UESPWiki:Reference Desk/2007 01

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Contents 1 The complete noob guide? 2 Stolen Quest Items 3 Mehrunes Dagon's stats 4 Cursed Clothing

[edit] The complete noob guide?

First off, a giant kudos and whopping big thank you for all of this info. It is indispensable for understanding such a huge game like Oblivion. I have a LOT of questions but I'll limit it to one for now:

Is there, or is anyone willing to write, a true noob guide to oblivion? Take me for example, the only game I've played with any RPG elements was System Shock 2. Compared to Oblivion, that's like the difference between a plastic toy gun and the Joint Strike Fighter! For those who are as lost as I am, we need even some of the basic terminology explained. For example, I still don't get the exact relationship between levels and experience/skill or how to enchant a weapon. It even took me an 8 hr game and several internet searches before I figured out how to drop inventory items! Yes, it's that bad folks. So any help appreciated. 74.112.130.131 06:26, 24 January 2007 (EST)Pritzl

No time to write a whole guide here, but I can answer the few questions you posed. First of all, Oblivion does not have "Experience" in the traditional RPG sense. (Which usually implies you receive a certain amount of experience for every enemy you kill.) How it works, in the most basic sense, is that every time you use a skill, any skill at all, you will get better at it. The meters on your character screen show you how close you are to increasing a point in each skill. Once they fill up, your skill increases one point and the meter resets. The higher the skill, the slower the meter moves, so it's easier to level up skills at lower values. Now, as for levelling, you'll notice that 7 skills are listed as "Major" skills. In order to achieve a new level for your character, you must gain 10 points in these 7 skills. Points gained in other skills do not contribute to levelling. However, they DO contribute to multipliers. When you level, you can choose to increase 3 of your Attributes. Depending on which skills you increased, you will have multipliers (up to 5x) available for these attributes. These do not carry over to subsequent levels, so use them or lose them. (However, skills increased after gaining the 10 points necessary for the next level WILL carry over to the level afterwards, and WON'T apply to your current level-up - a marked change from previous games in the series.) Anyhow, a more detailed description of this process can be found here: Character Creation.

As for enchanting, the basic explanation is: Carry soul gems, cast a Soul Trap spell on a monster before killing it to fill the gem, and then go to the Enchanting Altar in the Arcane University to choose your enchantments. (You need to have earned access to the university first.) You can choose for spell effects any spells you already know. See Spell Merchants for information on finding spells you want. You'll also need some gold to pay for the enchantment. The more powerful the monster, the better the enchantment you can get from its soul. (However, you will need higher quality soul gems to capture the larger souls.) It's all explained in detail at Enchanting. Hope this helps. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 09:56, 24 January 2007 (EST)

That's a wonderful start. I still lost you near the end of that first paragraph unfortunately; the bit about current versus carried over level ups and whatnot. But I'll work on it. Just one clarification though, the 10 points, is that a total of 10 points in the 7 major skills, 10 point in each major skill or the first major skill to gain 10 points? I'm guessing that, regardless, the objective is to try to throw in a lot of skill points for the minor skills too while leveling, correct? Pritzl, 12:49, 24 January 2007 (EST)

You also might want to read Leveling for specifics of what happens when you level up. And First Time Players is where I've tried to assemble some tips for players who are new to Oblivion. We'd welcome feedback on how to improve any pages that you read: if you find a paragraph unclear, feel free to revise it so it makes more sense. Or make suggestions/ask questions on that page's talk page (click the "discussion" tab at the top to pull up the talk page). It's hard for those of us who contribute most to the site to remember what it felt like when we first started playing, so pointers on where we're jumping over basic information would really be appreciated. --Nephele 14:09, 24 January 2007 (EST)

Oh trust me, I've read it a couple of times now and in some instances it is a bit tough to follow. That said, I think I'm the problem since like I said, I am beyond hopeless wrt RPGs. If I do find some useful suggestions or input (and time left over from the great void that is playing this game!) I'll definitely follow your instructions there. 74.112.130.131 16:39, 24 January 2007 (EST)Pritzl

10 points, in any combination in the 7 major skills. It can be 10 points all in 1 skill, or 5 each in 2 skills, or split up any other way between those 7. As for minor skills, yes it is generally better to train them as much as possible prior to levelling. In fact, given the way the enemies in this game level, it's actually preferable to keep your level as low as possible. If you deliberately make an effort to avoid using any of your major skills and only increase the minor ones, you will have a much easier time with the game, since your skills will keep increasing, but the enemies will not get any more difficult. (You do have to get to at least 2 to finish the Main Quest, and at least level 21 to finish all quests in the game, since the Daedric quests have level requirements, and you need to do at least one of them to finish the Main Quest, but other than that, there's no real requirements.) Unfortunately, if you stay at a low level, you also won't increase your attributes, and you won't get any of the really good loot, since that is also leveled, so a balanced approach is generally best if you want to get the most out of the game. You certainly don't want to ONLY level your major skills, as you will quickly find the game will become frustratingly difficult. You might also want to look at Quest Timing to get an idea of when to undertake certain quests to get the most advantage from them. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 14:56, 24 January 2007 (EST)

Thanks for clearing that up. I try not to get too wrapped up in the details of the stats though so I was half afraid that it would negatively impact the game. (levelling problem eventually killing my game) Generally, I'm ignoring/rarely using things like Blunt, Hand-to-Hand and most of the magic-related skills except for Alchemy, destruction and restoration. Should I be concerned about those too? Oh, and thanks for the Quest timing link, hadn't come across it before. (now I'm thinking that I should have limited this to the forum! :))74.112.130.131 16:39, 24 January 2007 (EST)Pritzl

[edit] Stolen Quest Items

Do you know if quest items that appear as stolen are taken away if you are arrested?

No they are not - at least for the statue which you need to steal for one of the thieves guild quests... i went back to that tomb to get the watchwoman's armor, and picked up the statue again. now i can't drop it or get rid of it even if im arrested. and the red hand is there on it in my inventory...

[edit] Mehrunes Dagon's stats

I did not find any infos about him... how many HP has, his resistances etc. My character is a fighter lvl 42, pretty accomplished... but with any weapon, even highly poisoned... I could barely scratch him before Martin dies.

I don't want to put any SPOILERS outside quest pages, so read this. --GuildKnight 22:56, 12 January 2007 (EST)

Thanks... but not finishing the MQ is the problem, as I did that. I read in the "bugs" that It "is possible to kill Mehrunes Dagon yourself. If you fling a huge number of spells at him, Dagon will dissolve and turn into a pile of reddish mud. He will still attack as if he was still alive but it is fun to watch nonetheless". That's why I ask for some exact details about him. I know it may be leveled, that's why I posted my level too. So for something like Mehrunes Dagon - 15 000 HP, resistent to fire, weak to shock I am really looking. Thanks again.

He has 1000 HP and is immune to fire and paralysis, no weaknesses. But based on his script, it looks like his health is immediately set back to its full value each time you hit him. So I'm guessing that to get the red-mud effect you would have to do more than 1000 points of damage in a single hit. --Nephele 11:56, 13 January 2007 (EST)

[edit] Cursed Clothing

I was reading your section on Spell absorbtion I saw that it can absorb elemental damage from weapons. Does that mean that if a character is wearing a piece of "cursed" clothing that they can absorb the damage and turn it into magicka?

I did use the console commands to edit my character as an Atronach, obtained the Sorcerer's Ring and the highest level Spelldrinker Amulet (total of 101% Spell Absorption). I tried on the Blackwood Ring of Silence (150 Fire Damage). It would be great regeneration if it worked but it just killed me. I don't know if the same applies to clothing you enchant your self because I just gave up at that point. 202.72.148.102 18:56, 25 January 2007 (EST) Wilson