Maybe i missed it in the slew of these posts. but i pose a question i've been unable to find answer for. how is a trader to defend him/herself from a thief that joins his/her caravan and repeatedly steals from the trader, when the trader fails to have good hiding to avoid the pointing of the thief?

In some situations dancing affects[ed] group mechanics, hence why the avoid was needed.

If you have a gweth, ask for someone to guard you. Have them deal with said thief.

Avoids are helpful as well. If you really care enough, buy an inviso ring. They won't be able to point you out of invisibility. Not the perfect solution, but its one of many.


The Upright Man

You search around for a moment.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
You notice the vague silhouette of XXXX.
R>point XXXX

I could not find what you were referring to.

The Upright Man

In addition, the WATCH verb is your friend.


The Upright Man

>>how is a trader to defend him/herself from a thief that joins his/her caravan and repeatedly steals from the trader, when the trader fails to have good hiding to avoid the pointing of the thief?

Trade in Zoluren (seriously, it's so easy to trade there that it's inevitably going to get nerfed in some way), and deposit coins in the nearest bank every time you visit any outpost (if you're getting tagged by thieves, do it every time you turn in a contract instead of turning them all in at once):

Wolf Clan, Tiger Clan, Crossings, Arthe - deposit in Crossings
Stone Clan, Dirge -- deposit in Dirge
Leth Deriel -- deposit in Leth
Ilaya Taipa -- deposit in Ilaya

Four banks, and not a single outpost is more than a handful of seconds away from one (Crossing, Dirge, Leth, and Ilaya are actually literally within 5 rooms or so of the outpost, with the one in Ilaya being right there where the outpost is).

A lone thief won't be able to significantly bother you in this province, no matter how much skill they have.

If you want to hide and sneak around, doing so with less than 300 copper means a thief can't snag any coins along the way.

J'Lo, I'm a ranger.. I'd believe anything.....
The Manipulation List -- http://symphaena.com/index.html

Using avoids in this situation should be considered OOC and mech abuse. Jeeze people it's a game. Role play it out.

Prescious

Is using avoids Mech Abuse? They wouldn't have them at all if there weren't a reason -- if you weren't supposed to use them while trading/training/hunting, what's the point of using them (except for a certain guild using Avoid Sing)?

What about using a horse to discourage Thieves? Or the old massive amounts of copper or cheap gems or cursed gems (which no longer work)? Having another character hold the money? Protect coin for the usual spots? Leading while hiding? Disband?

I've seen all of these as a Thief. And these are encouraged by other Traders, and I'm pretty sure I've seen the majority of route-runners using at least one of these when I used to steal from you guys (before the new stealing).
___
>
The guard stares at you and swears. The guard says, "I do not see why you even bother living."

As a note to Prescious, you probably have enough perception to CATCH the thieves. Alot of babies can't.. like myself.
As a note to OP, moneybelts are good, but I don't know where to get them.

>I don't understand the economics behind moneybelts. It just doesn't seem to me they will ever save as much money as they cost.

You can resell them later, so the purchase price isn't really a cost, more of an investment.

*>>I don't understand the economics behind moneybelts. It just doesn't seem to me they will ever save as much money as they cost.<<

I can understand regular moneybelts. They hold 15 coins.

To a lesser extent I understand the smaller moneybelts in the LTB bungalow.

But paying hundreds of plats for an eyepatch or coinpurse is crazy.

They can only protect 1 coin.

How does that ever pay for itself?


-=Dirge. Come for the ossuary. Stay for the ash.=-