Pickpocket Rules

[Atama]

And I'd make the DN the Trick skill of the target.

I really like that. It makes sense, including having Mind as part of the defense.

[Savioronedge]

I like the Trick(Dex) vs Trick.

I am also a huge fan of the Profession skill, which I feel is underused in Eternity. If a character has Prifession, it should cover an area of non-standard skills instead of 1 single skill. Ie. a Profession(Plumber) should be able to try and: figure out where a structure's water supply is, have a chance at tracing electrical lines, find load bearing supports (studs) in a wall, clear blockages in lines (not just pipes), estimate grade of decent, and many other things that won't normally come up in an adventure.

Profesion(Prestidigitator) should be able to apply misdirection in many ways, most of which will have little impact on most adventures. Pickpocketing would be just one application. [Note: I might even let someone use it defensively as a Disbelief against Illusions as the character has an understanding of the illusion process]

[fougerec]

I like the Trick(Dex) vs Trick.

I am also a huge fan of the Profession skill, which I feel is underused in Eternity. If a character has Prifession, it should cover an area of non-standard skills instead of 1 single skill. Ie. a Profession(Plumber) should be able to try and: figure out where a structure's water supply is, have a chance at tracing electrical lines, find load bearing supports (studs) in a wall, clear blockages in lines (not just pipes), estimate grade of decent, and many other things that won't normally come up in an adventure.

Profesion(Prestidigitator) should be able to apply misdirection in many ways, most of which will have little impact on most adventures. Pickpocketing would be just one application. [Note: I might even let someone use it defensively as a Disbelief against Illusions as the character has an understanding of the illusion process]

I tend to use most skills, but especially Profession, like Skills in Feng Shui. Each one has (if applicable) a physical aspect, a knowledge aspect and a connections aspect. So Fire Combat (for example) includes being able to shoot, repair/identify firearms, and knowledge of gun fighters/competition shooters/arms dealers. Obviously not every skill can have these (there's no network of contacts for Trick for example) but where applicable I 100% default to this view of skills.

[Blightcrawler]

So what I should've said is that I consider pickpocket to be trained-only.

At least then we'd have something to disagree about (vehemently) at the table.

But I think, in general, if you find yourself wanting to throw players a bone for attempting something unskilled, the thing they're attempting is not worthy of the skilled only boldface. It's worth looking at the core skill list, and see how many skills are for trained professionals only, especially after you take away the supernatural ones.

I'd argue, in situations where a roll is sufficiently risky, those hold pretty true. In a high stakes situation, a person without some basic familiarity with aircraft is not even going to be able to taxi successfully (and that's assuming the plane is already moving and all they have to do is steer: most people will try to use the wheel to steer, be in trouble before they discover the foot pedals are where it's at, and have no idea how to speed up or slow down). But over a century of commonplace automobiles means that even children can manage land vehicles (sometimes, usually with poor results, but that's just a failed roll). Although, to be honest, I'd probably let the taxi roll happen, too, as long as it makes for a more interesting game and not doing so means the players are stuck for options (the real problem is flying, and moreso, landing).

But of course, YMMV, especially deciding how things work in these edge cases in your game. I mostly like defending RAW when I can.

[Staffan]

For the record, oTORG had a Prestidigitation skill that could be used unskilled. The DN was the target's Perception (=Mind in TORGE) or Find, and you needed a Good success to lift the item unnoticed (otherwise you would lift the item but the mark would notice - although a Good success was only a margin of 3+ back then).

And I agree with Blightcrawler that pickpocketing is not the same level of specialized training as Air Vehicles, Language, Lockpicking, or Medicine (the only non-weird skills that are trained-only). If Scholar and Science can be used untrained to reflect basic education, an untrained person should be able to use Dexterity to pick someone's pockets by remembering stuff they've seen on Leverage (which, in Core Earth, would be reality TV).