It's entirely possible that I'm missing something, but for the life of me I can't find any kind of tool-tip or notice that warns me when I'm about to perform an action that will offend an NPC. In this case I'm referring specifically to stealing.
As an example, let's look at the first town the characters arrive at. Prior to arriving at the town you'll come across a number of crates. When you go through these crates (and remove items from them) nobody seems to mind. However, in this case (usually) nobody is around to notice. That said, you can swipe a journal and some supplies right from the two tipsy guards at the first bridge and they don't seem to care.
When you arrive at the first town, there are crates near the gate/entrance and several people standing near them. When you go through these crates (and remove items from them) nobody seems to mind.
Further down the street is an NPC worker and two bulls, and he appears to be moving back and forth between a stack of crates and the rear of a cart behind the bulls, apparently either unloading or loading supplies. When you go through these containers (and remove items from them) he doesn't seem to mind.
Between these last two examples is a man standing near a table that is peppered with building supplies. There is also a container near the table. When you touch any of these items you're scolded for attempted theft. This even happens if you try to touch the items when this particular NPC is down the dock attempting to save the burning boat - he'll still scold you (from a screen away).
The problem is there's no warning informing the player that he's about to offend someone through his actions. There's nothing identifying ownership. Sure, we could say "use common sense; don't steal and you won't offend anyone" but the problem is that there seems to be no continuity between examples. Why is rummaging through items near some NPCs perfectly fine, but other times it isn't?
Skyrim, for example, clearly marks what is theft and what isn't *before* you touch the item. When you mouse over an object or container in Skyrim, it will say "steal" in bright red text if you run the risk of offending someone through your actions.
I think it would be nice to see something similar implemented here, even if it's just changing the icon that appears when you mouse over an interactable item in a way that warns the player that he's about to stick his hands where they don't belong.
It is pretty hard to spot, but if the item does not belong to someone, then the cursor color is yellow/ gold. So you can take these items without offending someone. If, on the other hand, an item belongs to someone, then the cursor color is orange. So, it indicates that taking these items will be classified as stealing.
Edit: Never mind it^^, three people have already given the answer while I was typing^^
