Crime

Crime is a gameplay mechanic in Baldur's Gate 3. Certain morally dubious actions, from destruction of property to murder, if done in view of non-player characters, will result in attitude reductions and, potentially, imprisonment or combat. With the appropriate use of actions and abilities, the consequences of crime can be avoided.

A character on the verge of behaving criminally.

Committing crimes

A variety of crimes can be committed during the player's journeys. Crimes are committed individually by characters and punishments are meted out similarly; if one character is caught pickpocketing, only that character will be questioned by guards and risks imprisonment, not the whole party.

A Poltergeist corpse that is outlined in red. Attempting to loot this corpse may reduce the attitude of onlookers.

Ownership is a concept interrelated to crime, as it applies to items and other non-character entities in the game. Any object that is outlined in red when hovered over is owned by another character or entity, restricting the player's interactions with it; tampering with these objects is considered criminal. Corpses of characters adhere to this rule as well. For example, a player can potentially get away with murdering an NPC, but get in trouble if someone catches them picking up the NPC's red-outlined, "restricted" corpse.

Magnitude

Crimes vary in magnitude, and the bandwidth for NPC's to tolerate crimes varies based on area and NPC. Some NPC's will be annoyed by a witnessed crime, reducing their attitude to the offender, but take no action. Two NPC's might have different responses to the same crime. One character might try to arrest a player for stealing, but another might attack them outright.

List of crimes

The various crimes at the player's disposal are:

• Moving: Moving an object that belongs to another entity. Always^{[Needs Verification]} considered a mere attitude-reducing annoyance. A witness to unpermitted moving will usually pick up the offended item.
• Vandalism: Destroying an object that belongs to another entity.
• Trespassing: Setting foot in a restricted area or opening a red-outlined door. Can sometimes be rectified by agreeing to leave the area, which will instantly teleport the offending characters to a neutral area.
• Stealing: Picking up an object that belongs to another entity. Can sometimes be rectified by dropping the item.
• Desecrating: Moving, picking up, destroying, or reanimating a corpse.
• Pickpocketing: Looting an item from a character's inventory using sleight of hand while hiding. Can sometimes, but not always, be rectified by returning the stolen items. Being caught in a failed pickpocket and being caught having pickpocketed an item are considered separate crimes.
• Assault: Committing a harmful act against another character. These can be attacks or spells, with some negative condition-applying spells such as  Hypnotic Pattern qualifying. Creating a harmful surface underneath a character, such as  Electrified Water, counts as assault.
• Murder: Inflicting the  Dead condition on another character. Hostility can determine the difference between murder and justified homicide. If the player kills a monster that is hostile to two onlookers, the onlookers won't care; if it's only hostile to one of the onlookers, the other onlooker will consider it murder. Some scripted encounters are never considered murder.

Investigation

Large, populated locations, such as the Goblin Camp or Druid Grove, have guards that deal with crime. If a civilian witnesses a crime, they can report the crime to a guard, who will run over (often with a full patrol) to search for the offending character. If the culprit is nowhere to be found, they will investigate the area for a number of turns before dispersing, forgetting about the crime. The player cannot talk to NPC's while they are investigating a crime.

However, if you interrupt an NPC with  Enthrall right after they've noticed a crime (signaled by them shouting "Thief!", "Someone's been in my pockets", etc.) but before they start an investigation, they will be forcibly stopped, unable to continue the investigation, they will not call the guards or question any party members and they will not be suspicious of you, allowing for more criminal opportunities.

If you weren't able to prevent NPCs from starting an investigation and they've called the guards or are searching for the complicit party member, another strategy you can adopt is to cast  Feign Death on said party member since this will prevent NPCs from initiating conversations. The guards generally disperse before the spell runs out, so you'll be free to wander after without arousing suspicion. Note that the severity of the crime might incriminate your other party members, so this strategy is best left for smaller crimes like pickpocketing, or when the criminal party member is on their own. Casting Feign Death on a party member that's already being questioned, on the other hand, does nothing.

Questioning

A Steel Watcher guard attempts to arrest a murderer.

If the culprit is caught by the guards, interrogatory dialogue begins. On some occasions, the criminal can try to rectify the crime by undoing it or bribing the interrogator. If committing crime in a location with a designated jail, the criminal can submit to arrest. Otherwise, the following options are always present: engage in combat, or try to wriggle out of it using a Persuasion, Intimidation, or Deception check. These ability checks generally become more difficult as the magnitude of the crime increases.

Imprisonment

If a player acquiesces to their crime and gets imprisoned, the guilty character will have their inventory completely stripped and be instantly teleported to a designated jail zone. The apprehended character's inventory is placed, in full, within a nearby equipment chest. Each of these zones has an escape plan baked in so the character can, with enough ingenuity, escape on their own. For example, the jail cell in the Druid Grove has a back exit through a hidden tunnel.

Fleeing from prison inflicts the temporary  Fugitive condition on the criminal. If found within a guard's line-of-sight while active, the criminal will be considered escalating their crimes, risking re-arrest or instant combat.

If you use  Disguise Self to either commit a crime looking like someone else, or as you're escaping prison to change your appearance, you can walk freely in front of guards and they will not recognize you. This only works once per character and per jail, any subsequent escape from the same jail with the use of this spell will get you recognized and caught immediately. This doesn't seem to work in Act 3's Lower City, as guards will recognize you no matter what.

Related conditions

•  Fugitive
•  Enemy of Justice
•  Witness

Rewards

Crime can pay, outside of the material benefits of the crime itself. The  Criminal background gains many Inspirations from committing and then escaping criminal acts, with  Charlatan and  Urchin benefitting as well to a lesser extent.

Achievements

Escapologist
Break out of prison after being arrested - aren't you daring?