Larceny
Trait Description: Larceny allows a character to break into locked treasuries and also to win games of chance in the dives of Nexus. It covers the character's mastery of legerdemain, sleight of hand, gambling, pickpocketing, disguise, lock picking, con games and similar skills mostly known by thieves and other scoundrels who live outside the law. It also includes knowledge of the habits and customs of the criminal underworld.
Specialties: Lock Picking, Con Games, A Specific City, Cheating at Gambling, Fencing Stolen Goods, Disguise, Scoring Drugs, Organized Crime
Trait Effects: Someone with Larceny 1 can probably get away with pinching a mango from a shopkeeper. Someone with Larceny 3 is an accomplished thief who may run a small criminal gang. Someone with Larceny 5 is a master thief, who could likely steal the rings off the Despot of Gem's jewel-encrusted fingers.
Dramatic Systems for Larceny
Disguise (Larceny)
Appearing as another character or masking one's identity requires a successful (Intelligence + Larceny) roll. This is generally a dramatic action, requiring several minutes of applying costuming and perhaps prosthetics and makeup. The difficulty of the task ranges from 1 to look like someone else of the same gender, racial background, and body type (but not a specific person). Add one for each of those criteria the character tries to surpass, so looking like a specific person (+1), who is notably taller (+1), and is a different gender (+1) has a difficulty of 4. Hurrying also adds to the difficulty. Add two if the character is working without effective props and/or trying to mimic a specific person without several weeks of direct observation of the subject. For every additional month of work preparing a disguise beyond what is necessary, reduce the difficulty of the roll by one (to a minimum of difficulty 1). Players should note that mundane disguises cannot actually raise Appearance by more than one dot (to a maximum of 5 for humans), although disguises can temporarily reduce Appearance as far as to 0. If a character impersonates someone more attractive than herself (Appearance + 1), the disguise might be nearly flawless, but she cannot actually use this attractiveness as well as someone who actually has it. Spending protracted time "dressed up" in a disguise makes a perfect justification as training time to raise Appearance.
Whenever characters first encounter a disguised character, their players should roll (Perception + Awareness). If the threshold of this roll exceeds the threshold of the disguise, the observer realizes that the character is an imposter. If the Awareness check fails, the inquiring character may not reroll unless the disguised character does something unexpected or out of character (calling a lover by the wrong name, declaring a new heir, etc.). Therefore, loved ones and close friends will receive many more rechecks than acquaintances. If the character is caught without the disguise/props on, the ruse is automatically pierced.
Picking Locks (Larceny)
Opening a lock without the proper key requires a successful (Dexterity + Larceny) roll. The difficulty varies from 1-5 depending on the sophistication of the lock, and the character must have lockpicks of some kind. (Add one to the difficulty when using improvised tools.) First Age locks must be picked with First Age lockpicks or a stunt, and most First Age adaptive lockpicks are not mutable enough to mate with the crude wards of the Second Age. Characters caught with lockpicks on their person will have a lot of explaining to do. Players should remember that brute force often works as well as any lockpick for situations that do not call for stealth or subtlety.
Picking Pockets/Shoplifting/Prestidigitation (Larceny)
If one character attempts to filch items off another character's person without his knowledge, doing so requires an opposed roll of (Dexterity + Larceny) against the (Wits + Awareness, difficulty 1) of the target. The difficulty for the thief depends on how securely the item is kept: 1 for back pockets and pouches, 2 for front pockets and 3 for breast pockets/objects against the skin. Add one if the pouch/pocket is secured against theft and one if the character lacks a sharp knife for the task. If the thief obtains successes equal to the difficulty, the theft is successful. The target notices the theft immediately, however, if this threshold beats the thief's threshold. If the thief is unsuccessful and the target gets a single success, the failed attempt is automatically detected.
This system can also be used when a character grabs items from a merchant's stall or otherwise attempts to shoplift. Small objects on a shelf are difficulty 1, objects under direct observation are difficulty 2 and objects under direct observation within reach of the merchant are difficulty 3. Detection works exactly as described previously.
Finally, use this system whenever a character attempts to perform stage magic such as palming coins, shell games and whatnot. The difficulty is typically 2, but possibly higher for outlandish tricks. If observers gain a higher threshold than the prestidigitator, they see the trick for what it is.