In oblivion I never liked how when stealing from a castle I would have to go through the main entrance past a squad of guards and the count.. basically to rob the place.

I want to be able to climb through upper windows, use sewers, secret passages, disguises.

Give each stronghold/town a seperate entry for stealth/assasin types.

I like this idea.

I can't imagine how people could disagree

Yes, especially because it might mean there is CLIMBING.

There should be more than one way to enter any building. If there are windows we should be able to open and climb through them.

yes definitely. there should be a secret way to get out only though, because a king or queen wouldn't want a possible assassin outside to be able to get in through a secret entrance. maybe after you exit this way once you can keep it slightly ajar or something though.

Also i think you should be able to disguise yourself as a guard or something, but you have to act like one or maybe even blend in with others.

Or maybe grappling hooks can come of use.

I'm hoping the castles in Skyrim are big and labyrinthine - often in real life, they were constructed in such a way that thieves could become easily lost in their halls if they weren't with an escort.

Dark alcoves, secret passageways, lots of interesting things for stealth oriented characters that I'd like to see utilized in Skyrim's environments. It'd be even better if we had levitation or jump spells back for such a purpose.

Generally castles are built to keep people out, restricting entry to just one gate where they can close off when being sieged.

Skingrad was cool cos it had balcony doors you could sneak through.

but its an immersion killer for me if Ive just robbed a place and have to exit through the front entrance with my bag full of their loot, with guards asking me "how are you"?

Did you ever try to steal stuff from a castle in Oblivion?
Sure they might be designed that way, but secret exits were desirable for escape from an unsucessful defense or to smuggle food or rations in for continuing a siege.
Besides, sometimes the walls get worn to the point where thieves could climb over some walls.

Secret exists indeed, but they would be designed to be opened from the inside only and not the outside.

The thread was about alternative ways of getting into the castle other than the main entrance.

Yeah, and about how we need them.
And someone mentioned opening a secret door from the inside then keeping it open for further exploitation.

what happens if they blocked all the ways in? what would you do then?

the only way would be using disguises.

I like it a lot, it would be cool to have a sewer system leading inside. Like the complex sewer system in the Imperial City, except if you follow a certain path and maybe take out a few guards you end up under a castle. Or since Skyrim is going to have a lot of mountains, maybe a castle is near a cliff and in the middle of the night you can grapple down inside it.

I want to come up through the toilet and scare the hell out of some guard with his pants down.