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[Dr_Cogent]

yup. At master alchemy with master equipment I also find the ones you make to be much more useful. The steady replenishment over time means you can spam magic like crazy and you eventually recover much more than you would from the instant-restore pots you pick up.

I only have one master item. Are there any specific dungeons I can go to, to get more master equipment? It's pretty frustrating.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Yeah, but the thing is - the ones you make are real light. .1 in weight so I can carry a ton of them.

Ah, I didn't know that. I ditched alchemy altogether a while ago after a crash wiped out over an hour of mixing potions straight. I might dabble with it if I try another character. I'm considering doing one focused on all the skills I'm not using now. It would be a weird combination, but could be fun.

 

[Nerevar]

I only have one master item. Are there any specific dungeons I can go to, to get more master equipment? It's pretty frustrating.

nah, I just found them as I went along. I was doing the mages guild at a relatively high level, so I found scores of them among all the necromancer nests I had to clean out.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Steveo, got any recommendations on where to hit where I might find me some sweet alchemy master stuff?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'd say if I find three potions in the game, one is restore magicka of some level, one is a restore health of some level, and one is something else completely random. So, I always have a ton of restore potions on me at any given time.

I guess those Welkyand stones would come in handy for recharging magicka as well. I've got 150+ of them in a chest in Skingrad, but they would be a much bigger bonus if you were born under the sign of the Atronach.

 

[raYne]

As he said, you should've found most, if not all of them, during the Mages Guild questline. Especially if you did it when you were above level 20 or so.

Location-wise, they'll be found anywhere Necromancers hang out. You could probably use the any of the Necro Moon shrines as starting points:


-Fort Linchal (north east of Kvatch)
-Dark Fissure (east from the shrine of Vaermina)
-Fort Istirus (east of Kvatch)
-Wendelbek (at the headwaters of the Panther River)

Just explore the fort/dungeon whatever that they're infront of.

 

[Confidence Man]

I played an atronarch character in Morrowind and found it much more balanced. It seems kind of shoehorned into Oblivion. The fact that magicka regenerates constantly in Oblivion, while it didn't in Morrowind, totally breaks the sign. I'm curious as to how you got by, especially early on, when very few enemies actually use magic against you. I can see it sort of being viable later, when you can easily absorb all magic cast at you, but even then you're going to be SOL fighting against non magic-using enemies (which make up a good majority of what you fight). I mean, I can actually see it as more useful in a non magic-based character (like a fighter), where you only use magic sparingly. Then the magicka regen might not be crippling. But you'd still have to really level alchemy so you can make magic regen potions to make up for the fact that you don't regenerate at all.

edit: the inability to create enchanted items that can cast magic also really hampers the atronarch, as my atronarch character pretty much abused that in Morrowind to complement my own spellcasting abilities.

I didn't have much trouble at all early on. Obviously you've got to balance it with a decent alchemy skill and I definitely wouldn't use the sign if I were making a magic-based character using high level spells, but I didn't have a hard time with it at all.

I found it even harder to use in Morrowind because you basically needed Mark & Recall, along with various other spells that were much more useful than they are in Oblivion (or nonexistant). It took a long time before you could amass the money and base items to create really good magic items in Morrowind, so you had to rely on standard spells a lot more. Now in Oblivion constant effect items are so plentiful and you start finding them so early in comparison you don't have to bother with a lot of spells that would otherwise be really useful (and the security minigame is so easy to master that lockpicking spells are worthless).

 

[GhaleonEB]

So - what does Luck do? The manual says is helps everything, but that wasn't specific enough for me to ever put any points to it. I might do a character and pump that up just for the heck of it.

 

[raYne]

So - what does Luck do? The manual says it helps everything, but that wasn't specific enough for me to ever put any points to it. I might do a character and pump that up just for the heck of it.

That's pretty much it. For example, in battle it does things like give you a higher chance to paralyse, disarm or knock down enemies (when you have those skills).

..and to be clear for anyone who doesn't know. By "skills" I mean the special attacks you can do when you're blade skills go beyond certain levels (you then hold a direction and hold the attack button to initiate the attack). Not some paralysis spell or whatever...

 

[GhaleonEB]

That's pretty much it. For example, in battle it does things like give you a higher chance to paralyse, disarm or knock down enemies (when you have those skills).

See, that's what I needed. Something specific so that I saw some benefit from it. I might just make a luckly little elf or something. :lol

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Don't feel too bad man, I haven't put any points into luck either, and very few into Personality. Probably only about 10 or so, even though I know it would help me more directly with NPC's. :lol

 

[raYne]

Don't feel too bad man, I haven't put any points into luck either, and very few into Personality. Probably only about 10 or so, even though I know it would help me more directly with NPC's. :lol

That's what charm spells are for.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Don't feel too bad man, I haven't put any points into luck either, and very few into Personality. Probably only about 10 or so, even though I know it would help me more directly with NPC's. :lol

I have a terrible personality. Er, my avatar does anyways. :lol

I burn a lotta cash on bribes.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I've gotten quite good at the mini-game where you influence the NPC's. Not that that is surprising, since it's so easy, but I know I'd probably get better results if I put more points into personality. But I figure, Hell, I'm the most famous guy in the land, they should all worship me at this point!

 

[SteveMeister]

So - what does Luck do? The manual says is helps everything, but that wasn't specific enough for me to ever put any points to it. I might do a character and pump that up just for the heck of it.

Every time a skill is used in a game formula, it is modified based on your luck. A Luck of 50 means no modification. Below 50, and the skill is reduced. Above 50 and it is increased (but the effective skill level still caps at 100).

 

[Dice]

Ok so I started over, no more of that Barbarian Nord crap. After realizing how I liked to play the game as well as how the leveling works, I made a custom ("Warlock"hehe) class Dark Elf.

I love it! Here is the setup...

Dark Elf, Custom Class - "Warlock", Lady Sign

That makes starting stats:
STR 40 - INT 45 - WLPR 45 - AGL 40
SPD 50 - END 50 - PRSN 30 - LCK 50

Good mix for sneaking and not getting my ass kicked too fast, enough strength for hauling the wares (I like robbing things) so I won't have to touch it again, but magic is up to decent levels and will be the focus of development.

Bonuses:
Summon Ghost 60sec (nice for start), Resist Fire 75% (nice for long time)

Affinity: Magic
Major Skills: Illusion, Conjuration, Alteration, Marksman, Sneak, Restore (to take the edge off the start and get me to status heals earlier since I may get a bad rep with the gods) and Destruction (can't rely on summons for everything)

Things to train:
Athletics, Acrobatics, Light Armor, Sneaking - These are all easy to develop.

So far I sneaked all the way through the start and then when I got to the imerpial city I sneaked around behind the guy at the Inn to get up to Journeyman level on that. I should reach expert level tomorrow. This character is a lot of fun, I can snipe attack for 3x damage then summon two creatures and shoot magic while they're fighting my enemies. I haven't done any missions yet, but I did snipe a bandit in the head from all the way across the lake.

What's the difference between low and high class bows? So far I'm not seeing a damage difference, so do they just fire more straight? I've also been looking around but can't find anyone far enough away from a guard to murder, so that may have to wait until I'm stronger, or maybe I'll just help the guys at Kvatch a little bit and off a guard along the way.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Quality of the Bow determines what enchantments you can place on the item, such as flame or frost damge. Quality of the arrows determines the damage you put out. Don't forget to add poisons to your arrows for even more damge and fund.

 

[aaaaa0]

I have a terrible personality. Er, my avatar does anyways. :lol

I burn a lotta cash on bribes.

I call it "Jedi Mind Trick":

Fortify Attribute Personality Self 100 for 2 sec.
Fortify Skill Merchantile Self 100 for 2 sec.
Charm Area 10ft 100 for 2 sec.

Cheap to cast because it only lasts 2 seconds

Spoiler

but time is paused during conversations

. :lol

 

[GhaleonEB]

Okay, hopefully someone can tell me if I'm screwed.

I'm doing a Fighter's Guild quest called Amelion's Debt. I need to retrieve a sword and armor from her family's tomb. Thing is, I did that, and sold them, something like 100 hours ago. I was hoping the game would be nice and respawn them for me, but alas they're gone. Am I screwed, and can't complete the Fighter's Guild now?

 

[Jonnyram]

Don't be a cheapskate - just give her the gold like I did. I actually just beat this quest yesterday and I've never even been in the dungeon. I figured 1000g isn't worth 30 mins of my time, though. Fighter's Guild is really boring me to tears. I might have to break off and beat the main quest soon instead. It's not just the simple fight/fetch stuff... it's having to constantly flit between three different villages just to get the tasks/duties.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Don't be a cheapskate - just give her the gold like I did. I actually just beat this quest yesterday and I've never even been in the dungeon. I figured 1000g isn't worth 30 mins of my time, though. Fighter's Guild is really boring me to tears. I might have to break off and beat the main quest soon instead. It's not just the simple fight/fetch stuff... it's having to constantly flit between three different villages just to get the tasks/duties.

You can pay it off? I didn't see the option. I've got 80,000 gold, I can spare it. Off to pay the wench off.

Thanks.

 

[Do The Mario]

I came across an interesting fort yesterday in the middle of Blackwood, the first floor was a necromancer den and the underground caves had necromancers fighting deadrea.

I am loving the improved performance the patch is giving!

Difficulty slider & exploration FTW!

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

You can pay it off? I didn't see the option. I've got 80,000 gold, I can spare it. Off to pay the wench off.

Thanks.

Alternatively, the merchant you sold the armor to might still have it. You could buy it back and then give it to her.

 

[Archaix]

You can pay it off? I didn't see the option. I've got 80,000 gold, I can spare it. Off to pay the wench off.

Thanks.

Yeah, when you talk to her after she gives you the quest there's an option to just give her the thousand and she says something to the effect of "Oh well, you can just find them and sell them yourself if you want"

 

[Jonnyram]

Alternatively, the merchant you sold the armor to might still have it. You could buy it back and then give it to her.

Might be more expensive to buy it back than pay off her debt That poses the question, can you steal stuff you've sold to merchants? i.e. do they put it on shelves somewhere?

 

[Do The Mario]

Might be more expensive to buy it back than pay off her debt That poses the question, can you steal stuff you've sold to merchants? i.e. do they put it on shelves somewhere?

No you can’t

I am at 120 hours now I am exploring around each town in depth, getting the mage guild recommendations, doing shrines and clearing random caves, ruins are forts etc..

I am really appreciating the flora of the different areas (such as the trumpet plants in blackmarsh) as a biologist I think the attention to detail is great.

e.g parasitic plants such as the trumpet growing in the swampy areas of the south east, it is what you would expect in real life.


Also how much gold is everyone packing I am up to 250k and I own 3 houses.

 

[Nerevar]

Became master of the fighter's guild last night (that leaves me only the two "best" questlines to finish - dark brotherhood and main quest ). Anyway, a few poionts:

Spoiler

the last quest really pissed me off. The part where you go to the town and kill the "goblins", it was obvious what was happening, but AFAICT there was no way to get around it. You had to kill everyone. That really annoyed me. I didn't want to slaughter all the innocent people, but you had to. And then the final showdown in the blackwood company guildhall? Um, yeah, I killed the Hist Sap tree (which was retarded and totally nonsensical, btw - how do putting spare pipes on the machine break it?). Big deal, considering that doing that I also killed off every member of the blackwood company in the process. I love how they're "just another band of mercenaries" now. Um, they're all dead Oreyn. Don't think they're even mercenaries now.

Also, I was really disappointed by the variety in quests - even the mages guild was much more diverse. Pretty much every fighters guild quest was "go to person, figure out what cave of ogres / trolls / goblins to clear out, kill them" with the occasional group of people following you or person to rescue at the end. The fact that these missions never went away (the second or third to last mission was a stupid rescue mission with something like 3 ogres, for gods sake) was just dumb. There wasn't really a big buildup like with the mages guild or thieves guild and I really felt like there just wasn't any heart put into the whole storyline.

Oh well, at least I still have two of the better questlines to go. Heartless assassian, here I come!

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Also how much gold is everyone packing I am up to 250k and I own 3 houses.

I'm at about 350k gold now, but I only have two houses. After awhile, the amount of gold you have becomes irrelevent, as it just keeps piling up, and you can buy anything you want in the game. It becomes just another way to keep score.

And Nerevar, I agree with you completely on the Fighters Guild Quests. They just felt so generic and lifeless compared to the other guilds. There was little suspense or variety, and it made it a chore to work through at times, and no real payoff in the end. I suppose the cash you get in the chest each month would be worth it if you were early on in the game though, but when I finished it, I was already swimming in cash. Has anyone gotten any items out of that chest? I've only found gold so far.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Alternatively, the merchant you sold the armor to might still have it. You could buy it back and then give it to her.

Did you miss the "I sold it ~100 hours ago" part? I have no clue who I sold it to - I'd have to check every shop in the province. :lol

I paid her off. Does the fighter's guild ever build into a main story? It's been nothing but one-off quests so far, and I've done quite a few of them.

 

[Nerevar]

Did you miss the "I sold it ~100 hours ago" part? I have no clue who I sold it to - I'd have to check every shop in the province. :lol

I paid her off. Does the fighter's guild ever build into a main story? It's been nothing but one-off quests so far, and I've done quite a few of them.

sort of. Don't expect to be blown away though.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Did you miss the "I sold it ~100 hours ago" part? I have no clue who I sold it to - I'd have to check every shop in the province. :lol

I paid her off. Does the fighter's guild ever build into a main story? It's been nothing but one-off quests so far, and I've done quite a few of them.

Yes, I saw it. I was just offering it as a solution in case you didn't have the option to pay her off. Considering I pretty much sell my stuff to one person who has a 1200 gp limit, it's fairly easy for me to track down something if I needed it again.

Fighter's Guild does have a storyline of sorts, but nothing as well done as the others, and with less of a payoff in the end.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Yes, I saw it. I was just offering it as a solution in case you didn't have the option to pay her off. Considering I pretty much sell my stuff to one person who has a 1200 gp limit, it's fairly easy for me to track down something if I needed it again.

Yeah, I didn't even figure out that different people had different limits until a while in. My second time through I'll play a bit smarter. :lol

Fighter's Guild does have a storyline of sorts, but nothing as well done as the others, and with less of a payoff in the end.

Okay, thanks. Better than nothing.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Yeah, I didn't even figure out that different people had different limits until a while in. My second time through I'll play a bit smarter. :lol

Yeah, I noticed it right away, and basically ended up selling to probably two or three total vendors in the game, so finding something that I sold wouldn't be a big deal, altough 100 hours after the fact would make it a bit of a pain, I'll give you that. :lol

 

[Diseased Yak]

Yeah, I noticed it right away, and basically ended up selling to probably two or three total vendors in the game, so finding something that I sold wouldn't be a big deal, altough 100 hours after the fact would make it a bit of a pain, I'll give you that. :lol

I ended up selling exclusively to the armorer in Anvil, due to the Anvil house being my first purchased domicile. I bet the dude had to build a massive warehouse to store all the loot I sold to him! :lol

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I ended up selling exclusively to the armorer in Anvil, due to the Anvil house being my first purchased domicile. I bet the dude had to build a massive warehouse to store all the loot I sold to him! :lol

I mostly sold my stuff to the Armorer in Chorrol actually. She had the 1200 gp limit, I had access to the Fighters Guild to collect cash from the chest. Right next door was the Mage's Guild for quick recharges. Everything is within a very short distance of one another, and you can fast travel to a gate that is right next to the Fighters Guild too.

 

[Nerevar]

I mostly sold my stuff to the Armorer in Chorrol actually. She had the 1200 gp limit, I had access to the Fighters Guild to collect cash from the chest. Right next door was the Mage's Guild for quick recharges. Everything is within a very short distance of one another, and you can fast travel to a gate that is right next to the Fighters Guild too.

yeah, well, I didn't sell my stuff to her because she was also the cheapest bitch in the game :lol

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

yeah, well, I didn't sell my stuff to her because she was also the cheapest bitch in the game :lol

When you're getting 1200 gp for nearly everything, it doesn't matter if it's 1200 from her or from someone else.

 

[Dice]

So at night at the Swamp Cave south of Cheydinhal I saw a pink light shooting up into the sky in the mountains but couldn't get there to see what it was, does anyone know? Some sort of altar?

 

[Nerevar]

So at night at the Swamp Cave south of Cheydinhal I saw a pink light shooting up into the sky in the mountains but couldn't get there to see what it was, does anyone know? Some sort of altar?

are you a member of the mage's guild? You should find out in the course of the mage's guild questline. If you haven't gotten to that point yet, I don't recommend reading the spoiler, but it is ....

Spoiler

It's a necromancer's altar, where you can turn grand soul gems into black soul gems to trap human souls.

 

[GhaleonEB]

are you a member of the mage's guild? You should find out in the course of the mage's guild questline. If you haven't gotten to that point yet, I don't recommend reading the spoiler, but it is ....

Spoiler

It's a necromancer's altar, where you can turn grand soul gems into black soul gems to trap human souls.

...

I beat the Mage's Guild and didn't know that. How do you do it? :lol

I'm starting to really think about my next character. Essentially I'm going for the opposite of what I've done now - use all the skills I've ignored. It will be a custom character for sure. Four of the main skills I've settled on are:

Alchemy
Sneak
Marksman
Alteration

I'm debating hand to hand. Can you enchant gauntlets to help with it, or is it just bare hands all the way through? If that's the case I may use Blade as my secondary attack skill. Any suggestions for a sign/race combo for a character heavy into enchanting, archery and thievery?

I'm aiming to play very differently than I did this time through. Rather than get most of my early loot from dungeons, I'll get my gold from houses I raid and sell to my fence. (I didn't join the Theive's Guild until very late in my current game.) Lots of corpses left behind, naturally.

I'm excited enough to start again that I may just wrap up the guilds and start over, leaving lots of open side-quests, Daedric quests and the master training quests for the next character. I'm kind of sprinting through to finish up.

 

[Diseased Yak]

So at night at the Swamp Cave south of Cheydinhal I saw a pink light shooting up into the sky in the mountains but couldn't get there to see what it was, does anyone know? Some sort of altar?

Nerevar covered that nicely, but this reminded me: Has anyway caught sight of a shooting star in the game? I swear I've seen a couple, but maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me...

 

[raYne]

...

I beat the Mage's Guild and didn't know that. How do you do it? :lol

Are you sure you're actually playing the game?

Grab a Grand Soul Gem and find a Necromancer alter. Each alter is only useable at night when the light is coming from the sky. It's probably easier to just find one and skip ahead 24 hrs 'till you're at the night during which it's activated.

Just puts the GSG in the alter and cast a Soul Trap spell at it (has to be a spell, enchanted weapons don't work). Now you have a Black Soul Gem. The next humon(oid) you kill (while it's under soul trap obviously) will have his soul taken into the BSG.

As for alter locations, refer to my previous post when I replied to Cogent about some alchemy tool locations.

Edit:
If you're lazy.

-Fort Linchal (north east of Kvatch)
-Dark Fissure (east from the shrine of Vaermina)
-Fort Istirus (east of Kvatch)
-Wendelbek (at the headwaters of the Panther River)

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

GhaleonEB: You're sure still finding out about a lot of things considering how far into the game you are! :lol

 

[raYne]

GhaleonEB: You're sure still finding out about a lot of things considering how far into the game you are! :lol

It's like he's playing with blinders on... :lol

 

[LakeEarth]

I beaten every guild and the main plotline, and I didn't know about the Necromancer Altars until now. I dunno how I missed them, but I did.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Well, do be fair, when you do the Mage Guild Quests, if you don't go by the alter at night, and on the specific night, it's pretty easy to miss.

 

[Nerevar]

I beaten every guild and the main plotline, and I didn't know about the Necromancer Altars until now. I dunno how I missed them, but I did.

good lord people, you have to go to one as part of the mages guild and observe them making a black soul gem. Then, Archmage Travern basically EXPLAINS how its done. :lol

 

[Dr_Cogent]

GhaleonEB: You're sure still finding out about a lot of things considering how far into the game you are! :lol

I must have blown right by this doing the Mage's Guild quest line.

Spoiler

Where can I find this altar again? I want to convert some of my Grand Soul Gems into Black Soul Gems. They are more powerful right and can give you better enchantments, right?

The game is so big, it's easy to miss stuff.

good lord people, you have to go to one as part of the mages guild and observe them making a black soul gem. Then, Archmage Travern basically EXPLAINS how its done. :lol

I don't ever remember noticing anything of the sort. Maybe I jumped in and started kicking their asses before it happened? No idea. The game is starting to lose it's luster because I have played it so much so maybe I just blew right by it.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Locations quoted from raYne's post above:

-Fort Linchal (north east of Kvatch)
-Dark Fissure (east from the shrine of Vaermina)
-Fort Istirus (east of Kvatch)
-Wendelbek (at the headwaters of the Panther River)

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Locations quoted from raYne's post above:

-Fort Linchal (north east of Kvatch)
-Dark Fissure (east from the shrine of Vaermina)
-Fort Istirus (east of Kvatch)
-Wendelbek (at the headwaters of the Panther River)

Sweetness.