"I may be a liar, double-crosser, and a murderer but I'm no thief"

Or, at least that's the way it's supposed to be but apparently the only way to identify the "unidentified gem" is to become part of the Thieves' Guild. I know that there are some goodies I'll miss out on that are endemic to the Thieves' Guild itself but, unless I can overthrow them from within and land them all in jail, I've no desire to join them. However, I'm curious to know what else I'm giving up regarding the gem-related quest itself but, so far, haven't been able to find a reliable source. Anyone have a moment to clue-in a poor RPer, so I can look longingly?



(/would kill for a way to 'ignore' or 'reject' a quest if you're just not going to do it, just to avoid the journal-clutter)

There's some good armor you'll miss out on, but I don't use it, because I like the look of the armor I'm wearing at the moment.

It's not the end of the Skyrim world if you don't join the Thieves guild. In fact, if I were you, I'd make a new character that was a thief from the get go and rp him into joining it. That way, you don't soil your current character with Thievey type things.

Right now I'm playing a character that has taken over the Thieves guild and the DB and will help the Empire restore order, ending with the Main quest line. May not get married.

Next playthrough I'll be going Nord 2h Heavy armor that will only join the Companions and help Ulfri reclaim Skyrim, but instead of doing the Main quest last, he'll do it first. (I have a feeling becoming Dragonborn right off the bat makes for a VERY different game than doing that quest line last.) Probably will get married.

Finally I'll rp a 3rd character that will either be a Thane or a pure Wizard that does just the Main quest and the Wizards quild. Won't get married.

The reward for collecting all these gems better be damn good... someone should tell me now if I'm gonna be wasting my time with collecting them.

It is an "unusual gem" might help your google searching. TBH for the amount of time it will take to complete the quest I don't think I will bother on this toon, unless I accidentally end up with 75% or so of them at random. The perk doesn't seem worth it given how rich you will end up just collecting all the gems.

It gives you a bonus perk that...

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I feel a lot better about giving it a pass this go-'round.

That's my plan, actually -- usually I start off with the thief-oriented character but this time around I wound up not -- but I didn't want to swap twixt chars just to find out.

I'm at level 24 w/ over 55k (untweaked/unmodded -- and still some rather pricy items laying in wait for merchants with larger cash pools -- so I'm not sure what the hell I'd do with more wealth. I'll probably double that by the time I convince Solitude to let me buy the Warren Buffet Estate there.

That's putting it lightly.

Wow, really? That sounds pretty sweet actually.

Didn't know it was a perk. I thought it was an item you had to wear to get said gem rates.