I'm on my first playthrough and I've been having some trouble pickpocketing NPCs, especially NCR troopers. I tried to go to Camp McCarran and pickpocket some Combat Knives off unnamed NCR troopers, but I'm detected every time. I have 80 sneak, neutral rep, and remained hidden behind my target the entire time. I tried this on unnamed and named troopers and officers, but they all caught me without exception. The only thing I can pickpocket off them seems to be empty casings, because if I try to pickpocket anything important like a knife or some rounds, I get found out instantly.

Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks.

What's your agility and do you wear light, medium or heavy armor while doing it?
But I think that the size of the item factors in with your success.
/speculation

Edit: Misread.

As I said in my original post, my sneak is 80. My agility is 9, and I initially tried with medium armour, but then took off all armour and tried again. Same result. And I do remain hidden the entire time.

lol, I think it may be a glitch/bug/whatever, but I always had the same trouble as you, but I have low sneak, I was hidden ect, but kept getting caught, so I moved around and it said I was detected, then tried and got what I was after. I dn't think it always works, but it's worth a try... trust me :hehe:

Wow, I just tried it again. I can steal knives, dogtags, etc. from troopers, and I even managed to get a combat knife and some .308 rounds, but the vast majority of the time I am caught in the act. What the hell is the point of getting 80 sneak when I can't even steal a combat knife 90% of the time? :brokencomputer:

I think it's the weight of the item that determines how difficult it is to steal, but tbh even with a sneal skill of 100 pickpocketing is very hit and miss. Using a stealth boy usually guarantees success though.

But a combat knife weighs 0.50...

EDIT: Lol, I can't pickpocket them but I sure as hell can kill them without suffering Karma or Reputation loss... what a joke.

Yeah, pickpocketing a minigun would be harder then pickpocketing a few caps.

I'm fairly certain that NPCs have varying perception and base pickpocket chances based on what they are.

"guard" type NPCs are very hard to pickpocket, but even with 30 stealth I can clear out the Van Graff's inventory and drop dynamite in their pockets.

I asked this question the other day but got no replies.. What is pickpocket based off of?.. I have 8 perception, 7 agility and 100 sneak.. Luck of 6.. To me I should be one of the worlds top pickpockets. But it seems like it's obviously just a chance thing based off of the amount or weight of the item and doesn't seem to have anything to do with your stats. Is pickpocket even associated with any certain skill?

Someone said this before, but maybe enemy perception has something to do with it. Maybe put on a stealth boy too, if you havn't tried

ive noticed some npcs such as cannibal johnson have a very high perception and i was detected very far away, others are low and probably easier to pick pocket. try gamblers on the strip for a reference id say.

Make sure when you're doing it, it says "Hidden" at the top of the screen and not "Detected."

Also, I read somewhere that the difficulty of pickpocketing an item is not really based on size or weight, but VALUE of the item you're trying to lift (the logic being that more expensive items would be watched closer by the owner). And Combat Knives have a pretty substantial cap value on them.

Not sure what it is but seems to be a lot less succesful than successful with a high sneak (my agility wasn't that high though which I thought might be a factor?). I've had good success pickpocketing general NCR and BOS dudes, took a few reloads within the Hidden Bunker however, but came out with a nice number of Gaus Riffles in the end!

Still no wiser in what helps make it work (other than Stealth Boy) and what adds to the risks etc.