New Character

Genetic · Post by **Genetic** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:11 pm

Hey! I'm back again. I played some KOTOR II for a while, but I'm gonna get started on Morrowind again. I want to create a character that relies on arrows and spells and I'm open to any suggestions. Feel free to post away.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Fri May 20, 2005 4:53 am

Breton, because of the racial bonus. For major skills you'll obviously want marksmanship (duh) and some magical abilities. Personally I prefer Mysticism, Illusion and Alteration. For minor skills I'd take Alchemy and Short swords for when you really have to melee. Short swords don't do as much damage as long ones, but you can hit faster, making it more difficult for opponents to hit back or cast spells. You could take Unarmored too because you have your magic skills to protect you. This skill has a bit of a bug though, so make sure you get the Dodgemod at MW Summit.

Alien_Newborn · Post by **Alien_Newborn** » Fri May 20, 2005 5:48 am

If you're on PC, one thing the archer definately needs is the Farrp Sister's fletcher shop, which is part of the download Balmora Expanded by Gorg, which not only provides lots of arrows and some new bows, but provides a fletcher kit which allows you to make your own arrows.

Genetic · Post by **Genetic** » Fri May 20, 2005 7:24 am

Oops! One thing I forgot to add. I'm on Xbox.

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:34 am

Definitely Breton. I'd also suggest the Mage or Apprentice sign. Make Destruction and Alchemy major skills: even if you don't include all magical groups as majors (and you shouldn't), alchemy will let you copy many of the best spell effects. If you're going for a magicuser/archer, few things can beat an outdoor PC who's shooting arrows while levitating, and has Reflect going full blast.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Fri May 20, 2005 11:46 am

The reason I'd put Alchemy as a minor skill is because it's extremely easy to improve. Then you'd have one slot for a skill that's harder to develop.

Oscuro_Sol · Post by **Oscuro_Sol** » Fri May 20, 2005 2:49 pm

I'm fairly new to Morrowind but for an archer/mage's major skills I'd suggest Marksman, Alteration, Light Armor, Destruction, and possibly Acrobatics or Athletics because they're easy to level. For minor I'd suggest Alchemy, Mysticism, Conjuration, Acrobatics or Athletics, and maybe Short Sword, though I usually use close up spells to defeat foes (destruction).

Also, I'd choose Agility and Intelligence, and Breton.

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri May 20, 2005 3:35 pm

Good idea on Light Armor, though I'd drop the Acrobatics and Athletics. In fact, you don't want things in your Major Skills that improve very easily. What happens if you level very quickly? You sleep to get back magicka, and end up having to make a level with low multipliers. You also end up facing tougher random encounters. Just my thoughts.

I'd suggest making sure you have skills representing most if not all the attributes in your Majors and Minors. This is because you want to have strong multipliers for all your attributes when you do decide to level. Skills in your Major and Minor groups rise quicker with activity. Of course, you could always hit trainers up instead to raise a particular skill associated with a given attribute, but this can become very expensive relatively quickly--especially if you don't use cheesy methods to gain tons of money.

I'd suggest Long Swords, because 1) they give you more punch for your swing than Short Swords, and 2) because they use the Strength attribute, while Short Swords uses the Speed attribute--and I think Light Armor benefits Speed, too.

Genetic · Post by **Genetic** » Fri May 20, 2005 4:30 pm

Light armor? I was thinking about using unarmored or medium armor. Unarmored, because I'm carrying less and can run faster or medium, because of the Ebony Mail and because Adamantium looks cool. I'm getting kind of tired of the glass/dark brotherhood look.

Also, I was thinking H2H for my weapon. It's so fun to beat enemies like that. Can you enchant gloves to do extra damage in H2H combat?

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:25 pm

Unarmored isn't good, because no matter how high you get your skill, it will never approach what you can get with the same rating in some form of armor. Medium Armor is only good if you have the add-ons. The original flavored MW (minus TB and BM) had zip for good medium armor. That's why I suggested light. Leaves you more mobile, and allows you to concentrate on building other attributes.

Genetic · Post by **Genetic** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:45 pm

But I've got GOTY and I've heard that adamantium is pretty good. And can I get the cool adamantium helm without any mods.

Oscuro_Sol · Post by **Oscuro_Sol** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:55 pm

On the other hand, however, medium armor is an endurance skill I believe. Light armor, I think, is speed or agility, like a lot of good skills required to make a good archer, IMO. Up to you though. And glass looks cool too.

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri May 20, 2005 9:12 pm

[QUOTE=Genetic]But I've got GOTY and I've heard that adamantium is pretty good. And can I get the cool adamantium helm without any mods.[/QUOTE]

If you've got all three, then Medium Armor is a possibility. However, you won't find the really good stuff until much later in the game, if I recall correctly. I don't remember seeing any of the TB or BM armor sets in MW proper.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Fri May 20, 2005 9:37 pm

A suggestion? Keep a seperate bow or two handy, enchant it with "on use" spells like paralyzation and area affect damage spells. Quick bar it so you can just hit the button and start using the bow as a magic item. This way, you have your normal bow to use for firing arrows, and then can use it to cast a spell, and keep another as a back up if that one runs out of charges.

I love just switching off of arrows and unleashing a huge mess of fire on the enemy when the need arises.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sat May 21, 2005 2:06 am

[QUOTE=Oscuro_Sol]...though I usually use close up spells to defeat foes (destruction).

[/QUOTE] I stopped using Destruction pretty much because I always get my butt handed to me before I can cast more than one or two spells, which is often not enough. How do you do that? Is there a trick?

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat May 21, 2005 6:35 am

[QUOTE=Coot]I stopped using Destruction pretty much because I always get my butt handed to me before I can cast more than one or two spells, which is often not enough. How do you do that? Is there a trick?[/QUOTE]

1) Build up your skill with Destruction. That increases its power. Practice a lot, consuming Restore Magicka potions.

2) Build up Will attribute. This also directly affects the potency of your Destruction spells.

3) Use Fortify Will potions before battle. Acquire Fortify Will artifacts.

4) Make more powerful versions of the Destruction spells you buy.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Sat May 21, 2005 7:37 am

Don't jump right in front of the person too. Think like your stereotypical "mage". Find a place that's high up and hard to reach to cast your spells from so the target won't be able to reach you easily and you can get off more spells before they even are able to touch you.

Levitate, and spells that hide you are good ideas to use as well. If you can pop off 2-3 spells before anyone sees you, and another 2 before they are able to figure out how to get to you chances are they won't survive to hit you. Far better than charging someone and then casting at them.