Several things

[Andy Strawn]

I'm playing as a knight.
1. I can't open locked chests. I try to do it with a lockpicking tool that looks like a chopstick (you know what I mean) but it fails every time. Also, how do you disarm traps? I thought opening the chest and running away fast worked but I want to be certain.
2. The manual says I can learn healing spells, but it doesn't tell me how. What am I supposed to do, buy and learn spells from scrolls? I used Star of the West or something like that (comes with being an Imperial) but found it useless. Also can I learn spells like fireball?
3. In Balmora I bought the best stuff they had (steel) and now I have surplus money. Well, should I spend that on training, or what? I saved 1,000 gold so I would be able to guy better stuff later on, but I'm not sure.
4. I'm confused as to where to invest my points when I level up. Right now Personality is something like 62 and Strength is somewhere around 50. I don't think this is normal...
5. I want to know if I'm playing the game right. I'm level 4 and doing fighter's guild quests currently, but I don't know, I get killed very often. My hit points is 65 and armor rating is around 25. Am I too weak???
6. I'd like to know how the items in this game are set up. I mean, how high can armor rating go, and how about your damage, hit points, mana, etc? For instance in Baldur's Gate 150HP and -10 AC are good enough. I don't know what's considered sufficient in Morrowind.
7. This Casius tells me what to do, but can I digress and go somewhere else? If so where to? Does it matter if you go to Vivec or some other places north? Can you go anywhere on the map that came with the game? I've observed that the middle of the map is quite ominous and I'll probably go there very late in the game.
8. Finally if you guys can tell me where to claim good items easily I'd be grateful.. always ready to loot those. Man, I don't think my steel longsword is good enough.

[Tybaltus]

1-try items that have the ability to unlock stuff. For disarming traps use the probes that you find throughout the game.

2-You can buy spells from venders that have the word "Spells" in the dialogue box. Certain people have it and others dont. You cannot learn spells through scrolls-you can only use scrolls once.

3-Money is something that you can decide for yourself. You dont have to train, and with 1000 gold, you wont get far in training. You can keep the money and wait for better venders in the game or you can use it for potions/healing/spells etc. or you can use it for repairing, any or all of the above is good.

4-For a knight, it is always wise to invest in Speed, Strength, Endurance, and Agility-after that, its up to you.

5-No, youre doing fine, just try and join many guilds like the imperial legion, imperial cult, temple, mages guild, thieves guild, any or all that apply to the type of character you want. Hit points look a LITTLE low, but that will be easily fixed through concentration on endurance on level ups. Dying is natural, just keep trying and use strategy in fights that are tough. If you believe that you cannot do the task, then wait. There are no timed quests in the game.

6-Armor rating goes up as your proficientcy in that armor class goes up. So that number will always rise unless you put on armor that you are not proficient in, or if your armor is breaking/broken/warn. Hit points-early levels you want about 70 and mid level about 110 and late anything above 200 is great. But that all depends on what type of character you are and whether you like endurance. Magicka-non-mage it can be low if you want it to be. A mage should have over 100 magicka except for early in the game.

7-Do what ever you want. As I said, there are no timed quests so you can wander or become a warrior, or mage, whatever. Feel free to go to any city or any place. Just make sure that the creatures you are facing are your below or slightly above or exactly your level, or else you might die. But you can avoid the plot completely if you want. Though the plot is interesting and I believe you should get involved eventually. Wait for a little while until you are confident you can survive the peril of Vvardenfell, thats what I did, at least. (I waited until I was about level 15-20 until I got into the plot) but you can do whatever you want.

8-There are plenty of good items throughout Vvardenfell. Early on, I wouldnt suggest going to some of the places where you find the best items in the game. Plain old magical items will do fairly well for a while. Which you can get from random bandits in little caverns throughout Vvardenfell. Once you get to a higher level, I will tell you where to find the really good swords and armor, if you want me to

[camas]

for what it is worth i am a battlemage lvl 56 i recommend you change to a BM too then you can do all the things you want to do. good luck.

[Tybaltus]

I dont know. Any kind of a mage class person is harder to get into the game with, especially when you are figuring out the tricks of the trade (What to expect in Morrowind). I would recommend either a warrior-like knight/crusader/warrior/barbarian/usermade warrior. Another good option for a first character is some sort of thief. I started with a warrior-got to about level 10, then I understood what the game was about so then I won the game with a thief.

After I won the game and knew what to expect-THEN I chose to be a mage to view the game from a different world. A mage is very different but is much more challenging to play then a thief or fighter.

So my recommendation-stick with your current character-see what happens. I think thats the smartest thing to do.