Oblivion:Magical Effects

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Contents 1 Availability of Effects 1.1 Alteration 1.2 Conjuration 1.3 Destruction 1.4 Illusion 1.5 Mysticism 1.6 Restoration 2 General Notes 2.1 Drain vs Damage vs Absorb 2.2 Magnitude to Level Conversion 2.3 Options for Healing 2.4 Resistances and Weaknesses 2.5 Restore vs Fortify vs Absorb 2.6 Reflect vs Absorb vs Resist

This page provides an overview of all the magical effects available in Oblivion. In most cases, these effects are used in a number of different ways: for example, to make spells, potions, or enchanted items. Certain magical effects may have limitations to their use; others may not be available to the player through any means at all. Concerning this and other details of magical effects you will find on individual effect pages.

The following pages have information on specific ways of using magical effects:

• Alchemy Effects: how to make custom potions with specific magical effects
• Spell Effects: a list of magical effects used to create custom spells

[edit] Availability of Effects

The tables below list all magical effects available in Oblivion, sorted by magical school. The columns indicate:

• Type: the purpose of this effect (although other applications are often possible: see for example, Cursed Enchantments).
  • Offensive: used against opponents and generally considered to be hostile unless otherwise stated. In enchanting, typically used on weapons.
  • Defensive: used for protective purposes and never considered to be hostile. In enchanting, typically used on armor and apparel.
  • Restorative: used to undo damage. Restorative effects are never available as enchantments, although one or two items such as the Truncheon of Submission are pre-enchanted with such effects.
  • Other: non-hostile magical effects which do not fit in the above three categories.
• Spell: shows whether this effect exists as a standard spell (an asterisk in this column indicates that non-standard spells may be possible under some circumstances)
• Custom Potion: can you make your own potions from raw ingredients containing this effect with Alchemy apparatus?
• Built-In Potion: is this effect available through standard potions?
• Scroll: indicates whether this effect can be found on standard scrolls.
• Sigil Stones: can this effect be acquired from Sigil Stones?
• Custom Spell: displays whether this effect is available via the Altars of Spellmaking.
• Custom Enchantment: shows if this effect may be accessed through the Altars of Enchanting.

In the columns:

Yes means the effect is available

— means the effect is not available

* means that under rare circumstances, the effect is available (see the individual effect's page for details).

[edit] Alteration

Effect Name	Type	Spell	Custom Potion	Built-In Potion	Scroll	Sigil Stone	Custom Spell	Custom Enchantment
Burden	Offensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Feather	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fire Shield	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Frost Shield	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lock	Other	*	—	—	—	—	*	*
Open	Other	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	—
Shield	Defensive	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shock Shield	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Water Breathing	Other	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Water Walking	Other	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

[edit] Conjuration

Effect Name	Type	Spell	Custom Potion	Built-In Potion	Scroll	Sigil Stone	Custom Spell	Custom Enchantment
Bound Armor	Defensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	—
Bound Weapon	Defensive	Yes	—	*	Yes	—	Yes	—
Reanimate	Other	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Summon	Defensive	Yes	—	*	Yes	—	Yes	—
Turn Undead	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

[edit] Destruction

Effect Name	Type	Spell	Custom Potion	Built-In Potion	Scroll	Sigil Stone	Custom Spell	Custom Enchantment
Damage Attribute	Offensive	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	—	—
Damage Fatigue	Offensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Damage Health	Offensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Damage Magicka	Offensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes
Disintegrate Armor	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Disintegrate Weapon	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Drain Attribute	Offensive	*	—	Yes	*	—	*	*
Drain Fatigue	Offensive	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Drain Health	Offensive	Yes	*	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Drain Magicka	Offensive	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Drain Skill	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Fire Damage	Offensive	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Frost Damage	Offensive	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shock Damage	Offensive	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stunted Magicka	Offensive	*	—	—	—	—	—	—
Sun Damage	Offensive	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Weakness to Disease	Offensive	—	—	—	Yes	—	—	—
Weakness to Fire	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Weakness to Frost	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Weakness to Magic	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Weakness to Normal Weapons	Offensive	—	—	—	Yes	—	—	—
Weakness to Poison	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Weakness to Shock	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes

[edit] Illusion

Effect Name	Type	Spell	Custom Potion	Built-In Potion	Scroll	Sigil Stone	Custom Spell	Custom Enchantment
Calm	Offensive (Non-hostile)	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	—
Chameleon	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Charm	Other	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	—
Command Creature	Offensive (Non-hostile)	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Command Humanoid	Offensive (Non-hostile)	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Darkness	Other	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Demoralize	Offensive (Non-hostile)	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Frenzy	Offensive (Non-hostile)	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Invisibility	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Light	Other	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Night-Eye	Other	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Paralyze	Offensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Rally	Offensive (Non-hostile)	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Silence	Offensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

[edit] Mysticism

Effect Name	Type	Spell	Custom Potion	Built-In Potion	Scroll	Sigil Stone	Custom Spell	Custom Enchantment
Detect Life	Other	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dispel	Defensive/Offensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reflect Damage	Defensive	*	Yes	—	—	—	*	—
Reflect Spell	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Soul Trap	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spell Absorption	Defensive	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—
Telekinesis	Other	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	—

[edit] Restoration

Effect Name	Type	Spell	Custom Potion	Built-In Potion	Scroll	Sigil Stone	Custom Spell	Custom Enchantment
Absorb Attribute	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Absorb Fatigue	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Absorb Health	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Absorb Magicka	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Absorb Skill	Offensive	Yes	—	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Cure Disease	Restorative	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Cure Paralysis	Restorative	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Cure Poison	Restorative	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Fortify Attribute	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fortify Fatigue	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fortify Health	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fortify Magicka	Defensive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fortify Skill	Defensive	*	—	*	—	Yes	*	*
Resist Disease	Defensive	*	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	*	*
Resist Element	Defensive	*	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	*	*
Resist Magic	Defensive	Yes	—	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	—
Resist Normal Weapons	Defensive	*	—	—	—	—	—	—
Resist Paralysis	Defensive	—	Yes	—	—	—	—	—
Resist Poison	Defensive	*	Yes	Yes	—	—	*	*
Restore Attribute	Restorative	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Restore Fatigue	Restorative	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	—	Yes	—
Restore Health	Restorative	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	—
Restore Magicka	Restorative	—	Yes	Yes	—	—	—	—

[edit] General Notes

[edit] Drain vs Damage vs Absorb

Each of these spells reduces the points of a target's statistic. Most commonly, the statistic is Health, but Fatigue, Magicka, Attributes and Skills can also be affected. These spells differ in various ways:

• The spell school that governs the effect.
• Whether the spell affects the target only, or both the target and the caster.
• Whether the damage automatically reverses, or whether healing is necessary to repair the damage.
• The availability of the effect as a standard spell, and therefore how easy it is to create custom spells.
• The relative cost of casting the spell.
• The availability of the effect as a potion.

Drain

• All Drain effects are part of the Destruction school.
• Drain involves only the target.
• Drain effects last for the duration of the spell; they are then automatically reversed. (To reverse the Drain effect more quickly, Dispel can be used.)
• Drain Fatigue and Drain Health are available as standard novice destruction spells; Drain Magicka and Drain Skill are available as standard apprentice destruction spells. Drain Attribute is not available as a standard spell, but can be obtained for custom spells, as detailed on the effect page.
• Drain is the cheapest spell for the amount of power delivered.
• Drain is generally not available for custom potions, but there are built-in potions for Health, Magicka, Fatigue, and all eight standard attributes.

Damage

• All Damage effects are part of the Destruction school.
• Damage involves only the target.
• The points lost to Damage remain lost indefinitely, until reversed with the appropriate Restore effect (including general healing options such as a blessing at an altar). Magicka and Fatigue are exceptions, both of which naturally regenerate for most characters.
• Damage Fatigue and Damage Health are available as standard novice destruction spells; Damage Magicka is available as a standard apprentice destruction spell. Damage Attribute exists as an effect (e.g., for poisons) but cannot be acquired as a spell. Damage Skill does not exist in any form.
  • Damage Attribute is available as a standard or character-created Poison ("potion magic effect") for Health, Magicka, Fatigue, and all eight standard attributes.
• Damage is more expensive than Drain for derived Attributes (Health, Magicka, Fatigue). It is the most expensive of the three for standard Attributes.

Absorb

• All Absorb effects are part of the Restoration school.
• Absorb spells transfer points of the given statistic from the target to the caster, simultaneously damaging/draining the target's statistics and restoring/fortifying the caster's.
• The effects caused by Absorb work differently depending on what statistic was targeted.
  • For Absorb Fatigue, Absorb Health, and Absorb Magicka spells the effect on the target is the same as a Damage spell; the effect on the caster is the same as Restore spell.
  • For Absorb Attribute and Absorb Skill spells, the effect on the target is the same as a Drain spell; the effect on the caster is the same as a Fortify spell.
• All Absorb effects are available as standard novice restoration spells, and therefore Absorb is the easiest effect to acquire for creating custom spells.
• Absorb is slightly more expensive than Drain for standard Attributes. It is the most expensive of the three for derived attributes.
• Absorb is not available for any poisons.

Additional Information

• Drain X pts for Y secs and Damage X pts for Y secs have different magnitudes.
  • The Drain spell will have a constant effect of X points reduction for the Y second duration of the spell. After Y seconds, the effect reverses. (The description of Drain provided in the Game Guide is incorrect.)
  • A Damage spell will cause a repeating X points of reduction each second for Y seconds. So after Y seconds, the total damage will be X*Y points, which then lasts indefinitely.

[edit] Magnitude to Level Conversion

Several magical effects are described in the game based upon the level of the creature that will be affected: Calm, Command Creature, Command Humanoid, Demoralize, Frenzy, Turn Undead. (Rally does not). Internally, each of these spells has a magnitude in points, used for example to determine the magicka cost of a spell. The equation used to convert from magnitude (in points) to level is fairly straightforward:

Level = Magnitude/4

The level is always rounded down. So magnitude 3 yields level 0, magnitudes 4-7 yields level 1; magnitude 100 yields level 25.

Spell effectiveness is applied to the spell's original magnitude; the actual levels affected by the spell are then calculated from the resulting, reduced magnitude. Therefore, the levels shown for any spell are likely to be incorrect if your character is wearing armor. For example, Touch of Rage claims it works "up to level 18." However, if your character's Spell Effectiveness is 85%, the spell's actual magnitude will be 63.75 (75*0.85), resulting in a spell that only works up to level 15.

The maximum possible level of these spells, even at the Spell Making altar, is 25. However, the maximum strength spell, despite claiming to only work "up to level 25," will in fact work on any level enemy — as long as your character has 100% spell effectiveness. For example, casting a level 25 Command Humanoid on an NPC of level 34 will succeed. This quirk prevents these spells from becoming effectively useless for high-level characters, who will only meet creatures and NPCs with levels higher than 25. If you are wearing any armor, even with armor skills at 100, the maximum magnitude of a spell becomes 95 and therefore will only work on enemies up to level 23.

[edit] Options for Healing

Multiple effects listed here provide various types of healing: Cure Disease, Cure Paralysis, Cure Poison, Dispel, Restore Attribute, Restore Fatigue, Restore Health, and Restore Magicka all help you to recover after combat. Which approach is necessary depends upon how you were injured (disease, spell, poison, weapon) and what your injuries are.

If you see a red value in your journal statistics and can't remember what caused that damage, the best place to check is on the Active Effects page on your journal. In most cases, you should find a corresponding entry that provides details on what is inducing the damage. If the details mention Poison, you need to use a Cure Poison effect; if the details mention Disease you need to use a Cure Disease effect. If you do not see anything in your Active Effects page, the chances are that a Restore spell will do the trick.

The various Restore effects will heal magically-induced Damage as well as mundane types of damage (loss of Fatigue from a hard fight, loss of Magicka from casting spells, loss of Health from weapon damage or fall damage). Restore effects will not work on injuries due to Drain effects, nor will they work on injuries induced by disease or poison.

Dispel will work to undo Drain effects and other effects (both positive and negative), but only if caused by spells or enchantments. Dispel will not work on injuries induced by disease or poison. In other words, a Drain effect that was induced by poison will not be undone by a Dispel spell or potion. Also, Dispel will not work on Drain effects from lesser powers (e.g., Spriggan's Curse that drains Luck).

Another option for healing is to visit the altar in any chapel (i.e., the chapels in cities or the wilderness chapels such as Weynon Priory, Gottlesfont Priory). At these altars, all negative effects will be healed, provided your infamy is lower than your fame; there is no need to figure out what caused the damage or which specific spell is necessary to fix it. Wayshrines provide similar healing, although not quite as comprehensive. For evil characters, the Vile Lair official plug-in provides a Shrine of Sithis that only works if your infamy is greater than your fame.

[edit] Resistances and Weaknesses

There are a large number of different types of Resist and Weakness effects that can be used to magically reduce or enhance a wide range of different aspects of the game.

The mechanics of each individual Resist/Weakness pair is the same. A Weakness is basically just a negative resistance. Any creature's or character's total effective resistance is the sum of all active Resist and Weakness effects:

Total_Resistance_to_X = Resist_X - Weakness_to_X

Unfortunately, the character's Active Effects menu screen displays separate entries for resistances and weaknesses. Therefore, when interpreting the Active Effects menu, you need to be sure to check both the resistance and the weakness entries. All tables on this site (e.g., at Creature Weaknesses or Races) use the convention that a positive value in a "resistance" column is a resistance and a negative value is a weakness.

One implication is that immunities are not guaranteed. For example, all Vampires have a 100% Resist Disease effect and therefore are described as being immune to disease. But it is still very possible for vampires to catch a disease if any Weakness to Disease is active, which could occur if the Boots of the Swift Merchant are being worn or if the Staff of Vulnerability was used, to name just a couple possibilities. Another example is that Ghosts can be damaged (even killed) using Frost Damage spells, as long as a Weakness to Frost spell is cast first. The only absolutely impenetrable immunity is 100% Resist Magic, since any Weakness to Magic spell would have its magnitude reduced to zero, and there are no ingredients with a Weakness to Magic effect. Fortunately, magic-immune enemies are extremely rare, and the few that do exist are vulnerable to poison (no NPC is immune to both poison and magic).

The various possible resistances (and also weaknesses) that are available are:

• Resist Disease: alters the chance of catching any disease.
• Resist Fire: alters the damage done by any Fire Damage effect (from spells or poisons).
• Resist Frost: alters the damage done by any Frost Damage effect (from spells or poisons).
• Resist Magic: alters the magnitude of any spell effect (from a spell being cast, or from an enchantment on a weapon or staff). It has no effect on any effect delivered by a poison instead of a spell. In other words, a Fire Damage spell will be altered by Resist Magic, but a Fire Damage poison will not be.
• Resist Normal Weapons: alters the damage done by normal weapons, i.e. non-enchanted weapons except for silver, daedric, and a few other rare weapon types.
• Resist Paralysis: alters the chance of being paralysed (from spells or power attacks).
• Resist Poison: alters the magnitude of any effect delivered by a poison, including poisons such as Fire Damage.
• Resist Shock: alters the damage done by any Shock Damage effect (from spells or poisons).

Whenever resistances of different types combine, their effects are multiplied. For example, a Fire Damage spell is altered by both Resist Fire and Resist Magic. The total damage done by the spell would be multiplied by:

(100 - Total_Resistance_to_Fire)/100 * (100 - Total_Resistance_to_Magic)/100

Spell stacking techniques take advantage of this (and the cumulative effect of multiple Weakness to Magic spells) to dramatically amplify the damage done by spells.

[edit] Restore vs Fortify vs Absorb

Each of these spells increases the value of a statistic, such as Health, Fatigue, Magicka, Attributes and Skills. Restore will only increase statistics back to their usual values (i.e., healing earlier damage). Fortify increases statistics past their usual values.

Restore is a permanent increase (at least, until you get injured again!), wherease Fortify effects only last for a limited period of time.

Restore will not always repair damaged statistics, even if they are shown in red in your journal. Restore will not repair decreases due to Drain effects (use Dispel instead), nor will it repair decreases caused by Diseases (use Cure Disease instead).

Absorb transfers points of a statistic from the target to the spellcaster. The effect upon the spellcaster varies. For Absorb Health, Absorb Magicka, and Absorb Fatigue the effect is the same as a Restore spell, i.e., values are healed up to their base value. For Absorb Attribute and Absorb Skill the effect is the same as a Fortify spell, i.e., the values are temporarily increased past their base values.

[edit] Reflect vs Absorb vs Resist

All of these spell effects work towards stopping enemy magic from harming you. Reflect Spell and Spell Absorption both have a percent chance of reflect or absorbing enemy spells respectively, while Resist Magic reduces the damage done by Magicka by a certain percentage.

If all two or more effects are active, there can be interesting consequences. Reflect Spell will always be counted above the other two, so those with the Atronach sign will have to be especially cautious using this.

Spell Absorption is counted after Reflect Spell, and if you have less than 100% and it fails, Spell Absorption kicks in. It still trumps Resist Magic, however, so if you have no Resistances or 100% Resistances, it won't matter.

Resist Magic is taken into account lastly of the three, and is the only one not chance based. It will always be taken into account if not superseded by Reflect or Absorb, and can also be reduced by Weakness spells if not at 100%.