Okay, so I tested it on the same NPC, Nadira. Outside of TB, I rob her and she immediately notices, even if I win the Sleight of Hand check. Before I can even get away, she accuses me of stealing and calls a guard. No ability to run. Nothing. The guard just magically appears. She doesn't run off to fetch them or nothing. THAT is broken. That is frustrating and it sucks. From a player perspective, I shouldn't have to figure out that I need to enter TB mode to properly steal. If I succeed in the Sleight of Hand roll, I should be able to walk away without incident.
And it isn't NPC discrimination, RagnarokCzD... lol. It's mechanic discrimination. My characters are PCs. They should get special treatment especially in a video game. If I succeed in the roll, I should be able to successfully steal and walk away without getting accused. Meanwhile, the scene with the tiefling kid is a dialogue cutscene. It's story driven. So it's different.
Regardless, TB mode stealing goes to the opposite extreme. So, I TB moded Nadira and ROBBED HER BLIND without her even noticing that her pockets were bereft of a Soul Coin, I think it was 32 gold, several magic scrolls, two books... and all in 1 round of TB mode. I didn't have to click End Round at all. I slipped up to her outside of TB mode in Stealth Mode, I entered TB mode, selected pick pockets, and proceeded to take everything from her. Then I simply slipped away.
Well, I suppose you could say that the TB mode version of stealing is what I'm looking for outside of TB mode, but the point is that I shouldn't have to enter TB mode to achieve this. It's frustrating as a player that I have to jump through this kind of hoop to do something so basic. I shouldn't have to have another player tell me, "Hey. Try entering TB mode to properly steal from someone." It should be easy and intuitive, something user friendly and easy for new players to pick up without much thought.
The way it is now, I could see a lot of players constantly getting frustrated with stealing because they never realize that they should enter TB mode before they start stealing from someone just so that NPC doesn't immediately notice that they've been robbed.
And regardless of this particular stealth/stealing feature, the overall stealth system is still quite janky and clunky and frustrating - from sniping while hiding to characters in plate armor able to sneak right up behind enemies without a Stealth check to my thief needing to roll a Stealth check more than once when he enters a stealth cone in combat - Astarion had to make 3 stealth checks during combat, and he succeeded in the first two only to have him fail the last one so that by the time I was about to use Sneak Attack, it was disabled due to the last failed Stealth roll. Why 3 checks for one stealth cone?
It's just very bad. I've been playing this game for 2 years now, over 600 hours, and I still can't figure out stealth and make it work well. That HAS to tell you something. Until this thread, I had no idea I should enter TB mode to rob someone to avoid getting immediately accused of stealing. 600+ hours... still learning a basic mechanic of the game.
That's a bad mechanic.
