Thievery
From Ravenblack CityWiki
Contents |
What is Thievery?
Thievery enables the user to rob other vampires.
Where to get
Thieves Guild 1, 2 and 3 respectively (in order)
Cost
- Thievery 1: 2,000 coins
- Thievery 2: 5,000 coins
- Thievery 3: 10,000 coins
You must have Thievery 1 to get Thievery 2, and Thievery 2 to get Thievery 3.
Effect
A (rob) option appears next to the (drink) option on vampires in the same square as you.
A rob attempt works similar to a bite — it will cost 1 AP, and you can only make one attempt against each vampire unless he/she moves in between.
Robbery can only target a vampire's carried coins. Carried items as well as bank money are safe.
The percentage of coins one is able to rob from a vampire is random each time. Increased levels of Thievery raise the maximum percentage and the chance of succeeding in stealing.
| Level | Chance of success | Maximum loot |
| Thievery 1 | 25 % | 25 % of victim's coins |
| Thievery 2 | 50 % | 50 % of victim's coins |
| Thievery 3 | 75 % | 75 % of victim's coins |
Perception and robbery
If you also have the power of Perception, vampires with heavy purses display a yellow (rob) link.
Neutrality and theft tax
If the robber or the victim has the power of Neutrality, half of any robbed loot is lost (the Peacekeepers taxate such transgressions by and against their members).
Tips and recommendations
Perception and Thievery is a good combination. Neutrality and Thievery is not.
Whether to get Thievery or not ultimately boils down to your preferred gaming style. Pick Thievery if you find the concept cool, but you can do just as well in the game without it.
Arguments against
Without Thievery, you can probably gain 100—400 coins daily by feeding on humans alone. It will take quite a lot of robbing to break even as a thief, as you must put in 17,000 coins to become good at it. Principally, it merely redistributes existing coins within the vampire collective, while biting humans generate new money.
Anti-theft precautions are easy — experienced vampires deposit their coins at a bank at the end on their round, and never rest with a full purse. This limits the supply of juicy victims.
Arguments for
Many vampires carry lots of coins, possibly because they are so rich they don't care but more likely because they misjudged the distance to the bank at the end of their round. The latter category tends to be found near banks, making banks and their vicinity the preferred hunting grounds for vampires of the kleptomanial kind.
Thievery is arguably the most important power to get and usually the most logical choise as the first power to obtain for a fledgling. But unfortunately, it can also be the hardest to get the first level of. As a vampire without Thievery, you can only get your funding two ways. Either from humans, from whom you can steal without the Thievery skill, or from other pires being nice enough to pay for it for you. The reason Thievery is so important is that it pays for everything else like transits, pubs, items, powers, etc.
