Morrowind experiences vol. 2

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I don't plan on putting any points towards sneak or security with that character

Aye, that's the way to do it. I used the Security skill for crappy locks (level 5 or 10) and kept a few lockpicks handy for them, but for high level locks I either looked for the key or else used an Open spell (I carried nine Open spells on me whose power was in increments of 10, from Open 20 to Open 100, calling them Open1, Open2, Open3, etc. so that I could quickly locate them in my spellbook--this way I minimized the magicka cost of opening doors. I trained and practiced my Alteration skill up until I could cast Open at 100 power without any chance of failure, and then didn't bother making Alteration any more powerful--Open 100 is the most powerful Alteration spell you'll ever need). You'll want to have Sneak at a decent level, because while Chameleon and Invisibility will help you sneak, they're not guaranteed unless your Sneak skill is also moderately high. (Sneak is easy to power-practice, though, so even if it's a Miscellaneous skill you can still work it up to a moderate level fairly easily. Also, the guy who can train your Sneak skill up to 100 for you is lousy at Mercantile, so his services are pretty cheap.)

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
so it might be worthless for me (I know no spells?)

You can always buy a cheap spell and delete it when you're done enchanting with it (hold down the SHIFT key and click on the spell in your spellbook). The power of the spell (or even whether you can even cast the spell) is irrelevant when you're Enchanting--if you have a spell that restores 1 health point, then you could still enchant an item to restore 100 health points if that's what you wanted to do.

what is a simple way I could see? (could I have the spell in scrolls and enchant from that?)

Use the Enchanting service from somebody, there's no risk involved until you actually click the "enchant item" button when you're in the Enchanting menu. (The only thing to bear in mind is that when you select an item for enchanting, you automatically unequip the item, so remember to re-equip all of your items that you were toying around with in the Enchantment menu).

how do I get a soul?

Buy/find/steal a suitably powerful soul gem, cast Soul Trap on an appropriate creature (using a spell, scroll, or item, it doesn't matter which), then kill the creature before the Soul Trap expires (or before the creature Dispels the Soul Trap; Golden Saints have a bad habit of doing this to me, I'll be about to kill one when it suddenly casts Dispel on itself and I lose the soul).

Soul gems come in five different flavors--Petty, Lesser, Standard, Greater, and Grand, in order of weakest to strongest. Weak soul gems cannot contain powerful souls, for example a Petty soul gem cannot hold the soul of a powerful creature like a Storm Atronach, although it could hold the soul of a weak creature like a Giant Rat. The most powerful souls (Dremora Lords, Golden Saints, Ascended Sleepers, and Winged Twilights, to name a few) can only be contained within Grand soul gems, which are exceedingly rare. If you kill a creature while it has a Soul Trap spell cast on it, and if you have an appropriate (empty) soul gem in your inventory, then a text box will appear on screen saying "You have successfully trapped a soul," and your soul gem will reflect its changed status in your inventory screen. You can use a filled soul gem to recharge an enchanted item at any time, by dragging the soul gem over your portrait in the inventory screen. This uses your Enchant skill to determine whether or not you were successful (if unsuccessful, the item will not be recharged but you'll still have used the soul gem). Soul gems that are used to recharge an item or that are used to create an enchanted item are destroyed (with the exception of Azura's Star, which has been mentioned a few times on the last thread), so be sure to use your rare empty soul gems (Greater and especially Grand) to trap the most powerful creatures possible.

[Jon Miller]

thanks

possibly I will do that then (I would like to enchant my admantium armor)

Jon Miller

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
possibly I will do that then (I would like to enchant my admantium armor)

If you aren't in a money crunch, then everything you own should be enchanted. I started enchanting my pants and shirts after I finished enchanting my armor and rings. If your items aren't enchanted then you aren't using them to optimal effect.

[Jon Miller]

I just saw how expensive it was

to put a simple cure spell on a ring it cost 7000 dollars, I could buy a ring with cure on it for les than 100

why do you have to recharge enchantments

and how much does it cost?

(I bought a rat in the smallest gem BTW)

Jon Miller

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I just saw how expensive it was

Yeah, enchanting's only for those who aren't in any kind of money crunch. (Or for those with obscenely high Enchant skills.)

why do you have to recharge enchantments

and how much does it cost?

Items/weapons that are "cast when used" or "cast when strikes" have a limited number of charges on them. These charges slowly rebuild on their own, but for those of us who are in a hurry they can be recharged much more quickly by expending filled soul gems. The stronger the soul, the more the item is recharged.

The cost is equal to the cost of the soul gem, assuming that the recharge is successful. (You need a decent Enchant skill if you're going to manually recharge your items, because if you fail in the recharge then the gem is wasted. In your case, just let the item recharge on its own.)

Note: Items/weapons that are "constant effect" never need to be recharged, but they're extremely rare, cost a fortune to create, and can only be made with the most powerful (and difficult to obtain) souls.

[Jon Miller]

hmm, OK

(so I do not need to worry about recharging that is good)

yah, I thought I had plenty of money (I can buy most anything, I have several thousand)

but a good enchantment is a lot....

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

hey Nov

youa re back online, why don't you give the rest of the info about your character

(I spent a couple hours last night and mine has gone up a bit, it seems like nothing in the beginning will increase your fame, but later on your fame increases faster)

Jon miller

[loinburger]

Some guilds' quests increase your fame more quickly than others'. House quests will increase your fame, as will Temple and Cult quests. Fighter's Guild and Thieve's Guild quests won't increase your rep by very much (if at all).

In general, the "go find this person and kill them" or "go make this delivery" quests won't increase your rep, while the "go find this incredibly powerful item" quests will shoot your rep through the roof. Another rule of thumb is that the more you're getting paid for the quest, the less your rep will increase. Fighter's Guild and Thieve's Guild quests give out fairly high monetary rewards, while many Cult and Temple quests actually cost you money to complete.

[Jon Miller]

hmm

maybe I shold do some more almoners quests (I said I doubled how much I collected, so I paid a lot (also I did not collect all that much))

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

are either of you playing with additional plugins?

Jon Miller

[loinburger]

I created a plugin (after I beat the game) to put a chest full of books in my stronghold at Tel Uvirith, and I put a copy of every book in the game in the chest. I've been catching up on my reading since then.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
maybe I shold do some more almoners quests

The Oracle quests give you oodles of reputation points (an average of about 3 or 4 per quest), but they're also quite difficult. If you're after reputation then do the Oracle quests once they're available to you (and after you're strong enough to complete them).

[Chowlett]

I created a plugin (after I beat the game) to put a chest full of books in my stronghold at Tel Uvirith, and I put a copy of every book in the game in the chest. I've been catching up on my reading since then.

Which reminds me. Is it possible to edit my character to put that amulet I mentioned earlier on him? Or should I just edit the region where i currently am to have one on the ground, and then pick it up? I'm sorry, but a "Cast Ancestor Ghost" amulet is too good to turn down...

I'd also entirely forgotten you could recharge items by dropping your soul gems on them. That'll provide a use for my petty gems with rats and such like in them, easing my fighting and lightening my load!

[Jon Miller]

why would you want a soul gem with a better soul in it?

and what if you get a really powerful soul and all oyu have is petty gems

Jon Miller