What are the consequences of stealing? (I.E. Taking things from containers with a red hand icon)

pillars-of-eternity

So far, I've been living on the straight and narrow, not taking that which is not mine, and being a generally upstanding Sharkman.

But the longer I play this game, the more old habits cry out to me. RPG Kleptomania is setting in, and if it's not nailed down, well, by gum I'm going to take it!

Catch is of course, that some of the nice stuff that's not nailed down is in containers that, when moused over, display a red interaction icon, instead of the normal silver gauntlet. It appears that this indicates that the goods in question have an owner, who will be none to happy with my purloining of their pilferables.

However, I just took a fairly nice cape from such a container in the Black Hound Inn in Gilded Vale. The nameless NPC who shared a room with the chest in question – the presumptive owner – told me off briefly, but took no action against me.

At what point will my criminal ways catch up to me and get me in trouble? Is getting yelled at by NPCs with no actual plot or dialog value really the worst I can expect?

Best Answer

If you steal the item successfully whilst in stealth mode, there's no punishment. If you are caught, you may just get a talking to, or you may get a reputation loss through either the action or any combat that's initiated because you were caught. This can lead to the possibility of not being able to select certain special reputation dialogue options that can appear, if you're regarded poorly with the relevant faction.