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Hey guys, my first post here, been lurking this whole site for years and years.

I've only got back to Oblivion 4 days ago and have 48 hours already, spending most of my time as an altmer pure mage.

Now I want to get back into combat AND magic. What is the primary difference for a nightblade and a spellsword? Nightblades aren't just sneaky mages are they, they are clearly trained in blade fighting. How would one approach this playstyle?

Sorry to be vague, im OCD when it comes to RPG lore.

Thanks guys.

Enchanted daggers are a good weapon for mages, especially for applying weaknesses.

You can't deliver poison through a spell...

Daggers swing super fast, so whatever enchantment you throw on it gets applied at a much faster rate. Gameplay wise, it's the difference of a sword doing 20 physical damage and 10 enchantment damage every 2 seconds or so (15 dps) vs. a dagger doing 10 physical damage and 10 enchantment damage every second (20 dps).

Lore wise, the difference between a Nightblade and a Spellsword or a Battlemage is that they combine their use of magic with and how it benefits them. Nightblades will likely favor illusion to help delivers themselves to a target stealthily, or to dupe an enemy to avoid a combat situation (for some reason illusion isn't one of their major skills in OB though, even if it really fits). They also benefit from alchemy because poisons, and alchemy is traditionally a 'magic' skill in ES.

A spellsword on the other hand is more likely to either empower himself through alteration or mix up his attacks through destruction. Just looking at their images in Oblivion should give you an idea of what they do to approach issues.

I don't agree with how Oblivion sets up the Nightblade at all (the description mentions they move with stealth and the picture depicts him with a potion in hand, but he doesn't have stealth, illusion, or alchemy as tag skills? What???), but that is generally how they are seen in the lore.

Nightblades have points put into stealth skills. Spellswords don't.

If you use an enchanted dagger, opt for one that deals damage instantly (no duration listed). This means a found/purchased weapon or one enchanted via Sigil Stone.

An enchanted dagger which deals damage over 1 second is going to reset that timer if your multiple strikes land in less than a second.