Stealing

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Does stealing ever catch up with you later in the game? Or, is it a case of, if you get away with it at the time then you're OK?

Reason I ask is that I've only just got the game for the PC, I got out into the city and went to find that Jauffre. Whilst in that area I found a guy selling horses, but they are like 3000 gold a time or something. But when it got to night time, i went into the stable and just got on one and rode it out of the place. No-one saw me, so I think I'm laughing. But, if a guard sees me later will he know if the horse is stolen or not? Or, have I got away with stealing 3 grands worth of mount?

 

Is this Oblivion rather than Morrowind? It sounds like it from the mention of horses.

 

Yeah Oblivion.

 

I think you got away with it. But stolen horses wander back to where you stole them from when you're not riding them, so you may not have it for long.

 

Oh, lol gutted!
Thanks for replying mate.

 

So Oblivion doesn't have one of those oddities like in Morrowind where when you've stolen something, everything you ever touch (even buy) of that type is considered stolen?

 

Humm... I stole a horse, guard saw me riding it, he didn't react, so I got of the horse and climbed back, then he did the all "pay with your blood" thingy WTF?

 

Heh, sounds like he saw you "re-stealing" the horse.

 

I don't think so, Fel. But anything you steal can't be sold. Unless you get involved with the thieves guild I reckon, otherwise nobody wants to buy. So I only steal stuff I'll use.

 

I think it does, Fel. I know there's a plug-in for Oblivion called "No Psychic Guards" as in they don't take everything you've ever stolen when they catch you stealing an apple.

They added "realism" to the game in the sense that shopkeepers take a dang lunch break and close up shop at night to go to bed, but kept silly, unrealistic things like guards and shopkeepers knowing which items you stole and which you didn't.

 

I just had to restart because my autosave and quicksave were after I get into a house (didn't even know where I were) and even that I found a guy inside who didn't said anything because I just got in instead he had some dialogs where he gave me directions and rumours; but when I got outside the house, a guard was there to take me to jail, pay or resist the arrest even though I didn't steal anything in this particular house, I must admit that I stole some fruits from another house where nobody 'saw' me. I'm sure this is something never happened before: used lockpick to enter the house, game autosaves when in; walk around, found the man, talk to him, I steal nothing, walk outside, the guard is outside and I had the 3 choices; for some reason, when I click, the pointer jumps to "resist the arrest", so in just one second I somehow turn around and get into the house again, so the game autosaves again when in, then thinking that I could get away with it quicksaved!...
Anyway, I got into a shield shop and I thought that I could 'see' the goods, so in a table there were this shield and when you point it it states price, weight, life, etc. so I clicked on it to see if it was magic or something and instead of some dialog box just took the shield and then the stupid shopkeeper shouted at me thief!
Guess is not like a supermarket where you take the stuff and then you go to pay for it...

 

If you block while activating someone attacking you, you surrender, and he might stop attacking, particularly if he's not normally hostile (like guards). Yielding is a very useful ability.

 

That's called Breaking and Entering, and it's a crime in the game as well as in real life. Of course, if you do it from concealment (Sneak, Invisibility) or there's noone around to see you, then you're scot-free. But if you pick the lock on someone's front door in broad daylight with guards on the streets, you'll get a small fine.

Does that work in Morrowind too, or just Oblivion?

 

Just Oblivion. It would have been a great feature in Morrowind too.

 

For some reason, guards from other cities will recognize the horse as being stolen. Just to be on the safe side, you should check your character stats, somewhere inthere it mentions wether there's a price on your head or not. If so, than you can bet your ass you're going to be arrested sooner or later. And should you at the time of your arrest be in the possession of other stolen goods, they will all be confiscated too.

What bothers me most is when you're breaking into someone's house, completely in stealth, wearing special clothes that improve your thief and stealth skills, guards can sometimes spot you from outside, as if they can see right through the walls. I can't help thinking this is some kind of bug.

 

The almighty UESP answers all your questions about stealing and more specifically, stealing horses.

I'm lazy, so I'll just quote what it says over at the UESP about stealing horses:

 

Stealing, in Oblivion, is just one of those neat features no one ever uses due of the reasons said above. Simply too much of a bother if you do not get any mods (which you really should).

But don't you get a horse at one point of the story, when you need to escort Jauffrey from the manor to the Cloudtemple? I had this "Call Horse" -mod installed, so it was a simple matter of tagging the horse to make it summonable instantly every time you need it.

 

I disagree. I use stealing all the time and I don't have any mods installed. I find it particularly useful for increasing the alchemy skill because you saves a lot of time walking around the wilderness picking flowers.

One thing I found that was a little strange. You can go into peoples gardens and pick their fruits and veggies and the farmers don't seem to mind. In my opinion that is stealing but apparently not the case in Oblivion.

 

You can do that in Morrowind, too. You pick people's entire fields and noone cares because the 'containers' (AKA plants) aren't marked as owned. Even specific times when you think they might code for it, they don't. Doing the Imperial Cult quest where you need marshmerrow, I picked that guy's field clean. Took 35 and gave 5 of those to the quest giver. To say nothing of the corkbulb and comberry I could have taken. And he doesn't say boo.

 

I still find it annoying that stolen goods can't be sold. How the hell is the vendor meant to know what is stolen and what is not? It's a bit silly, really.

It should be a case of, if you get away with it at the time, then you're OK. You can then use it or sell it to a vendor, without worrying about repercussion. All this should affect is your alignment.