Wilbo26 on 11/1/2007 at 05:45

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Here's my rule:

1. If they don't see you do it...you didn't do it.

2. Sell it to a thieves guild fence...and its gone.

3. Profit.

Lytha on 17/1/2007 at 12:24

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Hrm, to the contrary... I found it rather ridiculously easy. So far.

I've been robbing the wealthier inn in Bruma blind - while the bouncer and the owner were vaguely looking into my direction. No invisibility, no chamaeleon. Just sneak and grab. That was with sneak < 40...

Houses? I love to break in when the owners are inside and fast asleep. I've stopped stealing their apples though and moved on to the more interesting stuff: reading their letters, books, and looking into their basements... It's fun to discover all the dirty little secrets.

Castles? No problem, the guards never seem to be around the dining halls and display cases. The private rooms are more difficult with psychic guards, but with the ridiculously tiny sums that the fences demand for the "independant thievery" quest, there's no need to go for the inner rooms at all.

But okay, when I went for the arrowhead of that dunmer, I was in for some trouble. Point #1: Stupid me hadn't checked a guide, so I hadn't picked his pockets before the quest. That's what I'd do with a new character. Point #2: I had entered the dungeon after midnight. When I was through the maze, it happened to be just past dawn. Impatient as I am, I didn't want to wait a few hours. But even then, I could just grab his alchemy apparatus set from right under his nose.... the chest with the quest item, however, was more difficult, so that I had to run and get the help of some bandits and a troll - I didn't want to be tossed out of the Mages Guild because of this quest.


I've restarted my character though. The premade "Assassin" matched my playing style so well that I encountered the leveling problem very fast. I'm using stuff now as major skills which I can control and don't seem to use very often, one of each attribute (block, blade, alteration, illusion, mysticism, acrobatics, marksmanship were my choices, and it isn't too absurdly far off, actually... Blade and marksmanship for most of the leveling, the occasional casting spree of starlight for the last 1-3 points; and I can sweettalk with the NPCs almost as much as I like and brew as many poisons as I like... well, I restrict myself with that, actually, because I want to increase personality and intelligence, too. Later.)

And I'm spending the early levels with dungeoncrawling and blade combat to boost endurance and strength, instead of boosting alchemy and speechcraft over >60 before reaching level 3. :p

Lytha on 18/1/2007 at 10:54

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Well, I don't know what to say... :)

It may be that I mostly enter the castles at the ungodly hours. There will be one or two lonely and bored guards near the main entrance door, and perhaps one bored guard walking around the public rooms of the castle (even that is rare.) You're basically free to take it all, hurl it off to the fence, and realize that you're over the requirement for the next stage of the "independant thievery" quest before even selling half of the loot.

Being in the sneak mode and watching the "light gem" err, the "stealth indicator", while taking those things and picking the display cases open may help, too.

I'm not trying to pick pockets, because I realize that I'd need a better sneak for that. It's so far more a matter of luck than anything else.


Have you ever played Thief? What I've seen in the thieving part of Oblivion, feels like a dumbed-down version of it: People won't go hysteric immediately when they see you in restricted areas, but give you a warning instead. So you can just walk back out and no harm done. And you can steal plenty of stuff in places that aren't restricted at all - when leaving afterwards, the guards will give you a friendly greeting instead of trouble.

The only issue I've had so far was the "accidental pickpocket or theft" - for instance, when I was cleaning up Oblivion gates in the company of Erthor, I accidentally frobbed him while being crouched. It was nice to see that he still had the two arrows in his inventory that I had accidentally shot into him during our adventures, but he got quite upset. Or to frob the door of a shop that had been "white" one second ago, but, as it was in the evening, the door was now red. Leaving lockpicking interface instantly, but: Boo. "You have violated the law!", sheesh.

~s:a:n:i:t:y~ on 18/1/2007 at 17:00

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Ask! :)

Yes, but you are much more probably seen in Oblivion :) If you pass someone in daylight he or she would keep staring at you wherever you go, which irritates the hell out of me:) What if I am a very fastidious customer who hates being followed?:p

~s:a:n:i:t:y~ on 18/1/2007 at 20:13

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Easy now! A Long While has gotten on you. But I have the cure :ebil: