The Goods and Services section of the pfsrd should have a bunch of ideas for you.
I assume you're requiring sleight of hand checks to do the actual thievery, but that only works once they get close enough.
Except in the most crowded and drunken of bards, or in a packed street, can you get close enough to someone to snatch their stuff without them noticing. This introduces stealth and bluff rolls.
Plot-wise, how about a territorial thieves guild? Or a protective house spirit?
Eventually if they keep doing this they're going to fumble a skill check and then the victim can raise the hue and cry, and they'll have to deal with whatever bruiser of an NPC the town guard uses to keep adventurers in line.
If your players like to steal so much, then use that as a basis for a campaign/adventure arc. Have word get out that there is a group of amateurs with some skill at lifting things. Have some shady characters approach them on behalf of a benefactor to acquire a certain McGuffin from victim yadayada.
If they succeed then there will be more opportunities, greater infamy in the underworld, ire from an already established Thieves Guild, increased pressure from a crusading investigator from the City Watch, not to mention a list of victims with money to burn looking for vengeance.
Use missions from Skyrim/Oblivion's Thieves Guilds, look up an old but still great game called Thief, watch heist movies ala Heat, The Score, The Italian Job, etc.
For more violent insparations, The Usual Suspects is a good source for a good old fashioned double-cross.
^ that...
If your players like to steal so much, then use that as a basis for a campaign/adventure arc. Have word get out that there is a group of amateurs with some skill at lifting things. Have some shady characters approach them on behalf of a benefactor to acquire a certain McGuffin from victim yadayada.
If they succeed then there will be more opportunities, greater infamy in the underworld, ire from an already established Thieves Guild, increased pressure from a crusading investigator from the City Watch, not to mention a list of victims with money to burn looking for vengeance.
Use missions from Skyrim/Oblivion's Thieves Guilds, look up an old but still great game called Thief, watch heist movies ala Heat, The Score, The Italian Job, etc.
For more violent insparations, The Usual Suspects is a good source for a good old fashioned double-cross.
quoted for truth! :)
Best thing about stealing... is now they have stuff! Stuff that the rightful owner wants BACK!!!
LET them find some cool statuette or orb or something... then make it nearly impossible to fence something that hot...
then have people come LOOKING for it!!!
This adventure practically writes itself! ^_^
Let them steal something that is REALLY important to someone else and have that lead to an adventure as the one wanting the thing starts sending his goond after the party.
After some attacks the BBEG can try to contact the PCs to lure them into a trap.
Or their activities put them at odds with the local theives guild chapter... I say chapter because that can include long term scaling difficulties everywhere they go.
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Have one of them steal a cursed item! The owner WON'T want it back, much as the PCs will want to get rid of it :).
I agree with all of the above. Just don't do it all of the time or the first time.
Theft is rampant because it pays. Let it pay a few times. Let them really get into it. THEN smack them with an adventure of trying to fence something or someone wanting it back.
That will make it more enjoyable rather than them just feel like you wont let them "win" as thieves. Quick players will realize something is up as soon as the fence is a RP session rather than a mechanic.
Check out the Appraise skill. They shouldn't be able to use Perception to find valuables that easily.
Neato tip: Use alignment to reflect each PC's reputation among NPCs. Have it change over time to represent this. You can start them as Neutral, unless there are specific classes that have alignment requirements.
Then use that earned alignment against the PC's. Think about it. Reputation is a powerful thing.
PS Been a DM for nearly 2 decades now. If you want you can privately message me if you have a problem, or if you want additional tips on specific subjects you name.
Have one of them steal a cursed item! The owner WON'T want it back, much as the PCs will want to get rid of it :).
I need to work in more cursed items
Or they steal a signet ring . . . that way, they KNOW they stole something from Someone Important. Even better, if its a CURSED signet ring. Now THEY have it! Or more precisely, they stole the curse.
Now, if its just mundane, the LE lord takes hostages and throws them in the dungeon until the ring is returned. Just for yuks, its the mother of the Guildmaster of Thieves. He says after 3 days, I will execute a prisoner and every 3 days thereafter.
I have a few pieces of advice.
One, players are playing the game to have fun. There's a chance that they may be doing this because they're bored and want to make something exciting happen -- if they steal stuff then they get money, and at its worst, at least they're going to have an exciting confrontation when they're caught.
Still, they may genuinely be interested in theft adventures, in which case there's good advice up there ^ that I'll take the opportunity to second.
The trick is running theft adventures without feeling like you're being cheated. I used to get nervous about the idea of having magic shops in my games because PCs, ever enterprising, might break in and steal it all and then I've got a mess on my hands that needs fixing.
Still, with some more years of experience and some hard thought, I've figured out some tricks. One of them is run theft AS the adventure, instead of ALONGSIDE the adventure. Don't chisel it into stone that you're going to run three sessions of X material, after which point the PCs will gain Y gold and Z experience -- instead, be flexible. If players try to pull off a big theft, then add the theft into the adventure. Write up leads where they can find out about big fish. Write up warehouses, magic shops, mage towers and gambling halls as exciting tight-security locations that the PCs can observe, plan for, penetrate, deactivate traps, fight off guardians, and escape -- hopefully while remembering to cover their trail. Not only should you make them earn their ill-gotten goods, but you should award XP too. You'll quickly find that you're not feeling cheated, you can shape the players' choices into a narrative direction, and they should have a blast acting out Ocean's Eleven.
I have more ideas, but I'm saving those for a big write-up. Who knows? Maybe I'll even make it available one day.
As an additional bit of fun, Council of Thieves has a great little magic item -- the Hand of Abendego, I think -- that's a surprising and handy anti-theft trinket.
Let them steal something that is REALLY important to someone else and have that lead to an adventure as the one wanting the thing starts sending his goond after the party.
After some attacks the BBEG can try to contact the PCs to lure them into a trap.
Just to be clear with the above I don't suggest killing them or such. Just to use the theft as a plot hook.
Let them steal something good.
That's him captain! He stole my mothers jewel encrusted dagger! As the brother of the Seneschal, I demand hop of his hand as punishment!
In a magic rich environment, there are quite a few ways to identify and track thieves.
Roll with it. Stealing adventurers is a stereotype for a reason. Prepare a few houses for them to rob; you can steal these from published adventure modules to save time. Make some of those houses unexpected adventures like a haunted manor or there happens to be a necromancer in the basement, or something. There's a good haunted manor from rise of the runelords #2.
Don't forget that each roll is opposed, and guards and citizens both will be more cautious after a string of pickpockets and burglaries. Eventually, someone with high perception will be watching. And people should be reporting the crimes, so it will get investigated sooner or later.
There's a saying players use at my game table: "This isn't CSI: Korvosa!"
But they're wrong. CSI would KILL for some of the magical tools available to casters. Don't be afraid to pull out a few divination spells for the guard to locate the party. A recently robbed citizen may just hire a caster to help the local guard if they don't already have one.
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True enough, one "Locate Object" to find out who has the now-missing pickpocketed gizmo will do the trick. Queue the goon squad for an overnight visit to the PC encampment. Just send a lieutenant along for some heavy-handed negotiations. And hey - you can decide for yourself whether the goon squad works for the town & county police or the local underworld boss :).
First of all, other than perform, all non-adventuring funding comes from “profession” skills. They could put ranks in “Profession: thief” and every week they’d get funds from that. This would be boring.
Next, explain to them the “Wealth by Level’ or “WBL” tables. Altho you are not handcuffed to these, they are just a general guide, PCs should not be allowed to get wealthy from sources outside adventuring, it offsets game balance.
Finally, just tell them “Hey guys, D&D is a game, and games should be fun for everyone. I envisioned this as a heroic campaign, and that’s what would be most fun for me. So, skulking around cadging small change by petty crime is not what I’d like to do much of”.
Now yes, you could initiate in-game consequences for their actions. But they’d probably enjoy that and just keep doing it. This is fine if it’s the game everyone wants to play, but clearly- it’s not.
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Watch the movie SNATCH. Incorporate as many characters as you want. NEVER MESS WITH A MAN WHO OWNS A PIG FARM!
Alternately, have a real thief take it off of them as soon as they take it off someone else. Maybe a CG bandit who replaces the items on the people they belong on, or on other people, for fun.
Watch the movie SNATCH. Incorporate as many characters as you want. NEVER MESS WITH A MAN WHO OWNS A PIG FARM!
Alternately, have a real thief take it off of them as soon as they take it off someone else. Maybe a CG bandit who replaces the items on the people they belong on, or on other people, for fun.
That is one awesome movie, and has indeed plenty of inspirational RP ideas.
Have one of them steal a cursed item! The owner WON'T want it back, much as the PCs will want to get rid of it :).I need to work in more cursed items
If so, take the opportunity to mess with your players' heads. Throw in some funny ones. Here's a few that aren't in the Pathfinder books that you could run with:
Several scrolls, each marked fireball, strewn about a few adventures. Trick is, don't tell them how it's spelled.
Firebawl: Summons a seriously depressed fire elemental, which rains down fiery tears on everyone in a 20ft radius for many rounds.
Firebowl: The caster's appearance changes; gains a huge beer gut, goes bald (with a combover), and suddenly holds a Large bowling ball made of fire in his hand, dealing severe burns before he drops it. Be certain to describe the beer belly's jiggling and flopping combover in excruciating detail. Maybe add in some plumber's crack....
Fire Ball: Immediately everyone (including the caster) is plane shifted to the Elemental Plane of Fire, more specifically to a ballroom filled with fire elementals in fancy evening wear. Of course, they take the standard per round fire damage inherent to the Plane while there.