Great ideas. Would like to see these in game.

todd howard just needs to play splniter cell chaos theory and do stealth like that.

Personally I think that Hand to Hand should be a fall back option, used when you have no weapons or need to make silent or knockout kills.
Dont mind the retractable claw option. It would make a nice perk for the Beast races.
Cant see leg attacks happening. A niche attack for a niche skill?

I agree that the bounty and policing needs to be managed better. Hopefully it will be.
Having to conceal dead bodies would be a good addition.
I'm not sure about your idea regarding the spreading of your notoriety. I cant see how it would be that easy to implement, but its a nice idea.

Thrown Weapons. Nah, stick with doing bows right, but you should certainly be able to poison them - and I think you will be able to.

They just need to look at Thief, really, and given Emil worked on Thief (2?), that shouldnt be an issue.

I think craftable traps would be pretty cool.

Love the knockout idea, makes even more sense with the OB thieve's guild 'we are not murderers' credo. Even just this, with no other modifications, would add a whole new dimension to hand to hand, and non lethal duels ( ok, fighting in pubs ) would also be a great feature of the game as a whole.

What's wrong with that? What if that's how you want to play?

Link: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1171737-bounty/page__p__17282907__fromsearch__1#entry17282907
to a bounty topic I once made....

Knockouts is greatly missed. Bandits are silly, as they ask politely first and then tries to *kill* you always unsuccessful because game would be too hard if bandits was actually a problem. Never made sense to me. Bandits should display force to get what they want - your stuff. They won't risk becoming killers as the penalty for getting caught would be too grand (player is facing execution upon game start). I'd like it to be optional ways to continue the game than having to reload, or bandits not being all that dangerous at all.

My idea of knockout not realistic at all? So what IS realistic is beating your opponent repeatedly until they collapse on the ground for a few moments, then get back up, then collapse on the ground for a few seconds, repeatedly? I take it you have never boxed before? I used to teach kickboxing, so trust me, I KNOW what I'm talking about when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. As for the brain damage part that you mentioned, you have a seriously skewed perception of the mental health effects of a knockout. "basically impossible to knockout somebody out without causing brain damage or death"... That's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard. It's basically impossible to kill somebody by knocking them out with your bare fists. Go find some street fight videos on youtube or someplace. They aren't snuff films. They just got knocked out is all.

As for claws, what's not realistic about that idea? If you can find me one sentient being that has pronounced claws and refuses to use them in favor of blunt attacks 100% of the time, I will admit my "claws" idea may need to be reworked. You won't even tell me what's wrong with it. I put "and here's why" after the poll option for a reason, you know. I think you are just someone who always just swings a sword or heavy blunt weapon around and never plays a stealth/thief character.

Actually, I was thinking about putting something in their about Argonians clawing too. It made sense to me that beast races would act... well... 'beastly'. Something I remembered though is most reptiles don't actually use their claws for offense. They are pretty much only used for gripping things, hence the long toes/fingers. Biting is what they do best. Though I can't imagine how a man sized reptile would bite an enemy and not do massive or lethal damage, so if it were in the game, it would have to be a finishing move, maybe unlocked after you get to a certain level? Maybe it is too much but I'd still like to see it in the game, especially if enemy Argonians can use it on me.

I'm the kind of person that likes REALLY tough games, lol.

I like the idea of Khajiit with retractable claws, but I for one would hope that either it just matches other weapons effectiveness, or most other races would have special moves with other weapon types, i.e Orc with Warhammers and Nords with Battle Axes, maybe Argonians with Short Blades... All in all though a fantastic topic and I would very much like to see your ideas implemented in game! :celebration:

Fallout 3 and New Vegas are not The Elder Scrolls, and had no guards to take you to jail. They had no character specifically dedicated to observing and upholding the law, and shot everything that did wrong, with guns.

Regarding their ability to sense that a crime has been committed without a sound or sight, it's still there. Not as common, but trust me, it's still in Fallout.

For the notoriety implementation, there are multiple mods (as I said) that do exactly this. If one single, normal guy can make the game do this without any video game development degree, I don't see why people we are paying can't do it. Don't you agree? It is something that already exists. The work has already been done. They only need to include it now.

Why don't you like Thrown weapons? "Nah", is that why? "Nah". How about, they continue to do bows right and bring back the thrown weapons that they did right before. Remember - Options are a good thing. Don't ever say something shouldn't be in a game just because it doesn't appeal to you. It may be a single player game, but the more people who play it (people who AREN'T you and play in different ways), the longer the developers will support it with patches and DLC.

I would like to see stealth period. Right now, you really have to suspend disbelief to imagine stealth matters at all.

I would suggest a few of the same
1) No psychic guards - there should be at least one living witness to any crime. (with the obvious conclusion that brings)
2) Lighting should matter. NPC FOV should drop off as a function of the light level where you are standing. If it is pitch black where you are standing, they shouldn't see you.
3) Hearing should matter. You should make noises when you move, pick up things, etc. NPC's should react to it.
4) Implement cover - particularly for squatting/laying prone. It should be possible to hide from a guard by ducking under/behind something.
5) Allow certain types of lights to be extinguished to change the lighting (ala #2), but make NPC's react if they see you do this, including relighting the source.