                  Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
                    "So You Want to be a Thief" FAQ v.01
                    by Mochan <mosquiton@crosswinds.net>
                             Created 7-7-2001
                          last modified 7-7-2001

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                              MISSION STATEMENT
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                           "I want to be a thief."

                   (Say this out loud 10 times every morning)

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Building your Character
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Important Attributes:
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Dexterity - this is your number one stat. Most of your thiefly activities
   require this attribute. I suggest you start off with a dexterity of 10
   or so. More is better.
Perception - You'll need this for sneaking around. Start off with at least 8.
Intelligence - thieves should be smart too, you know. I consider 5 to be
   the absolute minimum for a thief's intelligence. You need at least that
   much to get all the dialogue options needed for a fun thieving experience.

Important Skills:
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Prowl (Per) - for sneaking around leaving enemies unaware
Pick Locks (Dex) - for opening those locked doors and treasure chests
Pick Pockets (Dex) - for making other people's things your own

Make sure that you have lock picking skill at the start of the game. If you
start with it, you'll be given a free set of lockpicks at the start. The only
other way to get lockpicks at the start is to buy it at the start-up shop.
Lockpicks are hard to come across at the start of the game, but they are very,
very useful for the Thief.


Setting up your Character:
-------------------------

MAGIC OR TECHNOLOGY?

I'm not sure which path is the better one for a thief to take. I think the
beauty of being a thief is that you can be either magical or technological.
I'll just say this: there's a lot of magical stuff to steal in this game.
More on this later, when I've played more of the game.

WHAT RACE?

Traditionally, the best thieves are halflings. They have bonuses for your
prime requisite -- dexterity -- and they are small and tiny, making
prowling and picking pockets easier. Myself, though, I didn't want to be
some half-pint so I decided to play a human. (I would have chosen elf, but
I was playing a techno-thief. In the future I'll choose elf for magic thief).

WHAT BACKGROUND?

The best backgrounds for a Thief character would likely be Arsonist, Feral
Child, or maybe Pit Fighter. I think you can also be very effective as a
pretty or charismatic thief, in which case Model/Lady's Man or Charlatan
would be great choices. I was also planning to use Sold My Soul but that's
for magicians, and I wanted to be a techie.

HOW TO DISTRIBUTE POINTS

I would suggest putting points into your dexterity and perception, but not
too much. I think you should concentrate on the more important stats to make
your life easier: Pick Pockets and Lock Picking. Be sure to put maybe a point
or two into Melee -- the reason is that in combat experience is given v
according to how much you hit your enemy, and if you don't have melee skill
it will be tough to hit enemies, thus giving you less experience points.
Invest in some fighting skills early so you can level up faster.

Alright, that should get you started off in the world of Arcanum. Now, I
will discuss some things about the thieving profession.

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Thieving Technicalities:
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PROWLING
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When you activate the prowling skill, all NPCs on the screen will have an
awareness level of your presence. The levels are: Safe, Risky, Dangerous,
Perilous, and Aware. You can basically get away with sneaking around a
person if it is Safe or Risky. If it becomes Dangerous, chances are the
person will shift to Aware in a few seconds, especially if your prowl skill
is low. Perilous, you should only get this close if the NPC is asleep.

If an NPC is sleeping, if you are in Prowl mode you will not wake the
target up, as long as you have some prowl skill and the NPC is in his
bed. You can keep him at Dangerous without problems, and I've even
hit Perilous and they still didn't wake up. This is especially useful
when sneaking into shops at night to steal some goodies.

The higher your Prowl skill, the closer you can get to an NPC without
him becoming aware. Most NPCs also have less visibility in darkness,
so try to do your sneaking at night.

Q: How do I douse a torch or lantern?
A: Sorry, I don't know yet.


PICKING LOCKS
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Picking a lock can result in three things: you are successful, in which
case the lock will open, you fail, and the lock is as is, or you mess
up, in which case the lock is jammed and it cannot be opened. Also
attempting to pick locked objects under guard will result in the guard
getting angry at you. See Breaking In.

Q: If I jam a lock can I open it later?
A: Gotta test this first. I theorize that if you jam a lock today, as long
   as the owner is alive you can come back tomorrow and it'll be fixed.

BREAKING-IN
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I define "breaking-in" as getting into a room that you're not supposed to
be in. This usually refers to locked houses or establishments at night,
the backroom of a merchant shop (where the goodies are usually kept), and
similar areas.

Now, as far as I can tell, there is no specific area designation for a
room that is off-limits. The only way NPCs check where you can or can't
go, is through the entrance to that room -- a door or window. If you
try to enter a backroom for instance, you will likely try to go through
the locked door. If you hack, fiddle, pick the lock, or otherwise try to
gain unlawful entry, anyone who sees you will get mad, and their reaction
towards you will go down (probably to Suspicious) and they will tell you
to leave it alone (or else).

If you are in Prowl mode, however, and the guard is not aware of you
(Safe or Risky or Perilous, but not AWARE!!) you can attempt to pick
the lock without them reprimanding you.

A weird thing, though: if you happen to have the key to the door, you
can open it and walk through without drawing the ire of the guards,
even if you do it right in their face, even though you're not supposed
to have access to that door! And of course, the best way to get the key
to someplace you're off-limits, is to steal it from the guard.

PICK POCKETS
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Like lock-picking, picking pockets can result in three things. You succeed,
in which case you are happy, you fail, in which case you try again, or you
bungle up, in which case whoever you were trying to steal from will have
noticed and will be so pissed-off that he wants to spill your guts. Exercise
caution.

Of course, the higher your pick pockets skill, the less likely you are to
fail or mess up. It also helps if you try to do the action from behind your
target, and it's easier to pick pocket someone who is bigger than you are
(inverse is true, it is harder to steal from small people). It also seems
to be easier to steal from someone if they are "unaware" of your presence
(i.e. -- you are in prowl mode and they are not AWARE!!! of you).

Note: you can also use this skill to "plant" items on a target, and not
just take things. I have not found an instance in the game where this can
be of use, though I suspect you can frame people with this ability in
certain quests.

Q: Can I plant lit dynamite onto a person and not have him notice?
A: I've tried this stunt and so far I haven't managed to succeed.
   I'll keep trying, though!

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Thieving Secrets:
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Here is a bug in the game which you can exploit to be a "cheap-ass thief."
For a definition of "cheap ass," please refer to my Evil Summoner FAQ
(also available at GameFAQs!)

In the town of Tarant, go to Madam Lil's brothel (the one with four ladies
in their underwear). Ask her about a night with her girls, and she'll tell
you they cost 100 gold a pop. Ask her for less expensive options, and she'll
give you a quest to find a ruby necklace. It is with the maid at the house
she mentions. Finish the quest, and go back to Madam Lil for your reward
(ahem). Afterwards ask her for more work, and she'll tell you about Mr.
Langley, a patron with outstanding accounts. She'll ask you to collect 400
gold from him. He's the gnome doorman in front of the inn.

Now, follow these dialogue options: (I'll put in the exact wording later)

2 "Madam Lil sent me..."
2 "I understand, but she needs the 400 gold..."
1 "Do you need incentive?"
2 "(menace) Give me the gold now!"

Then he'll offer to give you half the gold (200) and tell you to come back
five days later for the rest of it. Choose the option to take the gold,
and you're 200 gold richer.

Now here's the fun part. Talk to him again and follow the same options.
He will give you 200 gold again, and tell you to wait five days again!
That liar, he's loaded! Do it again, and again, and again... and you'll
be a millionaire. The best part is, you can come back to him a month
later and he'll still say the same thing and you can still get 200 gold.
So effectively, you have unlimited gold forever! The only drawback I see
is that you can't complete this quest and get other jobs from Madam Lil.
But WHO CARES! You've got unlimited gold! That's way better than anything
Lil and her "customer service" workers can offer you!

Q: If I am a moron with less than 5 intelligence, will this work?
A: I do not know. Haven't tried it yet. It's possible that with
   less intelligence the proper dialogue options won't work.



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DISCLAIMER
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This is the initial version of this FAQ. Give me some weeks to flesh it out
thoroughly to be a complete thieving guide. This guide is a work of fiction.
Any resemblance to real events or people is purely coincidental. Do not
attempt to do these things in real life.

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ADDENDUM

As far as I know, this is the first Arcanum FAQ to be posted. Since I still
have not played enough of the game to make a full-blown FAQ/walkthrough, I
will concentrate on my favorite kind of character -- the thief.

I've only been playing Arcanum for a couple of hours at the moment, and I
haven't gotten very far. But I've tried to explore as much about thieving
as I possibly can. Expect more updates to this document in the near future.
I'm aiming to complete all major portions of this FAQ before Arcanum is
even released in the US! ^_^

After I get more downtime with Arcanum, I might make a true FAQ/Walkthrough.
But I doubt that I will be able to do that before the game is released in
the US.
