I'm about to start the Thieves Guild quests, but as I'm playing a non-stealth character my Sneak skill is very, very poor at around 17. In preparation to joining the Thieves Guild I wanted to improve my Sneak skill, as I doubt I'll be able to do their quests at my current skill.
I tried to sneak around some people at dark, but I can only get the completely hidden status and the detected status. Once I enter the line of sight of someone I'm detected, I don't manage to get the half-open eye indicator.
When I'm fully hidden or detected, I don't seem to gain any skill points in Sneak, but with my current skill I never achieve the hidden-in-sight status that I need to gain more skill. Any idea on how to gain some easy Sneak skill points?
Best Answer
Perhaps this is common knowledge, but it certainly tripped me up on my first foray into thieving.
By default, your character is running. All the time. (This is separate from sprinting, which makes you move even faster and affects your FOV.) Unless you prevent it, you even run while sneaking, and this understandably hinders the effectiveness of your sneak.
On the PC, you can stop running by either holding Shift or pressing Caps Lock (by default). Ceasing to run will cause your character to slow to a crawl (or so it will feel) and dramatically improve your stealthiness.