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Thieves Arsenal: The Essentials

You are the master thief. The shadows are your only friends, silence your only weapon. Those who would stand in the way of your goals are no obstacle, because they protect their secrets and their belongings with blades and shields. You are smarter than that. You have no need of a sword. You take what you want, and vanish long before anyone has realized you were ever there. Your skills of stealth make you a master of your trade.

Of course, every tradesman has his tools.

Basso the Boxman has opened up shop in the back alleys of the Imperial City. Among his wares are intriguing novelties, useful only to those who conduct their business while the rest of the city sleeps. The essentials include:

Noisemaker Arrows: These arrows are packed with an alchemical mixture with pyrotechnic properties. When fired against a hard surface, they create a loud crackling sound, accompanied by showers of sparks, which NPCs will immediately investigate. The distraction they provide allows a skilled thief to sneak by undetected.

Water Arrows: The tips of these arrows are filled with water, which is released upon striking a surface. They can be used to douse torches, small fires, and other light sources, creating a pool of shadows to conceal your presence. NPCs will relight doused light sources if they discover them. Water arrows work on all non-magical, open light sources. Smaller lights such as candles can be snuffed out by hand, as well. You can relight doused flames with any fireball spell.

Blackjack and Crowbar: A skillful tap on the back of an unwary opponent's head with one of these weapons sends them off for a long, quiet nap. This only works on NPCs who are unaware of your presence.

Rope Arrows: When shot into a wooden surface, these arrows uncoil a rope which can be climbed. Perfect for getting past obstacles or sneaking into second-story balconies.

Vine Arrows: These arrows carry the seeds of an incredibly fast-growing species of vine. They will embed themselves into any surface, even solid stone, releasing a sturdy vine which you can climb. Similar to rope arrows, but much more useful in dungeons, they are also rarer and more expensive.

AI Upgrades

NPCs will now be more aware of their surroundings. Their AI now includes several levels of suspicion, and the more suspicious they become, the more carefully they will search for you. Their suspicions may be aroused by the sound of a noisemaker arrow, coming across a doused torch, or stumbling upon a dead or unconscious body. Their ability to detect you increases with their level of suspicion. NPCs who are skilled in Illusion may cast a Light spell in order to better find you, while others may light a torch. NPCs will no longer forget about your presence the moment you are out of their sight.

New Merchants

Basso the Boxman is your initial source for these tools, but there are other merchants in each city who can also provide for your thiefly needs. Fencing stolen goods to Basso will allow you to gain access to these other merchants.

A Thief-style Mission

Before Basso will agree to trade with you, he has a little favor to ask. Jenivere, the love of his life, has recently run off with a wealthy landowner in High Rock. Invade the landowner's vast estate, find a way to convince Jenivere to return to Basso, make sure you are not caught - and make off with a priceless artifact in the process.

Progress: 75%

Rope Arrows: Finished
Vine Arrows: Finished
Noisemaker Arrows: Finished
Water Arrows: Light sources such as open flames are having to be modified, because Bethesda has them set up as activators with invisible light sources placed nearby. Tedious, mindless point-and-click now ensues.
Blackjack and Crowbar: Essentially finished. Currently works only on NPCs; may expand it to creatures like goblins.
Corpse Detection: In Progress
AI: Essentially finished; constantly testing and tweaking
Basso's Quest: Not started. When I begin working on this, the mod is almost finished.

More tools, such as flashbombs, oil flasks, and gas arrows, may be added separately later on. The tools listed above are the ones I consider the most useful, fun, and balanced for a stealth-based character.

~ The new tools are available only in limited supplies. This is done to preserve game balance and encourage you to emply them strategically.
~ Unconscious enemies will wake up after a random amount of time, probably between 3 to 6 minutes in real time.
~ Attacking blackjacked enemies has a chance of waking them up, based on your sneak skill.
~ AI changes are limited to the new tools and corpse detection. No existing scripts, NPCs, or packages have been altered, which means you don't need to worry about compatibility issues. This includes Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul v1.3.
~ The tools will be released in an esm file, so that they can be used by other mods.

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