Intelligence and Willpower - Which Does What?

[Inkling]

According to the wiki, Willpower affects your ability to "cast spells of any College;" whereas Intelligence only determines your amount of magicka, despite being the "Governing Attribute" of several colleges. Here and elsewhere in the wiki, the notion is reiterated that "Governing Attribute" only relates to level-up bonus, not skill success.

But some entries recommend buffing your Intelligence to improve magic skills. The articles on Enchanting and Alchemy frequently indicate that buffing Intelligence will improve results. For example, the main enchanting entry gives an enchant success formula which involves Intellignce, vis:

Code: Select all

 Enchant + .25*Intelligence + .125*Luck - 2.5*[enchantment points]

So which is correct, the Enchanting article or the Willpower/Intelligence articles? Does Intelligence contribute to magic skill use or not? Does Willpower affect Enchanting? Do these attributes do other things not mentioned in their wiki entries?

(I'm inclined to trust the enchanting article and regard the Intelligence, Willpower and some other attribute entries as incorrect. Does anyone have a source for this info?)

Thanks for your help.

[Dlarsh]

They're both correct, actually, though the Intelligence article does seem to be missing a mention of its effect on enchanting. Enchanting, despite its magical nature in-game, is not considered a school of magic when determining its success rate. This can be seen by manipulating certain attribute values via the game's CS or console.

[Iaius Amaius Heron]

From my experience, increasing Willpower lets you cast higher-cost spells from all schools (for example, a spell with a 77% chance of casting before casting Fortify Willpower becomes 84% of success afterwards, school irrelevant), and increasing Intelligence lets you make better-quality potions and lowers the cost of using enchanted items (as well as letting you successfully enchant mundane equipment; though even with Enchant of 100, you still need to boost your Intelligence and Luck to 1000+ to successfully enchant an exquisite amulet or ring, and 2000+ each to enchant a Daedric Tower Shield on your own ).