Maybe not so much at night.

There is hard evidence that they do get out and about at times ... just wondering whether anyone had actually seen one of them outside one of their lairs.

I've hung around some of their lairs at night but as yet haven't seen any skulking about.

Falmer should venture out of their homes at night occasionally. That, combined with the monthly threat of werewolves attacking at night, would make Skyrim a much more dangerous place to travel through after dark.

On topic, I've only seen one "Falmer" outside on the world map. It was actually a troll outside a Falmer nest, but it was labeled as "Falmer."

Maybe if they invest in some sunglasses.....but otherwise, nope. not even at night, which would make sense to see them roaming around.

you forget that the guard is a nord not a little girly man breton

It's not the mod. The Falmer are all of avarage height until you activate the city's defense mechanism.
They probably just got into contact with the awakened centurion's scaldinghot steam. I bet snow elves are hand wash only, so washing your Falmer with a centurion's overly-hot steam will cause it to shrink and lose shape.

Falmer can't go outside and even if they did the amount of noises would confuse their super sensitive ears.

If it is the one I think there should be a falmer lair nearby.

Oh, they can go outside to ambush caravans and stuff. Definite proof of that in a certain Falmer lair.

Many caves and pits have Falmer props around them... axes, chaurus fences, etc. So, Falmer surely come to the ground, probably during the night time.

Am I the only one who thought about the smell of their caves and themselves? They are always surrounded with glowing mushrooms, chaurus eggs and chaurus creatures... in wet underground environment with no air movement. So their cave must be smelly... of stale air, earth, fungus, bugs, etc. Yuck.

LOL they are blind

I have encountered falmer outside. If I remember right, it was in the Winterhold province, near the entrance and exits for "Sightless Pit" or something like that.
Of course, in Markarth province, you can find bandit lairs that have been 'infiltrated' by Falmer tunneling in from the 'back.' You can also find logbooks telling of falmer raiding a caravan. Clearly they take some people without killing them; they had some bandits captive in one of the bandit lairs they penetrated. They also have food from the outside - occasionally you run into a goat haunch. And, of course, there's the slaves in the falmer 'city'/'fortress' or whatever you want to call it in Black Reach.

Considering that the Forsworn are in Markarth province also, one would imagine that the two - both truly vicious and dangerous fighters - would come into conflict eventually. DLC oppty?

Well, as Lydia might say, eeewwwww.

Why did you have to put that thought in my mind?

Thanks a lot, lol.

Actually..........the 'smell' thing is a good point.

Granted, the falmer are stone blind. They can't see in the IR, or they'd be able to spot you coming a mile away. When I have my muffled boots on along with light armor and my 100 sneak, I can't pretty much walk right up to them and bi*tchslap them.
BUT: I shouldn't be able to do so. After all, they have these big ugly honkers for noses on their faces.

WHY CAN'T THEY SMELL ME 100 YARDS OFF???

That's something which needs addressing in DLC - both an enhancement to their detecting ability and a set of methods, skills or quests which help us find ways to disguise/'muffle' any odors/pheromones we might give off.

Not such an issue if you're blind though.

The game hints that they venture in the outside world only during the night. Maybe thousands of years underground have made their skin very vulnerable to sunburns

in books it says that falmer go above ground at night and steal babies away. But it never happens in-game. I guess thats how the falmer got their human slaves?

I've never seen them outside myself but, I know, from a "scrawled note", that they do at times venture outside to do their nasty deeds ... which include taking captives.

You can find Chaurus things in the swampy region south of Solitude.

But the Falmer just stay underground, think the sunlight would kill them or something.

Can't remember exactly where I read it(maybe a loading screen?) but falmer have a hatred for the surface world and all who inhabit it. I'm sure they can only LIVE underground, but can easily venture out and do whatever they please on the surface like raids and such.

I got killed by that damn chaurus near solitude ... in the point lookout-esque area. Damn critters! Never seen a falmer though

i love the falmer and the mystery surrounding them. wish they came out at night and randomly raided some of the smaller settlements...

The closest to outdoors falmers Ive seen is a merchant couple killed on the road by falmer arrows.

Never saw a Falmer out-of-doors, but their idea of destroying the surface world will be a long time in the making if all they do is wait for spelunkers to come to them. Oh, and apparently there's a couple of guard phrases that could be what was mentioned above:

Whiterun guard: "You know I saw something near http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Shimmermist_Cave to the northeast. Some sort of creature. Small and wicked, never seen its like before."

Windhelm guard: "Tell me you've seen them. Those... things. Small and evil, like something out of a nightmare. They come from http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Stillborn_Cave, to the north. I know it."

Of course, they could be referring to chauruses.

agree 100%

Exactly.

Its a shame that we can have only Chaurus to fight on the surface.