The DC of pickpocketing merchants affects me, because it affects how I play my game. And it affects how "real" the world feels to me. If stealing literally everything from a merchant is this easy, how does any merchant ever stay in business?
Thats interesting to me. So instead of playing your character as someone who would or wouldn't steal from a merchant your gameplay would change depending on how hard it is? And I leave my car unlocked depending on the location I am parking it and my perception of its safety there. So in the druid grove, I would expect the merchants to not be too concerned (unless the stereotypes of those filthy tieflings are true). Now the ones in the goblin camp...LoL.
There are times I almost want to make an official declaration that Firesnakearies speaks for me since I find myself so often in agreement with them. . .But not this time. I thing the DC for pick pocketing should correlate with two things: First the environment and how comfortable the merchant feels there; and two, whether they have been robbed before. A little reactivity would go a long way here. Have merchants that one sells to without stealing from eventually "sell" those items and restock with expanded inventory. Have those who are stolen from increase the DC of each successive theft and offer less risky commodities appealing to a different clientele than adventurers (from potions and curatives to apples and herbs, or if they are a smithy, swords and armor to hammers, tongues, and horse shoes) or, if they are cleared out completely, go bankrupt and retire from the trade. I think those impacts, though ultimately trivial, would contribute greater depth and appreciation to the game than simply raising an arbitrary target number.
