Don't have the game yet (dammit), but I figure when I do get it I'll make my first character almost a pure thief. Planning on working up my pickpocket and speechcraft, along with archery and one-handed, but mostly I plan to avoid combat when possible and focus on thiefy things.

How does thieving in Skyrim compare to thieving in Oblivion? One of my pet peeves in OB was the fairly high-risk/low-reward of robbing houses; it was far more profitable, and easier, to just go through dungeons.

Everything I'm hearing/reading suggests that stealth has been improved in Skyrim, but I want to hear some stories of your great thief experiences.

It's a lot better, as you'd suspect. Thanks to pick-pocket being a skill, you can actually be a professional thief and not just a dice-roller thief.

Not sure about breaking into random peeps houses, I haven't really done that. Pickpocketing everyone you pass-by (their gold only) will easily get you 50 gold per person.

It's still more profitable to clear out dungeons, but of course it's also more deadly.


The stealth mechanic itself has been improved, it's no longer simply detected or not, and you can, if you are good, hide again after being detected.

Unfortunately the same can not be said about quest design. They still require a lot of killing and most of the boss fights are not stealth-friendly. Even the Thieves Guild quests feel more like Murderers Guild. So you can use stealth very successfully as a combat mechanic, or a means of dictating terms, but not so much for avoiding fights.

Thief is pretty fun overall. Not sure how to level up pickpocket without getting caught a bunch though.

Going through dungeons as a thief is probably one of the most fun ways to do them though. Slowing down makes me take in the scenery, and plan my attack around where I can hide. It's kind of cool to be able to hit someone with an arrow and then avoid them as they look for me.

Only thing I don't like is the way they'll give up if they don't find me in a few seconds, and go right back to where they were with an arrow sticking out of their chest. I'm not sure how they could do it differently though, and not make a theif impossible to play.

I guess they could go into a longer duration (or permanent) 'searching' mode. I kind of wish they'd do that when they stumble upon bodies of their comrades you've slain. Would give you more reason to move/hide bodies and plan better.

Still though, lots and lots of fun. I particularly like firing arrows at walls to distract/divert.

It's pretty fun, but the stupidity of the AI can really kill immersion at times.

Does the pickpocketing chance cap at 90%? And pickpocketing is kinda cool, but it seems more like a novelty. From the same distance, you could just assassinate someone and take the items. If you're a master pickpocket, you could strip someone down to their underwear without them noticing, which could be helpful if the enemy is well equipped. You can also damage someone by putting poison in their pocket, although poisons probably don't do much more than 100 damage at the best.

You can do it any way of course, but I think Pickpocketing is more for npcs you aren't going to kill. Like trainers, after you pay them for training

Stealth is great, but I would highly recommend not leveling off of pickpocketing. You'll get rich, but you'll be handicapping yourself (unless you really aren't going to be engaging in much combat).

How could you avoid leveling from pickpocketing, aside from simply not pickpocketing very much?

I guess the addition of distinct bounties in each town makes it easier to experiment with crime, though it would take a lot of fortitude to not reload after an initial pickpocket failure...

I guess what I mean is that you don't want to focus too heavily on pickpocketing to the exclusion of your other skills. You'll end up being weaker than you otherwise would have been.


Honestly, I totally, completely love this game, but I do sort of missing being able to get more proficient at certain skills without leveling up off of them.

Stealth play is amazing. Stealth is my primary attack skill. I sneak up, or try to, on every foe. Your speed matters. Your armor matters. Enemy facing matters. Shadows matter. Line of sight matters. Backstabs can be devastating.

I use dual daggers. I sneak up on everything. You fail a fair amount but even with a sneak in the 20s, moving slow, underground, you can sneak up on stuff. Time it with guard movement. Use obstacles go move up. Lose archers circling a pillar chasing you then falling back go the next pillar, then moving up and backstabbing them as they look for you on the wrong pillar.

Once stealth gets in the 50s, it gets so fun. You can sneak into and out of some hairy situations, and deal massive silent backstabs.

At skill 70, you are Batman. Or Evil Batman. You can sneak at top speed and be as stealthy as you are standing still. I was doing stuff like creeping into mess-halls where a guy was eating, killing him, and jumping out of the room before the 3 sentries could react, and losing them in the cave tunnel and looping around and picking ghem off. Killing 3 guys standing in line watching a 4th guy forging a weapon, then killing him, with nobody aggroing or knowing I was there. Rising up out of the water under a watdrfall in a bandit cave like flippin RAMBO covered in mud, killing the bandit leader who was 3 feet away and *looking right at me* with a massive x15 dagger strike.

At skill 100, its just insane. Sure, one slip and you could have a nasty fight, but as long as you dont make any mistakes, even the most sensitive and deadly foes can be snuck up on. I sneak up on tigers, dragons, heck even dwarven machines with infravision. I cleared a series of tunnels with about 20 or more insect demons in it, and not one ever saw me. Not even the massive boss and her 2 lieutenants. It was dicey, but I dropped behind a LT, let momma boss (who was 5 feet away) look left. I backstab and slip into the water. My eye never shows me as unhidden but she sees the body and explores. I slip in and one shot the other lieutenant. Then her. Not one of,them aggroed on me the whole time. But they could have. Some foes will take all your skill to sneak up on, even fully perked. But you can do it if *you* do it right.

This stealth system is so fun. You will go from cool, to scary, to epic. But there is always that risk, that window of fail you can always fall through if you blow it.

Good times!

Nice!

I can't begin to describe how eagerly I am awaiting getting this game.