Steal (Final Fantasy XII)

Steal is a technick in Final Fantasy XII that lets the player take items from enemies. The player starts with the Technick, as Vaan, Balthier, and Fran already have it. In the original PlayStation 2 version, all player characters who have the License Board can activate it. In the Zodiac versions, it is used by certain jobs.
Stealing is improved with Thief's Cuffs accessory. Stealing from enemies is a great way to get various items and equipment pieces, and is useful for making gil via selling loot and for the bazaar goods.
Stealing successfully 50 times adds Vaan's sprite to the Sky Pirate's Den and awards the "Master Thief" trophy/achievement in The Zodiac Age.
==Obtain==
The license for the Steal costs 15 License Points in the original PlayStation 2 version, and 20 LP in the Zodiac versions. It is known by Vaan, Balthier, and Fran by default. Though the Steal Technick is sold in Rabanastre in the original PlayStation 2 version, the player can never buy it because they start the game with it.
In the Zodiac versions, the Steal license can be used by the job classes Machinist, Archer, Black Mage and Red Battlemage; the Black Mage must acquire the license for the Esper Zalera first, and the Red Battlemage must acquire the license for the Esper Hashmal. Vaan, Balthier, and Fran have this Technick no matter what job they choose, because they already have it when they join the party.
==Mechanics==
thumb|Steal in the PlayStation 2 version.
Each foe has a set of common, rare, and very rare items that can be stolen. If the steal is successful, the player will acquire either one or a selection of these items, with the chance of getting a certain item depending on its rarity. Once something has been stolen from an enemy, it is not possible to steal from that enemy again unless it re-spawns. There is an exception for the "green bar" neutral enemies; stealing from a neutral enemy, then zoning out once and returning will have returned the enemy to its neutral state, restoring its steal item. Related are enemies with cutscenes during the battle, such as the marks Rogue Tomato (the player can steal another item when it leaps off the cliff) and Gilgamesh (the player can steal another item whenever he draws out a new weapon).
Stealing is unaffected by battle chain. The only way to improve the chance to steal better items is to equip the Thief's Cuffs accessory.
All stealable items are divided into three categories:
* High chance: 55%
* Mid chance: 10%
* Low chance: 3%
With the Thief's Cuff accessory, the chances increase to:
* High chance: 80%
* Mid chance: 30%
* Low chance: 6%
Rare Game enemies only carry one item, usually belonging to the "Low" chance category.
The game first checks for the chance to steal the rarest item. If stealing the rare item fails, the game next checks the moderate chance item, and if that fails, the game checks for the most common item. If this step fails as well, the steal fails.
Normally only one item can be stolen, but the Thief's Cuffs also enables stealing multiple items at once; the game first checks for the rare item, and if that is successful, the game still checks for the other items as well, and the player has a chance of getting items from multiple categories simultaneously. However, once something has been stolen, the player cannot steal again from the same enemy, not even with Thief's Cuffs equipped.
Steal can reach flying enemies as long as they are not too far away, and will not awake sleeping enemies. Enemies that erect a physical Paling cannot be stolen from for its duration.
==Use==
Stealing is a great way to get more spoils from enemies. The player can automate it with Foe HP 100%: Steal as a top gambit on someone. Someone else can then have Foe HP 100%: Attack gambit to stop the stealer from getting into an endless loop.
The player can farm some good items from certain foes. The trophy Rare Game only appear once, and so the player can spawn one, steal, then leave and respawn the enemy and steal again. The player can also farm High Arcana from Adrammelech.
Stealing is crucial in the battles against Gilgamesh; the player should be sure to steal after every transition scene to get something new. Stealing from the enemies in the Trial Mode in The Zodiac Age versions is a way to get powerful equipment pieces early.
==Behind the scenes==
Automating stealing via the gambit system is something players strive to do, but the stealer will keep stealing even when the target has nothing to steal. Thus, many players opt to use Foe HP 100% gambit to only steal from newly met enemies. The developers have commented that they did not want to make stealing too convenient, and wanted to keep that element of trial-and-error and the "healthy player frustration" that "makes the game fun". Thus, the imperfect stealing with gambits has been left in the International and HD versions.
==Citations==
Category:Technicks in Final Fantasy XII