Justice

If you commit a crime and get caught, you will

When a guard arrests you, there will be three dialog options:

1. Plead guilty.
2. Plead not guilty.
3. Resist arrest.

Resisting arrest

If you choose to resist arrest, three things will happen:

• Your bounty will increase by 100 for the crime of resisting arrest.
• The guard will attack you and, unless you yield, try to kill you.
• You will get additional 50 bounty points every time you hit the guard.

If you yield to the guard, you will get the same dialog options as when you were first arrested, only your bounty will be higher.

Pleading guilty

If you plead guilty, what happens next depends in your bounty. If your bounty is less than 1000, your crime is a misdemeanor and you will have an option to pay a fine on the spot (if you have enough money).

If your crime is a felony (bounty >=1000) or you don’t have money to pay the fine, you will have to go to jail.

If you go to jail, you will get one day of jail time for every five bounty points.

Pleading not guilty

The most interesting option is to plead not guilty. In that case you will be taken to court for trial.

If you are a high-ranking member of the Thieves Guild (Queen or above), the guild may help you behind the scenes by tampering with evidence or bribing witnesses. If you are lucky, the case will fall apart due to missing evidence or a key witness refusing to testify and you will be released.

If you aren’t so lucky, you will still have three options:

• Claim that you were framed.
• Make a defense speech.
• Beg for clemency.

Claiming you were framed

This is the best option is your character already achieved some fame and prominence. If you succeed, you will be released without any penalty.

• You have a high enough rank in any of the legitimate organizations (75% chance to get away with a petty crime at the top rank, 20% for a felony).
• You have a high reputation (reputation over 100 is as good as a top rank in a guild).

If you succeed, the judge may say, for example: “I can see that you are likely to have many enemies, as the head of the Guild of Mercenaries. I’m convinced that you weren’t the real perpetrator, you are free to go now.”

Making a defense speech

If your character has high intelligence, speechcraft, and personality, you can try to talk your way out. If you are lucky, the judge will drop your case due (as implied, due to a legal loophole or an obscure precedent).

If you succeed, the judge may say something like: “Indeed, according to the county law, that witness testimony may not be admissible. Since there is no admissible evidence of your guilt, we have no choice but to let you go.”

Begging for clemency

If you are in the Engwelian Temple and your rank is priest or higher, you will automatically receive a 50% reduction as a “benefit of the clergy” (only in Engwelia, of course).

In any case, you can beg the judge to reduce your punishment. You will be given three equally absurd defences, such as:

• I swear I will never break the law again!
• I was a victim of circumstances!
• I’m sorry!

With high personality and luck you may get your punishment reduced. If your bounty is very low, the judge may even drop it altogether. However, the chances are quite slim: with personality at 100, the best reduction you can get is 50%.