Zaphod on 20/5/2002 at 15:11

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Ok. I’m not a Magic Guy. I have pretty much avoided it until now, when I don’t feel like continuing on the main quest yet and decided to join the Mages Guild. I’m at about level 29 and have virtually no magic skills at all. And I realized I don’t understand how they work. I have some general questions, and I’m hoping that someone can explain it to me as thought I was a rather slow-witted 11-year-old. Please, someone help me out.

1. I live and die with my magic swords. Is there any way to speed up the recharge of their magic power? Does it have to do with my magicka rating? My enchantment skill? What can I do other than wait 15 minutes in a safe corner of a Daedric ruin while my glass jinksword recharges?
2. How can I “learn” spells, so I don’t have to keep purchasing or stealing the paper copies? I own a ton of spells, and have gone to mages who have “Spells” and “Spellcasting,” and try to get them to “build” me a spell. However, the only option at the bottom of that dialog box is “Cast Once.” Is there no way that I can “learn” a certain spell so that I can use it whenever I want, rather than continuing to purchase it?
3. Same as above, but with Enchanting. How can I change the option in the Enchanting dialog box to “Constant Effect,” rather than “Cast Once” or “Cast When Used”?
4. Inventory items: I have several rings and amulets that are very near and dear to me (specifically, my Amulet of Divine Intervention and Ring of Khajjit). I have each mapped to one of my Inventory Hotkeys, but often when I select it while getting the Big Dan’s Pool Hall treatment from several Daedric Warlords, it does nothing. It doesn’t even equip. I would it expect it to equip and, at the very least, switch me to Magic mode (rather than Weapon mode). What I’d REALLY like it to do it equip and automatically execute. What am I doing wrong here? At this point I have many more rings, amulets, etc., than I do actual Spells, so often the Readied Magic indicator on my HUD is a piece of my inventory, rather than a Spell. Is this causing the problem of automatically executing the hotkey-ed Magic item?
5. I now bought a ton of Conjuration skills, so I can summon baddies to do my bidding. But, some of them still have a 0 chance of success. Is this just contingent on how high my skill level is?
6. When I cast a spell, my magicka level is usually cut in half. Is this common for Magic N00bies? Will this go up as Intelligence/Willpower goes up, much like maximum Fatigue goes up as Endurance goes up?

I think that’s all my questions. I really feel like I’m missing out on a large part of the tactical part of this game by not using any magic in battles. Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Zaphod on 20/5/2002 at 16:33

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Ok, I'm a big idiot, but just so there's no confusion later - HOW, specifically, do I "use" the soulgems on the weapons? Go into Inventory and drag the empty soulgems onto my character? Or drag them onto the weapon? Hate to make you spell it out, but... but I don't have a good ending for that sentance.

For the other answers - thanks. That helps out a lot. Anyone have anything to add? Particularly about Enchanting?

UmaX on 20/5/2002 at 18:16

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4. Your amulets and rings are useless for hotkeying because they are considered as apperal items. Things you wear on your person. You mistakenly hotekeyed the item instead of the magical spell of the item's properties. Get it? F1 and select magical spells or something like that and not something from your Inventory.

6. Regarding enchantment of items.... the above two responses of recharging items were WRONG. You must first have captured a creature in a soul gem. It can be a petty soul gem with a RAT. All you do is drag and drop the gem onto your character and the box will display Recharge an Item or Create an Enchanted Item. You are Level 29 and have probably either have paid or found enchanted weapons.... that's a shame. Can you imagine the fun you would have in making enchanted weapons with 100-300 casts on your weapon? And these weapons DO recharge faster... although if you have a captured soul gem you can recharge it yourself.

By the way... HOW do I capture a creature? Go buy the spell... Soul Capture or something like that. You'll have to hunt around in Mage Guilds for the person who sells that spell. And then, you'll need to either train or practice the art of capturing a soul into a gem. The higher your skill, the higher your chance of capturing that creature. BY the way, if you kill a tough creature, you can capture him as many times as you have as soul gem in which to hold him. Captured Soul Gems are a source of revenue.... some go from 6,000-60,000 depending on what you've captured.

Third, Creating New Enchantment Items... that will be tough and you might not be successful at first. That's why you have Quicksave and Quick-Reload (F5/F9). Build your enchantment skill or get training on it if you have the cash and you will be rocking and rolling.

Finally.... another aspect of this game you have not played with.... and there are many, many, others that I have not experienced because of the type of character I am playing... but did you know you can build your own potions and sell them too? Did you know you can make your own spells instead of buying those pre-made spells? In regards to building potions.... you probably sold these items.... but the Calcinator, War Hat Retort (I think), ahh... sheez... I forgot the names of the 2 other magic items.... you see them all the time... in Mage Guilds. Go to Ald'Hun (sp) Mage Guild and you'll see a female mage with 4 big items on her table.... that's the stuff you need to create potions as long as you have ingredients. Did you know that when you look at flowers/roots/rat meat that there are those "?" question marks listed... do you know why? Because based on your intelligence and alchemy, you have no idea what other properties those items have. If you raise Alchemy... viola! Those question marks turn into descriptions.... and in turn you can make Standard Restore Health potions or Quality Restore Magicka or Fortify Magicka... etc. Although potions aren't that hard to find.... you can make some better stuff. Especially if you have Master's Calcinator and Grand Master's Retort.

Soooo... yes... you have been missing out a little without using any magic. Some magic on that Warrior is a good thing to have.:cheeky:

Nomad on 20/5/2002 at 18:33

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UMaX - Thanks for clearing that up regarding charged/uncharged soul gems when regenerating. Good to know, guess I was misinformed.

Zaphod on 20/5/2002 at 19:21

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HOW?!

I have about 95 moonsugars lying around Chez Zaphod (well, Chez Rockford), but I don't feel like trekking all the way to Suran to sell them. The Khajjit trader in Balmora (where I live) always claims that they are his. And I love selling Skooma to Creeper in Caldera, but he won't buy moonsugar. Do you use the potion-making tools (pestle/mortar, retort, et al) to make it? And, how many moonsugars makes a Skooma?