Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Alyeska]

Pirating games is GOOD for business. Well, truth be told I don’t really know. But what I do know is that a friend gave me a ISO image of Oblivion ripped to DVD that I was able to install on my machine and it works wonderfully. I would never have purchased Oblivion, but I enjoyed this so much that I am going to go out and buy Oblivion and the Nights of the Nine expansion as well.

Anyway, back on topic.

Since getting into Oblivion I’ve noticed several things and rather enjoy some of what I’ve encountered. I made a character that I term a Ranger. The game didn’t have this class, its one that I made on my own. Ranger, someone good with a blade, good with a bow, capable of sneaking around, good in light armor, and extremely fast.

My Ranger is at 100% for speed. She (Yes, she, a really cute looking Dark Elf) is a Master in Light Armor and Blade, currently level 28. Being a Master in both is very cool. With a full set of Glass armor (some of which has nice enchantments), my character has an armor rating of 73. That’s better then most heavy armor, and no movement penalties. Master blade gives some sweet moves for dealing with higher level opponents.

Picked up some sweet blades as well. Ebony Blade. It’s a special enchanted Katana, does 23 damage, Silence, take away 20 health from enemy. Also picked up Goldbrand, another Enchanted Katana that does 25 damage and 22 fire damage. Last of all I have Umbra which does 28 damage and casts Soul Trap. Umbra and Azura’s stone means I can catch all the souls I want. All three blades are one handed meaning I still get the shield for protection.

I almost wonder what the point of heavy armor is since I have such higher armor and can rip through the enemies while remaining fast, though I realize heavy armor enchanted must be powerful.

Anyway, question for those who have already played. What do I need to do in order to enchant my own weapons? I don’t mean grabbing Sigil Stones, those are a little difficult to round up. I’m thinking along the lines of learning skills from the Mages Guild so I can enchant my own weapons. I have a rather sweet Glass Katana (mod) that fits my armor so nicely. It only does 21 damage, so getting that blade enchanted would make it oh so nice.

Also, anyone have suggestions on how to improve my Block skill? Unlike Light Armor, its harder to boost that one because you use your shield only so often. Yeah, I know, pay to train, but even still some combat tips would be nice.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Anyway, question for those who have already played. What do I need to do in order to enchant my own weapons? I don’t mean grabbing Sigil Stones, those are a little difficult to round up. I’m thinking along the lines of learning skills from the Mages Guild so I can enchant my own weapons. I have a rather sweet Glass Katana (mod) that fits my armor so nicely. It only does 21 damage, so getting that blade enchanted would make it oh so nice.

You need to progress through the ranks of the Mages Guild, then you need filled soul gems and a boatload of gold, as well as knowledge of the spell effects you desire on the item to be enchanted. Also, posting in the right forum might help too.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

I think this is the wrong thread.

[Ghost Rider]

Moved to G&C....because this made me raise an eyebrow.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Also, anyone have suggestions on how to improve my Block skill? Unlike Light Armor, its harder to boost that one because you use your shield only so often. Yeah, I know, pay to train, but even still some combat tips would be nice.

If I haven't done the Leyawiin "Whom Gods Annoy" quest, I like to go to Gallenus's house and provoke the everscamps into attacking me, then just let them pound on my shield. It's also useful for leveling up your attack and armor skills. Or, if you want to raise your conjuration skill at the same time, conjure monsters and do the same.

[Shinova]

I believe near the end of the Mages Guild quest and ranks you gain access to spell-making and enchanting altars. From there you can enchant your own stuff.

The official Frostcrag Spire mod also has spell-making and enchanting altars, but you need to pay a few thousand gold to get those working.

Are you playing vanilla Oblivion? I personally am playing with Fracesco's Levelled Creatures and Items, so my experience will be different from yours.

There's also a bunch of house mods out there that feature those altars as well, but if you don't like using custom houses, that's fine too.

For improving block skill, I would just do exactly as that says. Block with your shield a lot. I end up blocking every two or three hits I make, but again I'm using Francesco's, which has a AI combat behavior enhancement built in. As a minor skill, I managed to bring it up to the late-twenties, but I made a new character with block as one of my major skills, and it'll advance quicker then I figure. Maybe you can get a mud crab to attack you over and over again.


As for heavy armor:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Armor

Admittedly light armor allows one to run much faster and sneak much better than with heavy armor, but I think if you get close to mastering sneak, athletics, and heavy armor, you can run and sneak just as well as someone with light armor.

The chart in that link shows, Daedric armor has about twice the durability of Glass and more protecting power too. Of course, heavy armor is also hideously heavy compared to light armor.

As for enchantability, I don't know about how it is in Oblivion. There may be a difference between, say Glass and Daedric armor, or they may not be.

[Alyeska]

Moved to G&C....because this made me raise an eyebrow.

Grr, I damned well know I selected the G&C forum.

[Alyeska]

As for heavy armor:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Armor

Admittedly light armor allows one to run much faster and sneak much better than with heavy armor, but I think if you get close to mastering sneak, athletics, and heavy armor, you can run and sneak just as well as someone with light armor.

The chart in that link shows, Daedric armor has about twice the durability of Glass and more protecting power too. Of course, heavy armor is also hideously heavy compared to light armor.

As for enchantability, I don't know about how it is in Oblivion. There may be a difference between, say Glass and Daedric armor, or they may not be.

According to that chart stock Daedric offers 75 protection. I am getting 73 protection with my current Glass setup. I still get the incredible speed of light armor with Daedric level protection. And if I find some more enchanged armor with even more armor bonus's...

The big thing is endurance. I repair my armor more frequently. Then again, that also means that I boost my armorer skill faster.

[Shinova]

According to that chart stock Daedric offers 75 protection. I am getting 73 protection with my current Glass setup. I still get the incredible speed of light armor with Daedric level protection. And if I find some more enchanged armor with even more armor bonus's...

The big thing is endurance. I repair my armor more frequently. Then again, that also means that I boost my armorer skill faster.

Daedric with heavy armor maxed might provide 100+ protection, but I guess at that level there's not too much of a huge difference.

Also, full athletics mastery and heavy armor mastery might grant you the same speed as someone with light armor, but I'm not sure on that.

And of course, again there's still that weight issue.

[Yogi]

Get all mages guild recommendations or the Frostcraig Spire official mod. Only Grand Soul Gems are really worth it (with grand souls in them, of course.) Learn a Chameleon spell and then enchant five wearable items with 20% Chameleon. 100% Chameleon = I Win button.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

Get all mages guild recommendations or the Frostcraig Spire official mod. Only Grand Soul Gems are really worth it (with grand souls in them, of course.) Learn a Chameleon spell and then enchant five wearable items with 20% Chameleon. 100% Chameleon = I Win button.

But full chameleon is no fun since it's basically playing with God mode. "Hey Daedra! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Ooh, you're looking around, is there a ghost around, you wonder? Maybe - BLAM! Right on the smacker! Look harder next time bitch..."

[Mr Bean]

Which is why I'm playing with Open Cities, Franiscos/OOM merged, Physics 2.5, and a few odds and ends weapons mods. To say that playing Oblivion is highly diffrent is no suprise.

And FYI nothing says fun like playing Oblivion like I'd play Thief (There's even a mod in progress to add Thief the Dark Project arrows and weapons!)

And as for your Block question, it's simple, get a fast weapon(Dagger/Short Sword), get a nice Dadrea, and swing once to get him good and mad, now just hold block and do circules around him to prevent him from doing power attacks, if you do it right he/it will just do normal swings(Which bock off your shield) and if he does do a power attack, step back and stab him a few times. It takes about two minutes of combat to raise your Block level, bring lots of potions as for awhile there will be some damage leaking through your blocking.

[Stofsk]

My Ranger is at 100% for speed. She (Yes, she, a really cute looking Dark Elf)

ZOMG post pics k thx

[Arrow]

Daedric with heavy armor maxed might provide 100+ protection, but I guess at that level there's not too much of a huge difference.

Also, full athletics mastery and heavy armor mastery might grant you the same speed as someone with light armor, but I'm not sure on that.

And of course, again there's still that weight issue.

The max armor rating possible is 85. This is for both light and heavy armor. The heavy armor mastery in vanilla Oblivion removes all encumbrances for armor you wear (meaning it doesn't count against your inventory weight).

Also, once you jack up your speed, you can haul ass in heavy armor.

Currently, I'm playing with OOO1.3 (I tried Fran's with Martigan's monster mod, any while they're very good, I still like OOO betterf), Kubo's Character Advancement system, Atmospheric Weather System (MUST HAVE MOD!), the Unofficial Patch, a whole ton of texture mods (including Qarl's Texture Pack 3 beta, which moves the game into "beyond HD"), a couple of companion mods, most of the Unique Landscapes, and most of the official plugins (I bought the disk).

To second Mr Bean, the metric assload of mods available make Oblivion into a whole new game.

Now, I'm hoping Bethesda will release a DX10 rendering path for the game, since it would reduce the overhead associated with rendering tons of separate objects, allowing modders to go nuts with the LOD mods (that appears to be current problem with the various Visible When Distance mods). Also, it would help out with an extremely ambitious mod currently in early development that is attempting to dump *everything* into one world space - exteriors, cities and interiors - no more load screens.

Oh, and other to keep a lookout for is Qarl's Depth of Field mod, that adds in a Gothic3/Armed Assault like depth of field (closer in effect to the latter than the former).

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

My Ranger is at 100% for speed. She (Yes, she, a really cute looking Dark Elf)

ZOMG post pics k thx

Indeed, such a bold claim requires evidence, since even with cosmetic mods creating an even remotely attractive female (especially an elf), or even remotely feminine female with Oblivion's character creator is an Olympian feat.

[Vympel]

Anyway, question for those who have already played. What do I need to do in order to enchant my own weapons? I don’t mean grabbing Sigil Stones, those are a little difficult to round up. I’m thinking along the lines of learning skills from the Mages Guild so I can enchant my own weapons. I have a rather sweet Glass Katana (mod) that fits my armor so nicely. It only does 21 damage, so getting that blade enchanted would make it oh so nice.

I collected over a dozen Sigil Stones- why do you find them difficult to round up? At your level, closing Oblivion gates should be easy as pie. I never bothered with any other enchantment method. It really is the best and easiest way, IMO.

[Alyeska]

Well thanks to becoming an Expert Armeror I can now repair things to 125% and my armor rating has been boosted to the max of 85. My "worst" blade does a mere 26 damage and my best does 32. Thats before enchantments.

[Flagg]

Anyway, question for those who have already played. What do I need to do in order to enchant my own weapons? I don’t mean grabbing Sigil Stones, those are a little difficult to round up. I’m thinking along the lines of learning skills from the Mages Guild so I can enchant my own weapons. I have a rather sweet Glass Katana (mod) that fits my armor so nicely. It only does 21 damage, so getting that blade enchanted would make it oh so nice.

I collected over a dozen Sigil Stones- why do you find them difficult to round up? At your level, closing Oblivion gates should be easy as pie. I never bothered with any other enchantment method. It really is the best and easiest way, IMO.

The problem with sigil stones is that they are random in their abilities, so you have to close gate after gate looking for what you want. With enchantment, all you need is a soul gem and the right spell.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Anyway, question for those who have already played. What do I need to do in order to enchant my own weapons? I don’t mean grabbing Sigil Stones, those are a little difficult to round up. I’m thinking along the lines of learning skills from the Mages Guild so I can enchant my own weapons. I have a rather sweet Glass Katana (mod) that fits my armor so nicely. It only does 21 damage, so getting that blade enchanted would make it oh so nice.

I collected over a dozen Sigil Stones- why do you find them difficult to round up? At your level, closing Oblivion gates should be easy as pie. I never bothered with any other enchantment method. It really is the best and easiest way, IMO.

The problem with sigil stones is that they are random in their abilities, so you have to close gate after gate looking for what you want. With enchantment, all you need is a soul gem and the right spell.

Save before you pick up the stone, genius. Reload if you don't like the effect.

[Flagg]

I collected over a dozen Sigil Stones- why do you find them difficult to round up? At your level, closing Oblivion gates should be easy as pie. I never bothered with any other enchantment method. It really is the best and easiest way, IMO.

The problem with sigil stones is that they are random in their abilities, so you have to close gate after gate looking for what you want. With enchantment, all you need is a soul gem and the right spell.

Save before you pick up the stone, genius. Reload if you don't like the effect.

Dear Mormon Jesus, it's so simple...

[GuppyShark]

Sounds like cheating to me.

[Flagg]

Sounds like cheating to me.

More of an exploit.

[Vympel]

It's not cheating anymore than loading the game when you die or do badly in a duel is cheating

[Shinova]

It can't be any worse than creating a cheap training spell, binding a keyboard key to cast spell, putting a weight on top of that key, and go off and do something and come back half an hour later.