STAGE · Your first town
Thievery
Draft — Draft: checked against the game source, not yet read through end to endAvailable from the startStealth, backstabs, locks, pockets, stolen goods, and how the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood find you.
This page is further along your path. Read ahead if you’re curious; you can return when you reach this stage.
Stealth
Hold C to crouch and sneak; the separate held Sneak action ships unbound. A foe within about 25 metres makes a stealth check once a game minute, reading your Stealth against the distance. Moving at less than half speed skips every other minute's check, while a fast mover that has already been encountered is detected outright.
Backstabs
A backstab is a separate check. The foe must be facing away when your swing resolves, and the game rolls your Backstabbing skill; a success deals triple damage. Every back-facing swing trains the skill, even when the triple roll fails, and a Watchful revenant cannot be backstabbed. Fighting covers the swing itself.
Locks
Hold Left Alt, choose Steal, and activate a locked door to pick it; any other mode tries the door normally, and its lock refuses. No lockpick item is needed. An interior door's chance is Lockpicking + 5 × (your level − the lock's value); an outside building door is Lockpicking − 5 × the lock's value. Both clamp between 5 and 95. A magically held lock (value 20 or more) cannot be picked.
A failed attempt records the skill you tried with; the same lock does nothing until your skill changes.
Pockets and shops
In Steal mode within about 3.2 metres, activate a person to pick their pocket; you get one attempt per person. Against a townsperson it is your Pickpocket skill (5–95); against an enemy, each level you have over it adds five. Two successes in three pinch 1–6 gold; one in three finds nothing, and only the gold arm counts for the guild. Against a townsperson, a failure sets the Pickpocketing crime and calls the watch; against an enemy it alerts the room instead.
An open shop's stock trains Pickpocket, then a being-seen roll reads that skill, the shop's quality and your load; getting away takes the goods and counts for the guild, being seen is Theft and calls the guards. A shut shop's shelf has no roll and no guards but still counts as theft for the guild. A private container tallies the guild first, then rolls, with Theft and guards on a failure.
Stolen goods and the fence
A stolen piece carries a mark through stacks, splits and trades. Merchants buy a marked piece but never reshelve it, and a guilty verdict takes every stolen piece you carry. The Thieves Guild's fence service sells magic items from rank 2; its spymaster opens at rank 4. The Dark Brotherhood sells potions at rank 1, makes them at 3, soul gems at 5, and keeps a spymaster at 7.
What the law does
A crime is charged where it happens and lowers that region's standing. A first pickpocketing, trespass, vagrancy or attempted breaking-and-entering may be warned instead of arrested, but the charge still lands; getting away ends the chase, not the loss. A Curfew town doubles crimes' standing cost at night. The law covers court and recovery.
How the crime guilds find you
The Thieves Guild invites at 10 thefts; the Dark Brotherhood invites at 15 murders, counting a murdered townsperson as 5 and a guard as 1. Crossing the tally stamps a letter: three game days classically, or 24 character minutes online, about two real minutes. The initiation starts only while you are outside, the tally freezes while a letter is pending, and it never fires twice. Joining reveals the guild's hall on your town map. The NPC guilds covers ranks and services.
In town, for a new character
Do not test pickpocketing with a low skill: a failure is a crime.
Do not force a lock you cannot pick; the attempt is spent until your skill moves.
Do not carry stolen goods into a court date; a conviction takes them.
Do not grind murders for the Dark Brotherhood. Murder leaves a lasting mark that a sentence does not fully clear.
Common mistakes
Expecting stealth to guarantee a backstab. The foe must face away, and the roll is your skill.
Expecting every pickpocket success to pay. One success in three finds nothing.
Trying the same lock twice in a row. The attempt is spent until the skill changes.
Applying to the Thieves Guild. The tally invites you.
Next
Sources & checked facts
docs/33-fighting.md(stealth and backstabs),docs/35-people-and-trouble.md(crime, the watch, the crime guilds)src/characters/enemy/enemyMotor.js:stealthChance,STEALTH_MAX_DISTANCE,_stealthCheck;src/scenes/hostCombat.js:backstabChanceOf;src/combat/formulas.js:backstabDamage,calculatePickpocketingChance,calculateShopliftingChancesrc/systems/talk/talk.js:pickpocket;src/world/actionSystem.js:interiorLockpickingChance,exteriorLockpickingChance,lookAtLockText,MAGIC_LOCK_THRESHOLD,attemptLockpickingsrc/systems/theft.js:privatePropertyTheft,shopliftAttempt,shopShelfTheft;src/systems/stolenGoods.js:STOLEN_MARK,landSoldsrc/systems/crimeGuilds.js:THIEVES_GUILD_TALLY_TARGET,DARK_BROTHERHOOD_TALLY_TARGET,tallyCrimeGuildRequirements,handleStartingCrimeGuildQuests,CRIME_GUILD_LETTER_ONLINE_MINUTESsrc/systems/guild/guilds.js:INVITATION_ONLY;src/systems/guild/guildServices.js:thievesCanAccessService,brotherhoodCanAccessService;src/systems/guild/guildHallReveal.js:revealGuildHallsOnMapsrc/systems/standing.js:WARNABLE_CRIMES,warningDue;src/net/townSeatLaw.js:CURFEW;src/systems/inputActions.js:DEFAULT_BINDINGS