Oblivion:Roleplaying/Criminal

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This article provides one suggestion for character-type roleplaying. Please see the main Roleplaying article for contribution guidelines.

Contents 1 Variations 1.1 Bandit 1.2 Black Market Dealer 1.3 Desert Raider 1.4 Exile 1.5 Gang Leader 1.6 Gray Fox 1.7 Guerrilla Rebel 1.8 Horse Thief 1.9 Pickpocket 1.10 Pirate 1.11 Prisoner 1.12 Serial Killer 1.12.1 Plague(Mass Murderer) 1.13 Thief

Live by your own "laws"! Do as you wish, with no regard for laws, rules or society's expectations.

[edit] Variations

[edit] Bandit

Become an outlaw and start robbing people. To be an outlaw you should have a bounty on you at all times.

Find a bandit camp, kill the bandits and use it as your own camp. Atrene Camp is a good choice as it is deserted. A bandit needs to wear armor at all times - even while sleeping - to prepare for being discovered by an armed traveler. Wear Glass, Leather or Fur armor. You do not have to wear a full set of armour, for example you can wear a Glass Cuirass and have the rest all leather or fur.

• Hunt animals for food. Although they are found in very few locations in the game, sheep are the ideal animal for a bandit to hunt, as it is illegal. Perhaps try to poach some off farmers. You would probably aim to eat three meals a day.
• Befriend a Highwayman; You can pay him the gold he asks for and then kill Imperial Legionaries that pass by.
• Become friends with the Cammona Tong thugs at Walker Camp.
  • Use the Command Humanoid effect to lead them on raids.
  • Attack any travelers that you meet on the way, such as Alval Uvani.
• Steal horses.
• Attack people in remote locations such as inns, villages, Daedric shrines, and farms, which will usually raise your infamy.
  • For example, complete the Zero Visibility quest, located in Aleswell, and once everyone is visible again, kill them all. Once the quest is complete, they are no longer essential. This suggestion is assuming that you have no problem with attaining a bounty, and you shouldn't, as this village is located right along a road where Imperial Legion horsemen patrol.
  • If killing off an entire village does not seem to fit your role as a bandit, there is an Orc harvesting vegetables in the middle of the village whom you can kill. There is also another NPC wandering around, an Argonian named Sakeepa. He has a dog and uses a club, seemingly the village protector. If you would like, you can kill him as well.
• Another idea is to lay seige to towns by raiding them with some bandit friends.
• Try killing farmers. They will not be missed, and you can take whatever you like from their houses.

[edit] Black Market Dealer

Being a Black Market Dealer involves selling illegal items and substances to clients. This act must be done in a secret spot so that no guards or citizens overhear or see the business being conducted. Wear black clothing and a Black Hood to remain stealthy and unidentifiable. Collect illegal items like Skooma, poisons, stolen items and lockpicks. Other great drugs to sell (requires the Shivering Isles Expansion Pack or GOTY Edition Game.) are Greenmote and Felldew. Shady Sam could be one of your business partners.

[edit] Desert Raider

The Redguard race works well for Desert Raiders. Create a Custom Class 'Deserter', and pick Strength and Endurance for your attributes - you'll need to be strong to survive in the desert - and some skills like Athletics, Blade, Block, Light Armor, Sneak, Marksman, and Armorer.

Get some clothing fit for a desert, something tan like tan robes and a hood. Anything except fur armor - it's already hot in deserts. Get a scimitar (Elven shortsword would do, although you could use a mod to get one), a bow and some arrows.

Don't just come in and steal stuff! First, make sure to kill anyone inside a building - you don't want anyone to tell about you, just fancy rumors and fear. If possible, sneak-kill the first person, if there are more, go get them old-fashioned way! Then, take anything of value, and throw any other stuff without value around, you would leave a huge mess when browsing through everything. Don't sell; you want to hoard your loot and show it off to other bandits.

Hang out around Anvil, as the area is closest to a desert. Find a decent place for your character to live, and go kill any unsuspecting travelers, taking their stuff as loot.

Hunt Mountain Lions for their pelts and deer for food.

Pretend to get caught and be punished to death, but break out violently so the city has something to talk about. For example, you snatched the key from a guard - don't let them miss your escape. Kill anyone you see.

Acquire either a tan horse or a black horse, such as Shadowmere. Storm a village or town with it, and pillage it with your new desert raider followers.

[edit] Exile

Exiles are those banished from a place due to immoral actions. Go to each city and do something that would make them send you into exile, never to come back. You might want to get a bounty on your head, that way you'll be arrested for entering the city again.

Kill anyone you see, be it civilian, bandit, or soldier. Maybe even the Countess of Leyawiin since she occasionally travels. Take everything they have. Be sure to drag your victims bodies off the road, otherwise people might realize it's you and take another route.

Infiltrate cities and murder those who have wronged you, like guards or stewards. After taking your revenge, return to the wilderness. Let the victims mourn their losses... then plan your next strike.

If your character is seeking redemption, complete a dangerous quest that you have either made up yourself, or already exists in-game. This can be done for each of the cities to earn back your respect.

If your character was a more dark, evil person you can lock them in the secret door in the Battlehorn Castle Training Room. (The one where you find Lord Kain and a Lich.) To do this you need the official mod and all you have to do is use the candle to open the door, then use the candle again and quickly run in the doorway. It will close behind you and you will be permanently locked in a darkened area, with no chance of escape.

[edit] Gang Leader

Reverse-pickpocket the same permanent bound items onto all of your followers. Wear the same clothes/armor as your gang members, or even use different hoods or hats to symbolize ranks in the gang, or just to be able to tell who is who within the gang.

Bring members into your house (houses with basements are most effective, like Anvil, Skingrad etc...) and plan your deeds, maybe stand behind the alter and plan, while having members in front of it (wait command needed here), like they're listening! Be creative!

Bandit gang Leader

Get as many followers as you can, Jemane brothers, DB murderer, MA, Mazoga the Orc, and start your own gang. You can have a poor gang with the characters own clothing, or pickpocket daedric bound armor using the Bound Armor Glitch, therefore having a Daedric Gang! Have a main camp and ambush any Imperial guards, travelers, etc. Sometimes a Countess or a Black Horse Courier messanger may come by. Kill her and her guards and loot them and stash your items by dropping them by your camp. Make sure the dispostion of your members are as high as possible or else they may turn on each other or even you! Major Heal Other is a essential scroll to have, and you can duplicate it with the Duplication Glitch, thus keeping your gang alive. For your camp you can find the stone bricks in the Anvil or Imperial City Warehouses and build a wall around your camp!

Evil gang leader

Be a godfather, and act as if you have your own family; perhaps another family has angered you, and you start a war against them. Have your infamy as high as possible.

Pretend to confront other gangs with your gang (e.g Blackwater Brigand, Bandits in caves, anyone who fights in groups). Have your gang fight the other gang while you take on the "leader". Having the Staff of Worms to resurrect the gang members you have been fighting could be used to pretend that the other gang leader's men have turned on him/her because of how powerful you are. Do this regularly, but not daily.

Go around town and try to find someone between houses or in an alley and beat them up with your gang. Steal your gangs' weapons and give them back when you're done. Act as if this person didn't pay your protection money. Don't kill him/her and get arrested. Do your time and pretend the days you spend in jail are years. When you get out, find the person and murder him/her. Drag the body behind a house or by a beggar's bed and put a dagger on the bed, or drop the body in a lake.

You can either be a two-bit thug and carry nothing but some rusty armor and a club, or go Michael Corleone and use your earnings to buy top-notch weapons and armor. As you become the king in one city, take it to another, "recruiting" a DB murderer or a MG apprentice to help you.

If you're really feeling a little gangster, go with nothing but prison clothes and a simple club and mug/pickpocket people on the streets, then make a run for it. Then come back in the city during night and stash your loot in the shack in the Imperial City Waterfront. Better yet, have a hideout!

Beat people up and go to jail. While you're there try to escape. If you succeed, kill the owner of a house and use it as a hideout. Start a skooma trade in your hideout and sell it regularly to some NPCs. After you get enough money, buy a larger house and use companions as guards.

Party of Heroes

Maybe you're not a gangster or a god father or a thug; maybe you're a good guy.

You need a headquarters. The White Stallion lodge might work but if you're not planing to have Mazoga in your team, Rosethorn Hall also works. A camp site seems ideal if the enemies don't respawn there, or a tavern can also be a good idea (The Inn of Ill Omen has an archery target for training). The Fighter Stronghold Plug-in would also serve as an amazing base if your party are rich or really deserve a castle.

Now go and do a quest with your party or just explore the world with them. Role play them with personalities like the DB being sadistic, the MG being snooty and the KotN being over-zealous. Maybe the KotN and DB don't get along and refuse to work together and one leaves the team or temporarily gets replaced while the other gets some R&R at the base. Your adventures might be endless.

[edit] Gray Fox

After the end of the Thieves Guild quests, you become the Gray Fox which is a great roleplaying opportunity. Wear full leather armor and if you can, enchant it with good enchantments for a thief (Fortify Sneak, Chameleon etc). Live in the Guildmaster's Quarters and show off the best stuff you've stolen there.

Never take the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal off around anybody that isn't in the thieves guild. Since the curse has been lifted, you can live another life besides the Gray Fox which means that you can try to keep up two identities. If caught by guards wearing the Cowl try to escape or maybe even fight them to the death.

Steal from only the most challenging places (Castles, Nobles' Houses). Never steal anything without wearing the Cowl. Don't use the cheating method of stealing something in clear view then taking the cowl off.

Complete Nocturnal's quest to receive the Skeleton Key so you possess both her artifacts.

• PC users can use the Armor of the Gray Fox mod to really get into the feel of the Gray Fox.

[edit] Guerrilla Rebel

Guerrilla tactics are based on espionage, deception, ambush, and sabotage. Also, guerrilla warfare is the extreme warfare and combat when a smaller group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes, raids, etc.) to combat a larger, less mobile formal army. The guerrilla army uses ambush (draw enemy forces to terrain unsuited to them) and mobility (advantage and surprise) in attacking vulnerable targets in enemy territory. Perhaps you used to be an Imperial Legion General framed for something you didn't do and you are out for revenge.

This roleplay is primarily stealth and precise timing. You can fight normally but you are trying to make a shadowy figure that is sabotaging the empire from within. It is highly recommended you begin this roleplay after completing most of the game, optionally leaving some uncompleted quests for followers. If you start later in the game, there will be fewer essentials, and your risk of failing quests will be reduced.

The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal is practically a must for this roleplay, but getting this item requires sacrificing Amusei as a follower. The “alter ego” provided by the cowl allows you to quickly infiltrate and take out the key elements that keep the Imperial Empire together among many needed requirements. It's also nice to be able to show yourself in public without the guards chasing you.

Many Spells are essential for this roleplay, many of them being 'control'-type spells:

• Command Humanoid: you will be able to command a humanoid to do your bidding, a very good tool for temporary allies and to capture hostages for protection and to 'interrogate' influential figures
• Frenzy: helps you with diversion so you can focus on your operation at hand while the guards and citizens are busy trying to kill each other. Provides good distractions for obstacles such as guards
• Summon: very useful for distractions and an extra temporary subordinate, beware though... They are more aggressive than your humanoid comrades
• Demoralize: forces your enemies to run for the hills and thus leaves you to work quietly (or loudly) with your sabotaging
• Chameleon: a very good spell, or better yet get 100% chameleon on your armor and then you can easily infiltrate the empire
• Invisibility: same as chameleon but expires once you activate something, good replacement for 100% chameleon that helps balance gameplay for extremists
• Night Eye: May help you see in the dark, you might want to make sure who you're assassinating in the dark.
• Water Walking: Will help you if you would like to sneak around on water, since you are more noticeable when swimming rather than sneaking.
• Detect Life: Helps you greatly by telling you where the guard patrols are allowing you to avoid them easier.

Some recommended bases and fitting subordinates:

• Smuggler's Cave south of Anvil (practically under), very good place to begin your guerrilla operations with suppliers for weapons, armor and enchanted items. You also get three 'pirates' to go out and 'scout' the county and to fund your movement. You have a base that is entirely hidden and the safe passage into the bowels of the castle Anvil unvaluble if your crew runs low on cash, sneak into the countess' room and grab some of the finest objects in Cyrodill to sell off.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Dunbarrow Cove- Dark Brotherhood murderer, Amusei.

• Battlehorn Castle, south-west of Chorrol, is a training base dream providing everything needed to train and maintain Guerrilla troops.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Battlehorn Castle- Knight of the Nine, Jemane Brothers, Mazoga the Orc, Battlehorn Castle Man-at-Arms, Jauffre, Viranus Donton.

• Cloud Ruler Temple is north of Bruma, sacrificing Martin and Jauffre as followers with an exchange of another well defended fortress that’s even better than the Battlehorn Castle and comes with its own complimentary armor.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Cloud Ruler Temple- Knight of the Nine, Jemane Brothers, Mazoga the Orc, Battlehorn Man-at-Arms, Viranus Donton.

• Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Cheydinhal, a good place for planning out operations since you have the help of your fellow Dark Brotherhood murderers
  • Ideal Subordinates for the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary- DB murderer, Amusei.

• Frostcrag Spire east of Bruma also helps you with your operations against the empire, a large tower with a large storage room, many alchemical ingredients and an interesting ring, coming with a complimentary atronach familiar which adds to your gang of guerrillas and enchanting/spellmaking altars. Posting a DB on the teleport balcony to look out for threats. If you become under siege retreat to the Vault, it's the perfect fail safe.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Frostcrag Spire- Brother Martin, Mages Guild Apprentice, Erthor, Atronach Familiar.

• The very city of Bravil can be a hideout as long as you haven't been identified as the guerrilla mastermind, since you have the night mother's statue to guide you with your plans, a skooma den where you can hideout as well, along with many Thieves Guild operatives where they will be able to get you out of any minor trouble easily. Also the count isn't essential; maybe his guards have been cracking down hard on your operations - that has to stop.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Bravil- Amusei, DB murderer, Jemane Brothers, Erthor

• Deepscorn Hollow southeast of Leyawiin may count as a base of operations, however this is pretty much for all those sinister characters around, it has many good features with your own bed and a subordinate who goes out and assassinates someone for some loot.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Deepscorn Hollow- DB murderer, Amusei, Atronach Familiar (fire)
• The Fighters Guild in Chorrol may be used as a base since you have protection from your fighters and loot/cash coming in every month if you are the head of the fighters guild.
  • Ideal Subordinates for FG in Chorrol- Battlehorn Man-at-Arms, Jemane Brothers, Atronach Familiar, Erthor, Jauffre, Knight of the Nine, Mazoga the Orc, Viranus Donton

• The Imperial Waterfront District is also recommended since it is the Gray Fox's base of operations and has many thieves guild members who will help you out of any problems, bring some coin to 'tip' off the beggars for info, via bribe and ask for rumors, pretend they give you info related to whatever youre doing.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Imperial Waterfront- Amusei, Mages Apprentice

• Also, the sewers underneath the Imperial city make a great base. You can take out their forces right under their noses. Sneak into shops to get supplies or break into important people’s houses and take them out. There are straw mats placed in certain parts of the sewers so you can level up if need be. The sewers themselves can also serve as a convenient escape route.
  • Ideal Subordinates for Sewers- Amusei, Erthor, DB murderer

Gather up followers, set up a base and plan out the elimination of the key elements and influential figures of the Cyrodilic Empire.

Begin your operations in a city near your base. "Interrogate" the countess and begin spreading out to other cities, making more bases and getting more subordinates. Your final goal should be a base in the Imperial City.

Plan out assaults on enemies and hit the empire where it hurts. Instead of creating a large army and wiping out the cities completely and exiling every essential to dive rock, do something more subtle and take out the main elements of the empire. Your tiny little band of rebels does not have the manpower launch an all out assault on the cities! Use your small numbers and your incognito status against the empire. To begin your vendetta towards the Imperial Empire, launch small unexpected assassinations/assaults on small-time noblemen and minor guards. Escalate your attacks during every determined time interval. Once your plans are successful, fall back and gather supplies and more equipment to prepare for your next strike. Try to keep the deaths to a minimum, as you will need the support of the commoners for future guerrilla tactics.

You are a criminal mastermind. Masterminds do not get caught, but if you do, you should escape from the jail and , stealing all their armor, then sneak back in later and kill them with your followers.

Do not dress your followers in exotic and rich equipment because guerrillas are usually poor. Get a whole lot of mage's hoods, enchant them with shield of fortify health enchantments and reverse-pickpocket them to all the members off your 'squad'. Duplicate many enchanted permanent bound armor and weapons and reverse pickpocket the armor onto your followers. Make the armor fit the character of your subordinate, like equipping your Dark Brotherhood archer with 100% chameleon, fortify strength armor for Jauffre and 100% immunity to magic for your Mages Guild Scholar. Don't give the Jemane brothers 100% immunity to magic, it would be pointless; instead give them a good set of armor with shield enchantments. Keep your followers’ behavior in battle in mind.

Don't simply focus on the cities! Expand your guerrilla tactics to the county. Take out the Imperial Guards patrolling the roads. Capture passers-by via command humanoid and interrogate them! Perhaps they are undercover soldiers. Befriend highwaymen by paying them 100 gold (you can pickpocket it back if you want) and join his attacks on the patrols. Maybe your band of guerrillas is moving the base from the Thieves Den to Battlehorn. Assault bandit camps and spend the night there or travel through the night until you find an inn you can sleep in. If you spend the night at the inn, kill the residents since they found out that you were the guerrillas. Kill the imperial foresters if you like; they are in the dark on the underground guerrilla operations in the wild.

You could also live off the land once in a while, maybe for a month since the cities are too hot for you, and the guards are searching for your guerrilla army.

Once you're ready to move up to the next stage of your rebellion, capture the Captain of the Guard via command humanoid and take him to your base and interrogate him. Perhaps he tells your guerrillas about some unexpected element of the Imperial Empire. Maybe he hints a small clue about a great treasure that all the city guard captains have hidden and that you need to capture them all to receive the secret to bring down the empire. You could capture the Counts and Countesses instead of Guard Captains; avoid Skingrad’s, Leyawiin’s and Anvil's Counts and Countesses, however, as they are relevant to some quests.

Be ruthless, shoot some guard with an arrow and run off. Steal the legion's armor and sell it or use it to "infiltrate" their base. Take two companions and once it gets dark, infiltrate the city's barracks and take them out quickly and quietly (sneak attack while they are sleeping of course). Once the guards are dead, loot the barracks, and since you have less resistance against your guerrillas, you can practically do anything you want without any hassle for a couple days, or at least until the guards respawn.

Perhaps the city watch has blockaded the main entrance to Chancellor Ocato, and you are forced to take the old way with your guerrillas after you have beaten the Thieves Guild; you can hit the city watch where it hurts and capture Ocato via command humanoid. Since you have the most influential leader of all Cyrodiil, the entire country is after your head, so quickly interrogate him and leave him where the guard can find him, maybe the Elven Gardens District, or even all the way back to the chamber in the white gold tower.

Maybe your comrade got captured and is being held in prison. Since (s)he is a well known guerrilla, (s)he will be heavily guarded and you must devise a plan to sneak in and out with minimal casualties on both sides. Do not simply walk in and out rescuing your comrade in front of the guards with your cowl off, sneak in and out without being seen.

Alternatively, you could go under siege! Maybe you made a mistake in your plans to take over Chorrol and there are more guards than you expected and they begin attacking you and your comrades. Retreat back to Battlehorn and wait for the Chorrol attack to come (attack all the guards in the city and run back to Battlehorn) and perhaps you could throw in Daedra from nearby gates and bandits from camps.

You can also simply try to take out as many guards as possible anyway you can. Stock their pantries with poison apples, then watch them die. Steal horses from Imperial Legion soldiers and stash them somewhere. Hit them with poisons to make them weak then hack them to pieces.

Remember: “Hit the empire where it hurts” is your motto

[edit] Horse Thief

Orcs eat horses don't they? Well, at least Snak gra-Bura at the Chestnut Stables does. She might need a new supply...

Get a self made quest from her. Steal a horse, place it a bit away from Chestnut Stables and kill it. Bring it to Snak and receive your payment through stealing or console. The horse armor could also be a reward.

Go to each horse stable and steal each horse and ride it to an enclosed fence with a closing gate. Keep doing this until you have just about every horse in the game in that fence. Don't forget about Imperial guards on patrol on the outskirts of the Imperial city. They will try to arrest you!

Don't Fast Travel unless you want to keep one horse to use instead of caging it with the others.

Take over a stable (kill the owner); to be the only place in Cyrodill that sells black horses steal them all and put them in the fenced area. Don't forget about the four couriers.

[edit] Pickpocket

This is a slight variation on the standard thief in the way that you focus solely on pickpocketing, mainly rich looking people. Your breaking and entering skills are very poor so you go straight for people's pockets.

Join the Thieves Guild to acquire the fences, even though you will mainly be stealing gold directly, you may still need to sell goods. Begin with the Imperial City and spend a long time there before you venture out into other towns. As a pickpocket you'll only spend time in towns; you are not a fighter nor an adventurer. The only weapon you'll have will be a small iron dagger.

Wander each district in the IC. Day after day stalk people and wait for the right moment to pinch gold from them; when they walk down an alley, or if they sit down. Look at making at least 100 gold a day, enough to get you by. When you're not on the job, gamble at the arena or spend time at Inns or the waterfront.

After you've scoured the IC for several weeks and the guards are getting suspicious that you are the notorious pickpocket everyone is talking about, it is the time to pack your supplies and leave town. Read the guides to each town and decide which one to head to.

Equip some light armor and buy a small iron shortsword and pack some food. Travel to another town (no fast travel). You are not familiar with the wilderness so stick to the paths. If you stray from paths imagine you'll get lost. Try to find your way to another town without looking at your map.

When you arrive at a new town, just casually walk around and get your bearings, check out inns, observe the rich looking folk, learn the layout of the city, alleys, gardens, walls etc. Know where your hideout will be. Spend a while in the new town picking pockets.

Don't always reload if you get caught pickpocketing - sometimes you will be caught. If you do get arrested, leaving town would be a good idea once you get out of prison.

[edit] Pirate

A very easy type of role-play; choose combat out of the three focuses (Stealth, Combat, Magic). Create a custom class "Pirate" with Blade, Block, Hand-to-hand, Mercantile, Light Armor, Security, Heavy Armor as starting Apprentice level skills. Dress in pirate-style clothing, with no shoes, simple clothes, helmets perhaps, lots of stolen jewelry. Use a cutlass as a weapon (a perfect choice for a cutlass would be Redwave because it is not properly leveled), possibly alongside a silver shortsword or an akaviri katana. For a pirate lord dress in black and burgandy velvet outfit with buckled shoes and weild a cutlass or silver longsword, don rings and necklaces, maybe enchanted. For the poorer cutthroat wear basic pirate clothes with a iron short and an array of knives. Keep mead and precious jewels that you just can't leave on an island on you along with your essential underwater scroll. Have a goal, maybe you dive the coasts of Anvil on your shore leave to find the fin gleam helm, if you finnaly do retrieve it from those murky depths gift it to your captain and earn his favor. Also to keep your crew under the local guard captain's radar, when you make shore do a quest and help out the locals. Then if your crew does get found out, you won't be a suspect because of your good deeds, then you can make for the treasures of your jailed crew and barter your own ship!

Join the Thieves Guild first - use Armand Christophe, just a short run away from the ship, to pay off your bounties. You will need the Waterfront District's support as well, and they are very powerful there. The Jemane brothers can be useful followers as they are essential and have decent leveled weapons; consider outfitting them zero weight pirate-esque clothing. Erethor can also be a hostage from the Mages Guild.

Take over the pirate ship in the Waterfront and live in there, as it was your own. (Get on the ship, the other pirates will attack, let the guards come after them, yield to the Redguard and he will be neutral. Then, attack the imperial watch along with your new comrade and dispose of the other scoundrals and dump their bodies in the water along with their rusted swords as a warning to those who may oppose you!) Set up your stashes of loot inside the ship, where you will live essentially, or put it in the treasure chest from The Forlorn Watchman quest - you get a realistic map you can use to re find your treasure.

Become the pirate lord of Dunbarrow. Keep your base stocked with food, weapons, repair hammers and loot! Maintain the coffers by reguarly purchasing your crews wares. Maybe the cove becomes under siege and you need to defend it for months, keep the halls stocked. Gather followers to bolster the crew and gather on the deck and have a knee's up with ale, mead and beer. Maybe use a DB murderer as a prisoner you've captured, keep him/her in the cove's cell. Also Erethor works as a mage you are holding ransom, if the guild don't pay up trash the Anvil guild at night with your allies (Jermaine brothers look excellent when kitted out with zero weight poor clothes, also they're essential) To keep your crews status and still aviod the attention of the guards fashion a calling card and make sure the criminal underworld know of it, then raid bandit camps, outposts, pick off sailers, be the most blood thirsty gang in all of Tamriel!

Befriend all the people in the Waterfront shacks, use them as allies against the Empire. Live inside the Waterfront District. See the Imperial Trading Company Warehouse right across from your ship? Fire charm spells at the pirates until you are able to persuade them when you talk to them. Persuade them all as high as you can get them. Then, attack it! If all goes well, the other pirates will join in your raid.

Alternatively, you could buy the Thieves Den. This gives you free money, access to a fence without having to join the Thieves Guild, and a decent place to hide your loot.

Find a few crates in the middle of nowhere deep inland that will become your new hidden stash - hide your loot somewhere you think no one will ever find it. Buy tons of rum and get drunk on it.

When playing as a Pirate, you should steal in a rather particular fashion. Unlike most thieves, you don't sneak around at night and take things from people. No, pirates do it differently. Burst off of your ship (leap off for effect) and go charging into the Temple District like you just landed there. Pick the nearest house (do this in bright day) and rush into it with your sword outstretched. Do not sneak. If you see anyone in there, cut them down immediately. Loot stuff. Be specific about what you loot - Pirates do not steal enchanted staffs, bows, books, and potions. They do steal high-end clothes, swords, jewelry always, food and drink, and most importantly gold. Loot all those things and then charge back towards your ship in the Waterfront District. Guards should be after you by now. Kill them sometimes. Loot their bodies afterward. When you finally reach your ship, you may drop off your loot inside the ships holds. Keep your pirate buddies alive - when guards come and enter the ship after you, they will attack the guard, which is a nice touch. Then, fast travel ("sail") your ship into the east side of Leyawiin (the side next to the ocean) or the port side (west?) of Anvil and carry out the same there. Oh, make sure to pay off your bounty to Armand first! Keep doing this, and eventually your fighting skills will be high enough that the guards will be little distraction.

Have an affinity with the water, spend hours diving and mapping the shores and escape routes out of town. Maybe go the visit a prisoner to secretly check the security and guard partols for use if you ever get caught. Wear a diguise, steal high end clothes and don them to avoid detection whilst planning escapes in every city you may visit.

[edit] Prisoner

This is easy to start and can be fun as long as you can think of something to do. Break into a cell in the Imperial City or perhaps one of the county prisons if that is too hard (a trick to get in is to ask him to let you see the prisoners, ask again, and he will go back to his desk, leaving you to break into the cell).

Put some typical prison food in your cell. Eat it a few times a day. Acquire some cups and plates to set your table. Get the basic prisoner uniform: sack cloth pants, shirt, and sandals. Perhaps some wrist irons. Since there are many empty cells in the Imperial Prison, get some followers to be your inmates. The DB murderers work the best. If you are in Bruma begin the Two Sides of the Coin quest, and treat Jorundr as your cell-mate.

Bang on the cell doors with your fists. Throw cups and forks at passing guards. Take time eating your meals - they are the high point of your day. Place food carefully on your plate and pick up as you eat it. Add the forks to your inventory before eating. Sit down and eat the food slowly. If you manage to find a book, steal it and spend time reading the whole thing front to back. Sit down in your little chair while you read. Spend hours (game time) searching for a secret path out of your cell, similar to the one you used when the game began.

Make friends with another inmate. Work together with them to get lockpicks and food and other prison necessities. Give each other things and break out together - unlock the door and they will follow you out. Alternatively, smuggle in weapons and plan efforts to shank your fellow inmates. Then, break in there and sneak-kill inmates you dislike. Use an iron dagger, preferably with a stolen flag, and use the enchantment altars to rename it "Shank".

Smuggle things in. Sneak out (don't let anyone see you and try to cover your tracks) and acquire skooma, tobacco, lockpicks, and daggers for yourself, or trade it with your fellow inmates. Hide your contraband somewhere where it is hard to notice in the cell and don't let the guards see you with it.

Break out with a large scale rebellion. Free the other prisoners and sneak out at night, but not before killing the guards. Alternatively, sneak out by yourself during the dead of night using a complicated predetermined route. Try to not be seen by anybody. Sneak out, steal new clothes nearby, and keep running until you reach a safe place out in the wilderness. Make up and utilize a plan to steal gold to start out.

You could also get out in broad daylight, by sneaking out very carefully through the front door, dressed in full guard uniform. Steal it somehow beforehand, and hide it in your cell where guards do not see it. Have fun making up the most complicated escape plans you can - though it isn't necessary it sure is fun. If you are jailed in Skingrad, you can use secret prison exit in Skingrad (featured in Lost Histories quest) for your escape.

• "Actors in Charge" is a great mod for this because it comes with all the different emotions and actions that you could possibly use in prison.

[edit] Serial Killer

Make yourself a Cyrodilic slasher. Find a target and follow him/her around to see who he/she works with, if he/she has a family etc. Break into his/her house and leave a mark near him/her it can be a knife or a plant or anything you like. Then kill a friend/family member etc. and leave the same mark.

Always leave a clue as to who the killer is, such as a silver arrow, or a feather (quill), or to be really sadistic, leave weapons, or clues inside the victim's body. Also, drag their bodies into broad daylight, just to let the guards know you're smarter than they are!

Make a motive to kill. What kind of Slasher doesn't have a motive? Create a cool backstory for your killer (i.e. went crazy and killed a family member at a young age, then got locked up, but escaped from prison years later to go on a killing rampage, Michael Myers-style) Pretend that a family wronged you in the past, so you decided to kill off every single one of them. Maybe you kill the mother of a family because she was having an affair with your dad, Scream ring any bells? Of course you must stay with the body until he/she sees it and then leave (don't forget to wear black clothes...) Keep terrorizing your victim!

Make sure you wear a hood or something to conceal your identity, such as the Masque of Clavicus Vile or the Gray Cowl. Have trademark clothes, weapon, and headgear. Every slasher has those! Knife gloves, red and green striped sweater, and fedora for Freddy, Shatner mask, blue jumpsuit and knife for Michael... what's YOUR killer going to have?

For a real challenge, try to eliminate every killable character in Cyrodiil. One time you could have accidentally left too much evidence; pack up and prepare to live in your hideout for a few days. The Skooma Den in Bravil is great for this. You can spare or kill the addicts. It's your choice, but remember, they are outcasts just like you.

Maybe you're a paranoid killer and one time you visit the place you killed your first victim and its swarming with guards, then you turn to magic to leave no trace. Buy scrolls from the Warlocks luck or join the Mages guild and sneak out at night to dispose of your targets.

[edit] Plague(Mass Murderer)

(A subsection of Serial Killer) First you need to get 5 Grand Soul gems filled with Grand souls. Enchant 5 pieces of your chosen armor with a Chameleon spell effect which will give 100% Chameleon(each grand soul gives 20%) making you completely invisible and undetected. You will need to find a spell effect Drain Health and make a spell with the following effects: Drain Health 60 points for 3 seconds,(Need Journeymen+).

Now find some willing participants , A.K.A. unaware citizens, put on your armor, and cast the spell. People will drop dead seemingly of no cause and you won't be caught. You will be a plague across Cyrodiil killing to your black heart's content.

[edit] Thief

You don't have to fence the bare minimum to get quests for the Thieves Guild. If you have time, are waiting between quests, or are simply done with everything, break into a few houses. Sneak around the levels and loot everything that might be of value!

Doing this, you can find the diary of the person who hired the Dark Brotherhood to kill Rufio and the remains of the ceremony to summon a speaker of the Dark Brotherhood. Many houses also have Mythic Dawn Commentary books or other proof of worshiping Dagon indicating the owner is one of the Mythic Dawn. If you're a collector of say, rare books or gems for example, take those too. Although most houses don't have much gold or any rare Daedric/Akaviri artifacts, it's a fairly interesting pastime. Eventually, you may find that wherever you are, there's always a part of you thinking "hmm, anything of value here?"

You can make your own thief jobs by "getting a job" from someone who wants, for example, the "rare" silverware some rich guy has. You could pretend that you can't pick a certain difficulty of lock until your Security skill was high enough, or get a certain job until you prove you can sneak behind a patrolling guard for an hour.

Use the shack in the Imperial City or the basement of another buyable house to store the loot you're later (or not) going to sell. Also, you can do the Siren's Deception quest, and keep all the items that are supposedly owned by other people (ex: Henrich's Shirt) and place them around your house, so it seems like you've stolen them from the people.

Try discovering fun new ways to thieve: A fun one is the market sewers in the Imperial City. Go in the grate, enter the building through the sewer take some stuff then run back down the sewers!

Don't start out as a Master Thief. Maybe one day you steal some food because you are starving. Then you find out you love or are good at stealing, and you start pilfering more expensive items, from silverware to jewels to finely-crafted armor. Just be sure not to get caught in your seedy house with silver cutlery or jewels stashing in boxes, otherwise the guards may become suspicious.

You can be a Shadow Thief. To be a “shadow” thief, only steal things you need to survive – clothes, food, small items to sell for money to buy food, etc. – and pester others by moving around their things while they’re not looking. Have normal clothes for the daytime and dark robes for the night, the only time your shadow character reveals itself. Go into people’s homes and move their things into the streets undetected.

To be a “phantom” thief, complete the Thieves Guild quests and obtain the cowl worn by the Gray Fox. Level up your illusion to 50 to be able to cast the lowest level chameleon spells. Obtain several soul gems. Enchant a cuirass, gauntlets, greaves, and 2 rings with 20% chameleon. The result is 100% chameleon, rendering you pretty much invisible to everything and everyone, even when you stand right in their face. If you have the Boots of Springheel Jack, it is a nice addition if you plan on using the invisibility to your thieving pleasure.

Robin Hood Be an honest thief! steal from rich people and bribe beggars to give it to them. Have a ragtag team of followers and do raids on expensive areas. Live in a wilderness camp in a forest outside the town of your choosing. Pretend that the count is evil and is taking taxes from the poor. Break into the castle and steal anything of value. What if the count has captured one of your men and you have to take him back? Ideal race would be Wood elf. Use a bow as a weapon and snipe out unsuspecting guards.