Best Skyrim Mods For A Thief Playthrough

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Ah, the life of a thief. The shadows are their friends, assassins are their rivals, and they live for the thrill of looting.

Living in the shadows is truly a cool way to play Skyrim.

But I don’t feel the base game offers enough to provide players with a truly complete thieving experience.

Not to worry, though. We can always rely on the fantastic Skyrim modding community for some extra goodies.

With this list of mods, you’ll be able to fully reinvigorate your thieving experience and see why playing as a thief is so cool.

From new & better Thieves Guild quests, to better AI features, we’ll be overhauling our game to make a thief run feel like a much more engaging playthrough.

 

10. Master of Disguise

Master of Disguise - Skyrim mod

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This fantastic mod allows certain masks in the game to function as identity-concealing pieces of equipment.

Plus it adds a new customization system that permits you to tune how masks work, and how much they conceal.

A fantastic addition without a single shadow of a doubt, which adds a ton of immersion to a thief’s playthrough.

 

9. Less Tedious Thieves Guild

Less Tedious Thieves Guild - Skyrim mod

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It’s impossible to have fun as a thief. Well, when you’re worried about completing 125 jobs to progress as a member of the Guild.

With this mod, the 125 quest requirement is lowered down to just 25 quests. Neat!

This removes one of the worst features of the game that directly affects thieves. Easy change but quite noticeable.

 

8. Sneak Tools

Sneak Tools For Thief - Skyrim mod

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Alright, I know this one is more fitting for an assassin playthrough. But let’s face it: both of these game styles overlap on more than one occasion.

I’d even dare say they overlap almost all the time.

Well this mod adds a whole new bunch of things you can do while sneaking, which go from slitting throats with your knives to wearing masks that truly conceal your identity.

It’s an amazing mod that will help you remain undetected, be it by actually becoming more cautious as to where you go, or by killing whatever stands in your way.

 

7. Realistic AI Detection (Better Sneaking)

Realistic AI Detection - Skyrim graph

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I’m not only nominating this mod to be one of the best thieves mods for Skyrim… I’m also nominating this mod as one of the most game-changing mods that I’ve ever come across.

The creator managed to improve the whole sneak system of Skyrim to make NPCs search the environment for longer, stay alert for longer, and get them to hear more sounds.

Really detailed stuff.

It overhauls the system and stops you from thinking that you’re stealing stuff from mentally-challenged individuals. Which makes the game much more satisfying (for thieves, anyway).

 

6. Ordinator – Perks of Skyrim

Ordinator – Perks of Skyrim - Mod Screenshot

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Although this mod isn’t particularly directed at thieves, a thief playthrough will thoroughly benefit from Ordinator.

It allows you to fully tweak your perks and you progress through the game.

This overhauls the progression tree, but does it in a manner where you shouldn’t find it complicated to browse any categories. This keeps everything as vanilla-friendly as possible.

And no, this mod will not turn your skill tree into a living mess. Everything is surprisingly well organized!

 

5. All Thieves Guild Jobs Concurrently

Skyrim Mod: All Thieves Guild Jobs Concurrently

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Alright this is another game-changer for a thief.

It changes that god-forsaken feature that prevents you from having more than one type of job at once, allowing you to get all types of jobs concurrently if that’s what you’re into.

I mean, it’s your life and your job, which means that it’s your problem if you want to overwork yourself. And why not, right?

Just be sure not to fall asleep on the job, though. That might get you in trouble, just saying.

 

4. Outlaws and Revolutionaries – Quest Mod Plus

Outlaws and Revolutionaries Mod

Check Out This Mod (On Discord)

Alright, so let’s start with a little disclaimer before I explain this mod to you.

The creator had to take it out of the Nexus, so you can only find it on the Project Valkyrie Discord group. Bummer – I know.

Now, if you’re wondering why the creator of this mod decided to take it down from the Nexus, here’s the explanation:

The mod is all about killing drug dealers, destroying rival gangs, and doing overall very shady stuff.

As you might guess, the Nexus owners didn’t really want anything to do with this thing; especially due to how popular the mod was getting.

With that out of the way, it’s safe to say that this is one of the coolest mods for a non-vanilla thief playthrough. You should definitely try it out.

 

3. Opulent Thieves Guild

Opulent Thieves Guild Mod

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Hey, thieves might be low-lives, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a strong sense of what it means to live a proper life.

This mod overhauls the upgrades that you can make to the Ragged Flagon and the Thieves Guild HQ, making the whole environment much more aesthetically pleasing.

But these upgrades still keep that “shadowy” vibe that it always carries. Perfect for a true thief.

 

2. Outlaws Refuges

Outlaws Refuges Mod For Skyrim

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That’s right my fellow Online players, this mod adds the same types of refuges that you see in The Elder Scrolls Online into the Skyrim world.

Most cities will now have a place where lurkers of the darkness come to chill.

You can now really feel like you belong by hanging out with other low-lives. Pretty neat, huh?

 

1. Narrative Loot

Narrative Loot Skyrim Mod

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As a thief, the main thing that defines your play style is the type of loot you obtain.

Whatever it is that you decide to take from your victims, that’s your success.

Your missions are all based around stealing stuff, pickpocketing, and mastering the dark art of theft. And while those statements are 100% true, it’s still easy to see that vanilla Skyrim just doesn’t offer enough for a proper thief playthrough to feel… thievy.

That’s why Narrative Loot is a mod absolutely worth checking out.

This adds more than 1600 new items that you can loot, with many of them providing with more in-depth storytelling mixing with Skyrim’s lore.

Everything here will truly give a new meaning to the stuff you steal. A fantastic mod that changes your thieving experience almost completely.

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Marco Ibarra

Born in the first half of the 90s, video games have been a part of my life ever since I was introduced to Age of Empires I by my dad. I'm a Mass Communications graduate with a specialization in Marketing, as well as a hardcore gamer. My aim is to bring you quality content so you can get the best out of your games and take your experience to the next level!