Sneak (Skyrim)

''Sneaking is the art of moving unseen and unheard. Highly skilled sneaks can often hide in plain sight.''

Sneak is one of the eighteen skills in Skyrim. This skill falls under The Thief play-style.


 * Governing Guardian Stone: The Thief

Books
The following books raise your Sneak Skill:
 * 2920, Last Seed, v8
 * Legend of Krately House
 * Sacred Witness
 * The Red Kitchen Reader
 * Three Thieves

Changes from Previous Games
The Sneak system is slightly different in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to that of previous games. For instance, your visibility is depicted through use of an eye that remains closed while you are undetected, but opens more and more as you become more detected. If it is fully open then they are completely aware of your presence and your exact location. People around you will also change "modes" depending on whether they view you sneaking. For instance, they will be passive if they are unaware, or cautious if they are aware of you sneaking. Their ability to notice you is dependent on your Sneak skill, the level of light on your current position, how much armor your character is wearing, whether this armor is heavy or light, if your weapons are drawn and how fast you are moving.

Sneak Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Not-Quite-Hidden Theft
Despite being hidden, certain NPCs may still know you've stolen something. They do not call the guards, so it is possible that they find out later. Rather, they pay three Hired Thugs (one of which will have a Contract in their inventory) to 'teach a lesson' to your character. The complete details/conditions are not yet known, but listed below are the possiblities, and most likely reason for the attack.
 * Stealing from an inn. At least in the Winking Skeever, no one seems to follow you if you go to basements or upstairs in an inn, but it seems like the thugs are sent by innkeepers (maybe merchants in general).
 * It is also possible that getting caught stealing would mean the innkeepers will let the guards get you rather than hire thugs, but it is not known for sure.
 * When/Where: The thug encounter happened in the wilderness, but the theft happened shortly before the departure, so it could have just been after a certain time.
 * New Occurence: I stole some books and soul gems from Forengar Secret-Fire in Dragonsreach and the next time I entered his quarters he had Hired Thugs waiting for me. The guards did nothing as we fought, and the time between the theft and the encouter was about three hours.
 * New Occurrence (From someone who happens to be reading this also): Hired Thugs came after me from stealing from Hunter (specifically the poacher you could meet down by the river after escaping from the tunnel with Hadvar). The time between the theft and encounter with the Hired Thugs was quite long. It was after I came back to Riverwood with the Golden Claw that they then confronted me.
 * Also, these occurrences can happen in public areas, inside the college of winterhold, I got attacked while in the living quarters for stealing a book from the library there. So these can happen as an almost random occurrence.
 * Hired Thugs also are known to not be attacked by guards when attacking the player for reasons still unknown.
 * Hired thugs will also come after you for pickpocketing. It is possible they didn't know you were the culprit, but just simply deduced that you were the one who took the item,
 * New Occurrence: Some merchants will go as far as hiring the dark brotherhood to assassinate you! I was jumped by a dark brotherhood member who was hiding behind a rock on the side of the road. She had a note on her similar to the thugs' note, but it did not reveal which merchant hired her. (Note, this is not a Merchant hiring the Assassin's guild, If you read the entire letter it states that the assassination is for a ritual inorder for someone to enter the guild.)
 * New Occurrence: Repeated trespassing in houses; (and escaping before they actually call guards) seemed to trigger this response.
 * It is also possible to have hired thugs on your tail even if the contract giver is dead or murdered, so expect to be pursued even if the 'victim' is not around anymore.
 * New Occurrence: When I was attacked by Hired Thugs, the contract listed 'Whiterun Guard' rather than any merchant. I had, prior, pickpocketed roughly 25 Whiterun guards for their steel arrows. This may explain why guards won't attack them in some cases, as listed above.
 * New Occurrence: After stealing from the Windhelm court wizard I left and a couple of days later I was cornered by thugs after leaving the dark brotherhood sanctuary. There was a note on one thier bodies saying that the wizard ordered them to "rough me up."
 * New Occurrence: I stole a book from Arcadia (the herbalist) in Whiterun. A day or so later (game time), the thugs came after me in town, no guards helped, and one of the dead thugs had the orders from her on his body. I wanted to go "teach her a lesson," but when I approached her, she was as pleasant as could be and was still willing to train me in alchemy!
 * New Occurrence: I stole an elven bow from a display case in Dragonsreach and Hrongar (the Jarl's brother) sent the Hired Thugs after me. They caught up to me about 7 levels later.
 * New Occurence: I was doing the quest "The Blessings of Nature" and one of the people at Eldergleam is named Asta. In the quest spriggans spawn and kill the people including Asta. I didn't kill her myself, nor did I steal from her. I did show her the nettlebane dagger that she was talking about so she may think that I "Stole" it. later on I was attacked outside of the inn in winterhold with Asta's name on the contract.
 * New Occurence: I actually had the maid "Greta" from Dragonsreach hire these thugs to come after me, after stealing a few soul gems from the Jarls alcemy room. Apparently its just another amazing layer to this ridiculously in-depth game. Kudos Bethesda.. You guys' really thought of everything.
 * New Occurence: When I had Endari her sister had sent Hired Thugs who caught up to me after leaving my home in Whiterun. The Hired Thugs were hostile to everyone (they killed Belethor) and the Whiterun guards also attacked them. This may be due to me being Thane of Whiterun, also 2 of the 3 Thugs had a contract on them when I looted their bodies.

Leveling Tips

 * At the beginning of the game when escaping the dragon there is a place where you are supposed to sneak past a sleeping bear. Sneak into a wall near the bear using 'c' to auto walk or a rubber band on the controller, go to the movies, get back to see you now have a 60 in sneak. With enough patience you can max out sneak here. Even better, sneak behind Hadvar and sneak attack him. He will never attack you, and his health constantly regenerates. If he "dies" he'll come back up, often with full health. The sneak attack gives you a lot more experience than walking does. I got to level 18/sneak 100 in about 15 minutes this way. This method should be used sparingly at the start of the game otherwise you'll find yourself up against some VERY tough enemies because your character development is skewed.
 * If you are in a dungeon with sleeping Draugr, sneak up to them and kill them. You will one-shot them and they will not detect low-level sneaking because they are asleep. Alternatively, you can raise dead the same Draugr, and attack them while sneaking. They will not attack you because of the spell effects and you'll get the benefit of leveling as if sneak attacking a hostile enemy.
 * Go to any tavern and find the barman or barmaid. Crouch into a sneak. Find a corner behind the barman and walk backwards while still crouched. Continue walking backwards as the sneak progress bar climbs progressively higher. You can even leave a rubber band on your controllers thumbstick to keep the progress climbing while you step away for an hour. 1 hour of this should increase your sneak at least 30-40 levels minimum. The taverns and inns are the best place to do this as there's always at least 2-3 people within distance of you and if you stand behind the barman most will not have line of sight making it next to impossible to fail the skill check.
 * Purchase a horse (1,000 gold) and move it near a wall or in a corner, then proceed to sneak attack it with a weak dagger repeatedly.
 * In the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary you will usually find Astrid standing in front of a table in the first room you enter. You can repeatedly perform sneak attacks on her and she will not retaliate, provided that you are hidden when you perform the attack. When she staggers from low health, just wait for her to get back up and go back to her spot at the table before you make another attack, as attacking her during this time will usually cause you to be detected.
 * Conjured Familiars and Atronachs can be backstabbed to level sneak.
 * In the Quest 'The Horn of Jurgen Wind Caller' there's a dungeon with a portcullis in it. If you trap a Draugr behind it, you can sneak and never be hurt until you reach level 100.
 * The secluded courtyard outside of Dragonsreach in Whiterun is patrolled by a single guard who walks the front half of the perimeter. Other NPCs walk up to that area on occasion, but otherwise you'll be free to shadow this guard on his patrol route and rack up nearly continuous sneaking experience.

Bugs

 * The Shadow Warrior perk conflicts with Shadowcloak of Nocturnal. This occurs because of the way the Shadow Warrior perk works. (Shadow Warrior causes you to go invisible briefly, causing enemies to pick a different target) With Shadowcloak of Nocturnal active, crouching when enemies see you will cause both Shadowcloak of Nocturnal and Shadow Warrior to make you go invisible, but after about half of a second, Shadow Warrior removes the invisibility.