This page about thieves is specially made for the game of Baldur's Gate. For the other games, see Thief
Thieves can open locks, steal items, hide in shadow and find and disarm traps. As this the only class that can disarm traps, they are essential for a good party. All races can become a thief as a profession and the only alignment which is not available is lawful good for obvious reason. A thief wears leather or studded leather armor and can only use bucklers as shields to protect themselves. The array of weapon for a thief consists of lightweight weapons such as daggers and throwing daggers, shortbows, short swords, staves, clubs, darts and slings. A thief can't wear any metal helmets.
Ability Scores[]
| Ability Score | Min. requirement. | Max. requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 9 | 18 |
| Constitution | 3 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 18 |
Note: For the information of this table the human race was used, because they have no character bonuses/penalties related to race and therefore act like a 'neutral'. For other races this may be slightly different. See Ability Scores and Thieving Abilities for more information.
Abilities of the Thief[]
They gain +20 thieving ability points when they level up (+30 at level 1). The race of the thief determines how many points are gained as a bonus. Halflings have the best overall bonus to thieving ability points. For more information about how race affects thieving, see Thieving Abilities.
Dexterity determines how many points are added to each skill during the game as well. For more information about how dexterity affects thieving, see Thieving Abilities.
Find/Disarm Traps[]
A thief can find traps if they activate their find traps mode. Any found traps can then be disarmed if the find/disarm trap percentage is high enough.
Stealth (Move Silently and Hide in Shadows)[]
All rangers and thieves can hide in shadows if they wear studded leather armor or lesser armor. A thief who is hidden in shadow can attempt to perform a backstab, which does increased damage. The modifier increases with the level of thief. The chance to hide successfully in the shadow depends on the time, at night this is much easier to than at daylight, whether the thief is standing in a shadow or not and the chance in percentage to hide in shadow from the character self.
Pick Locks[]
A thief can lockpick locks from doors and containers to open them. The chance to open a door/container depends on the percentage of the character.
Pick Pockets[]
A thief can steal items from non-hostile characters (including party members) by using the Thieving skill on them.
Pick Pockets is raised by 5 points for every point of Dexterity above 16, and lowered by 5 points for every point of Dexterity below 12 (up to -15 at 9 Dexterity, which is the minimum for a thief during character creation).
BUG: In the original Baldur's Gate (and Baldur's Gate II), if the character's Dexterity is lowered below 9 by some special effect, the penalty to Pick Pockets will be removed entirely. The character's Pick Pockets level will be reverted to the value it would be without any Dexterity modifier (as if their Dexterity were in the range 12-16). The Enhanced games fix this and cap the penalty at -15 for all Dexterity values below 10. Also in the original Baldur's Gate, both Dexterity modifiers and racial bonuses affect the maximum value of Pick Pockets. A character without a Dexterity modifier or racial bonus may raise their Pick Pockets up to 115 with skill points alone (120 for Elf and 125 for Half-elf). Beyond this point, a Half-elf with 25 Dexterity and magical effects that boost Pick Pockets can reach the cap of 325.
Not all items are stealable. Every item entry on a creature has a set of flags as seen in game file inspectors such as Near Infinity. Having either the "Not stealable" or "Undroppable" flag will make the item unstealable. The "Stolen" flag will make the item unsellable to most vendors. Furthermore, the item will also be unstealable if the item file itself does not have the flag "Droppable".
In the original games, the following inventory slots cannot be stolen from: Armor, Belt, Boots, Cloak, Gauntlets, Helmet, Ring (both), Shield, Fist, and Equipped (currently equipped weapon or currently selected ammo slot). All other inventory slots can be stolen from even with very low Pick Pockets level (e.g. 4).
A failed Pick Pockets attempt is treated as an attack against the target and will cause most neutral characters to become hostile.
Backstabbing[]
When thieves are invisible, a thief can try to execute a backstab upon an enemy, which inflicts more damage than a normal hit, but it makes the thief visible once again.
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Experience table[]
| Level | Experience needed | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | |
| 2 | 1,250 | |
| 3 | 2,500 | |
| 4 | 5,000 | |
| 5 | 10,000 | |
| 6 | 20,000 | |
| 7 | 40,000 | |
| 8 | 70,000 | Highest level for thieves with Baldur's Gate. |
| 9 | 110,000 | Tales of the Sword Coast is required to reach this level. |
| 10 | 160,000 | Highest level for thieves with the expansion pack. |
Mod content[]
This section is about unofficial content that is only available via fan-made mods.
Installation of the Rogue Rebalancing mod makes a number of gameplay revisions and changes to all Rogues, including their kits. It is a comprehensive modification to nearly all aspects of the Rogues (Bards and Thieves) abilities and strives to bring them closer to their Pen and Paper AD&D counterparts. New and revised abilities are included, as well as new equipment and rogue specific items. Separate user installed components are available to customize selection of content and changes. Go to the link for further information.
Mod screenshot[]
