# ### / ### / /### #/ ### # # / / ### ## ## ### ### / ## ### ## ## # ## # / ### ### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## /### ## ### ## ### ### /### ### /### ## ## ## ##/ ### / ## ### ## ### ### / ### / ###/ #### / ## ## ## ## ###/ ## ## ## ### ## / ###/ ## ###/ ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## # / ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### / ## /# ## ## ## / ## ## ## ## ## ######/ ####/ ### / ### / ######/ ### / ###### ### ### ### ### ##/ ##/ ##### ##/ #### ### ### ============================================================================ Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Balanced Character Creation Guide Version 1.35 04/06/06 Copyright 2006 Bon "Brynne" Cottle ============================================================================ The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was developed by Bethesda Game Studios, published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games and is copyright 2006 Bethesda Softworks. This guide is not endorsed by, nor is the author associated in any way with, Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks or 2K Games. ============================================================================ Outline: 1: Introduction 2: Building a Character A: Choosing a Race 1: Argonian 2: Breton 3: Dark Elf 4: High Elf 5: Imperial 6: Khajiit 7: Nord 8: Orc 9: Redguard 10: Wood Elf B: What Sign Are You? 1: The Apprentice 2: The Atronach 3: The Lady 4: The Lord 5: The Lover 6: The Mage 7: The Ritual 8: The Serpant 9: The Shadow 10: The Steed 11: The Thief 12: The Tower 13: The Warrior C: The Class Decision 1: Overall Emphasis a: Combat b: Mage c: Stealth 2: Your major stats a: Agility b: Endurance c: Intelligence d: Luck e: Personality f: Speed g: Strength h: Willpower 3: Major and minor skills a: Ranks of Skills b: Skills and their "Perks" 1: Acrobatics 2: Alteration 3: Alchemy 4: Armorer 5: Athletics 6: Blade 7: Block 8: Blunt 9: Conjuration 10: Destruction 11: Hand-to-Hand 12: Heavy Armor 13: Illusion 14: Light Armor 15: Marksman 16: Mercantile 17: Mysticism 18: Restoration 19: Security 20: Sneak 21: Speechcraft c: Planning Skills for Balanced Leveling 3: Planning Levels A: Setting stat goals B: Maximizing your level bonuses C: Level Points versus Stat Points D: Random Skilling and Forced Skilling E: Control Considerations F: Notes on Endurance and Luck 4: Training a Skill A: Payment for services B: List of Trainers 1: Acrobatics 2: Alteration 3: Alchemy 4: Armorer 5: Athletics 6: Blade 7: Block 8: Blunt 9: Conjuration 10: Destruction 11: Hand-to-Hand 12: Heavy Armor 13: Illusion 14: Light Armor 15: Marksman 16: Mercantile 17: Mysticism 18: Restoration 19: Security 20: Sneak 21: Speechcraft C: Questing for Mastery 5: Skill Books and other ways to gain skills A: Skill Books by Type 1: Acrobatics 2: Alteration 3: Alchemy 4: Armorer 5: Athletics 6: Blade 7: Block 8: Blunt 9: Conjuration 10: Destruction 11: Hand-to-Hand 12: Heavy Armor 13: Illusion 14: Light Armor 15: Marksman 16: Mercantile 17: Mysticism 18: Restoration 19: Security 20: Sneak 21: Speechcraft B: Skill Books by Location 1: Anvil 2: Bravil 3: Bruma 4: Cheydinal 5: Chorrol 6: Imperial City 7: Kvatch 8: Leyawiin 9: Skingrad 10: Arcane University 11: Other Locations 12: Loot and Quests C: Other skill additions 6: Beginning Spells and Spell Vendor Locations A: Beginning Spells for All Categories B: Mage's Guild Spell Emphasis C: Spells by Category 1: Alteration 2: Conjuration 3: Destruction 4: Illusion 5: Mysticism 6: Restoration D: Spells by Location 1: Anvil 2: Bravil 3: Bruma 4: Cheydinhal 5: Chorrol 6: Imperial City 7: Leyawiin 8: Skingrad 7: Comparison Example 8: Updates and Things 9: Credits and Legal Babble. ====================================1======================================= 1: Introduction There's nothing worse than putting eight or more hours into a game, only to find that your character has become unbalanced or unplayable. You run into a dungeon only to find that mobs that should be easy essentially kick your butt. With Oblivion being a huge game overall, it's very easy to find this happening. It happens for many reasons, among them the leveled dungeons whose denizens gain strength as you gain levels. Another reason is random skillups on your major skills. Indeed, it often seems that some move very fast while others crawl along, giving you levels before you have combat skills to match. Not to worry, after much trial and error (and about 10 remakes of characters more than four hours in) I've discovered some basic ways to balance your character and shape it in the way you would like it to be. As a disclaimer, I should note that if you're playing as a roleplayer this guide will probably upset you, as it is meant to take into control your leveling, rather than just choosing those skills which reflect how you want to play your character. Please don't send me hate mail about your opinions on this method. I realize some people won't like this way of leveling, but it's just as legitimate as getting the random levels by dungeon crawling or attending to the main quest. There are no cheats in this guide and I think cheating is really unneccessary in this game if you play it right. That aside, on with the guide. ====================================2======================================= 2: Building a Character The first thing to consider when you build your character is your overall goal. Do you want to be a fighter, a pure mage, maybe something in between? Is there a specific image you hold for how you want your character to be or look when you max out your levels? Perhaps a specific way of combat that appeals to you? Knowledge of what you're choosing and how it affects your character in the long run can make a huge difference. ------------------------------------2A-------------------------------------- A: Choosing a Race While choosing a race sounds simple, it's also rather involved. There is quite a selection of races in Oblivion, all of them worthwhile to play and all of them with their strengths and weaknesses. Knowing how you want to play your character should come into play in your choice, although there is nothing wrong with choosing a magically inclined race to make a fighter or vice versa. It just means your job will be slightly more difficult. Each race has a special ability along with adjusted beginning stats and skill bonuses. Males and females of the races also have slightly different stats. Don't get upset girls, as when a female is weaker in some areas, males are weaker in others. There are no judgements made by the game creators overall and it truly is very balanced regardless of what you pick. Stats start at either 30, 40 or 50 (with Orcs the exception to this rule) and only the Luck stat is 50 for any and every race. I did use some abbreviations for stats, so here they are. Str is Strength, Int is Intelligence, Will is Willpower, Agi is Agility, End is Endurance and Per is Personality. Those, along with Speed and Luck, are the stats for this game. We'll discuss stats in a later section. For now, here are the various races and their starting abilities. 1: Argonian - A reptilian race with immunities to disease and poison. They can also breathe water and get a bonus to picking locks. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 40 Str 40 Str 40 Int 50 Int 30 Will 40 Will 50 Agi 40 Agi 40 Speed 40 Speed 30 End 30 End 30 Per 30 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Athletics and Security +5 Alchemy, Blade, Hand-to-Hand, Illusion and Mysticism c: Specials - Resist Disease (75/100 constant) Immune to Poison (100/100 constant) Water Breathing (constant) 2: Breton - Humanoid race that is known for their spellcraft and resistance to magic. They are especially good at summoning and healing magics. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 40 Str 30 Str 50 Int 50 Int 50 Will 50 Will 30 Agi 30 Agi 30 Speed 40 Speed 30 End 30 End 40 Per 40 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Conjuration, Mysticism and Restoration +5 Alchemy, Alteration and Illusion c: Specials - Fortified Maximum Magicka (+50 Magicka Points) Resist Magicka (50/100 constant) Dragon Skin (Shield ability of 50, duration 60 seconds, once per day) 3: Dark Elf - Dark Elves are known for balanced fighting skills with sword, bow and destruction magic. They are also known as Dunmer in their homeland of Morrowind. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 40 Str 40 Str 40 Int 40 Int 30 Will 30 Will 40 Agi 40 Agi 50 Speed 50 Speed 40 End 30 End 30 Per 40 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Blade and Destruction +5 Athletics, Blunt, Light Armor, Marksman and Mysticism c: Specials - Resist Fire (75/100 constant) Guardian Spirit (conjures a Ghost for 60 seconds, once per day) 4: High Elf - The most strongly gifted in magic, the High Elves (also known as Altmer on Summerset Isle) also have a vulnerability to fire, frost and shock. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 30 Str 30 Str 50 Int 50 Int 40 Will 40 Will 40 Agi 40 Agi 30 Speed 40 Speed 40 End 30 End 40 Per 40 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction and Mysticism +5 Alchemy and Illusion c: Specials - Fortified Maximum Magicka (+100 Magicka Points) Weakness to Fire, Frost and Shock (25/100 constant on all) Resist Disease (75/100 constant) 5: Imperial - These natives of the cosmopolitan province of Cyrodiil are hailed as gifted diplomats and traders. They also are reputed to be skilled with heavy armor and in social skills. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 40 Str 40 Str 40 Int 40 Int 30 Will 40 Will 30 Agi 30 Agi 40 Speed 30 Speed 40 End 40 End 50 Per 50 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Heavy Armor, Mercantile and Speechcraft +5 Blade, Blunt and Hand-to-Hand c: Specials - Star of the West (Absorb Fatigue, 100 points, once per day) Voice of the Emperor (Charm, 30 points, once per day) 6: Khajiit - A feline race, they are intelligent, quick and agile. Because of this, and their ability to see in the dark, they make excellent thieves. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 40 Str 30 Str 40 Int 40 Int 30 Will 30 Will 50 Agi 50 Agi 40 Speed 40 Speed 30 End 40 End 40 Per 40 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Acrobatics and Hand-to-Hand +5 Athletics, Blade, Light Armor, Security and Sneak c: Specials - Eye of Fear (Demoralize, 100 points, once per day) Eye of Night (duration of 30 seconds, unlimited use) 7: Nord - Tall and fair-haired, Nord make strong warriors with an added resistence to cold. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 50 Str 50 Str 30 Int 30 Int 30 Will 40 Will 40 Agi 40 Agi 40 Speed 40 Speed 50 End 40 End 30 Per 30 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Blade, Blunt and Heavy Armor +5 Armorer, Block and Restoration c: Specials - Nordic Frost (Frost Damage on touch, 50 points, once per day) Woad (Shield ability, 30 point, duration of 60 seconds, once per day), Resist Frost (50/100 constant) 8: Orc - Mountain people, Orcs are known as armorers and heavy troops. Their berserker abilities and fighting skills make them strong in melee combat. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 45 Str 45 Str 30 Int 40 Int 50 Will 45 Will 35 Agi 35 Agi 30 Speed 30 Speed 50 End 50 End 30 Per 25 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Armorer, Block, Blunt and Heavy Armor +5 Hand-to-Hand c: Specials - Berserk (Fortify Health, 20 points, Fortify Fatigue, 200 points, Fortify Strength, 50 points, Drain Agility, 100 points, duration 60 seconds, once per day), Resist Magicka (25/100 constant) 9: Redguard - With an affinity for all armors and most fighting styles, Redguards make superior fighters. Add in their hardy constitution and a natural resistance to disease and poison and you can see why they are known as a warrior race in Tamriel. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 50 Str 40 Str 30 Int 30 Int 30 Will 30 Will 40 Agi 40 Agi 40 Speed 40 Speed 50 End 50 End 30 Per 40 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Athletics, Blade and Blunt +5 Light Armor, Heavy Armor and Mercantile c: Specials - Adrenaline Rush (Fortify Agility, 50 points, Fortify Speed, 50 points, Fortify Strength, 50 points, Fortify Endurance, 50 points, Fortify Health, 25 points, duration 60 seconds, once per day), Resist Poison (75/100 constant), Resist Disease (75/100 constant) 10: Wood Elf - Nimble and quick, the Bosmer (as they are known in the Valenwood forests) are good scouts, thieves and archers. Their ability to command simple creatures is also a bonus. a: Starting Stats - Male: Female: 30 Str 30 Str 40 Int 40 Int 30 Will 30 Will 50 Agi 50 Agi 50 Speed 50 Speed 40 End 30 End 30 Per 40 Per 50 Luck 50 Luck b: Skill Bonuses - +10 Alchemy, Marksman and Sneak +5 Acrobatics, Alteration and Light Armor c: Specials - Beast Tongue (Command Creature, 20 points, duration 60 seconds, once per day), Resist Disease (75/100 constant) ------------------------------------2B-------------------------------------- B: What Sign Are You? No, this isn't a pickup line heard in the common room of inns across Tamriel, but a birthsign for your character that offers you a special ability or bonus that can help you in your time in the game world. It is important to choose your sign with care, as being born under the right sign for your abilities will can boost you at the start. Again I'm providing a list of their names and what they do without making any judgement calls. 1: The Apprentice - This sign offers a character a bonus of 100 Magicka points at the start of their character. To offset this bonus it comes with a 100% weakness to Magicka. 2: The Atronach - This sign offers 150 points of Magicka at the start. However, you don't get any Magicka regeneration over time regardless of how much Willpower your character might have. Instead you have to sleep in a bed (if only for an hour) to get your Magicka back. You also get a 50% boost to Spell Absorbtion. 3: The Lady - This sign gives you a +10 Stat bonus to Willpower and Endurance. 4: The Lord - This sign gives you Restore Health (6 point regeneration over 15 seconds) and a Weakness to Fire (25/100 constant). 5: The Lover - This sign gives you Paralyze (a touch effect for a duration of 10 seconds, once per day) and you lose 120 points of Fatigue once a day. 6: The Mage - This sign offers you 50 points of Magicka to start. Unlike The Apprentice and The Atronach, however, there are no negative effects. 7: The Ritual - This sign gives you Restore Health (200 points, instant, once per day) and Turn Undead (100/100, duration of 30 seconds, once per day). 8: The Serpent - This sign has three effects that are all once per day. Damage Health (touch effect, 3 points over 20 seconds), Dispel (90/100), Cure Poison and Damage Fatigue (on self, 100 points). 9: The Shadow - This sign offers you Invisibility (duration of 60 seconds once per day). 10: The Steed - This sign boosts your Speed by 20. 11: The Thief - This sign gives you +10 to Agility, Speed and Luck. 12: The Tower - This sign gives you the ability to Open an Average (3 tumbler) lock once per day. You also get Reflect Damage (5 points, duration of 120 seconds, once per day). 13: The Warrior - This sign boosts both your Strength and Endurance by 10 points. Without trying to tell you how to build your character, I have found that The Apprentice and The Mage are very useful when building a character, especially if you plan on forcing your levels. It takes a lot of magic and having a bit of extra magic at the beginning never hurt anyone. Another great choice, in my opinion, is The Warrior. That sign has been great for my magically inclined races that start with very little strength and weight allowance. (Thanks Derick for reminding me to make that note.) ------------------------------------2C-------------------------------------- C: The Class Decision Class is the most difficult choice overall, because it encompasses a lot of information. It also has the ability of making your leveling experience to be hard or easy, depending on what you choose in the end. While your race and your sign give you some nice beginning points, class affects your time in Oblivion throughout and it can make or break your experience with the game. If you're a role-player, the choice is simply finding the kind of class that works with your overall vision of your character. If you just want to play the game without worrying about finding certain skills lagging behind your level, class is the place to start the balancing act. Most people are going to find that the classes that come with the game, while nice, just won't offer them exactly what they are looking for. In fact, it's my recommendation that you do build a custom class to maximize your ability to control the balance of your character throughout every level. You don't have to, of course, but it definitely makes your job easier. The sub-sections for this area in my guide are geared toward making that custom class, but are helpful for everyone, even if they are picking a pre-made class. The information about what everything does and how it affects your character is included, letting you make an informed decision about your class. NOTE: When looking over classes, skills and such, consider that the lower your original major class skills are, the higher your potential level will be. It's difficult to get all 25s because of bonuses found in most decisions, but even 30s across the board will net you around 49 levels. (Do the math, I did. And thanks to Bill for pointing this out. I knew it, technically, but I hadn't actually sat down to really think about it.) 1: Overall Emphasis To begin, every custom class has to choose between one of three different areas of emphasis. With the pre-made classes, of course, this is already set. However, knowing what each one does can allow you to set the tone for how your character's skill increase. All skills in that emphasis group get a +5 bonus to start as well as all of the skills in that set level more quickly (or supposedly according to the game). I know the game, the booklet that came with the game AND the guide say differently, but I could never get my skills to add up right. Finally, I went back to the beginning to test it. Sure enough, every skill in an emphasis group got +5 points. It might be a mistake, but that's how it works right now. Knowing this, your emphasis should be on how you intend to play your game. While the official guide recommends choosing those skills in your emphasis as major skills, there are plenty of reasons not to necessarily follow that advice, as I'll explain later. a: Combat - This emphasis includes Armorer, Athletics, Blade, Block, Blunt, Hand-to-Hand and Heavy Armor. Note that six out of seven of these skills have Strength or Endurance as their governing stats. Athletics is speed. (More explained in the stats section.) b: Mage - This emphasis includes Alchemy, Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Mysticism and Restoration. Out of these skills, six out of seven are either governed by Willpower or Intelligence. Illusion is Personality. c: Stealth - This emphasis includes Acrobatics, Light Armor, Marksman, Mercantile, Security, Sneak and Speechcraft. Out of these, only five are Agility and Speed stat governed. Mercantile and Speechcraft are Personality. 2: Your Major Stats As with your overall emphasis, it's a good idea to look at how you want to play your character in the overall scheme of things. Again, this shouldn't affect your major and minor skill choices for reasons I'll explain below. However, this will give you a tiny boost in skillups to the skills belonging to these stats, as well as five more stat points. Careful and judicious picking will allow you to get the most out of your character's levels. It is interesting to note that while the game says that the stats govern skills, it is actually the other way around. Skills in that stat set boost bonuses to the stat upon leveling, something that will make your job easier when leveling your character. All stats have a maximum of 100 points, but they can be damaged or boosted with items and spells. a: Agility - This stat (aka statistic or attribute) affects your ability to maneuver and balance. It also ties in with Strength, Endurance and Willpower to affect your Fatigue and finally, how much damage you can do with marksman weapons (eg bows). It governs the skills of Marksman, Security and Sneak. b: Endurance - This stat affects how much Health you have. You start with Health Points that are two times your beginning End stat. Then, every time you level, 10% of your total Endurance is added to your Health Points. This stat also affects how much Fatigue you have. It governs the skills of Armorer, Block and Heavy Armor. c: Intelligence - This stat affects your total Magicka points, giving you two times your stat total for your total Magicka Pool. This only goes up if your Intelligence goes up, unlike health. At first I thought that Int was what brought my casting costs down, however, I've since discovered that it is level in a magic skill and not Intelligence directly. It governs the skills of Alchemy, Conjuration and Mysticism. d: Luck - This stat affects everything you do, not surprisingly. It's a bit hard to define just how it works specifically, but you can see how sometimes you'll get lucky with things. It governs no skills. e: Personality - This stat affects how people react to you. This allows you to gather information, get better deals in a shop and generally talk people into telling you things and doing things for you. It governs the skills of Illusion, Mercantile and Speechcraft. f: Speed - This stat determines how fast you move. Believe me, this might sound minor, but when this stat gets higher, it makes a difference and you can tell. It governs the skills of Acrobatics, Athletics and Light Armor. g: Strength - This stat affects how much weight you can carry. This is determined by multiplying your Strength stat by five. This does not go up unless your strength goes up, something that is very important to note. Strength also determines how much damange you can do with melee weapons (eg swords and axes) and helps determine how much Fatigue you have. It governs the skills of Blade, Blunt and Hand-to-Hand. h: Willpower - This stat affects how quickly you regenerate Magicka points, unless you chose The Atronach as your sign, that is. Like speed, it sounds minor but makes a major difference in the levels to come, even if you never mean to cast spells in combat. Willpower is also one of the four stats that affect your Fatigue. It governs the skills of Alteration, Destruction and Restoration. 3: Major and Minor Skills Skills are the integral part of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Instead of an experience point basis, all of your levels come from raising your major skills. For every 10 points gained spread among your major skills, your character will gain one level. So, what is the difference between major and minor skills, you might ask? Well, it's not as much as you might think. All skills have the potential of getting to 100, the highest skill level possible. Your character can use any and all of their skills, whether major or minor, and all of the skills will affect bonuses available when you gain a level. This, however, is the point where you begin the balancing game of deciding how you are going to level and what skills you think will help you. And it's not as simple as it sounds. a: Ranks of Skills For starters, there's a leveling system within the skills themselves, seperate from your character's specific levels. As your skills get higher, they go through ranks which, in turn, affect that skill's abilities, spells and perks. The ranks go 5-24: Novice; 25-49: Apprentice; 50-74: Journeyman; 75-99: Expert; 100: Master. All major skills start with a minimum of level 25. I say minimum because race and overall class emphasis can and will adjust this. Minor skills start at a minimum at 5, pending adjustments made from earlier decisions. As you use a skill, it levels. Sometimes that's as simple as casting a spell or as difficult as sneaking around an NPC in order to avoid being seen and heard. As the skill itself levels, you gain different abilities, also called perks, to go with the skill. Magic skills are slightly different as you gain the ability to use new spells. However, you must purchase the spells to use them. They aren't automatically granted to you. b: Skills and their "Perks" All skills have perks (abilities) that come as you gain ranks in the skill. Perks for magical abilities are in the nature of better spells to cast. However, the ability to cast them doesn't automagically grant them to you. You must track down someone to sell you the spell and purchase it. I'm not going to list spell effects, magicka costs or places to puchase the spells here, just the spells that are available when you do gain a rank. I won't even say that this list is comprehensive, as I keep discovering new things in the world every time I play. 1: Acrobatics - This Speed-based skill allows you to jump long distances and avoid damage when falling great distances. Novice Rank means you cannot attack when jumping or falling. Apprentice Rank allows you to make normal attacks, but not power attacks, when jumping or falling. Journeyman Rank gives you the Dodge ability and you can hold a block and jump in a direction to roll and avoid attacks. Expert Rank reduces your Fatigue loss for jumping by 50%. Master Rank gives you the Water Jump ability that allows you, with precise timing, to jump off the surface of water. 2: Alteration - This Willpower-based magic skill includes spells that allow you to breathe under water, walk on water, open locks, shield yourself from physical or magical damage, alter your encumbrance and probably other things I haven't found. Novice Rank spells are: Open Very Easy Lock Protect Protect Other Apprentice Rank spells are: Defend Ease Burden Electric Shell Frost Shell Heat Shell Hindering Touch Open Easy Lock Sea Stride Water Breathing Journeyman Rank spells are: Encumbering Touch Guard Ice Shield Lighten Load Lightning Shield Open Average Lock Expert Rank spells are: Fire Shield Glacial Wall Lightning Wall Open Hard Lock Oppressing Grasp Pack Mule Shield Weight of the World Master Rank spells are: Aegis Beast of Burden Flame Shield 3: Alchemy - This Intelligence-based skill allows you to create potions as well as gain more benefits from alchemical ingredients when eaten. All ingredients and foods in the world have alchemic properties that can be matched together to create potions of varying strengths. The rank of your alchemy skill affects how many properties you can see to match two or more ingredients together for potion creation. Novice Rank can only see the first of the four total properties every ingredient has. Apprentice Rank can see two of the four properties of an ingredient. Journeyman Rank can see three of the four properties of an ingredient. Expert Rank can see all four of the properties of an ingredient. Master Rank can make potions from a single ingredient. 4: Armorer - This Endurance-based skill allows you to maintain your weapons and armor at their top condition. Damaged weapons and armor are less effective than those in the best repair. Novice Rank can simply use Repair Hammers to repair their armor and weapons. Apprentice Rank makes Repair Hammers last twice as long. In other words, they don't break as often. Journeyman Rank allows you to repair your magical items. Expert Rank allows you to repair items beyond their highest condition to 125%. Expert-improved weapons do more damage and expert-improved armor protects you better. Master Rank never breaks their Repair Hammers. One will last a lifetime. 5: Athletics - This Speed-based skill allows you to run faster, swim faster and regenerate lost fatigue faster. Novice Rank regenerates fatigue slowly when running. Apprentice Rank regenerates fatigue 25% faster when running. Journeyman Rank regenerates fatigue 50% faster when running. Expert Rank regenerates fatigue 75% faster when running. Master Rank never has a reduced fatigue regeneration when running. 6: Blade - This Strength-based skill is for dagger and sword weapons, making their slashing and thrusting attacks more effective. Novice Rank has a basic Power Attack with a damage bonus in all directions. Apprentice Rank gains a Mastery Standing Power Attack with a damage bonus. Journeyman Rank gains the Mastery Left and Right Power Attacks, which have a chance to disarm an opponent. Expert Rank gains a Mastery Backwards Power Attack which has a chance to knock an opponent down. Master Rank gains a Mastery Forward Power Attack that has a chance to paralyze an opponent. 7: Block - This Endurance-based skill gives you the ability to parry melee attacks with your shield or weapons. Shields block better, of course, but weapons do work as well. Successful blocks can reduce the damage you take from a melee strike. Novice Rank is fatigued by blocking and cannot block with Hand-to-Hand against weapons. Apprentice Rank doesn't get fatigued when blocking. Journeyman Rank doesn't gain damage to shield or weapon when blocking and can cause an opponent to recoil when blocking with Hand-to-Hand. Expert Rank gains a chance of a knockback counterattack on opponents when using a shield. This causes an enemy to stagger if the blow connects. Master Rank has an additional chance of disarming an enemy when using the knockback counterattack successfully. 8: Blunt - This Strength-based skill is for maces, clubs, staves, hammers and axes (yes, axes). It affects crushing blows of these weapons to be more effective. Novice Rank has a basic Power Attack with a damage bonus in all directions. Apprentice Rank gains a Mastery Standing Power Attack with a damage bonus. Journeyman Rank gains the Mastery Left and Right Power Attacks, which have a chance to disarm an opponent. Expert Rank gains a Mastery Backwards Power Attack which has a chance to knock an opponent down. Master Rank gains a Mastery Forward Power Attack that has a chance to paralyze an opponent. 9: Conjuration - This Intelligence-based magic skill allows you to cast spells to summon creatures, magical weapons and magical armor. It also allows you to turn undead (think Cause Fear instead of the destroy undead effect from D&D). Novice Rank spells are: Bound Boots Bound Dagger Bound Gauntlets Bound Helmet Turn Undead Apprentice Rank spells are: Bound Greaves Bound War Axe Repulse Undead Summon Ghost Summon Scamp Summon Skeleton Summon Zombie Journeyman Rank spells are: Bound Bow Bound Cuirass Bound Mace Rebuke Undead Summon Dremora Summon Flame Atronach Summon Headless Zombie Summon Skeleton Guardian Expert Rank spells are: Bound Shield Bound Sword Dismiss Undead Summon Clannfear Summon Daedroth Summon Frost Atronach Summon Skeleton Champion Summon Skeleton Hero Summon Spider Daedra Master Rank spells are: Summon Dremora Lord Summon Gloom Wraith Summon Storm Atronach Summon Xivilai 10: Destruction - This Willpower-based magic skill allows you to cast ice, fire and lightning damaging spells at opponents. It also has spells that reduce resistances to magical attacks. Novice Rank spells are: Burning Touch Cold Touch Curse of Weakness Damage Attribute: Agility Damage Attribute: Endurance Damage Attribute: Luck Drain Attribute: Agility Drain Attribute: Endurance Drain Attribute: Luck Flare Minor Ennervation Minor Wound Shocking Touch Snowball Spark Apprentice Rank spells are: Corrode Armor Damage Attribute: Speed Damage Attribute: Willpower Drain Attribute: Speed Drain Attribute: Willpower Drain Skill: Illusion Drain Skill: Marksman Electric Touch Entropic Bolt Flame Touch Flash Bolt Frost Touch Hailstone Magicka Drain Major Ennervation Major Wound Sever Magicka Shock Weakness to Fire Weakness to Frost Weakness to Poison Weakness to Shock Journeyman Rank spells are: Blazing Spears Corrode Weapon Damage Attribute: Intelligence Damage Attribute: Strength Dire Wound Drain Attribute: Intelligence Drain Skill: Alteration Drain Skill: Destruction Drain Skill: Hand-to-Hand Drain Skill: Heavy Armor Fireball Frost Bolt Greater Magicka Drain Hail Storm Lightning Bolt Lightning Grasp Searing Grasp Shocking Burst Weakness to Magicka Winter's Grasp Withering Touch Expert Rank spells are: Arctic Blow Dire Enervation Disintegrate Armor Drain Skill: Blade Drain Skill: Conjuration Drain Skill: Restoration Fire Storm Heat Blast Ice Bolt Ice Storm Lightning Ball Lightning Blast Lightning Surge Scorching Blow Superior Magicka Drain Superior Wound Withering Bolt Master Rank Spells are: Blizzard Disintegrate Weapon Electrocution Flame Tempest Ice Blast Immolating Blast Legendary Magicka Drain Lightning Storm 11: Hand-to-Hand - This Strength-based skill governs weaponless damage to opponents. Novice Rank does a Basic Power Attack in all directions for a damage bonus. Apprentice Rank gains a Mastery Standing Power Attack which adds bonus damage. Journeyman Rank gains the Mastery Left and Right Power Attacks and has a chance of disarming an opponent. Expert Rank gains the Mastery Backward Power Attack which can knockback an opponent and, if blocking at this rank, gains a chance of a knockback attack. Master Rank gains the Master Forward Power Attack which can paralyze an opponent and, if blocking at this rank, gains a chance of disarming an opponent upon a successful knockback attack. 12: Heavy Armor - This Endurance-based skill gives you more effective use of Heavy Armors. These are Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Ebony and Daedric armors. Novice Rank has a 150% degredation rate of heavy armor. Apprentice Rank has a 100% degredation rate of heavy armor. Journeyman Rank gains a reduction to 50% degredation rate of heavy armor. Expert Rank reduces encumbrance by equipped armor 50%. Master Rank removes encumbrance by equipped armor. 13: Illusion - This Personality-based skill allows you to cast spells that charm, silence, paralyze and command your opponents. Its spells also allow you to conceal yourself and create light to see by. Novice Rank spells are: Alluring Gaze Beguiling Touch Frenzy Illuminate Inspiration Inspiring Touch Serenity Soothing Touch Starlight Touch of Frenzy Apprentice Rank spells are: Command Creature Command Humanoid Commanding Touch Eyes of Eventide Heroic Touch Heroism Mesmerizing Grasp Moonlight Pacification Rage Seductive Charm Touch of Fear Touch of Rage Journeyman Rank spells are: Calming Touch Candlelight Chameleon Debilitate Dominating Touch Enthralling Presence Eyes of Midnight Hush Shadow Shape Voice of Dread Voice of Rapture Expert Rank spells are: Dominate Creature Dominate Humanoid Fearful Gaze Ghostwalk Immobolize Mute Shadow Torchlight Master Rank spells are: Cloak Daylight Grasp of Terror Paralyze Silence Spectral Form Terrifying Presence 14: Light Armor - This Speed-based skill gives you more effective use of Light Armors. These are Fur, Leather, Chainmail, Mithril, Elven and Glass armors. Novice Rank has a 150% degredation rate of light armor. Apprentice Rank has a 100% degredation rate of light armor. Journeyman Rank gains a reduction to 50% degredation rate of light armor Expert Rank removes the encumbrance of equipped armor. Master Rank gains a 50% bonus to the armor rating when wearing only light armor. 15: Marksman - This Agility-based skill allows you to do more damage with bows. Novice Rank is fatigued while holding a bow drawn for attack. Apprentice Rank no longer gains fatigue for holding a bow drawn for attack. Journeyman Rank gains a Zoom ability when pushing the block button while their bow is drawn for attack. Expert Rank has a chance of knocking down a target with their arrow attacks. Master Rank has a chance of paralyzing a target with their arrow attacks. 16: Mercantile - This Personality-based skill allows you to gain better prices when selling or buying goods in a shop. Novice Rank has the value of an item reduced by the item's condition when selling it. Apprentice Rank allows you to sell any item regardless of condition without a reduction. Journeyman Rank allows you to sell any object to any vendor, even if they don't deal in that type of merchandise. Expert Rank allows you to invest in a shop, giving the merchant money to permamently increase that shop's available gold by 500. Master Rank gives all shops in the world an additional 500 gold to barter with. 17: Mysticism - This Intelligence-based magic skill allows you to cast spells that absorb, dispel and reflect magic. It also lets you sense life, move objects and bind souls into gems for item recharging. Novice Rank spells are: Minor Dispel Minor Life Detection Apprentice Rank spells are: Dispel Other Major Dispel Major Life Detection Remote Manipulation Soul Trap Journeyman Rank spells are: Greater Dispel Greater Dispel Other Greater Life Detection Greater Soul Trap Greater Spell Reflection Psychic Motion Spell Absorption Expert Rank spells are: Superior Dispel Superior Life Detection Superior Soul Trap Superior Spell Absorption Superior Spell Reflection Telekinesis Master Rank Spells are: Legendary Dispel Legendary Life Detection Legendary Soul Trap Legendary Spell Absorption Legendary Spell Reflection Movement Mastery 18: Restoration - This Willpower-based magic skill allows you to cast spells that heal, protect, cure diseases and resist magical attacks. Novice Rank spells are: Absorb Attribute: Agility Absorb Attribute: Endurance Absorb Attribute: Intelligence Absorb Attribute: Luck Absorb Attribute: Speed Absorb Attribute: Strength Absorb Attribute: Willpower Absorb Fatigue Absorb Health Absorb Magicka Absorb Skill: Acrobatics Absorb Skill: Athletics Absorb Skill: Illusion Absorb Skill: Security Fortify Fatigue Heal Minor Wounds Minor Respite Apprentice Rank spells are: Absorb Skill: Hand-to-Hand Absorb Skill: Light Armor Absorb Skill: Mercantile Absorb Skill: Mysticism Absorb Skill: Restoration Convalescence Cure Paralysis Cure Poison Fortify Agility Fortify Endurance Fortify Health Fortify Intelligence Fortify Luck Fortify Personality Fortify Speed Fortify Strength Fortify Willpower Greater Fortify Fatigue Heal Major Wounds Leech Health Major Respite Restore Agility Restore Endurance Restore Intelligence Restore Luck Restore Personality Restore Speed Restore Strength Restore Willpower Journeyman Rank spells are: Absorb Skill: Alteration Absorb Skill: Block Absorb Skill: Conjuration Absorb Skill: Heavy Armor Absorb Skill: Marksman Consume Health Cure Disease Fortify Magicka Greater Convalescence Greater Fortify Agility Greater Fortify Endurance Greater Fortify Intelligence Greater Fortify Luck Greater Fortify Personality Greater Fortify Speed Greater Fortify Strength Greater Fortify Willpower Heal Greater Wounds Minor Magic Resistance Expert Rank spells are: Absorb Skill: Blade Absorb Skill: Blunt Absorb Skill: Destruction Absorb Skill: Sneak Devour Health Greater Fortify Health Greater Fortify Magicka Heal Superior Wounds Superior Convalescence Master Rank has only one spell I've found: Heal Legendary Wounds 19: Security - This Agility-based skill gives you bonuses when you pick doors and container locks. As a note, you can pick any level lock at any level if you have good timing, this just affects what happens if you happen to fail a move. The failure comment is good up to Very Hard (five tumbler) locks. Of course, if the lock is easier, less tumbler will fall because less were down in the first place. Novice Rank has up to four tumblers fall when you fail and break a pick. Apprentice Rank has up to three tumblers fall when you fail and break a pick. Journeyman Rank has up to two tumblers fall when you fail and break a pick. Expert Rank has only one tumbler fall when you fail and break a pick. Master Rank doesn't have tumblers fall on them when a pick is broken. 20: Sneak - This Agility-based skill allows you to move unseen and unheard (sometimes) and to pick pockets. Be aware that people might still be able to see you, even if you can pick their pocket. Also, the weight of your boots affects your sneaking ability. Novice Rank gains a 4x damage bonus for one-handed weapon and Hand-to-Hand attacks and a 2x damage bonus for marksman attacks when undetected. Apprentice Rank gains a 6x damage bonus for one-handed weapon and Hand-to-Hand attacks and a 3x damage bonus for marksman attacks when undetected. Journeyman Rank allows you to wear any boots while sneaking without detection. Expert Rank removes the penalty to detection for moving while Sneaking. Master Rank ignores the armor rating of an opponent if attacking while undetected. 21: Speechcraft - This Personality-based skill allows you to persuade NPC characters to like you and merchants to haggle prices a bit lower for you. Novice Rank allows you to offer bribes to increase an NPC's disposition. Apprentice Rank gains you a free rotation of the wedge in the Persuasion menu. Journeyman Rank slows the falling disposition during the Persuasion process by 50%. Expert Rank reduces disposition loss from the hated option from 150% to 100%. Master Rank reduces bribes to NPC's by 50%. c: Planning Skills for Balanced Leveling While most guides will urge you to consider those skills you are going to use the most, this guide is built around a different principle, that of keeping your character balanced while you progress in levels. It's really easy to make a fighter character, for example, and load them with melee skills with a couple supportive magic abilities or even none at all. Yet when you've gained five levels from sneaking or alteration spells and your blade skill has only moved three times, you begin to see an imbalance between your fighting skills and that of your opponents. Leveled dungeons make this especially problematic as they progress in difficulty as you progress in level. Gaps in skill differences can make the game all but impossible to enjoy. A very good approach to keeping everything balanced is to look at those skills which will not affect your level. In other words, you probably won't use them unless you choose to do so. For a fighter, this could easily be Mercantile, Alchemy or Speechcraft, along with Illusion and Mysticism skills. For a mage, just turn it around and look at the fighting skills you probably will never use. Controlling your skills means controlling your levels as they effect the bonuses you get to your stats when you level. Pick your skills with an eye to things you will have level outside your normal activities. I realize this sounds backwards and that major skills get bonuses to begin with, but it's not that hard to bring a minor skill up to the same level and it's a lot easier to make sure that your skills are a match for your level. As a note, I've found Intelligence, Willpower and Strength very useful, but someone pointed out to me that Endurance is rather nice to push to get maxed health. I don't really take that much damage because my scores are usually higher than my level would call for, but I have had some close calls. Endurance up early on might be the solution if you have this problem. Example: A Nord Male Knight Templar (custom class) Class Emphasis: Combat Sign: The Warrior Stats: Strength and Endurance Major Skills: Acrobatics, Alchemy, Armorer, Blunt, Destruction, Illusion, Sneak Looking at that, I realize a lot of people are going to ask "That's a fighter?", however you need to take into account that major skills only emphasize skills that start higher. They all go to a maximum of 100 and all can be used by any character, regardless of emphasis. That said, let's look at how this character's stats will play out. Example: A Nord Male Knight Templar Class Emphasis: Combat Sign: The Warrior Major Stats: Strength and Endurance Stat Scores: Strength: 65 Intelligence: 30 Willpower: 30 Agility: 40 Speed: 40 Endurance: 65 Personality: 30 Luck: 50 Major Skill Scores: Acrobatics - 25 Alchemy - 25 Armorer - 35 Blunt - 40 Destruction - 25 Illusion - 25 Sneak - 30 Minor Skill Scores: Alteration - 5 Athletics - 10 Blade - 20 Block - 15 Conjuration - 5 Hand-to-Hand - 10 Heavy Armor - 20 Light Armor - 10 Marksman - 5 Mercantile - 5 Mysticism - 5 Restoration - 10 Security - 5 Speechcraft - 5 Look scary? Well that's what this guide is here for, to help make it not so scary. It might not make sense right now, but in the next section I'll explain how to make the most out of a setup like this and why this isn't nearly as bad as it looks. ====================================3======================================= 3: Planning Levels So we get to the meat of the problem, how to make your character reflect your preference of play without leaving you open to random level advances while necessary skills lag behind. I'll admit, it isn't always easy, but you can ensure yourself a character with maximum stats and skills by the time you're finished. The true secret is planning ahead, one level at a time. Don't worry about three levels from now outside of your overall goal, but this level you're working on. ------------------------------------3A-------------------------------------- A: Setting Stat Goals First of all, set goals for what stats you want to raise each level. Each time you gain a level you can pick three stats to raise. Knowing you might need magic for the first few levels (as per our example) perhaps investing in Intelligence and Willpower might best suit you. Or maybe you want more Strength to carry things around. Whatever you feel would give you the best benefit, choose it carefully. Example: A Nord Male Knight Templar Class Emphasis: Combat Sign: The Warrior Major Stats: Strength and Endurance Stat Scores: Strength: 65 Intelligence: 30 Willpower: 30 Agility: 40 Speed: 40 Endurance: 65 Personality: 30 Luck: 50 Major Skill Scores: Acrobatics - 25 Alchemy - 25 Armorer - 35 Blunt - 40 Destruction - 25 Illusion - 25 Sneak - 30 Minor Skill Scores: Alteration - 5 Athletics - 10 Blade - 20 Block - 15 Conjuration - 5 Hand-to-Hand - 10 Heavy Armor - 20 Light Armor - 10 Marksman - 5 Mercantile - 5 Mysticism - 5 Restoration - 10 Security - 5 Speechcraft - 5 Using our example character, it seems his strength is fine, for now. He can already hold 325 pounds (well, 324 in practice) without being over-encumbered. His intelligence is suffering, however, as he's only got 60 magicka points. His personality can wait for a while. But maybe his Willpower and Speed could use a bit of a boost. With this in mind, we come to the next section. ------------------------------------3B-------------------------------------- B: Maximizing your Level Bonuses Just as we discussed earlier, each stat has three skills that belong to it. While the game advises you that these stats affect those skills, it actually works in reverse as well. In the menu for leveling, you'll sometimes see a +2, +3, +4 or even +5 next to a stat. These numbers mean that if you choose that stat to raise, you get that many points added to the stat instead of just the base one point. Efficiency at its best, as +5 Strength adds 25 pounds more to your weight allowance rather than the 5 you would get with a single point up. How do you get these bonuses? It's simple math. The skills that belong to those stats affect the bonus. For every two points you get in skills belonging to a stat, you get +1 stat bonus point. For two skill points, it's still the base one. After that, up to a maximum of +5, every two skill points add another bonus stat point when you level. Example: Our Nord character gets 5 Armorer and 5 Heavy Armor skill ups before they level. In the level menu, Endurance now has a +5 next to it and, if chosen, will be 5 points higher, moving our example's Endurance from 65 to 70. Knowing what stats you want raised in your level can let you emphasize on getting skill points in the attendant skills. If you get extra skills it's okay. There are a lot of skills and it's likely you'll get random skill ups every level. As long as those points aren't in major skills, it's fine. That brings to mind our next section... ------------------------------------3C-------------------------------------- C: Level Points versus Stat Points As has been stated many times, only gaining skill points in your major skills will gain you a level. Any other skill points gained don't affect your level directly. However, all skill points gained go into bonuses for Stat points upon leveling. It's very easy to forget this and gain a bunch of skill points and then wonder why you're not getting a level. Alternatively, it's also very easy to gain a level and then wonder why the maximum bonus you're seeing is a +2 to a Stat. That's what planning your level is all about. Looking at our Nord example, we decided he needed Intelligence, Willpower and Speed. Intelligence skills are Alchemy, Conjuration and Mysticism. Willpower has Alteration, Destruction and Restoration. Speed has Athletics, Light Armor and Acrobatics. Keeping in mind that we should probably gain our level with those skills as well, we can plan out a strategy. Athletics is an easy 10 skill points to get the +5 bonus to Speed. Alternatively you could aim for Light Armor skill ups for 5 points and Athletics to fill in the other 5. Avoid Acrobatics this level as the major skill points for this level will be obtained elsewhere. For Willpower we can get an easy 10 skillpoints in Alteration. Again, it's okay to alternate with Restoration, but Destruction is a major skill and this time we're getting all our major skill points from Intelligence. Intelligence, as you probably guessed, will be 10 points from Alchemy. Again, this is easy as materials are in abundance. It should be noted that you need to have all your other skill points in place before you get your last major skill point in your level. As soon as that happens, it locks into place any bonuses earned and starts working on a new level. In fact, you can gain multiple levels without ever resting. Make sure you keep track so that you don't miss out on maximum Stat bonuses. ------------------------------------3D-------------------------------------- D: Random Skilling and Forced Skilling There's a lot to be said for the random skillup. Diving into a dungeon, sword drawn, armor clanking, magic blazing at your fingertips, you really have to love the thrill of the entire environment in Oblivion. If you know that you won't get skills in your major skills unless you so desire, then go ahead. Get some extra Blade or Athletics points. It shouldn't hurt you in the long run and will definitely help ensure that your character can meet any challenge they face. On the other hand, forced skilling allows you to control every aspect of your character, getting the skills that you planned for. It sounds a bit impossible, considering that you probably can't see how to force Blade, Light Armor and other fighting skills without being in a dungeon. There is, however, a way. A way without cheating, even. It's called Conjuration. Conjuration is probably the best magical skill ever, though you probably wouldn't have thought of it before this. Simply put, it allows you to summon a creature with your magic. Why is this important? Because, like mobs in dungeons, you can attack those mobs you have summoned. Want a blade skill? Conjure a skeleton once Conjuration is at Apprentice level (Novices don't have creatures to summon) and hit it with a dagger until it dies or disappears. Light Armor skill coming slowly? Easy, just hit your skeleton three times with a dagger and it will turn around to attack you. Destruction magic works too, as does marksmanship. Pretty much any assault skill you desire can be gained by beating on the mob you summoned. That doesn't solve the majority of magic skills, is the next comment I can hear. Right, but all magic skills (except for Destruction) have spells you can cast on yourself repetitively. Examples are Starlight for Illusion, Bound Boots for Conjuration (to Apprentice at least) Fortify Fatigue for Restoration, Minor Life Detection for Mysticism and Protect for Alteration. Most of these spells, with the exception of conjured equipment (as opposed to conjured mobs), can be recast over themselves. Actually, conjured weapons can be sheathed to dissipate the spell, but boots, helmets and such just have to wear off. Quick, easy and mostly painless. (Note: Okay, I admit that if you have access to the Arcane University, you can create a spell that allows you to cast Destruction magic on yourself. If you have access, it's a great way to overcome the barrier of having to cast on something else. If you haven't gotten access because you're wanting your levels first, then you can fireball your summoned critters and not worry about it. Also, casting cure spells does work even if you aren't hurt, but it's slower than the other Restoration spells. Actually, Restoration is just slow, period.) I've been reminded that you can just jump into campfires to damage yourself for mad Restoration skilling. However, if you can cast Protect, it's really less painful to your character. Athletics skills can be gained by swimming in a river a lot more quickly than if you were running all over the place. Acrobatics skills move by jumping around. Silly, but that's the truth. You can also gain Acrobatics by falling, though you can damage yourself this way so avoid it when possible. Speechcraft goes up by using the Persuasion menu, Mercantile by haggling with a merchant to the high end of what they will still sell to you or buy from you at. Also you can sell any stackable item to a merchant one item at a time. You can buy or loot a stack of arrows, for example, and sell them one by one for maximum Mercantile skill. It takes a while, but is possible. Security skill can be gained by picking locks. Easiest of all is Alchemy. Even at Novice level you can make Restore Fatigue potions with the foods found in every Mage's Guild and Fighter's Guild in cities. You can find a basic mortar and pestle during the tutorial or at any Mage's Guild. Most of the Mage's Guilds have the other three alchemic apparatuses (Alembic, Calcinator and Retort) to strengthen your potions. Better yet, you can sell your potions for badly needed gold. Best of all, food (just food, not alchemy ingredients) regenerates in about a week and reappears on the tables and in the cupboards of any Guilds you have looted already. Food regenerates on tables, shelves and desks, in cupboards and barrels. Food found in bags, chests and other spots don't come back at least not that I've seen yet. Sneak is easier than I first thought. (Thank you Edwin.) All you need to do to skill sneak is find a hallway or corner with an NPC nearby. Put yourself in sneak mode while behind them and move back and forth slowly. I tested this myself and it does work very well. Apparently invisible is good for enhancing your sneakiness (is that a word?) as it causes NPCs to not see you while you start to sneak behind them. As I'm all for putting off dungeon crawls until they are profitable for me, this was a great addition to the overall strategy. As a side note, you could, of course, break into a house or go into an off-limits area (the door is red, even if unlocked) and sneak around in it. This isn't my favorite as I'd prefer not to have to pay a fine if caught, but it works just the same. Also, I was reminded that if you steal something and get put in jail, you can gain sneak skill there. Or, at worse, go into a dungeon and sneak around. Don't forget that the weight of your footwear matters until you are at least 50 Sneak skill. Chapels, as a note, are a great place for following an NPC while sneaking. They are dark and so it's easy to just follow behind someone for loads of skill. These aren't the only options, of course, just a few. If you find another way that works for you, great. Also, if you can find one of various places that has a wall between you and NPCs, you can auto-walk into the wall while sneaking for continuous skilling. A lot of people mentioned this to me, so I figured I'd put that note in. You do, however, have to be around to accept new rank levels. If you don't like the grind, don't do it. There are a lot of creative ways to level your major and your minor skills to your satisfaction. The principle is in controlling how you level so that your necessary skills progress along with your levels rather than lagging behind through random chance. ------------------------------------3E-------------------------------------- E: It's easy to throw together a bunch of skills you think you can control and then find out too late that you're restricted from using a skill you really wish to use or getting too many random major skill points from your regular activities. This section is just some thoughts of my own on the various skills, but you don't have to agree with me. Looking at each skill individually, each of them has the potential to be controlled. However, some are easier than others, not that this should surprise anyone. Acrobatics tends to be difficult, at best, to control. Any jumping or falling you do, however inadvertantly, adds up to skill points. While this is great news for leveling your Speed score, it's a bit rough when you end up with an extra point into your level you didn't plan. Alchemy is pretty easy to control, just don't make any potions. It's also a nice money maker, so unless you're fighting for a skill you won't be using, maybe it should be a minor skill. I tend to end up with more Alchemy skill than I really wanted after realizing I picked up 70 or more pounds of ingredients. Alteration is quick, easy and painless to level at any time. With fairly inexpensive casting costs, you'll find yourself pulling in quite a few skill points in a matter of minutes with this skill. It makes a nice choice for a controlled skill unless you think you'll be spending a lot of time breathing under water or bleeding from lack of extra defense. Armorer seems like a perfect skill to control. It's quite easy in many ways because you can always have someone in a city do it. I have yet to have a problem with it, but my husband is struggling with it because he uses it all the time. He also seems to break his armor more, so maybe that's the problem. Athletics is rather a painful skill in a lot of ways. It's extremely random and very hard to control in any given situation. Every time you climb a set of stairs, stroll up a ramp, run up a steep incline, your Athletics skill is creeping up. Swimming makes it faster, so you can force it upwards, but forcing it to stay down is next to impossible. Blade, like all weapon skills, is easy to control. Just don't use it. If this is going to be your main fighting weapon, choose another one for your major skills and just beat on a summoned creature for a little while before going on a dungeon crawl. Block is almost like the weapon skills in that you can control its level by just not using your block button. That can get you in trouble if you run into a particularly nasty enemy, so keep in mind how you intend to play before taking this as a main. Blunt is like Blade, it is easy to control. If you're using an axe, hammer or mace instead of a dagger or sword, just make sure this stays a minor skill. Control issue solved. Conjuration should never, ever be in your major skill list. I don't know about you, but the temptation to conjure a mob just to get those last couple of levels of such-and-such skill is a bit too much at times. Even if you don't power-game, can you honestly say you won't come to the moment when you go "Blade is 98. Just two more levels." and not be tempted to conjure your own personal leveling dummy? I certainly can't. (Okay, you can go to Rosentia Gallenus' house in Leyawiin and practice on the Scamp mobs that spawn there until you're totally done. This keeps you from being able to complete this quest, however, so be careful about this. I've gotten a lot of mail about this house so I thought I'd mention it. While I like to be self- reliant, I realize this is an easy means to an end if you can leave this quest for a bit.) Destruction should truly be treated like a weapon skill. It's a skill for mages who, like me, can't aim straight for whatever reason with a bow (or sword, or mace, etc.). If you also get a thrill from shooting a ball of fire at a rat and watching it fly back five feet, this isn't a major skill for you. Think it over carefully, as controlling the urge to blast something to smithereens isn't always easy, at least not for me. Hand-to-Hand, like Blade and Block, can be controlled by avoiding placement of this skill in the major skill list. Really, whatever fighting style you choose, that's pretty much the rule of thumb. Heavy Armor tends to give you random and disjointed skill points, especially if this is your favored armor type. Do yourself a favor and put your favored type in minor skills and the other type of armor in major skills. Unless you plan to use them both, that is. Illusion is fast and painless like Alteration. Novice spells like Starlight move along nicely and make it easy to get a lot of skill points. If you think you can live without making your enemies see things with spells, this is a great major skill you can control. Light Armor is ditto for Heavy Armor. If this is your main type of armor, leave it out of your major skill list. It's a lot more easy to control as a minor skill instead of worrying over random major skill points. Marksman is a weapon skill. As I've said before, if you're going to use it a lot, make it a minor skill. If you can't normally hit the side of a barn from two inches away (I admit that I can't) then it's a good option. You have plenty of time to target your own conjured mobs and paid for training with this skill never hurt my feelings all that badly. Mercantile skill is rather random as well, sadly. The more you sell, the more your Mercantile goes up. You can slightly tweak this by selling things in groups instead of singly and not using "Haggle" to push your profits as high as you dare (wound anyone really want to not make maximum profits?), but on the whole it's better left in the minor skills list. Of course, if you want to use this for Personality bonus points, you can just buy a stack of arrows and sell them back one at a time. I admit this is tedious, but it works. I bought a stack of 50 iron arrows for 100 gold and sold them back one at a time at one gold a piece. Okay, I lost money on the deal (something like 400 gold total) but I got 10 straight Mercantile skill points. Tried, tested, tedious, torturous, true. It works, enough said. Mysticism is yet another great skill for easy skill ups. One of its two Novice spells, Minor Life Detection, can be cast over and over as long as you have Magicka points to spare. So far, even as a mainly mage character, I haven't used this skill much and it's a great easy leveling skill for me. Restoration is probably the hardest skill among the magic skills to level. It is slow and sluggish, even when actually healing yourself from massive amounts of damage. It's enough to make anyone grind their teeth, really. However, that very property does come in handy for level control. If you're short of skills that you can avoid random skill points with, consider taking Restoration and working around any random point you might gain every five or so levels. Security is one of those skills that makes you wonder if it actually does anything useful. Okay, so fewer tumblers fall if your skill is higher, but the goal is to not break your lockpick in the first place, right? Still, with a lot of locks within picking ability of Alteration spells, you might not find yourself picking a lot of locks unless you choose to. This one is a toss-up, as it's probably a good bet that you WILL pay for training eventually because it is a bit of a pain to depend on. Also, I'm not sure that getting thrown in jail in the hopes of a small skill up would be worth it. I'll leave that up to you. Sneak is easy to skill up (now that I know how) and makes damage on big mobs climb to a maximum when you attack before they see you. However, unless you plan on running through entire dungeons without sneak on or being completely maxed before you ever set foot in a dungeon, think carefully about this skill. Of course, if it's part of your overall strategy for your levels, it might just be the ticket to easy level points. Speechcraft...what can I say? It's silly and often annoying to play that little persuasion mini-game. Enough so that I don't normally touch it unless I either have to or want to. This skill is completely within your means to control. You don't have to be careful with your choices if you're just trying to level this skill. I've tested this and found that just mashing buttons and going around the circle works as well as being meticulous in your choices. Better, actually, as you never max the NPC's disposition and can go on infinitely if you so desire. ------------------------------------3F-------------------------------------- F: Notes on Endurance and Luck. While I hesitate to favor any one stat over another, I will admit that Endurance seems to be the most crucial stat. Unlike other stats, this one directly effects every level even if you haven't boosted it that level. Endurance equals Health Points and Health Points mean you can live through that ultra-super-mega hard dungeon that is giving you a bellyache. The game (and booklet and guide) will tell you that you gain 10% of your Endurance in Health Points every level. Yes, EVERY level, not just those you boost Endurance in. What they don't tell you is that your beginning HP (short for Health Points) is two times your Endurance or that every time you gain more endurance points you gain HP in the amount of two times the Endurance boost PLUS that 10% of your Endurance. This affects your overall HP pool as it continuously builds upon itself every level. So, the lower you max out your Endurance, the more HP you'll have in higher levels to keep yourself alive. Boosting your beginning Endurance with the signs of The Lady or The Warrior means you are looking at 20 more HP to start and 2 fewer levels until you can cap Endurance at 100. Adding in an additional boost from setting one of your main stats as Endurance will net you another 10 HP and one less level of Endurance needed. And, of course, those also mean you have a higher maximum overall HP pool when you reach your highest level. Example: Race: Orc Sign: The Warrior Max Stats: Strength and Endurance Level 1 Endurance: 65 Level 1 Health Points: 130 Level 8 Endurance: 100 Level 8 Health Points: 254 Level 25 Health Points: 424 or Race: Breton Sign: The Lady Max Stats: Willpower and Endurance Level 1 Endurance: 45 Level 1 Health Points: 90 Level 12 Endurance: 100 Level 12 Health Points: 274 Level 25 Health Points: 404 This doesn't mean you have to take these bonuses, by any means, it's just an example of how you can maximize your Endurance for the most Health Points over time. Remember, Magicka is only and ever two times your Intelligence. Whether you cap it at 10 or 25, the result is the same. Endurance always builds on your Health Points, making it a valuable stat to consider when you make your level plan. Another stat that gives one pause is Luck. As it is very hard to gauge exactly what this stat does, it is hard to endorse raising it instead of other skills you can get a +5 bonus in. However, it should be noted that if you take no bonuses in the beginning to luck, it could take you a maximum of 50 levels to cap Luck. If this stat governs what items you are likely to find in dungeons or for sale from merchants, then this could be quite a monumental task to max this out at 100 and nearly impossible without the right beginning skills (all at 25) to stretch out your levels to 50. I've had a lot of people send me notes about Luck and, to be honest, I've yet to see empirical evidence that Luck is worthwhile. But, I also note that it has got to be in the game for some reason! I'll keep working on a character with maxed Luck to see if I can get an inkling of how exactly this stat works. ====================================4======================================= 4: Training for Skills You aren't condemned to random or forced skill points, though it is the least expensive way to progess. There are trainers for every skill all across the world. There are five trainers for every skill.. Two of these are low level trainers, training anyone with a skill under 40. At 40 you must look for the two mid-level trainers who will train you until your skill is 70. At 70, given certain restrictions, the mid-level trainers will refer you to the high level trainer. This trainer, for the most part, will require you to complete a quest before they will offer you training. In most instances, low level trainers don't refer you to the next trainer in the chain, but the only way to get the option of training with the high level trainer is to gain that reference. ------------------------------------4A-------------------------------------- A: Pros and Cons of using Trainers Trainers are expensive and cost gold for every level that you train with them. The higher your level, the more it costs. Additionally, you can only train five points total per level. That isn't five points per skill, but five points period. Despite these restrictions, if you have a lot of gold and very little patience, Trainers can make a nice supplement to your leveling. They take the grind out of the less interesting skills and definitely can boost you that last couple of points to your next training rank. Note: As far as I can tell, the cost of training is 10 times your current skill level. Disposition and the Persuasion menu don't affect this at all. This also means if any equipment is magically enhancing your skill level it will cost you more. Make sure to remove any enhancement items before speaking to a trainer to save yourself some gold. ------------------------------------4B-------------------------------------- B: List of Trainers As I've said before, trainers can be found all over the place. However, each of them has their own picky time, place and/or disposition they require before they will train you. Catching them at just the right time takes patience sometimes. Additionally the Master Trainers will generally require a quest to prove your abilities to them before they will allow you to train with them. 1: Acrobatics a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Quill-Weave in Anvil. Their house is on the main road. Ida Vilnorman lives in the northeast of the Imperial City's. Elven Gardens District. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Tsrava lives in J'Baris' house in the south part of Leyawiin. Ganredhel can be found in Cheydinhal with her dogs. Her house is in the southeast corner. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Torbern is found in a camp in northeastern Cyrodiil. It's in the foothills of the Valus Range. North of Cheydinhal, east of Azura's shrine and northeast of Lord Rugdumph's Estate. Yes, I know Tsrava and Ganredhel both told you to find Aerin, but take my word for it, Torbern is the real trainer. 2: Alchemy a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Felen Relas at the Anvil Mage's Guild. S'drassa in the Leyawiin Mage's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Ardaline at the Bravil Mage's Guild. Brotch Calus who lives in a house just east of Bruma's Great Chapel of Talos. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Sinderion is found in the cellar of Skingrad's West Weald Inn. 3: Alteration a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Dovyn Aren has a house in the Imperial City's Elven Garden's District. You can also find him in Fathis Ules' house. Deetsan at the Cheydinhal Mage's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Athragar at the Chorrol Mage's Guild. Abhuki runs the Faregyl Inn off the Green Road south of the Imperial City. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Tooth-in-the-Sea is found on the Niben Bay coast north of Bravil. 4: Armorer a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Eitar lives in a house just east of Leyawiin's Great Chapel of Zenithar. Tadrose Helas is the smith at the Bravil Fighter's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Rohssan runs A Fighting Chance in the Imperial City's Market District. Rasheda runs Fire and Steel in Chorrol. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Gin-Wulm is a smith at the Best Defense in the Imperial City's Market District, but spends a lot of his time wandering in the Market District and the Elven Garden's District. 5: Athletics a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Uuras has a house in the southwest of Skingrad. Mahei is found in Leyawiin. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Hauls-Ropes-Faster is a drunk pirate you can find at The Fo'c'sle in Anvil as well as along the Waterfront at night. Honditar has a homestead just southwest of Chorrol. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Rusia Bradus is found in Anvil next to the Abandoned House. 6: Blade a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Naspia Cosma is the steward at Castle Cheydinhal. Right Wind is found at the Bruma Fighter's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Sherina at the Leyawiin Fighter's Guild. Rhano at the Anvil Fighter's Guild. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Alix Lencolia can be found at the Faregyl Inn south of the Imperial City. 7: Block a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Fadus Calidius at the Skingrad Fighter's Guild. Huurwen at the Anvil Fighter's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Lum gro-Baruth at the Chorrol Fighter's Guild. Ambroise Canne has a house in the southwest of Skingrad. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Andragil lives above Dro'Shanji in the north part of Bravil. 8: Blunt a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Bugak gro-Bol is found at Southern Books in Leyawwin. Vigdis at the Anvil Fighter's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Christophe Marane is the proprieter of the Brina Cross Inn northeast of Anvil. Azzan at the Anvil Fighter's Guild. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Irene Metrick has a house in the southwest of the Imperial City's Elven Gardens District. 9: Conjuration a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Fathis Aren is the court mage at Castle Bravil. Sulinus Vassinus at the Skingrad Mage's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Alberic Litte at the Chorrol Mage's Guild. Arentus Falvius is the High Priest at Bruma's Great Chapel of Talos. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Olyn Seran can be found at Molag Bal's shrine located in the Great Forest west of the Imperial City. 10: Destruction a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Chanel is the court mage at Castle Chorrol. J'skar is at the Bruma Mage's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Marc Gulitte at the Anvil Mage's Guild. Delphine Jend at the Bravil Mage's Guild. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Andaren has a camp near a shrine to Kynareth west of the Weatherleah estate in the Imperial Reserve. 11: Hand-to-Hand a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Nahsi at the Bravil Fighter's Guild. Rufruis Vinicius at the Anvil Fighter's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Davela Hlaren runs the Imperial Bridge Inn on the north bank of the Silverfish River east of the Yellow Road. Ra'qanar can be found at Castle Cheydinhal. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Helvius Cecia lives in a house in the southeast of Bruma. 12: Heavy Armor a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Brodras at the Leyawiin Fighter's Guild. Bumph gra-Gash at the Bruma Fighter's Guild. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Valus Odiil can be found in Chorrol at either his house near the chapel or in the Grey Mare. Varnado can be found at The Best Defense in the Imperial City's Market District. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Pranal lives at the Roxey Inn on the Red Ring Road at the northeast corner of Lake Rumare. 13: Illusion a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Hil the Tall is a priest at the Chapel of Arkay in Cheydinhal. Jantus Brolus lives at Istrius Brolus' house in Bruma. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Carahil at the Anvil Mage's Guild. Kud-Ei at the Bravil Mage's Guild. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Martina Floria is found in the Arcane University's Chironasium. 14: Light Armor a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Dul gro-Shug has a house in the northeast of the Imperial City's Elven Gardens District. Olfand works at Nord Winds in Bruma. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Luciana Galena has a house in the south of Bravil. It's above the house for sale there. Ahdarji has a house in Leyawiin just south of the castle's south gate. c: Master Trainer (70-100) J'Bari lives in south Leyawiin with Acrobatics trainer Tsrava. 15: Marksman a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Edla Dark-Heart lives in Regner's house in the south of Bruma. Shameer has a place just west of the Great Chapel of Julianos in Skingrad. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Reman Broder works in a vineyard outside of Skingrad. His house is in southwest Skingrad. Pinarus Inventius is a hunter in Anvil. Unlike most trainers, the low level Marksman trainers MUST refer you to the mid level trainers. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Alawen is found at Troll Candle Camp east of Anvil. 16: Mercantile a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Foroch can be found at the Gottshaw Inn southwest of Kvatch. Mach-Na runs Mach-Na's Books in Cheydinhal. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Margarte lives in a house east of the Great Chapel of Zenithar in Leyawiin with her husband Eitar. Seed-Neeus owns Northern Goods and Trade in Chorrol. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Palonirya runs Divine Elegance in the Imperial City's Market District. 17: Mysticism a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Angalmo at the Mage's Guild in Chorrol. Druja in the Mage's Guild in Skingrad. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Ita Rienus at the Mage's Guild in Bravil. Boderi Farano is found in the Arcane University's Mystic Archives. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Dagail is at the Mage's Guild in Leyawiin. 18: Restoration a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Cirroc at the Great Chapel of Talos in Bruma. Marie Palielle at the Great Chapel of Julianos in Skingrad. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Marz in the Great Chapel of Mara in Bravil Ohtesse in the Great Chapel of Arkay in Cheydinhal. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Oleta at the Chapel of Akatosh in Kvatch. 19: Security a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Malintus Ancrus lives in Chorrol. Samuel Bantien has a house in the Imperial City's Talos Plaza District. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Dro'Shanji has a home below Andragil's in north Bravil. Mandil lives in Othrelos' house in the Imperial City's Elven Gardens District. c: Master Trainer (70-100) J'baana is found in the Imperial Prison District. 20: Sneak a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) City-Swimmer's house is just over S'kivva's southwest of the Bravil city gate, but can also be found in the city's canals. Glistel lives with Malintus Ancrus in Chorrol. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Othrelos lives in a house in the Imperial City's Elven Gardens District. Mirabelle Monet runs the Fo'c'sle in the Waterfront area outside of Anvil. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Marana Rian apparently has a house in the Temple District of the Imperial City, but can often be found in the Arboretum and the Waterfront District. 21: Speechcraft a: Low Level Trainers (5-39) Alga lives in Honmund's house in Bruma. Uravasa Othelas is a priest at the Great Chapel of Mara in Bravil. b: Mid Level Trainers (40-69) Varon Vamori has a house in Bravil. Gruland Garrana is found in the Great Chapel of Arkay in Cheydinhal. c: Master Trainer (70-100) Tandilwe can be found at the Temple of the One in the Imperial City's Temple District. ------------------------------------4C-------------------------------------- C: Questing for Mastery Each Master of a skill has a different requirement before they will train you. Some quests are simple and some extensively long. This varies from trainer to trainer and several of them test your abilities in that skill itself. If you are really set against grinding any more of a skill, do the quests when you come to it, but there's no requirement to do these unless you plan on purchasing training. You can still hit 100 in any skill for free. It just might take some time. ====================================5======================================= 5: Skill Books and other ways to gain skills A really neat addition, in my opinion, are the books scattered across the world that give you skill points. There aren't a lot of these for any skill, but they do make a nice and (usually) free addition to your skill points. Some are in easy places and some in hard, most don't require that you actually take them and reading them can't get you into trouble for stealing. Some are DEFINITELY in places that could get you into trouble for breaking and entering or tresspassing. It's pretty much up to you how strongly you feel about going after certain books. To make your life easier, I'm adding a list of books both by their skill and by the place you can find them. This is by no means comprehensive. I keep finding books all over the place. This is just the most complete information I have at this moment. These don't count as trained skill points for your level, so you can get as many as you like until you don't have any more books around. As a caution, these work as regular skill points and will add to your major skills (and therefore your level). Also, once you hit 100 in any given skill these books might as well be pretty decoration as they will no longer benefit you. Sorry, 100 is the cap without magical items to boost a skill. ------------------------------------5A-------------------------------------- A: Skill Books by Type I've listed books by skill category, adding a brief notation about the city/place they are found. This cross-references with the list just under it of books by location. That list gives a more complete indication of where to find the book. As an additional note, while more than one copies of a book might exist, it only works once. Finding a book of the same title in another city won't give you another skill point. 1: Acrobatics Beggar Thief - Bravil A Dance in Fire Volume 1 - Cheydinhal, Kvatch A Dance in Fire Volume 4 - Cheydinhal, Kvatch The Black Arrow Volume 1 - Brindle Mystery of Talara Volume 1 - loot 2: Alchemy Calcinator Treatise - loot or quest De Rerum Dirennis - Skingrad Mannimarco, King of Worms - Arcane University Song of the Alchemists - Arcane University A Game at Dinner - Chorrol 3: Alteration Daughter of the Niben - Skingrad Reality and Other Falsehoods - Leyawiin The Dragon Break - Imperial City The Lunar Lorkhan - quest, loot, Henantier's Dreamworld Sithis - Leyawiin 4: Armorer Heavy Armor Repair - loot Light Armor Repair - Bravil The Armorer's Challenge - Cheydinhal, Imperial City Cherim's Heart of Anequina - Imperial City Last Scabbard of Akrash - Imperial City 5: Athletics The Argonian Account Volume 1 - loot only Beggar - Cloud Ruler Temple The Red Kitchen Reader - Anvil A Dance in Fire Volume 3 - Skingrad The Ransom of Zarek - Arena 6: Blade Battle of Sancre Tor - Castle Bravil or loot Fire and Darkness - quest Song of Hrormir - Bravil or Arena 2920 Morningstar - Anvil, Leyawiin, quest 7: Block The Warp in the West - Chorrol A Dance in Fire Volume 2 - Imperial City Death Blow of Abernanit - Anvil The Mirror - Leyawiin 8: Blunt Beggar King - Anvil The Legendary Sancre Tor - Chorrol Mace Etiquette - loot The Importance of Where - Bravil Night Falls of Sentinel - Goblin Jim's Cave 9: Conjuration The Doors of Oblivion - Anvil, Cloud Ruler Temple, Fort Caractacus Liminal Bridges - Arcane University 2920 Hearthfire - Bruma 2920 Frostfall - Anvil The Warrior's Charge - quest and loot 10: Destruction Response to Bero's Speech - Arcane University The Art of War Magic - Leafrot Cave The Horrors of Castle Xyr - Bravil Mystery of Talara Volume 3 - quest and loot 11: Hand-to-Hand Ahzirr Traajijazeri - Bruma or Cheydinhal Immortal Blood - Imperial City, Bruma or Vilverin Way of the Exposed Palm - Fieldhouse Cave Master Zoaraym's Tale - quest or loot The Wolf Queen Volume 2 - Skingrad 12: Heavy Armor Fighters Guild History 1st ed. - Chorrol, Anvil or Arcane University 2920 MidYear - Chorrol Chimarvamidium - Imperial City How Orsinium Passed to Orcs - Bruma Halgerd's Tale - Chorrol 13: Illusion The Argonian Account Volume 3 - Arcane University Incident in Neocrom - Cheydinhal Mystery of Talara Volume 4 - quest, loot, Fort Caractacus Palla Volume 1 - Arkved's Tower The Wolf Queen Volume 3 - Bruma 14: Light Armor The Refugees - Cloud Ruler Temper & Imperial City Rislav the Righteous - loot Ice and Chitin - Leyawiin Lord Jornibret's Last Dance - Bleak Flats Cave The Rear Guard - Cheydinhal 15: Marksman Father of the Niben - Bravil A Dance in Fire Volume 5 - Bruma The Black Arrow Volume 2 - Cheydinhal, loot, quest The Gold Ribbon of Merit - Cheydinhal Vernaccus and Bourlor - Chorrol 16: Mercantile 2920 Sun's Height - Imperial City A Dance in Fire Volume 6 - Chorrol, quest, loot A Dance in Fire Volume 7 - Chorrol, quest, loot The Buying Game - Imperial City The Wolf Queen Volume 4 - Imperial City 17: Mysticism Before the Ages of Man - Arcane University The Black Arts on Trial - Imperial City Souls, Black and White - Fort Cuptor and loot 2920 Sun's Dawn - Skingrad Before the Ages of Man - Arcane University The Firsthold Revolt - Cheydinhal 18: Restoration The Exodus - Skingrad 2920 Rain's Hand - Bravil Mystery of Talara Volume 2 - quest and loot Notes of Racial Phylogeny - Chorrol Withershins - - Leyawiin 19: Security Advances in Lockpicking - Fingerbowl Cave Proper Lock Design - Imperial City The Locked Room - Anvil Surfeit of Thieves - loot and quest The Wolf Queen Volume 1 - Bravil 20: Sneak Legand of Krately House - Cloud Ruler Temple Purloined Shadows - loot Sacred Witness - Lake Arrius Caverns 2920 Last Seed - Bravil The Wolf Queen Volume 7 - Cheydinhal 21: Speechcraft 2920 Second Seed - Imperial City Biography of the Wolf Queen - Imperial City, quest The Wolf Queen Volume 5 - Imperial City The Wolf Queen Volume 6 - Imperial City ------------------------------------5B-------------------------------------- B: Skill Books by Location 1: Anvil The Doors of Oblivion - Conjuration Skillbook - Mage's Guild Library Fighters Guild History 1st ed. - Heavy Armor Skillbook - Fighter's Guild in locked display case Beggar King - Blunt Skillbook - Castle Anvil's Royal Quarters on a shelf The Red Kitchen Reader - Athletics Skillbook - Castle Anvil, Baerlorn's bedroom in private quarters 2920 Morningstar - Blade Skillbook - Castle Anvil, Uleve Hlervu's room in private quarters 2920 Frostfall - Conjuration Skillbook - Chapel of Dibella, chapel hall on a desk Death Blow of Abernanit - Block Skillbook - Fighter's Guild, bedroom off dining hall in a chest atop a dresser The Locked Room - Security Skillbook - Smuggler's Cave below Castle Anvil 2: Bravil Battle of Sancre Tor - Blade Skillbook - Castle Bravil Great Hall in a locked case Father of the Niben - Marksmen Skillbook - Castle Bravil, private quarters north wing on a shelf Light Armor Repair - Armorer Skillbook - Castle Bravil's barracks on a shelf (the barracks is in the castle and the door is an average lock) Song of Hrormir: Blade Skillbook - Castle Bravil, Drels Theran's room in private quarters Beggar Thief - Acrobatics Skillbook - S'krivva's house 2920 Rain's Hand - Restoration Skillbook - Great Chapel of Mara, Great Hall on a shelf 2920 Last Seed - Sneak Skillbook - City-Swimmer's house on a dresser The Horrors of Castle Xyr - Destruction Skillbook - Mage's Guild, top floor in a bookshelf The Importance of Where - Blunt Skillbook - Castle Bravil's dungeon, first room The Wolf Queen Volume 1 - Security Skillbook - Dro'Shanji's house on a shelf 3: Bruma Ahzirr Traajijazeri - H2H Skillbook - Below J'Ghasta's house Immortal Blood - H2H Skillbook - J'Gasta's house 2920 Hearthfire - Conjuration Skillbook - Great Chapel of Talos chapel A Dance in Fire Volume 5 - Marksman Skillbook - Regner's house on a writing table beside fireplace How Orsinium Passed to Orcs - Heavy Armor Skillbook - Castle Bruma, Lord's Manor on a desk The Wolf Queen Volume 3 - Illusion Skillbook - Mage's Guild basement on a desk 4: Cheydinhal Ahzirr Traajijazeri - H2H Skillbook - Dark Brotherhood's Sanctuary A Dance in Fire Volume 1 - Acrobatics Skillbook - Ganredhel's house on a dresser (w/Vol.4) A Dance in Fire Volume 4 - Acrobatics Skillbook - Ganredhel's house on a dresser (w/Vol.1) The Armorer's Challenge - Armorer Skillbook - Fighter's Guild, second floor on a shelf The Black Arrow Volume 2 - Marksman Skillbook - Dark Brotherhood's Sanctuary in Teinaava's chest The Firsthold Revolt - Mysticism Skillbook - Mage's Guilde basement The Gold Ribbon of Merit - Marksman Skillbook - Dark Brotherhood's Sanctuary, training room in a chest Incident in Neocrom - Illusion Skillbook - Willow Bank, second floor on a dresser The Rear Guard - Light Armor Skillbook - Dark Brotherhood's Sanctuary, training room in a chest 5: Chorrol Fighters Guild History 1st ed. - Heavy Armor Skillbook - Fighter's Guild in locked display case The Legendary Sancre Tor - Blunt Skillbook - Vilena Donton's quarters on a shelf The Warp in the West - Block Skillbook - Chorrol - given by Brother Piner after asking Jauffre about assistance in Main Quest 2920 MidYear - Heavy Armor Skillbook - Fire and Steel on a shelf A Dance in Fire Volume 6 - Mercantile Skillbook - Casta Scribonia's house, second floor on a shelf A Dance in Fire Volume 7 - Mercantile Skillbook - Casta Scribonia's house, second floor on a shelf Notes of Racial Phylogeny - Restoration Skillbook - Chapel of Stendarr, chapel hall in a chest Vernaccus and Bourlor - Marksman Skillbook - Renoit's Books on a bookshelf A Game at Dinner - Alchemy Skillbook - Chorrol Mage's Guild main floor on a shelf in the little room off the Alchemy room (not the bedroom). Halgerd's Tale - Heavy Armor - Chorrol Fighter's Guild Tower upper level in the unlocked chest. (The other two are locked and marked as owned to boot.) 6: Imperial City The Black Arts on Trial - Mysticism Skillbook - Mystic Emporium in Market District Immortal Blood - H2H Skillbook - Seridur's house in Temple District, celler on a shelf Proper Lock Design - Security Skillbook - Dareloth's house in Waterfront District, second floor on a desk (Must complete Thieve's Guild quest line for access to this house) The Refugees - Light Armor Skillbook - First Edition in Market District 2920 Second Seed - Speechcraft Skillbook - Chancello Ocato's quarters in Imperial Palace 2920 Sun's Height - Mercantile Skillbook - Black Horse Courier offices in Market District on desk A Dance in Fire Volume 2 - Block Skillbook - Guard House in Elven Gardens District, ground floor on a table The Armorer's Challenge - Armorer Skillbook - First Edition in Market District (must purchase to read it and must read it to convince the Master Armorer trainer to train you) Biography of the Wolf Queen - Speechcraft Skillbook - Armand Christophe's house in Waterfront District in a chest. The Buying Game - Mercantile Skillbook - Fathis Ules' house in the Elven Gardens District Cherim's Heart of Anequina - Armorer Skillbook - First Edition in Market District, second floor on a desk (the door into this area is locked with an average lock) Chimarvamidium - Heavy Armor Skillbook - Imperial Legion Compound, barracks on a shelf The Dragon Break - Alteration Skillbook - Dovyn Aren's house in Elven Garden District, second floor on a shelf below a hall table Last Scabbard of Akrash - Armorer Skillbook - A Fighting Chance in Market District, second floor on a shelf (this is behind a locked door with an Average lock and there is a guard dog inside this room) The Wolf Queen Volume 4 - Mercantile Skillbook - Office of Imperial Commerce in Market District on a counter The Wolf Queen Volume 5 - Speechcraft Skillbook - Hastrel Ottus' house in Temple District, ground floor on an end table The Wolf Queen Volume 6 - Speechcraft Skillbook - Hastrel Ottus' house in Temple District, ground floor on an end table 7: Kvatch A Dance in Fire Volume 1 - Acrobatics Skillbook - Castle Kvatch, Great Hall on a hall table (w/Vol.4) A Dance in Fire Volume 4 - Acrobatics Skillbook - Castle Kvatch, Great Hall on a hall table (w/Vol.1) 8: Leyawiin Reality and Other Falsehoods - Alteration Skillbook - Southern Books, second floor on a shelf 2920 Morningstar - Blade Skillbook - Castle Leyawwin, Tsavi's room in private quarters Ice and Chitin - Light Armor Skillbook - Ahdarji's house, second floor in a chest at the foot of a bed. The Mirror - Block Skillbook - City Watch barracks, ground floor in storage room on a shelf Sithis - Alteration Skillbook - Great Chapel of Zenithar, Chapel Hall on a desk Withershins - Restoration Skillbook - Mage's Guild, library on a corner bookshelf 9: Skingraad De Rerum Dirennis - Alchemy Skillbook - All Things Alchemical on a shelf upstairs (just stairs up, no locked doors here) The Exodus - Restoration Skillbook - Great Chapel of Julianos, Chapel Hall dining room on a shelf (the chapel hall is a restricted area that is tresspassing if you enter. Be sure to sneak if you don't want to be caught) 2920 Sun's Dawn - Mysticism Skillbook - Great Chapel of Julianos, Chapel Hall sideroom on a desk (the chapel hall is a restricted area that is tresspassing if you enter. Be sure to sneak if you don't want to be caught) The Wolf Queen Volume 2 - H2H Skillbook - Castle Skingrad, Lord's Manor on a shelf 10: Arcane University (must complete all recommendation quests for Mage's Guild to enter) The Argonian Account Volume 3 - Illusion Skillbook - Mystic Archives Before the Ages of Man - Mysticism Skillbook - Chironasium on an enchanting station Fighters Guild History 1st ed. - Heavy Armor Skillbook - Mystic Archives in an unlocked case Liminal Bridges - Conjuration Skillbook - Mystic Archives Mannimarco, King of Worms - Alchemy Skillbook - Mystic Archives Response to Bero's Speech - Destruction Skillbook - Mystic Archives Before the Ages of Man - Mysticism Skillbook - Chironasium ground floor in an Enchanting Center Song of the Alchemists - Alchemy Skillbook - Lustratorium, ground floor at the rear on a bookshelf 11: Other Places Advances in Lockpicking - Security Skillbook - Fingerbowl Cave (Necromancer/undead lair just northeast of Aleswell north of the Imperial City) Beggar - Athletics Skillbook - Cloud Ruler Temple, Great Hall The Doors of Oblivion - Conjuration Skillbook - Cloud Ruler Temple, Great Hall on a table Immortal Blood - H2H Skillbook - Vilverin, Ayleid Ruin across the river from Imperial Sewers where you escape from prison in a bandit camp tent Legand of Krately House - Sneak Skillbook - Cloud Ruler Temple, library Sacred Witness - Sneak Skillbook - Lake Arrius Caverns, actually it's in the antechamber complex which you escape the caverns in the Dagon Shrine segment of the main quest Song of Hrormir: Blade Skillbook - Arena grounds, chest of the two would-be gladiators Souls, Black and White - Mysticism Skillbook - Fort Cuptor, northwest corner of the second level Way of the Exposed Palm - H2H Skillbook - Fieldhouse Cave, under a mushroom on the south side of the bottom level The Art of War Magic - Destruction Skillbook - Leafrot Cave, upper level on a shelf (cave is found northeast of the northeasternmost headwaters of the Panther River) The Black Arrow Volume 1 - Acrobatics Skillbook - Brindle Home, settlement in the Great Forest north of Skingrade, Torbal the Sufficient's house in a chest at the foot of a bed Lord Jornibret's Last Dance - Light Armor Skillbook - Bleak Flats Cave (found north-northwest of Skingrad) on a table The Lunar Lorkhan - Alteration Skillbook - Henantier's Dreamworld, starting location behind an overturned table (during the quest "Through a Nightmare, Darkly" Mystery of Talara Volume 4 - Illusion Skillbook - Fort Caractacus (north shore of Lake Rumare), tower under a table Night Falls of Sentinel - Blunt Skillbook - Goblin Jim's Cave (north of Skingrad), top level on a shelf Palla Volume 1 - Illusion Skillbook - Arkved's Tower (south of Lake Poppad), final level on an end table The Ransom of Zarek - Athletics Skillbook - Arena Bloodworks in a cupboard against the outer wall 12: Loot and Quest The Argonian Account Volume 1 - Athletics Skillbook - random loot Battle of Sancre Tor - Blade Skillbook - random loot Calcinator Treatise - Alchemy Skillbook - leveled loot or in quest Two Sides of the Coin Fire and Darkness - Blade Skillbook - found during Thieve's Guild quest The Ultimate Heist in a chest in the Imperial City sewers Heavy Armor Repair - Armorer Skillbook - loot - Marauder and tomb loot Mace Etiquette - Blunt Skillbook - random loot Purloined Shadows - Sneak Skillbook - random loot Rislav the Righteous - Light Armor Skillbook - Bandit and Vampire loot Souls, Black and White - Mysticism Skillbook - random loot 2920 Morningstar - Blade Skillbook - reward in Fighter's Guild quest The Wandering Scholar A Dance in Fire Volume 6 - Mercantile Skillbook - boss level Vampire and Bandit loot or reward in quest Two Sides of the Coin A Dance in Fire Volume 7 - Mercantile Skillbook - boss level Vampire and Bandit loot or reward in quest Two Sides of the Coin The Black Arrow Volume 2 - Marksman Skillbook - boss level Vampire and Bandit loot or reward in quest Two Sides of the Coin The Lunar Lorkhan - Alteration Skillbook - boss level Conjurer and Necromancer loot, reward in quest Two Sides of the Coin Master Zoaraym's Tale - H2H Skillbook - boss level tomb creature and Marauder loot, reward in quest Two Sides of the Coin, reward in quest Bear Season Mystery of Talara Volume 1 - Acrobatics Skillbook - boss level Bandit and Vampire loot, loot during Two Sides of the Coin quest Mystery of Talara Volume 2 - Restoration Skillbook - Jorundr's Chestin Two Sides of the Coin, boss level Necromancer and Conjurer loot Mystery of Talara Volume 3 - Destruction Skillbook - Jorundr's Chest in Two Sides of the Coin, boss level Necromancer and Conjurer loot Mystery of Talara Volume 4 - Illusion Skillbook - Jorundr's Chest in Two Sides of the Coin, boss level Necromancer and Conjurer loot Surfeit of Thieves - Security Skillbook - boss level Bandit and Vampire loot, loot during Two Sides of the Coin quest The Warrior's Charge - Conjuration Skillbook - boss level Necromancer and Conjurer loot, Jorundr's Chest in Two Sides of the Coin quest ------------------------------------5C-------------------------------------- C: Other skill additions 1: "Shadow over Hackdirt" is given to you by Seed-Neeus who runs the Northern Goods and Trade in Chorrol. After you've completed the quest, she'll give you five mercantile skill points free. Additionally, these skill points do not count as trained skill points per level. 2: Ocheeva in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Cheydinhal gives you a +2 bonus to Acrobatics, Blade, Marksman, Sneak and Security for completion of a quest. (More details to come as I research this, thanks Nick.) 3: Completion of the Origin of the Gray Prince has a reward of +3 Blade, Block and Athletics from Argonak gro-Malog in the Bloodworks of the Arena. (This one is thanks to Nick too.) 4: You can get +5 Hand-to-Hand in the Arena district by watching two fellows fight for a while. (Thanks to Tim Neal for this, I'll get the names of the NPCs and add them next update.) ====================================6======================================= 6: Beginning Spells and Spell Vendors Unlike many games, Oblivion spells cannot be learned from spell scrolls. Instead, you must purchase or create a spell to be cast by your character. Spells aren't too hard to find as each major city has a Mage's Guild and a Temple that has spells for sale. Several of the Mage's Guilds have an emphasis in the spells they sell, although they usually sell a smattering of other spells as well. Temples, on the whole, sell spells from the Restoration category, though they do sell a few other spells that are mostly harmless. If you see high spell costs when you first look at the spell purchase list, do not be dismayed. As your skill goes up in the various magic skills, your casting cost will go down. That Summon Skeleton spell that cost you 60 Magicka points as a brand new Apprentice Conjurer will cost less than 30 points when you reach Expert level. Just as the Magicka cost adjusts as you gain skill levels, so does the price of the spell. It varies by your Personality stat score, the Disposition score you've gained with the NPC and your Mercantile skill. As such, it's very difficult to give a cost of a spell. Because of the varying costs in Magicka and Septims, I've decided I'm only going to list the vendors who sell spells as well as where to find them and what they sell. I'm including two lists here. Spells by category and spells by vendor. They, like my books list, cross-reference each other so that you can find the spell you're looking for more easily. I might later go back and add spell effects, if I find the time. ------------------------------------6A-------------------------------------- A: Beginning Spells for all Categories All magic skills have beginning spells that you can receive, provided you choose that skill as one of your major skills. Regardless of your overall choices in skills, every character receives Flare and Heal Minor Wounds. The rest depend on what major skills you take. 1: Alteration Beginning Spells Open Very Easy Lock Protect 2: Conjuration Beginning Spells Summon Skeleton Turn Undead 3: Destruction Beginning Spells Cold Touch Flare Shocking Touch 4: Illusion Beginning Spells Soothing Touch Starlight 5: Mysticism Beginning Spells Minor Dispel Minor Life Detection 6: Restoration Beginning Spells Absorb Health Heal Minor Wounds ------------------------------------6B-------------------------------------- B: Mage's Guild Spell Emphasis All but one of the seven major Mage's Guilds has a special magic skill emphasis. Bruma, the exception, has a smattering of all spells to offer from the spell vendors. That doesn't mean you'll only find one category of spells in the other six cities, just that you'll find a concentration of those spells there, giving you a better chance to find the spell you're looking for. 1: Anvil Mage's Guild: Restoration 2: Bravil Mage's Guild: Illusion 3: Cheydinhal Mage's Guild: Alteration 4: Chorrol Mage's Guild: Conjuration 5: Leyawiin Mage's Guild: Mysticism 6: Skingrad Mage's Guild: Destruction ------------------------------------6C-------------------------------------- C: Spells by Category 1: Alteration a: Novice spells: Open Very Easy Lock Cheydinhal, Imperial City Protect Cheydinhal, Imperial City Protect Other Cheydinhal, Imperial City b: Apprentice spells: Burdening Touch Cheydinhal Defend Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Ease Burden Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Imperial City, Leyawiin, Skingrad Electric Shell Cheydinhal Frost Shell Cheydinhal Heat Shell Bruma, Cheydinhal Hindering Touch Cheydinhal, Imperial City Open Easy Lock Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Sea Stride Cheydinhal Water Breathing Cheydinhal, Imperial City c: Journeyman spells: Encumbering Touch Cheydinhal Guard Cheydinhal Ice Shield Cheydinhal Lighten Load Cheydinhal Lightning Shield Cheydinhal Open Average Lock Bruma, Cheydinhal d: Expert spells: Fire Shield Cheydinhal Glacial Wall Cheydinhal Lightning Wall Cheydinhal Open Hard Lock Cheydinhal Oppressing Grasp Cheydinhal, Imperial City Pack Mule Cheydinhal Shield Cheydinhal Weight of the World Cheydinhal e: Master spells: Aegis Cheydinhal, Imperial City Beast of Burden Imperial City Flame Shield Cheydinhal 2: Conjuration a: Novice spells: Bound Boots Chorrol Bound Dagger Chorrol, Imperial City Bound Gauntlets Chorrol Bound Helmet Chorrol, Imperial City Turn Undead Anvil, Chorrol, Skingrad b: Apprentice spells: Bound Greaves Chorrol Bound War Axe Chorrol Repulse Undead Anvil, Bravil, Chorrol, Skingrad Summon Ghost Chorrol Summon Scamp Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Imperial City, Leyawiin, Skingrad Summon Skeleton Bruma, Chorrol, Imperial City Summon Zombie Chorrol, Imperial City c: Journeyman spells: Bound Bow Chorrol Bound Cuirass Bravil, Chorrol Bound Mace Chorrol Rebuke Undead Bruma, Chorrol, Skingrad Summon Dremora Chorrol Summon Flame Atronach Chorrol Summon Headless Zombie Chorrol Summon Skeleton Guardian Chorrol d: Expert spells: Bound Shield Chorrol Bound Sword Bruma, Chorrol, Imperial City Dismiss Undead Bruma, Chorrol, Skingrad Summon Clannfear Chorrol Summon Daedroth Bruma, Chorrol Summon Faded Wraith Chorrol Summon Frost Atronach Chorrol Summon Skeleton Champion Chorrol Summon Skeleton Hero Chorrol Summon Spider Daedra Chorrol e: Master spells: Summon Dremora Lord Bruma Summon Gloom Wraith Imperial City Summon Storm Atronach Skingrad Summon Xivilai Imperial City 3: Destruction a: Novice spells: Burning Touch Imperial City, Skingrad Cold Touch Unknown Curse of Weakness Bruma, Skingrad Damage Attribute: Agility Unknown Damage Attribute: Endurance Unknown Damage Attribute: Luck Unknown Drain Attribute: Agility Unknown Drain Attribute: Endurance Unknown Drain Attribute: Luck Unknown Flare Starting Spell regardless of Major Skills Minor Ennervation Skingrad Minor Wound Skingrad Shocking Touch Imperial City Snowball Bruma, Imperial City, Skingrad Spark Bravil, Bruma, Skingrad b: Apprentice spells: Corrode Armor Skingrad Damage Attribute: Speed Unknown Damage Attribute: Willpower Unknown Drain Attribute: Speed Unknown Drain Attribute: Willpower Unknown Drain Skill: Illusion Skingrad Drain Skill: Marksman Skingrad Electric Touch Imperial City, Skingrad Entropic Touch Skingrad Entropic Bolt Skingrad Flame Touch Imperial City, Skingrad Flash Bolt Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Frost Touch Bruma, Skingrad Hailstone Skingrad Magicka Drain Skingrad Major Ennervation Skingrad Major Wound Imperial City, Skingrad Sever Magicka Skingrad Shock Skingrad Weakness to Fire Imperial City, Skingrad Weakness to Frost Skingrad Weakness to Poison Imperial City, Skingrad Weakness to Shock Skingrad c: Journeyman spells: Barnoff's Bloody Icicle Cheydinhal Blazing Spears Skingrad Corrode Weapon Skingrad Damage Attribute Intelligence Damage Attribute Strength Dire Wound Skingrad Drain Attribute Intelligence Drain Skill: Alteration Skingrad Drain Skill: Destruction Imperial City, Skingrad Drain Skill: Hand-to-Hand Skingrad Drain Skill: Heavy Armor Skingrad Fire Ball Skingrad Frost Bolt Skingrad Greater Magicka Drain Skingrad Hail Storm Skingrad Lightning Bolt Skingrad Lightning Grasp Skingrad Searing Grasp Skingrad Shocking Burst Skingrad Weakness to Magicka Skingrad Winter's Grasp Bruma, Skingrad Withering Touch Skingrad d: Expert spells: Arctic Blow Skingrad Dire Enervation Skingrad Disintegrate Armor Skingrad Drain Skill: Blade Skingrad Drain Skill: Conjuration Skingrad Drain Skill: Restoration Skingrad Fire Storm Skingrad Heat Blast Bruma, Imperial City, Skingrad Ice Bolt Imperial City, Skingrad Ice Storm Imperial City, Skingrad Lightning Ball Imperial City, Skingrad Lightning Blast Imperial City, Skingrad Lightning Surge Skingrad Scorching Blow Skingrad Superior Magicka Drain Skingrad Superior Wound Bruma, Skingrad Withering Bolt Skingrad e: Master spells: Blizzard Skingrad Disintegrate Weapon Imperial City Electrocution Imperial City, Skingrad Enemies Explode Bravil Flame Tempest Imperial City, Skingrad Ice Blast Skingrad Immolating Blast Imperial City, Skingrad Legendary Magicka Drain Imperial City Lightning Storm Skingrad 4: Illusion a: Novice spells: Alluring Gaze Bravil Beguiling Touch Bravil, Bruma Frenzy Bravil Illuminate Bravil Inspiration Bravil Inspiring Touch Bravil Serenity Bravil Soothing Touch Bravil Starlight Bravil, Imperial City Touch of Frenzy Bravil b: Apprentice spells: Command Creature Chorrol Command Humanoid Chorrol Commanding Touch Bravil, Chorrol Eyes of Eventide Bravil, Imperial City Heroic Touch Bravil, Bruma Heroism Bravil Mesmerizing Grasp Bravil Moonlight Bravil Pacification Bravil Rage Bravil Seductive Charm Bravil, Chorrol Touch of Fear Bravil Touch of Rage Bravil, Imperial City c: Journeyman spells: Calming Touch Unknown Candlelight Bravil Chameleon Bravil Deathly Visage Cheydinhal Debilitate Bravil Dominating Touch Chorrol Enthralling Presence Bravil, Bruma Eyes of Midnight Bravil Hush Bravil Shadow Shape Bravil Shroudwalk Cheydinhal Voice of Dread Bravil Voice of Rapture Bravil d: Expert spells: Black Winter Cheydinhal Dominate Creature Chorrol Dominate Humanoid Bruma, Chorrol Fearful Gaze Bravil Ghostwalk Bravil, Imperial City Immobolize Bravil, Imperial City Mute Bravil, Imperial City Shadow Bravil, Imperial City Torchlight Bravil, Imperial City e: Master spells: Cloak Imperial City Daylight Imperial City Grasp of Terror Bravil Paralyze Imperial City Silence Imperial City Spectral Form Bravil Terrifying Presence Imperial City 5: Mysticism a: Novice spells: Minor Dispel Leyawiin Minor Life Detection Anvil, Imperial City, Leyawiin b: Apprentice spells: Dispel Other Leyawiin Major Dispel Imperial City, Leyawiin Major Life Detection Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Remote Manipulation Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Soul Trap Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad c: Journeyman spells: Greater Dispel Leyawiin Greater Dispel Other Bruma, Leyawiin Greater Life Detection Leyawiin Greater Soul Trap Leyawiin Greater Spell Reflection Bruma Psychic Motion Leyawiin Spell Absorption Unknown d: Expert spells: Bloodhunt Cheydinhal Superior Dispel Imperial City, Leyawiin Superior Life Detection Bruma, Imperial City, Leyawiin Superior Soul Trap Leyawiin Superior Spell Absorption Leyawiin Superior Spell Reflection Imperial City, Leyawiin Telekinesis Leyawiin e: Master spells: Legendary Dispel Imperial City Legendary Life Detection Imperial City Legendary Soul Trap Imperial City Legendary Spell Absorption Imperial City Legendary Spell Reflection Leyawiin Movement Mastery Imperial City 6: Restoration a: Novice spells: Absorb Attribute: Agility Anvil Absorb Attribute: Endurance Anvil Absorb Attribute: Intelligence Anvil Absorb Attribute: Luck Anvil, Imperial City Absorb Attribute: Speed Anvil Absorb Attribute: Strength Anvil Absorb Attribute: Willpower Anvil Absorb Fatigue Anvil, Imperial City Absorb Health Anvil Absorb Magicka Anvil, Imperial City Absorb Skill: Acrobatics Anvil Absorb Skill: Athletics Anvil Absorb Skill: Illusion Anvil, Imperial City Absorb Skill: Security Anvil Fortify Fatigue Imperial City Heal Minor Wounds Starting Spell for all characters regardless of skill choice. Minor Respite Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad b: Apprentice spells: Absorb Skill: Hand-to-Hand Anvil Absorb Skill: Light Armor Anvil Absorb Skill: Mercantile Anvil, Imperial City Absorb Skill: Mysticism Anvil Absorb Skill: Restoration Anvil Convalescence Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Cure Paralysis Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Cure Poison Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Fortify Agility Bruma Fortify Endurance Leyawiin Fortify Health Bruma Fortify Intelligence Unknown Fortify Luck Anvil Fortify Personality Anvil Fortify Speed Bravil, Imperial City Fortify Strength Chorrol Fortify Willpower Skingrad Greater Fortify Fatigue Imperial City Heal Major Wounds Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Imperial City, Leyawiin, Skingrad Leech Health Anvil Major Respite Bravil, Skingrad Restore Agility Bruma Restore Endurance Leyawiin Restore Intelligence Unknown Restore Luck Anvil Restore Personality Anvil Restore Speed Bravil Restore Strength Chorrol Restore Willpower Skingrad c: Journeyman spells: Absorb Skill: Alteration Anvil, Imperial City Absorb Skill: Block Anvil Absorb Skill: Conjuration Anvil Absorb Skill: Heavy Armor Anvil Absorb Skill: Marksman Anvil Consume Health Anvil, Bruma Cure Disease Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Fortify Magicka Anvil, Imperial City Greater Convalescence Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Greater Fortify Agility Bruma Greater Fortify Endurance Leyawiin Greater Fortify Intelligence Unknown Greater Fortify Luck Anvil Greater Fortify Personality Anvil Greater Fortify Speed Bravil, Bruma, Imperial City Greater Fortify Strength Chorrol Greater Fortify Willpower Skingrad Heal Greater Wounds Anvil, Bravil, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad Minor Magic Resistance Anvil d: Expert spells: Absorb Skill: Blade Anvil, Bruma Absorb Skill: Blunt Anvil Absorb Skill: Destruction Anvil Absorb Skill: Sneak Anvil, Imperial City Devour Health Anvil, Imperial City Greater Fortify Health Anvil, Leyawiin Greater Fortify Magicka Anvil, Leyawiin Heal Superior Wounds Bruma, Chorrol, Skingrad Superior Convalescence Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad e: Master spell: Heal Legendary Wounds Bruma, Imperial City, Skingrad ------------------------------------6D-------------------------------------- D: Spells by Location The vendors are very picky about time and place to sell. Some seem to only have a few minutes maximum each game day that they will sell spells, while others are available for hours at a time. Some only sell when standing in a specific place and others roam and still will let you buy spells. Be patient is my only advice. I'm pretty sure I didn't get all of the vendors, though I definitely tried. I was using a level one character without any spells to make sure my list was comprehensive. Because of that, I could have had people refuse to speak with me for a variety of reasons. I'll go back over the next few days and try to see what else I can find. 1: Anvil a: Marc Gulitte: Mage's Guild Absorb Skill: Alteration - Journeyman Restoration Absorb Skill: Blade - Expert Restoration Absorb Skill: Block - Journeyman Restoration Absorb Skill: Blunt - Expert Restoration Absorb Skill: Conjuration - Journeyman Restoration Absorb Skill: Destruction - Expert Restoration Absorb Skill: Heavy Armor - Journeyman Restoration Absorb Skill: Marksman - Journeyman Restoration Absorb Skill: Sneak - Expert Restoration Consume Health - Journeyman Restoration Devour Health - Expert Restoration Fortify Magicka - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Health - Expert Restoration Greater Fortify Magick - Expert Restoration b: Thaurron: Mage's Guild Absorb Ability: Agility - Novice Restoration Absorb Ability: Endurance - Novice Restoration Absorb Ability: Intelligence - Novice Restoration Absorb Ability: Luck - Novice Restoration Absorb Ability: Speed - Novice Restoration Absorb Ability: Strength - Novice Restoration Absorb Ability: Willpower - Novice Restoration Absorb Fatigue - Novice Restoration Absorb Health - Novice Restoration Absorb Magicka - Novice Restoration Absorb Skill: Acrobatics - Novice Restoration Absorb Skill: Athletics - Novice Restoration Absorb Skill: Hand-to-Hand - Apprentice Restoration Absorb Skill: Illusion - Novice Restoration Absorb Skill: Light Armor - Apprentice Restoration Absorb Skill: Mercantile - Apprentice Restoration Absorb Skill: Mysticism - Apprentice Restoration Absorb Skill: Restoration - Apprentice Restoration Absorb Skill: Security - Novice Restoration Defend - Apprentice Alteration Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Flash Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Leech Health - Apprentice Restoration Minor Life Detection - Novice Mysticism Minor Magic Resistance - Journeyman Restoration Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Summon Scamp - Apprentice Conjuration c: Trevaia: Chapel of Dibella Consume Health - Journeyman Restoration Convalescence - Apprentice Restoration Cure Disease - Journeyman Restoration Cure Paralysis - Apprentice Restoration Cure Poison - Apprentice Restoration Fortify Luck - Apprentice Restoration Fortify Personality - Apprentice Restoration Greater Convalescence - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Luck - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Personality - Journeyman Restoration Heal Greater Wounds - Journeyman Restoration Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Minor Respite - Novice Restoration Repulse Undead - Apprentice Conjuration Restore Luck - Apprentice Restoration Restore Personality - Apprentice Restoration Superior Convalescence - Expert Restoration Turn Undead - Novice Conjuration 2: Bravil a: Delphine Jend: Mage's Guild Alluring Gaze - Novice Illusion Beguiling Touch - Novice Illusion Bound Cuirass - Journeyman Conjuration Calming Touch - Journeyman Illusion Defend - Apprentice Alteration Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Enemies Explode - Master Destruction Enthralling Presence - Journeyman Illusion Eyes of Eventide - Apprentice Illusion Flash Bolt - Apprentice Distruction Frenzy - Novice Illusion Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Heroic Touch - Apprentice Illusion Heroism - Apprentice Illusion Illuminate - Novice Illusion Inspiration - Novice Illusion Inspiring Touch - Novice Illusion Major Life Detection - Apprentice Mysticism Mesmerizing Grasp - Apprentice Illusion Moonlight - Apprentice Illusion Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Pacification - Apprentice Illusion Rage - Apprentice Illusion Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Seductive Charm - Apprentice Illusion Serenity - Novice Illusion Soothing Touch - Novice Illusion Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Spark - Novice Destruction Starlight - Novice Illusion Summon Scamp - Novice Illuion Touch of Fear - Apprentice Illusion Touch of Frenzy - Novice Illusion Touch of Rage - Apprentice Illusion b: Ita Rienus: Mage's Guild Candlelight - Journeyman Illusion Chameleon - Journeyman Illusion Debilitate - Journeyman Illusion Eyes of Midnight - Journeyman Illusion Fearful Gaze - Expert Illusion Ghostwalk - Expert Illusion Grasp of Terror - Master Illusion Hush - Journeyman Illusion Immobilize - Expert Illusion Mute - Expert Illusion Shadow - Expert Illusion Shadow Shape - Journeyman Illusion Spectral Form - Master Illusion Torchlight - Expert Illusion Voice of Dread - Journeyman Illusion Voice of Rapture - Journeyman Illusion c: Uravasa Othrelas: Mage's Guild Convalescence - Apprentice Restoration Cure Disease - Journeyman Restoration Cure Paralysis - Apprentice Restoration Cure Poison - Apprentice Restoration Fortify Speed - Apprentice Restoration Greater Convalescence - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Speed - Journeyman Restoration Heal Greater Wounds - Journeyman Restoration Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Major Respite - Apprentice Restoration Minor Respite - Novice Restoration Respulse Undead - Apprentice Conjuration Restore Speed - Apprentice Restoration Superior Convalescence - Expert Restoration 3: Bruma a: Issa Reman: Chapel of Talos Convalescence - Apprentice Restoration Cure Disease - Journeyman Restoration Cure Paralysis - Apprentice Restoration Cure Poison - Apprentice Restoration Dismiss Undead - Expert Conjuration Fortify Agility - Apprentice Restoration Greater Convalescence - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Agility - Journeyman Restoration Heal Legendary Wounds - Master Restoration Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Heal Superior Wounds - Expert Restoration Minor Respite - Novice Restoration Rebuke Undead - Journeyman Conjuration Restore Agility - Journeyman Restoration Superior Convelescence - Expert Restoration b: Selena Orania: Mage's Guild Absorb Skill: Blade - Expert Restoration Beguiling Touch - Novice Illusion Defend - Apprentice Alteration Dominate Humanoid - Expert Illusion Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Flash Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Fortify Health - Apprentice Restoration Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Major Life Detection - Apprentice Mysticism Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Summon Daedroth - Expert Conjuration Summon Scamp - Apprentice Conjuration Superior Spell Reflection - Expert Mysticism Superior Wound - Expert Destruction Winter's Grasp - Journeyman Destruction c: Volnaro: Mage's Guild Bound Sword - Expert Conjuration Consume Health - Journeyman Restoration Curse of Weakness - Novice Destruction Enthralling Presence - Journeyman Illusion Frost Touch - Apprentice Distruction Greater Dispel Other - Journeyman Mysticism Greater Fortify Speed - Journeyman Restoration Heat Blast - Expert Destruction Heat Shell - Apprentice Alteration Heroic Touch - Apprentice Illusion Open Average Lock - Journeyman Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Snowball - Novice Destruction Spark - Novice Destruction Summon Dremora Lord - Master Conjuration Summon Skeleton - Novice Conjuration Superior Life Detection - Expert Mysticism 4: Cheydinhal a: Trayvond the Redguard: Mage's Guild Burdening Touch - Apprentice Alteration Defend - Apprentice Alteration Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Electric Shell - Apprentice Alteration Flash Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Frost Shell - Apprentice Alteration Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Heat Shell - Apprentice Alteration Hindering Touch - Apprentice Alteration Major Life Detection - Apprentice Mysticism Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Open Very Easy Lock - Novice Alteration Protect - Novice Alteration Protect Other - Novice Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Sea Stride - Apprentice Alteration Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Summon Scamp - Apprentice Conjuration Water Breathing - Apprentice Alteration b: M'raaj-Dar: Darkbrotherhood's Sanctuary Barnoff's Bloody Icicle - Journeyman Destruction Black Winter - Expert Illusion Bloodhunt - Expert Mysticism Deathly Visage - Journeyman Mysticism Detect Pulse - Unknown Mysticism Night Mother's Caress - Unknown Restoration Shroudwalk - Journeyman Mysticism The Unwelcome Guest - Unknown Alteration Void Gazer - Unknown Illusion Will of Sithis - Unknown Illusion (Note: Those listed as unknown I'm not sure what rank the spell is supposed to be as of yet. I'll work on it.) c: Orintur: Mage's Guild Aegis - Master Alteration Encumbering Touch - Journeyman Alteration Fire Sheild - Expert Alteration Flame Shield - Master Alteration Glacial Wall - Expert Alteration Guard - Journeyman Alteration Ice Shield - Journeyman Alteration Lighten Load - Journeyman Alteration Lightning Shield - Journeyman Alteration Lightning Wall - Expert Alteration Open Average Lock - Journeyman Alteration Open Hard Lock - Expert Alteration Oppressing Grasp - Expert Alteration Pack Mule - Expert Alteration Shield - Expert Alteration Weight of the World - Expert Alteration d: Chapel of Arkay: After two straight game days here, I gave up. If you have any information on this vendor, don't hesitate to let me know. 5: Chorrol a: Alberic Litte: Mage's Guild Bound Boots - Novice Conjuration Bound Dagger - Novice Conjuration Bound Gauntlets - Novice Conjuration Bound Greaves - Apprentice Conjuration Bound Helmet - Novice Conjuration Bound War Axe - Apprentice Conjuration Command Creature - Apprentice Illusion Command Humanoid - Apprentice Illusion Commanding Touch - Apprentice Illusion Defend - Apprentice Alteration Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Flash Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Major Heal Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Major Life Detection - Apprentice Mysticism Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Repulse Undead - Apprentice Conjuration Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Summon Ghost - Apprentice Conjuration Summon Scamp - Apprentice Conjuration Summon Skeleton - Apprentice Conjuration Summon Zombie - Apprentice Conjuration Turn Undead - Novice Conjuration b: Athragar: Mage's Guild Bound Bow - Journeyman Conjuration Bound Cuirass - Journeyman Conjuration Bound Mace - Journeyman Conjuration Bound Shield - Expert Conjuration Bound Sword - Expert Conjuration Dismiss Undead - Expert Conjuration Dominate Creature - Expert Illusion Dominate Humanoid - Expert Illusion Dominating Touch - Journeyman Illusion Rebuke Undead - Journeyman Conjuration Summon Clannfear - Expert Conjuration Summon Daedroth - Expert Conjuration Summon Dremora - Journeyman Conjuration Summon Faded Wraith - Expert Conjuration Summon Flame Atronach - Journeyman Conjuration Summon Frost Atronach - Expert Conjuration Summon Headless Zombie - Journeyman Conjuration Summon Skeleton Guardian - Journeyman Conjuration Summon Skeleton Hero - Expert Conjuration Summon Skeleton Champion - Expert Conjuration Summon Spider Daedra - Expert Conjuration c: Orag gra-Bargol: Chapel of Stendarr Convalescence - Apprentice Restoration Cure Disease - Journeyman Restoration Cure Paralysis - Apprentice Restoration Cure Poison - Apprentice Restoration Dismiss Undead - Expert Conjuration Fortify Strength - Apprentice Restoration Greater Convalescence - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Strength - Journeyman Restoration Heal Greater Wounds - Journeyman Restoration Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Heal Superior Wounds - Expert Restoration Minor Respite - Novice Restoration Restore Strength - Apprentice Restoration Seductive Charm - Apprentice Illusion Superior Convalescence - Expert Restoration 6: Imperial City a: Borissean: Praxigraphical Center in the Arcane University Beast of Burden - Master Alteration Cloak - Master Illusion Devour Health - Expert Restoration Dominating Touch - Journeyman Illusion Electrocution - Master Destruction Flame Tempest - Master Destruction Fortify Speed - Apprentice Restoration Heal Legendary Wounds - Master Restoration Immolating Blast - Master Destruction Legendary Dispel - Master Mysticism Legendary Magicka Drain - Master Destruction Legendary Soul Trap - Master Mysticism Legendary Spell Absorption - Master Mysticism Movement Mastery - Master Mysticism Paralyze - Master Illusion Silence - Master Illusion Summon Gloom Wraith - Master Conjuration Summon Lich - Unknown Conjuration Summon Xivilai - Master Conjuration b: Calindil: Mystic Emporium in the Market District Absorb Fatigue - Novice Restoration Absorb Skill: Illusion - Novice Restoration Bound Helmet - Novice Conjuration Electric Touch - Apprentice Destruction Eyes of Eventide - Apprentice Illusion Flame Touch - Apprentice Destruction Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Hindering Touch - Apprentice Alteration Major Dispel - Apprentice Mysticism Minor Life Detection - Novice Mysticism Open Very Easy Lock - Novice Alteration Protect - Novice Alteration Protect Other - Novice Alteration Starlight - Novice Illusion Summon Skeleton - Apprentice Conjuration Summon Zombie - Apprentice Conjuration Touch of Rage - Apprentice Illusion Weakness to Fire - Apprentice Destruction Weakness to Poison - Apprentice Destruction c: Edger Vantrine: Edger's Discount Spells in the Market District Absorb Attribute: Luck - Novice Restoration Absorb Skill: Alteration - Journeyman Restoration Absorb Skill: Mercantile - Apprentice Restoration Bound Dagger - Novice Conjuration Burning Touch - Novice Destruction Drain Skill: Destruction - Journeyman Destruction Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Fortify Fatigue - Novice Restoration Fortify Magicka - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Fatigue - Apprentice Restoration Major Wound - Apprentice Destruction Minor Life Detection - Novice Mysticism Protect - Novice Alteration Shocking Touch - Novice Destruction Snowball - Novice Destruction Starlight - Novice Illusion Summon Scamp - Novice Conjuration Water Breathing - Apprentice Alteration d: Gaspar Stegine - Praxigraphical Chamber in the Arcane University Absorb Magicka - Novice Restoration Absorb Skill: Sneak - Expert Restoration Aegis - Master Alteration Daylight - Master Illusion Disintegrate Weapon - Master Destruction Greater Fortify Luck - Journeyman Restoration Legendary Life Detection - Master Mysticism Shadow - Expert Illusion Silence - Master Illusion e: Raminus Pollus - Lobby of Arcane Univsity Bound Sword - Expert Conjuration Fire Storm - Expert Destruction Ghostwalk - Expert Illusion Heal Superior Wounds - Expert Restoration Heat Blast - Expert Destruction Ice Bolt - Expert Destruction Ice Storm - Expert Destruction Immobilize - Expert Illusion Lightning Ball - Expert Destruction Lightning Blast - Expert Destruction Mute - Expert Illuion Oppressing Grasp - Expert Alteration Superior Dispel - Expert Mysticism Superior Life Detection - Expert Mysticism Superior Spell Reflection - Expert Mysticism Terrifying Presence - Master Illusion Torchlight - Expert Illusion 7: Leyawiin a: Agata: Mage's Guild Greater Dispel - Journeyman Mysticism Greater Dispel Other - Journeyman Mysticism Greater Life Detection - Journeyman Mysticism Greater Soul Trap - Journeyman Mysticism Legendary Spell Reflection - Master Mysticism Psychic Motion - Journeyman Mysticism Superior Dispel - Expert Mysticism Superior Life Detection - Expert Mysticism Superior Soul Trap - Expert Mysticism Superior Spell Absorption - Expert Mysticism Superior Spell Reflection - Expert Mysticism Telekinesis - Expert Mysticism b: Alves Uvenin: Mage's Guild Defend - Apprentice Alteration Dispel Other - Apprentice Mysticism Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Flash Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Major Dispel - Apprentice Mysticism Major Life Detection - Apprentice Mysticism Minor Dispel - Novice Mysticism Minor Life Detection - Novice Mysticism Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Summon Scamp - Apprentice Conjuration c: Avrus Adus: Chapel of Zenithar Convalescence - Apprentice Restoration Cure Disease - Journeyman Restoration Cure Paralysis - Apprentice Restoration Cure Poison - Apprentice Restoration Fortify Endurance - Apprentice Restoration Greater Convalescence - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Endurance - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Health - Expert Restoration Greater Fortify Magicka - Expert Restoration Heal Greater Wounds - Journeyman Restoration Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Minor Respite - Novice Restoration Restore Endurance - Apprentice Restoration Superior Convalescence - Expert Restoration 8: Skingrad a: Adrienne Berene: Mage's Guild Arctic Blow - Expert Destruction Blizzard - Master Destruction Disintegrate Armor - Expert Destruction Drain Skill: Blade - Expert Destruction Drain Skill: Conjuration - Expert Destruction Drain Skill: Restoration - Expert Destruction Fire Storm - Expert Destruction Flame Tempest - Master Destruction Heat Blast - Expert Destruction Ice Bolt - Expert Destruction Ice Storm - Expert Destruction Lightning Ball - Expert Destruction Lightning Blast - Expert Destruction Lightning Storm - Master Destruction Lightning Surge - Expert Destruction Scorching Blow - Expert Destruction Superior Magicka Drain - Expert Destruction Superior Wound - Expert Destruction Withering Bolt - Expert Destruction b: Druja: Mage's Guild Burning Touch - Novice Destruction Curse of Weakness - Novice Destruction Defend - Apprentice Alteration Ease Burden - Apprentice Alteration Entropic Touch - Apprentice Destruction Flash Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Major Life Detection - Apprentice Mysticism Minor Enervation - Novice Destruction Minor Wound - Novice Destruction Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Snowball - Novice Destruction Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Spark - Novice Destruction Summon Scamp - Apprentice Conjuration c: Sulinas Vassinus: Mage's Guild Corrode Armor - Apprentice Destruction Defend - Apprentice Alteration Drain Skill: Illusion - Apprentice Destruction Drain Skill: Marksman - Apprentice Destruction Ease Burden - Apprentic Alteration Electric Touch - Apprentice Destruction Entropic Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Flame Touch - Apprentice Destruction Flash Bolt - Apprentice Destruction Frost Touch - Apprentice Destruction Hailstone - Apprentice Destruction Heal Major Wounds - Apprentice Restoration Magicka Drain - Apprentice Destruction Major Enervation - Apprentice Destruction Major Life Detection - Apprentice Mysticism Major Wound - Apprentice Destruction Open Easy Lock - Apprentice Alteration Remote Manipulation - Apprentice Mysticism Sever Magicka - Apprentice Destruction Shock - Apprentice Destruction Soul Trap - Apprentice Mysticism Summon Scamp - Apprentice Conjuration Weakness to Fire - Apprentice Destruction Weakness to Frost - Apprentice Destruction Weakness to Poison - Apprentice Destruction Weakness to Shock - Apprentice Destruction d: Tumindil: Chapel of Julianos Convalescence - Apprentice Restoration Cure Disease - Journeyman Restoration Cure Paralysis - Apprentice Restoration Cure Poison - Apprentice Restoration Dismiss Undead - Expert Conjuration Fortify Willpower - Apprentice Restoration Greater Convalescence - Journeyman Restoration Greater Fortify Willpower - Journeyman Restoration Heal Greater Wounds - Journeyman Restoration Heal Legendary Wounds - Master Restoration Heal Superior Wounds - Expert Restoration Major Respite - Apprentice Restoration Minor Respite - Novice Restoration Rebuke Undead - Journeyman Conjuration Repulse Undead - Apprentice Conjuration Restore Willpower - Apprentice Restoration Superior Convalescence - Expert Restoration Turn Undead - Novice Conjuration e: Vigge the Cautious: Mage's Guild Blazing Spears - Journeyman Destruction Corrode Weapon - Journeyman Destruction Dire Enervation - Expert Destruction Dire Wound - Journeyman Destruction Drain Skill: Alteration - Journeyman Destruction Drain Skill: Destruction - Journeyman Destruction Drain Skill: Hand-to-Hand - Journeyman Destruction Drain Skill: Heavy Armor - Journeyman Destruction Electrocution - Master Destruction Fire Ball - Journeyman Destruction Frost Bolt - Journeyman Destruction Greater Magicka Drain - Journeyman Destruction Hail Storm - Journeyman Destruction Ice Blast - Master Destruction Immolating Blast - Master Destruction Lightning Bolt - Journeyman Destruction Lightning Grasp - Journeyman Destruction Searing Grasp - Journeyman Destruction Shocking Burst - Journeyman Destruction Summon Storm Atronach - Master Conjuration Weakness to Magicka - Journeyman Destruction Winter's Grasp - Journeyman Destruction Withering Touch - Journeyman Destruction ====================================7======================================= 7: Comparison Example I thought I'd post this now while I worked on a fresh character to map step by step the first 10 levels to sort of visualize what this guide is all about. My guinea pig (aka my husband) offered up his current character build as an example and I took him up on it. First, a look at what his basic character build looked like: Character Name: Elysia (yes, he's playing a girl) Race: Nord Gender: Female Sign: The Apprentice Class: Cleric (custom build) Overall Emphasis: Combat Major Stats: Strength and Endurance Major Skills: Armorer, Blunt, Alteration, Illusion, Mysticism, Restoration and Marskman His beginning scores looked like this: HP/MP/Fatigue Health: 90 Magicka: 160 Fatigue: 180 Stats Strength: 55 Intelligence: 30 Willpower: 40 Agility: 40 Speed: 40 Endurance: 45 Personality: 30 Luck: 50 Major Skills Armorer: 35 Alteration: 25 Blunt: 35 Illusion: 25 Marksman: 25 Mysticism: 25 Restoration: 30 Minor Skills Acrobatics: 5 Alchemy: 5 Athletics: 10 Blade: 20 Block: 20 Conjuration: 5 Destruction: 5 Hand-to-Hand: 10 Heavy Armor: 20 Light Armor: 5 Mercantile: 5 Security: 5 Sneak: 5 Speechcraft: 5 Now, 20 hours into his character (although I'll admit some of those were me forcing him to run places to check just "one more thing"), he's cleared only 6 dungeons and has had 518 skill ups. Now his sheet looks like this: Level 12 HP/MP/Fatigue Health: 204 Magicka: 250 Fatigue: 290 Stats Strength: 90 Intelligence: 75 Willpower: 75 Agility: 55 Speed: 50 Endurance: 70 Personality: 30 Luck: 50 Major Skills Armorer: 55 Blunt: 40 Alteration: 62 Illusion: 35 Mysticism: 35 Restoration: 50 Marksman: 38 Minor Skills Acrobatics: 20 Alchemy: 52 Athletics: 29 Blade: 62 Block: 32 Conjuration: 80 Destruction: 32 Hand-to-Hand: 41 Heavy Armor: 62 Light Armor: 25 Mercantile: 23 Security: 16 Sneak: 42 Speechcraft: 8 As you can see, he's deliberately pushed his Strength, Intelligence and Willpower higher, giving him some nice overall bonuses to his magic and to his encumbrance limit. His encumbrance is now a whopping 450, though in real practice 449, and he can loot dungeons without missing a step. I was surprised that he's gotten so high, honestly, as I'm forever distracting him from his play to do things for me. He tells me he just spams spells as he runs around for me. Overall, I think that shows a little of what I'm trying to say. If anyone is confused or needs more clarification, I'll be more than happy to help out. ====================================8======================================= 8: Updates and Things 1.01 A small version update to add in ASCII text art and section breaks. Also some typo fixes that I missed the first go around. 1.02 Fixed more minor typos and clarified some items. Fixed the Sneak skill section in quick skill ups. Added credits for tips and tricks. 1.10 Added Spell Vendor content. Added two more ways for skills ups in section 5. Added a comparison example from level 1 to level 12 using this guide to attain level 12. Updated Imperial race to reflect the correct bonuses. Updated Major Stat bonuses. Added more credits and thanks. 1.11 Fixed some oversights and added in a comment on major skills and levels. Added thanks for pointers and extended it since I'm getting a lot of help (thanks to everyone again) and people are starting to have the same name. 1.20 Added a section on skill control. Added another skill bonus item. Credit given where credit was due, that sort of thing. 1.21 Fixed some typos and added a few extra tips and tricks. Put in some credits for help. 1.30 Small clarifications and notations, a few more thanks. Added a section on Endurance and Luck stats. Added another spell vendor. 1.35 Added three more spell vendors. ====================================9======================================= 9: Credits and Legal Babble This Guide is the product of my time and thoughts as well as lots of time testing my theories and using my husband as a guinea pig to see if it worked for even the most random of players (it does). Please do not steal my work (or his). This Guide is only to be published on GameFAQs 1up.com and Neoseeker.com unless I give permission otherwise. I will say that I cross-checked information I had with the official guide, but I ran around looking for things and THEN checked my information to make sure my notes were correct. The guide was very helpful to jog my memory, but my information comes from gameplay, not from reading material. Thank you to Bethesda for this beautiful game. It gave me one more thing to make me wonder where my day went. Thanks go to Prima for their huge and heavy guide that I use to double check myself. Without it, I would have confused two of the trainers because I wrote them down wrong. Thanks to Edwin DeNicholas, who brought the easy sneak skill ups to my attention. I'm very happy with your tip as it made sneak skills a snap. Thanks to Eric Mayet for reminding me about breaking and entering as a means to gain sneak skill as well. Exaggeration17A also sent me a note about sneaking with NPCs in towns. Kudos to Nick Fournier for the adds on bonus skill points. Derick reminded me about Endurance bonuses and Tyveron reminded me about spell creation at the Arcane University. Thank you to David Davidson for reminding me to put in the info on casting cost under Int. I'd added it earlier to the spells sections, but not there. A big credit to Bill Whitmore for pointing out hard math on levels and making me sit down and really figure it out. Tim Neal sent in the information about a +5 Hand-to-Hand bonus, thanks! Jonathan D caught a typo so I could fix it. Antonio Sistos, Nutzo100, Bill Yeung, Justin Greiner, FooBar, Revolver Talksalot and Andrew Leach also get thanks for cool sneak skill tips. Stephen Chan noted that fires work for damaging yourself for healing skill. Nick Sandberg caught another typo. Joe Deemer added a note about mercantile skill. Wes Robertson and Chris Kaiser reminded me about Rosentia Gallenus' house. Oncnawan told me about sheathing bound weapons, thanks! More than mere thanks go to Alex Li for giving me working charts on Endurance that I boiled down and used here. I wasn't sure how to present the Endurance problem and his email gave me the means to do so. Alderon noted that you can just spam chart choices in the Persuasion menu, causing me to test it and use it here. Also, thanks to http://www.network-science.de/ascii/ for my ASCII art. I really stink at graphics (even ASCII art) and I'm really grateful to that little site for saving my butt. Final thanks go to my husband, Chris (aka DarkGremlin) who puts up with me asking him to check things all the time and let me use him as a guinea pig for my thoughts as I was writing this. Also, he lets me steal his Xbox 360 to play, as my computer is just a little under-powered for this game. If you find a mistake, would like to add something or give constructive criticism, by all means, email me at brynne_emrys@yahoo.com. If it's an addition or suggestion that I use, I'll give you credit. If you have hate mail, save it. I don't tell you how to game, this is just a suggestion on how to make your character work for you. Again, I will say that the author of this work has no association with Bethesda or 2K games, just a really odd gamer girl (woman, whatever) with way too much time on her hands. ====================================END=====================================