Skyrim talk:Crime/Archive 3

This is an archive of past Skyrim talk:Crime discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Master Criminal Achievement

Okay, I have 1000+ bounty in each of the holds, also with the Orcs. No achievement. Am I missing something? Shadowgm 23:16, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

The exact achievement description says "Bounty of 1000 gold in all nine holds," so maybe more than 1,000 screwed it up? Also, be sure it's in all nine holds. An easy way to check is go to the "Crime" section of the pause menu and see if it lists 1,000 bounty in all nine holds. --RandomPlayer268 08:58, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

You should just double-check that the game has registered your crimes in each hold. In order to do so, go into your main menu and to the general statistics. Then look at the Crime section, and see if all nine holds come up with a bounty of 1000 or more. I remember when I was aiming for this achievement, some of my murder crimes went unseen and therefore didn't give me a respective bounty because of it. Helenaannevalentine 22:55, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Another question related to this achievement is whether it's necessary to have 1000 bounty in all 9 holds simultaneously, or whether you can get them one at a time and clear them before moving on to the next. This bears some research. (Mind you I always thought this achievement was poorly named. I'd call having 1000 bounty in every hold the "Incompetent Criminal Achievement". Master criminals don't get caught...) TheRealLurlock (talk) 14:13, 14 December 2012 (GMT)

You have to have them all simultaneously. You do not have to have a bounty with the Orcs. --Morrolan (talk) 21:45, 4 March 2013 (GMT)

Attacking NPCs, still aggressive after reload

PC Mods (Nexus Mod Manager): Unofficial Skyrim & Dawnguard patches, ApachiiSkyHair, Automatic Variants, Better Skeever, CBBE, PureWaters, Enhanced Blood Textures, Enhanced Light and FX, Flame and Frost Atronach Textures for AV, Vanilla Mannequin Fix

I decided to be goofy while Jarl Balgruuf was giving his speech after fending off the Stormcloaks from Whiterun. I quicksaved, then after that I shot in him the face about 20 times. Deciding to reload after I was done messing around, everyone in the Jarl's court seems to want me dead, despite having no bounty, and technically haven't done anything. Running off out of aggressive range and coming back didn't fix it either =/. Anyone know how to fix this bug, or know if it's an issue with one of my mods (Most of which are visual mods)?

VictusBcb (talk) 09:50, 29 December 2012 (GMT)

Try yielding, if you haven't already (by taking out then sheathing your weapon). I have heard that quicksaving and quickloading don't always make a perfect save, so this may be the reason why they are attacking you (the remaining data is taken from your currently active save). LoftedAphid86_⚕ 09:54, 29 December 2012 (GMT)

Yielding hasn't fixed it for me either I'm afraid. I guess I done goofed by quicksaving rather than doing an actual save.

VictusBcb (talk) 10:44, 29 December 2012 (GMT)

Try using 'disable' followed by 'enable' via the console on each of the people attacking you. This should reset their aggression (use tgm or tim to prevent you from dying while doing this. Remember to toggle it off again afterwards). LoftedAphid86_⚕ 10:50, 29 December 2012 (GMT)

I had hopes for that one, but alas, they're still all angry as a hornet's nest. I think I'm just going to give up on this save. I'm not terribly far into the game I suppose. *sigh*

VictusBcb (talk) 13:13, 29 December 2012 (GMT)

Use 'stopcombat' in the console (while you have them selected (click on them)) to stop them fighting you. Do this for each person attacking you. LoftedAphid86_⚕ 13:43, 29 December 2012 (GMT)

Reverse pickpocketing onto hostile NPCs to clear stolen flag

I have noticed that if you reverse pickpocket items onto hostile NPCS (by sneaking up on them without being detected) and then kill them, the items will no longer have the stolen flag. If some other people can confirm this, I think it should be added to the page, as it is a very easy way, assuming you have a good enough sneak skill, to clear the flag without risking a bounty or spending gold. — Unsigned comment by 67.5.239.152 (talk) at 01:19 on 1 January 2013

I have done this as well and it does clear the stolen flag in many instances, but I have also had cases where it did not clear the flag. I didn't look for a pattern as to when this does and does not work, but I would speculate that it has to do with whether or not the item is something that the npc might normally have in their generated inventory or not. I use the Xbox 360 version, so I have no access to the console commands or the GECK to look into this. Minotaur (talk) 07:09, 20 November 2014 (GMT)

I did look for a pattern, but couldn't find one. Like Minotaur I play on XBox. Also note that Skyrim doesn't have a GECK, that's for the Fallout games. I believe it's just called the Creation Kit in ES. --Morrolan (talk) 18:08, 23 November 2014 (GMT)

Civil War ruined crime system

After I conquered Windhelm for the Imperials and in every hold in which the guard are replaced with Imperials are only bugs. I can attack or kill the "guards" and nothing happen. They don´t atteck me or talk to me when I have bounty. They don´t even do anything when i´m killing homeless ... For my outlaw assassins is this just crap. Sorry for my bad english please help me :S --SRX2 (talk) 10:44, 16 February 2013 (GMT)

The game is designed to clear your bounty and crime record during the Civil War quests, whenever your side takes a hold previously controlled by the other. I'm not sure why the guards ignore any additional crimes you commit. I'd say try waiting a bit, and making sure you've traveled out and back into an area after such a change. Please let us know if you figure anything out. If anyone else experiences this kind of problem, please report here, or add a bug to the article. --JR (talk) 18:05, 26 February 2013 (GMT)

I just experienced a bug like this two days ago. I had previously completed the Civil War campaign for the Empire, and was doing the Deceiving the Herd quest from Dawnguard. I killed Ungrien in Riften right in front of the guards and everyone, and no one turned hostile (many even said it was good to see me again). I checked my crime status and I did have the 1000 bounty, but for some reason the guards inside the city just didn't care. I walked right out the front gate, lingering right in the face of the Imperial guards as I went, and still no hostility or even a "Wait, I know you...". When I exited the gate and spawned outside Riften, the guards out there immediately were hostile (as expected). I evaded and got away, and the next time I fast traveled to Riften the guards reacted correctly.

I am also having another issue that might be related. Even though I have the Bribery perk, I am unable to bribe the guards to clear my bounty. I had to join the Thieves Guild to get that dialog option to appear so I could finally get rid of the bounty. Minotaur (talk) 07:33, 20 November 2014 (GMT)

Dragonborn Bug

It seems with Dragonborn installed, any bounty you have in Raven Rock does not show up on your crime page. Schiffy (talk) 16:12, 18 February 2013 (GMT)

Same issue on Xbox. --109.148.230.74 21:51, 21 February 2013 (GMT)

1000 bounty and guards say "Wait! I know you."

They just say those for words, they don't try to arrest.It was the reach, my murder count is still 0 so I' guessing somebody saw me transforming into a werewolf when I went to clear out the mine of Silver-Blood mercinaries in Karthwasten. I then was out of the reach for quite a while, doing other quests a good lot of in game days must have passed. I didn't even know I had a bounty i the Reach until I fast travelled into Markarth to do the Forsworn Conspiracy and a guard said, "Wait! I know you." I checked and there was a 1000 bounty. Obviously because t was the Reach after I finished that mission and escaped with Madanach all outstanding Reach crimes were cleared. I find it strange that no guard came to try to arrest me, I could go up and speak to them, they would just say "Wait! I know you." and walk away, I didn't get the, "Your Making a mistake." dialogue. I thought if you have a high bounty they will attempt to arrest you on sight. Does staying out of a hold for a certain ammount of time make the guards docile to a high bounty until you commit a crime in that hold again? — Unsigned comment by Festuskreux (talk • contribs) at 11:36 on 24 February 2013‎

I have never seen that behaviour. Do you think you were away for over 30 ingame days? Also, are you playing with any mods that might possibly affect the game? Normally a 1000 bounty will cause them to arrest you on sight, you usually get the Wait! I know you. dialogue when your bounty is down around 40. --Morrolan (talk) 23:03, 4 March 2013 (GMT)

I had this exact same problem! I tracked it down to the bug when during 'agent of dibella', where the 'mother' would refuse to accept your surrender even if you agree to meet the mother. Dawn (talk) 17:51, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

Bug or a feature?

Civil war ended in "my" Skyrim and I approached a Stormcloaks camp (I sided with Empire). First I attacked them on sight and after this nearby guard attacked me on sight. In next approach I let Stormcloak attack me (just stood close to them and did nothing until they attacked me) and still guard is attacking me on sight. — Unsigned comment by 193.24.245.10 (talk) at 21:12 on 24 February 2013

If you don't have a bounty, that's not a real guard. See my comment down at the bottom of the page. Attacking soldiers at military camps is never a crime (although stealing their horses often is, what a wacky system.) --Morrolan (talk) 23:00, 4 March 2013 (GMT)

Buckets on Heads?

In the notes section on the article: "If an item, such as a kettle or basket, is covering an NPC's head, a bounty will not be given when it would be when stealing an item." Does this make any sense to others? I'm not really able to. Perhaps it's not necessary? --JR (talk) 18:06, 26 February 2013 (GMT)

Yeah, the way it's formulated is pretty weird. Putting a basket, bucket, kettle, etc... on someone's head blocks their line of sight, meaning that you can steal things right under their nose without them seeing anything. It's been discovered very early, likely the very day the game was released, and neither Official nor Unofficial patches have done anything against it. I guess it maybe shouldn't be mentioned here though, since it's more or less an exploit. Not a big one, but still. Elakyn (talk) 19:13, 26 February 2013 (GMT)

Random hostile guard in Markarth

So I was wandering into Markarth for what I believe was the first time after having completed "Nobody Escapes Cidhna Mine" (at least a few in-game weeks afterward, however) and decided to walk up to the city itself rather than fast traveling. Around the Salvius Farm region (this was approximately 9:00 PM ingame), a random Markarth guard attacked me. No dialogue, no bounty, just this guy attacking me. I tried to yield, but he kept hitting me, so I pulled out my bow and attacked him. When I received no bounty, I killed him and walked into Markarth with no complaint from any of the other guards. Any ideas why this might have happened?69.132.179.20 00:04, 27 February 2013 (GMT)

He was hostile for some reason. Probably he was a glitched NPC from The Forsworn Conspiracy who was hostile to you, and not a real guard, just an NPC that looks like one. Defending yourself against hostile NPCs that attack without cause, as opposed to guards that attack you when you resist arrest, is not a crime.

You can tell the difference between real guards and hostile NPCs that look like guards because real guards will try to arrest you and only turn hostile when you resist arrest. --Morrolan (talk) 22:58, 4 March 2013 (GMT)

If the Thalmor faction is hostile to me (because I attacked them too many times) some Markarth guards will (seemingly randomly) attack me. Especially the ones near Understone keep. It never gives me a bounty when I kill them. This is even if I haven't done the Forsworn quest. Wraithchilde (talk) 19:16, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Is The Reach under Imperial control? Markarth has quite a few guards-that-aren't-guards in it, and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that some of them are allied to the Thalmor in order to provide a scripted defense for the Thalmor agents in Understone Keep. Those Thalmor agents go away if the Reach falls into Stormcloak hands, though. The fact that you didn't get a bounty for killing them indicates that the game doesn't consider them to be guards (despite their appearance). --Morrolan (talk) 22:51, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Maximum prison sentence

It appears to be seven days. Seven days of prison time clears the progress on every skill you have. I've tried it with a 3500 bounty, and I still only got 7 days. Is that the cap? --Morrolan (talk) 03:40, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

That seems extremely low for a 3500 bounty. Did you kill 3 people or did you just transform? I'll go on a rampage this afternoon to test this, but it's odd. Elakyn (talk) 10:48, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

Seven days clears progress on all skills. So it might be the cap. It seems low to me as well. The 3500 came from getting the 1500 from To Kill an Empire, then killed a couple guards resisting arrest when I came back to kill Maro and the real Emperor. --Morrolan (talk) 17:20, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

Okay I tried with both a new character and a maxed-out one. The first had a 9000+ bounty, 9 murders and countless assaults: 7 days and skill progress cleared. I intended to train with Faendal and aim for a higher bounty but my progression was halted when Faendal killed Camilla and turned against me; in the end it doesn't matter since the cap seems to be 7 days. For the second I decided to move from Whiterun to the Rift. With a bounty of 46k+ and a body count of 45, I surrendered and went to jail only to get out (you guessed it) 7 days later. Punishment and jail time in Oblivion were already lax, but this is just ridiculous. Elakyn (talk) 17:46, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

I think a 46K bounty is definitely sufficient to conclude this is the cap. I've updated the main page to show this. Now it would be good to test and see what the minimum bounty is needed in order to get 7 days. --Morrolan (talk) 19:52, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

Alright, I made some more tests to see the relation between bounty and jail time, and to my surprise they actually took the same model as for Oblivion, that is: 1-199 = 1 day; 200-299 = 2 days; 300-399 = 3 days, etc... With the limit being set at 700 for 7 days. Well, that's not what I'd call realistic but here we are. Elakyn (talk) 15:21, 6 March 2013 (GMT)

I've always said that Elder Scrolls games are the triumph of logic over realism. Well here's another example. :) --Morrolan (talk) 21:26, 6 March 2013 (GMT)

Arrested for crimes in other holds

I've just found this bug/glitch/whatever. Resisting the arrest in Solitude, I killed all the guards (literally), wich made my chars bouty over 120,000 septims. So I decided to flee and find a bouty collector (don't ask me why I didn't surrender, I have no idea myself). When I reched Rorikstead some guards approached (I think I had about 50-100 boubty in Whiterun hold), and I just payed them by the guild prices. They walk away with the money, and the next moment turn hostile and start attacking the character with no option to surrender. I wonder if it's this great bounty in other hold? As in Solitude I coudn't pay it as well, guards didn't react on attempts of surrending. Could it be that if the player's bounty is too high, the guards will attack you on sight wherever you are?

Meanwhile in Whiterun... I just attack one of the guards, then surrender and go to jail just for an assault. When I go out of the jail, the moment I approach any guard (or a person who's marked as a guard, as the Jarl, some Companions and the Jarl's houscarl attack the character as well) he speaks the random line and the next moment again turns hostile, though my character doesn't have a bounty in this hold, only that big one, in Solitude. --Mr.Killjoy (talk) 20:02, 16 March 2013 (GMT)

One of the game loading screens seems to imply that if your bounty gets too high, then you can't surrender. 120K is certainly enormous, it's far more than I've ever seen. Can you try returning to Haafingar and see if you are allowed to surrender there? If you can, either Solitude or Dragon Bridge should do the trick. Try rapidly sheathing and unsheathing your weapons if they don't try to arrest you at first, see if that works. My suspicion is that you've gotten the guards faction stuck on hostile, and the reason why the non-Haafingar guards are attacking you is because of a faction bug. --Morrolan (talk) 22:30, 16 March 2013 (GMT)

I just kept forgetting I had this big bounty in Haafingar, and went there by TG radiant quests, every time destroying the whole guard sqad. That's why it was that big. Nothing huge about that.

Well, I was more concerned about the fact guards of other holds attacked my character, to hell with Haafingar, big bounty isn't quite a problem. The problem is that (being chased in other holds) shouldn't be happening according to game manual, but it did. The Pale, Whiterun, Reach - every guard of these holds kept attacking the character, though no crimes were committed there (and not only guards, some other NPCs turned hostile). When I managed to pay the fee, this ended. I wonder if it's a bug or in-game thing. --Mr.Killjoy (talk) 00:34, 17 March 2013 (GMT)

It sounds like a bug to me. I'll see if I can replicate it using one of my super-characters at some point, go on a rampage and rack up a ridiculous bounty somewhere and see if it makes guards in other holds hostile. My best guess at this point is that it has something to do with factions. I'm surprised you paid it off; as was recently documented on this page, just surrendering and going to jail would only net you 7 days of jail time. --Morrolan (talk) 02:23, 17 March 2013 (GMT)

I just use some spell mods, so I could pacify the guard. Cheater, eh. I have no idea about the factions, but I remember that Balgruuf, Jaree-Ra and Faendal attacked my character on sight besides guards and Companions.--Mr.Killjoy (talk) 22:34, 19 March 2013 (GMT)

I don't think any of those three are in guard factions, although jarls are especially weird. Was Balgruuf still jarl of Whiterun? --Morrolan (talk) 00:22, 20 March 2013 (GMT)

I made a lot of tests about this recently and I can say that it's not just about factions, it's also about Aggressiveness. Any NPC with an Aggression level of 1 or more will attack you on sight when you have a high bounty or assault/kill someone in front of them. Jarls and other government members are nearly all Unaggressive but their factions probably include something about crimes, because they're almost always hostile to players with a high bounty. Elakyn (talk) 10:49, 20 March 2013 (GMT)

Morrolan, yes he was still a yarl. But of a hold nio crimes were committed. Elakyn, so you say it's normal that aggressive/governmental faction members attack the player if he has high bounty in other holds? That's not a bug? --Mr.Killjoy (talk) 13:44, 22 March 2013 (GMT)

Well one of the most repeated things on UESP is that mods can mess with the game, so if you still have a save of that 120k bounty, try disabling all mods and going to another city again. Fennec--Fox (talk) 06:38, 24 March 2013 (GMT)

If it's repeatable and can be tested then it might be considered an undocumented feature. At least that way we can document it if there's a threshold huge bounty that makes NPCs in general hostile. If it just happens randomly sometimes then it's a bug. --Morrolan (talk) 00:44, 25 March 2013 (GMT)

If you run into this problem again, casting Harmony (the Master level Illusionist spell) will calm the guards. Talking to them should then give the "Wait, I know you" line, followed by the options to surrender et al. (I've had this issue on XBox version, so no mods.) Minotaur (talk) 07:55, 20 November 2014 (GMT)

Murder counter

There still seems to be some uncertainty about the "Murders" stat under the Character Menu. Skyrimplayer brought this up on the With Friends Like These talk page. Killing the hostages doesn't add to your murder count, and killing the 3 non-hostile Imperial soldiers you can encounter in a random WI only counts as 1 murder. Can anybody shed some light on how this works? Somebody brought it up before (it's archived now), but it never really got resolved. --Xyzzy ^Talk 17:53, 1 June 2013 (GMT)

It's buggy. It seems to me that stealth kills are more likely to add to the murder stat, essentially killing a person who isn't hostile to you (yet) can seem to count as murder even if that person is a bandit, a soldier or some other type of enemy NPC. --Morrolan (talk) 01:32, 2 June 2013 (GMT)

I'm guessing that once you've killed the first non hostile soldier, the others have become hostile, so while the first kill will count as a murder (non hostile when you killed him), the next two (now hostile) won't. I've no doubt the murder count is bugged somehow though, since a murder count has turned up on a character of mine who has never committed a murder (no kills that weren't already hostile)... Also, see my post below this section about Cidhna Mine. --EllaFirebird (talk) 20:29, 2 June 2013 (GMT)

Bounty remains despite reload...

I roleplay my characters, so this means I want a clean sheet as far as crime goes (at least with my current character). I decided to do the 'No one escapes Cidhna Mine' quest, and the first time around didn't go willingly with the guards (just for fun), which incurred a bounty (and a murder charge or two... Ok, 3), so I reloaded and went quietly, then did the quest. However, during completion of the quest, I killed a guard, then decided to check my crimes in case it showed up there - I discovered I had a bounty of 1040, and 2 murders listed (never knew where the 1st one came from, possibly a Thalmor justiciar, although I always taunted them into becoming hostile before killing them, so this is a mystery murder count too - but I definitely only had that 1 murder count listed before starting the Cidhna Mine quest, and no bounty at all). So I reloaded to an earlier save point in the middle of the quest and checked - bounty still there. Reloaded an even earlier save, still there. Reloaded to before I went to Markarth to start the quest, to where I know I DEFINITELY didn't have any bounty, and the bounty and the extra murder charge are still there!! I have no idea why, or how to fix it (I'm playing on the PS3, so no console commands for me). Not sure if this is a bug, or if it happens for everyone or what... It's like the game remembers I had bounty even though I went back to a point before I earned it. Has this happened to anyone else? --EllaFirebird (talk) 20:23, 2 June 2013 (GMT)

I've noticed this in the past. However, I just finished repeatedly trying to make this glitch happen and failed. I can't say for sure that I hadn't gotten a hidden bounty without realizing it, and mistook it for one I had just reloaded to get rid of. It's risky to rely on memory to say "I know I didn't have this bounty before" without deliberately testing it. --Xyzzy ^Talk 22:20, 2 June 2013 (GMT)

Fair point! I'm sure the bounty wasn't there before, but to be honest I'm beginning to doubt myself... I do remember a similar thing happening on a previous character, but the bounty that remained that time seemed to come from 'resetting' Farengar a few times... Again, I guess it's risky to rely on memory for this, even though I feel pretty convinced on both accounts. I'll keep a look out more carefully for this, and see if I can get any proper evidence. --EllaFirebird (talk) 23:49, 2 June 2013 (GMT)

Completing The Forsworn Conspiracy gives you a 1000 bounty in the Reach. There is no way to avoid this, except for using exploits. --Morrolan (talk) 11:59, 3 June 2013 (GMT)

Clearing stolen flag - moved from article

It can also be cleared by placing stolen items in the chest outside Lakeview Manor and getting arrested in Solitude by the docks after gathering a bounty of 1000 or more allowing free tag removal. [( tested during the "Bound Untill Death " quest using the above circumstances, it has not been tested with other safehouses, safehouse chests, bounty amounts, multiple holds, or if the hold where the bounty is gathered is the one where you must be arrested)]

This is way to wordy and specific for the article. Can someone verify/condense this note before it gets added.--Xyzzy ^Talk 03:17, 27 July 2013 (GMT)

As far as I'm aware, it's not specific to what house you have the items stored in. I just had stolen items stored in Breezehome and cleared a bounty (just over 100 septims) I had in Winterhold, following this the stolen tags were removed. Anyone else want to confirm this for other platforms, I'm on xbox. JDizzle (talk) 13:50, 1 September 2013 (GMT)

So the condensed version is: place stolen items in a container associated with a house you own, get arrested in a different hold, and *poof* stolen tag disappears? --Xyzzy ^Talk 14:32, 1 September 2013 (GMT)

Actually I've just tested this again and haven't been able to replicate it; this time I was using a different container in Breezehome to what I was originally and getting a bounty in Falkreath instead but you wouldn't really think that would make a difference. It occurred to me that I probably cleared a bounty on Raven Rock before the bounty at Winterhold when it originally happened to me, however when I just tried getting a new bounty on Raven Rock it was added to Eastmarch instead. It might just be a random bug. JDizzle (talk) 10:30, 2 September 2013 (GMT)

I just got accused of a crime!

Didn't see anything about it on this page, and it only happened once so I can't say if the option I didn't take leads to admitting you did it... But I've had a Riften guard come up to me after I sneak-killed a random hunter that ran by after a fugitive.

I still had my weapon out and she asked me if I knew anything about the crime. I answered "nothing" and when she pointed out I have a weapon out I picked "it's a reflex". She let me go after basically warning me to not "reflexively" kill people in her hold.

I have no idea if this particular dialogue has a possibility of getting you arrested, can someone answer that for me? (I tried to replicate it after but I've only had the guards ignore me or turn hostile because I ran over before they got over the random deaths.) 24.212.17.8 20:04, 2 August 2013 (GMT)

When guards find unexplained bodies, they will sometimes start to investigate the surrounding area and question suspicious-looking PCs. It's very rare for me, I think I've only actually had the conversation you had once (although I have heard them make puzzled remarks about the body a few times), but usually I'm either busy killing lots of guards or sneaking away in those kinds of situations so talking to them doesn't happen often. I wasn't arrested either. --Morrolan (talk) 21:23, 2 August 2013 (GMT)

ChickenFaction reporting crime

I just noticed on the USKP page that "Members of ChickenFaction will no longer flag crimes". I guess this means that chickens no longer report crimes (hee). I couldn't find any mention of any other animals being removed from the list of ridiculous beings that can report your crimes, such as what was suggested at the end of this discussion. Is there any evidence of this anywhere, and if so should any of it, including the loss of the chicken-snitches, be added to the article? (this whole thing is making me giggle). --Xyzzy ^Talk 06:28, 17 August 2013 (GMT)

Crooked bounty collector

"Also, use his services at your own risk as the bounty may still be present in the hold that he collects the bounty from, even after paying him."

This has sat unverified in the article for a long time. Can we get some playtesting of this? --Xyzzy ^Talk 14:01, 27 August 2013 (GMT)

I've paid bounty collectors a few times, and never had this problem. I don't think I've paid one since 1.6 though. --Morrolan (talk) 18:40, 27 August 2013 (GMT)

I went and acquired a 2040 gold bounty in the Rift, and had a Bounty Collector attack me, rather than offer to clear my bounty. Using scaonactor on him immediately ended combat and started the normal "pay me to clear your bounty" dialogue. However, even though I paid him, my bounty never cleared. I even fast-traveled to Whiterun then back to Riften, thinking he needed time to deliver the gold to the jarl, but my bounty never went away. So, it appears that the statement in the article is true. I'll wait 'til someone else verifies this, since it could have been bugged due to his aggression and my use of the console. --Xyzzy ^Talk 04:55, 28 August 2013 (GMT)

Obviously, playing on 360, I've only ever paid bounty collectors who didn't attack me right off. Actually to be honest I think they've gotten more aggressive with the official patches, which is why I haven't paid one off in quite a while. --Morrolan (talk) 05:16, 28 August 2013 (GMT)

I don't think I ever had a bounty long enough to encounter one until I just tested it, and he appeared within minutes. I added these 2 bugs to the Bounty Collector article with console fixes. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:32, 28 August 2013 (GMT)

I have had this happened to me on consecutive occasions and in different holds as well. I paid the bounty collector for fines in whiterun hold but the fine was never lifted. I thought this was a one-time bug, so next time i encountered the bounty hunter it was in eastmarch several in-game days later and once again paying him did not lift my fine. — Unsigned comment by 24.202.130.168 (talk) at 14:13 on 16 September 2013‎

(←) Ok, thanks. I will remove the vn tag from the article. --Xyzzy ^Talk 17:24, 16 September 2013 (GMT)

Transport to Dragonsreach

Paying a bounty in Whiterun hold before you have been granted access to the city of Whiterun will not transport you to the jail.

I undid this change because I swear that I have used stealing something to bypass the guard and get into Whiterun. I roleplay my characters, and sometimes the character just doesn't take very well to the guards claiming the city is closed. I think that not being transported is a result of not having any stolen items. --AN|L (talk) 20:32, 8 September 2013 (GMT)

Don't think so. I do know that going to jail will let you bypass the guard. However I did this yesterday, and the guard took my 5 gold and much to my surprise didn't send me to Dragonsreach. --Morrolan (talk) 20:40, 8 September 2013 (GMT)

Oh yeah. I had stolen items on me at the time. --Morrolan (talk) 20:40, 8 September 2013 (GMT)

I can't remember whether I had stolen items on me or not for sure (though I believe I did), but I have been transported to Dragonsreach after paying a bounty in Whiterun before being granted access to the city. This was before the most recent patch (probably before the last three or so), so it may warrant some more testing and experimentation. — ABCface^◥ 22:27, 8 September 2013 (GMT)

I just tested it twice by running straight from Helgen to Whiterun, pausing just long enough to acquire a bounty of 1000 gold the first time, and 25 gold the second time. Both times, I submitted and woke up in the jail, and both times I hadn't gotten access to the city. --Xyzzy ^Talk 22:28, 8 September 2013 (GMT)

(←) My experience was with a bounty of only 5 gold. Is it possible that micro-bounties now don't transport you? My stolen goods were still deposited in Dragonsreach. Or maybe it was a glitch in the transportation script. --Morrolan (talk) 05:26, 9 September 2013 (GMT)

Yes, small bounties don't get you sent to prison. I recently got a 10 gold bounty in Solitude and paid it off without going to jail. I added a bit to the "Going to Jail" section based on this, but the minimum bounty necessary to be transported to jail needs to be verified. And yes, even if they don't send you to jail, they still confiscate your stolen goods. --Xyzzy ^Talk 14:04, 9 September 2013 (GMT)

Your edit went into the wrong place. If you surrender, i.e. don't pay off your bounty, you always go to jail. Obviously. You need to make changes to Skyrim:Crime#Paying Bounty instead. --Morrolan (talk) 16:19, 9 September 2013 (GMT)

You're right. I readded it to the right section. The cutoff between being transported and not needs to be determined. It's somewhere between 10 and 25 gold. --Xyzzy ^Talk 01:26, 10 September 2013 (GMT)

Declaring Thaneship

There is an inconsistency with information regarding the bounty cap for declaring thaneship. Which is correct: this article or this article? ~ Psylocke 11:23, 29 September 2013 (GMT)

Hmm, I thought the cap was 2000. Can someone get a bounty between 2 and 3 thousand in a hold where you're thane and test it? --Morrolan (talk) 12:35, 29 September 2013 (GMT)

The quest which launches the crime dialogue seems to be this one on CSList. I can't see where the conditions are though; the dialogue for claiming thaneship is at DGCrimeUseInfluence, visible here and it doesn't seem to have any conditions on it, or any scripting. So the conditions for allowing it must be somewhere else. Or I've blundered into the wrong part of the CSList, because the replies listed there are the ones that the guards give for Cidnha Mine being active. --Morrolan (talk) 12:49, 29 September 2013 (GMT)

Unknown Bounty (PC)

I'm not seeing any city/hold listed next to my bounty:
Total Lifetime Bounty 1005
Largest Bounty 1000
Fines Paid 5
I have no idea how/where/when I accrued a 1000 bounty. There have been no guards chasing me and I've been to most cities to talk to guards, but they just respond with normal guard dialogue.
How would I go about paying the 1000 bounty so that Fines Paid = 1005? --50.160.211.34 16:26, 1 November 2013 (GMT) EDIT:--NibKing (talk) 19:41, 3 November 2013 (GMT)

A 1000 gold bounty is usually the result of a murder you committed. However, if you killed all the witnesses, the bounty would have been immediately removed without any payoff by you. It looks like this is what happened with you. I believe the game still counts these bounties when totaling your lifetime and largest bounties. If you had a current bounty, it would be listed with its relevant hold. You're free and clear. --Xyzzy ^Talk 17:06, 1 November 2013 (GMT)

That makes sense. I have 10 murders listed. Thanks for clearing that up. --NibKing (talk) 19:41, 3 November 2013 (GMT)

How Is Thieving Bounty Calculated?

When you're caught thieving, is your bounty based only on the value of the last object you stole when you were caught, or does the value of all the stolen goods you're carrying also contribute to the bounty? — Unsigned comment by 98.160.100.108 (talk) at 03:55 on 15 November 2013‎

I'm very sure it's only based on the value of items you were actually witnessed stealing, not the value of stolen items in your possession. --Xyzzy ^Talk 04:55, 15 November 2013 (GMT)

Thanks for the answer. I wondered because they always know which items are stolen and they take them all, so perhaps they would "charge" you with those other crimes as well. Maybe it's too much paperwork for the guards when they want their bellyful of mead. — Unsigned comment by 98.160.100.108 (talk) at 06:33 on 15 November 2013‎

Xyzzy is correct, with the caveat that there's a fixed bounty for failed pickpocket attempts; it doesn't matter whether you were trying to steal an apple or a 1000 gold necklace. Also even if you steal 0 value items you get a bounty, although I think it becomes a 0 gold bounty in that case. Paying a 0 gold bounty removes no gold, but it does send all your stolen items to the evidence chest. --Morrolan (talk) 20:46, 17 November 2013 (GMT)

Quick and Easy Method To Get Master Criminal

For this method to work, you need to be a werewolf. Having the Ring of Hircine is also recommended for the extra transformations it grants.

1. Transform into a werewolf in the middle of one of the 9 major towns/cities. This will automatically get you a bounty of 1000 gold in that hold.

2. Run to safety in the wilderness, until you are allowed to wait/rest.

3. Wait for 1 hour (more if you do not have the Ring of Hircine) to change back to normal.

4. Fast-Travel to another hold.

5. Repeat until you have a 1000 gold bounty in all 9 holds for the achievement.

— Unsigned comment by 75.167.148.243 (talk) at 19:18 on 23 January 2014‎

Current bounty

Is there a way to view Your current bounty if you have one? Like in Oblivion it shows your "current bounty" And the amount. The only two crime details I see related to bounty are "total lifetime bounty" and "largest bounty". When you do get a bounty does it appear in your crime stats? Or will the only way to know is by talking to a guard? — Unsigned comment by ‎ Cjesseg (talk • contribs) at 21:29 on 10 March 2014

If you don't have a bounty listed for a specific hold (i.e. "The Reach Bounty 40"), then you do not currently have any bounty in any hold. I'll make sure this is noted in the article. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:35, 11 March 2014 (GMT)

The quick answer is: it only lists individual bounties when you have bounties for that hold, it does not list 0 current bounty, probably because the list would get pretty out of control (with 9 holds, plus the orcs, plus Solstheim if you have Dragonborn installed). --Morrolan (talk) 01:18, 31 July 2014 (GMT)

"Hidden bounty" in holds

This has been discussed at least twice elsewhere (Skyrim_talk:Whiterun#Unexplained_Whiterun_NPC_hostility first comes to mind), but I think it needs a more widespread discussion. I recently experienced the same unexplained hostility by city guards in Markarth that I had previously only seen in Whiterun. While traveling to Markarth, I wiped out two different 3-man Imperial escorts guarding a Stormcloak prisoner; the second time the prisoner also attacked me, probably because he was damaged by my first fireball. I then encountered a Stormcloak guard near Salvius Farm (I had captured the Reach for the Stormcloaks), and he attacked me. After Serana and I killed him, I checked my stats, and I had no bounty listed for any hold. Since it was nighttime, there were no guards outside the city gates, so the next guards I encountered were inside the city, who promptly attacked me. None of these guards would accept my yield, forcing me to leave the city to avoid a massacre.

I was able to fix this by heading to Ivarstead, where the lone Stormcloak guard was not hostile. I punched him 4 times to make him hostile, acquiring a 40 gold bounty, then yielded and paid him 400-odd gold to look the other way. I then headed back to Markarth, where the guards were no longer hostile, although talking to any of them resulted in the "Hey, I know you" bit, due to my 40 gold bounty. This is the same method that I found to clear up the "unexplained hostility" in Whiterun.

tl:dr - In my experience, attacking the random Imperial patrols, specifically the ones escorting a prisoner, seems to result in a "hidden bounty" in the hold where this occurs. I don't know if this is due to attacking the non-hostile "enemy" Imperial soldiers (I completed the Civil War quest line for the Stormcloaks), or the "friendly" prisoner, or if the same thing can happen if you attack Stormcloak patrols. Can anybody verify this? --Xyzzy ^Talk 06:14, 11 March 2014 (GMT)

I don't think it's a hidden bounty, I think it's just faction hostility. Faction AI in Skyrim is pretty convoluted, and sometimes factions can get stuck as hostile to the PC when they really shouldn't. Paying bounties off resets guard faction hostility. --Morrolan (talk) 01:20, 31 July 2014 (GMT)

Civil war & conjuration murders

Civil war quest line, during battles for forts and towns, killing hostile soldiers with weapons counts as regular kill, but if your conjured creature kills an enemy soldier during same mission, it will be counted as murder. No bounty received for this, only murder stats increased. Can anyone confirm this? — Unsigned comment by ForgottenB (talk • contribs) at 13:13 on 23 July 2014

Clearing stolen flag on Gold

Sometimes gold gets marked as stolen. One solution I have found is to place it in an end table in your house, and order your companion to take everything from the end table, then get it off them. This has worked for me on a few occasions. — Unsigned comment by 24.180.82.189 (talk) at 02:19 on 24 July 2014‎

That should work as it works for other stolen items. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 17:52, 24 July 2014 (GMT)

Fleeing from guards, cannot fast travel/wait though much time and distance has elapsed.

So I was doing Mourning Never Comes for the Dark Brotherhood, and one of my objectives was to kill Nilsine Shatter-Shield in Windhelm. So I journeyed there, snuffed her in broad daylight (Part of trying to get Master Criminal) and the usual fracas ensued. Guards attack me, I run, my follower takes on the entire army of cops by herself, etc. I ran out the gate, across the bridge, and up the road west all the way up to Anga's Mill. Yadah yadah yadah, left the guards in the dust, so I tried to wait to let my follower catch up and it said "You cannot wait when guards are pursuing you." So I figured fine, I'll just go alone for the next short while.

Went up to Raldbthar to kill Alain Dufont for the other part of the quest. When I entered, my follower (Jenassa) appeared. Cleared out the bandits, bumped off Dufont, went outside. It was now about 4-6 hours Skyrim time after I had killed Nilsine. I tried to fast-travel to Markarth; same message: "You cannot fast travel while guards are pursuing you."

By now more than a little ticked off, I thought I'd just run away a little more to see if I could get out of range of the guards. I ran/Whirlwinded across the mountains north of Shearpoint and all the way past the Lorius Farm. I ended up in the Volunruud area northwest of Whiterun, a good 35% of the map away from Windhelm. I still cannot wait or fast travel because guards are supposedly pursuing me. This is several hours Skyrim time and a good 40 minutes playing time since Nilsine was slain.

Is this a bug, or is it supposed to happen? I find it hard to believe the latter, as one hold's guards would hardly hunt you past their hold and all the way across another. Not to mention it's rather spiteful of the game designers to force someone to waste time pointlessly running halfway across the map to avoid guards.

As an added note, my brother had this same problem earlier today on a different profile. His was escaping Solitude after To Kill an Empire. We play on 360, Legendary Edition, no mods. Also, just before this I was in Morthal to kill Lurbuk as another Dark Brotherhood contract. I beat him down, ran out the inn and up the road, and was able to avoid the guards and fast-travel after just 5 minutes of running, no problem. So why did it happen with this kill in Windhelm? --Ecthelion74 (talk) 20:10, 28 July 2014 (GMT)

The next day, when I loaded my save, a Windhelm guard attacked right away. I killed him and was immediately able to fast-travel. So my problem is fixed, but I find it funny that my problem was solved by a guard teleporting to my location instead of by the game just releasing the "guards are pursuing you" thing. --Ecthelion74 (talk) 20:15, 28 July 2014 (GMT)

This is a common problem in ES games. In Oblivion you sometimes have the option of going into an oblivion gate to throw them off your trail. In Skyrim I find usually the best bet is to leave the hold, once the guard gives up chasing you you're free, and most of them won't chase you out of their holds. --Morrolan (talk) 01:24, 31 July 2014 (GMT)

It happened again for me fleeing Solitude after Bound Until Death. Both times, even when I left the hold, the guards continued to chase me (well, I don't think they were actually chasing me, but the notice appeared whenever I tried to wait). I had to either turn myself in, exit the game and reload, or just keep running halfway across the map. --Ecthelion74 (talk) 18:22, 1 August 2014 (GMT)

Did you try entering a dungeon? I've always found that going into Folgunthur shakes them off. --Morrolan (talk) 13:06, 5 August 2014 (GMT)

I'll try that if I need to, thanks. But I found that since I got Shadowmere, I can just gallop away for a minute or so and then fast-travel. I'm assuming this is a benefit of all horses, in addition to being able to fast-travel while overencumbered? --Ecthelion74 (talk) 16:23, 28 August 2014 (GMT)

(←) Yes, I think it's because of the faster movement. Essentially when you get past their maximum distance they give up chasing you, and horses move a whole lot faster than you do. --Morrolan (talk) 04:06, 29 August 2014 (GMT)

Murders not counting on Stats page

I've been playing for quite a few hours on my current character, and I just encountered my first situation where I more or less had to murder some old lady because if I didn't I would not have been able to sneak past her, and I'm a vampire. So I shanked her and she died, and then Addvar came down and I killed him too. A little while later I noticed that my murders didn't count towards the total (of 0... obviously) on the Crime page. I thought maybe a mod was causing this, so I spent a lot of time disabling mods, eventually disabling ALL of my mods (over 150 of them) - and my murders are still not counting even with the vanilla game... I don't want to use a console command to start the dark brotherhood quest line, because I want my murders to be legitimate, it would have no meaning if no murders from that point on counted either.

Does any have an insight on this? I can't find anything anywhere on the net about it... sadly, it looks like I'm the only one who's had this problem. It's bizarre that I disabled all the mods I had installed and murdering Svari's family doesn't count as a murder... I also murdered a few guards, for closure - nothing. 173.241.185.138 18:07, 14 October 2014 (GMT)

The murder count does not lead to the Brotherhood, it is entirely started by a quest that is available from the start of the game. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 18:24, 14 October 2014 (GMT)

If you look at a couple of the threads above, you will notice that others have noted problems with the murder counter, but in the opposite way (unexplained increases in murder count). As The Silencer said, committing random murders has nothing to do with starting the DB questline, so it won't affect your ability to fully experience the game, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. If others are experiencing this, it could be added to the article as a bug, otherwise it could just be a one-off due to the lingering effects of one of your mods. Even uninstalling add-ons may not remove every side-effect of them. You have to remove them and start a new game to be sure that they are not affecting your current game. --Xyzzy ^Talk 19:18, 14 October 2014 (GMT)

I play on XBox, and I've noticed murders failing to count as well before. The count is incredibly buggy and since it no longer matters for DB purposes, I pretty much ignore it. --Morrolan (talk) 21:27, 15 October 2014 (GMT)

I don't understand murder

Or, more accurately, I don't understand how/why witnesses report or don't report, and how/why guards turn hostile or don't turn hostile. For example, as part of the Dark Brotherhood quest, I killed Nilsine. At first I tried it in the market during the day. I was hiding behind the smelter, and killed her in one shot while hidden. The guards immediately went hostile and started looking for me, and the other citizens started running around all panicked. I stayed hidden until they all went unhostile, then stood up, and they went hostile again. I never had any bounty during all of this. So, I get that the citizens witnessed the murder, and were panicked, but I don't get why the guards were hostile towards me when no one saw me, nor was the crime reported (I'm assuming, since no bounty).

Later in the questline, I had to kill Hern and Lurbruk. I killed Hern in the yard of his mill with only chickens around, no response that I could see. I then killed Lurbruk in the inn by standing in another room, and the innkeeper didn't react at all, nor did the guards get hostile when I went back outside. So I guess my question is, why was there a response one time and not the other? As far as I can figure, the circumstance were the same (one shot kill, hidden while doing it, witnesses present), so why the different response? What detail am I missing? Obax (talk) 03:04, 10 May 2015 (GMT)

I'd say you were spotted killing Nilsine, except that you say no Eastmarch bounty from it. In Skyrim, you can be detected killing someone after the fact; the guard sees Nilsine drop, then looks for someone with a weapon out, sees you, and attacks. But - it doesn't always happen. If the eye opens slightly right after your target drops, that's what's happened. Maybe you were spotted by someone who doesn't give bounties? Niranye can become a Thieves Guild fence, so maybe she spotted you, didn't report a bounty, but turned hostile, which made the guards in her vicinity go hostile?

Hmmm. Niranye's morality is No Crime, so I'd expect her to report crimes. Maybe someone else around there has a no-reporting morality though. --Morrolan (talk) 00:01, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

You can also be detected by the person you shoot even if the eye is closed when you release the shot. If they are facing you but you are far enough away that they can't see you then the eye may open then close immediately (when they die), it's as if they see the arrow coming if they are facing towards you. 109.158.1.62 23:22, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

Attacked by all guards in all holds without bounty!

Like the title says, every guard in Skyrim is attacking all of my characters. I have no bounty. I even have a brand new character that has a lifetime bounty of zero. Is this a common bug or glitch. Somebody said that if the system detects a cheat, then guards will attack, but other than the occasional console command, I don't have any cheats. How do I stop this? I am willing to use a mod to fix it.

This sounds like a mod-caused bug. Disable all your mods, start re-enabling them, see which one caused it.

Guards can attack you even if you don't have a bounty, if their faction is set to hostile to you. Normally that only happens when you refuse to pay a bounty, but there have been other bugs reported where people have had guards turn hostile against them. --Morrolan (talk) 18:26, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Murdering followers without incurring a bounty

Thought this was worth noting - if you are in the middle of a city and attack and kill your follower you will receive the normal 1000 gold bounty for murder. However, if you kill them in less than 3 hits (the number they seem to take before getting mildly annoyed and becoming hostile) then you do not incur a bounty - although citizens will still scream "Murder!" they don't blame you...

Tested this with Lydia in Whiterun market (2 hits from a greatsword). If anyone else has experienced something like this it would be good to know.

109.158.1.62 23:19, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

High Bounty and Inventory Bugs?

This is very strange. I have a bounty of 16,000 gold in Markarth. I went to Solitude to do the Bard's and other quests. Strange things happened. 1. In Dead man's Respite, I picked up the ruby dragon claw and it was invisible in my inventory. 2. I went to retrieve Noster's Helmet, opened the chest with the arrow above it, nothing was in it. 3. Went to Radiant Raiment and took the quest. "Radiant Raiment Fine Clothes" was invisible in my inventory.

I loaded a previous save, cleared the bounty using the console, and tried all these quests again. No problems. I did this twice just make sure it would work again. Has anything like this happened to anyone else? Disappointing because I wanted to keep my Markarth bounty (because I'm mad at them >:|)

Wraithchilde (talk) 19:10, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

I actually found the reason for this. It was a bug related to escaping from jail and the flag (or whatever) not being set, so my inventory was bugged because of the evidence chest function.

Wraithchilde (talk) 19:37, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

Interesting. Did you find a fix for the bug? --Morrolan (talk) 21:27, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Paying Bounty - Low Bounties are not teleported

If the bounty is low enough, the player is not transported outside the Hold Dungeon when they agree to pay the bounty. I'm not sure how low it has to be, but at least under 5 septims doesn't teleport the player. I had a bounty of 1 septim in Windhelm for placing a stolen item into a "Steal from Barrel" because I was seen by a guard and not stealthed. (Very stupid) Rather than reload, I simply opted to pay the fine. My stolen Whispering Door key, lockpick, and 3 gold were confiscated into the Evidence Chest in the Guard Barracks in the Palace of the Kings, but my character was not teleported away from the marketplace. I had a 5 septim bounty in Winterhold later which I don't know what from (but that's usually the bounty for trespassing or lockpicking a door unstealthed). I paid the bounty and also wasn't teleported to the Chill, Winterhold's Dungeon. In addition, I didn't have any of my stolen goods confiscated though the guard said he would (a peculiarity of Winterhold). Perhaps a note on low bounties and when you are teleported to the prison needs added under the "Paying Bounty" section? 71.10.177.123 05:59, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

This has already been discussed on this page. See #Transport to Dragonsreach for the discussion. --Morrolan (talk) 22:46, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Strange Interaction After Murder

I was in Solitude, and a vampire attack occurred. Blah blah blah, killed the baddies and saved the day. A couple of guards were killed in the process (not by me though, I never hit them). Another guard appeared and said something like "I'm going to find whoever did this." Then he said something along the lines of "Wait. You there." and asked if I had anything to do with it. I said "I'm not answering any questions," and he threatened to send me to jail, to which I replied "doesn't scare me". And now I'm in jail for one day. I don't think any mods I have could cause that. If someone wants my mod list just ask! Eldubya (talk) 22:29, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, no mods you had caused this; it's just standard guard behavior when they discover a corpse. For more information, see here under "Guard discovers a corpse:". Forfeit (talk) 00:46, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Wow, I am blind as a bat -_- Thanks for pointing that out! :D Eldubya (talk) 22:53, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

I'm going to find whoever did this specifically refers to a guard corpse though. The rest of it can happen with any corpse (although not very often). --Morrolan (talk) 20:25, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Dropping weapons in front of guards

The article says: "Disturbing the jarl's peace (results from dropping a weapon in sight of a guard and refusing to pay a 50 gold bribe)". I have dropped all kinds of weapons in front of guards and they never complained. What's up with that? --Sandbox (talk) 17:24, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

Its a random event triggered by dropping a weapon, you won't always get it and may never experience it. The wording might need a tweak to reflect the randomness. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 17:31, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

I agree with Silencer and edited the article to more accurately describe the event. Also, if you're interested, the dialogue for this event can be found just above here. Forfeit (talk) 22:31, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

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