How do you like my Thief's "Steal" Command?

[ScientistWD]

My game has four classes, but a player chooses only a party of three at the beginning of the game. One of those classes is the Thief, who uniquely has access to the Steal Command. Looking back through old threads, I can see a lot of distrust in "Steal". It makes me feel a little insecure to include it in my latest creations. However, my Steal is a bit different than traditional "Steal" commands, so I would like some feedback as to if it sounds like a good time, or like a wretched and nasty implementation of a mechanic no one has ever liked.

Allow me to explain.
When you choose a target from whom to Steal, that target's possible items are displayed, alongside your percent-chance to steal it. You may choose one item, and the Thief attempts to steal it that turn. (Those familiar with Yanfly's Steal and Snatch plugin will recognize this as the "Snatch" ability, but I have named it "Steal" in my game and that is what I want to call it. I apologize if it is confusing.) You can of course only Steal until the target has no items left.
Steal has a few other properties as well:

1. The available items to Steal is based on what the target can "drop" at the end of combat. You will not always get everything the target can drop when it is felled, but you will if you Steal everything from it before then. That being said, because the Thief is ultimately optional, I do not plan to put any item in the game that can only be obtained by Stealing it, since the only items that can be stolen are items that would otherwise have a chance to drop.
2. Stealing weapons or armor will actually lower the stats of the target from whom they were stolen as if they were no longer "equipping" it (per Yanfly's Steal and Snatch). I have made modifications so that this includes things such as Magic Reflection, Counter Attack Rates, or Elemental Resistance granted by equipment. This is one way Stealing can be tactical in the heat of battle.
3. In my game, all Magic is learned only through special armor type, Spellstones. Stealing a Spellstone will prevent the target from casting the spells granted by that Spellstone. This can be difficult to do, of course, but I find it to be just as tactical if not more so than stealing other weapons or armor.
4. Steal does no damage.
5. The percent-chance of success is determined by the LUK stats of the Thief and the target, as well as the "drop" rate the item has.
6. EDIT: Some opponents will "use" their stealable items as skills during battle. They will be unable to use them if stolen before they get the chance to, of course.

My original draft for this game did not have a Thief, but now I cannot imagine my game without it. Have other people done "Steal" differently? Are there other problems with "Steal" that I am missing, or not seeing?

 

[TheNewSon]

Very interesting, seems fun! I totally aprove the idea of a stealing skill that does more than only granting extra loot! I'd say go ahead with that, I've never seen a game with such a mechanic and I don't think you're missing anything. Although... I'm not a hardcore gamer of any time, so don't take my word for it, heh!

 

[Wavelength]

Moving this to Game Ideas & Prototypes. Most of your post is dedicated to your own, unique implementation, so it lends itself better to feedback than to a wide survey of Thievery in video games.

Overall, I think it sounds great. You'll have to do some tinkering with the numbers (like how much of an enemy's stats are tied up in its equipment), but there are a lot of elements that I really like about your system:

• Having a "set" of items that the player can choose to try to steal makes things pretty transparent, and comfortable for the player - he'll never be unsure of whether he's gotten everything
• The system (unlike traditional Steal systems where the Steal item might be different from the Drop item) allows the player to spend a long time at the end of combat stealing stuff from a weakened enemy if they want to - but it's probably more efficient to just kill the enemy, get some of their stuff, and then move onto another combat quickly, meaning you're not rewarding this boring and borderline-abusive form of gameplay.
  • You'll want to be careful about boss drops though - any enemy that only appears once, you probably want to make sure they drop everything they have so that players don't sit there forever at the end of the combat trying to filch stuff.
• Stealing a Spellstone sounds like a fantastic way to implement the normally-problematic "Silence" mechanic into your game
• Similar to the above, if you put some work into ensuring that Items (especially ones that bosses hold) have immediate practicality in combat, you can make it into a tactical move to steal an Item when you really need it

Possible suggestions for your system:

• Have a way to immediately use the equipment you filched from your enemy - perhaps a mid-battle Equip menu
• Allow your enemies to 'use' items they're holding as if they were a skill, and remove that item from their steal/drop inventory if possible once they do. This would force the player to strike while the iron is hot! (It would also force them to be more tactical about stealing stuff like Healing Potions, which an enemy could use when they get low on HP - don't injure the enemy you're hoping to steal it from!)

 

[Kes]

These ideas are certainly much more interesting and tactical than other steal skills I've seen, so congrats on some lateral thinking.
I was wondering if stealing a Spellstone meant that the player could use it themselves to learn a skill, or just prevent the enemy from using one. If it's the former that might leave some significant balance problems.

 

[ScientistWD]

• Have a way to immediately use the equipment you filched from your enemy - perhaps a mid-battle Equip menu
• Allow your enemies to 'use' items they're holding as if they were a skill, and remove that item from their steal/drop inventory if possible once they do. This would force the player to strike while the iron is hot! (It would also force them to be more tactical about stealing stuff like Healing Potions, which an enemy could use when they get low on HP - don't injure the enemy you're hoping to steal it from!)

• I have thought about this! The trouble is implementing it in exactly the right way; I have not yet found a plugin or design that I like perfectly, so I have been putting it off.
• I already did this! Approximately a week ago! You have read my mind, @Wavelength ! I will add it to the introduction.

All in all, it looks like either my idea holds more water than I expected, or that no dissenters were willing to read my long introduction. I am glad this has worked out.