GameBanshee Forums

First of all I would like to say hello to everyone as I just registered. A bit about me, I have extensive knowledge in the two games Elder scrolls Morrowind "X-Box version" and Diablo 2 Lod "About 5 years worth on and off" and I have just bought Oblivion and started playing it.

I must say, It holds the tried and true control system and is easy to understand the matrix of the game and how things should be build and fought. Now I am looking to extend that knowledge. Here are the questions I have as I have only played about 4 hours worth of the game at the moment and Im finding it a little slow in the levelling department. I am level 2...."hears alot of Lol's in the background", but I will get there. I went looking for artifacts like in morrowind and am unable to find any so I searched online only to find the database of items at this site. Im very excited to get a hold of a few of these but am wondering, where are they?

There doesn't seem to be actual places that specific items reside, so I'm wondering since the "chests do not respawn", Do "all" the items appear in the same game or is it random luck like in diablo?

Secondly, I have the official game guide and it's helped alot but it doesn't seem like I can enchant anything until I complete a few Mage guild quests and get access to the enchantment altar. Is this the only way to get items enchanted?

Thirdly, what's the best monster to get a soul from so that the weapon I enchant will gain the maximum benefit? Is it the Lich or the xivilai or the goblin warlord...."only monsters I can find that don't spawn till I'm over level 20 and need a grand soul gem to catch them".

And finally, does enchanting act like the morrowind enchanting "when each items has a certain number of enchantment points" or do you just wing it as I ran up a table and found out that "monsters point of view" that poison and frost damage has more monsters immune to it then fire and shock. so would it be prudent to enchant mainly with fire and/or shock?

Welcome to the boards

Loot is level based, and random. I don't think I got anything even mildly good before I hit at least lvl 10. Unique, yes but mostly quest related so far so me (and that's about 100 hours played already).

You can enchant with sigil stones, without using the enchanting altars but be careful - first do the MQ part about the Oblivion Gate in Kvatch, then the Gates will start spawning all over the place.

As for the souls, well indeed, that's lvl based too, ie the monster you meet.

Petty:
* Deer
* Dog
* Goblin
* Mudcrab
* Rat
* Sheep
* Skeleton
* Slaughterfish
* Wolf

Lesser:
* Boar
* Ghost
* Goblin Skirmisher
* Horses (all kinds)
* Imp
* Scamp
* Skeleton Guardian
* Stunted Scamp
* Timber Wolf
* Troll
* Zombie

Common:
* Ancient Ghost
* Bear, black
* Clannfear
* Faded Wraith
* Flame Atronach
* Goblin Berserker
* Headless Zombie
* Minotaur
* Mountain Lion
* Skeleton Hero
* Spriggan
* Will-o-the-Wisp

Greater:
* Bear, brown
* Daedroth
* Dread Zombie
* Frost Atronach
* Goblin Shaman
* Land Dreugh
* Nether Lich
* Ogre
* Skeleton Champion
* Spider Daedra
* Storm Atronach
* Wraith

Grand:
* Gloom Wraith
* Goblin Warlord
* Lich
* Minotaur Lord
* Xivilai

I use mostly fire, it serves me well for almost anything. But enchanting is fun here, ie there is no more unique armor, or impossible to find, like in MW. When you hit a certain lvl, glass, daedric, etc will be everywhere. So have fun and experiment, you'll always have more.

[QUOTE=Ashen]
As for the souls, well indeed, that's lvl based too, ie the monster you meet.
[/QUOTE]

I don't think this is quite right -I am getting grand souls from Ogres now - I believe because the Ogres scale with you.

With regard to souls, and the capacity of soul stones.
if you trap a soul smaller than the maximum capacity of a given soul stone, can you 'top them up' so to speak with extra souls?

If so, is there a comparative value of the souls?

e.g. 2 petty = 1 lesser, etc etc

I currently several Grand soul stones occupied by less-than grand souls, which is a huge waste - without a way to flush out the existing soul, top it up to its maximum, or overwrite it with a better soul - I feel the soul stone implementation is fundamentally broken. (as you get no indication what size soul stone a particular monster will require)

[QUOTE=Abuse]With regard to souls, and the capacity of soul stones.
if you trap a soul smaller than the maximum capacity of a given soul stone, can you 'top them up' so to speak with extra souls?

If so, is there a comparative value of the souls?

e.g. 2 petty = 1 lesser, etc etc

I currently several Grand soul stones occupied by less-than grand souls, which is a huge waste - without a way to flush out the existing soul, top it up to its maximum, or overwrite it with a better soul - I feel the soul stone implementation is fundamentally broken. (as you get no indication what size soul stone a particular monster will require)[/QUOTE]

I have read somewhere "forgot most of the info as I am still new to the game" that you can dismiss a soul somehow so that the soul gem is clean again. maybe it was something to do with a black gem or something, im a little hazy, possibly to do with some quest as a dark brotherhood or vampire or something. I have never read anything about "topping up soul gems" but the officail game guide I have is huge and I haven't had the chance to read it all yet.

You say enchanting with sigil stones is dangerous ashen. How so? or are you referring to the fact that you may fail and lose the stone altogether?

I dont know how i can enchant without the altar as there is no enchant skill to enhance.

I have never heard of a way to clear a soul gem again (with the exception of one unique item that is like a sould gem that just empies when you use it rather than dissapearing completely).

As for enchanting without an alter, you get a sigil stone and click on it in oyur inventory, it will then ask you which non magical item you wish to enchant and there you have it, an enchanted item. with sigil stones the enchanment it gives are fixed and compared to sould gems they are pretty rare hence the caution when using them, if you waste it you are unlikely to find another sigil stone with the same enchantments for some time if ever.

EDIT: to clarify Ive done both the Dbrotherhood quests and the cure for vampire quests and whilst soul gems are involved i dont rememebr anything about emptying them)

Well Thx for the heads up guys in regards to the sigil stones.

I did just die however, I walked into a room which looked seemingly safe and then all the walls came up around me and the gas came out of the floor and walls. Hehe.

I may have to remake my character as he's just too damn slow in the levelling department. I chose a breton to test all the spells, but then ended up just using a sword and shield. I guess I'll go with the Nords or something. any suggestions?

Another thing, do enchantments rejuventate over time like in morrowind or is the only way to recharge them by using soul gems?

Reply

Enchantments do not regenerate over time as in Morrowind. You can use soul gems or pay for the enchantment to be full again, however, this is very pricy.
Usually, I prefer to leave my enchantments unfilled unless using the best weapons in the game. I personally keep Umbra full due to its soul trapping abilities which I find useful.

As for artifacts, [url="http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Artifacts"]here[/url] is a list of them and their location (but beware of being spoiled).

When you cast Soul Trap on a creature and kill it while the spell still acts on them, then the creature will go into a soul gem of the appropriate size, or larger. So a rat will fit into a common soul gem, but a Lich will not go into a lesser one.

Once the soul is in a soul gem: that's it. You can't 'fill up' soul gems, or empty them.

The only way to enchant an item is to use the enchanting alters in the Arcane University, but you must complete a guild recommendation from each guild in Cyrodiil before you are allowed to use it.

You can also use sigil stones which have set enchantments, but you can only get them in Oblivion gates, which don't start to pop up until you've been to Kvatch and closed the gate there. They should start popping up all over the place.

spoilerish to new players

Spoiler

To get your very own Mage Tower, you can purchase Elder Scrolls IV Knights of the Nine add-on, which places several nice new things in the game: Wizard's Tower, Vile Lair, Thieve's Den, Mehrune's Razor (nice little artifact), Horse Armour, The Orrery, and a nice scattering of Spell Books - all in addition to The Knights of the Nine quest.
You have to purchase furnishings for the Tower, Lair, Den, but the first you should get, after visiting your Tower, are Magtallow Candles from Aurilinwe - who appears in the Mystic Emporium - to place on your own Altar of Enchanting. Should cost you anything up to 3,000 gold, but it's worth it.

Sigil Stones give you better enchantments (don't forget to save game before grabbing them, so you can reload if you don't get what you want first time ), but the Altar is always there, which the Oblivion Gates are not.

end spoil

As An Added Bonus!

Spoilers Fljotsdale didn't mention!

Spoiler

I.e., you get a retcon family, all dead! But at least they thought enough of you to mention you in their last wills and testaments! Usually as the sole benefactor. The Horse Armor add-on gives you a coupon for free horse armor. If you lack a horse, and you just made the Orc your best pal, she will give you her own horse for free, with armor. So that one isn't an inheritance. The Orrey is just an MG side-quest, also not an inheritance. Nor are those spell tomes. You get a new Conjurer who suddenly shows up, hoping to be killed so that you get your first spell tome off of his corpse, unless you make friends and take it from his inventory when you use the Companion Share mod. The Knights aren't an inheritance either. But okay, the rest are, get it? So then you get at least a little family tree background as an unexpected bonus.

I have read somewhere "forgot most of the info as I am still new to the game" that you can dismiss a soul somehow so that the soul gem is clean again. maybe it was something to do with a black gem or something, im a little hazy, possibly to do with some quest as a dark brotherhood or vampire or something. I have never read anything about "topping up soul gems" but the officail game guide I have is huge and I haven't had the chance to read it all yet.

Black soul gems are (spoiler)

Spoiler

basically grand soul gems that have been 'magicked' to become black soul gems. Black soul gems also hold grand size soul gems, but the trick is that they can also hold NPC souls making it much easier to find a grand soul (any Maurauder or Bandit is excellent fodder). More about that [url="http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Black_Soul_Gem"]here.[/url]

(end spoiler)

lifeishell91 wrote:I have read somewhere that you can dismiss a soul somehow so that the soul gem is clean again

There's only one item I know of in the stock game that works that way (spoiler:

Spoiler

the daedric quest artifact Azura's Star, which is essentially a re-usable grand soul gem

). There are probably mods that let you do it on the PC, but if you or anybody else finds a way to empty or "top-off" a regular soul gem on a console, you would earn the gratitude of the multitudes. Everyone just loves killing a mudcrab with Umbra, only to discover with horror that the only empty soul gem in your inventory was a black one.

I Take Exception To That!

Belthan wrote:There's only one item I know of in the stock game that works that way (spoiler:

Spoiler

the daedric quest artifact Azura's Star, which is essentially a re-usable grand soul gem

). There are probably mods that let you do it on the PC, but if you or anybody else finds a way to empty or "top-off" a regular soul gem on a console, you would earn the gratitude of the multitudes. Everyone just loves killing a mudcrab with Umbra, only to discover with horror that the only empty soul gem in your inventory was a black one.

I'm not a hunter in real life, so I try not to be one in the game world either. So I do not love to kill Mudcrabs or any of the other animals! That's why I got the "Friendly Animals" mod!

LeoStarDragon1 wrote:I do not love to kill Mudcrabs...

Sorry, should have used the sarcasticon... I just meant it's a big ol' slap the forehead moment when you realize you've just filled one of your precious grand soul gems with a petty soul.

Hi, Belthan!

Oh, okay.

Anyway, I'm always annoyed when someone on TV makes a blanket general statement that seems to include me. Like the guy who called in one of our local TV stations, to say that Michael Phillips should be left alone, because everyone does drugs, or most people do, or they lie about it! As an anti-drug person, I wanted to shoot the idiot for insulting me like that! Had he been in person, not on TV, I might have, had my gun been handy. Otherwise, he'd get the usual beating for insulting me like that.

But your point about the Soul Gems is duly noted!

I firmly believe everyone who makes unequivocal generalizations about people is an idiot... um, wait...:laugh:

But back on topic, anybody know of a mod that lets you empty or "top off" a soul gem that contains a soul smaller than what it could potentially hold? It would be better if there was some significant cost associated with doing so, because otherwise it would diminish the value of the daedric artifact I mentioned earlier.

Belthan wrote:I firmly believe everyone who makes unequivocal generalizations about people is an idiot... um, wait...:laugh:

But back on topic, anybody know of a mod that lets you empty or "top off" a soul gem that contains a soul smaller than what it could potentially hold? It would be better if there was some significant cost associated with doing so, because otherwise it would diminish the value of the daedric artifact I mentioned earlier.

Hey, thanks for the laugh line, for after my post I was concerned that people might think I was a "violent gun wacko" or something!

But as to your question, well, I use them up to fast to notice what size soul is in what size Soul Gem, personally, as I require frequent recharges! But in my many Google searches, I've seen many a forum topic about the very subject. I think I've only seen one, just one, where some guy claimed that he was working on a mod for it. I don't know if any progress had been made though. But if you want to go to the effort, I suppose that you can do the same Google searches? On the other hand, since I'm playing on a PC, I use the Console code command, "Player.AddItem 000382E0 100" to get what I need for enchanting purposes, when not using Sigil Stones. But that requires gold coins! So during my enchanting rituals, (when I seem to devote the game play time to just enchanting stuff like the last few sessions in Frostcrag Spire, where she enchanted her new wardrobe items) I also temporarily use the Console command, "Player.AddItem 0000000F 100000" since the stones and coins don't last very long during such sessions! Afterwards, she goes out just as broke as before, just to keep it sort of fair I guess.

i havent heard of a mod tht would "top off" the soul gems i just copy the empty gems to my hearts content. then if i need a new soul i just pull out on of the gems. but they do go pretty fast as my new longsword's enchantments drain quickly when im killin those damned beasts in this game.