Pickpocketing and Hired Thugs?

[TalimIvy]

If I were to pickpocket an NPC, would 'hired thugs' be sent after me?

 

If yes, is it based on the overall wealth of the NPC? In simple terms, stealing majority of the NPC's wealth? Or is that just applicable when stealing from homes?

 

I don't mind just killing the thugs but on previous accounts, I would wipe an NPC's house clean of anything valuable and flee without being noticed. Shortly after, hired thugs would pay me a visit and they always did at the worst timing. So I'd like to become familiar with pickpocketing guidelines.

[Tidus44]

This may of interest then:

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:World_Interactions

 

and

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Steal,_Thugs_hunt_player

 

And finally:

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Pickpocket

[RedRavyn]

Short answer, "maybe".

 

It's not a sure thing, but there's a chance, even if the crime went undetected. The gamesystem doesn't take witnesses into account for things like this. You can even kill the victim of the theft and that person's "ghost", I suppose, can still hire thugs to hunt you down. I know. It doesn't make any sense. Bethesda developers made this decision. It doesn't have to make any sense. Enough said, I think.

[TalimIvy]

This may of interest then:

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:World_Interactions

 

and

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Steal,_Thugs_hunt_player

 

And finally:

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Pickpocket

 

Thanks, I found this extremely helpful. In addition, thank you for the sources!

[Nocturah]

As far as I know, yes. I'm not sure if it's the same as simply stealing items from NPC's houses, though.

And it doesn't matter if you're not detected, having hired thugs sent after you is random. ^_~

[RedRavyn]

@ Nocturah: It's not an unequivocable "yes", as you imply. That's why I said "maybe". On some of my playthroughs I picked a LOT of pockets and only occasionally got a gang of thugs sent after me for it.

 

To my knowledge, there are only two "hired thug" quests in this game. One is WIKill06 ("Revenge, Hired Thugs") which you get if you kill someone with a relative (who is the one who sends the thugs). The other one is WIAddItem03 ("Steal, Thugs Hunt Player"), which you get if you steal something from someone, in which case that person is the one who sends the thugs.

 

In both of these radiant quests one of the thugs will be carrying a contract with the name of the person who hired them. I can find nothing in the CK that indicates that any thugs are just sent out randomly by the game for no actual in-game reason -- only these two instances, and they require a specific crime against a specific person.

 

I'm not sure what the actual chances of either of these quests being triggered are, since I haven't looked into those quests in any real detail, but someone with a little extra time on his or her hands could probably inspect them in the CK and figure it out. I do know that the "steal" quest requires the "Player Add Item" event and the "kill" quest requires the "Kill Actor Event" to even run, so neither of these can even take place unless you actually steal an object or murder someone.