Thief

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-03

Overview

The Thief component allows an entity to steal items from targets that have an inventory or container component. It supports optional attacks before stealing, and triggers callbacks and events upon successful theft. It is designed for gameplay interactions where characters (e.g., enemies or special entities) can pilfer items from other beings or containers.

Usage example

local inst = CreateEntity()
inst:AddComponent("thief")
inst:AddComponent("combat")
inst:AddComponent("inventory")

inst.components.thief:SetOnStolenFn(function(thief, victim, item)
    print("Item '" .. (item.name or "unknown") .. "' stolen from " .. victim.prefab)
end)

-- Attempt to steal an item from a victim, optionally attacking first
inst.components.thief:StealItem(victim, nil, true)

Dependencies & tags

Components used: combat, inventory, container, equippable, inventoryitem
Tags: Checks nosteal tag on items to determine stealability

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
stolenitems	table	{} (empty)	Deprecated. Previously used to track stolen item references; no longer actively used.
onstolen	function or nil	nil	Optional callback function called after an item is successfully stolen.

Main functions

SetOnStolenFn(fn)

• Description: Sets a callback function to be invoked whenever an item is successfully stolen.
• Parameters: fn (function) — a function with signature (thief, victim, item), where thief and victim are entity instances, and item is the stolen item.
• Returns: Nothing.

StealItem(victim, itemtosteal, attack)

• Description: Attempts to steal an item from a victim entity. If attack is true, the thief attacks the victim before stealing. Supports both inventory-based and container-based targets.
• Parameters:
  • victim (Entity instance) — The target entity to steal from.
  • itemtosteal (Entity instance or nil) — Optional specific item to steal. If nil, a random stealable item is selected.
  • attack (boolean) — Whether to perform an attack on the victim before attempting to steal.
• Returns: true if an item was successfully stolen, false otherwise.
• Error states:
  • Returns false if the victim has neither inventory nor container components.
  • Returns false if no stealable item is found (i.e., all items are tagged nosteal or container/inventory is empty).
  • If itemtosteal is provided but not found in the victim's container/inventory, stealing fails.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: None (no event listeners are registered directly by this component).
• Pushes: onitemstolen — fired on the victim entity when an item is stolen. Event data includes { item = item, thief = self.inst }.