The Ultimate Stealing and Pickpocket Guide - Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)

By zanuffas
Last updated: 17 June 2025

This Pickpocket Guide for Baldur's Gate 3 will cover all the key aspects of this mechanic. It is very important on higher difficulties to stack on consumables and prepare for difficult fights. On Honour Mode, it is a must if you want minimal failures.

The Basics
Maximizing Pickpocket Setup
- General Boosts
- Best Items
Pickpocket Build
Best Vendors to steal from
- Act 1
- Act 2
- Act 3
Additional tips

The Basics

In Baldur's Gate 3, pickpocketing is a skill that allows players to steal items from NPCs without them noticing. This can be done both in and out of combat.

To start pickpocketing, you need to enter Hiding via Hide or Cunning Action: Hide. You can only do that if the area is not in the vision of the NPC

Pickpocket an NPC without being seen

Ensure you stay out of their red cone of vision.

sneaking cone vision baldurs gate 3

Once you are ready, approach the NPC and click on them. You will see a cursor change and give "pickpocket" tooltip. Before that I recommend entering turn-based mode so that other NPCs would not approach and find you.

pickpocket target bg3

Arrow of Darkness and Fog like spells

You can use Arrow of Darkness, Fog Cloud, or Darkness to hide yourself inside, and freely pickpocket enemies without detecting you. The former, is very cheap to use and can be bought/looted throughout the world.

Do not shoot/cast it at the NPC directly, and make sure the radius does not touch the NPC

If a trader is in a public area, and you have no way to approach them without being seen, use Arrow of Darkness to create a field where you can hide. Here is a good example of how to shoot:

darkness field for pickpocketing bg3

Enter the fog, and get close to the NPC while staying in it, to start pickpocketing

Minor Illusion

Another option is Minor Illusion to divert enemies' attention or lead them to a more secluded spot, making pickpocketing easier. I only recommend doing this if there are multiple people around

distract attention illusion baldurs gate 3

Steal screen and Pickpocket difficulty

A screen will appear, with all the items that the vendor has. Once you click on one of the items it will show its pickpocket difficulty:

pickpocket screen difficult bg3

Understanding item pickpocket difficulty

One of the more confusing things is how to know if the item is easy or hard to loot. Hover over the item, and you will see the required roll target to safely take the item.

roll target pickpocket bg3

So what this means is that you should roll 9 or more to successfully pass this. The higher the requirement, the bigger the risk you take. In this case, I was able to succeed by thin hair:

pickpocket roll log bg3

I would rank items like these:

0-4 - easy items
4-9 - medium difficulty
9+ - hard difficulty, which poses risks. Prepare to flee if caught

Of course, something like Cat's Grace can help improve the chance with Advantage. This is not listed in the initial target calculations.

Here is a short sequence:

pickpocket bladurs gate 3

Post-Pickpocketing and avoiding NPCs.

NPCs might notice the theft and start investigating. It's crucial to leave the area and wait for the NPC to calm down. This way you can avoid jail or spending gold on bribes. You can make your pickpocket character to either walk away before being found or go to camp.

However, you must leave one character who has the vision of your target (far away), as otherwise the search animation does not initiate, and your pickpocket will be back before the search has been finished.

Another much simpler option is to drink Potion of Invisibility or cast Invisibility if you have it from your race/class/subclass, for example, Duergar. This way, you can just slowly move away, without any rush.

If you are caught

So the situation with being caught and what to do depends on a few variables, and let's go through what you can do

Persuading of your innocence

This is the best option, but most of the time available only once in the same area with the same character. Of course, Disguise Self can greatly improve this number. You will need to pass a persuasion check, so if you have charisma-related skill proficiencies/expertise or high charisma, you are set to most likely succeed this.

Bribing

Most of the time, I just skip it. I don't want to waste the money I stole, and I haven't seen it work in most the cases. Maybe someone can explain this mechanic better in the comments.

Attacking

This option should be used if you don't have any other characters nearby and only have your pickpocket char. Otherwise, you will have to fight everyone around, which can be problematic, especially in Honour Mode.

However, with correct preparations, this is the easiest and best option to do. As I mentioned, avoid having any other party members close (move them to another waypoint). Then, when combat starts just use Potion of Invisibility or Invisibility. Now move away (use Dash if needed), and wait for NPCs to come. They will try to detect you, and when failed combat ends.

That's it! Now you can go pickpocket again, really easy.

Bonus tip, is to use Sanctuary while in combat, and NPCs cannot attack you. Then either run away very far, or transition to a different area to flee the combat.

Admitting and going to Jail

This is the last resort. I only recommend using this, if you get caught, and you see your allies are close. You want to avoid dragging them into a huge fight, and maybe even failing your run. This is a safe bet of making everyone safe, and you can later easily escape jail by yourself.

Maximizing Pickpocket Setup

So with all this information, there are a few main goals:

Maximize the chance of being successful when pickpocketing
Avoid dying or being put in jail when caught

You could say the only goal should be to maximize the pickpocketing chance. But from what I can say, you will get caught no matter what, unless you have Reliable Talent passive, which is obtainable fairly late in the game.

General Boosts

+4 - Proficiency + Expertise in Sleight of Hand. This can be obtained with Rogue at level 1, or Bard at level 3 (they can choose 2 skill expertise)
+3 - 16+ Dexterity. This can be turned into +4 if you reach 18 Dexterity with the Ability Improvement feat.
Halfling Luck - greatly reduces rolling 1s on ability checks
1d4 - Guidance, either have someone cast it or use Silver Pendant to learn it.
Advantage - Enhance Ability, learned by Bard, Cleric, Druid, or Sorcerer.
+1 - Vampire Bite with Astarion.
Reliable Talent is probably the best feature for pickpocketing, with a minimum value of 10 for dexterity rolls, making you immune to critical fails. This can only be obtained by a rogue level 11.

Best Items

Act 1

Although I covered most of it, there are a few items to be on the lookout:

Gloves of Power - the best option as it gives a flat boost.
Mask of the Shapeshifter - excellent item, which gives a free use of Disguise Self, this helps you hide your true identity and avoid negative opinion penalties from stealing. It will also later give some nice bonuses.
Smuggler's Ring - gives +2 to Sleight of Hand, which is a good flat boost to the rolls.
Gloves of Thievery - they sound better than they are. Generally, this is an alternative to Enhance Ability, but as you can get the buff from a caster Gloves of Power is a much better choice.
The Graceful Cloth - another item that negates the need for Enhance Ability. However, different from Gloves of Thievery, this gives +2 to Dexterity, making it an excellent pickpocket option.

Act 2

Here you will also be able to get a few more relevant items

Shapeshifter's Boon Ring - can be looted from Strange Ox. Although you can get it in Act 1, you will then lose out on Hat of Fire Acuity. Use Mask of the Shapeshifter or Disguise Self to change into another race.
Leather Armour +2 - gives +1 to dexterity checks, which includes pickpocketing. Not necessarily better than The Graceful Cloth, but if you have 20 Dexterity from 2 Ability Improvements, this is a better choice. You will also need Enhance Ability for the loss of Cat's Grace.

Act 3

Nimblefinger Gloves - the best gloves for pickpocketing with a higher boost of +2. To get it, you will need to use Disguise Self to turn into a Gnome to get +2 Dexterity.
Unlucky Thief's Gloves - the best alternative gloves for pickpocketing with a +2 bonus to Sleight of Hand.

Pickpocket Build

In general, my recommendation would be to make a dedicated Pickpocket Build. This will simplify a lot of things and make it easier to progress through the game, without creating situations where your main characters are in danger.

For this, I recommend taking Kree Derryck hireling from Withers, who Duergar and from level 5, has free Invisibility. If you have read this guide, you know how important it is :)