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, vol 08 - Last Seed
 * Sacred Witness

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 the Sneak skill.

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 Occurance (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 occurences can happen in public areas, inside the college of winterhold, i got attacked while in the living quarters for stealing a book from the liobrary there. So these can happen nearly at any random occurence.
 * Hired Thugs also are known to not be attacked by guards when attacking the player for reasons still unknown.
 * New Occurance: 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.
 * New Occurance: Repeated trespassing in houses; (and escaping before they actually call guards) seemed to trigger this responce.

Notes:

 * Easy way to level sneak: 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.
 * Another great way to level up sneak: 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..
 * Quickest way to level up sneak. 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.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Skills
See: Skill (Skyrim)