Stolen items

[fruviad]

Originally Posted by Nick

Yep, it's just the stuff they would drop. Moreover, if you steal from a unique, even if you don't kill them on that level, they'll have less stuff when you do kill them

If I attempt a theft, I'll probably wake the monster and lose the advantage of surprise. That first strike could've been used as an attack to cause damage, instead, and if I kill the monster, then I'll get the item anyway.

Does stealing give @ anything other than bragging rights? (My new life goal: Stealing The One Ring from Morgoth. Now THOSE are some bragging rights that any rogue can be proud of. Has anyone managed it?)

Perhaps a trivial XP reward could be earned for a successful theft; just a "feel-good" amount similar to the XP reward one receives for disarming a trap, with the XP amount varying according to the same formula that would be applied to the monster it was stolen from at that depth and time. Not enough XP to be really significant, but a few extra points to make rogues feel better about losing the first-strike advantage.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by fruviad

If I attempt a theft, I'll probably wake the monster and lose the advantage of surprise. That first strike could've been used as an attack to cause damage, instead, and if I kill the monster, then I'll get the item anyway.

Does stealing give @ anything other than bragging rights?

My idea here is that stealing can be used to steal from monsters which the player is not strong enough to kill yet. This is also the use case for the rogue Hit and Run spell.

[Estie]

Various reasons why that isnt enough incentive for me to steal:

- Uniques usually appear in groups, be it escort or grouped appearance, so you might not reach the Balrog of Moria or just risk waking up one of the big dragons in the room (btw why are the dragons grouped together ? It makes no sense lore wise).

- I might not be able to kill it now, but if I kill it later it will be deeper and hence might have better drops.

- If I started stealing from multiple uniques, I would have to keep book so as to remember which dangerous ones have now become worthless if killed.

Here is one scenario where it might be worthwhile: lets say I clear a checkerboard vault, open Ancalagons cell, no escort because of the circumstances, he is asleep, I have enough life/resists to not be in danger of getting 1-hit and I am sure I dont want to kill him before the end fight: I might try to steal from him then. But note that at this stage of the game, I probably wont have maxed stealth anymore since I am now geared for combat, not diving.

I have played around with stealing back when it was introduced, but havent found it useful since.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Originally Posted by Estie

I have played around with stealing back when it was introduced, but havent found it useful since.

+1 to this (also including the "Hit and Run" spell), and pretty much everything else Estie said.

[tom]

My last rogue was too weak to fight Wormtongue when encountered, but robbed him instead. Got a blue dragon scale mail, which he then used to kill Wormtongue. It felt nice

I dunno if unique drops have improved since 2.8.x days, but it seems that far more of your great loot can come from unique drops these days. Being able to get the drops anyway, when you are frail and pathetic, is pretty nice.

[tom]

Perhaps being able to steal floor objects from under a sleeping monster would beef up this ability in a useful way...