History Main / VideoGameStealing

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games were interesting in this regard. They were generally very reasonable, even taking into account such things as the facing of characters to determine if someone noticed -- obviously, if you were in front of someone, they were more likely to notice you stealing something than if you were behind them -- but you could steal truly ridiculous things, such as thousands of coins and heavy machine guns.

** In all the games you could use the "Steal" skill to plant items on any person not engaged in combat. The first and second games allowed you to plant ticking time bombs on them, while in the third it's possible to give {{Non Player Character}}s live grenades and watch them casually walk away before exploding.
*** Leaving a bomb was usually the easiest way to pull off an assassination on otherwise well guarded targets. Also, early in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', you could pull a fun variant with the thieving kids. Carrying a bomb in your inventory and setting the timer while strolling near the kids would result in them pickpocketing the bomb off you, then (if they have enough time) running off to hand the loot to their boss. Which would then blow up and take him with it, while leaving his store inventory unharmed and available for looting.
*** In the same vein, ''Fallout 2'' allows you to plant a bomb on the "Shitty Comedian" who is protected by a screen from a hostile crowd. If you casually walked back into the audience to watch the comedian literally bomb, the game may crash being unable to determine how all the NPC's should react to the death. (Starting a fight in the area was a long, drawn-out process because of the game's turn-based mechanic, meaning all the patrons get a turn to run, panic, or pick up weapons from the fallen and try to fight back, often hitting others due to their lack of skill, which would... well, you get the picture)

* The ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series usually avoided this trope completely, but still gave opportunities to steal.

*** Silda the Unseen and Vipir the Fleet are pickpocket trainer. You can pay them gold to get training, then pickpocket them to get the money back. There are also other NPCs that have similar pickpocket loops as well, such as selling the Strange Amulet for 500 gold to Calixto.

* In ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld3'', some monsters carry items. These are sometimes collected as spoils after the battle, or can be stolen by using one of two attacks that have the bonus effect of maybe (yes, ''maybe'') stealing the enemy's object, "Picking Claw" or "Snapping Claw". Of course, enemies never think of using these items, some of which have [[GameBreaker game breakingly]] good effects, like being able to attack two to three times in a single round or counter an opponent's attack with one that causes more damage ''for free'', even when the monsters themselves use techniques with similar effects (For instance, the Etemon line has a chance of carrying healing items, and yet they prefer to waste MP on healing techniques [[WhatAnIdiot instead of using the item that heals more HP than they can possibly have]]). Worse, some monsters have items with a constant effect (accessories that add a highly visible elemental effect to your physical attack) ''and still don't use them'', so the game essentially handicaps itself for no reason.

* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' plays this completely straight with the Thief job, which can Steal from an enemy. They can also steal life (though the game calls it Life drain which implies it's a standard draining effect than simply stealing life) or Mug an enemy, dealing the same damage as a normal attack but also stealing. Eventually they can learn to steal from every enemy in battle in one turn.

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* In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', the attacks Thief and Covet are notable when used on a Trainer's Pokemon. For one, the Trainer will block Poke Balls, yet not ask for the item back? Also, it leads to the question of ''why'' they would give their Pokemon some of the items they do (Rich Boy Winston in RSE is notable…who puts a Gold [[VendorTrash Nugget]] on their Pokemon unless their inventory is full or they are trading it to another game?). Also, Colosseum and XD have the Snag Balls. You would think that somebody who wasn't part of [[spoiler:Cipher]] would complain to the police and get you arrested for stealing their Pokemon…
** Part of this trope is overall averted in Pokemon, however, since Pokemon ''do'' use the items they hold (wild Zigzagoon use their Oran Berries, Ditto are aided by their held Silverpowder, etc.), and if you steal those items, the Pokemon no longer have them. However, if you catch them before they use it, they will still have the item when they're in your party or a PC.

** ''Pokemon Sun and Moon'' introduced Marshadow. Its SecretArt allows you to steal opponent's ''buffs'' then oHKO it with them right afterwards.

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* In ''{{VideoGame/Arcanum}}'', a skilled thief can strip people off their ''plate armor'' without them noticing. Moreover, using a [[LuckManipulationMechanic Fate Point]] allows even the clumsiest PC to do this.

*** In the same vein, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' allowed you to plant a bomb on the "Shitty Comedian" who is protected by a screen from a hostile crowd. If you casually walked back into the audience to watch the comedian literally bomb, the game may crash being unable to determine how all the NPC's should react to the death. (Starting a fight in the area was a long, drawn-out process because of the game's turn-based mechanic, meaning all the patrons get a turn to run, panic, or pick up weapons from the fallen and try to fight back, often hitting others due to their lack of skill, which would... well, you get the picture)

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the introduced the ability to steal the bullets [[ImpossibleThief out of an enemy's loaded gun]]. On the other hand, you can't steal the gun itself or their armor -- not directly that is. What you ''can'' do is give them an item the AI considers "better", which is mostly decided by DPS or DT/DR (depending on if you're playing ''3'' or ''New Vegas''), then steal the original item once they switch to the one you gave them.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', a sneaky character can take the ammo from enemies' guns, their weapons, and most spectacularly you can [[AreTheseWiresImportant steal the power source]] for their power armor, forcing them to leave it. There's something satisfying about knowing that, at any point, you can completely ruin an enemy's sense of protection by ruining both his weapon and armor.

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* In ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'', Thief soundly defeated a zombie dragon by doing what he did best: Stealing. [[spoiler:A few vertebrae.]] He also stole the lich's soul from his SoulJar, and then ''stole it back into him''. He can also do it with memories. And, allegedly, [[ParanoiaFuel souls and secrets.]]

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has an entire Thieving Skill, with chest looting, pickpocketing, stealing from street stalls, looting snake infested tombs, cracking safes, and even knocking out thugs with a blackjack and rummaging through their pockets. Not all {{NPC}}s can be stolen from, but the ones that can be generally fall into this trope.

** There is no explicit way of freely getting items from party members, since the ''Fallout'' engine was not initially designed to support companions, a late addition. As a result, the game allows you to "steal" items from an {{NPC}}, unless you want to barter with them for equivalent cost. The best part about that is in the original game, bartering would check both parties' weight limit - but stealing wouldn't. Thus, each companion became a pack mule with an [[HyperspaceArsenal unlimited carrying capacity]]. The only downside is that when they died, you'd have to leave some of the five-hundred pounds of junk they were carrying behind...
** In all the games you could use the "Steal" skill to plant items on any person not engaged in combat. The first and second games allowed you to plant ticking time bombs on them, while in the third it's possible to give {{NPC}}s live grenades and watch them casually walk away before exploding.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}} 8'' has two theft options, Pickpocket and Shoplift. However, these can only be performed on a very small number of {{NPC}}s (and only those who already trust you), or in stores, and are typically hard to do. However, storekeepers apparently don't keep money on their person, because even if you rob them blind, [[WeBuyAnything they'll still buy stuff from you]].

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[[caption-width-right:320:[[VideoGame/UltimaVI Stealing meat from a sheep...]]]]

** The standard Thief units from ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'' onwards count to some degree, since they can steal ''stats'' from enemies (in the form of "[[IntangibleTheft vigor]]" for attack and so on). Their StatusEffect abilities claim to be stealing things like "consciousness" and "movement" but the animations show them simply cracking their target over the head and such. It does avert one facet of this as it's ''possible'' for anyone on your team to steal items (but not stats), it's just Thief's are much better at it (one thing it's based on when calculating your chance of successfully stealing is level, and when a Thief does it she's treated as having a level twice as high as it actually is).

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' lets you steal just about anything related to your enemy, including stats, experience and skills. That's one good thief. The one and only thing you can't steal? ''Boots'', probably to prevent characters from losing the ability to stand on terrain that cannot be traversed without special equipment. Stealing plate mail off someone is trivial, and you can't steal someone's armor if they're unconscious -- but you ''can'' still steal it if they've been ''turned into a [[StatusEffects frog]]''. And in some cases, stealing the weapons will not disarm the enemy -- they will immediately pull out a spare. And they have a ''lot'' of spares. It is made even more interesting when, after a dozen or so spares, they pull out a ''different, better'' weapon... which you immediately can steal, and in most cases is what you are actually after in the first place. In addition to Thieves, the Soldier class has the "Mug" ability, a blow to the head that makes money fall out of enemies' pockets.

** The standard Thief units from ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'' onwards count to some degree, since they can steal ''stats'' from enemies (in the form of "[[IntangibleTheft vigor]]" for attack and so on). Their StandardStatusEffect abilities claim to be stealing things like "consciousness" and "movement" but the animations show them simply cracking their target over the head and such. It does avert one facet of this as it's ''possible'' for anyone on your team to steal items (but not stats), it's just Thief's are much better at it (one thing it's based on when calculating your chance of successfully stealing is level, and when a Thief does it she's treated as having a level twice as high as it actually is).

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' lets you steal just about anything related to your enemy, including stats, experience and skills. That's one good thief. The one and only thing you can't steal? ''Boots'', probably to prevent characters from losing the ability to stand on terrain that cannot be traversed without special equipment. Stealing plate mail off someone is trivial, and you can't steal someone's armor if they're unconscious -- but you ''can'' still steal it if they've been ''turned into a [[StandardStatusEffects frog]]''. And in some cases, stealing the weapons will not disarm the enemy -- they will immediately pull out a spare. And they have a ''lot'' of spares. It is made even more interesting when, after a dozen or so spares, they pull out a ''different, better'' weapon... which you immediately can steal, and in most cases is what you are actually after in the first place. In addition to Thieves, the Soldier class has the "Mug" ability, a blow to the head that makes money fall out of enemies' pockets.

* Riki of ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' is capable of stealing items, as well as various intangible possessions from enemies such as strength, agility, or with the help of an skill upgrade even experience points.

* ''VideoGame/{{Achaea}}'' handles this by having no 'steal' skill as such, meaning players cannot steal from {{NPC}}s but instead use tricks like hypnosis to make other players ''give'' items away. Drama erupted when a powerful one-off item sold by the developers to help protect from theft -- essentially a magic box -- was bought ''by a thief'', and used in a way they hadn't expected to make theft much harder to avoid. It was swiftly confiscated, and replaced with a different item.

Generally one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality, despite the FridgeLogic issues with OrganDrops where the character has stolen something that the enemy ''needs'' to live, but they're attacking you anyway. While the theft is usually fast, this isn't ImpossibleTheft because the enemy knows exactly how you did it; GameplayAndStorySegregation. When the character is able to steal for the plot or to advance an objective, it may count as ImpossibleTheft or a subtrope.

BanditMook and MooksAteMyEquipment are two things that can happen when the enemies get fed up and decide to turn the tables on you.
Not to be confused with stealing video games; for that see UsefulNotes/ReadOnlyMemory and DigitalPiracyIsEvil. For mundane looting of [=NPCs'=] homes, see KleptomaniacHero. See also LootMakingAttack.

* Nym can engage in stealing in ''VideoGame/BlackSigil''.

* Kisaragi is capable of stealing from enemies in ''VideoGame/CriminalGirls''.

** In one special case, a GuestStarPartyMember pulls a FaceHeelTurn and you have to fight him while he's wearing the equipment you put on him. At the end of the battle the game gives you the equipment back as a reward to prevent SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear; unfortunately (or [[GoodBadBugs fortunately]]), it doesn't check to see if you stole the equipment during the battle first. Those who know what's coming can easily duplicate the best equipment they have.

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*** An interesting play on this occurs in the first battle against [[spoiler:Seymour]]. His subordinates have the Auto-(Hi-)Potion skill, which means every time you deal damage to them or the boss, a {{Mook}} will counter with a Hi-Potion, restoring 1000 HP to the target. The only ways to get around this are to use status effects, use attacks that will deal over 1000 damage...or just steal their Hi-Potions so they can't use them.

** You can however steal an entire stack of runes from someone in Stealing Creation with pickpocketing. This would normally not be much of a problem as a spell needs multiple kinds of runes, allowing for some redundancy, but there are only two kinds of runes in SC — elemental and catalytic. If you steal the former, you can cackle maniacally as they chase you, punching you for no damage as you just took away a mage's only ability to cast.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Starveio}}'' players can steal random items from each other's inventories...as long as they are wearing a hood (or an even better winter hood) first. However, that'll prevent them from ever obtaining the Crown of Life item (among with looting other players' death drops, stealing from their chests, or, confusingly, making your own chests.)

** There are also monsters with special item-stealing attacks. Any monster that is covetous will attempt to steal one or any of your PlotCoupons or your class's special item from you. Leprechauns also steal gold and teleport away, while nymphs steal anything they can get their hands on, but prioritise [[MagicWand wands]], which they can turn against you. A player can also polymorph into a nymph, and then steal items off of enemies - which can get you items from peaceful creatures without angering them (as "you smile/talk seductively/engagingly" to do so), but only if you succeed, as a failed attempt to "pretend to be friendly" still pisses them off. If you manage to turn a nymph into a pet, she'll steal items off monsters and then drop them on the ground for you - though you'll have to locate whenever she teleported to first.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' lets you steal just about anything related to your enemy, including stats, experience and skills. That's one good thief. The one and only thing you can't steal? ''Boots'', probably to prevent characters from losing the ability to stand on terrain that cannot be traversed without special equipment. Stealing plate mail off someone is trivial, and you can't steal someone's armor if they're unconscious -- but you ''can'' still steal it if they've been ''turned into a [[StandardStatusEffects frog]]''. And in some cases, stealing the weapons will not disarm the enemy - they will immediately pull out a spare. And they have a ''lot'' of spares. It is made even more interesting when, after a dozen or so spares, they pull out a ''different, better'' weapon... which you immediately can steal, and in most cases is what you are actually after in the first place. In addition to Thieves, the Soldier class has the "Mug" ability, a blow to the head that makes money fall out of enemies' pockets.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' works much the same as ''Morrowind''. In addition, you can actually kill [=NPCs=] by ''reverse pickpocketing'' poisoned apples into their inventory and waiting for them to eat. You can do the same with [[GameBreaker lightweight hoods enchanted with continual health damage spells]]. It's also possible that some items won't appear on an enemy until they're killed--usually this is to prevent breaking quests. Finally, some weapons and items are just not meant for player use -- you can't normally find them on corpses OR steal them, even if similar items can be stolen from other characters.

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the introduced the ability to steal the bullets [[ImpossibleThief out of an enemy's loaded gun]]. On the other hand, you can't steal the gun itself or their armor--not directly that is. What you ''can'' do is give them an item the AI considers "better", which is mostly decided by DPS or DT/DR (depending on if you're playing ''3'' or ''New Vegas''), then steal the original item once they switch to the one you gave them.

* ''Film/TheGamers'': {{Parodied|Trope}} in a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-esque DeepImmersionGaming scene. A thief with a high enough Sleight of Hand {{skill score|sAndPerks}} can [[ImpossibleThief steal the pants off a seated man]] without him noticing.

*** A fun thing to do if you take the time to fully level up pickpocket (and for the best effect, alchemy) is to steal the clothes of people, give them a high powered weapon and put a (preferably long lasting) poison of frenzy on them. So as an end result you have a naked priest running around and killing people with a war-hammer. VideogameCrueltyPotential at it's finest.
by this point in the game gold has long since stopped mattering, but...

* Due to the series being set in an RPGMechanicsVerse, ''LightNovel/KonoSubarashiiSekaiNiShukufukuO'' has "Steal" as one of the many Skills adventurers can learn. The skill works by concentrating, reaching in the direction of the target, and holding the user's hand out until it glows and the item is at hand. The item stolen is not controlled by the user, rather it is based on the user's LuckStat. Good thing the main character [[BornLucky has a very high luck stat]].

* Several of the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games have a Steal ability. Oddly, in most of them, it's essentially treated as a chance to get another item after battle -- instead of stealing something mid-combat, you get a message along the lines of "<Character> stole <Item> from the enemy!" during the post-battle text.

* Thieves-class fighters in ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' can steal items within battle. They can also gain access to a special skill which always doubles the what is taken.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', it's possible to steal collection items from the monsters that drop them if you use the grappling hook in combat. In the case of Moblin Skull Necklaces and Darknut Knight Crests, they actually disappear from the monster, and he's actually surprised. You can also steal Chu Jelly from [=ChuChus=] before they die. It's also the best way to get those Golden Feathers off the Kagorocs, given that they tend to die in the air over cliffs, and therefore don't leave drops in convenient places.

Not to be confused with stealing video games; for that see USefulNotes/ReadOnlyMemory and DigitalPiracyIsEvil. For mundane looting of [=NPCs'=] homes, see KleptomaniacHero. See also LootMakingAttack.