Justice System
•Criminal behavior has come to Tamriel! The Justice System includes a number of new and exciting features that you can read more about below.
•Theft •You may now steal from the citizens of Tamriel. You can choose to steal any owned item, just as you would any un-owned item.
•A red “steal” prompt appears over any owned item to ensure you know the difference.
•You can make theft more personal by sneaking up behind citizens and picking their pockets. When you get within range, a prompt will appear letting you know if you are in position and how difficult it will be to successfully pickpocket. Watch for the perfect opening before making your move, as the chance to succeed will change over time.

•Breaking and Entering •Certain homes are now owned. These houses will have locked doors with prompts displaying the names of their respective homeowners.
•Interacting with these doors will allow you to attempt to pick the lock.

•Safeboxes •There are high-value safeboxes scattered throughout the world. These tend to be closely watched, but the reward for successfully pilfering them is great.

•Assault and Murder •You can now directly attack and kill most citizens of Tamriel. Once you have committed murder, you will be able to loot an item from the victim’s corpse. •Note that you may not get an item from a murdered NPC every time. This is dependent on your level, and if the NPC has anything in their pockets.


•Citizen Reactions •Citizens of Tamriel will now react to your unlawful actions. Their reactions vary depending on their individual personalities, but keep in mind that stealing from a citizen may end up getting you more than you bargained for.
•Many citizens will also not tolerate the senseless slaughter of their livestock. Be wary of harming owned animals while being watched by their keepers!

•Consequences •Unlawful actions have repercussions if witnessed. The stealth eye conveys whether or not you are hidden from view. If you are hidden, your crimes will have no repercussions. •Note: If you assault someone from a hidden location but fail to instantly kill them, or if you do not successfully pickpocket your target, you will still get a Bounty and suffer the consequences.

•If you commit a crime and are witnessed, you will gain a Bounty, which is displayed in the Bounty Meter at the bottom right hand side of the screen. Once you gain a Bounty, guards will pursue or attack you, and citizens may refuse to speak with you.
•Guards will attempt to extract justice from you whenever you have a Bounty. The level of Bounty determines their level of aggression. The segments of the Bounty Meter directly correlate with these levels. •At the first level, “Disreputable”, guards will generally leave you alone unless you walk right up to them.
•At the second level, “Notorious”, guards will pursue you and enlist the help of other guards to catch you and extract your Bounty.
•At the final level, “Fugitive”, they only want to kill you. If you are at the “Fugitive” level you must either wait for your Bounty to decay naturally or find a Fence if you wish to pay off your Bounty.
•When a guard kills you, they will confiscate any stolen items and deduct gold from your bounty. Note that gold will never be taken from your bank.


•Crouching/Stealth •Small improvements were made to stealth. The word "hidden" now always appears underneath the eye reticule while you're undetected. Previously, the eye being partially open could indicate that you were going into or coming out of a hidden state, but now you'll always know for sure when no one sees you.

•Benefits •The most direct benefits from theft come from the items you steal. These items are marked as stolen in your inventory and have various restrictions – specifically, you cannot bank, trade, or sell these items except to a Fence.
•There is a new criminal skill line in the “World” category, dubbed “Legerdemain”, whose components are improved by fencing items, successfully pickpocketing, and successfully lockpicking. Increasing these skills will markedly increase your ability to live beneath the law.
•You can only sell stolen items to a Fence. Fences are located in Outlaws Refuges, which can be found behind marked doors in large cities. Outlaws Refuge entrances appear on the city map using the Outlaw icon (a splayed trident.)
•Fences can also launder items if you find something you wish to keep. Once an item is laundered, it is no longer marked as stolen and cannot be confiscated by the guards. •Note that there is a daily transaction limit with Fences, as they don’t want to generate too much unwanted attention from the authorities.

•NPC citizens have loot that is specific to their profession or lifestyle. There are dozens of social classes in the world, each type carrying not only loot particular to that type of NPC, but also particular to where that NPC is located. •Pickpocketing or looting a dead hunter might yield items that only a hunter would carry, while pickpocketing and looting a noble would yield entirely different items that make sense for a noble.
•In addition, many containers in the world that are owned carry items that are specific to their context. Slum districts, upper class districts, Mages Guilds, Fighters Guilds, docks and religious places now have items that are particular to those contexts.
•Most items are lore-related contextual items, but there are also clothing items that can be worn and dyed. These drop from dressers, wardrobes, and other places where NPCs might store clothes.

•There are also many unique and extremely rare drops from NPCs and owned containers. If you manage to pick one up, make sure to take it to the fence before a guard grabs you!

•Achievements •Criminals can get achievements for pickpocketing, fleeing from guards without paying your fine, paying your bounty, fencing and laundering stolen goods, picking safeboxes, stealing valuable items, and killing citizens and livestock of Tamriel. There are also achievements related to being accosted by a guard while wearing stolen clothing.