I know you go into stealth mode with d but when ever I sneak around with my Kajiit they know she's there and whenever I try to steal something I'm unsecsesful and the gaurd brings me to prison. Also where is a theives guild in, I would perfer it if it were in the kindgom of daggerfall

Sneak doesn't make you invisible (spells do though), so it's not 100%. Invisibility > Chameleon > Shadow in terms of spells/potion effectiveness.

I heard stealing from the shops is broken/near impossible (hopefully DaggerXL can fix this). I have never been able to do it, so if I want to burgle I resort to exploiting by waiting inside till after dark then save/load. <_<

Pickpocketing is different though, that IS very doable with your skills high enough.

Just like the Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild buildings are in all major cities and are unmarked unless you are a member.

To get an invite...

Hi! :shifty: Some advice to sneaking and shoplifting and then a question of my own at the bottom!
Stealing from the shops inventories is not governed by your stealth skill (sneaking) at all, but your pickpocket skill, wich still has to be quite high to succeed. The lighter the object you try to pinch, the better chances of success. Also, if you are pickpocketing townsfolk, I understand you don?t have to sneak to improve your chances like you would do in Morrowind for instance, the game only checks your pickpocket skill. If your pickpocket skill is low, quickest and cheapest way to train (without spending a lot of time in jail)is to find a low level enemy, like a rat (you can pickpocket animals!), and and keep leftclicking it in steal mode.
Sneaking/your stealth skill comes to play when you try to avoid being spotted by hostile crittters. Now, when you press D, you are actually crouching down, wich also makes you move slower, aka sneak, but it is not the only, easiest or slowest way to sneak. (I also tought this was the only way to sneak at first, beacause in Morrowind you allways appear crouched when sneaking!) I find the best way to sneak is when moving in the cursor mode,using the mouse that is, like you are taught to move in the tutorial:
When you move forward in the cursor mode, pressing down the left mouse button, you see the cursor arrow on the screen: when you take the arrow to top of the screen, you are moving at full speed. Lower the arrow and see your speed drop. You can bring your speed to very slow this way, untill you are hardly moving at all. When you are moving at half your full speed or lower, it means you are sneaking. Using the cursor you can sneak a lot slower than when crouching with the D key. Practise a bit to get the hang of it...And if you did not get the first part about moving in cursor mode, go through the very first page of the tutorial info in Privateers Hold with a test char!
Even with stealth in your majors you will still get spotted by critters, but keep sneaking, the skill will improve. Stealth is checked every time you come close to a creature, and every time a skill is checked, even if you get spotted, it moves a nodge toward skill increase. So you could train stealth by approaching and redrawing from a creature, or even going in and out of a dungeon repeatedly when there are creatures near the entrance. (But remember that every time you leave a dungeon, encounters you?ve killed will respawn..)
:confused: Now, my question : how about the crates, drawers etc. in houses and shops, that give you the "This looks like private property, do you still want to go through it?" message? Halt, halt! :facepalm: Anyone know what skill governs stealing from them?

Stealing from a merchant's shelf and "going through private property" makes a call to your pickpocketing skill. Like retarddedchimp said, however, the programming on these skill calls is almost certainly broken... a success rate of virtually 0% even with chameleon, invis, nighttime, and sneak running. I've never heard of anyone successfully going through private property.

Thanks Tristan C! And yes, it sure is insanely difficult, being broken would make sense! I just managed to actually pinch an icon worth 50gp from private property yesterday and felt like this great hero among burglars ...No need to add I did not have the guts to push my luck and go through the next drawer!

I've had some success with using mouselook mode and binding alt to "sneak" in the controls. I get the feeling that it has no function other than to decrease your movement speed by a set value while the button is held down, but it appears to be more effective for me personally. Getting your sneak into the 90's and dropping liches/ancient vamps with backstab before they can nuke you is the ultimate incentive to play a thief type.

It's true. Sneaking only slows your movement speed because there is no "stealth mode". Stealth is always being checked, and it's a function of your skill as well as how fast you are moving. So you *can* sneak up on someone by just walking, but it's much easier if you sneak or crouch.