Dragon Age Origins: How does Pickpocketing work? Dragon Age: Origins Guide

In Dragon Age: Origins, the Pickpocket skill may open new possibilities to get even more valuable items. On this page of our guide, we explain how to unlock Pickpocket, how to steal from NPCs and what possible consequences there may be from a failed attempt.

Last update: 13 June 2024

Stealing in Dragon Age: Origins may be very profitable, leading to more gold, potions, or unique items. On this page of our guide, we show how to unlock Pickpocket and how to use the skill. You will also learn of possible consequences resulting from a failed stealing attempt.

• Unlocking Pickpocket skill
• How to steal from NPCs?
• Advantages and disadvantages of pickpocketing

Unlocking Pickpocket skill

1. Pickpocket is one of the skills that the members of your party can learn and unlock. The first tier of the skill is Stealing, and next tiers are Improved Stealing, Expert Stealing, and finally Master Stealing.
2. Each new level of the skill, aside from skill points, requires a certain level of Cunning attribute. To unlock the final tier of the skill, your hero needs to have at least 16 Cunning.
3. Stealing is a good choice for a Rogue, as the heroes representing this class often have high Cunning. If your main hero isn't a Rogue, you can make a thief out of Leilana, met already in Lothering village.

How to steal from NPCs?

1. Once you have unlocked Stealing, you can assign it to the hotbar or choose from the skill radiant menu.

1. Approach the targeted NPC from behind and activate the skill. You'll receive a message about the result of the attempt - it can be either successful or failed.

1. If the stealing was successful, in the bottom left corner of the screen you'll learn what items you've obtained.

The chances of successful stealing are affected by:

1. Level of the Stealing skill - we recommend buying 2 initial levels of the skill right away and the remaining 2 in the further stages of the game.
2. Current Cunning level - try to add points to the attribute whenever you level up.
3. Level of the Camouflage talent - this is a category of talents only available to Rogues. Activate Camouflage before every attempt at pickpocketing to increase your chances of success.

Advantages and disadvantages of pickpocketing

1. Pickpocketing is a good way of obtaining additional gold and valuable items, such as gear, weapons, or runes. Some of the stolen items may be unique, making them even more valuable. Additionally, you can get more potions without spending gold or crafting materials on them.
2. You can pickpocket every NPC. With some characters, you can attempt pickpocketing more than once, but only after the time of day changes due to the story events or they move to a different location.
3. Not every NPC has something worth stealing in their inventory. The theft may be successful, but aside from XP you won't receive anything.
4. A failed pickpocket doesn't result in immediate fight against the NPC you've attempted to steal from. The consequences may be quite unique. For example, you may lose access to chosen side quests, worsen the relations with the given NPC, or have a random encounter when traveling the world map. It may require you to defeat a group of enemies.