I think the dnd rules are a little vague on this, perhaps intentionally. It does clearly state you fail a pickpocket if the target passes a perception check, but that doesnt mean every undetected attempt passes nor that you cannot steal when someone notices.
Okay but unless his character canonically noticed then this is metagaming.
“tried” I’m guessing they noticed :p
I think the dnd rules are a little vague on this, perhaps intentionally. It does clearly state you fail a pickpocket if the target passes a perception check, but that doesnt mean every undetected attempt passes nor that you cannot steal when someone notices.
Had a player once try to pickpocket another, it didn’t go well.
They passed the perception check, and also rolled a successful hit. Dude dropped like a sack of potatoes.