So I am in the first town (Cyseal?) and I found the abandoned house on the left. Roderick is a rogue in my party and I picked the lock to the house and found some sweet loot. Since it's abandoned, does that not count against you?
It only counts as stealing if there cursor turns red.
And stealing will never hurt you as long as no one catches you trying to pick something up. You can literally take stuff from an NPC while it turns its back and sell it to them immediately after.