Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Character Build-up & Development Guide
Version 1.3.6 2006/05/10
Copyright 2006 Thomas "Sajin" Bergmann
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.
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| INTRO & CONTACT INFORMATION |
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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.
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| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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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
Quick jump to a section: Copy & paste the Code into your search box
(in windows CTRL-F)
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
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
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| Directly derived from attributes are the following |
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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.
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.
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| [CBDG02] CHOOSE YOUR RACE |
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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.
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.
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| [CBDG03] CHOOSE YOUR BIRTHSIGN |
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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.
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-
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| Spell like Ability Birth signs |
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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.
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)
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| The interesting Birth sign(tm) |
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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.
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| [CBDG04] Choose your Skills |
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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...
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.
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.
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
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
If you read this guide and the last update was 4 years ago, it might
be a better idea to look at the mod section on the official forums ]
-----------------------
| 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!
------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------
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 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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).
(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:
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.
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.
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
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.1.3.6 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
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
Friendly Typo Monkeys: Gar Hong, Jonathan Mann, Duncan
Error fixers: Comazon, Aerenel, Duncan, Priyesh, The Admiral,
Ben Hopkins, Digital Terror, Stephen Gates
I don't care about copyright. This file is all my own work unless
otherwise noted in credits, but you can use it in whatever way
you like - would be nice if you give credit where credit is due.
