Should a thief join the Companions? (from a roleplaying point of view)

[basketcaseNZ]

From a roleplaying point of view, do you think a Thieves Guild member would join the Companions or do the two organisations naturally conflict?

I'm roleplaying a thief, who's not evil but puts number one first. I wasn't planning on joining the Companions but I want to get the word of power in Dustman's Cairn, and there's one or two other perks to joining. I just wonder what the Companions, who are all about honor, would say if they found out one of their members was a thief, and vampire to boot.

Do you play both factions? How would a thief justify joining the Companions and vise versa?

Cheers everyone.

[DANEDANGER]

The way i see it...

Yes a thief could and should join just for the rich pickings. Companions are a rowdy bunch but have gotten some great gains over their lifespan. Imo it fits for a thief to join, that way it has enough time to get a scope of the place, see whats worth and what isnt. Then slowly while members are away or sleeping you plunder the place. Make an excuse to be away the net day to sell the stolen goods and return as if you came from a mission.

all quit fitting behaviour for a prospecting thief right :)

[Iron Knights]

From an RPG point of view no, they would conflict, and the Companions openly say they hate betrayers.

[Nuheni]

If you truly "put number one first" you should not care, at all.
When i rp as a me, myself and I thief, i steal anything, anywhere that is not bolted down, so yes.

[Rez Elwin]

It depends on your characters story, at least if you're role playing.

My main character was thief in his youth, but he was forced to leave that life behind when he became a soldier, though he was still able to make use of this skills he learned in that time. After many years he left the military for a several reasons, but after those events were settled he did not return.

However his desire to help his people led to his formation of a Mercenary company, this way he could still help people without any military restrictions.

How this translates to to game is that I can be a Thief and a Companion as they are essentially mercenaries. I just do the Thieves Guild first.

[psychotron666420]

Another terrible Skyrim design decision, to lock random side quests and words of powers behind factions and intentionally shoehorn characters into joining all factions

[RequiemsRose]

That depends on your characters story and how you want to develop them (as a character, as well as in game). As a thief who is out for themselves, that already has a set objective (the word wall you mentioned), it can totally make sense that this is just another infiltration job for said thief. Slip in, earn trust, take everything you wanted, slip away into the shadows.

If you mean can you make the two both legitimate personal investments as a thief character, that can happen to. My "#1 comes first" type characters tend to embrace their whole prophesied hero/dragonborn status so as far as they see things, they have bigger problems than petty faction squabbles. If they can't complete their main goal, no one will be around to argue over such things anymore anyway. They will help whoever is willing to accept it, and do whatever they feel will help them prepare for that big final battle, even if it may seem questionable to other characters. Since the word walls are part of gaining strength as a dragonborn in order to better fight actual dragons, those characters will totally join factions solely for the access to certain words, perks, or items they give. As long as those factions make allowances (which they generally do, most are clueless to your other affiliations) then it's a win-win for both. My character gets the extra training and power that may help them save everyone, while whatever faction they joined gets the aid of what always ends up being the best member they have had in possibly centuries.

[dtt.scanner]

The good news is you do not have to go far in Companions in order to unlock the Cairn. Everyone likes a thief in the party, even if they don't like to admit it. No one gets through obstacles like a thief, and there are times when you just can't brute force your way through. Companions may be more interested in glory, but they won't complain when unlocking the chest puts food and mead on the the table, or pays the taxes on the mead hall. Being a vampire is more of a problem... I'm surprised they can't smell it on you and reject you for that. It is more of a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, I'd say. Most of them are immune to vampirism, so if you keep it to yourself, they probably won't complain. You definitely will not be able to progress to the werewolf phase, but that is a good ways after the Cairn. You can stop when you get to the part where you need to talk to the elders for more jobs... just don't talk to them for new jobs.

[Iron Knights]

Speaking of Shoehorn and lack of defined classes (though I do love skills increase with use), in order to play Skyrim you must be a - Fighter (light or heavy the AC number needs to be high) you will be melee rushed & Thief (sneak, lockpick, speech absolute necessity). Thus railroading you into skills you need to have to survive but also robbing you of any other class abilities and traits because the perk points are so few and far between.

[Melkolf]

I've always found being a werewolf somewhat hampers my thieving abilities.

[Iron Knights]

Yes, being a Vampire, and I don't know how to do that yet, seems more fitting for a thief character.

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by Iron Knights:

Yes, being a Vampire, and I don't know how to do that yet, seems more fitting for a thief character.

Vampires have bonuses to sneaking and illusion 2 skills very helpful to a thief, and you'll generally be out at night as well.

Becoming a Vampire is pretty easy, you just have to fight one and get infected. Easy to see after the fight in active effects, if you don't cure yourself after 3 days you become a vampire.

If you're having trouble finding Vampire tgen head to Broken Fang cave. If i wasn't on my phoneis give a link, but just do a search.

[Evil Nosferatu]

A thief certainly can. There are many KINDS of thieves.
There are the brawler types like Dirge and Maul for example who are obviously fighters in their own way.
There's the scoundrel archetype (Han Solo) who is a fighter, the Merry Man who robs from the rich and steals from the poor (Robin Hood), The amazing warrior (Conan the Barbarian; yes he was a thief), and more.

So it depends on what kind of character you want to play. A warrior can steal things just as much as anyone and if he wants to keep his life as a thief secret and separate from them then of course they can. If they want to risk stealing from them while they're super drunk one night then so be it. So long as he can use a blade, no matter how they do so as long as you don't let yourself get caught stealing they'll be happy.

[basketcaseNZ]

Thanks for the great replies everyone.

I was looking through my journal (does anyone else write a journal?) and I'd made a comment upon finding the Companions fighting the giant outside Whiterun. I'd said something like "it doesn't sound like me, but it might be worth talking to their leader. They might have work for me." The same thing about joining the bard's college. No plans to become a bard but just being opportunistic.

Originally posted by RequiemsRose:

If you mean can you make the two both legitimate personal investments as a thief character, that can happen to.

This is what I'm going for. Joining them because of a desire to be a part of something, and have a family (there are the other bonuses but she doesn't know about them and I try not to metagame). My character's backstory is that she was born in Skyrim but raised in Bruma. After her parents died she turned to thieving as a way to survive and escape the drudgery of a menial labor job. When she came back to Skyrim she fell in love wither her homeland and its people (hence the violent dislike of the Thalmore) and genuinely wants to help them while finding a place she can feel like part of a family. She turned to thieving and mercenary work as ways to survive.

I was thinking about something like this; "After speaking to Kodlac I actually found I was tempted to join them. They speak of honor and glory, which mean nothing to me but its clear they see themselves as a family. I thought I had found that with the Guild but after Mercer's betrayal I have begun to question that. I will join them for now and do my best to do what they expect of me while I am doing jobs for them."

I'm actually really looking forward to joining now. I've just got to join the DG, move the TG questline on a bit and move the MQ on a bit... then I can do it.

I'm not a vampire yet, I'd planned to accept Harkon's offer and join him when I do DG. So I figure I will join the Companions, be a werewolf, start DG and accept Horkon's offer and be a vampire. It will be interesting if any of them notice.

[dtt.scanner]

Also, there is a difference between being a vampire and being a vampire lord. To be a vampire lord, you have to accept the gift from Serana or Harkon to get the pure blood.

Serana and Harkon don't get along, so you can defeat Harkon and still be a vampire lord with Serana. It will be interesting to see if the vampirism can overcome the werewolf nature. They are mutually exclusive. A werewolf cannot contract the normal vampirism, but the kiss of Serana or Harkon might be strong enough.

[basketcaseNZ]

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

Also, there is a difference between being a vampire and being a vampire lord. To be a vampire lord, you have to accept the gift from Serana or Harkon to get the pure blood.

Serana and Harkon don't get along, so you can defeat Harkon and still be a vampire lord with Serana.

I always wondered about that. If you're a vampire lord, do you have to transform to use your vampire powers?

When does Serana offer to make you one?