There will be multiple ways to enter a locked home, some better than others. You could pick the front door or use a axe. You could jimmy the window or break it with a rock. Some are quicker than others and of course some produce more noise and take less skill. I think it would take a good skill to pick the front door lock, much less to use a axe. Same for a window, a rock should take less skill, but will produce more noise. I guess it depends on where you are breaking in. In some remote house where the occupant is off hunting, an axe or rock may work. If you are trying to assassinate a person, then something of quiet is a must. But rest assured there will be more than one way to skin a cat as they say.

Lots of ways to steal, it all depends on the level of risk you are willing to take and the level of skill you have. Of course the best scores will probably be taken by the stroke of a pen and not a sneaky thief in the night, different kinds of intrigue for different folks.

Posted By WolfClan at 7:45 PM - Thu Jan 04 2018

Will there be a visible marker on thieves if they are caught?

Branding has been discussed by the players in the discord lately, but no word from SBS.

This is extremely interesting for me! I'm actually In love with the ideas of no violent thieves so knowing the penalties and how the mechanics would work makes me excited! I honestly hope there are ways to get atop roofs and climb in through chimneys or such as well. It would make the game quite fun.

I do feel that petty thefts and such shouldn't be punishable by death, however that murder or stealing from the kingdom or the king/queen would incur a much larger punishment.

To me a system that allows thieves to sneak into a home and silently rob makes a lot more sense than someone just kicking the front door open, knocking you out and taking something then running.

My thought is this, a stealthy thief would have to carefully case a home, see when the owner is and isn't often around. See if other people stay there, and if they do, do they take time away from the home too? It would be less of a mechanics skill, and more of a deduction skill.

Then it would be a game based on how good the thief is versus how well secured the home owner is and how often he has someone home who might spot him and scream for a local guard.

Suppose someone could bribe the baron/count/duke to allow minimal thieving in a city, or simply having thieves available for hire, hitting outside a city. The baron/count/duke could just maintain a safe place for the thieves to be in.

One idea to make it more interesting, a thief may only do thier evi bidding when the owner is online. Just to make it more interestingh.After all, it is an MMO and you should feel the panic for "real". Both so the thief know the owner can walk in the frontdoor any second and also fot the owner who has planned a trip out of town.

I hope its more of a deduction kind of game. I personally love the idea of planning a theft instead of just minor petty ones. Also would thieves that are more a kin to cat burglars that only run away instead of fight be given the same punishment as a thief that does bring up violence?

The potential for theivery in this game is huge, but not without its penalties which is also fun!

I mean a lot of games that have thievery dont punish the players or provide a challenge while with CoE the threat of being caught is real.

I don't imagine me playing as a thief but I welcome others to do so as it will provide interesting gameplay. The other thing that is nice is that unlike other MMO's players won't be able to just steal several tons worth of gear alone. A play can only carry what a person could actually carry so you won't see ESO or Skyrim levels of theivery where you walk out of someones house carrying several hundered iron ingots, 15 swords, 12 axes, armor, books , potions etc. It will either be a small group or solo playing taking small things or specific things OR it might be groups of bandits taking many things but with a greater risk of someone getting caught and arrested and ratting out your bandit friends.

I personally will be making a secure storage building in my town like a safety vault which will be manned at all times and have several doors and separate vaults for people to store stuff in. However I won't get carried away as a bit of theivery add some excitement to the world! :D

I think Snipe mentioned something recently about crime in general. Even if you are not caught in the act by a witness, no matter how good or careful you are there will always be some evidence, either left at the scene or possibly some other mechanic, blacksmith dust on your person for example.

This then allows the investigation skill to come in to play. But I imagine it's like a contested skills check in D&D, so if your deviant skills are better than the sheriffs investigation then there's a high chance nothing will lead back to you.

hmmm, just realised I did a necro. In my defence it was still on page 1.

Month and a half isn't that necro. It's like the zombie that all has all its skin, teeth and hair.

Back to the actual topic, playing as a thief is going to be quite challenging, but potentially very rewarding, if done right. The committing of the crime itself will likely be the easiest part. Sure, there is the risk of someone spotting you as you break into a building, but any smart thief should already have scouted out a good entry point and be familiar with the guard patrols.

An important consideration is where you intend to operate. Thieving within the settlement that you live will only likely be sustainable in the largest of cities and still brings many risks. The other option is to live in one settlement and travel to other nearby ones. The farther you travel, the harder you are to track down, but also the more time you have to invest. That's not even mentioning the risks you face during travel. Nothing worse than making a big score, only to get rolled by bandits on your way home.

This brings us to how you'll actually sell all these stolen goods once you have them. If you're thieving in other settlements, you might be able to just sell to your local merchants, depending on the goods. However, if stolen goods keep popping up in a particular settlement, attentions from law enforcement is going to focus there rather quickly. Bad for business. So what is a thief to do?

Find a fence. A fence is simply a merchant who doesn't mind dealing with the moral and legal implications of stolen goods. A network of such fences would work best, though a wandering merchant could do quite well in the fencing business, assuming he knows who to buy from. Buy stolen goods in one area, at below market value, of course. Travel to an area far enough away that said goods won't draw attention. Profit. You'd want to maintain some legitimate business at the same time, as cover.

A network of fences would simply be an expansion on this idea. A local merchant in each major settlement could buy stolen goods under the table, then resell them to a traveling merchant, perhaps in trade for stolen goods from a distant settlement.

To sum up this rather lengthy post, aspiring thieves should be less concerned with how they can steal things and more with the logistics of what to do one they have said things. A lone thief roaming around grabbing whatever they can it's going to have a short, less than lucrative career. A smart thief, who works with the right network of people may someday be as rich as a king.