Justice - ESO

Justice Overview

In your travels, you will notice that Tamriel Guards enforce the law. If you are witnessed committing crimes such as theft, pickpocketing, and breaking and entering your Infamy will increase. If your Infamy Meter gets high enough, you may face the ultimate punishment—death.

Track your character's Infamy levels using the Infamy Meter (pictured below). Every time your character is witnessed committing a crime, your Bounty| and Heat| increase within your Infamy Meter.

The Infamy Meter informs you of your debt to society. The actual price of your Bounty can be found on the left. The circular meter on the right indicates the intensity of the guards' pursuit. Red (Heat|) decays quickly, while white (Bounty|) decays slowly. The cost of your bounty, in gold, is determined by the white section of the meter and your character's level.

Bounty

Bounty| represents the gold value of the fine you must pay to clear your criminal record. It also informs how the Guards and Citizens of Tamriel will react to you.

Bounty| is tracked as white on the Infamy Meter. The current amount of gold you owe for your Bounty| is listed to the left of the Infamy Meter in red.

|arNote that Heat|, the red part of the meter, decays faster than Bounty|, the white part, but both decrease over time.

Kill On Sight

If you commit enough crimes, your Bounty and Heat| will eventually rise to mark you as Kill On Sight (KOS).

|arWhen you become KOS, your only option is to retreat until your Bounty| and Heat| decrease. Any Guards you encounter while KOS will kill you, seize all stolen items from your inventory, and deduct whatever gold you are currently carrying from your Bounty.

If you don't have enough gold to pay your entire Bounty|, the Guard will take what you have on you, leaving the balance unpaid. Gold kept in Tamriel's banks cannot be taken by Guards.

Petty Crimes

Petty Crimes are lesser offenses that, if witnessed, will increase your Bounty| and Heat| by a modest amount. These crimes include:

Theft: Taking items from containers labeled Steal.

Pickpocketing: Sneaking up on citizens and stealing items from their pockets and purses.Killing of Livestock: Slaying domesticated animals such as pigs, cows, goats, and guar is frowned upon.

Breaking and Entering: Breaking into locked houses found throughout Tamriel using lockpicks . These houses can be identified by the Unlock text.

Criminal Mischief: Several miscellaneous crimes like using forged documents and searching hidden panels fall under Criminal Mischief.

Major Crimes

Major Crimes are serious offenses that, if witnessed, will significantly increase your Bounty| and Heat|. These crimes include:

Assault: Inflicting unprovoked physical harm upon a citizen of Tamriel.Murder: Slaying an innocent citizen of Tamriel.

Necromancy: Public desecration of the dead. Not every Necromancer ability is criminal - but if there's a dead body involved, it likely is.

Contraband

Any item labeled as being stolen is considered to be Contraband. Contraband cannot be traded or deposited in a bank. These items can be sold to a Fence for gold, laundered through a Fence so you can keep it and use it, or consumed to receive its benefits.Once a piece of Contraband has been sold, laundered, or consumed, the benefits remain with the character—even if you are later accosted or killed by a Guard.

The Fence

A Fence provides various opportunities for the Outlaws of Tamriel. Located in the Outlaws Refuge , a Fence buys stolen items or launders them so that you can keep and use them without attracting the attention of the Guards.

When selling a stolen item to a Fence, the Fence never pays top gold. Still, earning something is better than receiving nothing at all.A Fence also allows you to launder stolen items for a small fee. Once a stolen item has been laundered, any evidence of a crime is removed and you may keep and use the item as you see fit.

Carefully decide which stolen items to sell and launder, as a Fence has limited funds each day.

In addition, you can pay off your Bounty| to a fence who will not confiscate your stolen goods like a Guard would. This also removes all Heat|.

Guards

When you engage in criminal activity, you gain Bounty| and Heat|. These are tracked on the Infamy Meter. Heat| decays quickly, while Bounty| decays slowly.

Depending on the level of your Bounty| and Heat|, an alerted Guard will either accost you and demand payment, or they will attack. If a Guard attacks, the Guard won't stop until you are dead. Flee or hide in an Outlaws Refuge to escape.If you pay your Bounty| to a Guard or a Guard kills you, all the stolen items in your inventory are lost, along with the gold you owe for your Bounty|. If you don't have enough gold to clear your Bounty|, the Guard takes all the gold you're carrying and deducts it from your Bounty|.

Trespassing

Trespassing: Entering an area labeled Trespass will max out your Heat| while in the area and make you Kill On Sight. If an eye appears on your Infamy Meter then you are trespassing.

The first time you are seen trespassing your Bounty| will increase. If you are witnessed committing a crime while trespassing your Bounty| will increase.

Leaving a trespass area will cause your Infamy Meter to function normally.

Lockpicking

Some chests and doors are locked. If you have a lockpick in your inventory, press E to attempt to pick them.

Move the lockpick over a pin and hold the to attempt to set the pin. When the pin wiggles release to set the pin in place. Set all pins before the timer runs out.

You can attempt to force the lock by pressing R.

Necromancy and Crime

Practicing necromancy in Tamriel is a criminal act. In most cases, mages caught casting necromantic spells can feign ignorance or insist that the spell originates from a different school of magic.

Some spells, however, are too horrific to overlook. Any necromantic ability marked as a CRIMINAL ACT| is a major crime and will offend the locals and alert the guards.

These abilities include:Blastbones| and its morphs. Summoning an exploding skeleton is obviously necromancy.

Skeletal Mage| and its morphs. The arrival of a skeletal minion always indicates that a necromancer lurks nearby.

Frozen Colossus| and its morphs. Only a necromancer could conjure up such an undead behemoth.

Bone Goliath| and its morphs. This ability transforms you into a massive skeletal horror—a prime example of advanced necromancy.

Spirit Mender| and its morphs. Conjuring a wraith, no matter how friendly, clearly qualifies as necromancy.