Stealing From Stalls

To steal from market stalls go to Ardougne (that is the only
place that has a bunch). Right click on a stall and use the
"steal from" option. If when stealing from a stall you fail,
the stall owner may just yell at you, or a Guard or Knight will
attack you. You are better off waiting until they are either
dead or distracted with somebody else (if you can not kill them).

Lockpicking

For some doors in Runescape, you may have to pick their locks to open them. To pick a door's lock,
simply right click on it and then select the picklock option. As your level increases in pickpocketing,
you will be able to access places you couldn't have gone before. The doors will eventually re-lock
so you can pick them again. To get the Lockpick you have to pickpocket Rogues in the Wilderness
until you get one. You can use this lockpick for areas in the Wilderness that require it.

Trap Disarming

Certain objects such as chests and stairs have traps on them.
To find a trap, all you need to do is right click on the chest
and see if there's an option to "search for traps." If you choose
not to disarm a trap then you receive damage to your hit points.
If you have a high enough thieving level then you will be able
to disarm it.

*Please Note: Traps reset after a certain amount of time.

THE STRATEGY

Skill:
The best bet on pickpocketing an enemy is to pace yourself and not pick a enemy quickly but in a paceful way. This will help you, and you'll get caught even less. Pressing "Pick Pocket" on a character twice in quick succession will almost always result in getting caught.

Equipment:
So you're fully equipped in full Rune with a Dragon Battle Axe and Rune Plate?
It's best you do not Thieve with plate and a weapon until you reach lvl 70 Paladins.
Your best bet if you're 40 Defense is to wear Gloves, no weapon and a Rune Chain or even an Ammy.

LockPicks:
It's best to get a Lockpick before you start picking door locks. Head to lvl 54 Wild and pickpocket a Rogue (Lvl 21 ). You'll need lvl 32 Thieving for this, and you'll get 35.5 XP, and a possibility of different rewards per attempt. So you might need to Pick them a few times before getting a Lockpick. Or, you can ask players to sell you a Lockpick. They usually sell for 1k from Players; not bad.

The Bad Thief:
Nothing is more annoying than a Thief Thieving the character you are Thieving. So a Thief or player has stolen your area and killed your character(s) you were busy on? You're a Thief and you don't have to put up with it! This is where Ranging and your weapon comes in. Best way to run off a annoying player is to get a high range level (45+) and Range the crap out of him/her. Or you can use your strength and kill off their enemies. This may seem mean but they never read the below strategy.

The Good Thief:
Nothing wrong with being polite. Thieve only the characters you get to first; don't be rude and go after another player's character. It's an online game and you gotta try to stay polite and do what comes to you. If done to you, read above you mad man! ^_^

High Level Flaws:
If you're now a member but you plan on getting ridiculously high fighting stats, I suggest you do thieving too. Once you hit a high fighting combat and stats, Thieving will be extremely tough to start. When my friend was in his 90's combat- wise, he needed help thieving so I took over and got him to level 59. But the difference was noticeable. Since his character easily bumped off Guards, it took twice as long as my character. Level 70's and below are reasonable, good luck!

Dwarven Stouts:
A good strategy when thieving low- to mid-level characters would be to keep a lot of dwarven stouts and drink them until you're very low on attack, defense, and strength (or even until you're at 1 in all three columns). This will keep you thieving the same enemy for a very long time. This is best suggested when you'r thieving a low level character or a rare character in that area.

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THE THIEVING

~For Best and Quickest Results, Take Route A.

Lvl 1 - 5. Route A - Getting Started:
To get started in Thieving you gotta Thieve Man (Lvl 9 ) only, which will give 8 experience with each pick and 3 coins. The best thing to do is to Thieve until Lvl 5. Best location - Thieve Man In The Middle of Falador.

Lvl 5 - 25. Route A - Cake Stall Time:
Once you hit Level 5 Thieving its time to ditch Men and head to Ardougne. Cakes give 16 XP (Experience) and a cake of course. Cakes are pretty much a easy food source, and once you get to lvl 25 Thieving you'll have a lot of Cakes to live off of. How the Stall (and others) works is you must hide to the side where the Stall owner and the Guards can't see you, then quickly steal a cake before it's too late. Do this 'till Lvl 25 Thieving or take Route B...

Lvl 5 - 25. Route B - Farmers:
Go to Ard and head to the Fishing Competition. Once there, there should be small buildings attached near it; one of the buildings has an upstairs. When you go there, you'll find two Farmers (Lvl 15 ) and a bed. Farmers might be harder and slower to achieve lvl 25 as Cakes are. farmers give you 14.5 XP and 9 Coins a pick and you must be lvl 10 Thieving to pick 'em. Best location - Fishing Competion Building Upstairs (unsure of exact locale).

Lvl 25 - 40. Route A - Warrior's:
Warriors come in two versions, male ( Lvl 18 ) and female ( Lvl 27 ).
The best path to take if you're higher than lvl 40 Combat would be the female versions, which can be found outside of the Paladin Tower.
If you're a low combat, then I'd suggest thieving the Male versions in Al Kharid.
Both will give you 26 XP per pick and 18 coins each time. Do this until you are Lvl 40 Thieving, then its time to head to a very important point in Thieving.

Lvl 40 - 65/70. Route A - Guards:
Guards (Lvl 28 ) are very important to becoming a Lvl 70 Thief. You may not think so but I recommend you Thieve until lvl 70 on Guards only. Why?
Because after awhile it'll get easier and easier to Thieve Guards, and it's recommended to be around Lvl 70 combat to thieve Guards. Any more and you'll easily kill them.
Guards give 30 coins and 46.5 XP a pick. After awhile of Thieving 30 Coins a pick will become rewarding and you will make over 300 - 400K off Guards until you reach Lvl 70.
The best place to Thieve Guards would be either Falador Exits or outside Varrock Castle or upstairs. It'd be wise to Thieve Guards outside Varrock Castle in the early mornings as it's rare to see a soul walk past.

Lvl 65 - 70. Route B - Yanille Watchman:
When you hit Lvl 65 Thieving and you have 42 agility, then it's recommended to Thieve Yanille Watchman (Lvl 33 ) until Lvl 70 Thieving.
To find the Watchmen you must head to the tower post at the northern wall of Yanille to the west. When you're Lvl 42 Agility, climb up the handholds. Yanille Watchman will give you an impressive 138 XP per pick, 60 Coins and a Loaf of Bread.

Lvl 70 - Beyond. Route A - Paladins:
Your best bet for Lvl 99 Thieving is Paladins, a very profitable and easy-earning XP opponent.
Head to the Paladin Tower in Ard and head upstairs, but dodge the Paladins as they'll attack you if caught. Once upstairs, use your pick to pick the door; inside will be over 5 Paladins (Lvl 53 ).
These guys give a impressive 151.75 XP per swipe, 80gp and 2 Chaos Runes.
It's recommended you use your weapon and Plate on these guys if you're Lvl 70 to 78 or so on, but any level should use their weapon and gear. Bring lots of food with them (preferably swordfish as the 3 or 4 point dmg per time caught adds up quickly)
You'll get fighting xp as well, once you reach Lvl 72 Thieving, head up the ladder and thieve the chest when you're ready to exit to get more food or head to a bank.
When doing so you'll make an easy exit, and grab 500 XP, an Uncut Sapph, 1k Gold, an Addy Ore, and uncooked Shark.

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THE PROFITS

~Thieving is by far the best profit-making skill unless you're lvl 99 Smithing.
Why else should you Thieve, to make money of course. Below is a quick guide on how to become rich off certain Thieving skills, from best to worst.

Lvl 59. Route A - Chaos Druid Tower AKA Blood Runes:
Once you hit Lvl 59 Thieving and want to make the big bucks, I suggest you head to the Chaos Druid Tower in Ard. There you'll need to pick the lock on the Tower door (Pick Pocket Suggested; Read Strategy for help).
Once inside go down the stairs and you'll make it to a room full of about 8 or so Ogres (lvl 58 ); if you're not strong enough then wait for the Chests to recharge, then check the traps and you'll get 500 Coins and 2 Blood Runes; you'll be warped to a building nearby. Quickly
head back and do it again to the next Chest, and you'll double it. For one thing, you just got 4 very powerful Runes you can up your Magic with, or you can sell those 4 for 4k, that's 5k in less than a minute. But don't sell yet; keep doing it and in an hour or two you'll have 200 Blood Runes and 50k from the 500gp per swipe. Sell each for 1k and you'll have earned a Quarter of a million in one night of Chest thieving, or more if you're more patient than me. Another good strategy if you're not looking for money but Runes would be to Thieve Blood and trade them for Death Runes from other players. I've seen many do this.

Lvl 70. Route B - Thieving Paladins AKA Chaos Runes:
The next best thing is Thieving Paladin's which is by far the best way to get XP in all of Thieving, and still very profitable.
With every pick, you'll get 80gp and a Chaos Rune. So heres the scoop, you can sell each Chaos for 300gp to buyers, so Thieve 1000 of those suckers.
1k may seem a lot but it only takes 2 nights or even 1 night of Paladin thieving if you don't get on as much like me.
After you get 1000 you can sell that 1k for a nice chunk of cash, 300k. Now from thieving you'll have gotten 80k from the 80 gp and 300k in a few nights, that's an easy 380k.

Lvl 28. Route C - Nature Runes:
Natures are a quick way to get rich without even having a very high level.
Head to the building next to the Cake Stall and pick the door (Pick Lock Recommended).
Head up the ladder to floor 2 and you'll find two Chests; the one on the left is the Nature Chest. It Recharges quickly, so you'll have 100 Nats in under 15 minutes if you're alone.
It also gives you 25 XP and 3 coins, and the Chest next to it gives you 50 Coins and 125 XP, but you'll need lvl 43 for that.
Once you get 1000, sell them for 500gp each; that's a nice 500k. It's suggested you Thieve 100 a day, so you don't tire yourself. Use this as a side job that earns a nice reward.

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THE SKILL HELPER

How will Thieving help your skills? Below is a guide to most skills and what Thieving might do for them.

Magic:
Nothing is more affected by Thieving than Magic; once you get really going on Thieving you'll be able to get really good Runes, and high amounts of them. Please see The Profits for more information.

Training - All:
Fighting training is affected a lot by Thieving - more than you would think- so you'll be getting a lot of fighting levels and XP if you're a Mid (50's) to Mid High (70's) fighter. After about fist fighting over 400 Guards you'll get a few levels if you're in the 60's fighting (Att, Str, Def).

Smithing - Lvl 72, 75:
To help your Smithing from Thieving, get Lvl 72 Thieving and head to the Paladin Tower Third Floor, Thieve the chest to receive items and an Addy Ore. Also at Lvl 70 you can Thieve Paladins and every trip they'll drop plenty of Iron, Steel, and Mith Bars at once very often. You'll have around 3 to 4 of each bar from each Thieving Trip there which will add an extra amount to your bar count.

Crafting - Lvl 50, 72, 75, 80:
Once you hit Lvl 50 Thieving you can head to Ard and Thieve the Silver Stall for Silver Ore. Getting into the 70's of Thieving has a very big reward for Crafting Gem-related items. At Lvl 72 you can Thieve the chest on the Third Floor of the Paladin Tower and receive an Uncut Sapph Gem. When you Hit Lvl 75 you can get the best from Thieving related to Crafting; in Ard you can Thieve from the Gem Stall, where you will receive any uncut Gem except a Dragon Gem. You'll usually receive a Sapph, sometimes an Emerald, every once and awhile a Ruby, and rarely a Diamond. The best bet to get Diamonds would be when you become Lvl 80 Thieving you can Thieve Heroes which are located in Ard - you'll get a Diamond sometimes.

Herblaw - Lvl 59:
Once you hit lvl 59, head to the Chaos Druid tower in Ard. Bring your Pick and pick the door; on the first floor you'll be able to beat up on some Chaos Druids and get a lot of herbs for Herblaw, a tough skill to up. This is a very popular place though, so try the late hours.

Cooking - Lvl 65, 72:
Thieving doesn't give a lot to Cooking. When you hit Lvl 65 Thieving you can Thieve from the Spice Stall. When Thieving the chest on the third floor of the Paladin Tower once you get 72 Thieving, you'll receive an uncooked Shark. you could either cook it if you're Lvl 80 Cooking or you can have someone else cook them.

Fletching - Lvl 47:
Not much to Fletching from Thieving except a small room in Hemming will give you 5 steel Arrow Heads and 20gp, and takes a few minutes to recharge.

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THIEVING ENEMY LIST

~Below pretty much lists every Enemy in the game you can Thieve to get different items. Some are perfect to LVL up on, some aren't. Read above to THE THIEVING for more information on certain enemies.

Equipment Strategy - When it's recommended it means to use Gloves, Chain, no weapon or amulet.

Man
Thieving Level: 1
Locations: Best places to thieve these guys are in the middle of Falador.
Combat Level: 9
Experience: 8
Pick Reward: 3 Coins.
Drops: Bones, some gold(1-5), runes, arrows, copper ore, fishing bait, herbs.
Strategy: Man is tough to get past at first due to how easy it is to kill them so if you're a low level, start Thieving now and not later. It's tough to get past this slump but after Level 5 you'll get a little more easy riding. Wear Gloves when Thieving Man and don't use a weapon or wear an Ammy.

Farmer
Thieving Level: 10
Locations: Around Farm areas (chickens), read THE THIEVING above for more information.
Combat Level: 15
Experience: 14.5
Pick Reward: 9 Coins.
Drops: Bones, gold, mind runes(6), air runes, fishing bait, herbs.
Strategy: It's wise to Thieve the Cake Stall (Read above) instead of Farmers as it may be a bit easier. But you have your reasons so if you decide to go for Farmers then use the strategy above for Lvl 9 Man as Farmers will die easily from mid-high level fighters.

Warrior (Man)
Thieving Level: 25
Locations: Al Kharid; there's over 10 or so in the busy area of the town in rooms and buildings.
Combat Level: 18
Experience: 26
Pick Reward: 18 coins.
Drops: Bones, 5-15 gold, runes, bronze helmet, arrows, copper ore, cabbage, iron dagger.
Strategy: Recommended for lower level characters who are afraid of being owned, the Man versions are 11 levels lower, if you're a high level then I suggest you go with the Woman version. I suggest you use the Equipment Strategy on both Warrior versions.

Warrior (Woman)
Thieving Level: 25
Locations: Ardougne; best place to Thieve them is outside of Paladin Tower.
Combat Level: 27
Experience: 26
Pick Reward: 18 Coins
Drops: Bones.
Strategy: The woman version is best for mid to high level fighters as they last longer; use the Equipment Strategy and Thieve these till 40.

Rogue
Thieving Level: 32
Locations: Level 54 Wilderness
Combat Level: 21
Experience: 35.5
Pick Reward: Possibility of 25 coins, 40 coins, poisoned iron dagger, wine, 8 air runes, and lockpick.
Drops: Bones, I'll get back to you on more.
Strategy: No use training on Rogues as the Wild is dangerous and you should only Thieve them to get a lockpick; stick with Warriors 'till Lvl 40 Thieving.

Guard
Thieving Level: 40
Locations: All over RuneScape, recommended to Thieve those guys outside of the Varrock Castle late at night, or around the exits/entrances of Falador.
Combat Level: 28
Experience: 46.5
Pick Reward: 30 coins
Drops: Bones, gold (1-25), grain, jug, bronze medium helmet, bronze long sword, iron dagger, bronze arrows(rare), nature, earth runes (rare), arrows, iron ore, iron chain mail.
Strategy: I recommend you using the Equipment Strategy on these bad boys; read THE THIEVING for more information.

Knight
Thieving Level: 55
Locations: Ardougne
Combat Level: 55
Experience: 84.5
Pick Reward: 50 Coins
Drops: Bones.
Strategy: You're best Thieving Guards till Lvl 65 or 70 instead of dealing with Knights. There aren't many knights together and they are very good at running around the lands of Ardougne so catching them consistently is your main focus.

Yanille Watchman
Thieving Level: 65
Locations: Tower post outside the northern Yanille wall, to the west.
Combat Level: 33
Experience: 138
Pick Reward: 60 coins and 1 Bread Loaf.
Drops: Bones.
Strategy: I've never Thieved Yanille watchmen so I can't give you much Strategy on them till later. Read above on them in THE THIEVING section.

Paladin
Thieving Level: 70
Locations: Ardougne; Paladin Tower Second Floor, outside of the tower and near Stalls. Best place is the Tower Second Floor of course.
Combat Level: 71
Experience: 151.75
Pick Reward: 80 coins and 1 Chaos Rune
Drops: Bones,Mithril Bars, Steel Bars, Steel Short Sword, Iron Bars, Uncut Gems, Key half, 20 Water Runes, 1 Blood rune, Coins, herbs, Steel Large, steel long, (1 steel, 1 iron and 1 mithril bar together).
Strategy: Paladins are one of the best to level up after Lvl 70 Thieving. I suggest you fight them with Full Armour and a weapon as there are plenty in the tower second floor. Remember that The Good Thief strategy above is recommended. Food isn't an issue here as you can easily go back, steal cakes from the Cake Stall, then return quickly.

Gnome
Thieving Level: 75
Locations: Gnome Stronghold
Combat Level: 3
Experience: 198.5
Pick Reward: Possibility of 300 Coins, King Worm, Swamp Toad, 1 Earth Rune, Gold Ore, and on occassions a Fire Orb.
Drops: Bones
Strategy: Gnomes are kinda a waste to Pick Pocket as they die very quickly after one hit. I suggest you use your weapon against them just to kill them right away and move onto the next Gnome. Unless you need something they give to you when you pick them, I suggest you stick with Paladins till Lvl 80 Thieving as they last longer and give more profit.

Hero
Thieving Level: 80
Locations: Ardougne near the Stalls.
Combat Level: 83
Experience: 275
Pick Reward: Possibility of 100 to 300 coins, 2 Death Runes, 1 Fire Orb, 1 Cut Diamond, 1 Gold Nugget, 1 Blood Rune, or 1 Wine.
Drops: Bones, though other stuff as rumors.
Strategy: I have yet to get to Lvl 80 yet so I'll add a Strategy once I'm Lvl 80 Thieving. but I'll give you the run down, I recommend you use the Equipment Strategy as you don't wanna kill off a Hero quickly.