Stealing

Many items in Baldur's Gate 3 can be stolen from their owners. This includes free-standing objects in the environment that can simply be picked up, and objects held by creatures that can be stolen via the pickpocket mechanic. This page tries to explain all mechanics involved in stealing.

The explanations below are based on in-game experimentation, and may be inaccurate or incomplete.

Picking Pockets

While  Hiding and being out of view of any creatures, a party member has the option to pickpocket. Clicking (or right clicking and selecting pickpocket) on a creature will open a dedicated pickpocketing UI. This window can be opened and closed without consequence as long as the party member remains unseen.

In the pickpocketing window, any item that the creature holds can be targeted for stealing. The window will show the roll target of stealing that particular item, which depends on its weight and value. The roll target is not the Difficulty Class (DC) of stealing, but rather the raw roll on the D20 needed to meet the DC. Selecting an item and clicking steal will trigger a  Sleight of Hand Ability Check.

Variable bonuses from  Guidance and the Shapeshifter's Boon Ring are not applied to calculate this roll target, but flat item bonuses to Sleight of Hand e.g. from the Gloves of Power, Smuggler's Ring, etc are applied.

An unsuccessful attempt means the creature catches the party member stealing. Depending on the creature, they will either attack immediately, or they will confront the party member and give them an opportunity to explain theirselves, prompting a  Deception,  Intimidation, or  Persuasion Skill Check. If failing this skill checks the party member is arrested. On a success, the creature takes no further action and returns to normal behaviour, but if the party member is caught pickpocketing again, they are arrested or attacked immediately without being given the chance to explain theirselves again.

However, a successful roll on the pick-pocket action does not guarantee that the party member can get away with it either. After the successful theft, the affected creature notices that something has been stolen and starts investigating. The creature wanders around their area looking for the thief for a time, and if during this period it sees the thief or anyone else from the party, an accusation of the crime is made. If the party member is accused this way, there is an opportunity to convince the creature of the party member's innocence with no further negative consequences.

If the party members stay far away enough during the investigation period, the creature ends the investigation and goes back to normal behaviour. After this point, the party members are fully safe from negative consequences, even if walking right up to the creature wearing the item that was stolen from it and talking to it.

Stealing Free-Standing Items

Items in the environment, which belong to another creature are indicated with a red outline and text.

To steal such an item, the party first must make sure that they will not be noticed in the moment they pick it up. This means not only being outside the field of view of the owner and their allies, but also not being heard.  Hiding party members cannot be heard while picking it up.

What happens after successfully picking up the item that is owned by a creature, is similar to what happens after a successful pick-pocketing roll: The creature notices a moment later that there was something stolen, and begins investigating. This is indicated by an overhead text such as "Thief!" or "Something has been stolen!" and the creature running to the place the object was stolen from. The creature then begins to walk around looking for someone to accuse. All this only applies to items in the open and not to items inside a container.

The party members must stay away during the investigation period to make sure that they are not accused. Once the investigation period is over, and the creature, the party stole from, goes back to its normal behaviour, the party members are safe from consequences.