Magic and Might

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:28 am

A friend and I were recently discussing this, so I thougth I'd pose the topic here. Does anyone else find that it seems easier to use a sword or other weapon than it does to employ magic while engaged in combat? My last character was quite weapons- oriented, though I gave her a second area of specialisation in magic. This time, I am going with a Breton who is mostly pure mage, and I find I really have to discipline myself to use fireballs and the like rather than my short sword.

I think I may have a system in place now though; I am trying to first use up all of my magic, and when I run out and don't feel like resting/downing a potion I draw sword. Takes some practicing however, lol!

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:34 am

Coincidentally, I'm starting up a Breton mage with an Apprentice birthsign, though one who's also skilled in long blades and heavy armor. I think at lower levels, that blade is going to be far easier. There's a mod out there that let's you recover mana, btw. It has four different ESP files, depending upon the rate of recovery. I've gone for the 400 seconds = complete recovery model. Note, this means opponents get the same benefits, which could prove pretty challenging.

arno_v · Post by **arno_v** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:38 am

I think your right, when I started the game my first character ( still play with that one though) was a spellsword. Later when I find out how it worked with al the skills I noticed that my character was actually magic orientated, only I (almost) never used it. It's far more simple to just grab a sword and smash, especially when your new to the game.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:40 am

@Fable, lol that is too funny

Though I have my character born under the Lady to round her out a bit, plus I admit to really enjoying the personality and endurance bonus.
I tend to prefer light armor myself, partly I prefer to carry as little weight as possible and partly I rather like the Cuirass of the Saviour's Hide

Hmmm... that may be a mod worth checking out, thanks for the mention

@Arno, I think a weapon is easier both when you are new to the game and at the lower levels when you have less magic and your spells do not have as much force. Still, I'm having fun roasting rats, racers and kwama foragers. BBQ anyone?

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:53 am

Light armor is good, especially if you don't plan to raise strength that much. I'm thinking that I might train up in light armor later in the game. One advantage of training heavy armor is it goes towards building endurance.

The reason I don't use The Lady is the personality aspect--arguably the weakest attribute in the game. They never did fix Mercantile, and who needs Speechcraft if you can bribe everyone? Illusion has a couple of good spells, but needed a few replacement, IMO.

But that's just my take, and where's the RPG fun in such analysis?

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon May 17, 2004 9:01 am

Very true, I am considering training in heavy armor a bit later on when I have acquired more strength, I may pick up some heavy gauntlets or something for a bit of initial practice.

Regarding personailty, I find it helps in combination with potions when you need to persuade somebody, but then again this time round I'm trying to keep my nose clean by not resorting to bribery

RPG analysis..

Now there a topic that could keep me from getting ready for work...l

Ach... must do so however *sigh*

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 2:12 pm

Originally posted by dragon wench
Regarding personailty, I find it helps in combination with potions when you need to persuade somebody, but then again this time round I'm trying to keep my nose clean by not resorting to bribery

It's a shame they didn't track and use a variable for bribery in the game. I mean, the fact that you use bribery and taunts would get around eventually, one would think. You should find bribery becoming ever more expensive, IMO, as a result, anywhere you go (unless you go far, far away), and people in general should dislike you more, the more you display taunts.

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Mon May 17, 2004 2:46 pm

Well, your bribery and taunting success rates are tied to your Speechcraft, which is affected by Personality. So, with a low Personality/Speechcraft, it is much harder to be successful at bribes and taunts (especially taunts). Still, both get built up eventually with use....

It would be interesting if your bribe, taunt, and admire usage were tracked, but what would result? Perhaps the rate of usage would only be detectible by certain people....

But, on-topic:

I'm playing a Nightblade, and found that I had worked my Short Sword and Light Armor up to 100 before my Illusion, Destruction, etc. had even broken 45! I tried, whenever I could think on it, to use my magic in fights, but when critters get up close, it seems more natural to pull out the sword and hack away. I'm thinking that next time, I'll focus on Conjuration and create lots of monsters to keep the bad guys away from me!

Bloodthroe · Post by **Bloodthroe** » Mon May 17, 2004 2:50 pm

I'm completely weapon and enchanted oriented. I used to find the powerful spells to be too mana consuming, so I would use weapons like long blade and bow. Then I realized I could make a ring that could cast fire at target, not touch, for 100 damage. It would only cost 31 out of the 400 charge on it. I can also recharge it any time I want by using a glass dagger with soul trap and casting my other ring with goldsaint. Costing me nothing. I can sit there and cook cliff racers all day, so I stopped using a bow, other then to level myself.

Along with a few other CE rings I use,(that include invis, bound a few weapons, levitate, ect.) I hardly ever use magic other then teleport, mark, and other spells I hardly ever use that are cheap.
I just put my spells into rings and wear them as I need them. Even restore health 100 points cast is in a ring of mine.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 3:22 pm

Originally posted by Gwalchmai
It would be interesting if your bribe, taunt, and admire usage were tracked, but what would result? Perhaps the rate of usage would only be detectible by certain people....

But if were very frequent in bribing, for example, the rumor mill would spread the word around. Only the most socially inept would give you information for nothing. Everybody would charge you; and those that previously charged you, would up their price. For a while, at least, until it became clear you weren't paying any longer, and interest in you died down.

I'm playing a Nightblade, and found that I had worked my Short Sword and Light Armor up to 100 before my Illusion, Destruction, etc. had even broken 45! I tried, whenever I could think on it, to use my magic in fights, but when critters get up close, it seems more natural to pull out the sword and hack away.

That happens to me a lot, too. But if you don't know the spell group sufficiently, casting from an enchanted item fizzles; and there are certainly plenty of useful spells outside Destruction. Besides, levitating and then casting destructive spells can be fun, though I rather wish Morrowind had forced more intelligent opponents confronted with this tactic to run for cover.

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:24 pm

Originally posted by fable
That happens to me a lot, too. But if you don't know the spell group sufficiently, casting from an enchanted item fizzles; and there are certainly plenty of useful spells outside Destruction. Besides, levitating and then casting destructive spells can be fun, though I rather wish Morrowind had forced more intelligent opponents confronted with this tactic to run for cover.

Hmmm. My experience with this tactic is that once I've levitated high enough that the bad guy can't get me, they immediately start running around like chickens. This was especially bad with the 4 Spriggans in Bloodmoon. I levitated up, and they ran far, far, away! I couldn't target anything but area-effect spells on them! Most creatures can run faster than the average levitate spell too.... Targeting one of those random runners with arrows is quite impossible, as well. I never tried the levitate and kill method until just recently, I wonder if it is a fix that came from one of the expansions? Maybe they used to just stand there....

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:41 pm

I know there's a particular NPC who challenges you to combat to the death, in exchange for--armor, perhaps, or an item? It's been a while.

He was pretty good in melee, but if you rose in the air, he just stood around waving his sword at you. So yes, perhaps this has changed; or maybe he was a bit of a loser, from the start.

blake · Post by **blake** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:46 pm

probably umbra, hes a ****. All emotional and stuff, hes not a warrior.... Actually i respect him but he was too easy to kill...

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:29 pm

probably umbra, hes a ****. All emotional and stuff, hes not a warrior.... Actually i respect him but he was too easy to kill...

Yeah, I think it might have been him: 30th level or so? In other words, you were either 1) equal or higher in level or items than he was, or 2) you checked out strategies for killing him on a website before doing the deed.

Bloodthroe · Post by **Bloodthroe** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:59 pm

I tend to prefer light armor myself, partly I prefer to carry as little weight as possible and partly I rather like the Cuirass of the Saviour's Hide

Actually I prefer wearing Heavy armor, Daedric has such a high enchantment charge, that you can easily make up the extra weight it costs to carry it, by adding Fortify STR CE on it. So you get to have the extra armor for the same amount of weight it takes up. That aside you also get a damage bonus for adding extra STR to your character.

However, I think it's fine to exchange for some rare ancient armor you find in the game that isn't heavy.