UESP Forums

My level 50 Imperial Mage, Decennius Goldwine hit level 50. He is Arch Mage, and Champion of Cyrodiil. His Mercantile is 55, Speechcraft 54, Athletics and Acrobatics both 70. All Major Skills are maxed.
He owns houses in Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, and Skingrad. And with enough drive, could easily accumulate the gold needed to buy the lesser ones. I raid Forts Linchal, Istirus, and Doublecross for loot to sell. My character can do almost anything. But everytime a Character I made approached max power/level. I begin to wonder. If all I do is level level level, and buy as much training in between, what do I do when ready. Now I am ready. The MQ is done. One would think the game really only now begins. Yet I find myself again and again in this predicament. I could eternally delete savegame and start over, but get to the same condition again and again. What am I doing wrong/overlooking? I try to do as much random quests in between to feel so belonging in towns/etc. I've put a great deal of time and focus on this Character.

You're not doing anything wrong. This really just has to do with your personal playstyle. Some people are completionists and do all that is to offer, and then they're done. Nothing wrong with that.

Personally, when I am "done" is one of my favorite times to play the game. As a roleplayer, I've always just loved roaming around the games. I can't tell you how many stupid and pointless hours I put into Oblivion just riding the countryside, hunting game, doing small quests, exploring every nook and cranny. I let my imagination go wild and explore the "epilogue" part of the story, and make up my own. To me, that's satisfying. That may not be for you.

If you play PC, of course, there's always mods! I'm not sure what is considered cool for Oblivion these days, but I would imagine there's a couple that could expand the story for a bit. Or, maybe it's just time for you to throw in the towel. Nothing wrong with that, either.

I find that high end Character power @ level, especially if Magic Oriented (Hello Illusion) can lead to corruption. Like I get sick and tired of Beggars, and Frenzy them. I am like.. He're 500 gold and some proper clothes and some food. Go make something of your life. But their programming, and their RP purposes in the game (lol) will not allow that. So it bothers me that some sockless oaf in a potatobag outfit is meandering about asking for a coin. Despite me having given them many before. Things that annoy me, like too much focus on process and leveling, and efficiency, and such. I need.. to.. Relax.... I need to space out (hard to do) and just go about randomly. Maybe that works.

I don't think I ever really learned(?) how to "just live day-to-day" in an ES character until I started playing ESO-- and even then, only after I'd played the game for about a year, stopped running about searching for quests to do (I still have quite a bit of exploring and questing to do in several zones), and just settled into a daily routine of thieving for money (which I've been slacking off on) and doing the daily crafting writs.

For instance, when they had the promotion where everyone could earn a free Psijic pet, Psijic mount, and Psijic mansion, I logged onto the EU PC/Mac server for the first time and created a character so I could earn the "Summerset Pathfinder" achievement there, to help reach that mysterious "100%" goal. Now I log onto the EU server every day in addition to the NA server, so I can claim my daily rewards and do the daily crafting writs. I spend most of my time in Daggerfall, sometimes heading out to wander Glenumbra for raw materials, sometimes heading out to other zones to use a treasure map or survey map, but I haven't joined any of the factions or guilds or done any quests, other than quests associated with special events such as the New Life Celebration. It's been illuminating, because I used to get completely lost in Daggerfall with my NA server characters, and now I'm intimately familiar with its layout. And since I haven't worried about doing quests yet, I generally avoid interacting with anyone except the crafting merchants, horse lady, fences, and bankers-- which means I still have lots to do in Daggerfell once I do decide to start questing. (Question: "Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" Answer: "Uh, do you know how long I've been avoiding you?")

This general attitude of "I don't really care if I ever do any quests; I'm just going to hang around a particular area for a while" has carried over to Oblivion. I had to abandon my last game due to mucking up the Thieves Guild questline, but I was spending a lot of time in a given city before branching out to another city. In my new game I haven't even left the Imperial City island yet-- I'm just spending time in the Imperial City and its surrounding sewers, which will eventually be followed by the nearby caves. Sooner or later I'll have to branch out to Bruma so I can start fencing my growing collection of stolen goods-- but I'm not in any rush to do that. I've bought and outfitted my house in the Imperial City, and have joined the Thieves Guild, but have only just started the quest involving Thoronir, and haven't joined the Arena faction yet; that will probably come after the Thoronir quest, which is currently on hold until I've saved up enough to buy any unique items he's got for sale before he dumps his "ill-gotten" inventory.

Anyway, my recommendation is to just relax into a daily routine, such as hunting for alchemical ingredients and then either selling them to the various alchemists (as though you've taken on contracts to keep them well-supplied) or crafting special potions and/or poisons for sale that combine two or more effects, or going out to collect non-magical armor and weapons that you can enchant and sell to armorers and weapons dealers. (I'm trying to suggest things that would fit a magic-oriented character.) And, of course, if there are still any miscellaneous quests or specific questlines that you haven't done yet, you could work on them at your leisure.

As far as leveling up, if you've already maxed your major skills but still have abilities to work on, there are ways to reduce your major skills so you can continue to level up.

Aside from the bottomless rabbit hole of mods, do you have any of the official expansions and downloads?

Just SI and KOTN, but I usually have the latter disabled. I very rarely go to SI, but rarely with the specific intent of doing its MQ. I'm busy enough dodging the Main MQ. I got several other characters since this one. I guess I could not be helped. I currently have a Nord Warrior of sorts. Class called Windhammer. Basically Acrobatics, Armorer, Athletics, Blunt, Light Armor, Mercantile, Restoration.
He's doing the Fighter's Guild Questline. About to take the histsap for that quest.

I think the other downloadable content (aside from Fighter's Stronghold?) came with the KOTN expansion:

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Downloads

The Wizard's Tower, Orrery, and Spell Tomes are of special interest to magic-oriented characters. There's an alchemy table that raises your Alchemy rating while you're near it, and your very own altars for enchanting and spell making, as well as teleportation pads (like the ones in the Arcane University that take you to the Archmage's quarters) which let you instantly travel to any of the Mages Guild Halls (but it's a one-way trip, so you'll have to travel back to the Wizard's Tower the old-fashioned way), plus other goodies.

The Fighter's Stronghold is of special interest to warrior characters. There's a Dwemer Forge that raises your Armorer rating while you're near it, and a taxidermist who'll create life-size trophies or stuffed replicas of certain monsters and animals (an ogre, a brown bear, a troll, a clannfear, a minotaur, etc.). And there's a vintner who'll create several unique wines which have various Alchemical effects useful for fighters.

Imagine no possessions - Have your character carry nothing but perhaps a dark robe to wear for RP purposes.

Be a trophy hunter - My character has collected the dust from 1000 vampires he destroyed. He's collecting robes from Necros and Conjurors now.

I beg your pardon - Help those beggars! There's sort of a quest where you can cure their diseases as well. I've also left by their bedrolls a potion to improve their personality and enchanted clothes to boost their speech craft. (see below)

Survival mode - My character carries a torch as a fire starting kit, some food items, an urn for a canteen, etc. I have several locations that I've cleared that do not spawn baddies and I use them to store a set of gear just in case he were on the run.

Good luck!

Golden Sinner wrote:Imagine no possessions - Have your character carry nothing but perhaps a dark robe to wear for RP purposes.

In my last game-- which I abandoned due to a mistake that broke the Ultimate Heist quest-- I actually spent a goodly amount of time wandering the Imperial City and City Isle wearing matching outfits, such as hunter's clothes, red velvet clothes, the green and blue outfit, the brown outfit, etc. I've played Oblivion for 12 years, but this was the first time I'd actually worn any clothing with no armor value (aside from the prisoner's garb you start with). I also carried no weapons. This wasn't while exploring the sewers or other dangerous areas, just while "going shopping" around town.

Be a trophy hunter - My character has collected the dust from 1000 vampires he destroyed. He's collecting robes from Necros and Conjurors now.

I usually sell all of my vampire dust to Seridur, or use any that he isn't interested in as alchemical ingredients.

On the other hand, I've tried to collect things like one of every sort of weapon or armor. Sometimes my goal is to have a complete set in each of my houses.

In one game I tried to pursue putting certain prized pieces of gear or gems in the display cases which are in certain houses, especially items that were acquired from quests in the area of that city-- but some items, such as armor or weapons, don't always fit nicely into the display cases, and it's always tough to decide which items to put on display. I guess you could rotate out the items every so often.

I beg your pardon - Help those beggars! There's a quest to cure their diseases. I've also left by their bedrolls a potion to improve their personality and enchanted clothes to boost their speech craft.

Are you sure about that quest? I never even realized that the beggars carry diseases until I was looking for the quest you spoke of, but the only quest I could find that has to do with the beggars (besides anything related to the Thieves Guild) is the quest to get Tandilwe to give you master Speechcraft training-- and all you have to do for that quest is initiate a conversation with each beggar. (I always thought you were expected to give each of them a coin, but that isn't the case.)

Survival mode - My character carries a torch as a fire starting kit, some food items, an urn for a canteen, etc. I have several locations that I've cleared that do not spawn baddies and I use them to store a set of gear just in case he were on the run.

By "fire starting" I take it you mean lighting a torch and dropping the lit torch to serve as a fire?

I like the idea of storing "hidden caches" of gear and other sundries out in the wild for emergencies. But where are these spawnless locations? And I take it that there are containers there which do not replenish themselves with random items?

Actually, curing all the beggars' diseases is a quest add-on I do. If you do the master speechcraft training quest, then you may as well cure the beggars while you're at it. "Thank you, kind Sir."

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Beggars

Azura's quest sends you to the Gutted Cave. Once the quest is completed, the cave no longer spawn's NPC's.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Azura

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Gutted_Mine

Many of the chests are safe for storage and the ore deposits too. I make a cheap potion called "Safe" and place it in every container I find. If I return somewhere and the potion is still there, then the container is mine. The containers in the Gutted Cave that do spawn items are usually very good, so its worth it to return to my "Bat Cave". I also post my Adoring Fan here, as a sort of caretaker. Just tell him to wait here.

"Here? Right here? What about, say... over there? No? Right here? All right then, you're the Grand Champion! Whatever you say!"

Good luck!

I do like the idea of curing the beggars, especially since I hadn't even been aware that they were diseased. But when you say "a quest add-on," I guess you mean it's just an extra thing you do during the master Speechcraft training quest, as opposed to something added by a custom mod? In other words, it isn't a quest requirement and there's no reward for doing it, other than the knowledge that you've done something good for the beggars?

That reminds me. One of the things I like to do for the guards who wander the roads is to heal them after they've fought off an animal, monster, bandit, etc.-- especially, but not necessarily, if they've just rushed up to help me when I'm attacked on the road. I figure I'm not just helping them, I'm also doing myself a favor, because I never see the guards heal themselves after a fight, and if their health goes down too much they'll get killed more easily and won't be able to protect me in the future!

As for "safe" containers, I've noticed that certain containers in the Imperial City never seem to get refilled. For example, in the Marketplace District are those two areas with a lot of crates and barrels and bags (or sacks). If you take everything from them, eventually the crates and barrels will get new items added to them, yet the bags or sacks never seem to get any new items. I thought that perhaps bags and sacks were different in that respect, but there are other places (caves, sewers, etc.) where the bags and sacks do get refilled after a while.

Yes the "add-on" is just for RP. I also heal the road patrols when possible. Try the safe potion trick to designate usable containers. I checked and I name the potions "01 Safe" so that they stay at the top of the container menu for quick viewing. I have used those very sacks in the Merchant's District to store gear.

Another safe location is Falcar's room in the Cheydenhall Mage's Guild. After you do the recommendation quest he leaves and the room is yours. I use it as my base of operations. It has a bed, lots of containers in the outer room and its a good place to grind some skills if you are in to that.

Good luck!

I never thought to use Falcar's room that way-- brilliant!

On the other hand, I got my ass bit very badly by trying to use a chest in the Archmage's bedroom at the Arcane University to store my stuff in after I became the Archmage. When I went back to add more stuff to it, I discovered that everything had been replaced by random stuff, whereas I had assumed that the chest would be safe to use because-- you know-- the place was mine now. No such luck! I lost a large number of soul gems, welkynd stones, scrolls, robes, staffs (staves?), and enchanted gear this way. Talk about a game-ending blunder!

@ Falcar's room. I tend to grind level Magic in whatever house I buy. Sometimes I kill that guy in Chorrol that the DB wants you to protect. And his house can be used as if it is your own, except the basement. Other similar spaces of sorts are the Pirate Ship on the Imperial City Waterfront. You can use the bed etc. I am about to make a new character, an Altmer Warlock. A bit different approach.

Acrobatics, Alchemy, Alteration, Athletics, Destruction, Illusion, Mysticism. He will get enchanted with 5x 20% Chameleon and just one shot stuff. Getting Destruction to 100 before all other skills.
Acrobatics and Athletics are there because this character does not care for Personality/Speechcraft/Mercantile, and does not use Endurance, Strength, or Agility Skills. So he will just max out Intelligence, Speed, and Willpower, and then add to Luck and maybe Endurance for some extra HP. Creating at Master level Mysticism a Spell Absorption 100 Pts for 15 seconds to negate Dark Welkynd Stone discharges. Fully negating damage, and negating the 25% Elemental Weakness that Altmers have.

Past experiments used Sneak and either Blade or Blunt with Conjuration. Say Conjure Dagger + Applied Poison + Sneak attack. Or Conjure Claymore for the heavy duty slicing. But I find Chameleon just better, albeit rather exploit-like. But it's all for good fun. Restoration is too much fuss and has this "sacred" quality to it that my Warlock won't be caught dead associating with. Similarly, Conjuration is meaningless with 100% Chameleon, and having no need for Bound Armor or Weapons.

Alteration and Mysticism are for utility. I will at 100 of Alteration, Illusion, and Mysticism make a triple spell called Potent Boon. Which offers Life Detect, Light, and Feather at max magnitude/duration.
Alchemy can be used for spamming Restore Magicka Potions, etc. Acrobatics and Athletics are there for mobility mostly.

His main killing Spell is called Erase Life. Which is Weakness to Magicka 100 Pts + Drain Health 100 Pts. :p

If you choose to use the less safe route of invisibility instead of constant 100% chameleon, the game is a lot more dangerous. I prefer to enchant all of my worn gear with Fortify Magicka.

My eight custom hotkey spells are:

1. "Sneaker"- Invisibility and Nighteye for 40 seconds.
This spell is used to explore danger areas. My magicka fully regenerates in the 40 seconds, so I can keep using it continuously or use it to hide until I have a full blue bar again.

2. "Stacker"- Paralyze on touch for 1 second, 100% Weakness to Shock and Magic both on touch for 9 seconds, Invisibility on self (IoS) for 6 seconds.
Cast this several times as needed, since the effect "stacks".

3. "Whacker"- 36 Points of Shock damage on touch for 10 seconds, IoS for 6 seconds.
A cannon bolt of thunder befalls the target you whacked.

4-"Sapper"- Absorb 20 points of magicka for 10 seconds, IoS for 12 seconds.
Why use your own magicka to slay something?

5. "Oh Lordy"-Summon Dremora Lord for 40 seconds, IoS for 46 seconds.
In fact, why should you do all the work yourself?

6. "Cracker"- Telekinesis to 100 feet for 1 second, Open Very Hard lock on target, 100% Chameleon on self for 6 seconds.
Opens any lock (except under water) and I use it to enter through doors unseen so as not to be ambushed. I can also call up the hotkey to scan targets without actually casting the spell. Place the crosshairs over a distant opponent and the telekinesis effect will tell me if they are a bandit or vampire, etc.

7. "1st Aid"- Fortify Endurance 100 points on self for 5 seconds, Restore 40 points of Health on self for 5 seconds, IoS for 6 seconds.
The endurance boost gives me 200 more health points instantly while the restore effect quickly heals that much damage.

8. "2 Minute Drill"- Detect Life in 100 feet, Water breathing, 100 point Feather and fortify Magicka with 6% Chameleon all on self for 120 seconds.
This is the walking around buffs I use. If I choose to wear armor, the 6% Chameleon effect will complement the adjusted 95% Chameleon of the "Cracker" spell.

I play at max difficulty. My character is always using the 2 minute drill. I add the sneaker when exploring. To attack, I cast several stackers and then one big whacker. If the target is a spell caster, I'll preface the attack with the Sapper spell. This won't work on Liches or opponents with reflect magicka. Then I use the Dremora Lord. The cracker spell is great for stealthy recons and the 1st aid spell gives you an instant boost while actually treating the damage too.

This post of mine is kind of irrelevant. *sigh* Deleted the character. The second he got 100% Chameleon, he went to SI, and killed an npc that somehow gave him 1000 bounty. I console'd to clear it, but the corruption that this caused in my actions quickly defeated the point of continuing. So I turned off essential tag in the ini file, loaded up no crime Cyrodiil, and pretty much one shotted most anyone in every town. Now I'm sad. It's my own fault. That is that I get for being corrupted by unchallenged power. Well. Back to the drawing board.

Golden Sinner, those are some nice spells.

Golden Sinner wrote:I play at max difficulty.

Now there's a way to keep the game interesting after you've maxed out your skills and attributes!

Squalor wrote:Golden Sinner, those are some nice spells.

Thanks! My character has survived all quests on max difficulty, dead is dead with these spells. Give it a try some time.