Dirty DM tricks for pickpocketing.

[Lord Ben]

Okay, the party consists of a Cleric, Sorceress, and 3 rogues. Needless to say that in town we occasionally have sidetracks where the rogues like to pickpocket suseptible nobles.

I'm looking for good tricks, traps, spells, etc that will deter random crime on a petty level. What would a wizard or noble do to protect their coin-purse?

Normal rules, new spells, etc are all welcome, but make sure that they're not cost-prohibative. IE, no 200gp glyph of warding to protect something worth 100gp.

Thanks.

 

[Lord Ben]

We're also 5th level, and in Kalamar which is relatively low-mid magic. I'm looking for immidiate solutions for Sundays game mostly, but long term stuff is good too.

 

[Conaill]

Stone of Alarm comes to mind. Just put it inside the pouch your want to protect. The drawback is that you need to speak a password each time you want to touch the pouch yourself. That would make it more useful for one-time transport of precious goods (diamond shipment?) than for day-to-day use.

A miniaturized variant of the Alarm spell would be useful as well: allow it to be cast on an object (rather than a 25 ft radius).

 

[cthuluftaghn]

rofl... Funny you should ask that.

We recently had our resident thief try to pick the pocket.... er.... backpack of a druid (and fellow party member!).

He wasn't aware that she kept her animal companion in her pack. A viper. Effective deterrent!

 

[Umbran]

Is pickpocketing so rampant in town that individuals would guard themselves if the PCs were not present? If not, then they wouldn't guard themselves so.

However, there's a simple, non-magic solution - a bodyguard with a high rating in Spot, or who simply carries the cash in an inaccessible place. Sure, you can get teh cash, but you have to go through Nunzio, first

 

[Croaker]

You could go with Magic Mouth. It only costs 10 GP in components, and lasts until discharged. Make the trigger "anyone but me opening my purse", and the speech a 10-minute long variation on "Help! Someone is stealing Lord Puffypants purse! 100 gold to whoever brings the thief to Lord Puffypants!"

Hey, this trick nailed Bilbo Baggins...

 

[Lord Ben]

He wasn't aware that she kept her animal companion in her pack. A viper. Effective deterrent!

*slaps forehead* A rich merchant who deals in... CONTACT POISON!! Hehe. Steal that from him will you!!

 

[AuraSeer]

In one of the FR novels, a nobleman's purse was trapped with a Magic Mouth and a Polymorph Other effect. When a thief opened it, a voice spoke: "The one who stole this purse has made an ass of himself." And of course, that statement literally came true. (I guess the thief failed the Fortitude save.)

In another thread, somebody mentioned that you can cast Arcane Lock on chests and boxes. It's easy to picture a version that works on a pocket and purses.

A friend of mine created a powerful but paranoid NPC wizard, who is always worried about thieves and burglars. He crafted a headband that gives him a modified Detect Thoughts effect, that alerts him to any thoughts of thievery directed at his person. It is continuously in effect and has a 360º radius, but the range is only 10'. There is no save against the detection, but a thief who is aware of the effect beforehand can mask his thoughts with a Bluff or Pickpocket check, DC 30. (SR does apply.)

From a mundane standpoint, why should nobles be carrying around lots of cash anyway? After all, Lord Puffypants would hardly stoop to doing his own grocery shopping!

 

[reiella]

Trapped Noble's Outfit!

As silly as it sounds it's reasonable and possible. Stuff like a mouse trap in the pockets.

Or magical, go with Alarm, or try to convert Deep Pockets.

 

[Ricimer]

writs are common throughout history as well. They work something like a check.

Of course, they also tended to be bandied about like paper money today. Basically all one had to do was get ahold of one of these writs (say from the baker who got it from the lord) and go redeem it for the currency stated on the paper.

But you could forget to mention the second part. Thus, when a thief nabbed a purse they'd get a handful of copper pieces, maybe a few silverpieces (remember this is enough to pay an unskilled worker for a whole days work!) and maybe a writ or two made out to whomever they plan to do business with, and they aren't sealed/signed either!