Target of theft

[evikour]

As I was reading some old posts I got confused over one topic..
When a Thief is about to steal a small item does he have to announce which one and from whom he steals it or not? What is the official answer?
It would certainly be more fun to just roll the die and if he succeeds, then to let the party know what he steals!
Thank you!

[Andrew Hackard]

The thief does not have to announce the target (person or Item) until the roll succeeds. However, the target may use a Reloaded Die or other method to foil the ability, if the target has one -- there aren't many! (Notably, you cannot use a preemptive Curse to take an Item away once a Thief has succeeded on the roll and declared which Item is being thieved. You have to be able to change the outcome of the roll or block the theft directly.)

[Brf]

I think mechanically it does not matter too much whether the thief announces which Item will be targeted before or after the roll. There was some discussion of the effect of the thief announcing the Item before the discard though. If the thief announces before he discards, the victim might be able to play a card affecting the Item.

[Andrew Hackard]

Of course, the above is completely irrelevant, since I've already given the official answer.

[evikour]

Thank you for your answer!
The only thing I didn't understand is the Curse part..At which point exactly is the playing of a Curse forbidden? When the object changes ownership, can't anyone play a curse on the thief to make him lose a small object for example?

[Andrew Hackard]

Yes. I'm saying you can't Curse *yourself* and discard the object the Thief was trying to steal once the Thief has successfully rolled to steal it.