Steal (Final Fantasy VII ability)

Steal is a command ability in Final Fantasy VII granted by the Steal Materia or Master Command. It attempts to steal an item from an enemy.
In addition to being used as a command ability, Steal can also be attempted with the Steal as well Materia.
==Stats==
Command Materia 	Steal, Master Command
Effect 	Attempt to steal an item from a single enemy. If All, attempt to steal an item from each enemy.
Compatible Support Materia	Added Cut, Counter, Final Attack, HP Absorb, MP Absorb, Sneak Attack
==Mechanics==
Steal attempts to take an item from an enemy, and if successful, will place it in the player's inventory. It can be paired with several Support Materia, although few of them are useful. The formula for working out the steal success rate uses the attacker's level, the target's level, the item's number, and a random element.
:LV difference = 40 + User's LV - Target's LV
The sum works out the difference between the user and the target's level, and then adds 40 to it and caps at 100. As an example, if the user's level is 50, and the enemy's level is 25, the result is 65. The next step includes multiplication and division.
:LV factor = \frac{512 \times LV difference}{100}
The answer to the first equation is multiplied by 512, before being divided by 100, before the result is truncated to reach a whole number. In the example earlier, the result would be 332. The next step is to include the item's chance.
:Chance = \frac{Item chance \times LV factor}{256}
In the example used above, the enemy is a Tonberry, an enemy one cannot fight outside the Battle Square. The only item a Tonberry has is a Turbo Ether. In this case, the Turbo Ether has an item chance of 8. So it would be 332 multiplied by 8, and divided by 256. This is 10.375, and then truncated to 10. The final part of the equation adds the random element.
:Rnd(0..63) \le Chance
This means a number between 0 and 63 is randomly selected. If the random number is less than or equal to the Chance, then the item is stolen. 
:(Chance + 1)/64
In this case there are eleven results that end in the item being stolen, and 53 of it not being. This means there is a 17.1875% chance of stealing the item.
If an enemy has more than one item, the game does the calculation on the item in the first slot, and if it fails, repeats the calculation in the next slot, and then on until an item has been stolen, or it fails in all of them. This means that if a user's level is high enough, they will encounter problems stealing items in slots after the first one. As an example, the Bagrisk has a Soft in its first slot with a chance of 32, a second Soft with another chance of 32, and a Vagyrisk Claw as its third and final slot with a chance of eight. The Bagrisk is level 19.
If the user is level 50: 50 + 40 - 19 = 71. 71 multiplied by 512, then divided by 100 is 363.52, truncated to 363.
:46/64 Chance: Steal the Soft (1)
:18/64 Chance: Move to next item...
::46/64 Chance: Steal the Soft (2)
::18/64 Chance: Move to next item...
:::12/64 Chance: Steal the Vagyrisk Claw
:::52/64 Chance: No item is stolen
The explanation is: the first slot is 32; that multiplied by 363, and then divided by 256 is 45. Using the random formula, there are 46 chances of stealing, and 18 of not. The chance percentage of stealing it is 71.875% [(46/64) * 100]. Assuming it does not steal, it moves onto the second slot, again 32, with the same 46 out of 64 chance of stealing. This gives a 20.2148% [(18/64 * 46/64) * 100] chance of getting this item from the steal. The final item has a factor of eight. Eight multiplied by the LV factor of 363, divided by 256 gives 11.34375, truncated be 11. If this was in the first slot, there would be 12/64 chance of stealing, and 52 of not, which is a 18.75% chance of stealing. Being in the third slot after the Softs gives a 1.4832% [(18/64 * 18/64 * 12/64) * 100] chance of stealing.
If a player's level is 78; 78 + 40 - 19 = 99. 512 multiplied by 99, divided by 100, and then truncated is 506. Multiplied by 32, divided by 256, and truncated, is 63. A random number between 0 and 63 is always less than or equal to 63. This means there as a 100% chance of stealing from the first slot. Therefore, the second Soft and the Vagyrisk Claw cannot be stolen.
If the Sneak Gloves are equipped, the player's level in the formula is increased to 60 levels greater than the enemy's, thus the LV factor will always be 512 or greater. So using the original Tonberry example, the lowest possible result is 512 multiplied by eight, divided by 256 is 16. So no matter what the player's level, there is always at least a 17/64 chance to steal the item. As established above, against a Bagrisk a LV factor of 512 is more than 506, thus one will never steal the Vagyrisk Claw with the Sneak Gloves equipped.
==Use==
Steal can at times be a useful ability to steal a number of rare items. Other than items, weapons, armor, and accessories can be stolen from enemies. One key example is the Striking Staff weapon for Aeris, stolen from Eligor, as a great way to give the player a powerful weapon earlier than they normally would.
The Mug ability outclasses Steal, as it also deals damage while attempting to steal. As such it is more efficient to use, unless the player is specifically avoiding killing an enemy (so as more chance to steal from them), or waking them up from a Sleep.
==Enemies that steal==
Steal is also an enemy ability known by Vice and Prowler, which takes an item from the target's inventory (but not items that cannot be sold or thrown, and if no valid items are available, then nothing will be stolen). If the user then escapes, they escape with what they stole; however, if they are defeated the player wins the item back. After stealing the item, neither will attack, but will stay in battle and do nothing until they escape.
The Prowler has a quarter chance of stealing on his first turn, whereas Vice has only a sixth. Both enemies also have Grind, which appears to do the same thing and also steals an item. There is a quarter chance the Prowler will do this on his first turn and a sixth for the Vice, again.
==Gallery==
FFVII Barret Steal.png|Barret using Steal.
FFVII Cait Sith Steal.png|Cait Sith using Steal.
FFVII Cloud Steal.png|Cloud using Steal.
FFVII Red XIII Steal.png|Red XIII using Steal.
FFVII Tifa Steal.png|Tifa using Steal.
FFVII Vincent Steal.png|Vincent using Steal.
FFVII Yuffie Steal.png|Yuffie using Steal.
Category:Abilities in Final Fantasy VII