Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Stealing and red locks

When I first encountered the red lock on items, I thought it meant it was more difficult to lock pick. It wasn't clear what the red lock meant. Now, I know what it means. For new players, will this be added to tutorial or maybe give a pop-up saying, 'are you sure you want to steal' or something.

Also, what does it really mean? If I unlock a red lock chest and take an orange from it, will the entire town know I stole something? Or will only folks watching me know? Does it matter if you steal something and nobody is watching? Do companions approve/disapprove of these actions?

For the first post of your question, in EA what red chests mean in the tooltip that appears on the upper right the first time you encounter a chest (or maybe a red chest).

Red means that item belongs to someone else... if you touch it then two options depend on the results;
1 you are seen = yes everyone knows, they will offen come and tell you to leave their stuff alone and if they can't reach you for some reason then they will fetch guards to do it
2 if you arn't seen = no everyone doesn't know but is suspicious... if you stay in the area they may confront you about it

results: you can talk your way out of suspicion with a skill check, you can fight your way out of the area killing everyone in your path, you can teliport away before they can confront you [normally results in the guards treating you as badguy] or you can say sorry pal i won't do that again

I never noticed a tooltip.

Also, is discovery that I unlocked it based on a roll or is it line of sight?

Thanks

its mostly line of sight but even if you failed to unlock it you still touched it and putting it in a bag and then dropping the bag on the ground is a work around for most of the items... because you don't have it on you when guards show up

Red can also mean trapped….
But if you steal and no one sees you it’s all good …depending on where you are stealing can mean a warning or a scrap ..