How can I steal items without being put in jail and keep the item?

Question

Can I steal items without being put in jail and keep the item? What is the name of the skill for it?

Asked by Chibox

Answer

To steal something without being prosecuted, you have to be in sneak mode and undetected (the "eye" symbol must be closed).

So the skill you are looking for is Sneak. However, even with a low sneak skill stealing is very easy when no one is around who could detect you. You still have to enter sneak mode though.

The item you took will still count as stolen, so if you go to jail later for another crime, it will still be taken from you. It may also happen that the owner of the item sends some thugs after you who will try to kill you, even if no one saw you committing the crime.

Answered by least_significant_bit

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Who owns the Golden Claw?

Question

I'm trying to figure out who owns the Golden Claw so I can return it to complete the quest. I've killed the boss at the end and acquired the new shout, I just don't know who to return the claw to!

Asked by Jorge Castro

Answer

The claw belongs to Lucian Valerius:

you can find him in Riverwood at his shop, the Riverwood Trader, in the center of town:

In general, you can figure out what to do with a quest by tracking it in your quest journal: if you do that, you'll get a marker on your HUD's compass that'll lead you directly to where you need to go.

(Images from the UESP)

Answered by Mark Trapp

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Is the chest outside High Hrothgar safe?

Question

I am on a new character, I would like to lay off buying Breezehome for a while. Can I store some of my items in the offering chest outside High Hrothgar? I noticed that it never respawns items. Lore-wise, Klimmek appears to be the only NPC who touches that chest, so it should be safe. However, any of you used it for long term storage, ever?

Asked by aditya menon

Answer

I do not believe that chest to be safe and is tied directly to a quest. I would suggest checking out this page here. It lists all the currently known locations in the world with 'safe' storage that will not reset... My personal favourite is the Alchemist's Shack.

Answered by James

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Help! I'm being attacked on sight in Dragonsreach!

Question

So I came came back to Breezehome after a hard few days on the road ridding the world of several bandits, a bunch of necromancers, two dragons and a cave troll. I stored all that I wanted to, took a well deserved rest and then went out to pawn the remainder.

On my way out of my home, which I bought with my own hard earned cash, I was accosted by a balding gentleman who insisted on dueling to the death with magic. His ass was promptly kicked, but my overeager companion, Lydia, may have leapt to my defense a bit robustly and a Whiterun guard may have ended up slightly more dead than he was before he met her.

I went to talk to the guards to offer reparations but all they did was make cracks about my sweetroll. But no matter. Off to sell my wares!

After some very fruitful bartering I went to disenchant a couple of rings at Dragonsreach and, to my surprise, I was attacked on sight upon entering. At first I thought this might be part of a quest (the hearty wench at the local tavern recently informed me that the Jarl's kids might be a little cuckoo). But I ended up dead.

I tried fighting back ... and ended up dead, just with a significantly higher body count. I reloaded an autosave ... changed nothing. I restarted my PS3 and reloaded a save. Nothing, still attacked. Tried talking to the guards about any crimes I may or may not committed - just more cracks about my sweetroll.

How do I stop from being attacked on sight in Dragonsreach? Is my game toast? Is this fixable? If so, how?

Edit

Fixed! After manually reloading an autosave, I headed back into town a stole some cheese. A guard caught me, I paid off my bounty, was relived of my stolen loot and was no longer attacked on sight upon entering Dragonsreach. I don't know why I was attacked inside the reach and not outside but I know that's how it got fixed.

Asked by Jed Oliver

Answer

From http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Dragonsreach

Bugs:

Possible random attacking of player after becoming "Thane"

Solution: Commit another crime and pay off the bounty. 

Sometimes when the player enters Dragonsreach, all NPCs become hostile for no reason.

Solution: Commit a crime and pay it off 

Off course, as seems to be you can't do this. You have a recovery saved version?

In other hand, when you fight on the duel, you kill or hit or damage someone?

Do you know what is your bounty in all cities? Because every city has a different bounty BUT if you have a lot of bounty in another city, guards will atack you anyway.

On PC you can fix it with the console, I don't know if you can do it on PS3, so I will edit your post with ps3 tag too.

If you get more information about this, or any new detail please edit your question.

Answered by Leandro

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Why is my game constantly crashing silently to desktop with no error message?

Question

I have been searching for an answer to the crash-to-desktop (CTD) issue for days since I first began playing. All I come across are 10-page-long discussions that appear to consist only of new members joining the forum just so they can chime in with, "This is happening to me, too!" The only thing anyone ever has to offer is a link to the same site I've seen a dozen times with a list of "common things that may help", but none ever do.

The CTD is random. I hardly ever know when it's going to happen, although, sometimes, I get into a spot in the game where the crash is consistent at around the same spot.

Among some of the things I've tried:

• turned off AA
• using low setting presets
• playing windowed
• turning off v-sync (even though this is just spitting in the face of my 480GTX)
• 44.1 khz sound tweak

Many of these tweaks I tried only for peace of mind and would never play with them. For example, turning off AA or v-sync? No thanks, I'll take my smooth edges and jitter-free frame rates to another game.

There has to be something other than these compiled checklists of random tweaks that no one ever reports as 100% effective. Isn't there an official patch for this? Hasn't Bethesda addressed this? Hundreds upon hundreds of people are having this problem.

My specs -

Windows 7 32-bit 4 GB RAM Nvidia 480 GTX Intel i5 3.33 Ghz

Asked by oscilatingcretin

Answer

Maybe your computer or graphics card is getting too hot. Check how long you can run Skyrim until it crashes.

Also, check this out -> http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4192 I heard it does a very good job of preventing CTDs.

And save often!

Answered by ChrisGS

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Can you prevent people from being reanimated by a necromancer?

Question

Sometimes in battle I'll be slaying the apprentice necromancers / skeletons etc to then go off and attack the more senior foes only to find that the recently killed victims have been reanimated and are now attacking me.

Sure, they seem less powerful when they've been reanimated, but they're still annoying. Is there anything particular I can do, either to a recently slain character or while I'm actually killing them to prevent them from being re-animated again?

I'm thinking possibly an enchanted weapon or a spell of some kind that I'm not aware of.

Asked by Jon W

Answer

• Decapitation will prevent reanimation, though it's impossible to pull off consistently, and it doesn't work on creatures.
• Reanimated corpses will turn to dust after the spell ends or the caster is killed, which prevents further reanimation.
• Disintegration from lightning magic also works.
• Kill the necromancer raising them.
• Raise them first.

Answered by kotekzot

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To be or not to be in the Dark Brotherhood and a Guild Master

Question

First of all I'm trying to avoid repeating this question: What should I consider when deciding to join or destroy the Dark Brotherhood?

I was reading http://elderscrolls.wikia.com and I have a few doubts about the history line. I read that you can kill Astrid, but then you can join the Dark Brotherhood anyway, if you do not choose to start another history. Is that correct?

My idea is to try to complete this questline but then kill 'em all. So I think I'll kill Astrid first.

My questions are:

1. If I kill Astrid can I really join the dark brotherhood and then once I've completed that questline destroy 'em all?
2. If not, is there a way to do that?
3. If I only choose to destroy them, can I get the Shadowmere? How?
4. Is there a consequence for being a member of the dark brotherhood with any NPC?
5. In relation to these, I'm married with Mjoll the Lioness. If I become a Guild Master will I have problems?

I'd be grateful for any comments or answers. Thanks and kind regards.

Please before you downvote this question, comment or edit why you think this question should be changed.

Asked by Leandro

Answer

You can only choose one of two things:

1. Kill Astrid and destroy the Brotherhood (and not obtain shadowmere)
2. Join the Brotherhood

Also, there are barely any consequences. No one will really have anything but maybe different speech options for intimidate.

Of course there always are console commands to fix your needs if you feel like cheating.

Answered by Assile

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Is there a skyrim mod for hiding a follower's helmet?

Question

I just installed the Mjoll facelift mod and love it. The problem is that I have to remove all helmets from her inventory in other to see her face. Is there a mod out there that hides whichever helmet my follower's wearing?

Asked by Bruce Connor

Answer

There is indeed. You can also select which helmets are hidden so certain followers or NPCs, like guards, can still display theirs.

Answered by Krazer

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To be or not to be a Dark Brotherhood and a Guild Master

Question

First of all I'm trying to don't repeat this question: What should I consider when deciding to join or destroy the Dark Brotherhood?

I was reading the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com and I have a few doubts about the history line. I was read that you can kill Astrid, but then you can become Dark Brotherhood anwyay, if you do not choose start the another history. Is that correct?

My idea is try to complete this questline but then kill'em all. So I think in kill Astrid first. So, there are my questions:

1. If I kill Astrid can I really become a dark brotherhood and then once completed destroy 'em all?
2. If not, there's a way to do that?
3. If I only choose destroy them, can I get the Shadowmere? How?
4. There's a consecuence for being a dark brotherhood with any NPC?
5. In relation with these, I'm married with Mjoll the Lioness. If I become a Guild Master I will have problems?

Any comment or answerd will be grateful. Thanks and kind regards.

Please before downvote this question, comment or edit why you think this question must be different.

Asked by Leandro

Answer

You can only choose one of two things:

1. Kill Astrid and destroy the Brotherhood (and not obtain shadowmere)
2. Join the Brotherhood

Also, barely any consequences. No-one will really have anything but maybe different speech options for intimidate.

Ofcourse there always are console commands to fix your needs if you feel like cheating.

Answered by Assile

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Why do my spells toss enemies around, and how can I prevent that?

Question

Is it normal that my spells (like Fireball or Flash), at level adept, toss the enemies around like hell? If I fire one of those spells on them the enemies will be thrown like 10 meters away. It looks weird and also makes looting sometimes kind of hard. Now I wonder if this is normal or if one of the mods I installed is responsible for this. All mods I've installed are just for graphical purposes, though, like textures and stuff.

Asked by Toby

Answer

Yes, Skyrim physics are funky that way. If you want a more sensible experience, the Realistic Ragdoll and Force mod is what you are looking for.

Reduces the extra force applied on ragdolls to a more realistic level and replaces ragdolls so that they are no longer stiff and fall at a faster velocity.

Answered by kotekzot

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Where can I buy or aquire lockpicks?

Question

I am running low of lockpicks. Those master locks really run through them. Apart from finding them as loot, where can I buy or aquire lockpicks?

Asked by Valamas

Answer

From the Skyrim wiki:

Lockpicks are easily obtained, as almost all merchants carry at least 1 of them. Some of the easier ways are:

• The Thieves Guild fence Tonilia carries around 30 picks for sale.
• The Khajiit trader outside Whiterun also carries 30 or more picks for sale.
• Babette in the Dark Brotherhood usually sells between 15 and 20 picks.
• General goods traders such as Belethor often carry 5 to 10 picks.
• Nearly all merchants, even food vendors will generally carry at least 1 lockpick in the miscellaneous category.
• Checking chests, bags and other storage units.
• Killing or pickpocketing bandits or humanoid monsters.
• The Skeleton Key. This lockpick is unique in that it will never break; the animation for the pick "breaking" will still occur if you put too much pressure while in the wrong position, but the pick itself doesn't break, meaning that you can try an infinite number of times.

Answered by Paul Breeze

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Bug: Companions wandering far from Whiterun + Skjör resurrected

Question

Ok, so I encoutered my first serious bug in Skyrim, and wondered what could have caused it. I am already the Harbinger of the companions, which means Skjör has been dead for a long time now. Njada Stone-arm was my follower, and I used fast travel to go somewhere else (will provide name on departure and arrival location if necessary). Both departure and arrival locations were on the far east of the map, so really far from Whiterun.

So I arrived at this place, and my follower was not there. Far in the distance, I saw a mammoth fighting someone. I wanted to check, just in case, and it was actually Aela, Njada, and Skjör fighting the mammoth. Moreover, Skjör was in a dead-like position (eyes closed, arms crossed on chest, standing straight). And, as if it was not enough, he was half in the ground, so only his chest was emerging off the ground, but he was still moving and running after the mammoth anyway (I couldn't figure if he was Basically, I saw Skjör's dead torso sliding off the ground.

After that, I lost them, so I tried to fast travel again to get Njada back at my side, but she was not there. And from there, I couldn't find her back. I load my game and tried again, and the same thing happened (Aela and Skjör the crazy torso, Njada following them). So I loaded a previous game and went to do something else, but now I'm worried it might happen again when I fast travel again to the same area.

Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to Njada after the fight, so I don't know if she was still my follower or not.

Anyway, do anyone have any idea about why this could happen? Is it frequent for Aela to be met at totally random places in the world? Or for Skjor to behave like this?

Thanks!

Asked by Mikalichov

Answer

So it actually seems to be not "unique", since it was encountered at least once in the exact same configuration by someone here. As in my case, there was the same combination of mammoth + dragon attack.

The elder scrolls wikia also mentions the bug of Skjor coming back, dead and clipping through objects.

Companions were also seen wandering far from their place here and here.

So my guess is: it might be implemented in the game that Companions go at random places in Skyrim to hunt big hunts (after all, they are supposed to be the mightiest warriors). Maybe it is triggered by becoming a Harbinger, maybe not (would need other conclusive proof).

Skjör seems to come back often, it might have happened in my game without me realizing. It seems to happen to Kodlak too from time to time. Being close, Njada followed and helped them too.

Both her and Skjör joining might be an effect of the CompanionFactionMinusBrillAndVignar faction. This faction thing could actually be the reason behind Skjör and Kodlak "resurrecting"

Edit: video of the bug happening: here and one with a variant here

Answered by Mikalichov

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What is the maximum number of Locations Discovered that one can achieve in Skyrim?

Question

Under Stats | General, there is a counter for Locations Discovered at the top. What is the maximum number one can achieve in this? I have tried googling the answer but I am not able to find satisfactory answer.

There are some self reports of people achieving 348, 329 or 323 in various places in internet and some obviously wrong answers like 719, but strangely enough I am not able to find definite answer for this. Is there a way to find out a definitive answer?

Asked by Anderson

Answer

Well according to the Skyrim wiki there are 719 locations. Link is here

EDIT

Sorry the above answer has overlapping locations:

Another link in the wiki states there are 616. This includes locations in cities as well.

Second Edit

Sorry I misread your question. This link is to gamshee and show all the locations just on the skyrim world map (which should all be discoverable). There is a total of 343 locations on this map.

Answered by Harpal

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Dude, Where's My Horse?

Question

So, my faithful steeds have had a history of, well, draconic incidents recently, and so, when leaving Solace, to head out in search of the Steed Stone recently, it occurred to me that procuring a new Equine conveyance would be wise.

The fine stableman over at The Solitude Stables, near Katla's farm, a trustworthy seeming fellow named Geimund, informed me that his horse was amazing, and availiable for a mere 1000 Septims.

I agreed to his price, and 1000 Septims poorer, was informed that it was 'the one with the Saddle'.

However, the horse with a saddle in this stable does not seem to be interested in turning into a plane or tasting like raisins, or showing me the universe. Hell, this horse isn't even interested in being ridden by me - at least, not if I don't want to be branded an inveterate and unpardonable Horse-Thief by every guard from Solituide to Markarth.

Why don't I own the Horse with the Saddle now? Is there a different horse with a saddle that I paid for? Did it wander off? There are only two stalls at the stable, both are occupied by horses, only one has a saddle, and the ride option for both are in red.

I just want a new pony. :(

Asked by LessPop_MoreFizz

Answer

I would suggest reloading a previous save and trying again, I've found that it somtimes fixes bugs similar to this. If this does not work, reload once again and buy another horse from a different city.

Answered by Xsage

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Belethor disappeared

Question

So for some reason Belethor seems to have disappeared. Whenever I go to his shop, it is locked up tight. However, when I see his assistant, he always invites me to come by the shop, so I don't think I killed him. I know there was a dragon attack in the city, but I only saw guards dead. Either way, I thought that store owners were among the NPCs that could not get killed. Is there some reason I am missing as to where he could have gone? This is also before the Civil War storyline (I haven't joined a faction yet).

Asked by IrishJMA

Answer

Belethor is not essential (read: he can be killed), so it's possible that he's dead. I can't confirm this at the moment, but I believe that Sigurd (his assistant) will say the same things regardless of Belethor's state - he's only got about 3 lines total.

The UESP page for Belethor notes a bug that you may be experiencing, though:

Belethor's shop will often close the moment you leave no matter what the hour, and may not reopen until after his inventory resets. [...] The standard wait for reset often results in his shop still being closed regardless of the time of day. Waiting nearby in one hour increments may fix this.

Answered by agent86

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Belathor disappeared

Question

So for some reason Belathor seems to have disappeared. Whenever I go to his shop, it is locked up tight. However, when I see his assistant, he always invites me to come by the shop, so I don't think I killed him. I know there was a dragon attack in the city, but I only saw guards dead. Either way, I thought that store owners were among the NPCs that could not get killed. Is there some reason I am missing as to where he could have gone? This is also before the Civil War storyline (I haven't joined a faction yet). Also, I am on ps3, so no console commands.

Asked by IrishJMA

Answer

Belethor is not essential (read: he can be killed), so it's possible that he's dead. I can't confirm this at the moment, but I believe that Sigurd (his assistant) will say the same things regardless of Belethor's state - he's only got about 3 lines total.

The UESP page for Belethor notes a bug that you may be experiencing, though:

Belethor's shop will often close the moment you leave no matter what the hour, and may not reopen until after his inventory resets. [...] The standard wait for reset often results in his shop still being closed regardless of the time of day. Waiting nearby in one hour increments may fix this.

Answered by agent86

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Removing Skyrim's HD texture pack before finishing the entire download

Question

I saw the HD texture pack for Skyrim on Steam, so I went ahead and clicked install. One thing I forgot to check is the download size, which is important since my connection speeds are throttled if I exceed 9GB of bandwidth before the end of the month. Is there any way I can cancel the download?

Asked by Ben

Answer

In the Steam Library Downloads page, you can pause and cancel active downloads. Also by right clicking on an entry in your Steam Library, you can do the same.

Unfortunately, because steam binds this form of DLC to your account, your options are limited. As long as Steam has the DLC bound to the game, it will try to install it. You can turn off Steam's automatic updates for Skyrim, but this means that you won't get any of the updates to Skyrim and even manual updating will try to install the DLC so this is not a long-term solution. Your only real solution is to contact Steam Support and have them remove the DLC from your account.

Answered by skovacs1

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Is the Guild Tribute Chest a safe storage

Question

I know that The Skyrim manual states:

WARNING! Do not leave things in containers you do not own! They may not be there when you come back for them. Buying a house is one way of own containers.

After the thieves guild quest, and side quests, to become guild master I have a key to the tribute chest so I guess I own it. But that chest resets with tribute

My questions are is it safe to store stuff in the tribute chest? How about the bed chest, which have been empty since I raided them the first day at the thieves guild? What did you expect, I am thief.

The reason I ask is because I have about 30-50k in potions I just made and the members of the guild seem to be the largest source of vendors with coin.

Asked by Mike

Answer

No, it's not safe.
You may be lucky and it'll remain untouched for a while, but you risk losing all its contents anytime.

See here: Where can I safely store my stuff?

Answered by Juan Manuel

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Most useful destruction energy type and managing perks

Question

I'm playing a pure mage build (might try to do the thief/assassin quests when done with the mage quests).

Right now, I use perks sparingly. There are perks specific for fire, electricity, cold based destruction spells.

I'm wondering if one energy type fits all in this game. Should I just focus on electricity? Or do certain energy types work better against certain opponents? I think I read that dragons are vulnerable to cold, but ice-trolls are vulnerable to fire, so my suspicion is that I'm going to need to invest in all of them.

At the same time, is it wise to be careful with one's perks? I summon a lot of flame antorachs, but plan on upgrading the monster I summon to the next level (whatever comes after apprentice). So should i skip the perk that lessens the cost of apprentice level summons and just get the next one? Is that even possible? I haven't tried to skip a perk in a chain in the various asterisms...

Asked by hvgotcodes

Answer

My mage knowledge is mostly second hand but I can give out these pointers so far:

• You can not get a higher tier perk with out getting the lower ones. For example you can do nothing in the destruction tree with out starting with the Novice perk. This applies for all of them as well.
• There is no end all be all elemental skill. Alot of people find Electrical the most useful simply cause it instantly strikes what is under your target, you do not have to lead your target. But Ice works against fire based dragons (and Ive found it very useful against giants), fire works against both kinds of trolls, all of the undead, and electrical works good against mages. If you are trying to be an offensive mage you will really want to go with all of the elements in the long run so you are never stuck with just one choice.
• Impact is pretty much a Must Have. When my brother got this he went from having to do some fancy kiting of enemies to being able to constantly stumble them. This is -not- the win button, but it definitely puts you on a bit more even footing than you are with out it.
• When considering Conjuration keep in mind that the max level summons, known as thralls, are permanent until they die. You will need to have enough mana on hand to cast them, but it may not be worth while to put perks in here aside from those that allow you access to have 2 summons at once.

I hope this high level overview has been helpful and addressed your questions. Any more concerns ask in the comments and I will try and add in more information as I currently understand it.

Answered by James

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What is the book mentioning torches and lockpicking?

Question

The following answer and question references a book claiming that the heat of a torch somehow helps lockpicking:

• How do I succeed at lockpicking?
• Does equipping a torch actually make picking a lock easier?

Although it's been proven a false rumor nobody ever mentioned the name of the book or it's location. What is it?

Asked by Renan

Answer

The book you are looking for is called: Advances in Lock Picking

It exists in both Skyrim and Oblivion. In Skyrim it can be found at:

• Bannermist Tower, on the second floor on a table on the other end of the room entrance. (North-West of Falkreath.)
• Chillwind Depths, on a table located in the last room of the cave.
• The Ragged Flagon - Cistern, on a barrel in the north east room.
• In the Riften Sewers behind a grate, on top of a barrel.
• On the body of a dead Redguard, west of Heartwood Mill.

Excerpt (emphasis mine):

Sometimes the locks have weird spings. They all spring differently, which makes picking it hard. I hold my torch close to the lock. This makes it hot. When it's hot, the springs are all the same. They don't bounce so differently any more. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Answered by yx.

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