Bloodmoon talk:Sigvatr the Strong

Impossible to Pickpocket Rammekald from Sigvatr?

I've experimented to see if it is possible to pickpocket the unique hammer, Rammekald, from Sigvatr. Thus far it seems impossible. To be clear, you can disintegrate the hammer so that it unequips and appears in Sigvatr's inventory, and Sigvatr can be calmed afterward so that pickpocketing is possible. The hammer appears in his inventory as normal. However, despite a sneak skill of 100 plus a fortify skill spell of 100 (for 200 total sneak), as well as the use of chameleon 100% and fortify luck 100pts (for 200pts total), Sigvatr still is alerted when trying to steal the hammer. Meanwhile, the value of the hammer is quite low (300 gold), and I'm unsure if the weight of an item factors into the pickpocket chance (as it is not mentioned on Morrowind:Sneak. Certainly it is possible to steal more valuable and heavier items from other characters (Divayth Fyr being a popular example). The only thing I can think of is that I cannot get the sneak icon to appear when near Sigvatr, indicating that he may be alert despite all the steps taken above. I've tried leaving the area and sneaking up on him, but no luck so far. I would be curious to know why Sigvatr is so pickpocket resistant and whether anyone else has had this problem (I assume most players simply kill him as part of the Bloodmoon:A Wife's Retribution quest). --Thalass (talk) 02:13, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

Small update: I have discovered Morrowind Code Patch (MCP) substantially overhauls the pickpocket mechanic (and installs it by default). MCP changes it to be more skill-based (which should vastly improve my chances, based on the numbers above), but also makes it weight-dependent so that 'grabbing anything noticeably heavy such as a weapon, is very likely to give you away' (quoting from the MCP configuration window). Therefore, I suspect it is the item weight of Rammekald that is causing the problem (in conjunction with MCP's overhaul), rather than Sigvatr's sneak skill. By contrast, I can successfully pickpocket his bracers without issue, and the biggest difference between those and Rammekald is the item weight. While this shouldn't affect anyone playing the game without modification, it is notable that MCP is both very popular among PC players and commonly prescribed for 'vanilla purists' who are looking to stabilise the game without changing its mechanics. --Thalass (talk) 00:51, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

Just for sake of completeness: I turned off the pickpocket overhaul of MCP and was able to pickpocket Rammekald from Sigvatr without any problem. So it was indeed the mod that was the issue. --Thalass (talk) 16:46, 1 June 2020 (UTC)