I haven't joined either faction yet, nor have i done anything to piss off either one. I have no bounties anywhere, at all.

So, I'm wandering through Rorikstead one day, when three Stormcloak soldiers charge up the road into town and start battling it out with the Whiterun guards protecting the hamlet. The Whiterun guards had been chatting me up just before that, friendly as you please.

On a whim, I decide to help the Whiterun guards kill the Stormcloaks. I'm using my bow, and carefully plucking a shot in here and there to just hit the Stormcloak guys. Before long, the Stormcloaks are all dead. Immediately, the Whiterun guards go hostile on me and all attack me. Thanks, guys.

I assume i must have accidentally hit one of the Whiterun guys during the fight, which was the only thing I could think of that may have made them hostile. So, i reload a save and redo the fight again, being very careful never to hit the Whiterun guards, and only getting a hit or three in on the Stormcloaks during the fight. Again, the Whiteruns win, and again, they immediately hostile me and try to kill me afterwards. I did notice that as soon as the last Stormcload died, a message came up saying 'Whiterun bounty on you for 40g', or something like that, which I guess explains why they attacked me.

But it doesn't explain how I had done anything that should have put a bounty on me in the first place, as all I did was assist the Whiterun guards to kill their sworn enemies. Is the game truly dumb enough to brand me a murderer and eligible for a Whiterun bounty, just for helping the guards do their job? I should have gotten a reward, not vilified. Go figger.

I have no idea...

Storm cloaks aren't Bandito Factionas, attacking them counts as assault regardless of who they are fighting. Whiterun and Stormcloak faction might be at odds, but YOU are "good" with both, so attack either or nets you a smack down from...either or.

I had the same thing happen to me in Riften twice. I didn't reload but I know I didn't hit any of the city guards. I don't know that it's worthy of being called a bug; it's just kind of an oddball thing.

I think that's it- attacking them in some circumstances leads to a bounty. Doesn't make sense since they're outlaws.

Roid rage......

Well that's just plain stupid. You should only get flagged for a bounty by the faction you're doing harm to, and only if someone from that faction lives to tell about it. Maybe not a bug, but sure sloppy workmanship. I can put up with none of my actions having much of a positive or noticeable affect on anything in the gameworld, but when you get a severe negative reaction like that for doing a good deed that should have gained you a celebration at the tavern and the offer of several virgins to boot... that's just depressing.

well I'm not holding my breath for this to be resolved and it just highlights more oversights really. I try not to pay attention to them anymore

Technically, Whiterun is a neutral party until the Civil War ramps up. The guards may have tried to arrest you so the stormcloaks don't have an excuse to try and invade Whiterun just yet.

Remember, only you and the Whiterun guards saw what really happened (and survived), so who do you think the stormcloaks will believe?

This. Apparently only guards have a license to kill and they don't take kindly to others interfering with their 'guarding'.

Yea it`s stupidly done.

Basically, it`s like one Police Force from one county attacking a Police Force from another county, but if you attack either one it`s a crime because they`re all `Police` anyway, even though you helped one side. They act like robots not people, unable to see the differences.

Unfortunatley there are quite few silly anomolies like this that don`t make sense.

Stormcloaks need to be tagged as a separate Faction, possibly rebel faction until you actually join it.

So if you and one of your coworkers got into a physical argument you wouldn't be mad if someone shot the coworker to death in the back with an arrow?

LOL! You stretch that baby any further, it's gonna snap like a rubber band. It's just poor programming, nothing else. The Stormcloaks came into town, attacked the town and the Whiterun guards, there's no reason whatsoever the Whiterun guards should do anything but love up my pale pink [censored] to kingdom come, for what I did for them. The stormcloaks don't have to believe anything- THEY were the ones who deliberately attacked the town. I just stepped in to assist the Whiteruns after the Stormcloaks already committed raw aggression on the town. Do they not know what they, themselves, are doing? Why do they have to be fed any tale about how i was somehow responsible for the fight? The Stormcloaks already know it was all their fault, since they launched the attack.

Not if my 'coworker' was about to chop me in two with a 30-pound greataxe. We're talking lethal force life and death combat here, not office spitwad fights.

I would have killed the attackers too, but think about this. If there was an armed robbery at a bank, I think a "hero" running in and killing the robbers would be in some pretty deep trouble.

No. The robbers (if any survived) would be charged with those murders, since they were the ones who were committing a violent felony that led to deaths. (In Florida, anyway).

The "hero" (regardless of his sanity) would be lauded for protecting other people's lives and property at his own personal risk.

That simply teaches you not to interfene in others business.

Defending Skyrim from traitors is everyone's business! But really.. getting into everyone else's business is what each TES is about!

Lol, not in the netherlands it wont.
If someone breaks into your house and you hit them with a baseballbat or w/e in such a fashion they need medical attention, YOU are the one thats charged with assault.
True story im afraid.

happened to me too. its ridiculous.

perhaps if you sniped the stormcloaks from stealth they wouldn't give you a bounty, I've noticed that my Thalmor throat-slitting rampages only earn a bounty if someone sees me (the Thalmor of course don't count as 'someone').

You best bet is to stay out of the fight, however if you're dead set on helping, there's certainly no harm in using a restore health spell or scroll on the whiterun guards, or you can just pay the 40g bounty, it's not all that much.

After two unsuccessful attempts to be helpful, I just reloaded and avoided the fight. Was just trying to be neighborly, since the locals had been nice to me up till then. This is a classic example of what is most wrong with Skyrim- RPG immersion is destroyed when you can't choose to randomly help someone without risking getting punished in a truly unrealistic manner, due to dumb-arsed game mechanics that were poorly thought out and implemented.

No good deed goes unpunished.

unless you take out all the witnesses...

It's almost certainly a result of the indiscriminate programming.

Having said that, here in Britain you *would* certainly be prosecuted if the police were engaged in a shootout and you ran in and shot the guy down. The police would either appreciate your help or be angry because you showed them up by doing their job better than they did, but you'd have to face the law either way.

Law is blind, and also pretty dumb.


But yeah, it's just the programming, but for the gods' sakes let's keep this in perspective rather than deciding that the game's 'broken' or a horrible disappointment because of this. Or if we do go that route, let's at least remember that this has been the case with all previous TES games. I really do hate that people act as if this game's logical flaws were not present in every other game in the series - including the ones that are almost worshipped. That's sort of what my troll topic (Joe Kachaunt - as in JOKE ACCOUNT) was about, but it fell pretty flat.