New to Morrowind: A Guide and FAQ for new players

[OblivionDuruza]

If you're new to Morrowind and these Forums, welcome to the UESP forums! I'd encourage you to introduce yourself and I hope this 'guide' is useful .

Helpful threads you should check out:

Post Your Character!
If you want to post a description of your character or ask for advice about creating a chracter, this is the place to do it!

Morrowind Character Creator and Other Tools
Some great tools for being able to tweak your character the way you want it before you actually make it!

Favorite Race
Give your opinion on your favorite race.

Favorite City/Township
Discuss the places you like the most!

Your Favorite Faction / Great House
Discuss your favorite group to join!

Common Technical Problems with Morrowind
Having trouble with your game? Check here first.

Also feel free to post your additions to the guide and to ask any questions you may need to.

Here's a list of links and quotes that I think helpful for new players of Morrowind (I'll be refining this guide, but this seems to be a good starting point):

Should I buy Morrowind?

I would definitely say that you should get Morrowind, it's simply a fantastic game.

If you've played Oblivion
I'll direct you here, to this article to see some info on the differences between the games.

I'm still loving Morrowind myself, there is such a high re-playability factor and the world of Vvardenfell is just so interesting and ensnaring.

I'd be happy to answer any of your questions on the subject, so feel free to PM me.

Some general pointers:
I think it's important for all first time players to know that they should not worry about spending money on travel, training etc., as money is very easy to come (especially for members of House Hlaalu) by and the fast travelling services and even training, are worth it in the long run (although Mark, Recall and the two Intervention Spells - all teleportation spells - are more handy once you get them). Talk to everyone, talk is cheap .

You might also find it profitable to join Guilds and a Great House before you get too much into the Main Quest, but it's really your gameplay experience. The Houses are one of the more interesting fun groups in the games and all provide good rewards, particularly Hlaalu and Telvanni. The Houses also convey many benefits and have interesting and fun quests to do and characters to meet.

Most important to know is that you may fail at many of your actions, be it casting a spell or even connecting a blow with a sword, which can be a real pain at first. This means that you really need to train your skills up to at least the thirties before they start to become bearable. So more so than in Oblivion (in which I never train), skill trainers can be very handy in Morrowind, and are better too.

In addition, you may find that you want to start again, that's completely normal, in fact most players are like that, even if they've played other Elder Scrolls games.

Finally, I'd strongly advise you to buy the GOTY Edition of Morrowind, as it is a much more enthralling game than Oblivion, with a much greater re-playability factor. (this coming from a guy first introduced to TES by Oblivion).

There's so much to explore in Morrowind, even without the many, many mods, so I encourage you to give it a go. Happy Morrowinding!

On Character Creation: WIP

On Birthsigns: The Thief (10 pts of evasion) and The Warrior (extra attack) are good choices for most characters and their bonuses still have effect later on in the game.

You can also check out a full list of Classes here, and even contribute your own.

On Luck: There is a fair amount of debate on the issue of Luck, but I personally am a supporter of the 5/5/1 principle which aims to maximize Luck in addition to other Attributes, as opposed to the 5/5/5 principle that does not raise Luck in order to raise other Attributes more quickly.

Don't take my word for it, form your own opinion for sure, but there are two main reasons I encourage increasing Luck. Firstly, Luck does have a measurable effect on everything, and I'll go into this a little more in a sec, and secondly because it fairly easy to max out all your other stats, and not much more difficult to max out Luck as well; in essence, you're only cutting yourself off from something that you could have with only a small degree more effort if you follow the 5/5/5 formula.

If you look at the formula for damage calculation:

Code: Select all

Chance to hit = Attacker's weapon skill (e.g. Long Blade) * 1.25 + Attacker's Attack (e.g. Warrior = 10) - Defender's Sanctuary (e.g. Thief = 10) + (Attacker's Agility - Defender's Agility) * 0.25 + (Attacker's Luck - Defender's Luck) * 0.125

you can see that Luck has a measurable effect on Combat itself, as just one example of how it is useful.

Chance to hit = Attacker's weapon skill (e.g. Long Blade) * 1.25 + Attacker's Attack (e.g. Warrior = 10) - Defender's Sanctuary (e.g. Thief = 10) + (Attacker's Agility - Defender's Agility) * 0.25 + (Attacker's Luck - Defender's Luck) * 0.125

From this, we can see that not only will increasing your own Luck allow you to hit your enemies more often, but it will also allow you to avoid attacks more often, making it a fairly good offensive and defensive choice. Yes your Weapon skill has 10 times the effect on your chance to hit, and and Agility has just under twice the effect, but this is just one of the many ways that Luck comes into play.

Another example is Lockpicking:

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1.25(Security skill + Luck/10 + Agility/5)(Lockpick multiplier) - Lock Level

As we can see here, Luck is again, one third of the contribution of Attributes to the equation in terms of succesfully picking a Lock:

1.25(Security skill + Luck/10 + Agility/5)(Lockpick multiplier) - Lock Level

Now look at Spellcasting:

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 (Spell's skill * 2 + Willpower / 5 + Luck / 10 - Spell cost - Sound magnitude) * (Current fatigue + Maximum Fatigue * 1.5) / Maximum fatigue * 2

Again, Luck is a factor here too, again a third of the contribution of Attributes:

(Spell's skill * 2 + Willpower / 5 + Luck / 10 - Spell cost - Sound magnitude) * (Current fatigue + Maximum Fatigue * 1.5) / Maximum fatigue * 2

[/color]

On Combat: Your chance to hit is calculated like this:
Chance to hit = Attacker's weapon skill (e.g. Long Blade) * 1.25 + Attacker's Attack (e.g. Warrior = 10) - Defender's Sanctuary (e.g. Thief = 10) + (Attacker's Agility - Defender's Agility) * 0.25 + (Attacker's Luck - Defender's Luck) * 0.125

I've bolded the things that can easily be changed and measured, but another option is to look at some of the person your attacking's contributing factors to the equation.

You can obviously try to increase your weapon skill, that is the simplest answer to the question, but increasing your agility, luck and attack (by fortifying it through a spell or blessing, or by raising strength - although this is, to some degree, speculative) are all viable ways of increasing your chance to connect.

Further, you may actually want to try to damage your opponents agility and/or luck. This can be achieved through an enchantment or spell and can further help with your problem.

Considering all this, it is always handy to do the following when starting from scratch.

Choose Strength, Agility or Luck as your Favoured Attributes (I normally always go Strength, Agility - as I like to play as a Rogue-type character)

Choose at least on Weapon Skill as a Major Skill. (I almost always choose Long Blade as a Major) The same goes for Block, because you'll find that as your skill increases, it is much more effective and also is 'faster' to train (although it takes more use than before to train, sort of negating that effect). As has been mentioned, you won't find it very effective until the skill is around 30-40 (obviously what 'effective' means is subjective, but as a general rule).

You may also wish to choose The Warrior as your Birthsign (10 point boost to Attack).

You should also read this article for more info. Hope that helps .

On Armour:
Armor is used to reduce damage from physical attacks. The strength of armor is known as Armor Rating, or AR. The AR for each piece of armor is BaseAR * ( ArmorSkill / 30 ). The AR for each unarmored slot, including shield, is UnarmoredSkill * UnarmoredSkill * 0.0065.
Total AR is Cuirass * .3 + (Shield + Helm + Greaves + Boots + RPauldron + LPauldron) * .1 + (RGauntlet/Bracer + LGauntlet/Bracer) * .05. In other words, Cuirass is 30%; Shield, Helm, Greaves, Boots, RPauldron, and LPauldron are 10% each; RGauntlet/Bracer and LGauntlet/Bracer are 5% each.

On Fast Travel and Directions: I guess in comparison to Oblivion's travel, Morrowind can be slow. Utilise the Silt Strider, Guild Guide and Boats to speed it up. Having Mark and Recall and Almsivi or Divine Intervention spells can all essential(ish) early on so get them as soon as possible.

I find it easy to mark the Balmora Mages Guild and then recall there (although any major city will do). Then use the Guild Guide or Silt Strider to get to other major cities, from where you can use other Silt Striders or boats to go to other places and so on.

As for the vagueness of directions, that is another factor. Read your journal and talk to people. Sometimes persistence is required, and a keen eye, but other times it can be very simple if you know where to look. As you play you'll learn more and more. Where to go for all your book finding quests, where to go for training, who to sell to, that sort of thing.

On Mark and Recall: My one mark is in the Balmora mages' guild. My favourite city, close to a Guild Guide giving good, cheap access to all major cities and close to my Stronghold on the Odai.

On the topic of guilds: You must meet requirements (have certain levels in skills) and complete a certain number of duties/jobs etc before you may advance in rank, so keep that in mind before as you design your characters as it can be a bit of a pain to have to level a misc. skill to around lvl90 to become the highest ranking member of a guild (although skill trainers are really helpful as they are cheap(ish) and there is no limit unlike Oblivion - recommend you utilize them to gain larger multipliers for starters).

Also, hopefully this thread will be great when it's done, as an in-depth guide to Factions. (I'm still working on it, but haven't got round to finishing it yet, I'm sitting at just past halfway, with Hlaalu and most of Redoran complete and the word count around 1,000)

On Shrines: You approach and activate the Shrine then you select the appropriate option (depending on what you require - blessing, cure disease etc.). A small fee is required, usually about 30 Drakes. However, joining the Tribunal Temple can have its benefits in this regard.

Spoiler:

Non-members must pay 35 gold in order to receive a blessing. Laymen and Novices need pay only 5 gold, and Initiates or above can receive blessings for free.

On Houses and Storage: Only organic containers (flowers and other alchemy stuff) respawn. The only "normal" containers set to respawn are the Equipment Chest in each Fighters' Guild and the Supply Chest in every Mages' Guild. Some loot chests may seem like it respawns if you check its contents, leave, then come back to find other things. If you don't interact with a chest, it won't "save" the contents, and it'll re-roll the random loot.

Basically all 'containers' (literal ones) in Morrowind are safe to use as far as they will not respwan, although you do have to be aware that it is very easy to get stolen tags on items if you place them in containers, as they are often owned by NPCs (although this isn't a huge problem for me, because it is almost impossible to avoid stolen tags in Morrowind, so just avoid getting caught). Basically you can kill anyone and move in to their home. I guess everyone else already ninja'd me with this info, but here's a list of some of the houses I recommend:

• St. Delyn House - Small, with limited storage (2 containers in total), but free and avaliable from the get go, and in a prime location in Vivec. And you know what they say about location, location, location .
• Vori's House - A fair sized house, with adequate storage (7 containers), and a great location in Balmora (my personal favourite city and an excellent central hub for transport for the PC). You do need to pick/unlock a level 50 lock to gain access, but this isn't to hard with a scroll.
• Hlaalo Manor - A great House located in Balmora. It's nice and big, with lots of storage (21 containers). You'll have to mind the servant who remains in the house, although she doesn't leave her room, and the fact that the house's previous owner is dead on the floor down stairs. You'll also need to initiate the quest, The Death of Ralen Hlaalo to gain access.
• Dura gra-Bol's House - Another nice, large house, also located in Balmora. You have to kill its owner for the Fighters Guild, allowing you to legally gain this property. Fair storage and a great location, make this House a good option.
• Morvayn Manor - Great storage (24 containers) and a reasonable location, make this a good choice for lowers of the Redoran architecture. Only problem is the respawning Corpus monsters that inhabit the House, which can be a bit of a downside at times
• Caius Cosades' House - given to the PC after completing the quest, Mehra Milo and the Lost Prophecies, this is a small house with a bed and limited storage (2 containers), with a good location and a few nice books lying around. Similar to the St. Delyn house actually, but in a different location, this is a nice little reward for the mainquestline.
• Rethan Manor - my favourite House located on the beautiful Odai River, and not far from Balmora (my favourite city and a central hub for many PCs). The House is nice and big, has plenty of storage and you don't have to worry about doing anything illegal to obtain it, or about storing your items in other people's containers. It's well worth progressing through the Hlaalu questline for, as are Tel Uvirth and Indarys Manor

Just on the subject, it can also be fun sometimes to check out old Dunmer Strongholds. My favourite is Hlormaren.

On Roleplaying/Replayibility: Try different guild combos and character styles. Like a Dunmer loyalist who is devoted to the temple and to House Redoran and will have nothing to do with Imperial guilds, or on the other side of the scale a forward thinking Imperial embracer who is a member of House Hlaalu and follows the Imperial Cult whilst serving in the Legion.

On Mods: If your interested in mods that will augment the original GOTY Edition and liven up a somewhat older game, have a look at this page which attempts to make Morrowind 'new' again.

It might be an idea to try the Unofficial Morrowind Patch and the Morrowind Code Patch (included in MGSO). This is also a great looking list, that I myself am going to look more into, it's very user friendly, labelling each mod by what it does (Graphics Replacer, Added Content).

You might like to try some gameplay and character development mods. For example, this one is said to add more Oblivion style gameplay, by adding Magicka regeneration and increasing your chance to hit, proportionately to your Agility. Galsiah's Character Development, changes character progression, and is supposedly quite good, although I've never tried it personally, although I've been meaning to.

You might also like to try some new landmasses. The most obvious ones that spring to mind are Tamriel Rebuilt and Silgrad Tower, however smaller ones like Dulsya Isle, Stanegau Island, Island of Tusar and Havish are also pretty good.

Additionally, there are some pretty good factions available, including Rise of House Telvanni for House Telvanni fans (Crazy Wizard Lords), PAX Redoran for House Redoran fans (Honourable Warrior types), 6th House and Great House Dagoth for House Dagoth lovers or even those looking to stray from the vanilla Morrowind Mainquest, and even these simple offerings, Grandmaster of Hlaalu and Great House Indoril (Beta) for Hlaalu and Indoril fans (although House Indoril probably never will be finished, and from experience is fairly riddled with minor bugs - so perhaps only diehard Indoril fans will enjoy it).

I'd also recommend Emma's Mods, as they're all very well done, and Emma, and the late Grumpy are modders I've really come to respect in the Morrowind community.

Hope that helps, seriously, there are so many great mods out there, I could list loads. I'm sure there's something that will suit you just great.

Spoiler:

Links to come

On Cliff Racers: I personally don't mind them too much either. I think the real issue people have is the quantity you find flying around. Scribs can be more annoying, although they are fairly peaceful in comparison.

My biggest piece of advice is don't get too attached to your first character and don't be afraid to start again, keep experimenting with different class builds, as you play through the game you'll probably realise that you picked the wrong skill or joined the wrong guild or something and will be tempted to start again (I have found that it takes a couple of characters to get the one that suits you the best). Experiment with different things and try new things. Vvardenfell is a big world to explore and even before adding mods, there is a lot to do. Morrowind has a massive re-playability factor due to the huge number of possibilities (including several ways to finish the main questline) and guilds (which you may not do all with one character). Oh, and even bigger: HAVE FUN .

Anyway, Happy Morrowinding! I'm here if you need to ask any questions.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

FAQ
I've lost/accidentally deleted my inventory, stats or magic menu, etc. How do I get them back?
This occurs if you hit the little square in the corner of the menu. To retrieve your menus, click the icons in the bottom corner of your screen. Click on your current weapon for the inventory menu, the current spell for the magic menu and so on.

I'm planning on a stealthy archer/ dagger character does anyone have a good build?
The biggest piece of advice I give out is "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again" in regards to creating the best character class/build. I'll do a bit of thinking for you and post again, but I'd encourage you to experiment with what you think will work best for you so you can develop your own judgments on the subject.

Is leveling like Oblivion where you have to grind to get the +5?
The leveling system is fairly similar, but there are more skills meaning more leveling and more time to max those stats. An important difference is that skill trainers in Morrowind have no cap on the amount of training sessions per level up and they are cheaper and more available, whilst all also training their three best skills rather than just one - this means you can fortify one of their skills (via spell) to make them a trainer of that skill if you are so inclined to take advantage of the system (I wouldn't personally).

Even in Morrowind, you need to make use of your level attribute bonuses. You may have a low strength or your weapon skills may be low. I personally have never had this problem, although I do train Acrobatics (for strength) and medium armor (for endurance) to get x5 multipliers at early levels.

Is archery as weak as it is on oblivion?
I'd say that they're similar in power, but it is good to note that archery in Morrowind is part of the marksman skill, which encompasses crossbows and throwing weapons including throwing knives and throwing stars.

Is there a thief guild/ dark brotherhood like of quests?
There are several options for stealth orientated guilds. There is a Thieves Guild, the Morag Tong (the local assassins guild - a legal guild too I might add) and Great House Hlaalu, which, although being more merchant orientated, can fit any build well, especially a stealthy one.

Are there any mods that would greatly enhance the game? (I don't care for anything graphics related)
I'd try out Tamriel Rebuilt as a really popular land mass adding mod. There are a ton of other great mods, so give me more info as to what you want and I'll post some more links for you.

And finally is there anything in particular about Morrowind that I should know having only played Oblivion?
As an Oblivion player, the real shock for me was the lack of fast travel, until I realised it really wasn't needed due to great alternatives and the relative size of the map in relation to the placement of settlements. Don't worry about paying to travel, money is very easy to come by in Morrowind so don't be put off by the lack of fast travel. In addition, a final thing is that there is a high chance to fail making potions, repairing items, enchanting, casting spells and even attacking, unless you are fairly skilled in the respective skills, so be aware. Also of note, combat is fairly different as you must equip spells to cast them and you have no control over block. All the other major difference actually worked in Morrowind's favour in my opinion but as I mentioned earlier, check out the link to the UESP page on differences on this front.

Best of luck in your Morrowind journey and hope this has helped .

Spoiler:

I will also be compiling a list of past topics that may be a good read Still a WIP .

[OblivionDuruza]

That sounds like a plan . I'll keep editing the OP, as it could be more organised than it currently is, and I'll also compile a list of helpful links. I'd also invite others to have their say into the guide/FAQ. And new users might like to post their questions here, which can be edited into a FAQ too.

[Argonanza]

Sticky'd by moi.

[Akiraka]

One of the most basic things that I would like to point out, is: Agility matters. For anyone new to Morrowind (or coming from Oblivion), Agility matters much more than is let on. You are penalized in your to-hit rolls if your Agility is less than your target's, and you receive a bonus when your Agility is greater. One very simple way to experience much more success in combat your first time through Morrowind is simply to pick Agility as as a favored Attribute rather than the go-to Strength.

What that all also means is that the more viable race choices for first timers who want to use melee are actually bosmer and redguards. Especially redguards for their grossly useful Adrenaline Rush power. I did a pretty extensive study of the power for comparison to a few other races, namely orc and dunmer. If anyone wants to see that, let me know. It also demonstrates the usefulness of Agility.

[POMC S117]

What' a good skill layout for a normal, sword-fighting character?

[OblivionDuruza]

I guess that sort of depends, but this might be a possible starting point for a combat class:

Race: Nord/Redguard/Dunmer
Specialisation: Combat
Favoured Attributes: Strength, Agility
Major Skills: Long Blade, Block, (Armour Skill), Armorer, 1 other
Minor Skills: (secondary weapon skill), Speechcraft (useful for almost every character IMHO), 3 others
Birthsign: The Warrior

How does that seem?

[Velothi]

You could also add as a spoiler for the Shrines that it is reduced to Five Drakes/Septims/Gold when you are Laymen-Initiate in the Tribunal Temple.

Then after the Initiate rank, the Shrine is free to use. (With those exceptions of Fields of Kummu, Korra Cave, Puzzle Canal, Palace, Temple, gnisis, and ghost-gate. As they require offerings.)

[POMC S117]

I guess that sort of depends, but this might be a possible starting point for a combat class:

Race: Nord/Redguard/Dunmer
Specialisation: Combat
Favoured Attributes: Strength, Agility
Major Skills: Long Blade, Block, (Armour Skill), Armorer, 1 other
Minor Skills: (secondary weapon skill), Speechcraft (useful for almost every character IMHO), 3 others
Birthsign: The Warrior

How does that seem?

What three others do you recommend?

[OblivionDuruza]

I’ll add a note about that, although the other page I’ve linked to is a comparison between guilds, that will, when finished, explain all the choices that can be made.

@POMC, that depends, stealth or magic?

@Velothi, that’s a good idea actually. Will do.

Keep up the suggestions guys!

[Kerr]

@ POMC I'm not a fan of The warrior in Morrowind. I would pick The Lady for the 25 endurance boost. Marksman and Security are also great skills to have.

[OblivionDuruza]

The Warrior Birthsign in Morrowind is an odd one I guess. It's hard to measure the exact effects of the sign, although I am a believer in it's effectiveness. Further, 'Attack' is part of the formula for chance-to-hit, so it has at least one specific effect, plus the implied boost to damage.

[Velothi]

You should add three things to the Factions box.

#1: Factions are liked and disliked by various other factions (House Redoran; liked by Legion, Fighters Guild, and the Tribunal Temple. Disliked by Vampires, Ashlanders, Hlaalu, Telvanni, thieves Guild, Imperial Cult and the Nerevarine Cult. Morag Tong is un-changed). So your disposition may change when talking to particular members of each faction. As if you are Morag Tong/Redoran/Tribunal Temple the disposition from the Imperial Cult is a maximum of Ten without player intervention.

#2; Classified into Dunmer Factions and Imperial Factions. (Though race does not particularly matter in any faction joining, even if you're a Khajiit leading the Telvanni) So while all Dunmer Factions hate all Imperial factions (mostly) not all factions within those two secs like their 'partners'. So it's related to the first change and all.

#3: Some Faction quests conflict with each other (Morrowind Veterans know which do), so be careful about who you join. Though you obviously can't join all Three Great Houses, you should put it was a fore-warning for those who wish to join all factions that some may not agree with it.

[OblivionDuruza]

Will do, now that it's the weekend, I'll go through and do a large edit. What I compiled last weekend was all the old posts that were relevant, from various topics/threads created on the subject. I'll also make the link to the other thread on factions more apparent, and I'll also post my little comparison in this guide, when I have it finished and polished.

[dkjestrup]

I would also say in retrospect that if you're planning on finishing the main quest, play as a Dunmer and don't join a Great House or either Cult.

[Velothi]

It actually doesn't matter on that part, mostly because the maximum disposition Ashlanders have towards the Houses/Tribunal Temple is about 30-40, sometimes 20 if you "make them angry".

As seen by this chart;

Friends & Foes:
Blades -1
Camonna Tong -1
House Telvanni -1
Imperial Cult -1
Mages Guild -1
Tribunal Temple -1
Fighters Guild -2
House Hlaalu -2
House Redoran -2
Imperial Legion -2
Thieves Guild -2
Vampires -3
House Dagoth -3

So let's say you're joining House Telvanni only (Plus the Mandatory Blades for the main quest); you still have the normal disposition rating for 'outsiders'.

Joining Morag Tong does nothing, joing MT/TT/GHR still has you in some good light with the Ashlanders. The only worst thing you could do is be a Vampire (You can't talk to people anyway via Vampire as..well they hunt you) or join Dagoth.

Which is impossible for the latter.

[dkjestrup]

I was saying from a roleplay perspective rather than an in-game stats perspective.

[OblivionDuruza]

I’ll add a note about the Mainquest encompassing both of your posts, I tend to agree with what both of you have said.

[dkjestrup]

I think for a first playthrough, in hindsight, I would recommend only doing the main quest, either the fighters/mages/thieves guild and some random quests. You become very powerful pretty quickly, and focusing on sidequests like I have means you get way to powerful when you finally beat the main quest.

[Velothi]

But not doing the quests make you very vunderable at the same time (you have to literally cross the world in the Main Quest, Even with Kneeing and Sunder you still have powerful enemies as well as lack of financial aid, you get maybe 1,000 gold or so from Casius. This can't buy you even a full set of good armor), so try to balance them out.

I tend to focus on the quests because all of my characters loathe the imperials in some form or fashion; so they typically just leave Casius's orders until they may need to convert him (as Patriarch) or go to a "oh..I need to do this. Right" situation.

So for others? Balance the Main quest and Faction quests to be more immersed in the world; know it better and finally learn from what you've gained in a RP perspective and a gameplay perspective.

for example you'll never fully realize what the Temple is like until you try it, as such with Hlaalu, Telvanni, Redoran, Indoril, or any Imperial guilds.

Try them, and learn how they operate.

[Spacepope]

Honestly, the best course of action for me is to get a kickstart at the beggining by doing a bunch of quest, get good weps, then only do the main quest, then Tribunal-Faction Master-Bloodmoon-The rest

[Akiraka]

Just gonna leave this here. Compiled an even more detailed version once already for my own interests, but lost it when I lost my PC. Gonna leave this new one here for safe-keeping, and it may prove useful to someone. Dunno if I should assume it's important enough to warrant it's own thread.


Chance to Hit Formula and Study on Damage and Armor Rating

Chance to hit = Attacker's weapon skill * 1.25 + Attacker's Attack (e.g. Warrior = 10) - Defender's Sanctuary (e.g. Thief = 10) + (Attacker's Agility - Defender's Agility) * 0.25 + (Attacker's Luck - Defender's Luck) * 0.125

Let,
Chance to Hit = C
Attacker's Weapon Skill = AWS
Attacker's Attack = AA
Defender's Sanctuary = DS
Attacker's Agility = AAg
Defender's Agility = DAg
Attacker's Luck = AL
Defender's Luck = DL

So,

C = AWS1.25 + (AA - DS) + (AAg - DAg).25 + (AL - DL).125

This suggests that the two greatest factors to hitting are fortifying one's Attack score, and having a good base Weapon Skill. Because fortifying Attack is quite rare, having a higher Agility than your target is the next best thing.
Basically, the way it works, is that the difference between your Agility and your target's Agility is quartered, and that number is directly added to, or subtracted from, your Chance to Hit.

The greatest determinants in missing your target are having a lower Agility than your target and your target's level of Sanctuary. I'm pretty sure NPCs never actually use Sanctuary, though. It's more important as a way to keep you from being hit by them. I advise you to pay Luck no mind, as it's difference in the matter is miniscule. (AL - DL).125. Even if your Luck is 100 and theirs is Base (40):

(100- 40).125 = 7.5%

added to your C and minus that to theirs. Not worth the bother IMO.

The effects of these factors are easiest to measure through a study of three races' Greater Powers; the Dunmers' 'Ancestor Gaurdian', the Orcs' 'Berserk', and the Redguards' 'Adreneline Rush'.

Ancestor Guardian -

Sanctuary 50pts for 60sec on self

Berserk -

Fortify Health 20pts for 60sec on Self.
Fortify Fatigue 200pts for 60sec on Self.
Fortify Attack 100pts for 60sec on Self.
Drain Agility 100pts for 60sec on Self

Adrenaline Rush -

Fortify Agility 50pts for 60sec on Self
Fortify Endurance 50pts for 60sec on Self
Fortify Speed 50pts for 60sec on Self
Fortify Strength 50pts for 60sec on Self
Fortify Health 25pts for 60sec on Self

For the study, all Base Attribute and Skill values will be set to 100, as though high-level characters. Base Sanctuary and Attack are 0, as normal.

No powers, Orc attacks Dunmer:
Orc's chance to hit, or C = AWS1.25 + (AA - DS) + (AAg - DAg).25 + (AL - DL).125

So, (100)1.25 + (0 - 0) + (100 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125 = the Orc's chance to hit, which is, in this case, 125%.

(100)1.25 + (0 - 0) + (100 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125 = 125
125 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 125

Now, to study the effects of Attack, Agility, and Sanctuary...

Orc uses "Berserk", attacks Redguard:

C = (100)1.25 + (100 - 0) + (0 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125

So, the Orc's chance to hit the Redguard is...

(100)1.25 + (100 - 0) + (0 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125 =
125 + 100 - 25 + 0 = 200%

200%, not too shabby. The Orc's Attack adds directly to his % C.
Note, though, that the loss of his Agility makes him easy pickings to be hit himself:

Redguard Attacks Berserk'd Orc...

Redguard's C = (100)1.25 + (0 - 0) + (100 - 00]).25 + (100 - 100).125

So, C =...

(100)1.25 + (0 - 0) + (100 - 0).25 + (100 - 100).125 = 150%
125 + 0 + 25 + 0 = 150%

150% For free. ...Not great for the Orc. The Orc's drained Agility gives the Redguard a free 25% to his C. Note, though, that what that means, is that having a full 100 higher Agility than your target only confers a 25% increase to your C.

Next up, let's look at how Sanctuary affects normal combat.

Redguard attacks Ancestor Guardian'd Dunmer...

Redguard's C =

(100)1.25 + (0 - 50) + (100 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125
125 - 50 + 0 + 0 = 75%

So Redguard's C = 75%. Sanctuary deducts directly from C. A very useful little effect.

Here's another example: Berserk'd Orc attacks Ancestor Guardian'd Dunmer...

Orc's C =

(100)1.25 + (100 - 50) + (0 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125
125 + 50 - 25 + 0 = 150%

Orc's C is 150%. Still not too shabby, although the Dunmer will still be hitting him 150% of the time as well, for free, just like the Redguard.

Last but not least is the grossly powerful Adreneline Rush. Since in Morrowind raising Attributes and Skills above 100 continues to increase their derived values, the Redguards' 'Rush is a thing to behold, even at max Attributes. (It also, sadly, as you'll see, shows how laughably broken it is, and how bad the Orc's power is)

First up, 'Rush'd Redguard attacks Orc...

Redguard's C =

(100)1.25 + (0 - 0) + (150 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125
125 + 0 + 12.5 + 0 = 137%

137.5%. Not bad. Plus, he'll be doing 125 - 150% of his weapon's listed damage. Very bad news for his enemy.

This is also bad news for anyone attacking the Redguard, as at these levels, his increase in Agility will deduct an extra 12.5% from their C. This is especially true to our Orc friend.

Berserk'd Orc attacks 'Rush'd Redguard:

Ord's C =

(100)1.25 + (100 - 0) + (0 - [!]150[!]).25 + (100 - 100).125
125 + 100 - 37.5 + 0 = 187.5%

So our Orc's C is still 187.5%. This looks good for the Orc, untill...

'Rush'd Redguard attacks Berserk'd Orc...

Redguard's C =

(100)1.25 + (0 - 0) + (150 - [!]0[!]).25 + (100 - 100).125
125 + 37.5 + 0 = 165%

That's 165% at which our Redguard will be hitting the Orc, and at increased damage.

And, finally, 'Rushed Redguard attacks 'Guardian'd Dunmer...

Redguard's C =

(100)1.25 + (0 - 50) + (150 - 100).25 + (100 - 100).125
125 - 50 + 12.5 + 0 = 87.5

Ah, finally, a chink in the Redguard's armor. While he'll still be hitting with increased damage, his C is "only" 87.5, the lowest so far. This certainly shows that 50 Sanctuary goes much farther than 50 Agility.

Let's see how the 'Guardian'd Dunmer fairs attacking the 'Rush'd Redguard

Dunmer's C =

(100)1.25 + (0 - 0) + (100 - 150).25 + (100 - 100).125
125 - 12.5 + 0 = 112.5

112.5%, not too shabby at all. The Orc definitely draws the shortest straw here.

In summary:
Sanctuary deducts directly from an enemies chance to hit you.
Attack adds directly to your chance to hit your opponent.
Agility makes it easier to hit things and makes you harder to hit at 25% of the difference between your Agility and the target's Agility.


Damage Dealt =

(Modified* Base Damage x Modified Base Damage) / (Modified Base Damage + Opponent Armor Rating)

*Modified = Weapon's listed damage adjusted for the Strength of the character (i.e. Dwemer Shortsword; Chop 7 - 14, PC Strength = 100, so Modified Base damage is 10.5 - 21)

Your damage is modified by your Strength, with a Strength of 50 being the 'baseline' - so if your Strength is 100, you will deal 50% more than the listed damage,
with 0 strength you will deal 50% less than the listed damage.

So,

DD = (mbd)mbd / (mbd + AR)

Scamp's Base Dam = 5 - 15

Attacking my character...

HP = 417
AC = 0
After Scamp Hit:
HP = 402
(15 Dam)

HP = 417
AC = 38
After Scamp Hit
HP = 414 (3 Dam)

By the formula, the Scamp could have done 4 Dam.
4.2 = (15)15/ (15 + 38)
However, he did 3. Could be the Scamp did not do 15 dam, as his Dam varies 5-15. Or, hidden numbers rounding up or down on my AC caused a different final Dam than projected.
Formula, and my interpretation of it, seem sound. After repeated testing, the Scamp never did more than 4 damage. Formula seems proven.

What I learned
Scamp Dam 5 - 15, never greater than 4 done to char. at AC 38


Some quick-reference calculations...

15 Base damage vs. AR 50 = Never more than 3 received damage.

50 Base Damage vs. AR 50 = Never more than 25 received damage.

100 Base Damage vs. AR 50 = Never more than 66 received damage.

15 Base Damage vs. AR 100 = Never more than 1 received damage.

50 Base Damage vs. AR 100 = Never more than 16 received damage.

100 Base Damage vs. AR 100 = Never more than 50 received damage.

15 Base Damage vs. AR 150 = Never more than 1 received damage.

50 Base Damage vs. AR 150 = Never more than 12 received damage.

100 Base Damage vs. AR 150 = Never more than 40 received damage.

15 Base Damage vs. AR 200 = Never more than 1 received damage.

50 Base Damage vs. AR 200 = Never more than 10 received damage.

100 Base Damage vs. AR 200 = Never more than 33 received damage.

What this means:
Having half the AR of the Base Damage being done to you mitigates about 1/3 of the damage.
Having equal AR to the Base Damage being dealt effectively halves incoming damage.
Having double AR to the Base Damage being dealt only reduces the damage by some 2/3. More-or-less 67%.
Having a greater AR than the Base Damage being done to you produces diminishing returns at high levels: Increasing AR from 100 to 200 only reduces damage taken from 50 Base Damage by 6 (16 to 10). And from 100 Base Damage by 17 (50 to 33).
A 100% increase in AR confers some 60% increase to damage reduction.

50BD vs. 50AR = 25D (50% reduction), 50BD vs. 100AR (100% increase) = 16D (~60% increase in reduction), 50BD vs. 200AR(100%) = 10D(60% in reduction) 50AR to 200AR (400% increase in AR, 100 x 4) = 25 to 10 (250% in increase in damage reduction, 62.5 x 4)

The most powerful creatures in the entire game (including expansions) do between 120 and 170 Base Damage, suggesting a safe AR to have at end-game to be at least 200.

The strongest (most top out between 17 and 40) daedra have Base Damages of 50 or so (plus weapon for Dremora and Golden Saints meaning some of them can get as high as 90). A Dremora with a daedric claymore could reach 120.

This is all sort of damning for Heavy Armor, as proficient users of Glass can skate through most of the game, and halve received damage from most of the strongest end-bosses. Note however that glass is particularly poor for enchanting (except the greaves, compared to other armors), and will become deficient under harder difficulties.

If any of you more gifted at Math or articulacy want to clear any of this up for me, please do. I know there's a relationship between AR and damage reduction (I think) I just can't quite put my finger on it.

[OblivionDuruza]

Awesome, this is exactly the stuff which I would also like. Thanks Ak and I will take a close look when I get home.

Recently I have not had a lot of time for the guide, but in the Summer I will give it a good run over.

[Oskatat]

this last stuff is more subject for guides and tables about mechanics than a thread on random questions. still. wow man

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

So does anyone know the alchemical formula for calculating potion stats?

[OblivionDuruza]

No idea Atm, although I think Yogi is looking into it (doing testing and so on). If anyone does know, they can go here and help him out.

I'm going to do a bit of an update to the guide today, as it's still pre-Alpha, suggestions are always welcome, and any general questions about the game too (I'm talking to you non-members ) are more than welcome, and encouraged.

This is a FAQ as well as a Guide after all.