Morrowind:Starting Out

This is a list of hints to help you start your adventures in Vvardenfell on a good note. For more tips, see any of the following:

• Cheats - Various cheats to modify and manipulate your game.
• Glitches - A list of known glitches that appear in Morrowind.
• Hints - A list of hints to help you on your further adventures in Vvardenfell.
• Houses - Places to call home in Vvardenfell.
• Making Money - Tips on how to earn a few extra coins on your travels.
• Quest Timing - Suggestions on what quests to do early, and which to save for later.

Tips

Make good use of the difficulty slider; for a first-time player, it is a good idea to start out low and increase it every few levels, maxing out at +100 around level 35. You can find your own comfort zone where the game is still challenging, but not frustrating. The slider affects every action in the game, somewhat like Luck.

It is more than possible, however, to start out with the default difficulty settings and make good. The most important thing is to realize that many challenges do not scale to player level. Initially, there are some places it is dangerous to go, and some foes that it is best to run from.

Easily Obtainable Items

Census and Excise Office

After you finish talking to Socucius Ergalla, but before you give your release papers to Sellus Gravius, there are a few opportunities to make extra money before you officially begin. While you can always safely steal anything you wish from unguarded rooms, it is also possible to steal items in the guarded areas. To accomplish this, simply pick up an item and immediately drop it on the floor. The limeware platter on the shelf next to Socucius Ergalla is recommended. If you open the menu first, then you can move many items to the floor without getting caught. The guard will rush over and reprimand you, but will not issue you a bounty. After saying goodbye, simply pick the item back up. You can do this with multiple items at a time by entering the menu screen. This technique is also useful for the warehouse key in the room with Sellus Gravius.

In the rest of the rooms, there are a lot of low-value items, but you can sell it all for up to around 1,000 gold. If you are caught stealing, then you will lose all the stolen items in your possession but not the stolen gold.

Census and Excise Office Warehouse

Right outside the Census and Excise Office is a door that leads into its warehouse. Use the warehouse key to open the door and help yourself to all the stash of weapons, armor and alchemical ingredients. Be aware that an Imperial guard patrols the entire area.

Around and Inside the Lighthouse

Scattered in and around the lighthouse of Seyda Neen are numerous items that can be taken and sold to increase the amount of money your character has early on in the game. You are also able to loot the sacks and steal the lanterns and sell them to Arrille at his tradehouse for a small profit.

There are two rotting tree trunks around the lighthouse. Note that these tree stumps are not containers, so you will have to be standing on top of them to reach the items inside. The one closest to the lighthouse entryway can be reached by jumping down from the wooden walkway leading up to the entrance; it contains 25 gold pieces and a silverware cup worth 13 gold. The second trunk can be reached by climbing the stones beside the Lighthouse entryway and jumping off towards the trunk, which contains an Iron Shardaxe worth 100 gold.

Nice Light Armor

If you have the Tribunal expansion enabled, a Dark Brotherhood assassin will attack you when you rest (see the quest page for details). He will be wearing Dark Brotherhood Armor, which is extremely strong for low-level characters. The assassin can be difficult to kill, however, so try not to rest until you are strong enough to make the attempt.

Free Steel Armor

Go to Hla Oad, to Fatleg's Drop Off and take the trap door to the Cammona Tong underground hideout. If you swim down into the sunken tunnel and climb up on the wooden platforms, you will find three crates with a nearly complete set of Steel Armor (it's missing one of the pauldrons.)

Sword of White Woe

In Balmora's Eastern Guard tower, you can find a Sword of White Woe on top of a closet, on the top floor. You don't have to fight the guard there to get the items as there is a blind spot. If you are by the foot of the bunk beds, you can take the sword and not be noticed, although you might need to jump or levitate to see the sword.

Free Master's Alchemy Set

You can get a free set of Master's Alchemy Apparatus in the Caldera Mages Guild without getting caught or expelled. You can also steal some ingredients. Use a guild guide to teleport to Caldera. Head downstairs and look for a wooden door leading to a spiral staircase. Make sure you shut the door or someone might come in. Go up the spiral staircase, steal what you want and you're done.

If you're a member of the Mages Guild, then most items will not be marked as stolen if you take them, but not all.

An additional set can be stolen from Nalcarya of White Haven if you hide next to the pillar near the entrance and access the crate in the corner. If you've already stolen the set from Caldera then you should sell this to her first.

Other Easily Found, Useful Items

• An enchanted healing item such as a Life Ring or Velothian Helm. Many of the enchanters at Mages Guild branches often have affordable shields with healing enchantments for sale.
• Amulet of Mighty Blows - from the trader Verick Gemain in Caldera.
• Dwemer Jinksword - from Wayn in the Fighters Guild in Balmora.
• Mentor's Ring - from an urn in Samarys Ancestral Tomb, located northwest of Seyda Neen.
• Amulet of Stamina - ~5 Septims from a large number of vendors that sell enchanted items. Can be used to lessen waiting for Fatigue to refill and recharging it will increase your enchant skill. Burning the charges of 3 or 4 can get you back to max fatigue quickly.
• Glass Netch Dagger - If you go to Gnaar Mok and look into one of the hollow tree trunks southwest of Arenim Manor, you will find it stuck in a skull.

Early Traveling

Exploiting the Early Quests

Three quests starting in Seyda Neen can all be exploited for a little extra cash early in the game.

First and most obvious is the Fargoth's Ring quest. You could keep the ring, but it's much more profitable to return it to him, since you can get it back in a later quest (see below). Also, returning the ring rewards you with an instant Disposition boost with Arrille, the only trader in town, making this perfect for selling the items you stole from the Census and Excise office above.

Another quest you can exploit is the Death of a Taxman quest. Find Processus Vitellius's corpse just outside the town; he will have 200 gold on him. If you report his murder to Socucius Ergalla, he will ask if there was any cash on the body. If you turn in the money you will be promised a higher reward for executing the murderer. When you find Processus Vitellius' Ring during this quest, you may enchant it as it is an Exquisite Ring, the highest quality ring for enchantment. You may also sell it for profit, since it is worth far more than the healing potions you'll receive if you return it. Another option is to return the ring to Thavere Vedrano, take the healing potions, then kill her and take the ring off of her corpse. Your crime will not be reported and you get both the ring and the healing potions. Both the killer's home and the lighthouse may also be used as player houses.

The third exploitable quest is Fargoth's Hiding Place. Not only do you get back his ring during this quest, but you get a nice pile of gold. While you were told to return two thirds of this gold to Hrisskar Flat-Foot, there are no negative consequences if you just keep it. Again, you can always give it back to him later when you're not desperate for money.

The Road to Balmora

If you plan on continuing the main quest, your first destination after leaving Seyda Neen will be Balmora. There are several ways to get there. The easiest way is certainly to take the Silt Strider. A more lucrative and satisfying way is to walk. There is one path in particular on which the new adventurer can find many stashes of loot along the way.

As you exit Seyda Neen, you will see a road ahead that splits—you can go to the right and follow the path up to the Silt Strider, or you can go straight ahead and pass over a little bridge. The second swamp-like pond on your right hand side contains a rotting tree trunk with three stumps—one of them contains two piles of 25 gold pieces and a Firebite dagger worth 7 gold.

Continue following the path and an unfortunate Bosmer will fall out of the sky to land just in front of you. The corpse can be looted for three Scrolls of Icarian Flight worth 119 gold each; for details and safety tips, see this page.

If you walk along the coast, you will find some tombs and a shipwreck with plenty of desirable loot in them.

Also, under some trees right on the coast half-way between Seyda Neen and Hla Oad, right away from Samarys Ancestral Tomb and Unexplored Shipwreck, search for a tree stump with a Cloth Sack within. There is 100 gold inside.

Completing Report to Caius Cosades

Try to deliver the package to Caius Cosades before you reach level 4. He will hand you 200 gold if you've come to him while below that level. He will also give you directions to the other members of The Blades, who will give you information and items that you can sell for gold or keep.

Addamasartus

A good beginner "quest" involves clearing out a nearby cave of smugglers. From Seyda Neen, turn right and approach the Silt Strider. As you get closer, there will be a path going left and downhill. Take that path to the door covering the Addamasartus entrance.

The smugglers here aren't especially tough, but a new character fresh off the boat will face quite a challenge. Free the slaves to get a quest later on. You can also pick up their slave bracers and sell them to a merchant. Don't forget to loot the smugglers' bodies and all the boxes. There is a Thief Ring down the path near the caged slave area, in a corner full of coins, bones, mushrooms and a piece of armor; it may be hard to see due to its size. There are also a few pieces of light armor lying around, and there is a good sword in a pool of water next to a skeleton.

Spears to Improve Your Endurance

Since Heavy Armor is, well, heavy, and Medium Armor has limited uses in later levels, Spears are the best way to increase your character's Endurance. Also, it might be a good idea to make endurance one of your favored attributes so you can max it out as quickly as possible. Also note that spear has a longer reach, helping you to keep critters at bay. Arrille has two Iron Spears for sale. The Conjuration spell Bound Spear is helpful, cheap and weightless. The trader Ra'Virr in Balmora also has a cheap Devil Spear for sale, if you don't want to solely rely on spells. Also, the first quest Caius Cosades gives you leads to Arkngthand, where a Dwarven Spear is located in the first room, near the door to the boss room.

Early Quests with Great Rewards

This is a section of quests that have fantastic rewards, and can be done by any player.

Auriel's Bow - Reward of an enchanted Daedric Cuirass and Daedric Greaves (note that while this is a House Telvanni quest, anyone can do it).

Pilgrimages of the Seven Graces - Easily obtainable Dreugh Cuirass, which can be received over and over again.

Useful Spells

Starting out, a super powered spell isn't necessarily what you need. Going to a Spellmaker and making a custom one magicka point version of a spell is often a better choice as you're more likely to succeed casting it and making repetitive casts will help raise the respective skill spell. Also, several effects have better utility with a short duration version. For example if you're exploring along a coast using a long duration Water Walking spell and you spot an underwater wreck you'd like to explore or a cluster of Kollops that may hold valuable Pearls then you may have to wait for the effect to wear off while a one magicka point 11 second spell won't hold you up so long. Similarly a long duration Levitation spell can keep you from being able to sneak to avoid enemies or rest to regain health and magicka.

• Absorb Health - tops off your health while damaging your foe.
• Turn Undead - for tomb raiding.
• Almsivi Intervention and Divine Intervention, as well as Mark andRecall - Spell or Scroll, for a quick retreat when you're out-matched. Also good for getting around.
• Light or Night Eye - To help you see in the dark.
• Water Breathing - Many caves require you to dive. This makes it easier.
• Water Walking - Allows you to cross water much faster than by swimming or levitating. Standing on water is also quite safe, as creatures of both the land and sea cannot reach you.
• Levitation - Vvardenfell is full of hills; being able to fly over them is a great convenience.
• A Summon spell to distract your foe.
• A Bound Weapon or Armor spell to help with fighting hard foes.

Another Quick Start Idea

Another way to quickly level and become powerful in Morrowind is to take advantage of the training system. When you start in Seyda Neen, go directly down towards the light house. There is a tree next to the largest building in town that should have two types of mushrooms on it. Somewhere between this tree and the nearby lighthouse should be two more types of mushroom. Together, the four mushroom types are Luminous Russula, Violet Coprinus, Bungler's Bane, and Hypha Facia. Once you have at least one of each, take the silt strider (on the opposite side of town from the light house) to Balmora and head to the Mage's guild. Talk to Ajira, you have the mushrooms for her first quest. Talk to her again about duties and she will tell you about a bet with Galbedir and a fake soul gem. Head up towards the entrance and up the stairs in the entry hall. The desk in the small room up there is the one you are looking for and also has some soul gems worth a lot of money. Grab them and turn in the quest. It is also recommend that you get the sword of white woe while in Balmora. Even with no sneak, you should be able to steal it by jumping up on the edge of the bed and using the pillar to block the guard's line of sight. Once you have these, head to Caldera via the teleporter in the Mage's guild. At the top of the tower in the Mage's guild is some alchemy items that are also worth a bit. More importantly, head towards the Smith in Caldera. The building opposite the smith has a door on the back, go through and up the stairs to find the Scamp there. He has 5000 gold and will buy most items (such as the soul gems you recently stole). You may need to find some more items to cash in the big soul gem for what its worth, but at least right now you should be able to get up to 20000 gold or more with the lesser soul gems and the sword of white woe. Remember, merchants will recover their gold if you wait 24 hours. Once you have this, train! It is strongly recommend you look at a training guide if you are not familiar with the leveling system in Morrowind, you don't want to waste levels.

Another tip is to visit Ghostgate. If you can make it to the Ghostgate (A ways north and east of Balmora), in the tower of dusk is the master spear trainer. He is behind a level 50 locked door, but will train spears to 100. This also helps get you endurance up quickly which is important since endurance dictates how much life you gain per level. If you make this journey, first pick up the spells Mark and Recall so you can get back easily and get your training completed. There are also master trainers in Balmora (short blade and security) and Caldera (sneak), see the master trainer list for more information. If you can make it to level 20 or so, there is an ancestral tomb right next to Caldera where Daedra and Golden Saints will spawn. They will drop very expensive weapons which can be sold to the scamp and will make you rich. They can be tough at first, so you should grab some potions and maybe some scrolls if you do not have a good weapon. Also, if you made the trip to the Ghostgate, there is glass armor you can steal. You can also taunt one of the guards into attacking you and take it from them once they are dead (be careful, they can be tough and taunting takes forever unless your speechcraft is high). There is also an armory behind the spear master trainer that, if you can break into (level 60 lock), has some weapons worth a lot of money. Ghostgate is a good place to get a significant number of levels and enough loot to finance training to level 30 or so, at which point the game becomes much easier since you can loot higher level enemies for their valuable weapons.