Crimson Desert does not make many of its mechanics clear right from the start and players are often left to figure things out on their own, which is very much the case for stealing, pickpocketing, and accessing locked doors. The option is there, but you will not be able to indulge those kleptomaniac tendencies unless you look the part first.
Here is everything you need to know about committing these blue-collar crimes in Crimson Desert, along with what to do with your stolen wares and the consequences you will face for getting a little too bold with it.
Table of Contents
- How To Steal In Crimson Desert
- How To Open Locked Doors In Crimson Desert
- Where To Sell Stolen Items In Crimson Desert
- Search Radius, Fines, And Bounties – Consequences Of Theft In Crimson Desert
How To Steal In Crimson Desert
To steal, pickpocket or commit any sort of other crime, you need to wear a Mask. The prompt to steal is greyed out by default, but once your character wears the mask, it completes the thief look and removes this small snag that prevents you from carrying out the deed.
How To Get A Mask
There are two ways to get a mask in Crimson Desert. The first, and more involved method, is to look for bandits. Fortunately, you do not have to look far for it, as the first opportunities in Hernand arise from the Jeffrey Bounty Notice and the First Trial of Faction side quest.
Between the two, you are more likely to get a Mask from the bounty request, since the reward for apprehending the pickpocket Jeffrey is the apparel itself. The faction quest, on the other hand, has you dealing with several bleed bandits, who can sometimes drop a mask, which you can loot from their bodies.
The easier option, however, is to buy one from Back Alley Shops. You will usually find these tucked away in less obvious parts of cities, like the one in Hernand, as shown on the map, located all the way to the eastern side. They all sell the Mask for ten bronze coins.
Once you have the mask, you only need to equip it from the Equipment quick slot, which you can access with the D-pad left on a controller or F2 on a keyboard. After equipping it, the prompt to steal will no longer be greyed out.
How To Pickpocket
Pickpocketing works a bit differently from stealing in Crimson Desert. While you still need the mask, the method itself involves bumping into your victim, which then triggers a prompt to pickpocket that you must execute quickly.
This is one of those mechanics that the game does not spell out, and you are left to figure it out on your own.
In our case, we learned it the hard way from Jeffrey himself, who bumped into our character and walked off with a handful of our coins while we were out looking for him. Of course, we caught him on the spot and handed him over to the rightful authorities for the bounty.
How To Open Locked Doors In Crimson Desert
There is no unique key for the ‘A key is required’ locked doors, and the item you need is simply called a Key, a one-time use key. Here’s how you can get these generic keys and access locked doors:
- The Back Alley Shops are your one-stop place if you want to live the life of an outlaw, so it is no surprise that they also sell the means to get through those locked doors. These vendors sell it for 30 copper coins each.
- Black market vendors are clearly ripping you off because you can also find these on bandit corpses and as stealable loot inside houses, usually on tables or inside drawers and chests.
- It’s a bit strange coming from them, but the Church of Hernand also sells a Key for 15 copper, which is noticeably cheaper.
With the Key item in your inventory, you can walk into a locked door, and you’ll automatically unlock it while disposing the Key on use. There’s no way to tell if a door is locked, and what you find inside is always a gamble.
Where To Sell Stolen Items In Crimson Desert
Say you were feeling light-fingered and managed to get your hands on a lot of stolen goods, and now you’re looking to sell them for easy money.
Fortunately, you can sell your ill-gotten wares at any merchant shop and make a profit. There’s no indicator representing stolen items, and Crimson Desert does not restrict where you sell them, so you are free to offload everything without having to look for a specific fence.
Search Radius, Fines, And Bounties – Consequences Of Theft In Crimson Desert
Coming to the real question, what are the consequences of stealing in Crimson Desert? Surprisingly, you’ll find that it is more lenient than committing more serious crimes like murder. Here is everything we have been able to round up about it, along with how you can walk away unnoticed.
- When you commit theft, a search begins within a red circular radius around the spot where you were last seen. Alongside this, a timer also appears for the duration of the search.
- Strangely enough, when committing theft, NPCs tend to mind their own business and rarely react to it. They do not alert guards, and guards themselves do not bat an eye to it at all.
- As soon as you commit the act, you lose Contribution points, which is the reputation within the domain you are in. If you are spotted during the search duration, you will be imposed a fine, and the amount increases each time you are caught in the act.
- You can avoid fines by staying out of sight until the search timer runs out or by leaving the search radius altogether. For pickpocketing, it is better to leave the area quickly, as staying within the red zone always results in a fine once the timer expires.
- From what we’re able to tell, you will not be arrested for stealing or pickpocketing. The main consequence is a loss of Contribution, and locals will start to look at you with some scorn, and with merchants refusing to deal with you.
- For more serious crimes like murder or assault, however, a wanted bounty is placed on your head as soon as you are spotted. This causes guards and sellswords to actively pursue you and attempt to apprehend you.
How To Pay Off Fines And Bounties
To pay your fine and clear your name, you need to visit a church. In Hernand, this is the Church of Hernand, where you can purchase a Writ of Absolution for the amount you’re fined, which lets you walk away clean.
The same applies to bounties. You can still clear it by visiting a church and buying a writ, although it is significantly more expensive, as it translates to your bounty.
However, if you’re caught by guards, you’ll serve jail time as well as lose the reward money tied to your bounty. Bear in mind that this also ends up in you losing your Mask.