Make a Ranger more thief / shoplifter apt (help pleaase)

[Tororpa]

Hii guys, this is my first post, so please be gentle (^ ω ^ )

It's my first time playing Pathfinder and it's on a friend's campaign that was already ongoing.

So, when my character was really young, she had it pretty hard and was driven to steal to survive and feed her little brother. I fell in love with this char and reeeeally wanted to maintain that feature on the campaign and roleplay around that a bit.

I thought it would be wise to make her a Rogue for their 'natural aptitude' to steal, but unfortunately, there was already a rogue on the team. Consequently, I made her an Ranger (Archer ) because I assumed the DEX bonus on the 'Sleight of Hand' skill would be a nice help on the rolls).

She's doing really great in combat and all (She's now the major DPS on the team), but when I try to roleplay the stealing part... it's just painful. :'/ She's doing really poorly with even stealing loose stuff: like a lying pouch of coins, a beautiful candle, or simply a bread. (i will not even start about the time she tried to pickpocket a random old guy)

So, I was looking for a way to boost her in the arts of stealing:

1) Make sleight of hand a class skill for a ranger (i think it's impossible);

2) Get equipment that could help (i found Concealing Pocket and Coat of Pockets, but I don't know it will work);

3) Get Feats and/or Traits that would help;

4) New/Creative ways to steal, like a small bost for the roll (for example, extinguish the light on the room, or get some sort of distraction going on)

Sorry for the long post, but I really need your help!!
If you can clarify me on any of this questions, or have any other ideas, please do tell!

Thank you sooo much,

Tororpa

[Mark Thomas 66]

So basically you want to play a Rogue, there's already one so you're picking a Ranger, but playing a Rogue anyway.

The first thing I recommend is talking things over with your GM and the Rogue's player, because no matter what class you picked, you may very much be stepping on each other's toes if the Rogue's player wants to focus on that aspect of the Rogue class.

That being said it can be done. Urban Ranger makes for a damn stalthy person who's at their best in the heart of a bustling city, able to disappear in a crowd and navigate city streets effortlessly.

Take Skill Focus (Sleight of Hand) and Deft Hands to boost your theft prowess (nets you a +7 bonus to your modifier by level 10), eventually going on to Walking Sleight to become a master at just swiping things from people simply passing by.

If you want to play up the sneakiy theme, go with The Deceptive or Underhanded combat styles

And if your party Rogue is more focused on one of the combat oriented archetypes like Knifemaster, then you might be perfect for fulfilling the traditional rogue role in a slightly different skin.

Oh and there's also the Steal combat maneuver and the Improved steal feat

[666bender]

i played a ranger - urban 1/2 elf with skill focus stealth.
my combat style was Underhanded and i used spring attack.

the animal companion was a wolf, in a city he was pocketed (carry companion spell) , while outside he was my friend and mount for traveling.

favorite enemy was human, evil outsiders and undeads.

damage was ok (str 18, power attack and some spells. )
dirty trick offered some style.

i was a scout, a spy and #2 fighter - all in one.
my charisma was 14 so some social options as well.

lovely RP character.

BTW - inquisitor works better for this...............

[Porridge]

The Child of the Streets trait provides Sleight of Hand as a class skill. You can either retrain a trait to get it, or take the Additionsl Traits feat.

Other than that, both the Urban Ranger archetype and Slayer class seem to be good fits with the character you describe.