Compiled by Incindium

Hey everyone, welcome to the first edition of the Morrowind Files. With these editorials I plan to flood you with Morrowind information that comes straight from the fingers of the Devs. I've taken the time to extract from my logs of the #morrowind channel on Dalnet lots of interesting tidbits that have been provided by some of the Devs at BethSoft who regularly hang out with us there.

Ok first lets identify the Devs that hang out in #morrowind

IRC Nick	Dev Name	Position at Bethsoft
Chappy_	Brian Chapin	Designer
GoDFaDDa42	Matt Picioccio	Programmer
MSFD	Steve Meister	Programmer
wake_f	Pete Hines	Public Relations Guru
WormGod	GT Noonan	Artist/Lead Dungeon Design

Today's Morrowind Files episode will be information about playing everyones favorite character type(mine anyways)... the thief.

[}Pyro{] can u backstab as a thief?
[GoDFaDDa42] you can backstab as anyone, assuming you can sneak.......
[GoDFaDDa42] but don't tell anyone i told you
[GoDFaDDa42] ;)

[}Pyro{] which races are best for thieves?
[GoDFaDDa42] they all have advantages/disadvantages, depending on how you want to play
[GoDFaDDa42] taking differnet skills, playing differently - gives you massively different playing experiences

[RefriedBe] My worry is say I wanna start stealing right from the get go..am I gonna constanyl get cuaght and thrown into jail..and thn have a bad rep forever...I mean how can I get good at stealing without stealing and that will only make it impossible to dump my loot cause my bad rep
[Soursha] Tsk tsk. A theif worried about a bad rep?
[WarWolfPrime] heheheh, ah the hard life of a thief
[Chappy_] it'll depend largely on where you steal, and whom you attempt to steal from...
[Chappy_] a bad rep is likely to come with the territory, but there are things you can do to minimize it...

[RefriedBe] Yeah, can u steal from mobs?
[Chappy_] you can pickpocket NPCs. At least, you can try
[Chappy_] y'know, I've never tried pickpocketing monsters. You can pickpocket NPCs, and getting jailed only happens if the crime is reported and you're caught, and even then there are ways out of it
[Chappy_] if you get caught for a crime, you have to pay for it, one way or another
[Chappy_] after you've done your time, the person you stole from might like you less but other people won't hate you
[Chappy_] now, if you commit a LOT of crimes, and repeatedly get reported but don't get caught, then people might refuse to talk to you
[Chappy_] I don't want to give away the whole crime system. Trust me when I say that it's sufficiently complex, and very cool.
[Chappy_] all creatures have inventories, but all creatures are not NPCs

[WarWolfPrime] say I suck at pickpocketting, if I walk up to a barrel, I would see less stuff or no stuff compared to someone with a higher skill?
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] no
[Chappy_] that's not pickpocketing
[Chappy_] it's just opening a container
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] but you'd see less when you "open up" an npc
[WarWolfPrime] ok, got it
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] plus, when you suck, it'd be harder to take the stuff you see and get away with it
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] just because you see it doesn't mean it's a guaranteed successful pickpocket
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] but the stuff you can't see is like a 100% failure
[Chappy_] right

[Chappy_] if they're unconscious, it's the same as looting a corpse.
[Chappy_] doesn't count as stealing
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] right

[SuperBadBoy] u can pickpocket right?
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] sure
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] it's based on a skill though

[SuperBadBoy] is pickpocket random?
[SuperBadBoy] like u get random items
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] there are two rolls:
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] first, to see what's "available" to you
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] basically, it assigns a percentage chance to each item your victim has
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] 100% failures don't even show up
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] (you open them up like a container)
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] then you take it
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] and it rolls against the assigned percentage
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] and the assigned percentages are based on your skill, and the item's value (and possibly weight0

[SuperBadBoy] can u steal an npc's cloths while he/she is standing?
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] sbb - you can't take anything they're wearing
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] it looks stupid
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] ;)

[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] what you see on someone when you go to pickpocket them is based on your skill
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] you should be able to see all of it, though, if they're unconscious or paralyzed
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] i don't know if you can or not, though
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] so you may suck at pickpocketing enough to not see naything when you "open then up" (like a container)

[Chappy_] I know you can if they're unconscious
[Chappy_] it's actually a little unbalancing - knock them out, then take their weapons and armor. When they get back up, they're pretty much helpless
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] heh
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] toddh likes fistfighting, knocking them out, taking their clothes off them, then continuing to fight them
[GoDFaDDa42|SPRING2002] :)

Thats all for Episode 1 of the Morrowind Files. Check back later on the site for the next episode to come. I still have lots more info that I've mined off my IRC logs that will make it into future editions.

Incindium