Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion Character Build-up _ ==(W{==========- /===- || (.--.) /===-_---~~~~~~~~~------____ | _,|**|,__ |===-~___ _,-'` -==\ ` ' `--' ), `//~\ ~~~~`---.___.-~~ ______-==| /`_. .__/ | | \ _-~` __--~~~ ,-/-==\ ( | . |~~~~| | | ` ,' _-~ /' | \ )__/==0==-<>/ / / / .' / | \ /~___/~~/ /' / /' / ____ / | `.__/-~~ |_/' / /' /-'~ ~~~~~---__ | ~-/~ ( ) /' _--~` _| / _) | ; ), __--~~ '~~--_/ _-~/- |/ '-~ {__--_/} / \_>-|)<__ /' (_/ _-~ | |__>--<__| | | _/) )-~ | |__>--<__| | / /~ ,_/ / /__>---<__/ | o-o _// /-~_>---<__-~ / (^(~ /~_>---<__- _-~ ,/| /__>--<__/ _-~ ,//('( |__>--<__| / .----_ ( ( ')) |__>--<__| | /' _---_~ `-)) )) ( |__>--<__| | /' / ~` ,/,'//( ( __>--<__ /' // || ,( ( ((, )) ~-__>--<_~-_ ~--____---~' _/'/ /' `~/ )` ) ,/| ~-_~>--<_/-__ __-~ _/ ._-~//( )/ )) ` ~~-'_/_/ /~~~~~~~__--~ ;'( ')/ ,)( ~~~~~~~~~~ ' ') '( (/ ' ' ` Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Character Build-up & Development Guide Version 1.3.8 2007/12/08 Copyright 2006-2007 Thomas "Sajin" Bergmann Creative Commons by-nc-sa, see Copyright Notice The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was developed by Bethesda Game Studios, published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games and is copyright 2006 Bethesda Softworks. This guide is not endorsed by, nor is the author associated in any way with, Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks or 2K Games. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | INTRO & CONTACT INFORMATION | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oblivion is a great game, a huge game and at least on hard difficulty a really challenging game. Since large parts of the game involve fighting, and your enemies scale with your level, it can easily get over challenging. So if you don't want to move your difficulty slider, or if you just want to know how you get most out of your character and the game, read on ! If you have further information or corrections, please write me: sajin(insert at)gmx(a dot here)net I try to avoid quest spoilers in this guide, so i cannot include e.g. training tips directly related to certain quests. A note to pure role players: This guide explains how you optimize your character both statwise and in terms of possible quests/guilds, so don't take offence and read it as background info. I don't force you to do anything. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | TABLE OF CONTENTS | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intro & contact infos Table of Contents Basics...........................................................CBDG01 Choose your Race.................................................CBDG02 Choose your Birthsign............................................CBDG03 Choose your Skills...............................................CBDG04 Character development............................................CBDG05 Appendix A: Sample character builds..............................CBDG0A Appendix B: General game play tips...............................CBDG0B Appendix C: Spell Discussion.....................................CBDG0C Appendix D: Fast overview for Morrowind players..................CBDG0D Credits Version History Copyright Quick jump to a section: Copy & paste the Code into your search box (in windows CTRL-F) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | [CBDG01] BASICS | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After playing TES3: Morrowind for a long time and basically sitting in front of Oblivion since it came out, i noticed how many people seem to confuse game lore character ideas with actually good character builds. Something like: A good fighter has all weapon skills, weapon specialisation and The Warrior Birth sign. Or: Bretons are ideal mages but bad fighters and thieves. All wrong except the part about ideal mages. Lets take a quick look at the Attributes before we go in-depth. Starting Attributes have scores between 30 and 50 (exception: female Orc 25 Personality), depending on your Race and Sex. You can modify them slightly with Birth signs and the choice of favoured attributes. The maximum score in-game is capped at 100, so while high starting scores will get you to the maximum faster, they don't modify the cap. The Attributes are: Strength (STR) Related skills: Blade, Blunt, Hand To Hand Determines: How much you carry, Fatigue score, melee damage Intelligence (INT) Related skills: Alchemy, Conjuration, Mysticism Determines: Magicka, spell effectiveness Willpower (WIL) Related skills: Alteration, Destruction, Restoration Determines: Fatigue score, resistance to Magicka, Magicka regeneration Agility (AGI) Related skills: Security, Stealth, Marksman Determines: Bow damage, Fatigue score Speed (SPD) Related skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Light Armour Determines: Movement speed Endurance (END) Related skills: Armourer, Block, Heavy Armour Determines: Fatigue score, Health gain on level up Personality (PER) Related Skills: Illusion, Mercantile, Speechcraft Determines: NPC reactions Luck (LCK) Related Skills: None Determines: how lucky you are -------------------------------------------------------- | Directly derived from attributes are the following | -------------------------------------------------------- Health The amount of damage you take before dying. Starts with 2x Endurance, add 10% Endurance per level up. Magicka Power to cast spells. 2x Intelligence + Race/Birth sign Bonuses. Regenerates constantly over time, regeneration speed is tied to Willpower. Fatigue Jumping and Power attacks (and other things like blocking & bow at low levels) use Fatigue. The Formula is STR + END + AGL + WIL. Regenerates constantly over time. -------------------------- | Resistances & Weaknesses | -------------------------- They are not displayed on the attribute screen, you have to access them via the magic tab. Resistance You can have resistance versus certain types of damage or effects. Magnitude 50 resistance to fire = only half (50%) fire damage from spells and attacks. Types: Fire, Frost, Shock, Magic (except elemental), Poison and Disease Weakness The opposite of resistance. Magnitude 50 weakness = 50% more fire damage Immunity If you reach 100 % resistance, you are immune to that type of damage or effect. You won't gain health for more than 100% resistance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | [CBDG02] CHOOSE YOUR RACE | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ First off, starting attributes are not important for your choice. Why ? The difference between 30(min) and 50(max) Strength is only four levels. And the maximum Attribute score is the same for all races. So one race will have max Strength at level 15, the other already at level 11. Imho this is no big difference, max. level is about 50. Same for skills, but here the difference is max. one level (10 skill points). Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, lets take a look at special abilities. Argonian Resist Disease (magnitude 75, constant) Immune to Poison (Resist Poison, magnitude 100, constant) Water Breathing (constant) Three positive constant effects - not bad. But Disease and Poison is rare, and one potion or spell can heal it. Water Breathing is a cheap spell, so then main advantage of Argonians is their cool lizard look. Rating: B- Breton Fortified Magicka (Fortify Maximum Magicka magnitude 50, constant) Dragon Skin (Shield magnitude 50, duration 60; once a day) Resist Magicka (magnitude 50, constant) Resist Magicka 50 constant ! This is a constant master level spell, which is absolutely great. Its easy to get magic immunity with this Race. Fortified Magicka is also good for all casters, but Resist Magicka this high is really priceless for all classes. Note: this does not include resistance/immunity to elemental magic and effects: fire, frost, shock (by Priyesh) Rating: A Dark Elf Ancestor Guardian (Summon Ghost, duration 60 once a day) Resist Fire (magnitude 75, constant) Resist Fire 75 is nice, especially since this game is called oblivion (which is Tamriels hell). Fire damage is common and fire immunity is close for Dark Elves. The Ancestor Guardian is good for Atronach players (see Birth signs) for early mana regeneration. Rating: B+ High Elf Weakness to Fire, Frost and Shock (magnitude 25, constant) Resist Disease (magnitude 75, constant) Fortified Magicka (magnitude 100, constant) Ok race for Mages, 50 more Magicka bonus than Bretons. However, instead of Magic resistance you get weaknesses to the most common magic damage types. The weaknesses don't hurt too much, but you have a far way to go and probably won't get more than one full immunity in one of them. Pick High Elf if you like pointy ears or if you really need the high Magicka. Note: (by Stefan Lindberg & Reimer the_maestro) If combined with the Atronach Birth sign and some Spell Absorption Items for 100% Spell Absorption, High Elves Weaknesses are turned to immunity - the magic is absorbed before it could hurt you more than normal. So what's left: the highest possible Magicka score without items and Resist Disease 75 (easy immunity). Rating: C- (B for Mages, A+ for 100% Absorb Atronachs) Imperial Star of the West (Absorb fatigue, magnitude 100; once a day) Voice of the Emperor (Charm, magnitude 30; once a day) Two once per day abilities, both equivalent to low spell levels ? Well... not so well. Rating: D Khajiit Eye of Fear (Demoralize, magnitude 100, once a day) Eye of Night (Night Eye, duration 30, unlimited uses) Demoralize is quite strong and works quite well. Good if you are outnumbered. Eye of Night is good for dungeon crawling without a torch, but equivalent to low level illusion spells. Rating: D+ Nord Nordic Frost (Frost Damage, touch, magnitude 50; once a day) Woad (Shield, magnitude 30, duration 60; once a day) Resist Frost (magnitude 50, constant). Resist Frost is ok, but only 50. Its not as common as fire, but its all right. Woad is a medium shield spell once per day, Nordic Frost is a combat starter for the first 4 levels. Rating: C Orc Berserk (Fortify Health 20, Fortify Fatigue 200, Fortify Strength 50, Drain Agility 100, duration 60; once a day) Resist Magicka (magnitude 25) Resist Magicka is always nice, but 25 is not much. Berserk includes a 50 strength Boost and the Fatigue Boost helps your power attacks greatly. Very nice for melee fighters, but only once per day. Rating: c+ (A- for fighters) Redguard Adrenaline Rush (Fortify Agility 50, Fortify Speed 50, Fortify Strength 50, Fortify Endurance 50, Fortify Health 25; duration 60) Resist Poison (magnitude 75) Resist Disease (magnitude 75) Four Attribute Boosts of 50 ! This is a really great ability for melee and ranged fighters. Sure, only once per day - but the boost is just incredible. Poison and Disease Resistance are nice, but you will find enough potions for a cure anyway. Rating: B- (A for fighters) Wood Elf Beast Tongue (Command Creature, magnitude 20, duration 60, once a day) Resist Disease (magnitude 75) Well, er. magnitude 20 ? You don't even summon your beast ? Bad joke ! Resist Disease - or just keep a potion ready. Rating: D |||| Conclusion |||| Breton is a good race for anybody, followed by Dark Elves and Argonians. For Atronach players, High Elves might be a good Idea. Redguards and Orcs are interesting for their once a day attribute boost, but i honestly prefer good constant effects over great once a day effects. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | [CBDG03] CHOOSE YOUR BIRTHSIGN | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are four basic kinds: Attribute Birth signs, which are not really necessary: you can max your all attributes and then some. They do provide a nice boost for the first few levels however. Spelllike Ability Birth signs to get you one or more abilities. Magicka Birth signs, to get higher Magicka. And The interesting Birth sign(tm) - the name says it all. --------------------- | Attribute Birth signs | --------------------- The Thief (Fortified Agility 10, Speed 10, Luck 10) High Boost, since Luck +10 is worth 50 Attribute points, all in all you get the equivalent of 70 level-up Attribute points - see character Development Section for explanation Rating B The Warrior (Fortified Strength 10, Fortified Endurance 10) Equals 20 more starting hit points and one more hit point at level up until Endurance is at maximum. 10 Str is not bad either, both for encumbrance and dishing out damage. Rating C The Steed (Fortified Speed 20) You will be able to outrun most enemies at early levels, which is good to get Magicka and Fatigue back up, for hit and run tactics etc. However, this effect wont last long. Rating D+ The Lady (Fortified Willpower 10, Fortified Endurance 10) 20 more starting hit points and one more hit point at level up until Endurance is at maximum. (Barely) faster Magicka regeneration. Not as good as The Warrior, but might be a better choice for a mage. Rating: C- -------------------------------- | Spell like Ability Birth signs | -------------------------------- The Lord (Restore Health 6/sec for 15 sec Weakness to fire magnitude 25, constant) Well, this is bad. Restore Health is good for the first 10 levels, weakness to fire is bad forever. Rating: F The Shadow (Invisibility 60 sec, once per day) Invisibility is a useful spell, but it IS a spell - and you wont even need illusion as a major skill to get it... Rating: D+ The Serpent (As a single ability Damage Health touch, magnitude 3 for 20 sec Dispel (magnitude 90 Cure Poison Damage Fatigue self, magnitude 100) 60 damage over 20 sec is nothing. Cure Poison and Dispel are ok, but nothing special. And you pay 100 Fatigue. Rating: D The Lover (Paralyse 10 sec, touch, damage 120 fatigue on self) 10 Second duration, that's the paralyse spell on master level, quite a treat i think. Rating: B- The Tower (Open Average Lock 1/day Reflect Damage 5 points for 120 sec 1/day) Might be a sign for you if you are bad in the lock picking mini game (its reaction based after all) and don't use illusion. A 5 Point Reflect Damage is nice only at the start. Rating: D+ The Ritual (Restore Health 100, 1/day Turn Undead (100 for 30 sec, 1/day) Expert level Restore Health is nice, but you can use potions and spells instead. Turn Undead is ok, too. If you don't have high restoration, this might be interesting - but once per day is simply not enough. Rating: D --------------------- | Magicka Birth signs | --------------------- The Mage (Fortified Magicka 50) The standard Birth sign for casters. But all classes that use magic will benefit from this sign. No strings attached, this is a safe pick. Rating: B (A- for mages) The Apprentice (Fortified Magicka 100 Weakness to Magicka 100) 50 more magicka than The Mage is not worth dying for. For you will die with this birth sign. You might pick Breton for a combined Weakness to Magicka 50 and Maximum Magicka +150, but i don't recommend it. Rating: F (C for mages) -------------------------------- | The interesting Birth sign(tm) | -------------------------------- The Atronach (Fortified Magicka 150 Spell Absorption 50 No Magicka regeneration! ) This sign is just great. And I'm not talking about the Magicka bonus. I would pick it even if it had a Magicka malus - the real special is the 50% Spell Absorption - imagine this: You get hit by magic in only 50% of all cases, the rest gets absorbed completely. If you get items or spells that add another 50% Spell Absorption, that's like immunity to fire, frost, shock and magicka all in one ! For pure fighters, there is no downside, But you might think, no Magicka regeneration really gimps a caster ? The obvious solution - Potions - costs time and money. Shrines and the like replenish Magicka, but wont help in the middle of a dungeon. Your Spell Absorption will do the trick: If your enemies don't cast spells on you anyway, summon a wraith (or ghost), hit it three times and it will start to attack you with magic only. Full Magicka guaranteed (low level ghosts may damage you a little and take three or four summons)! If you foresee a tough fight, you can take the ghost with you to keep your Magicka up. It also works with other summoned casters, but the ghost/wraith/gloom wraith line works best. A possible downside: In big fights, pure destruction mages may run out of Magicka if all opponents are melee without any magic weapons. This should not happen very often if you followed my "focus on prime damage skill and attribute" rule - but keeping some self-made Magicka potions just in case won't hurt. Also, if you are first level and your summoning skill is 25, summoning the ghost might be more expensive than the mana returned. This won't happen later on (later as in level 3 and more). [Clarification: Unlike Resistance, Spell Absorption 50 absorbs 100% of a spell - and it will work on 50% of all spells] Note: The Summon Ghost spell or better is essential for this build, so first thing out of prison should be a quick trip to Chorrol. If you don't have enough money, sell the Mage Guilds Alchemy equipment & potions. Rating: A+ |||| Conclusion |||| The Atronach is the best birth sign, but it also has a huge impact on game play. If that's not your cup of tea, The Mage is good for all spellcasters, The Lover is a good ability sign and The Thief is a great attribute sign. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | [CBDG04] Choose your Skills | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Shouldn't this section be called 'Choose your Class' ? No. Classes are just a selection of major skills, two favoured attributes and a skill package. Take a look at the Skill descriptions here, and if you find a good predefined class in game pick it accordingly. However, the existing classes don't have luck as favoured attribute, and most have stupid skill combinations from a game play perspective - they are ok from the lore perspective, but that's not the point of this guide. First, lets take a quick look which favoured attributes we pick - favoured attribute equals a one time +5 bonus. The first one is obviously luck, since its hard to raise (see Character Development for more info). The other one is up to you, although endurance would be a natural choice, since later endurance changes are not retroactive (your starting health is 2x your starting endurance, not 2x your level 50 endurance). Secondly, pick a skill package. This affects you in two ways: You get a +5 bonus to all package skills (packages are Combat, Magic, Stealth) and you will increase those skills even faster. A major package skill will rise faster than a normal major one, a minor package skill will rise faster than a normal minor but still slower than a normal major. I normally pick stealth or combat, since magic is so easy to raise anyway. Some hardcore power gamers think one should get the package with the least major skills, since your maximum level is determined by (700-(sum of starting major skill points))/10 - but that's not true since you can decrease your skill points in prison. And its not fun. Thirdly, pick your major skills. The 7 major skills rise a lot faster, they start at apprentice level and 10 skill rises in any combination of major skills gives you one level-up. However, you can also raise minor skills, actually as far as major ones - its just slower. Skills give you certain perks at 25 (Apprentice), 50 (Journeyman), 75 (Expert) and 100 (Master) Skill points. The Spell casting skills have no real perks, but the perk levels allow you to cast different spells. Ok lets start... --------------- | Combat Skills | `---------------´ Block (Endurance) Essential Skill for melee. Some good timing is required, but especially later on it will mean the difference between winning a fight barely scratched and loosing badly. Its easy rise, so no need to pick it as major - but DO spend time or money on this lifesaver. Novice: fatigued by blocking Apprentice: not fatigued by blocking Journeyman: shield/weapon takes no damage from blocking (!) Expert: chance to do a knock back counter-attack Master: knock back counter-attack has chance to disarm Rating A- Armourer (Endurance) Repair your stuff to keep it effective. Get it at least to Journeyman if you use armour and weapons so you can repair magical equipment. Good overall skill, but since it just saves some money for repairs and rises fast its not worth a major pick. Novice: cannot repair magic items Apprentice: repair hammers last longer (2x) Journeyman: can repair magic items Expert: Can improve items to 125% - yes they get more effective that way ! Master: never breaks repair hammers Rating C Heavy Armour (Endurance) Either pick this or Light Armour if you wear armour at all. Somewhat cosmetic choices, since both types do not encumber at master level & Light Armour has 50% AC bonus later on. However, the best non-unique Heavy Armour has better enchanting capacity than the best Light Armour and until you reach master level, Heavy Armour is the better choice - encumbrance is not that much of a problem - staying alive is better than carrying more. The third choice, no armour, is hard - especially in many vs one battles. So pick this skill, and pick it major. Novice: 150 % degration rate Apprentice: normal degration Journeyman: 50% slower degration Expert: encumbers only 50% Master: encumbers not at all Rating B+ Blunt (Strength) Maces, Axes, Mauls, Staffs... you name it. A little stronger than blade, but also a little slower. There are more unique Blades than Blunt Weapons, and since effects are an important factor later on, speed wins over damage. If you don't need Blunt for style reasons (Mage Staff, Maul Barb), get Blade. Note by Aerenel: Blunt is stronger against certain creatures, e.g. Skeletons & Slaughterfish Novice: basic power attack Apprentice: Standing Power Attack damage bonus Journeyman: Left/Right Power Attack have chance to disarm Expert: Backwards Power Attack has chance to knock-down Master: Forward Power Attack has chance to paralyse Rating B+ Blade (Strength) Daggers, Short Swords, Long Swords, Claymores, Katanas & Dai-Katanas - something for every range and speed requirement. It wins speed wise over Blunt. It has more variety. It has more unique weapons. And they look cool. So if you want to get into melee at all, pick Blade. Novice: basic power attack Apprentice: Standing Power Attack damage bonus Journeyman: Left/Right Power Attack have chance to disarm Expert: Backwards Power Attack has chance to knock-down Master: Forward Power Attack has chance to paralyse Rating A Athletics (Speed) Well you run & swim faster - and since you run all the time anyway, this skill will go up. Swimming will raise it if you don't get any more raises out of running. Don't take it as major, it will give you gimp levels en masse. Novice: running = slow fatigue regeneration Apprentice: 25% faster fatigue regeneration Journeyman: 50% faster fatigue regeneration Expert: 75% faster fatigue regeneration Master: running does not reduce fatigue regeneration Rating D Hand to Hand (Strength) Hand to Hand is fast - very fast. Knock-downs are abundant. But that's about it. Both damage and reach are minimal. And all those cool weapons won't make you smile in your sleep, and you cannot enchant your fists. (by GTPoompt) Also usefull if your weapon is destroyed by spell or heavy usage. Nordic Boxing (by Isaiah Ari): I think you undervalued hand to hand combat, though. My main character is a Nord and I set him up as a sort of boxer. He wears no armor, just enchanted clothing. It makes him much faster, and the clothes are enchanted to give shield, which compensates for the lack of armor. I also stole an item from Branwen outside the Arena, it gives +20 hand to hand. Combined with paralyze, the whole build works great. Novice: basic power attack Apprentice: Standing Power Attack damage bonus Journeyman: Left/Right Power Attack have chance to disarm Expert: Backwards Power Attack & Block has chance to knock-down Master: Forward Power Attack has chance to paralyse Block has a chance to disarm Rating D+ -------------- | Magic Skills | -------------- Higher magic skill equals lesser spell costs - so if you find one of those "Call me Death Star" spells with high Magicka cost, raise the fitting magic skill. There are no perks, just access to new spells. Alchemy is the exception, it works just like the other non-magic skills. Destruction (Willpower) Magic Damage for all your needs: fire, frost, shock, health, Magicka, equipment, attribute or skill - if it has a rating, you can damage it with destruction. Just destroy your enemy's magic, disintegrate his stuff and enjoy Mr. Superarchmage fighting naked with his fists. Pick it ! Rating: A Alteration (Willpower) Open locks with magic, alter encumbrance on self and others and water walking are the not so good parts of Alteration, but Water Breathing is essential for your underwater expeditions (or Alchemy) and the shield spells (vs normal/elemental damage) are nice, too. Ok, but not really worth a major pick. Rating: C Illusion (Personality) Let your enemies fight against each other, while you watch invisible or join the fight under a chameleon spell. Make them love you, make them fear you. Paralyse them. And this school has the most effective spell versus casters: silence. Its fun, however not absolutely necessary as a major. Rating: A- Conjuration (Intelligence) Well, turn undead and summon weapons/armour is worthless (you want your stuff enchanted and at 125%) . But summoned beasts are nice, willing training dummies, and the best Magicka potion for you atronachs (see birth signs). In fights, you get most damage for your magic from summons, and they also take damage for you. Rating: B (A for Atronach Birth sign) Mysticism (Intelligence) Dispel and Life Detection are not that important, the basic apprentice soul trap is completely sufficient, you don't need telekinesis for most thefts. The real goodies are Spell Absorption & Spell Reflection. On the other hand, both are better used as constant effect items. Not worth the major pick. Rating: C+ Restoration (Willpower) If Destruction allows you to destroy anything with a rating, restoration allows you to absorb all those (health, Magicka, fatigue, skills, attributes), or fortify them, or restore them. You will use this power often - so often in fact that you will be at 50 skill points very fast. 50 is sufficient, so its a must have, but not must have major. Rating: A Alchemy (Intelligence) The jack of all trades magic skill. Make your own potions and poisons for every occasion. Creating new crazy potions is a great game on its own. If you like to try out new stuff, this is for you. Can jump in for any magic school except conjuration. Novice: recognises 1 of 4 properties of substances Apprentice: recognises 2 of 4 properties of substances Journeyman: recognises 3 of 4 properties of substances Expert: recognises 4 of 4 properties of substances Master: make potions from a single ingredient Rating: A- ---------------- | Stealth Skills | ---------------- Security (Agility) Open locks. Well, you can open a very hard lock with one lockpick and skillevel 5, so its not really worth it. If you don't like the mini game, you are better off with Alteration than with high security skill levels. There is also an independant-one-quest item that will remove the last bits of usefulness from this skill. Novice: up to 4 tumblers fall on fail Apprentice: up to 3 tumblers fall on fail Journeyman: up to 2 tumblers fall on fail Expert: up to 1 tumblers fall on fail Master: no tumblers fall on fail Rating D (F with special item) Sneak (Agility) Move unseen, backstab and pick pockets. This skill is great. There is no substitute for pick pockets, Backstabbing is the best way to start a fight and nothing gives you better heart attacks than sneaking into the treasure chamber (or out of prison). Additionally, you wont draw attention if you sneak while lock picking. Pick it major if you are interested the thief guild / heists / assassin methods in general. Novice: 4x back stab, 2x marksman undetected critical Apprentice: 6x back stab, 3x marksman undetected critical Journeyman: no penalty for weight of boots Expert: no penalty to chance of detection for moving Master: back stab ignores armour rating Rating A- Acrobatics (Speed) Jumping and Falling. This skill gets interesting on higher levels: Since there are no levitation spells in Oblivion, high Acrobatics is the only way to reach certain places - for example, there are hidden areas only reachable by water (aka lava) jumping (submitted by Aerenel). The dodge ability is nice against enemy power attacks, real blocks are better to break a normal attack sequence with their counter attack. Also good for getting out of sticky situations in late game (by LtKerensky). Probably no major pick, but you should train this. Novice: no attack when jumping/falling Apprentice: normal attacks when jumping/falling Journeyman: dodge (block & jump to avoid hit completely) Expert: 50% less fatigue loss for jumping Master: jump off the surface of water Rating C+ Light Armour (Speed) Pick this or Heavy Armour. Light Armour means less encumbrance early on, Heavy Armour better defence - but on Master level they are almost equal (no encumbrance, about same defence). Even then, Heavy Armour is better for enchantment. However, until master level Heavy armour is a better, since encumbrance is less important than armour rating. Novice: degrades at 150% of normal rate Apprentice: degrades at normal rate Journeyman: degrades 50% slower Expert: does not encumber at all Master: 50% bonus to armour rating (only for full light armor) Rating: B Marksman (Agility) You want to show Legolas how one REALLY uses a bow ? Pick this skill. Double enchantments (bow & arrow are added) with zoom, knock-down & paralysing chances + 3x critical if you use sneak - your enemies will be in a bad condition when they reach you - if they reach you at all. Drawback: It uses ammo (so what?) and requires some tactical planning in battles against multiple enemies. Novice: fatigued when holding bow drawn back Apprentice: not fatigued when holding bow drawn back Journeyman: block with bow = zoom ability Expert: chance of knock-down Master: Chance of paralysing Rating: A- Mercantile (Personality) High Mercantile = better deals. Since money is lying on the streets anyway, you don't need better deals. Novice: value is reduced by worn condition Apprentice: value is not reduced by worn condition Journeyman: buy and sell any object to any vendor Expert: invest in shops (shops available gold +500) Master: all shops have +500 gold for barter Rating: F Speech craft (Personality) Persuade others. Ok if you don't use illusion, but bribes are working all right in most cases. You can get the disposition up about 30 points in the mini game without any training - add illusion and/or money and you will be all right. Not worth a major pick. Novice: offer bribes to increase Disposition Apprentice: free rotation of a wedge in the mini game Journeyman: timer in mini game is 50% slower Expert: disposition loss by bad choices in mini game is reduced Master: bribes for half price Rating: C- |||| Conclusion |||| Good major skills are Block, Heavy or Light Armour, Blunt or Blade, Destruction, Illusion, Conjuration, Alchemy, (Restoration), Marksman and Sneak. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | [CBDG05] CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The best starting character is worthless if you don't level him up correctly. And the game punishes you severely for not doing so. If you don't plan ahead a little, you will not be able to play beyond medium difficulty, and if you seriously screw up, even medium may get impossible. ------------------------- | Level-Up Game Mechanics | ------------------------- So lets take a look how a level up works: As soon as you have gained 10 skill points in any combination of major skills, you will get a level up. Upon level up, you gain 1/10th of your endurance in Health and can select 3 attributes to be increased. Sounds easy ? Well there is a catch: Skills are tied to attributes, and for every 2 skill points tied to a certain attribute you get a better increase for this attribute on level up. The maximum increase is +5. An example: Your mage has gained 4 Points Mysticism, 5 Points Conjuration & 1 Point Alchemy - all those skills are tied to Intelligence. So if you pick Intelligence on level up, you will get a 5 points boost instead a one point boost. If you had 5 Points Conjuration,, 1 Point Alchemy and 4 Points Destruction, you would get Intelligence x3 and Willpower x2. It does not matter whether the skills are major or minor, all increases add to the stat increase modification. You probably know where this leads: For every level, use a combination of minor and major skill points that give you a +5 increase to two attributes - Luck is not tied to a skill, so it will go up one point per level. You could also just leave luck at 55 and try to get three +5 increases. And don't get any other skill points which will not contribute to those attributes. And don't get all 3 skills tied to one attribute major, since you will have to use them exclusively or not at all that way (remember, 10 points to level up AND 10 points for +5). Obviously, this is horrible. Forget immersion, forget normal exploring, just say "I will be God, and this is necessary". Well... Or don't. I recommend to get one of the many level-up mods that give you x5 for any skill gain since the last level. You still gain your levels honestly, so i consider this to be a fix. If you consider it cheating, say "i will be God, so this is necessarily fun. It is... really !". [Note: I got quite some emails stating its hard to find the mod, and indeed i couldn't find a "one change only" mod any more, So i posted one that just gives you +5 for any skill gains since the last level, nothing else. Its on www.oblivionsource.com/?page=modforge&op=viewproject&project_id=264 Someone deleted it. I found it again on http://files.filefront.com/plus5alwaysesp/;4919583;;/fileinfo.html If you read this guide and the last update was some time ago, it might be a better idea search the web for "plus5always" or "plus5always.esp" ] ----------------------- | Character Development | ----------------------- I will assume you got your +5 increases in one way or another. But its still a good idea to keep focused, At level 14, you can have 60 in every attribute (and Luck 68). Or you can have 100 Endurance and 100 in your main attribute: Strength for melee fighters, Agility for archers, Intelligence for mages. The first character will be lost on hard, and difficult on medium, the second will be easy on medium, and sometimes challenging in hard. |||| So, first rule of fight club |||| Maximize Endurance first ! Endurance = Health, and Health you need. The only stat that does not work retroactive. |||| Second rule ||||| Maximize Endurance first ! And focus on it. Its really important to have enough health to stay alive in a hard 6 vs 1 battle on maximum difficulty. It still won't be enough health, but less health is suicide. |||| Third rule |||| Maximize one important attribute ! - And I'm not talking about Personality. The attribute tied to your damage dealing skill should be max. For melee, that's Strength, for Archery Agility, for Magic Intelligence or a mix of Willpower and Intelligence. |||| Forth rule |||| Some focus on the damage dealing Skill is important. You don't need to hurry as much, and maxing out is not the prime goal, but your prime damage dealer should be in the upper seventies rather sooner than later. |||| fifth rule |||| Don't forget your minor support skills. After you got a decent prime damage skill, your further skill development is really up to you. You are safe now. ----------------- | Training Skills | ----------------- Learning by doing - and learning more by doing more, or how you train specific skills outside normal combat. Spellcasting Skills: Most schools have training cantrips, cheap spells you can cast onto yourself while running to the next town / quest. Illusion has Light, Alteration has Protect, Mysticism has Minor Life Detection. Conjuration and Destruction are best trained together: Summon Skeleton and blast it away with Flare. ------Liq writes------ for destruction training, getting to the spell maker allows one to make a self nuke that drains fatigue ---------------------- Alchemy: Create some endurance potions made of common food - its lying around everywhere. ------Adam Stasiak writes------ Since the potions usually sell for more than the ingredients, you can go to all the ingredient sellers you choose, and buy up all their cheap ingredients (2-4g). Then pretty much just make whatever you can with all that. Once you sell it all you will probably have made a profit. As you get to 25,50,75 it gets easier and easier since it's easier to find valid potion combinations. But this can be a lot faster and less tedious than wandering through the fields. ------------------------------- Fighting Skills: Hit your summoned Skeleton for Hand to Hand, Blade, Blunt and Marksman, let it hit you for Light and Heavy Armour, and block its attacks for Block. (by Reimer the_maestro:) You could also get yourself some rats - lets call them Martin, Davis and Sinatra - for some rounds of block and armour. They hit fast without much damage and thus increase defensive skills much better than any summoned creature. ------Adam Stasiak writes------ For training combat skills and destruction, basically anything where you need a victim. The Zombie seems a much better victim than the skeleton. He has MANY more hitpoints, and attacks a bit slower. So you can hit him that many more times per summoning. I would also recommend using bad weapons to train (iron club, iron dagger, iron bow) since they are both cheap and do less damage. You can also let these wear down in quality so their damage rating is down to 1 or 2. The skill gain seems to be based on the number of hits, not the damage you do, so there's no point in killing them too quickly, only to have to summon another one. This also makes it easier if you want to avoid raising conjuration. ------------------------------- ------Morph writes------ For marksman skill, if you hit the pickup button right after the fire button, you can pickup the arrow right as it bounces off your summoned critters. It works mighty effectively for conserving arrows! ------------------------ ------Gessie writes------ Heavy/Light Armor can be trained very easily. Simply drink some Shield potions to get your rating up to 85, then drink another restore health potion, and get beaten up by a bunch of guards. The Imperial Prison is a good place to find guards, since there won't be any other NPC's who will join the fight. Imagine 5 guards constantly using swift blade attacks on you, meaning about 3 hits every second, more if you stand in the right place. ------------------------- Armourer: Repair everything, repair hammers are cheap and you gain skillpoints fast. (by Adam Stasiak:) The amount of skill gained is not per repaired damage, but per repair skill application. So repair everything every time its damaged, even if its only one point. Using the fact that bows are damaged for every fired arrow, use e.g. five bows to fire an arrow into the grass at your feet, pick em up, repair the bow, repeat. ------Joseph Carmona writes------ create a destroy armor spell that works on yourself :-) --------------------------------- Security: Picking locks, this way: ------Michael Grazier writes------ Well, the best way I've found to do it is to lock a tumbler or two in place, exit out, and then re-attempt the lock. Repeat ad nauseum and your lock picking should go up relatively quick. ---------------------------------- Sneak: Go into a room with a person inside, go to a corner of the room, sneak. If you keep walking (even if you just walk against the wall), your Sneak skill will rise. -----Stephen(vitamin dew) writes:------ At the bottom you give training tips. Another good, maybe even better, way to raise sneak is to finish the arena and get your fan. Then tele to a cave and go inside, he will appear in front of you and you can just sneak and pick pocket for as long as you want. Another way to do it, but I don't know if it works right away or if you need a few levels. You can sit in front of a bed at an outside camp(Kvatch) and just pick pocket him to his face and sleep after each level. --------------------------------------- Like athletics, you dont have to be present to raise sneak: ------Chase writes------ get arrested and when ur in jail go into a corner and put a rubber band on the left thumbstick so that you walk into the corner and just come back in about 30 min and you will go from like 1 sneak to maybe 100 i did this from less than 40 and i went all the way up to 100, its just a lot less work you need to do ------------------------ Athletics: Swimming raises this one fast, far faster than running which you do all the time anyway. ------Adam Stasiak writes------ Hit Q to go into auto-run mode, find a pool with a steep edge in a corner, face into that corner, and go grab a cup of coffee while your character swims their way to a brand new body. ------------------------------- Acrobatics: Jumping around, especially this way: ------Brett Johnson writes------ hey for acrobatics i found it really easy to get your head close to the top of a wall by jumping on places like a shelf in the cloud ruler temple armoury... -------------------------------- Another very good way: ------Chris Raine writes------ Great guide! Here's a faster way to train acrobatics: Find a place to fall just enough to take damage without getting killed (I used one of the terrace walls in Bruma because stairs are so accessible). Jump off, groan with pain, heal yourself while running back up the stairs, jump again. Taking damage from falls does much more acrobatics training than just jumping. ------------------------------ The same idea, improved some more: ------Morph writes------ Chris Raine has the right idea, but it's too slow ~ the best way is to go up to "Gnoll Mountain" which is somewhere to the right of Bruma (above the county of bruma and under the big M of mountain). Then, from there, run toward imperial city, jumping all the way! Eventually, you'll come up the same elevation as the Imperial City. At this point, fast travel up to Gnoll Mountain, and jump and fall again! Works great =) ------------------------ Speech craft: Play the persuasion mini game with everyone. ------NightStik writes------ In order to quickly train the Speechcraft skill, what you should do is talk to someone about whom you don't care (say a guard) and go to the Persuade option. Every time just click the smallest wedge on each block as it goes around the circle. The disposition will eventually hit zero, but your speechcraft will continue to raise when you do this. ---------------------------- Mercantile Buying/selling stuff. But how you sell is important, too: ------Ender writes------ OK, so Mercantile raises by how many transactions you do with the other person, Not by how much you've earned or how many things you sell. So, a good way to raise Mercantile and Alchemy at the same time is: Grab all the food you find Make Restore Fatigue potions Sell the Restore Fatigue potions one at a time ------------------------ There are also trainers who charge money for increasing your skill - might be interesting for high Athletics and Security. You will need a recommendation from the medium trainers to train with master (70+) trainers, who normally also want you to complete a quest. ------Aerenel writes------ Each new level still only has 5 points. So to get important skills up to a perk fast, such as HA to reduce weight, armourer to repair magic items, alchemy to make better potions, etc, it is technically best to use all 5 trains starting at level one and never failing. -------------------------- I think he has a point. Lvl 10+ money is abundant, and high skill level training without a teacher gets slow. On low levels, getting the money uses far more time than some rats gnawing on your boots for a minute. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | [CBDG0A] APPENDIX A: SAMPLE CHARACTER BUILDS | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Spellcatcher Race: Breton Birth sign: The Atronach Skill package: Combat Favoured Attributes: Luck, Endurance Skills: Blade, Heavy Armour, Illusion, Destruction, Conjuration, Alchemy, Sneak Normal Combat looks like this: After the initial 6x critical power attack with a blade imbued with self-made poison, the spellcatcher tries to keep the attention of his enemy while his pet happily whacks on the unprotected back. If the enemy is humanoid, he will fight with bare fists after a few Corrode Weapon spells. Magic combat is where the fun starts: Instead of avoiding enemy spells, the Spellcatcher tries to catch them, using the gained Magicka to play Fireball ping-pong. Alas, most times the Spellcatcher is the only one with a racquet. In times of peace, he lets friendly summoned ghosts replenish his magicka while he's searching ingredients for stronger poisons and combat drugs. Battlemage (by Stefan Lindberg) Race: High Elf Birth sign: The Atronach Skill package: Magic Favoured Attributes: Luck, Endurance Skills: Blade, Heavy Armour, Illusion, Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Mysticism (explanation by myself) Highest possible Magicka, and 5 immunities are easily reachable: Magicka, Frost, Fire and Shock by additional 50% Absorption items/spells, Poison by additional 25% items/spells. Add Heavy Armour and a damage shield, perhaps some resistance to mundane damage items and this guy will eat damage like dragons do (and then some). Thief Lord (by GigaFire) Race: Breton or Dark Elf Birthsign: Atronach or Thief Skill Package: Stealth Favored Attributes: Strength/Luck Skills: Blade, Light Armor, Illusion, Destruction, Sneak, Marksman, Conjuration The point of this build is to take out some enemies with a sneak blow, then be prepared to handle more guys without sneak or handle your initial target if he survives the sneak multiplier. Light Armor should protect you for the duration of the battle, especially at master level. If it's too light where your target is and you can't get a sneak blow with your blade, then you simply pull out your trusty bow and fire an arrow or two. With Illusion, you can stalk through dungeons binded to the shadows, possibly with invisibility, and see twice as clearly as your foes. If your foe happens to be Umbra or something, summon a Xivilai, blast away her armor and weapon with a destruction spell, and watch the fireworks. Also, for Atronach players, you can summon a ghost so it can "share" its magic with you. Invincible Chameleon (by Gessie) Race: Breton Sign: Thief Attributes: Endurance, Luck Skills: Marksman, Light Armor (an archer wearing ebony simply looks lame), the rest: Whatever you want, really. Tactics: Get the Ring of the Kajiit (35% chameleon, 10 speed) and enchant 3 other items with Chameleon, giving you a total of 95%. Cast 6% Chameleon for 120 seconds. Nothing can see you, you get infinite stealth hits. If you have higher Illusion skill you should be able to cast 30% or 50% Chameleon for such a duration, meaning that you need less enchantments, meaning more skill/attribute buffs. [...] An alternative is drinking Chameleon potions like mad. [...] Bloodgrass has Chameleon as the first effect, so a master can create 0.1 weight Chameleon potions using just bloodgrass. (Comment by me) Pro: You are invincible! Con: You are invincible... (Your Character build could be here - only requirement is hard difficulty capability) ------------------------------------------------------------------ | [CBDG0B] APPENDIX B: GENERAL GAMEPLAY TIPS | ------------------------------------------------------------------ Early money: Sell all this free alchemy equipment and those silver daggers from the mage guild. Do some arena fights. Pick any lock: After the tumbler went up very fast, it will go up at constant speed next time, so just click as soon as its up. Another way is to listen for the additional click sound that only happens if the tumbler is slow. -> Very hard locks with one lockpick Move while fighting: If you see one of those sloow attack moves, that's a power attack - move back to avoid it or sidestep and attack yourself. Blocking is good to break an normal attack sequence, but enemy power attacks should be dodged. Circling around an enemy also helps if he is using slow weapons/attacks in general. Everyone needs the Mages Guild (Andrew Harris): 2 very important options are only available in the Mages Guild in the Capital: 1) Spell making - 100 charm for 2 seconds is better and cheaper than 50 for 30 seconds, since time stops on conversations anyway! 2) Item enchantment - you can hope to find the perfect item, or you just create it for yourself Resist the Guards: But don't fight, just run like hell. After two or three areas they will stop to run after you. Now travel to the Thieves Guild and pay half price fines while keeping all your stolen stuff. ------Scheherazade writes------ Dodging fines doesn't require entry into the Thieves' Guild. When you arrive at a city, make a point of fawning on all the guards. When their disposition is in the eighties or nineties, you're set. If you get caught stealing or such, guards who like you will often waive the fine for you. It'll hurt their disposition towards you, but it's usually cheaper to bribe them than to surrender your stolen goods. In the off chance that a guard decides to press the fine, resist arrest. You can yield to them by blocking and activating them. It will buy you a few seconds to make a getaway. ------------------------------- ------Joseph Carmona writes------ Found a decent way to avoid small fines with the guards. Create a 100% Charm spell @ 5 seconds, if you get caught, and they arrest you, resist arrest, cast the spell then yield they will almost always pay for the fine (I think it works for anything small, haven't tired it with big fines such as murder yet) --------------------------------- Faster Spellcasting: ------Morph------ It's essential to hold down block as you cast... for much faster casting! Also, create your own spell for less mana usage. ie, I created a 1 second 1 magnitude shield to cast over and over! ----------------- Save on different slots: Quick save can be too quick sometimes. If you didn't save for days, don't forget you could temporarily turn difficulty down in special situations (No Magicka/no potions to summon battery ghost in Oblivion). Utilize Alchemy for power...: Hard fights will get easy with the right combination of potions. Trust me, as soon as you start to fight high, you don't want to miss it. And you can use your magic for the important things like testing whether your enemy will strip if you magically burden him enough. ...and profit: ------Gessie------ One last thing, a good tip about making money:Get your Alchemy to 100 (yes, I'm an Alchemy freak) and pay a little visit to the swampland East of Leyawiin. You'll find mushrooms all over the place, 20 minutes of picking will result in hundreds of shrooms. That translates to hundreds of potions, and each will be worth 30 to 60 gold, depending on your alchemy equipment.Oh, and I guess it wasn't the last, 6) This is a great way to train Alchemy as well. ------------------ Create items: With Soul gems, money and a mundane weapon or a piece of armour/clothing/jewellery, you can create your own magic items. Try to get constant effects. An example: ------esmonkeyboy------ I'm guessing you already know this, but another alternative for the Water Breathing spell besides potions is a filled Petty Soul Gem, 2000 gold, and whatever piece of jewelry fits your fancy. I suppose the 2000 gold might be a little hard early on, but that's what I do. ----------------------- Take your time: Oblivion is not just beautiful, it has really interesting and well thought out quests for a change. E.g. the rat problem, the painter, the dream. Good stats are nice, but don't miss this other world called Tamriel. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | [CBDG0C] APPENDIX C: SPELL DISCUSSION | ----------------------------------------------------------------- I decided to do a spell discussion here later on, i think a pure spell list won't help much. Until i find the time to do it, a good spell list can be found in Bon "Brynne" Cottle Oblivion Balanced Character Creation Guide on Gamefaqs (although i think its too big for a chargen guide, its a great piece of reference material). ----------------------------------------------------------------- | [CBDG0D] APPENDIX D: CHANGES TO MORROWIND | ----------------------------------------------------------------- General: - Perks for 25, 50, 75 and 100 skill points - new Minigames for persuasion and lockpicking - you cannot wear clothes over/under your armour - no Unarmoured skill - no Medium Armour (by LibraScythe) - no Thrown Weapons (by LibraScythe) Magic: - No chance to fail: if your skill is too low, you cannot learn it, if you know a spell, you always cast it successfully. - Spell maker is seriously gimped - No levitation/flight spells - no teleport spells - Enchantment as a school is out - fast mana regeneration ! - no magic mushroom tower ----------------------------------------------------------------- | VERSION HISTORY | ----------------------------------------------------------------- v.1.3.8 2007/12/08 - I was told the "i dont care bout copyright" line was stupid. Guess thats right, so the guide is now licensed under Creative Commons -> See new copyright notice v.1.3.7 2007/09/18 - since i dont play Oblivion anymore, i didnt update my guide. But i got some emails about the plus5always mod missing and some other imput i want to share. - Added new location for plus5always and exact mod name for websearches - Added Create your own stuff tip - Heavy/Light Armour training by Gessie - Invincible Chameleon by Gessie - Alchemy for Profit by Gessie - Sneak training coffee break by Chase - Thief Lord by Preetham Ganupuru - Water breathing jewellery by esmonkeyboy - Nordic Boxing (Hand to Hand Update) by Isaiah Ari - Changes to Morrowind update (by LibraScythe) V.1.3.6 2006/05/10 - had nice holidays -> no update / email answers for quite some time. I didn't and won't answer all mails, just got too much also from other projects (311 for this quide alone). - fixed error stating major skills start at Journeyman, they start at apprentice level (by Digital Terror) - Destruction training by Liq - Light armor master bonus for -full- light armor (GTPoompt) - Hand to Hand as backup (by GTPoompt) - Security made useless by special item (lots of people) - fast spellcasting (by Morph) - improved Marksman training (by Morph) - improvement for the improved Acrobatics (by Morph) - tip for armour training (by Joseph Carmona) - Guards best friend (by Joseph Carmona) - fixed error in levelup example (by Stephen Gates) V.1.3.5 2006/04/08 - fixed even more typos (hooray for spellcheckers!) - Atronach / High Elf combination (by Stefan Lindberg & Reimer the_maestro) - 3 skills for one attribute major = bad (by Stefan Lindberg) - Battlemage (by Stefan Lindberg) - restoration is tied to WIS, not INT (by ben hopkins) - Rat Pack (by Reimer the_maestro) - Security training by Michael Grazier V.1.3.4 2006/04/06 - Mage guild for everyone by Andrew Harris - improved combat training by Adam Stasiak - improved Alchemy by Adam Stasiak - improved Armourer by Adam Stasiak - improved Athletics by Adam Stasiak - added download location for +5 mod - changed spell chapter V.1.3.3 2006/04/04 - Location of Summon Ghost for Atronach players - Added explanation for resistances/weaknesses - Changed Athletics description and rating - Some typos, different wording (by Duncan) - clarified 100 % Magic resistance does not apply to elemental magic - fire, frost, shock (by Priyesh) - even better mana batteries by Daman Bouya - lockpicking while sneaking by The Admiral - Added improved Speechcraft Training by NightStik - Dodging fines by Scheherazade - Jumping out of sticky situations by LtKerensky V.1.3.2 2006/04/04 - Added improved Acrobatics Training by chris raine - Another way for Acrobatics Trainig by Brett Johnson - Added improved Mercantile by Ender - Alternation should be Alteration typo by john (i thought it was derived from alternative, thanx!) - light armour gets a 50% boost at master level, i wrote 150% in the heavy armour description (fixed by Aerenel) - example for useful high acrobatics (by Aerenel) - changed The Mage birthsign rating (by Aerenel) - expanded Atronach Example (by Aerenel) - enchantment capacity light vs. heavy (by Aerenel) - expanded paid trainer section (by Aerenel) V.1.3.1 2006/04/03 - fixed some typos, most glaring Atronach = 0% spell absorbtion (corrected by Gar Hong) - High Elf Magica is 100 (corrected by Comazon) - Explanation Spell Absorbtion - Corrected Atronach Example - Added Sneak Training by vitamin dew V.1,3 2006/04/01 - Translation to English, first publication on gamefaqs - tuned down bad language for general public V.1.2 2006/03/31 - Added Appendices B, C, D V.1.1 2006/03/29 - added quick jump to table of contents - indenting for better overview Fixed errors: - High Elf Magicka bonus is 50, not 100 (this is an error, no fiy see 1.3.1 - fixed Level Up Game Mechanics example V.1.0 2006/03/28 German publication ----------------------------------------------------------------- | CREDITS | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Contributors to this guide: Bethesda - they made the game Me - precious hours outside Tamriel were sacrificed for this The guy - who created the ascii-art aeons ago in IRC Daniel - he showed me how good alchemy is Cat - she told me to translate it, and I cannot say no to her. Actually she just mentioned it casually. Brett Johnson - better way for training arcobatics Chris Raine - a different better way for training acrobatics Ender - better way for training mercantile Aerenel - lots of major and minor points on HtH/Blade/Blunt, secrets with acrobatics, skill training... Pryesh - brought attention to the magicka / elemental resistance difference - resistance section Daman Bouya - wraith/gloom wraith for high level atronach NightStik - better way for training speechcraft Scheherazade - different way to dodge fines LtKerensky - jumping in fights Andrew Harris - importance of enchantment / spell making Adam Stasiak - several training improvments (Combat, Alchemy, Armourer, Athletics) Stefan Lindberg - High Elf & Atronach + game mechanics Reimer the_maestro - also High Elf & Atronach, Rat training Michael Grazier - better way for Security training Liq - better way for Destruction training GTPoompt - light armor master bonus only for full light armor, point on HtH Morph - faster spellcasting, improved Marksman training, very fast acrobatics Joseph Carmona - Dodging Fines and Armor training tip Gessie - Invincible Chameleon, Alchemy Money and Armour Training Chase - Sneak coffee break GigaFire - Thief Lord Esmonkeyboy - Constant effects with soul gems Isaiah Ari - Hand to Hand Update LibraScythe - More Changes to Morrowind Friendly Typo Monkeys: Gar Hong, Jonathan Mann, Duncan Error fixers: Comazon, Aerenel, Duncan, Priyesh, The Admiral, Ben Hopkins, Digital Terror, Stephen Gates ----------------------------------------------------------------- | COPYRIGHT | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This document is distributed under the Creative Commons by-nc-sa license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ You are allowed <> to Share â to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work <> to Remix â to make derivative works ...under the following conditions: <> Attribution - You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). <> Noncommercial - You may not use this work for commercial purposes. <> Share Alike - If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.