Oblivion:Resist Normal Weapons

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	Resist Normal Weapons
School		Restoration
Type		Defensive (No enchanting, No custom spells)
Effect ID		RSNW
Base Cost		1.5
Barter Factor		300
Availability (Click on any item for details)
Apparel

Resist Normal Weapons M% for D seconds

Resist Normal Weapons reduces damage taken from normal weapons by M%. Normal weapons can be melee and ranged non-enchanted weapons or bare fists; creature attacks, however, are unaffected by resist normal weapons. There are several generic magic items with this effect. In addition, there are also some unique items, such as the Hands of Midnight. Also, becoming a vampire grants you a 5% Resist Normal Weapons bonus at Vampirism 25% and up to 20% Resist Normal Weapon at Vampirism 100%.

[edit] 100% Resist Normal Weapons

Obtaining 100% Resist Normal Weapons as a character is difficult (especially since custom items cannot be made), and is only possible if you are willing to be a vampire and have at least one official plugin, Unearthing Mehrunes Razor.

• Full vampires have 20% resistance.
• Hands of Midnight provide 10% resistance. These gauntlets are available to Dark Brotherhood members only, in the Cheydinhal sanctuary. Also wearing them adds Sun Damage (but if you're a vampire you will already be avoiding the sun).
• Greaves of Resilient Flesh provide 11% resistance. These are found randomly in loot starting at level 12.
• Rings of Steelskin provide 13% resistance (Ring of Steelskin) and 15% resistance (Grand Ring of Steelskin). These rings are found randomly in loot starting at levels 9 and 14, respectively. To wear two steelskin rings, you must have two different rings (i.e., you can not wear two Grand Rings of Steelskin simultaneously).
• Morag Tong Cuirass provides up to 25% resistance. This is a leveled item only found in the Mehrunes Razor plugin, and its level is randomly determined (i.e. luck and/or reloading from saves is necessary to get the best one).
• Bladeturn Hood provides up to 15% resistance. It is also a random-level item found only in the Mehrunes Razor plugin.

A full vampire wearing all of these items will have 109% Resist Normal Weapons; non-vampires will have 89% resistance.

The Knights of the Nine plugin also has a couple items of that provide resistance, although both of these items can only be equipped by players who have at most 1 Infamy point:

• Cuirass of the Crusader provides 15% resistance, for all versions of this leveled item. The Morag Tong Cuirass is preferable, since it provides up to 25% resistance.
• Greaves of the Crusader provide 15% resistance, but only if you acquire the light armor version between levels 16 and 20. This is 4 points better than the 11% resistance available from the Greaves of Resilient Flesh.

Therefore, 113% Resist Normal Weapons is possible using the best possible combination of items; for non-vampires the best possible value is 93% resistance.

It is far more feasible and beneficial to obtain 100% Reflect Damage, which:

• only requires three items, giving you more freedom to choose your equipment,
• only requires finding two particular random items instead of three random plus two semi-random,
• does not require being a vampire or an assassin,
• does not require paying for a plug-in,
• sends damage back at enemies, making them die quicker,
• works against creatures as well as people,
• and is not worthless in Oblivion where everything is either a creature or wields Daedric or Dremora equipment.

Reflect Damage does not protect against arrows, however.

[edit] Notes

• This effect is disabled at both the Spellmaking and Enchanting Altars.

• Creatures who are immune to normal weapons (100% Resist Normal Weapons) will suffer no damage from attacks using most unenchanted weapons. In order to damage these creatures you can:
  • Use a silver or daedric weapon. There are also less common weapons that will work, some of which are listed with an asterisk on the Weapons page. Dremora weapons, acquired in the Planes of Oblivion, are another possibility.
  • Poison the weapon. Even if the creature is also immune to poison, the weapon itself will still damage the creature.
  • Use an enchanted weapon. Even if the weapon is completely discharged, or if the creature is immune to the weapon's enchantment, the weapon itself will still damage the creature.
  • Use your fists if you are at least journeyman level in Hand to Hand skill.

[edit] See also

Sections:

• Resistances and Weaknesses: General information on how resistances and weaknesses interact.

Related effects:

• Weakness to Normal Weapons
• Resist Disease, Resist Fire, Resist Frost, Resist Magic, Resist Paralysis, Resist Poison, Resist Shock