief to escape by running, hiding, or turning invisible.
- We do this because it’s much harder to organise an escape with your whole party; it can easily turn into a running fight as you are chased through the streets, potentially pulling in even more NPCs.
The exception to this rule is if your party members can help your thief in some way. For example, in a crowded area, an ally can distract an onlooking NPC by talking to them so they face away from the theft target. Just be mindful that escaping will be more complicated if things go wrong.
Tip 2: Disguise
If you can use a disguise spell like 
Disguise Self or 
Seeming, or any other action or item with the same effect, you can avoid any reputational damage from being caught stealing.
If you don’t disguise yourself and subsequently get caught, some NPCs may be unwilling to deal with you again unless you compensate them for your trouble.
Tip 3: Using Invisibility
There are two types of invisibility in BG3:
Tip 4: Teleport to Camp
In some situations, you’ll be able to quickly teleport to your camp when caught, before NPCs have a chance to accost you. Then teleport to a waypoint so you don’t return to the crime scene right away.
This is a bit of a cheesy exploit, so it’s up to you whether you want to do it.
Tip 5: Obscure Sight
You are much less likely to get caught stealing when noone can see you. There are several non-hostile ways to obscure sight in BG3:
Blinds everyone in the area unless they have magical darkvision (not many characters do).
Important: If you’re using this for pickpocketing purposes, put the AoE as close to the target as possible without touching them, so your character can stand on the edge of the area and not be seen. Otherwise, you might make the NPCs hostile – being suddenly shrouded in a cloud of magical gas tends to upset people.
Tip 6: Distract Onlookers
It’s harder to steal anything in a crowded area because there are lots of witnesses – if it’s really crowded, you won’t be able to safely use fog or darkness clouds to obstruct their vision.
Dialogue – Make your party members talk to NPCs so they look away from the theft target.
Risky Methods
You can also use these methods to forcefully stop NPCs from looking at what you are doing (without hurting them). But you’d better have an escape plan ready because they will probably become hostile as soon as the effects wear off:
No doubt there are plenty of other methods, but make sure your whole party is disguised if you’re going to engage in this type of behaviour, or you’ll quickly find you have few friends left in Faerun.
Tip 7: Turn-Based Mode
Our final tip is to use Turn-Based Mode when appropriate.
For simple thefts, it is often easier to leave this turned off because you can react to NPC movements as they happen.
But if you’re executing complicated, multi-step heists to distract a bunch of NPCs, steal an item and then make a quick escape, you will find it much easier to use Turn-Based Mode.
