Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Books, can I just read them?

Hello, I am in Cyseal and I wonder if I can just read the books that are lying open, and not steal them. Do I really need to steal them first to be able to read them? Even in the library? Thank you

Yes you do. But only if you get the read stealing icon. In the library you should be able to pick up book without stealing.

Talk to the librarian: maybe it isn't stealing if you have permission. You think?

The librarian only gives you permission to loot the library shelves (they change from red to white after you talk to her), not the books that are just lying around. You'd have to use invisibility or sneaking to get those.

Would love to be able to read the book without having it in the inventory.

I get permission for the books that are lying around, too. Can't loot the desks, mind you...

They seem to have set up script triggers on picking up items - including notes and books - rather than making reading a document a separate event. If you could read it without taking possession, a lot of quest event triggers wouldn't fire they way they've done it. I'm going to guess that reading without picking up will not be easily moddable.

I've been wrong before, to be sure.

I second that. Although I haven't progressed extremely far into the game, so far all the books that i've looted usually sell for between 1 and 9 gold.

Would be much simpler to allow me to simply read them without picking them up so that I don't even have to bother with selling them and know that I've read them. More times than not, I meet up with a seller and then think "I'd better make sure that I've read all of the books I'm trying to sell" so I cancel the sale and read all the books again, then I open up trade and BAM, I see a book and start to wonder, "are you sure you read that book?" and start the process all over again.

I'd just assume give up stealing books and be able to just read them and not have them go into my inventory unless I wish to take them. I've played other games that allow me to read the book without stealing it and then steal the book if I still want to.

This is a vast and excellent game by a small company.
They took a few shortcuts, and I'm not inclined to be harsh.

Needing to have a book in inventory to read it is a pain, sure.
That isn't likely to change because of the way quest events trigger.

To make it less annoying:

• Aside from Craft books:
  • Read everything you find.
  • Then stick it in a backpack on your main character and forget about it.
  • If you need it to do something later, the script will find it.
  • It won't clutter your inventory.
• For Craft books:
  • The Journal lists what you've read, by title, under "Recipes".
  • If you don't open the list entries it's a very quick scan.
  • When you find a Craft book:
    • Read it, then drop or destroy it.
    • You won't need the money after you loot Cyseal.
    • If you're an uber-role-player, you're on your own.
      I never have the mental stamina to carry that through.
  • For a quick check in a trade session:
    • Close the trade.
    • Open the journal.
    • Open Recipes and scan the list.
    • Now you know if you've read it.

She does, but it appears to have skipped the Rat Extermination book (which might have been added late in development as hint to an endgame quest). Which would be a bug...

Picking it up still gives it to you anyway, but with an attitude penalty (if seen).