i am currently stuck between morality and a desire for higher fame.....

i can't decide whether to lie and not tell the countess who stole the painting or to turn chanel in. her heartfelt reason and gratitude afterwards really made me feel for her and i was going to let her keep the painting. i am outrageously cautious though, and decided to check to see the outcome of all choices made and discovered if i turn her in my fame will increase. if i turn her in does that affect my relationship with anyone else? anybody as crazy as i am? haha

No, it doesn't affect your relationship with anyone else. If anything, I think you get a slightly higher disposition bump with the Countess if you turn Chanel in.

I used to turn her in, and then replace her as Chorrol castle mage

As we saw it, the lady committed a crime and deserved some reasonable punishment regardless of whatever sympathy we might have felt for her.

Harder for us from a moral standpoint was the rat issue in Anvil. We had to think a bit on that one, but in the end reported the culprit's name to the victim.

-Decrepit-

My character did not turn Chanel in. Buffy dances to her own tune and I don't second guess her choices. :dance:

She has since remained friends with Chanel (who would have disappeared if turned in). The lovely painting Chantal gave her looks nice in Buffy's little home in Bravil.

This is one of the few (unfortunately IMHO) quest decisions in the game.

My character generally either don't do the quest or turn her in (after all she committed a crime, and is not punished harshly)

But maybe you want to give her a break. The upside to not turning her in is that, while you don't get a monetary reward, you do get a unique item (a painting) that you can display in your house.

Gold becomes a nuisance later in the game unless you install Economy mods to take it away from you. A painting you can place in your own home is only available once in the whole game. Your choice.

Savlian's point about the lack of actual player choice in the quests is certainly true. I just wish the quest itself was better constructed, and let you do the interviews and clue-finding "out of sequence".

After hearing Chanel's reason I couldn't bring myself to turn her in, plus I'm much happier with getting the painting over extra gold.