Is it possible, or has anyone tried and non violent thief build? I'm a level 40 assassin and I'm devastating with my sneak dagger attacks. Am curious if it's possible to play high sneak, pickpocket and maybe alchemic because I can reverse pickpocket potions. I know once you max sneak no one can see you. I'm just curious how strong poisons can be made?

Gave it a shot. Its a mess to get through early on though (when your pickpocket svcks, your stealth is only semi-adequate, and yoru alchmey doesn't really cut mustard or have enough ingredients).

Its also completely unable to take on Dwemer Constructs or Undead, and largely leaves you in trouble with dragons (although every forced dragon fight on the main quest allows for help)

I had planned on doing something similar to this, but then others pointed out you can't pickpocket undead or other creatures. I suppose you would have to limit where you explore.

Can't pickpocket undead? Brutal!!! That leaves out alot. You can't poison gauntlets or gloves can you? Just thinking if I used a khajiit I could use his claws in sneak to admin the poison?

You don't really have to kill that many people in TG quests. Well, if you're a good thief at least.

I did this and it was a blast. Just sneak past the undead. Don't bother with trying to slip poisons into the pockets just slip past them! try to stick to shadows and use arrows as distractions. Shoot 1 at a wall and they will got to investigate then sneak by them.

Do you know what kind of damage you can do with poisons? Not using exploits.

Non violent sneakers is a super fun build to play with. I had a blast with my pacifist kitty sneak character. And so far, this character also turned out to be the richest of the characters I've made. Way fun. Also, while it may seem counter intuitive, running away from dragons can be a refreshing and exciting activity compared with always feeling compelled to combat them with the more "traditional" builds.

That sounds like fun, i've always been into the art of stealth in games. Being a non violent thief sounds like playing Metal Gear solid and not harming anybody or just knocking them out.

I ama non-violen Thief. When I am thieving, I do not kill anyone. When I am doing other things, the blade comes out...

Never done a pacifist one, but I started one recently using Illusion magic, making bandits kill eachother with fury or frenzy, and you can either sneak past the last one, or fight him yourself, it's actually really fun.

But again, the spells don't work on robots and undead unless you've got a perk for it.

I actually like the sound of that...However, I do not really use magics of any sort. I use Enchantments in my weapons and Soul Gems to capture the soul of a dead opponent. Sinister Killer, I got that knickname in the Brotherhood. As a thief, I go only fo my objective and complete it clean with no mess. All blood I save for my Brotherhood missions...

Blade of the Brotherhood crafted by my character. Daedric Dagger with Soul Trap Enchantment...

I haven't gotten my alchemy that high, or put many perks in. But I've heard 300hp poisons and higher.

I have a level 14 Khajiit that made it to level 14 with zero... yes zero kills. No animals, no automatons, no undead.... nothing.

There's a quest I took where someone joined me and killed 2 skeevers that got put into my stats as animal kills. what the? ..... I didn't kill them but I got the blame.

So yes... It's difficult at times but doable so far. Khajiit is best race for the nightvision. important if you want to see everyone and everything.

And really... no kills means no kills. No planting poison or having a companion kill. No kills period.

I don't use magic either.... So no illusion trickery.

I don't play a *strictly* non-violent thief, but I find it is much more fun to do as TacticalScout1 says: slip past enemies rather than killing them when possible.

You will need:

A bow
A good supply of arrows (preferably iron, or some cheap kind you don't mind throwing away)
A decent Sneak skill
Patience
Timing
A little luck never hurts

I like my thieves to be zero-magic (except for enchanted gear that they pick up, like Thieves' Guild stuff); makes things more interesting, I think. Occasional invisibility potions are nice to have, though. I also like them to have more points in Stamina than Health - this makes it easier to sprint away if things go wrong, and it also keeps things dangerous and fun.

However, this style of play is most satisfying if you restrict yourself to NO reloads. If you get caught, you're caught. Run away or fight. I find it more fun if my character has *some* combat ability for those situations, so I usually have an adequate One-handed skill and carry a sword and a few daggers. The daggers are for sneak attacks in situations where I really just want to kill that one jerk who's blocking my path; the sword is for when I get caught (I keep the left hand free to block). It's crazily fun to sneak your way through, say, a Dwemer ruin, slipping past all those terrifying constructs, only to get seen by a Dwarven Spider and have to hack it down, all the time wondering if something *worse* is going to come investigate - and you can't just run back because then you'd have the whole dungeon on your tail!

In dungeons, you will be able to sneak by most things if you can make distractions with your arrows. I think having your bow out makes you easier to spot, though, so I stow it immediately after firing an arrow, unless I'm really not worried about getting caught. The trick is to shoot far enough away so the baddies have to go further to investigate, leaving you time to sneak to the next shadow.

Archery is a good thiefy skill to work up, too. I know it's not strictly non-violent, but there's a difference between maxing it out and becoming a sniper ninja and just having it as a good skill for when you need it. The way I approach Archery with my thief is as my main damage-dealing skill for when I know I'm going to confront something I'd really rather not fight face-to-face. I'm pretty sure one of those giant Dwemer Centurions isn't going to fall to my dagger sneak attack, for example... that's when I pull out the bow and make sure I have plenty of terrain obstacles to prevent it from getting to me.

My last thief didn't put many points in Light Armor, and that has made things more fun. There are plenty of foes I have *never* fought, so I have no idea how things would go if I *did* get caught and had to fight. I can't sponge damage, so I really need to get those one-shot kills or I'm toast. Those times when you miscalculate and fail to drop a bandit in one stab, then end up fighting (or fleeing from) the rest of his gang in the middle of a hostile ruin... those are the times when it's most fun to be a thief, imo.

So yeah - non-violent is interesting, and I understand some of the appeal of a "pacifist" playstyle, but I like to have some options. I prefer the "opportunistically violent" thief.

I fight when I have to fight, which is often, considering I svck at sneaking. But I always try to sneak around my enemies first.

I don't really see where poisoning people is "non-violent" but then I am not a lawyer. My thief has Alchemy of 92 and two perks, and I am trying to discover ingredient effects just through trial and error. Also he doesn't do enchanting. His best posion probably does 170 or something, lingering damage health plus immediate health damage.

Well I was seeing if playing non violent was viable. I was just checking if people were using reverse pickpocket poisons or illusion and if they were viable solutions. Not killing dragons might be interesting choice though.