Snooping
Snooping
- Please note that Banes World is a PvE Shard and this is disabled player to player. The guide presents the entire snooping skill complete due to guilds and potential for guild wars.
Snooping is the art of peeking into other people's containers — backpacks, pouches, and bags carried by players and NPCs. It is the companion skill to Stealing, allowing a thief to see what a target is carrying before deciding what to take. Snooping involves two separate checks: one to successfully open the container, and another to determine whether the target notices you peeking.
How to Use
Snooping is not activated from the skill menu. Instead, it triggers automatically whenever you attempt to open a container that belongs to another player or NPC. Simply double-click their backpack or a container inside it.
You must be within 1 tile of the container to attempt a snoop.
The Two Checks
Every snoop attempt involves two independent rolls:
1. Detection Check (Were You Noticed?)
This check determines whether the target realizes you are peeking into their belongings. It is rolled before the skill check for opening the container, meaning you can be noticed even if you successfully open it.
Chance of Being Detected = (99 − Snooping Skill) / 100
| Snooping Skill | Chance Target Notices You |
|---|---|
| 30 | 69% |
| 50 | 49% |
| 70 | 29% |
| 80 | 19% |
| 90 | 9% |
| 99+ | 0% (never detected) |
At 99 Snooping and above, the target is never alerted. Below that, each failed detection sends the target a message: "You notice [name] peeking into your belongings!"
- Being detected does not prevent you from opening the container — it only alerts the target. You can be detected and still successfully snoop.
2. Skill Check (Did You See the Contents?)
This check determines whether you actually manage to open the container and view its contents. It is a standard skill check against a 0 to skill cap range.
If you succeed, the container opens and you can see everything inside, just as if it were your own backpack. If the container is trapped, the trap will trigger when you open it.
If you fail, you receive the message "You failed to peek into the container" and you may be revealed from Hiding (see below).
Reveal on Failure
When you fail the skill check to open a container, there is an additional check to see if you are pulled out of Hiding:
Chance of Being Revealed = (99 − (Hiding Skill / 2)) / 100
| Hiding Skill | Chance of Being Revealed on Failure |
|---|---|
| 0 | 99% |
| 50 | 74% |
| 80 | 59% |
| 100 | 49% |
| 120 | 39% |
Higher Hiding skill gives you a better chance of staying hidden even when you fumble the snoop. At 100 Hiding, you have roughly a coin flip of remaining concealed after a failed attempt.
- This reveal check only happens on a failed snoop. Successful snoops do not reveal you.
Karma Loss
Every snoop attempt costs you 4 Karma, regardless of success or failure. Frequent snooping will steadily push your karma into the negatives.
Skill Gains Above 100
Snooping gains slow down significantly above 100 skill. The effective difficulty for gaining skill points is halved past 100, meaning you need roughly twice as many attempts to gain a point between 100 and 120 compared to the same range below 100. This is by design to make high-end Snooping a long-term investment.
Where You Can Snoop
The rules for who you can snoop depend on your location:
| Location | Who You Can Snoop |
|---|---|
| Outside of town (unguarded areas) | Any NPC or player |
| In town (guarded regions) | Only criminal or murderer NPCs — you cannot snoop innocent (blue) human NPCs in guarded areas |
| Felucca | Anyone, regardless of other restrictions |
What You Cannot Snoop
- Dead mobiles — you cannot snoop a corpse through this skill (use regular corpse looting instead)
- Creature backpacks — players cannot snoop the packs of monsters or animals
- Staff members — you cannot peek into a Game Master's belongings
- Containers beyond 1 tile — you must be standing directly next to the container
- Targets you cannot perform negative actions on — standard harmful action restrictions apply in guarded areas
Trapped Containers
If you successfully snoop a container that has a trap on it, the trap will fire when the container opens. This includes magic traps, poison traps, and any other trap type applied to the container. Be prepared with resistances or curing before snooping suspicious containers in dungeons.
Tips
- Reach 99 Snooping before relying on it in dangerous situations. Below 99, there is always a chance the target notices you, which can lead to criminal flagging and guard calls in town.
- Pair Snooping with Hiding. Approach your target while hidden, snoop their pack, then decide if there is anything worth stealing. Even if you fail the snoop, high Hiding gives you a chance to stay concealed.
- Snooping trains by doing. There is no other way to raise this skill — you must snoop containers belonging to other mobiles. Find a busy area and practice on NPCs outside of town where there are no guard restrictions.
- Watch your Karma. Each attempt costs 4 Karma. Hundreds of training attempts will drop your karma significantly. Plan for this if you care about your moral standing.
- Check for traps. Dungeon containers can be trapped. If you are snooping containers in dangerous areas, have Remove Trap or Detect Hidden ready, or simply accept the risk and keep your health high.
- Successful snoops are completely silent. Once you reach 99+ Snooping, the target never knows you looked. Combined with Hiding, you can scout anyone's inventory with zero risk.