New Character/ Custom Class

[GawainBS]

Hello,

I searched the old threads for answers, but none sufficed.
I want to make a custom class, probably a Dunmer born under the Atronach.
I'm in doubt about which skills to select. I want to have all attributes covered so I can more easily manage my attribute while leveling up.

Major
Light Armour
Mysticism
Alchemy
Alteration
Speechcraft

Minor
Short Blade
Security
Armorer
Spear (for Endurance + Spears are cool )
Restoration or Illusion?

Do you have any suggestions? Like: how easy to come by are the Restore Magicka potion-ingredients?

Thanks in advance!

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by GawainBS

Do you have any suggestions? Like: how easy to come by are the Restore Magicka potion-ingredients?

Thanks in advance!

That depends on a couple of things. If you join the Mage's Guild, all of the supply chests hold ten restore magicka potions each, and those chests restock.

Assuming you are on PC, If you have Sri's Homeopathic Alchemy installed ( a 'must have' mod in my view), restore magicka ingredients are much easier to find.

Also, if you go to the temples/shrines and select Restore Attributes/Almsivi Restoration your magicka will top up.

As far as your skills go, I notice you don't have any weapons selected in your Major category, is that deliberate? If not, you may want to consider putting Spear or Short Blade in there and placing putting Mysticism into Minor.

[GawainBS]

I put my Weapon in the Minor skills, because from what I've heard, you use them so much that they'll soon enough end up on 100 any way. As far as I remember, that's true.
I'll download & install that mod ASAP, it sounds really great. Thanks!
Also, I'm considering Switching out Spears for Acrobatics. Is it really necessary to have a skill for each attribute? Would my Endurance and thus HP suffer in the end?
So, what would you deem most useful? Restoration or Illusion? Or maybe Sneak?? I'm really at a loss...

[BlueSky]

Restoration works well for your healing, Illusion works well for the night vision. These are two I use with one of my characters.
Suggest you decide what spells you will be using more and go with the attribute that affects these.

[GawainBS]

Hhmmm... I'm worried most that without Restoration and even with Alchemy, I won't have enough healing punch... The Chameleon and Nightvision from Illusion DO sound cool, though...

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by GawainBS

I put my Weapon in the Minor skills, because from what I've heard, you use them so much that they'll soon enough end up on 100 any way. As far as I remember, that's true.
I'll download & install that mod ASAP, it sounds really great. Thanks!
Also, I'm considering Switching out Spears for Acrobatics. Is it really necessary to have a skill for each attribute? Would my Endurance and thus HP suffer in the end?
So, what would you deem most useful? Restoration or Illusion? Or maybe Sneak?? I'm really at a loss...

I thought that might be the case, and you are right, your weapon skill will go up quickly enough.

I never play without Sri's, it makes Alchemy more balanced by eliminating the ability to create "Fortify Intelligence" potions (leads to lots of cheese), and making the effects of the ingredients far more logical. So, I suspect you'll enjoy it

Acrobatics goes up *very* fast, all you need to do is jump everywhere, so I would not suggest it as a skill choice.

You'll get a range of opinion on this question. Me? I just select the skills I find the most fun and interesting, and I roleplay. I almost never, for example, choose "Heavy Armor" as a skill, because in the beginning it is just too cumbersome to lug around. When my character is stronger and wealthier, however, it is something I might end up training in. I've never had any problems with my approach, but it is really a matter of playing style and personal preference.

Restoration and Illusion are both really useful skills, which one you choose ultimately depends on the sort of character you create. Illusion is a really great complement to a Stealth-oriented, smooth-talking character, and it will also give you the ability to cast "Paralyse," which is one of the most under-estimated spells of the game. However, you need to be careful at what/whom you cast it because it can be reflected back at you.... not a desirable outcome
Restoration, in my view, is of limited use in terms of straight healing because if you are good at Alchemy potions generally are more helpful while in the middle of battle. However, Restoration governs the "Fortify Skill" spell (assuming you have Bloodmoon and/or Tribunal or join a certain faction). While the ability to fortify your skills can be seriously exploited and abused, it can also be very useful on occasion too.
Also, it is extremely handy to be able to restore any attributes that might have been drained while fighting particular foes without having to visit a temple or needing to hunt down the ingredients so that you can make the appropriate potion.
So, my answer, "tough call"

But, with this game, it ultimately does not matter all that much what you choose as your initial skills because they can all be increased as you progress through the game. So, there's no need to agonise too much.

[GawainBS]

Thanks for the answer. That's the whole problem: I want to roleplay, so I want skills that fit in with my character, without having a weak one. I just don't want skills that I'd only use for their power.
I think I'm going to go:

Major
Mysticism
Alteration
Alchemy
Light Armour
Speechcraft

Minor
Short Blade
Armourer
Illusion
Block (Maybe Sneak.)
Security

With emphasis on Rogue skills. I guess I can still get some training in Restoration should I really need it. Primary goal is to be able to join the Thieves & Mages Guild, and maybe a little bit Fighter too, but I lack most of those skills.
Thanks for the very thorough responses. Any other advice is still welcome.

P.S.: I heard there's a bug involving Mercantile. What's the matter?

[AmpaSand]

Well at higher levels people will pay more for stuff but also charge more when you buy stuff.

(Go for block. You'll need it)

[GawainBS]

Ok, I'll go for block then. Sneak not really necessary then?
Has nobody come up with a fix for that mercantile bug?

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by GawainBS

Ok, I'll go for block then. Sneak not really necessary then?
Has nobody come up with a fix for that mercantile bug?

I usually select Sneak and work on Block later on, but I generally play stealth-based characters.
Even if you don't play a stealth-oriented PC, the thing to remember is that if you are using a shield, you can't use two-handed weapons (though it still remains equipped and you do get the AC value from it, it just doesn't block), so that is a consideration to bear in mind. Again, though, it all depends on the type of character you want to play, a shield can offer lots of good protection too.
As I said before, you don't need to agonise too much, with the exception of your race and birth sign, none of these choices are truly final, you can always decide to train/practice other skills through the game.

No, the mercantile skill has never been fixed. An alternative is to become really good in Speechcraft so that you can admire or bribe merchants. If you are successful, this increases their disposition toward you, and then they'll sell to you for less and give you more for anything you sell them yourself.

[GawainBS]

I selected Block in stead of Sneak, but since Stealth is my focus, I guess I can easily train Sneak, should the need arise.
I'm really surprised with the usefulness of the Alchemy-mod you recommended. Thanks!
I'll let you know how the character turns out.
Btw, I'm surprised there isn't a character/savegame editor for Morrwind out there. The thing sure would come in handy to correct a mistake you might have made...

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by GawainBS

I selected Block in stead of Sneak, but since Stealth is my focus, I guess I can easily train Sneak, should the need arise.
I'm really surprised with the usefulness of the Alchemy-mod you recommended. Thanks!
I'll let you know how the character turns out.
Btw, I'm surprised there isn't a character/savegame editor for Morrwind out there. The thing sure would come in handy to correct a mistake you might have made...

Sneak isn't too bad to train/practice in. A small hint... you need to be around NPCs/critters etc. when practicing, if there's nothing or nobody to "not see you" your Sneak won't increase. There are ways to easily improve your Sneaking, but I won't spoil you unless unless you want to be spoiled

Glad you like Sri's!

There are various ways to correct things in MW, this is a big reason to play the PC version as opposed to the XBox. You can use the construction set that you probably installed when you installed the game and you can use console commands.
To open the console press your tilde (~ key -- directly to the left of your number 1 key), while in-game.

Here is a page with a list of console commands. Most are essentially cheats, but there are also quite a few that are very helpful if you have a problem and need to correct something.

[GawainBS]

Hhmm... I'm a European and a Belgian at that, so I have an Azerty-keyboard. Morrowind reacts as though I am using a Qwerty-keyboard, but I remember having trouble finding the tilde-key. For me, it would be alt gr + key left of right-shift, followed by Space to make the ~ appear.
The upperleft most key on my keyboard would be the ², or ³ with shift. (On a side note, how do you say that in English?)

Thanks for the many helpful hints.

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by dragon wench

No, the mercantile skill has never been fixed. An alternative is to become really good in Speechcraft so that you can admire or bribe merchants. If you are successful, this increases their disposition toward you, and then they'll sell to you for less and give you more for anything you sell them yourself.

In my experience, increasing mercantile sets the default price (i.e. what they would ask you for an item) higher, but you can haggle them down further...

[GawainBS]

It's me again!
I've christened my character Gawain. So far, he's freed the slaves in Adamasartus or some such, and cleared the murder on the Tax Collecter. He even made his first level!
The alchemy mod is great, since now Alchemy is useful right away.
I was wondering... Is all this "Stat maxing" that people are talking about necessary to be strong?

Thanks in advance!