My character is supposed to be an ultimate goody two shoes saint, and my goal is to play the game without committing ANY crimes, as in no assaulting or attacking unless attacked first, no trespassing, no breaking into houses or anything. The one thing I'm having trouble with is lockpicking. Is there any part of the game where it's necessary to lockpick? I know you can get some good loot that way in dungeons but do some main quests require lockpicking? Also, there should really be a patch to make lockpicking not count as a crime if you're picking a bandit's lock or a dungeon one, it should only be a crime if it's a house or something. Same thing with assaulting bandits or enemy imperials/stormcloaks.

Well, I've killed a good few hundred people (guards, civilians etc), but have never had a bounty. I love sneak ha.

Well to be honest, I don't think you HAVE to pick any locks, but tbh the good thing isn't the game, its how you feel. So lockpicking an enemy shouldn't be a problem?

Does that mean you're not going to flog off loot from the enemies you kill? You'll basically be a poor farm hand/hunter - it'll take you a year just to buy the house in Whiterun

Without comitting any crimes at all? I seriously doubt it, when the world is at stake laws don't really mean much.

I think only the Thieves Guild (which you don't want to do anyway) requires lockpicking. Don't believe there's any part of the main quest or other major storylines that require it.

Quests generally can't require lockpicks from the player, because what happens if you don't carry them?

There are many quests that do require it though, mainly in thieves guild and assassin's guild, which you won't be seeing

playing skyrim without commiting any crimes? man that sounds so boring. I can't even live real life without commiting crimes.....wasted my neighbor last ni...........oops ive said to much

in my play through, i was forced to do a job for thief guild. im not sure if theres way to work around, I feel really annoyed at the time.

Sure you can.

Don't attack unless someone attacks first(if you're playing stealth this can be detrimental).

Don't do any jobs for civilians that require you killing innocents(vampires, bandits, and monsters don't count). Though its OK if you do it for a Jarl or the Legion since they are the law.

Don't steal anything; period.

Avoid all "brawl" options unless the NPC start it, or challenges you.

I think that's about it,

I think you have to do Brynjolf's quest to get information about Esbern which involves stealing and framing someone. If you already know where Esbern is though maybe you can just run down there, I don't know.

Pretty sure you can. I wandered upon him before getting that far in the MQ, while looking for the Thieves hideout. He didn't have any dialogue, but he would just tell me to go away when I tried to open the door. I'm almost positive that if I had been on the MQ, I could have dialogued with him, without getting info from the guild first.

As far as I know, the sidequest "Laid to Rest" in Morthal requires a house break-in. It is by no means a mandatory quest, but it's also a quest that you might begin having no idea that it would require a crime to complete.

If you're interested in serving the 'greater good', I assure you the ends justify the means. It would be a greater sin of omission not to complete the quest because of being a stickler about criminal acts. Very bad things are happening in Morthal and picking the lock is a necessary step to end them.

"Laws are silent in times of war - especially a war against dragons!" - Cicero

Could have your follower do all the crimes, since they can already pick any lock.

Ive played an assassin/theif character and have yet to commit a single crime. (it's not a crime if youre not caught )

or, you read the topic and don't just reply to the title. He's specifically asking about lockpicking and mentioned almost all things you mentioned already.