This forum is to be used for all discussions pertaining to Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and its Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansion packs.
Am wondering if there is any good way of raising this one a little quicker than actual combatting..Nothing seems to happen if you just shoot arrows into the air..And there's not THAT many creatures lurking around the starting cities (like balmora)..and those there are, quickly close in for melee combat, is a little awkward to try and release arrows when you're feeling the monster's bad morning breath on your face sort of
I'm trying to make a good Ranger, started with 45 marksmanship skill..it's really slow to upgrade, and you just end up having to use it in melee combat or it will never level up..if you change to sword/block combo instead I mean.
Does shooting on trees have any effect? I seem to remember hitting trees would raise your unarmed combat skills in daggerfall..not to mention give you pretty damn sore knuckles.
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This is episode 666,
Destination Chaos
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Actually, the best place I've found so far is in the Dwemer ruins. The spiders bots there move ultra slow and you can just back away from them and they will never get in range. I know it's kind of far and a pain to move around in, but new spiders always spawn. I think something in there is building the monsters.
I am not complaining or anything, but I find this sort of too bad about archery. In real life, if you want to get good at archery you go to a range and practice, maybe even set up moving targets, and you don't lose your arrows every time you shoot one. Now in Morrowind, if you jog around town all day you will increase athletics, if you jump down every flight of stairs you come to you increase acrobatics, and if you sit in the mage guild casting heal a million times you will increase restoration.
This is right, to me, because if I was a beginning mage I would sure as heck practice a lot somewhere safe instead of going into some crazy dungeon and practicing on A REAL MONSTER TRYING TO EAT ME!
But the poor archers, they have to practice on real monsters, and every shot costs 1 gold. The mage practicing in the guild pays exactly zero to cast those spells. This makes archery kindof a rich mans game, which is unfortunate, and if you arent already good, you really cant be. My current character I put archery in major skills simply because I wanted a chance of hitting the broad side of a barn for my 1 gold.
You *can* increase your skills without practice. It's called training with masters. And it's deliberately expensive (for at least some of the skills) to prevent the game from becoming unbalanced. If you could practice your skills without the threat of death, you'd quickly work marksmanship to the point of becoming your own godlike weapon. That's my take, at least, for what it's worth.
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe.
Well that's a good point about the training, Fable, forgot about that. There's a guy who trains archery in Caldera. My point though is that you CAN practice your magic completely safely (and for free except for one time cost of spell initially) and develop your own godlike weapon.
Melee weapons cannot be practiced this way, but I never have any problem leveling up a melee skill, probably because it does not cost 1 gold per missed swing to fight with a short sword (imagine if it did ) Miss all you want.
Archery in this sense seems especially hard to practice effectively at least until you can get lots of money, like thousands for all the arrows, or pick up a free supply of arrows somewhere (I can think of one such place, but I won't spoil it here). I am not a complainer and I accept the system, I have taken archery as a primary skill on my character so that I can be good at it, I guess I wish just that you could find more of your arrows again after you shoot them.
Guess I'm off for a rougher trip than I hoped then..Was hoping that with a good bow skill the early fights would be easier (and they were, specially that bastard on the dwarf bridge)..but I seem to revert to the sword/shield all the time anyways..could just aswell have swapped marksmanship for a major spell skill instead..hmm..guess I'll start over if I have the patience for it. (it'll be the 4th time)..maybe not. Just go with it and make the best out of the poor guy It's bad roleplaying to just start over all the time right?
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This is episode 666,
Destination Chaos
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Well, it can get old to start over too many times. I hate to hear you talk this way you should be able to complete the game with a variety of characters, not only "the perfect character". I wouldn't give up on archery yet, but it is also not the end-all gamewinner it was in Baldur's Gate 1. Magic doesn't solve all problems either, although it is not too late to start training up a magic school either. variety is always nice.
Some of the hardest fights I have had in the game so far were against archer mobs. It's all about enchanted arrows I think. When I look on their corpses after they have just finished almost taking me out I usualy find some "Enchanted arrows of major whoop-azz" in there. One guy was telling me that he made arrows that cast a summoned pet when he hit the monster, now thats just mean. Other favorites seem to be paralyze/poison over time type arrows. So if you have enchant as a minor/major skill you could become pretty tough. Not sure what to do if you don't though.
I have seen target dummies by some of the marksmanship trainers. I don't know if you can use them as I have like a 5 in that skill and don't use it. Someone could try it.
============================= "A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
Originally posted by THE JAKER That, sir, is a FABULOUS idea.
You've got that right: what a great, imaginative use of the system! Looks like marksmanship and enchanting become important skills for my next character, too...
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe.
I pretty much have come to the conclusion that if you are interested in using a bow, you should just take Marksman as a Major skill. Even starting at 30 (or more if you have Combat specialization or elf bonus or whatever), you are not some great shot. It's more like a minimum to make it worthwhile in my opinion. But with it as a major skill, it is fun.
My markman skill started at 45, an added wood elf bonus that.
Plus Archer bonus. and 35 athletics..which is nice when you just wanna run away. Just so tiresome to try and fire arrows when the monster is close enough you could just aswell french kiss it to death..sort of.
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This is episode 666,
Destination Chaos
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This info about archers has been very useful as I was planning on making an archer as a second char. I reckon that the enchanted paralyse/poison arrows would make short work of enemies and would perhaps resolve the problem of them reaching you too quickly?
What other skills do you need to make a good archer? Long sword and block?
Those two seem to be inevitable, or you'll have hell in the start. The bow is simply not fast enough, and you will get restricted from firing when you get hit..thus it's no good to use up-close..better up all three skills I suppose. Too bad there are so few monsters to practice shooting on early in the game..
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This is episode 666,
Destination Chaos
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long sword and block is good, also consider spear. Spear really shines as a defensive, retreating weapon, it builds endurance for extra hit points, and it's cool
Of course, long sword/block combination builds strength AND agility, which is nice too.
I was reckoning on Medium Armour skill and enchanting skill. Not sure whether to make Long sword & blocking or spear as major or minor skills......
Also was thinking of restoration magic? Perhaps conjure as well?
Restoration is always good - levels up quickly too just from healing yourself all the time and lets you stay out in the field longer. Conjuring is a great skill, and I think an archer could conjure a creature, then stay back and shoot the opponent while the creature blocks. Could be sweet. Also the bound weapons are incredible, must have.
I have some updates on my archery work, and some good developments to report. I don't think it's really spoilers, but I will give the little warning first-
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First of all, I am now loving archery very much. I think I got over the hump. I started pulling in enough cash to buy arrows, I bought a decent bow in Vivec (a bonemold long bow, 1-30 damage), and I have one shot killed a cliff racer, which made me very very happy. Also, just now my 4th level character with a 34 archery skill killed a charging Nix Hound with one shot. Felt good, felt real good.
I also went on a big tomb raiding expedition. A bunch of the tombs had skeleton archers (I think that's a 'level 4' kind of monster) and I picked up about 250 magical arrows off of em. The arrows have various effects along the lines of 2-7 extra fire, frost, poison etc damage depending on the type. Very Nice.
I'm playing a dark elf witchhunter born under the shadow (I could start over and pick a different sign). Class also was incumbent on the questions I answered (seemed like an interesting way to determine class).
Either way, using the archery/conjuration combo as well to handle enemies. Still in need of a good bow/arrows (read your comments there jaker but i'm only level 2). Planning on selling lots of potions for coin.
Anyway, just want to fill in other additional success with markmanship.
Crush enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of the women.
