Leaked Skyrim manual confirms hirelings

Approaching RPG colossus The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim will let you hire people from taverns to fight alongside you. They're called hirelings.

According to pictures of the Skyrim game manual, hirelings each have their own combat specialities and can be given rudimentary orders by you. You can ask them to wait, to use something, to attack something, to open something or to pick up something.

Friends may also join you on your journey, as they did in Oblivion. You can give them gifts in return.

The manual offered a brief description of new skill cooking. It read, "Cooking pots allow you to prepare food items that provide various temporary effects. Each recipe requires specific culinary ingredients that can be found throughout Skyrim."

Cooking joins skills like farming, mining, woodcutting and blacksmithing in Skyrim.

The manual also aired the dialogue option of brawling, should persuasion, intimidation or bribing not work.

Going to prison is covered, too. When crimes are reported, a bounty is put on your head. This is localised to a specific city or town. How high the bounty is depends on the crime. You can avoid a bounty being put on your head by killing all witnesses. Should you be caught by guards and choose to pay a fine, all items stolen - either detected or undetected - will be taken. Opt to go to jail and serve your time and your progress towards skill increases will be lost.

The manual also mentioned things like learning dragon shouts at Ward Walls - but they can only be activated once a dragon soul has been harvested. Each Skyrim race will also have a unique power, on top of spells and abilities.

There's plenty more in the Skyrim manual to pick over.