Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Dammon: Psychic Anti-Theft NPC

Early game. After dozens of reloads learning the mechanics, I found a reliable way to steal the +1 Breastplate in Dammons shop. Waited for Dammon to face the anvil. Took my druid, went Cat mode, and meowed to change the guard's sight cones. Astarion was already positioned near the item. As soon as the sight cones are pointed away from me I hide. IMMEDIATELY Dammar turns around and is aware of my hiding. There is no red sight cone anywhere near me. The same thing happens if I hide Astarion in the tiny safe spot first, then try to move to the loot after i distract. I don't recall the act of hiding making any noise, am I wrong? Very frustrating...

If you have Shadowheart in your party, give Astarion Blessing of the Trickster.
I also turn off all the torches/fires around Dammon first before attempting to sneak around in that area.

Personally I have no trouble just hiding and stealing it when he's turned around.

Either it's a cone of vision from some NPC that isn't showing properly, as I've noticed that holding SHIFT sometimes doesn't show the cones properly, so could be that as hiding doesn't create any sound. Or the NPC script most likely went haywire. Whatever the case, it is not supposed to be happening.

So, light affects hiding, ok. But he is facing 180 degrees away from me. Programmatically, do NPCs have eyes in the back of their heads, so to speak?

If it's not that, then the red cones might be broken like Crimsonrider suggested. The area is very clear of sight cones after distracting with cat form.

I think one of the loading screen tips says there's also a hearing component to stealth, not just visual. Attempting to use Hide next to an NPC usually does not work for me. I'd need to do it a bit further away (~2 melee attacks range) then instantly enter Turn Based mode, F5, then go pickpocket the NPC.
Hide and pickpocket both use an Action resource. If you enter turn-based mode too quickly after hide you won't get the action back. If you're specced into Thief you can Dash twice as bonus action to get the heck outta there before anyone reacts.

I don't have any problem with action management in Turn Based mode. I hide quite effectively, no problems there. But the second I touch an owned item or chest, the nearest NPC swivels towards me. So it must be either sound or something hardcoded around stealing. Unfortunately nobody in my part is going to have Silence so I might just be screwed.

Your mistake(?) was most likely leaving any PCs in the grove. I've had to make everyone leave, send in the thief & hide the thief since early access. Cat or not, the druid is right there. Don't ask me why that is, but it always leads to psychic knowledge