The world of Elysium can be a lawless place, but never once did trouble come without a solution!
"The gang are criminal’s by heart and are bound to get up to all sorts of mischief, especially in a wild world where such amazement abounds. But just because this land is magic, doesn’t mean crimes can’t be committed and consequences can not commence by doing so."
Bounties are a monetary amount offered for the apprehension or elimination of an individual. Should the Player commit a crime which is witnessed by someone and that person is able to report it, a bounty will and can be issued. The bounty level will be determined by the crime(s) committed and committing any additional crimes beyond that will increase the existing bounty level. Crimes with no witnesses and crimes where all witnesses are either bribed or killed before they can report it will not cause a bounty to be issued
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Bounty is a law enforcement game mechanic in
The Roads of Elysium. Bounty tracks the number and severity of crimes committed. From there, the offense is converted to a gold/coin amount.
Various types of crimes that warrant a bounty.
These are the following bounties that can be acquired throughout the game. The specific values may vary, depending on the crime and the severity of said crime. Generally speaking, the said bounty is not received if no one witnesses the player committing it.
However, if a bounty
is acquired, killing all witnesses before they can report it will effectively remove the bounty if you decide not to bribe them.
There are
TWO Levels of Crime one can commit,
Petty Crime and
Major Crime. Petty crimes increase your bounty by a modest amount, while major crimes significantly increase your bounty.
Petty Crimes
Stealing owned items, including items from owned containers; this is identified by the
Steal or Steal from prompt. Locked Safeboxes provide a high-value reward if successfully pilfered, but run the risk of a double-bounty for the lockpicking and the theft. This also includes the act of looting a murdered citizen. Even if nobody witnessed you actually killing them, you can still earn a small bounty by looting their corpse.
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim’s pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. Much like Skyrim, NPC’s will often warn the player to keep their “
Hands to Themselves” should they notice the player attempting to pickpocket them. But much like in Skyrim the player is allowed to
view the items and the bounty will only be issued if they attempt to
take any items. This form of crime is often tied in with Lock Picking and as a result the player may obtain TWO bounties instead of one, should they be caught doing either.
Lockpicking is the attempt to pick the lock of an owned door or container resulting in a bounty, even if nothing was taken. The bounty is accumulated whether or not the lockpicking was successful.
This one is self explanatory. Should the player be caught killing any form of Domestic animal from Cow’s, Sheep, Chickens, Horses, or any other form of “Farm Animal”, or even in most cases Guard Dogs or any form of guard animal, a bounty will be issued. Attacking Farm Animals found on farms can incur a low bounty at the start, as they are the property of the farm owners and these NPC’s don’t typically have a lot of cash on them. Should you manage to escape the Angry Farmers however, you can sell the animal parts you scavenge. Another benefit to this crime is if you manage to get the animal away from the farm before you kill it, the bounty will not be issued as the animal is no longer on their property.
This action is special for two reasons as it varies greatly on
where you are trying to sneak in. In RoE certain owned properties are considered "restricted areas". When trespassing you will receive one warning and then be told to leave the area. If you linger and continue to trespass, you will receive a bounty after 30 seconds. At this point, NPCs will attempt to call for the guards or attack you themselves, depending on their level of aggression. In certain areas in the game however, players may immediately incur a bounty if you are caught trespassing.
Major Crimes
Assaulting non-hostile NPCs.
Another self explanatory crime, self-defense is excluded unless the attacker is a guard. Causing environmental deaths, such as drowning or falling to death, will not count as murder. On an additional note, killing a Bounty Hunter will not add to the bounty and will instead erase the bounty. However since Bounty Hunters are high level NPC’s, with high defense and attack, the act of killing them is not for the faint hearted, or of course, low level players. On another Note the price for murder may start extremely high, but the bounty may be higher depending on the person killed, such as settlement leaders, guards or any form of High Society NPC’s.
Additional Crimes Include:
- Stealing A Vehicle/Unowned Mount (carts, airships, ect ect)
- Abducting a Settlement Leader
Infamy Levels
If you are witnessed committing a crime, a bounty will be placed on your head, and you will incur heat from the Local Guard. Your Bounty indicates your debt to society, while your
Heat affects how actively the guards will pursue you. The cost of your bounty is dependent on the severity of your crime and your character's level. Committing a number of crimes in quick succession significantly raises your heat, which can be raised to 4 levels.
- Upstanding: You have no bounty, and the Guard is not seeking you. The Bounty Meter is not displayed at this level.
- Disreputable: You have committed a petty crime, and the Guard is aware of your bounty. Guards who see you will attempt to arrest you.
- Notorious: The Guard is aware of your bounty and actively seeking to arrest you. Certain citizens may refuse to speak to you until your debt is paid
- Fugitive: The Guard will attempt to kill you on sight. Committing a major crime immediately makes you a fugitive if you are witnessed.
Bounty Hunters
Bounty Hunters are high-tier level
NPCS who will intercept the player throughout the world of Elysium should a crime—or
series of crimes—carry a bounty exceeding 1,000 gold and above within a particular Settlement. Unlike normal Settlement guards who can only pursue criminals in a certain section of the map and can only go so far from their Settlement, bounty collectors ignore the distinction between settlements and have jurisdiction anywhere in Elysium, regardless of the location in which the bounty is incurred.
Typically, a bounty that exceeds the 1000g mark will result in Bounty Hunters attempting to ambush the player. The more severe the crime, or the more crimes one has committed (even those with a low value), the higher the bounty. The higher the bounty, the much more ruthless and numerous Bounty Hunters can be towards the player. Should a Bounty on the player pass the
1000 gold mark, talking down the bounty hunter should they catch you may prove more difficult than if the bounty was lower. Should the bounty reach
4000 gold plus, the option to talk down and deescalate the situation will not be given and odds are the Bounty Hunter’s will be ruthless and may attempt to eliminate the player instead of taking them in.
Bounty Hunters may also form “posses”, often groups of two or three at random. If the bounty is high enough, they may also arrive with dogs.
It is worth remembering that animals also count as witnesses, so these must be slain in order to exonerate the criminal even if their masters are all dead.
CAPTURING NPC’S
Should the player wish to go above and beyond the call of duty and aid law enforcement or NPC’s who need help apprehending a criminal, they may find taking up bounty hunting is a highly profitable activity. The bounty reward varies, depending on whether the player has chosen to capture or kill the outlaw. Capturing the bounty alive by wounding/disabling them awards the player twice the amount of money compared to killing the bounty. Should the player be in possession of a mount when they take up bounty hunting missions, they can tie up the NPC and hoist them onto the mount to allow it to carry the criminal (or his corpse) back to the settlement.
IF not, players may decide to carry the body back to the settlement, however if the criminal is killed close to settlements, this may not be necessary, as the bounty giver will automatically come to the player.
Bounty Hunter Extension: Notice Boards
Notice boards are a very useful source of information to a player looking for work. The player will find a number of these notice boards as they travel throughout the world. These notice boards contain many different quest notes. Every note starts a quest when it is selected (it immediately shows you the quest description once chosen). Most of them are radiant quests which means that they are repeatable (with different characters or locations). Other's are executed only once.
Types of Missions that can be found on a notice board are as follows:
Retrieve an item: Retrieve an item from a location.
- Reward: Double price of the item
Cooking Quest: An NPC requires a Dish to be made, make it and bring it to them
Gather Pelts: Collect pelts for a ranger/hunter NPC.
Have you ever visited... ?: Simple quest to explore a “never visited before” location.
- Reward: Another visible map marker in your map
Bandit Leader Bounty: Kill the Raider leader who has been causing trouble.
Monster Bounty: Kill a troublesome Monster terrorizing civilians.
Dragon Bounty: Kill a rampaging Dragon before it's too late!!
Item Delivery: Be the courier of your dreams! Delivery a missive or any other item type for a NPC.
Rescue a Citizen: Be a hero! Rescue a citizen kidnapped by bandits.
Escaped Criminal: Be a bandit
Bounty Hunter! In addition to being Bounty
Hunted, The player can also become a Bounty
Hunter themselves too; bounties can be issued on NPC’s by Other NPCs (or in this case the player can pick up a bounty from the board) and the Player can track down these NPCs and either apprehend and turn them in, or kill them for a reward. Should the player have a bounty
themselves while going on these side missions, the player’s bounty can be deducted by the reward. How much the reward is is how much is taken off your bounty and given back to you as a reward.
Rescue Citizen: Be a hero! Rescue a citizen kidnapped by bandits.
Slay Beasts: Go and slay some beasts!
Mercenaries
Sometimes, the player will see
mercenaries viewing the notice board, oftentimes one leader and one companion. This often means they're going to a random location nearby to kill a bandit. If the player wants, they can speak to the leader and offer them your help. If you have decided to help the mercenary leader then a new quest will start. If you kill the bandit and the leader mercenary
survives, he will give you a reward in either monetary value, or an item. If the mercenary leader is
killed before ending the quest, the quest fails, and the player will have to go and find a new band of Mercenaries to help.
Special Bounties
If you're close to an NPC and have done a few missions for them, they may start offering bounties that are of a
sensitive nature. These bounties are often known as
Special Bounties, because they often factor very differently compared to other Bounty Quests. Unlike other quests that do not often require
proof of completion unless they are retrieval quests and thus are completed upon finishing, these NPC quests often require the player to deliver proof of the kill. To do this, if the player has killed the intended target a
New Item, will appear and be lootable from their corpse.
For human bounties, the new loot item is often the
Head of the intended target, but can be different depending on the NPC's request. Bringing this item to the NPC will allow for completion of the quest. Completion of these quest's often yield double the reward for not only completion but also retrieval and delivery of the item needed.
INTERESTING NOTE
- If the player has high Charisma, convincing certain guards to look the other way may prove to be beneficial as oftentimes opting to fight the guards may result in grievous bodily harm.
- Traditionally, four options for resolving a bounty exist across the game: paying the bounty off in gold, resisting arrest, or serving in prison tend to be the main three. However RoE also introduces two more options: First one includes evading bounty by flaunting a title.
Leaders of certain settlements if the player has a high standing/good relationship with them, may offer to give the player a Title. Titles are earned when someone has contributed to a significant deed that has helped out the Leadership of the Settlement and its people. However, flaunting the title does not work for all crimes. While it does allow the players menial crimes to be overlooked, crimes such as murder or assault may not be overlooked so easily and if they are guard's may only do it once.
Bounty can also be reduced by using items such as the Counterfeit Pardon Edict or Leniency Edict, which will remove a total amount from your bounty depending on which one is used.
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