Just got the game! It's amazing! Just have a few questions..

[Mastodon Magik]

I got the game last friday, already logged about 60 hours altho I'm not very far (kept remaknig classes/races), my best guy is a level 5 dark elf who went far down the Black Hand Quest line and is now a vampire.

I am going to start a new guy now that I read that you can max out stats by getting +5 into your stats, where as my elf was getting like +2 +3 max.

So basically what I need to do while leveling up is make sure that the stats I wanna raise get +5's per level by using skills that require that stat and only that stat? IE: Blunt = Str, so by putting my blunt up 10 levels I get +5 str right?

Also how are just pure casters in this game? I am really interested in being a straight up blast bad guys mage with all schools of magic. Are they viable fighters? What do I need to do so I can complete fighting quests well with em?

One last question and thanks for bearing with me, where is the best place for one to raise Destruction magik? I find it the hardest to raise.

Okay sorry one LAST question hehe, What should a pure mage like myself use as a weapon? Staff? Thanks everybody for any info you can provide.

[weka]

...So basically what I need to do while leveling up is make sure that the stats I wanna raise get +5's per level by using skills that require that stat and only that stat? IE: Blunt = Str, so by putting my blunt up 10 levels I get +5 str right?...

I usually "over level" and have never had any probs doing that. It just means that while I get a couple of +5s (I work on Luck as well, so it's always just +1), I also often waste a few 3 to 5s.

I would find it abit too restrictive to ensure I always only got the +5s that I want each level, and nothing more.

[Mastodon Magik]

...So basically what I need to do while leveling up is make sure that the stats I wanna raise get +5's per level by using skills that require that stat and only that stat? IE: Blunt = Str, so by putting my blunt up 10 levels I get +5 str right?...

I usually "over level" and have never had any probs doing that. It just means that while I get a couple of +5s (I work on Luck as well, so it's always just +1), I also often waste a few 3 to 5s.

I would find it abit too restrictive to ensure I always only got the +5s that I want each level, and nothing more.

So if I went with a few 3's it wouldn't be the end of my character? I heard you can just not sleep when you level? What is that all about?

[weka]

It def wouldn't be the end of your char!

I always pref to get +5s, but I don't get distressed over it if I don't.

You don't have to sleep immediately when you achieve enough skill increases to level up. New skill increases after that point will count towards the new level. I pref to sleep before I've got to the point of two Level increases, but as with most things Ob, it's personal preference really.

I find not sleeping partics helpful with training. If I've just achieved enough skills to level up, but haven't needed to use my 5 training sessions yet, sometimes I will buy the 5 sessions before I sleep. Those 5 sessions will then contribute to the new level, and after you've slept, that new level will be able to buy another 5 sessions. If you see what I mean??

[Mastodon Magik]

Ohh okay yeah, I do see what you mean and thats a fantastic idea I forgot all about training. Doing it before and right after you level is a great idea.

Thanks for all your help I get a little stressed when I am running around and my acrobatics and other skills level up and I worry that it's one skill I could have used towards Str or something. I'm not going to worry as much tho.

I'll need to save up money and look into training, I always kind of forgot about it because there is so much to take in.

[DbHK]

I've been playing Oblivion since it's release, and I rarely get a +5.....EVER.

[Mastodon Magik]

I've been playing Oblivion since it's release, and I rarely get a +5.....EVER.

Sounds to me i should be worrying less about the math and focus more on the enjoyment of the game. I fell in love with it as soon as I went down the black hand quest line

Just got shadowmare!

[DbHK]

I've been playing Oblivion since it's release, and I rarely get a +5.....EVER.

Sounds to me i should be worrying less about the math and focus more on the enjoyment of the game. I fell in love with it as soon as I went down the black hand quest line

Just got shadowmare!

That's the way I look at it, I don't stress about being Uber-tough, I just do what I do and that's the way I prefer to play the game....

Also, if you eventually create another character, I recommend waiting until you're inbetween levels 25-30 before doing the Dark Brotherhood Quests......the rewards are so much better in the higher levels...

[Mastodon Magik]

I've been playing Oblivion since it's release, and I rarely get a +5.....EVER.

Sounds to me i should be worrying less about the math and focus more on the enjoyment of the game. I fell in love with it as soon as I went down the black hand quest line

Just got shadowmare!

That's the way I look at it, I don't stress about being Uber-tough, I just do what I do and that's the way I prefer to play the game....

Also, if you eventually create another character, I recommend waiting until you're inbetween levels 25-30 before doing the Dark Brotherhood Quests......the rewards are so much better in the higher levels...

Oh hey man thanks, I didn't even know that you got better rewards for doing the quests at higher levels That is awesome.

Does the game have a pretty big selection of armor/weapons? It's such a cool looking game graphically that I get all excited when I am rewarded a new wep. This one dagger I got from the shadow hand guild would glow red everytime I took it out and the thing just looekd vicious!

[Deandra]

Hello, and welcome!

WARNING: really long post incoming!

You really REALLY don't need to sweat your stat points/leveling gains. The game is highly forgiving. Honestly. If it makes you happy to squeeze the most stats out of every action, go ahead, but I find that adds a lot more stress, and honestly doesn't make that much difference in game play. Leveling up quickly to be able to get good gear from drops is, in my mind, at least as effective, and definitely more fun, than leveling slowly, being stuck in leather armor even though your armor skill is high, just so that you can push around bandits with no health...

Mages can be ridiculously powerful in this game, and it's my favorite style of playing. All the magic schools are well designed and highly useful.

Destruction: for killing, of course. With a enough skill level/magicka/well-designed wide-area spells, you can take down an entire army in a couple of seconds--seriously. Being able to combine weakness to magic, weakness to fire, and a wide-area fire effect in one spell is the reason why spellcasting will always be superior to physical attacks. Of course if you plan to nuke an entire city out of existence, you will need fortify magicka enchantments or potions and some restore magicka potions, but yes you can do it, if you so choose.

Illusion to hide/manipulate/crowd control/avoid bounties. You can charm people into giving you information, you can see in the dark or create light around you, and you can make yourself invisible. Want to murder someone in broad daylight without anybody batting an eyelash? If you cast a frenzy spell on your target, heck, the guards will probably do the dirty work for you! Illusion opens up lots of cat-and-mouse opportunities where you can play with your victims.

Restoration is basically immortality for yourself and your friends as long as you have magicka. Being able to cure diseases and buff stats is just icing. I can't think of any reason why a character of any class wouldn't pick restoration as a major skill.

Alteration is for buffing yourself and others--great when you need to keep weak escorts alive. Once you're a mage's guild apprentice, you can craft a bunch of feather spells and never worry about whether or not you should loot that daedric weapon. Once your alchemy skill gets higher, you might want to use potions for long-term feathering, but alteration lets you carry thousands of pounds even at low levels, if you don't mind recasting the spells all the time.

Mysticism for, well to be honest I use mysticism as marker effects in my spells. I add a second of soul trapping to my destruction nukes to let me know when an enemy dies (you get a message saying there's no soul stone big enough for blah blah) and I add a minimum-range life detect effect to powerful group buffing spells, so that I can use the little blue egg shape to gauge how soon I need to re-buff my friends. Beyond that, I think of mysticism as a way to raise my intelligence once I've maxed out alchemy...

Alchemy is an amazing skill that all character types should master, but IMO none should pick as a main skill. It levels up really fast, and it's useful in any situation. You can use it to make money with zero effort; just buy out an innkeeper's food, make restore fatigue potions, and sell back for a nice profit. It's easy to get your +5 to intelligence by making 10 skill points' worth of potions each time you level up, and all it takes is a trip to the IC market district--clear out the silver carafe, the main ingredient, and the merchant's inn and you should be able to make more than enough potions to get your points.

One of the most common plants in Cyrodiil is flax, whose seeds coincidentally allow you to make powerful and light restore magicka potions once you have 100 skill. Once you reach this point, your magicka is essentially infinite. Hoard all of your Aloe Vera, Venison, Bog Beacon caps, and any flax seeds in excess of what you can turn into plain magicka restore potions, and once you hit level 50 alchemy, you can combine all 4 for a potion that restores health, restores magicka, shields you, and has a decent feather effect. Basically, immortality in a bottle. Alchemy scales up nicely with your level, too, since as your skill goes up, your equipment improves, and you have higher luck, your potions keep getting better and better.

Conjuration is the skill I use the least, mainly for RP reasons, but if you don't mind townsfolk asking you if you've been reanimating dead folk once you hit 70 in the skill, then conjuration is a great way to distract and damage your foes. I find destruction spells to be a better use of my mana if I just want to kill something, but they make good shields if I'm facing a crowd that could put me at risk.

As far as weapons, I use them for blocking more than for attacking, so something lightweight would be ideal. If you're going to be wearing armor of any kind (forgoing your 100% spell effectiveness) then you will want a light 1-hand weapon and a shield. Silver daggers are great for this, because if you find yourself silenced, chances are you're facing a ghost and other weapon materials (except daedric) won't be terribly effective. Silver shortswords are also nice, and I'm especially fond of Chillrend early on when your mana will be running out more.

That said, my main mage character uses either an unenchanted elven shortsword or an unenchanted silver mace, both exclusively for blocking and because I like how they look. In cases where I get silenced, I don't even try to dispel it with potions or swing my weapon, because dodging attacks when I'm vulnerable makes for a fun change of pace, imo.

My first mage was a Breton, and I didn't like it very much. It's just too easy--you're a good spellcaster, and all it takes is a Mundane ring for you to be damn near immortal, assuming you have some armor/shield rating. High elves allow you to cast more spells (100 extra mana, 150 with the mage birthsign, is HUGE early on) but you actually have some semblance of challenge as you start fighting spider daedra and swimming through lava. Or just pick whichever one looks the best to you

If you managed to read all this, I hope you got something useful out of it! I adore spellcasting and I'm always happy to see other people willing to try out that part of the game.

[Mastodon Magik]

Wow Deandra, I wanna thank you so much! I read every word and that answerd like a ton of questions I needed to know but was too lazy to search out and read, plus you gave some really cool helpful info.

Thanks so much, going to jump in game and have some fun!

[Glut]

I'd recomend not to sweat the stats to much as well, I really would. Infact, if you just get ones in everything and use the jails to lower yer stats so they can be leveled, this way will give you the highest end game hp... though 5+ing endurance first would be better. with leveled monsters though, it wouldn't be worth it. Personally, I am crazy and can't level up if I know I'm wasting even a single stat point, so I downloaded a mod to change the leveling system... oh well...
Personally though, my biggest issue is the leveled weapons, which is why I groan to think that you did the dark brotherhood quests so earlier, since it has some nice rewards, but leveled item lists that are very high, needing to be 30 to get the best ones!

[DbHK]

Does the game have a pretty big selection of armor/weapons? It's such a cool looking game graphically that I get all excited when I am rewarded a new wep. This one dagger I got from the shadow hand guild would glow red everytime I took it out and the thing just looekd vicious!

Yeah, very big selection of enchanted weapons....if you're looking for seriously good loot though, wait until you're about a level ten, the head over to Wind Cave, it's south of the Battlehorn Castle, inbetween Chorrol and I think Anvil....there are awesome rings, axes, amulets....probably the best place to find good items that are truly beneficial (in my opinion).

[Mastodon Magik]

Cool, I deleted my brotherhood guy, starting fresh now that I know more. Are the loot weapons random generated stats or set stats?

[DbHK]

Cool, I deleted my brotherhood guy, starting fresh now that I know more. Are the loot weapons random generated stats or set stats?

If you go into Wind Cave at like 8, you'll get a base ring of fire....which offers I think 15% resistance to Fire. Now, if you go into Wind Cave at Level 30, you'll have about a 90% better chance in finding Ring of Fire, which offers 100^ resistance to fire....

As far as set stats, every ring, regardless of when you find it, will have set stats....but there are certain weapons you'll find that will have different stats at higher levels...