Skyrim talk:Crime

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Guard Dialogue when resisting arrest

So i'm reading this particular page, and I see that it says when you resist arrest, the guard immediately turns hostile. Now, I've played Skyrim for a very long time, without any mods on Xbox 360. I can say that while they do immediately turn hostile on you most of the time, I know that they sometimes say "Then that is your last request, fool." before turning hostile. I feel like that should be mentioned. SwagotronOP (talk) 23:15, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

If you think the article could benefit from additional information, feel free to add it. --Xyzzy ^Talk 14:25, 12 August 2018 (UTC)

Done. Added it onto the page. Note that i'm unsure if the Redoran Guard say this. SwagotronOP (talk) 22:12, 12 August 2018 (UTC)

I checked CSList and that dialogue seems to be quest specific. Can anyone verify? --Xyzzy ^Talk 23:20, 12 August 2018 (UTC)

Every time I resist arrest, guards say nothing and immediately exit dialogue before attacking me. --Xyzzy ^Talk 13:41, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Hey, me again. I just realized that the dialogue is actually posted in the Guard Dialogue page. I didn't know that. My mistake. I'll remove the invalid info at once. SwagotronOP (talk) 04:05, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Perfect! Thanks for following up. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:07, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

escaping jail

you cannot escape all jails. you can only escape from:
Whiterun
The Chill (Winterhold)
cidhna mine (only during the quest)
i don't think you can escape any of the others — Unsigned comment by 194.81.127.246 (talk) at 11:25 on 1 February 2019‎

Many jails have secret escapes of some kind, though they can be quite difficult to find. Those are documented on their respective jail pages (Solstheim's is here). In addition to that, I believe all jails that aren't "special" in some way can be escaped via a lockpick, though with only a single lockpick, that can be quite difficult unless you have magical help like the Standing Stone power or the Skeleton Key. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 19:38, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

Grabbing items a crime?

On my game, I do not get any bounty from grabbing an item without taking it, just an annoyed comment about "leaving that where it was" here and there. Curiously, there are mods and mod requests out there to prevent getting a bounty from it, so some people must have experienced it, but i have never. I use the Unofficial Patch, but I can't find anything like that in the patchnotes. --Ethruvisil (talk) 03:18, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

It seems you're right, and yet I know I've grabbed items and had all hell break loose at times, even without actually taking them. I wonder if it's something that either a mod silently changed or possibly a version change that somehow nobody noticed. I even tried Oldrim and SE, and the behaviour was the same in both (no crime). I'll keep my eye out to see if I can get it to happen again, and if so, when and where, but on the whole, it seems you're right, so I reverted my change. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 20:39, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

I dragged some clothing around at the hot springs camp and had all hell break loose. Apparently, some people turn hostile if they see you dragging around their property, even if doing it doesn't incur a bounty. Come to think of it, that might be a possible way to pick a fight with someone you want to kill without a murder charge. IF they have property lying around for you to grab and drag. Valeria (talk) 05:01, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

Trespassing

I can't figure out if I've been having glitches in trespassing or if the way it's supposed to work is so screwy that I just can't make any sense of it.

I was under the impression that temples and the longhouses of Jarls are public spaces that my character is allowed to enter at any time of the day or night. I also thought that it was acceptable for my character to enter shops and the houses of friends if their doors are unlocked, especially during standard business hours. However, this is not how it has been working for me. I had Aslfur tell one character that she needed to leave while she was in the longhouse in Morthal, although no one else in the longhouse seemed to have a problem with my character's presence. I have had Dagny tell a character that she needed to leave the living quarters in Dragonsreach, even though my character had become thane of Whiterun and no one else seemed to mind her being there. After escaping Helgen with Hadvar, more than one of my characters has re-entered Alvor and Sigrid's unlocked house during the day and had Sigrid demand "You need to leave." This was after enough in-game time had passed for the house to reset, but the door was marked "Open", it wasn't 8:00 PM yet, and as far as I know I was still on good terms with everyone in Riverwood except Sven and his mother, because I told Camilla the truth about Sven's fake letter. I'm pretty sure I never stole anything from Alvor or Sigrid.

But the worst instance was when a character of mine entered Radiant Raiment during regular business hours while the door was unlocked, and the proprietor immediately demanded that my character leave. Not wanting any trouble, I immediately turned back to the door to go. In a matter of seconds - too brief a time for me to turn and exit, a guard showed up and proceeded to try to arrest me for trespassing. I'm not sure I had even taken a step away from the door, but I certainly hadn't gone more than a few steps forward before the proprietor was telling me to go. I swear: I didn't have time to do more than turn around before the guard was there arresting me. Of course this happened with the character that I was trying to keep crime-free, but at least I had saved right before entering the shop.

The latest instance of trespassing gone awry happened with Alessandra in Riften. My character entered the Hall of the Dead. It was after hours, but I thought it was a public space. Alessandra starts the whole "You need to leave thing." This time, I ignore the demand and I stay. I go through her dialogue options and promise to take her dagger to Andurs in Windhelm [sic] before I end the conversation. As soon as I end the conversation, she wanders off, and I finish exploring, checking the shelves to see if any NPCs were casualties of the latest dragon attack. When I came upon Alessandra asleep in her bed in the Temple of Mara, it occurred to me that she had probably still been in the Hall of the Dead after hours because being there to initiate her fetch quest was overriding her usual schedule. It would make more sense that she would treat me as trespassing if she was confused about her location because she was still in the Hall of the Dead past the time of the day when normally she would be in bed, but her bed is in the Temple of Mara which I thought was another public space that I could freely enter day or night.

I've also entered Alva's locked house with a pickpocketed key long after business hours and Hroggar doesn't turn hostile. All I ever did for him was sell him some firewood.

I'm trying to find a pattern here that makes sense, but all I've done so far is give myself a headache. Does anyone have any insight to offer? Valeria (talk) 06:22, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

I have experienced the issue with Aslfur, and the same with Wylandriah in the Riften keep. Those are probably bugs. Other than that, I believe both trespassing and NPC door-locking behavior are just a little buggy in general, see for example this bug report I found. The unofficial patchnotes also list some issues with trespassing, though not the ones you mentioned. --Ethruvisil (talk) 09:13, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

I've certainly run into door-locking bugs. I think it was Lami who had her shop locked during normal business hours. At first, I thought she had fallen victim to a random attack, but she just had her schedule screwed up. And the argonians in Windhelm are infamous for never leaving the Assemblage. Valdimar is bad about having a screwy schedule too. When he first arrives at Windstad Manor, he usually goes to bed at about midnight, but that time will get pushed back further and further while he ranges farther and farther afield until he never manages to make it back to his bed in time to sleep. He can be really tough to track down sometimes. Valeria (talk) 04:49, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

Taking Items from Dead NPCs

I'm pretty sure I've seen cases where taking items from a dead NPC was considered stealing. At a minimum, I know I've had it happen when I planted a stolen item on someone who died afterward. The stolen items were still marked as stolen. Should that paragraph be updated to say that taking items from MOST dead NPCs isn't considered stealing? Or do you guys think I've just found another bug? Valeria (talk) 22:24, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

If you have Skyrim available, I would do a bit more testing to make sure the phenomenon can be replicated, or to try and see how it might happen. Maybe plant a few stolen items on a corpse in front of a witness, then exit the loot menu, or plant a stolen item then exit the menu, then take the stolen item off the corpse. Another thing you might be able to test is planting a stolen item and taking it off the corpse in the same menu, as in not exiting the menu before taking the item. It could be a bug, but the witnesses could also probably be recognizing the thing you're taking off the corpse as stolen. You don't have to do this, but it might be fun to do if you have more stolen goods on you.
Thank you for being so diligent in adding bugs to pages and posting about them in talk pages, by the way! It's always good to see people being proactive and contributing to bug sections. -MolagBallet (talk) 19:21, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

Cruelty to animals a crime?

Casting Soul Trap on my horse grinds Conjuration. But if I do it during daytime and/or in view of a guard or hostler I get a bounty of five Septims. I didn't think that cruelty to animals could faze bystanders, especially as it does nothing permanent to the horse and it's MY horse in the first place. Has someone else encountered that? Is it a bug? 109.40.129.26 18:43, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

As the page says, killing a domestic animal counts as a murder just like killing a person. I would have assumed the same applies to assault (which doesn't depend on permanent damage), but I'm not sure why it would be 5 septims instead of 40. --Ethruvisil (talk) 20:46, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Clearing "Stolen" Flag

Surefire way to clear the "stolen" tag:

- Find a container that is owned by a friend. That is, someone whom you have helped, other than a follower, and their containers/items have become available to you. For example, the cabinets in Dragonsreach, after you become Thane.

- Place the stolen items in the container.

- Have your follower take the items from the container.

The "stolen" flag will be cleared, and it won't be reversed if you repeat the process.

I have done this in dozens of different playthroughs, and it always, always works.

Heidismiles (talk)

Vampires incurring Bounty when killed

I was outside of Fort Dawnguard when I was ambushed by two vampires. Killing the first one caused me to gain 1000 bounty in Whiterun, while killing the second caused the bounty to go away, stating the last witness as killed. Now, as far as I know, killing Vampires isn't supposed to incur a bounty anywhere, so I believe this may be a bug that isn't listed here. This occurred while playing Skyrim for Switch. — Unsigned comment by ThaHandofGod343 (talk • contribs) at 05:38 on 18 August 2023 (UTC)

This is already mentioned on Skyrim:Vampire Scout. It probably shouldn't be listed here, since it is an issue with specific NPCs. Maybe a general note about NPCs having the wrong crime faction? --Ethruvisil (talk) 20:43, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

NPCs have special crime dialogue options. Possible bug worth mentioning?

Toying around with fury spells in Riften have led me to experience something unusual that I think we should include in the bug section of this article. I wanted to start a topic here first, though, because I would like to hear other player's experiences.

It seems that, sometimes, if NPCs get into a brawl, be it because they join as your allies or because they are under the effects of a fury spell, they will briefly unlock a special dialogue option. When speaking to them afterwards, they will greet the player saying "That could have turned out better", "Well, this is a nice mess you've gotten me into" or "I can't believe I got caught". There will be a new dialoge option which reads "Let's go. Let me worry about the guards". If selected, it will turn the surrounding guards hostile.

I have tried to replicate it and it took me around 10 tries. I'm not really sure about what triggers it, but I do know that, as soon as you leave the room, the dialogue will disappear with no other efect whatsoever. I have read some rare cases of this happening with followers, but in my case it happened with Anuriel and Asgeir Snow-Shod (which were at disposition level 0). --RedeemedStirling (talk) 15:23, 29 July 2024 (UTC)