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I've been doing the "Aid for Bruma" quest and shutting down a good many Oblivion gates, as a result of which all my magic weapons are being depleted. So I as I head towards Skingrad to recruit soldiers there, I notice an Ayelid ruin and thing, boy, could I use a couple of Varla stones. But as soon as I set foot in the place, I am getting toasted by "Faded Phantoms" and a "Skeleton Hero" that neither my silver longsword nor my Dremora longsword seemed to slow down. And of course there were like 2 - 3 creatures in each chamber, so I couldn't hit and run and take them one at a time. Especially since these phantoms or shades or whatever they are seem to love draining my strength and leaving me standing there, over-encumbered and motionless, while they toast me. My silver bow and arrows don't seem to have much effect either. I hit one phantom 3 times for 3x damage and still couldn't kill the evil thing! I can't buy better weapons or armor because I can't seem to find enough high-level plunder to keep my weapons repaired and charged. I guess I should just go do Fighter's Guild stuff for awhile or something.

Leveling to quickly

Sounds like you've leveled to quickly without building up enough of your important stats or obtaining good equipment.

First Suggestion: Try getting daedric or glass armor (depending on what you like to use) and enchanting it. Bandits are your best bet. At some level they start to routinely wear ebony and glass. Simply go down into the IC Market District sewer and kill them. If you can't kill them have them chase you into town and the guards will do the work for you. Loot the corpses and equip the best gear. Try enchanting heavy armor with Fortify Strength or Feather spells. Strength fortification will not only allow you to wear the heavy gear without being overincumbered but will also increase you melee damage. Feather is good because it cannot be damaged like Strength but doesn't help with combat other that keeping you agile and speedy.

Second Suggestion: If you haven't done the Azura daedric quest yet I would suggest doing it now. You'll need some glowdust for an offering but once the quest is done you will have a reusable grand soul gem. Also build up your mysticism to at least 50 points and learn a soul trap spell (ranged is good for bow work but touch will work fine for melee). Now when you are fighting a creature with an enchanted weapon watch its health bar. Just before you are about to kill it zap it with a soul trap spell and capture it in the Azura Soul Gem. This way you can keep your weaponry recharged as you go.k Azura gem will hold greater monsters such as Xavili, Storm Atronachs, Deadroth, Skeleton Champs etc and anything lesser down to lowly rats and crabs.

Third Suggestion: Get some better weaponry. An unenchanted daedric bow will work on undead like silver does but packs a bigger wallop. Enchant it for even more damage. Same for swords or blunt weapons. If you can't find daedric yet either wait and do side quests until they become available in the game or enchant ebony or glass weapons and use the Star to keep them charged. There are some quests that reward you with nice equipment. You will find the best equipment by doing caves, forts and Ayleid ruins. Rarely are good pieces ever sold in stores. The Theives Den plug-in has fences and vendors that sell some of the better equipment you can find including enchanted arrows, enchanted boots/gauntlets of sneak/lockpicking and theif skill related spells/training for sale.

Fourth Suggestion: Build up your minor stats so you get the max bonus points during level ups. 15 points per level up early on in the game can really make a big difference in helping you stay ahead of the nasties. I managed to get max 15 points for about 25 levels in my last game and I was bowling over the competition. I think one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to put all your commonly used skills into the Major Skill category - I suggest doing just the opposite. Magic related skills are the easiest to improve. Make them minors and build both Intelligence related and Willpower related skills up to 10 skill points each and get +5 points to Intel and Willpower every level up. Use this edge to master fortify attribute spells, healing spells, bound daedric weapons, conjured helpers, restore attribute spells, shield spells, etc. Use these before entering combat.

Fifth Suggestion: Master alchemy (intelligence related). Make powerful poisons to coat your arrows with. Silence and paralyze are awesome against conjurers and necromancers. Damage Strength/Speed/Fatigue and Burden are all good poisons to slow down an opponent. Use spells and potions together before combat to fortify your strength, speed and agility. Coat you melee weapon after each strike with a new poison to waste you enemys.

Lastly: TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN. For example, go down into the sewers and let a bandit or rat wail on you to build up your heavy/light armor and block skills. Use restoration to heal yourself. Keep it up for as long as you can. Develop some training strategies. I like to use Hand to Hand, Convalesence, Paralyze, Block, heal self in combo. Find a bandit (or mudcrab if you are a wussy) beat him near death with your fists, paralyze and heal him every chance you get while beating him, block while your magicka recharges itself, heal yourself, repeat. When you tire of the exercise you can kill him/it. Or go to the Prison District in IC and run up the stairs and jump off repeatedly. Heal yourself or sleep for an hour when near death - repeat until your acrobatics is up 10 points. I often use a heavy stapler and a toothpick to hold down the "C" key to repeatedly cast a lowly spell over and over. Have dinner, watch some TV and come back every 15 minutes to see how you have progressed. Stop after 10 levels. Or go into the sewers in sneak mode. Find an enemy and sneak off to a safe spot and run into the wall in sneak mode to build up that skill.

ATRONACHS?? I have NEVER been able to get a soul from an atronach. I had come to assume they didn't HAVE souls, being manufactured critters (like robots). I cast soul trap on them every time, and with empty Grand soul gems in my possession - not a sniff. And no message to say I didn't have have a soul gem big enough, either.

[QUOTE=Fljotsdale]ATRONACHS?? I have NEVER been able to get a soul from an atronach. I had come to assume they didn't HAVE souls, being manufactured critters (like robots). I cast soul trap on them every time, and with empty Grand soul gems in my possession - not a sniff. And no message to say I didn't have have a soul gem big enough, either. [/QUOTE]

Atronarchs aren't manufactured - they're elementals. One should fit handily in a Grand Soul Gem, though. I know I've tucked a few in there. Did you kill it in time? Soultrap is a timed spell, and if you don't kill the target before the spell runs out, you don't get a soul.

[QUOTE=yrthwyndandfyre]Atronarchs aren't manufactured - they're elementals. One should fit handily in a Grand Soul Gem, though. I know I've tucked a few in there. Did you kill it in time? Soultrap is a timed spell, and if you don't kill the target before the spell runs out, you don't get a soul.[/QUOTE]

Yes, in time. Soul-trapped things get a nice purple glow, so you know when it's faded. I've even used a weapon that cast soul trap every strike, AND had at least one empty Grand Soul Gem. No dice. Never works. Which is why I assumed they were soulless.

Maybe I just gave up trying too soon. But since it has not worked in ANY of the games, I wonder if I have a glitch.

[QUOTE=Fljotsdale]Yes, in time. Soul-trapped things get a nice purple glow, so you know when it's faded. I've even used a weapon that cast soul trap every strike, AND had at least one empty Grand Soul Gem. No dice. Never works. Which is why I assumed they were soulless.

Maybe I just gave up trying too soon. But since it has not worked in ANY of the games, I wonder if I have a glitch.[/QUOTE]

Maybe it IS a glitch, but I can tell you I have the same exact problem. Though it's only storm atronachs that are uncatchable - I can trap fire atronachs no problem. Just putting in my two cents. You're not alone.

[QUOTE=beornica]Maybe it IS a glitch, but I can tell you I have the same exact problem. Though it's only storm atronachs that are uncatchable - I can trap fire atronachs no problem. Just putting in my two cents. You're not alone.[/QUOTE]

Storm Atronach's are a bit tricky to soul trap. Not sure, but I think they can either dispel the soul trap spell or their magical resistance sometimes prevents it from taking affect. If I had to guess I'd say I get them about fifty percent of the time. Best bet is to wait until its almost dead to zap it with soul trapand then immediately zap it again just to be sure. They count as a grand soul.

I'm glad it's not just me! A very selfish attitude, I know...

another way to capture souls is to get the umbra sword it captures them really easy andits got good strength, Im at lvl 25 and the sword has 25 to its captured every type of creature except people.