Stealing Spellbooks

Telk · Post by **Telk** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:11 am

I was wondering what the staff's view is on this.

Algon · Post by **Algon** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:36 pm

I do not see a problem with this. Do you think if a fighter bested a wizard somehow he would not do all he could to keep the wizard from regaining the upper hand? I would tie their hands behind their back and gag them and take every single item they had and leave them in the nude. But thats just me, a wizard is not something to take lightly, they are very powerful. So froma PK standpoint, taking the spellbook is a good idea to me.

From a thief standpoint....not many things in the world are worth more the a wizard then his spellbook...and stealing one to ransome back to him can make that rogue quite a good deal of money.

Glim · Post by **Glim** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:05 pm

*chuckle* I like the break knuckles and cut tongues. Spellbooks can be destroyed or burnt...or just hidden...

Lerytha · Post by **Lerytha** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:19 pm

Spellbooks are also ridiculously large and heavy. They are massive. To steal one might be similar to stealing a pack. Although they are codewise only 1 pound, IC, they can be huge.

Just something to bear in mind.

Rhianon · Post by **Rhianon** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:47 pm

Hopefully most wizards would be holding the spellbook, and to try and steal it would turn their furry on you, if it is in their inventory then it should be fair game.

Telk · Post by **Telk** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:53 pm

The reason for my asking was. With such a powerful item you would think that the wizard would be watching it carefully if not have his hand on it all the time excluding meditation. Even if it was in the inventory wouldn't the wizard have a close eye on it it being his prized possession?

Tychina · Post by **Tychina** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:00 pm

Just to comment on the RP of the thing.. I have a thief, she has several spell books. She has her own reason for keeping them. She did not steal them from a characters inventory though. Wether this is allowed or not, wether she would IC be able to or not, *I* figured, a wizard, a thief, no way to ic'ly tell how powerful they are, it would be kind of akin to suicide. Without saying how exactly my thief managed to get her grubby lil paws on said spell books, I will say this.. would you, as a person in the real world, leave a very powerful, very important and valuable item of yours, left lieing or stored somewhere unguarded and easily accessible to any one who happened to "browse" through your very UNguarded things?

Zilvryn · Post by **Zilvryn** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:00 pm

If someone stole one of Averlathmai's spellbooks, I would gather a posse and hunt you down.

Aver is not a high level wizard, but to steal his spellbook would mean death. Yes, I know he is an evil wizard, but you think goods would not respond likewise to the theft of a spellbook? It would be like ransoming a child to someone. That is the amount of effort (RP wise) that goes in to making a spellbook.

Sorry if this sounds a little militant, but yeh.

E

Tychina · Post by **Tychina** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:22 pm

LOL yes, but that is my point, with them being so very important, would you really leave one lieing around unguarded? I don't think *I* would. I would carry them in my hand, in my pack, in my inventory (maybe) NOT say, in a cart, that any passerby can nab stuff out of if I'm in a crowded place, or in a pack at my feet, that a thief my snatch and run away with, or even on my mount, if I am leaving it unatended for even a moment. I don't know about how others play their thieves, but if its in your inventory, then 99% of the time it is safe from my thief. Unless someone hires me to do a job and is paying me enough to warrant taking unnesesary (sp?) risks, then inventory items on PC's are personally offlimits to me.

Isolrem · Post by **Isolrem** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 8:00 pm

Wear spellbook belt doesn't seem to work...

Telk · Post by **Telk** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 8:33 pm

Mystra wrote:We will find out, but for those wizards who want to rp hanging the spellbook on the belt, the option will be there after copyover

Aradiana · Post by **Aradiana** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:33 am

I just Had my spellbook go missing on me. I died trying to help someone bring back another's body. I ended up being another body. They gave me back my stuff but when I went to memorize my spells, I couldn't find the spellbook. Talk about being unlucky =P I don't know what happened exactly, but without it, I can't survive much. If I can't find my spellbook, how do I go about replacing it?

Argentia · Post by **Argentia** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:55 am

There are ways IC to get back lost spellbooks.(Or raather get new ones) Ask around, ask other wizards, I'm sure most wizards with some experience have come across at least a few ways to get a new spellbook. =)

Travis · Post by **Travis** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:53 am

It's true that if a thief were looking to rub out a certain wizard, it wouldn't be a poor idea to target that wizard's spellbook. And the way I see it, you can be paying as much attention to your spellbook as you like, but that won't stop someone coming up and trying to mug you for it. XD
Stealing spellbooks seems perfectly acceptable as long as it's RP'd correctly, and not only by the thief. There have been times when Travis has yoinked someone's spellbook, only to have them act like it's no big deal because code wise, you can just go buy another for 2 plat.

Gwain · Post by **Gwain** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 4:29 am

Ralvurahva wrote: And the way I see it, you can be paying as much attention to your spellbook as you like, but that won't stop someone coming up and trying to mug you for it. XD

I believe it's been stressed on the forums elsewhere, that it is extremely poor rp for a thief to steal something that a pc is paying great attention to at the moment. If anything, you should not steal something just because it is possible, you should take the time to make sure that the item is idle and not being rp'd with. Unless of course you have an appropriate rp for seizing something from someone. Just to add to what has been said already.

Kirkus · Post by **Kirkus** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 4:04 pm

Not nessecarily.......... ( alright its friday of finals week, it took me three tries to got that word as close as I did. My brain is fried!! so bear with me)

Go watch Oceans 11 and Oceans 12. And any other thief type movie. They are good for getting the language and manerisms of thieves and a clue for what they can do and how they think. Also very fun to try and desipher what all of their thief terms means, like what is a "Hell in a Handbasket" and what do you have to train a cat to do to do one. Anyway there is a scene in Oceans 11 that shows Linus picking a pocket on the subway. The next sece is what I am thinking of though. The main character Danny Ocean offers him a spot in this big job they are planning. They are sitting at a restaurant, where Danny is explaining the terms. He has the plain ticket for Vegas there. Danny Ocean puts the ticket on the table and turns to catch the attention of the server. When he turns back Linus has stolen the ticket right out from under his hand, literally.

My point? Good thieves can take things right out from under peoples noses. This was a thief stealing from another thief! And not just picking his pocket when his back was turned. This is a thief stealing from another master thief in a split second, taking something right out from under his hand.

As for not stealing something just because it is possible? Some thieves are like that. Now I don't mean abuse code but some theives are just like that. They walk down the streets and all they see are the angles.

plus here is another thing. Algon brought up the scenario of a fighter beating a wizard and taking the spellbook. I LOVE ideas like that. It fosters additional rp. I believe this is exactily how all pk situations should end. With the winner taking his/her prize and giving the looser a chance to get it back at a later date. And the follow up rp dosn't even have to be another pk. Take Kirkus for example, if I were to ever get in a pk situation and were to win I would take something of course. But I would decide on a place and time for the looser to come and attempt to retrieve thier belongings. And I would try to think of some quest to give the pc have them run some errand for me to get their stuff back.

Aradiana · Post by **Aradiana** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:47 pm

Apparantly my spellbook was in a pouch but I didnt know this until I already spent the 3 platinum to replace it! How likely will it be for me to find someone who may buy the extra spellbook?

Andreas · Post by **Andreas** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:07 pm

Please refrain from posting In Character information/questions on the discussion boards. Things like where did your spellbook disappear to and can you sell X item to Y person should be address In Character on the MUD, not here on the Out Of Character discussion boards.

Thank you

Travis · Post by **Travis** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:50 pm

In addition to what Kirkus said, I'd also like to bring up the point that thieves do indeed mug people. Perhaps it's not seen very often on FK where a thief strays from the normal methods of robbing people stealthily and without being seen, but it's not so uncommon for real thieves to throw on their favorite ski-mask and go mug someone for their wallet or hold up the local convenience store. The scenario is different in FK, granted, but it doesn't really matter how much you're paying attention to your object if the person is going to throw an elbow in your face and try and take it from you by force.

Jerigo · Post by **Jerigo** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:55 am

I apologize if I'm taking this thread off-topic and into a messy debate over rhetoric, but I just thought I'd add this.

I wouldn't call someone who overpowers another person to pry something of value from their hands a thief. I would call them a mugger or a thug. I would picture that as something more along the lines of a warrior. A thief, on the other hand, is all about avoiding confrontation at all costs through the use of stealth, misdirection, and dexterity rather than brute force.

That being said, I think a thief on FK trying to mug someone for anything is missing the point. I suppose it might not necessarily qualify as "bad RP," but a thief who employs such methods would certainly seem to be missing the point.

Just my thoughts, I'd appreciate critiques if there are any.