Frustrating realization.

[unregisturd]

Ok, so I'm not a n00b to Oblivion. I've played Morrowind for a couple of years. I've only had Oblivion for a few weeks, but I know how things work. Anyway.. I was severely frustrated when I realized that I could only make spells that went up to a magnitude of 100. Is this true for any level? I'm a level 20 something, so I'm assuming that no matter what, I'm not gonna be able to make stronger spells myself.

Another frustrating thing: enchantments. It appears Bethesda's fixed a few things since Morrowind. Fortify enchantments can only go up to 10 points? That sucks. Because I'm a Dark Elf and I wanted to enchant myself with tons of Intelligence so I could cast the bigger spells, but it appears I'm going to have to start a new character with more Intelligence and Magicka bonuses.

Any comments? Tips?

Question: I was always under the impression that High Elves had the most Magicka, but then I saw the in-game tip that says Bretons have the most magic. After I post this, I'm gonna go look in the book to see which is which, but does anyone have any confirmation of either? I want to make a character with the most magicka possible; anyone have any experience in doing this? Tips? Suggestions?

[galraen]

High Elves do indeed have the most Magicka, whoever said Bretons did was flat wrong. Maybe they let the HE's weakness to magicka frighten them off.

Enchantment of fortify magicka on items is indeed limited to 10 max (Sigil Stones can be higher however, but not by much).

Don't overlook the power of Drain Health. Once you've completed all the Recommendation quests and have access to the spell maker, you can create a Drain Health spell of magnitude 100 for one second which will get you up to 10th level. By that time you should have increased your Destruction to over 75, enabling you to make powerful spells, such as 20 Frost, Fire and Shock damage for three seconds on touch, for a total of 180 damage, instant kill in most cases.

Be aware that the Atronauch birthsign isn't as desirable in Oblivion as it was in Morrowind. In this game magicka regenerates all the time, making Apprentice or Mage better IMO.

[unregisturd]

High Elves do indeed have the most Magicka, whoever said Bretons did was flat wrong. Maybe they let the HE's weakness to magicka frighten them off.

Enchantment of fortify magicka on items is indeed limited to 10 max (Sigil Stones can be higher however, but not by much).

Don't overlook the power of Drain Health. Once you've completed all the Recommendation quests and have access to the spell maker, you can create a Drain Health spell of magnitude 100 for one second which will get you up to 10th level. By that time you should have increased your Destruction to over 75, enabling you to make powerful spells, such as 20 Frost, Fire and Shock damage for three seconds on touch, for a total of 180 damage, instant kill in most cases.

Be aware that the Atronauch birthsign isn't as desirable in Oblivion as it was in Morrowind. In this game magicka regenerates all the time, making Apprentice or Mage better IMO.

It's an in-game tip; it says "Bretons have the most magic, and the highest resistance to it." Hm. So I do have to be a poopy High Elf to have a lot of magic? I don't like them.. Any idea what the highest amount of magicka a character can have (without enchantments and such) is?

I didn't really want a spell for destruction. I was looking more for spells like Fortify Intelligence and such as that. Which I guess a Fortify Magicka (or Intelligence or whatever) 100 pts on Self isn't bad.. but.. I dunno.

I know that about the signs. I was gonna get the Mage, which is an additional 50 pts to magicka, right? Anyway, I guess I was just disappointed with the limitations on spell creations and enchantments. Not that limitation of them is bad, they just limited it a little low, in my opinion.

[Belthan]

I suppose it goes without saying, but enchantments stack so with 9 total slots for wearable items (shoes/boots, pants/greaves, shirt/cuirass, gloves, hood/helmet, necklace, 2 rings and a shield), you can get a significant boost if you enchant a whole set to fortify the same skill or attribute. Of course, having said that, it does still suck that your skill has absolutely no effect. And obviously, hang on to those rare items that fortify a skill or attribute by a greater amount than you can get from a sigil stone or grand soul gem.

[unregisturd]

I suppose it goes without saying, but enchantments stack so with 9 total slots for wearable items (shoes/boots, pants/greaves, shirt/cuirass, gloves, hood/helmet, necklace, 2 rings and a shield), you can get a significant boost if you enchant a whole set to fortify the same skill or attribute. Of course, having said that, it does still suck that your skill has absolutely no effect. And obviously, hang on to those rare items that fortify a skill or attribute by a greater amount than you can get from a sigil stone or grand soul gem.

I did that. The only things I'm missing are the gauntlets and hood/helmet, but otherwise I have a full set of clothing/armor enchanted with +10 Intelligence, and I still only have 340 Magicka pts. (Can you wear rings and gauntlets at the same time?) It annoys me, because once I enchant gauntlets and a helm, I'll still only have 380 pts of Magicka, and that still doesn't allow me to be able to summon a Lich or tons of other things. Does one HAVE to be a High Elf with all possible enchantments to be able to cast those kinds of spells?? If so, that really sucks.

[Belthan]

You can wear gauntlets and rings at the same time. And one more thing I forgot that will help with the magicka: your skill doesn't matter for enchanting items, but it does help with casting in two ways. First, as your skill in a particular school of magic goes up, it costs less to cast spells in that school (so as your Conjuration goes up, it will cost less to summon that Lich). Second, when you create new spells, the initial magicka cost for that spell will be lower if your skill is higher. For example, say you have Destruction of 25 and you create a fire damage spell, then by the time you raise your Destruction to 50 that spell only costs 10 magicka to cast. Now if you create an identical spell when your Destruction skill is 50, the same exact effect will cost less than 10 magicka to cast. So, make sure you buff the relevant skill as much as you can before you create new spells).

[unregisturd]

You can wear gauntlets and rings at the same time. And one more thing I forgot that will help with the magicka: your skill doesn't matter for enchanting items, but it does help with casting in two ways. First, as your skill in a particular school of magic goes up, it costs less to cast spells in that school (so as your Conjuration goes up, it will cost less to summon that Lich). Second, when you create new spells, the initial magicka cost for that spell will be lower if your skill is higher. For example, say you have Destruction of 25 and you create a fire damage spell, then by the time you raise your Destruction to 50 that spell only costs 10 magicka to cast. Now if you create an identical spell when your Destruction skill is 50, the same exact effect will cost less than 10 magicka to cast. So, make sure you buff the relevant skill as much as you can before you create new spells).

Hm.. I didn't know that. Thanks. I did notice stuff going on with my spells costing less magicka to cast, but I didn't make the correlation. My Conjuration skill is pretty low.. around 30. With 380 magicka points, do you think I'd be able to summon a Lich when my Conjuration is all the way up? (I believe the Lich costs somewhere between 550 and 600 magicka pts to summon.) I'm also gonna try and make some spells to further the amount of my magicka, but it kinda sucks that I have to go through all this stuff just to use a spell that's IN the game.. I think spells should be accessible to any credible mage character.

[galraen]

You should hang on to the wrist irons you start the game with, they are enchantable and don't undermine your spell casting like gauntlets do, best IMO to wear no armour at all.

The High Elf Mage I was playing recently had 400 Spell points, and with Destruction at 75+, and Magicka Regeneration potions that was plenty. Remember not to make Destruction a Major skill, or any other skill that you use a lot, makes it MUCH harder to get the skill and associated attribute up if you make that mistake.

[unregisturd]

You should hang on to the wrist irons you start the game with, they are enchantable and don't undermine your spell casting like gauntlets do, best IMO to wear no armour at all.

IF I wear armor, I prefer to wear Light Armor, so my skill is usually high in that. If I have a high skill level, how does it undermine my spell casting?

The High Elf Mage I was playing recently had 400 Spell points, and with Destruction at 75+, and Magicka Regeneration potions that was plenty. Remember not to make Destruction a Major skill, or any other skill that you use a lot, makes it MUCH harder to get the skill and associated attribute up if you make that mistake.

Hm.. Yeah, I put everything I use (basically every school of magic) into my major skills, along with Blade and... actually, that might be it. But I bought training/trained in all my other skills... Is that still bad? If I train in every single skill, does it still matter which I put in my major skills? The reason I put my magic skills in my major skills is because I wanted to be able to level up easily when I wanted to (because I wanted a high Intelligence). But now... I dunno. I like all the creatures and stuff when I'm a high level, but I don't like how the townspeople are dying. I'm starting to get annoyed with the game. If I start over, it'll be the third time. So... if I started a new High Elf character, what would you suggest (as far as major skills go and such). Because I'm the kind of person that wants EVERY skill up at a high level, so no matter what, I'm gonna be levelling all my skills up. (Sorry if I'm sounding very redundant; I'm on the phone.) I generally like to play the "Spellsword" or "Battlemage" kind of character (always custom made, though).

Suggestions? I just want a high high level of magicka, and I think, when I start a new character, that I won't level up this time. Which is gonna suck. How do I get a high intelligence if I don't level up?

[galraen]

The way I did it was:

High Elf Mage BS The Apprentice

Current stats:

Level 12, Health 264, Magicka 400, Fatigue 300

Str 35 (Mages don't need it), Int 100, Wil 90, Ag 50, Speed 30 (waste of time in this game), End 95, Per 45 (who cares)

Majors:

Blade 28*, Hand-to Hand 32, Illiusion 69, Mysticism 51, Light Armour 27*, Marksman 28*, Security 58

* increases due to reading books
H2H was raised by kicking Mudcrabs

Illusion# I never use in normal gameplay, just for leveling up, likewise Mysticism and Security.

Destruction is currently 87 and Alchemy 100. Everything will get to 100 eventually, but at my pace.

# I never use Illusion because Chameleon is far too cheesy, and Invisibility potions are esy to make and work just fine. I don't use Conjuration either, I can't stand the way the stupid AI makes summons get in the way all the time. I didn't make it a major so that I could use it to raise my intelligence.