How does sneaking and theft work exactly?

[Jewtaro]

So Its middle of the night, I sneak into this guys house. hes asleep. I knock him out successfully and I take everything hes got. Suddenly a guard appears out of nowhere and tells me I'm a bad boy and stuff. This is not the first time this happens. Guards just appear out of nowhere and come exactly where I am after I steal something.

[zeeb]

Here's my stealth build, I never encounter problems with stealing, in fact I can't even play stealth anymore because it's too easy to get swag:

HEAD
Hat: Brown felt hat (26/24)
Coif: Padded coif (Black)
Head chainmail: -

BODY
Outer garment: Black hood
Body plate: -
Body chainmail: -
Body garment: Light tarred jacket
Gloves: Leather gloves
Arm armour: -

LEGS
Leg chainmail: -
Hose: Tight black hose
Leg plate: -
Boots: Quiet dark shoes

(This gives the lowest vis/con/noise in the game and you can play without the head gear if you want to look good while doing crime)

[Jaunitta 🌸]

Reputation is the key to succeeding.
Raise it up then you won't be noticed.

[STiAT]

I noticed that too on my playthroughs (all archievements, so there were plenty), what I realized at some point, no matter what your stealth level is, if it's a room with windows and a guard is patrolling outside (and currently close), he will recognize if you knock out somebody on the inside. Just wait for the patrol to pass, that worked pretty much for me. Pay attention to the glare of their torches, you'll see when a guard is approaching.

Sometimes it happened that guards got "attention" to you moving into territory (not marked as "forbidden"), going after you (the "who's there" thing). That seems especially the case in Rattay at the butchers house and some other zones in other cities as well. Just pay attention there is nobody trailing you.

[DargonBlak]

Here's what i've learned from my own testing of stealth mechanics:

Once your "Stealth" skill is above 12, your gear doesn't matter much, unless you are sneaking by sleeping people - meaning, you don't have to be super careful, assuming you won't be stupid.

Assaulting people (knocking them out or killing them) makes (some) noise - even though it is called "Stealth Kill". If someone is "close enough" - even through a wall - you have been "noticed" and the guards have already been called (they use FTL comms)

Also - assaulting people (knocking them out or killing them) invokes "Guard Omniscience" - you, Henry, will AWLAYS be blamed for ANY assaults that occur in game. Your reputation will drop in that town/village/etc.

"Stealing" is the act of taking what is not yours - the interact will show in red.

Stealing can be enabled by 2 thieving skills - Lockpicking and Pickpocketing. Both have a sort of mini-game when activated.

Mechanic Note: Pickpocketing a sleeping person is MUCH harder than pickpocketing someone walking down the street.

Mechanic Note: Lockpicking creates noise, breaking a pick more noise. Noise can wake someone up.

Mechanic Note: Successful Pickpocketing or Lockpicking both also improve Stealth. Running silently in circles Does Not improve stealth (that i could prove after running in circles near someone for 2 minutes).

Mechanic Note: Breaking a lockpick still awards some lockpick experience (unknown if it adds to stealth though).

So, once you have Stealth above 12 and Lockpicking above 15 - you can pretty much break into anywhere in medium armor (noise ~25) without issue, but i usually use a stealth setup for "role-playing". p.s. I ALWAYS avoid wearing chainmail-anything for stealth.

For pickpocketing - i train by stealing from folks fetching water for Rattay - since they line up nice and there are no crowds or guards, or walking around towns. To start out - it's a good idea to use a Potion that improves your pickpocket skill.

Oh, and there is a Stealth Option in Skalitz prologue - i still pummel Kunesh, but only after i steal back the tools.

[redmist]

Have you tried sneaking near known hostiles, like the camps that Bernard sends you after? I was notified that my Stealth had increased whilst doing so.

[DobbyBaby]

Първоначално публикувано от DargonBlak:

Mechanic Note: Successful Pickpocketing or Lockpicking both also improve Stealth. Running silently in circles Does Not improve stealth (that i could prove after running in circles near someone for 2 minutes)

I also had this one time, where I was looking for some sort of evidence related to a quest, and found it buried in the ground. This awarded me stealth experience. I know that because just after finding the evidence I happened to see the notification that my stealth level increased. There was no one else anywhere nearby and I was not crouching. It was out in the woods. It looks like some special quest events can award stealth experience as well.

I also was playing dice as part of a quest, won (thereby completing a quest objective) and again saw the “stealth increased” notification, so winning the dice game earned me stealth experience. Here I’m not sure if stealth always plays a role in playing the dice game fahrvergnugen or if this was a special steal-points award tied to the quest objective.

[DargonBlak]

Първоначално публикувано от redmist:

Have you tried sneaking near known hostiles, like the camps that Bernard sends you after? I was notified that my Stealth had increased whilst doing so.

Excellent - good to know. Thank you

I have noticed Stealth improving while sneaking when near others, but i have not (yet) been able to do it consistently as a test (i.e. grind it).