No. Never. Uriel Septim has a long history of trusting the fate of the world to prisoners, and they have never failed him. Never. Unless you count all my Morrowind saves wherein I drop that package in a bin and never do the main quest. So in that case, they work 1 out of every 50 times.

Never.

Fuck...now not only am I addicted to Oblivion, I'm also back to being addicted to construction set.

It's gonna be a long night.

Except for the part where his country is infested with the Thieves Guild who operate right under his nose, and the Dark Brotherhood who worship a statue in the middle of Bravil. And how the entire place is swarming with bandits, ruins, disease carrying-evil people, MASSIVE skooma problems right in his own city and multiple unchecked Daedric cults, many of whom have fanatic or even evil members? Or a duke who holds a horrible torture room in his own castle where he kills argonian prisoners or another duke who is actually a vampire? Maybe they need some minimum wage laws. To quote an Orc in Chydinhall "...5 gold for littering? I barely make that in a year!" Or better fines for the act of necrophilia (I believe the current fine in 500, even though the penalty for graverobbing is death). Maybe they do something about the power hungry Mage's Guild master who inadvertently allowed a necromantic cult to run rampant by restricting a legitimate magical practice? Or the mercenary company Blackthorn who get high and kill stuff?

I have to say, Uriel was running a really shitty empire.

Maybe he should stop letting people out of jail.

Also If you are addicted to character construction, here is a challenge. Make a character, then go straight to the imperial arena. Using only the Raiment they give you, and a weapon found in the red room, see how long you can survive just on racial abilities and your starting skills.

I think if anything Blackthorn should be the new empire.

I was disappointed that I couldn't join the blackthorn guild.

Well you can, briefly. But then you kinda get high and kill people.

I don't know why they didn't let you join legit like. Many towns have fallen to my drunken, coked up rampages.

I have a question. I did the Blackthorn stuff on my fighter, who was not an Argonian unlike most of the characters I make. During some dialogue in that quest chain it said something to the effect of " Hyst Sap!? Theres no telling what effect that would have on non-argonians!". My question is this: Do you still see the Goblins instead of real people when you take the Hyst Sap even if you are an Argonian?

When you are an argonian you still see goblins but when found they mention something about how they are surprised that it affected you like that, and specifically mention that the Hyst Sap they are taking is poor and is from a bad tree, which is why it still has such a potent effect on you.

WHAT is your favorite kill during the Dark Brotherhood questline?

Personally... I LOVE THE WHODUNIT quest where you kill those people in the house. I have a save there so I can replay it anytime I want. I love to pit them against each other. Especially that pretty little Dark Elf. Its a shame she has to die.

Also, I have to admit that through it all, I think I've truly come to understand who and what Sithis really is. Glory be to Sithis.

I tended to lure them all into a room, one at a time. I'd kill the first one with that mission, hide their body behind the bed, and then get the next person to come in. Out comes the "Someone's been murdered!" call, and they spin around to get pushed (courtesy Deadly Reflex shield bashing minus the shield) down and then take an arrow to the face. Either that, or you abuse their obliviousness and slit their throat because you luring them into a room with stacked up bodies apparently isn't a good indicator to turn around and leg it.

I think I'm going to try something totally new for me. A hand to hand fighter of some kind. Kind of a Dark Monk.

Lets see.
Hand to Hand
Block
Heavy Armor
Conjuration
Restoration
Mysticism
Athletics
Armorer

Out of curiousity, why Armorer?

Donno about him, but I generally take armorer on most of my characters, because it's in general a very useful skill. Field repairs are a big part of oblivion's longer quests and dungeons, and you can't do them effectively without armorer at least at 25. (Later in the game I have my favored armor type regularly breaking from 100% to 0% after a single fight. Granted, I fight some very nasty things and have very poor taste in what could be considered armor.)

The quicker you get to 50, the quicker you can start using enchanted armor and weapons with confidence, aswell. I play a modded game, so my access to heavily damaged artifacts may be disporportionately high, but even in vanilla, having those early game magic weapons and armors is a big help.

It has some nice late game perks, too. Once you get it to 75, everything you use is pretty much 25% more effective, and 100 lets you never worry about hammers again.

I'm going to be involved in hand to hand combat constantly. I'm going to be taking a LOT of armor damage.

Fair enough.

Just as a status update, the Argonian alchemical archer I've got going right now is doing excellent. Provided I remember to use the 50+ potions I have in my inventory he is doing substantially better than excellent, but even then he's just so amazing at sneaking and then critting with an arrow to the back that it works out alright.

Although the Imperial City water supply must be poisoned by now, because I go to great lengths to make sure all the corpses I make have 7 arrows in a star pattern in the back and get dumped into the waterfront surrounding the city. Surely someone would have noticed by now.

Also, thieves guild quest note: I find it interesting that the count and countess of cheydinhal went right to bed, walking past the limp and dead corpse of their bodyguard who was naked with said star pattern in his back, lying on the bench in front of their door. Not so much as a nod towards him.

Whatever, I took pretty much everything out of her room to punish her for being ignorant.

The fact is, the Count deserves far worse.
Did you see his torture chamber?
Its for Argonians.

Yes, it's called a medal.

Aside from that, Armorer is one of few skills that boosts your Endurance, so it'll also be good for your overall HP stats.

I don't even have a response for that. I mean I'm an Argonian so I should have something to say but I can't stop laughing.

Anyway, I'm going to have to work on some kind of mod that makes the Count and Countess killable via Dark Brotherhood (or hiring them or something) and then you can buy the castle. Then I can have the torture chamber and torture Dark Elves because they all look like the skin was just stretched randomly over their face way too tight.

Hey DFM and Rok, why do Kahjiit lick their butts?

(Also plays an argonian most of the time)

Its a shame I got the X360 version so I can't get in on any of these mods, some of them sound awesome.

Because it tastes better than Khajiit cooking.

(*plays a Khajiit*)


Seriously, 360 = teh shaft. Computer is really where it's at, both graphically and with the mods. Especially good are the Claws and Monk Bracers mod and Better Hand to Hand mod if you're playing any kind of race or class that fights unarmed. The one adds "weaponry" to your ring slots enchanted to give you bonus damage and effects for wearing them and the other re-does the damage calculations that govern H2H to un-nerf unarmed fighting in comparison to weaponry. Because H2H is calculated by a formula that really leaves it unbalanced as your skill grows in comparison to the overall utility you get out of armed fighting.

Except that...
Hand to Hand combat...
Isn't as powerful as beating somebody over the head with a mace.
The trick is that hand to hand damages fatigue too. Thats how it gets balanced.

I got the Game Of The Year edition (Both expansions) for PS3.

That being said, Argonian's for the win. I created my own Stealth/Magic class called "Blackhand," which was something like...

Light Armor
Blade
Restoration
Conjuration
Destruction
Security
Sneak

Born under the sign of the Shadow, my idea was to create a basic Thiefy character with Argonian race bonuses (after discovering that the Healers weren't as great as I originally thought) who could hold his own in battle, summon help if need be, and then heal himself afterwards. I've since upped Mercantile and Personality every chance I get.

You guys know that in vanilla oblivion, it's actually more optimal to make your major skills the ones that your class doesn't actually use regularly but are easy to raise?

Things like alchemy and lock picking work well.

This allows you to push your other skills up enough to maximize stat bonuses before leveling at a pace perfectly controlled by you.

This is also why one of the first mods I grabbed was a leveling mod that did away with such silliness.

I made a character with

Heavy Armor
Acrobatics
Alchemy
Security
Conjuration
Destruction
Athletics

I leveled so fast that I was fighting Frost Atronarchs at the battle for Kvatch. IT SUCKED.

Why?

Because he was silly and added athletics and heavy armor to that list (which goes up constantly regardless, so long as you're running or wearing heavy armor), and then did more silly stuff like lockpicking and making potions before he had gotten his other skills up enough to maximize stat gains.

Or, simply put, he was doing it wrong.

I personally think that the stat build system on level ups is a little bit sad. Personally I think that instead of giving stats per level based on what skills you gained in that level, you should simply get an attribute point in something automatically after you get X skill level ups based on that attribute. I also think that as many skills as there are, there should be something other than Armorer and Endurance to boost Stamina.

"When the next Elder Scroll is written, you shall be its scribe."

No thanks. I don't want to go blind from spellchecking my work. But thanks.

Which is why I have a level up mod that does just that, and why I specified 'in vanilla oblivion'.

Lets find something we can all agree on.

Like...
Marie Antionetta in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary is hot, and should be banged immediately if not sooner.

This thread makes me sad knowing I need to get a better computer so I can run Fallout 3 for PC and get the completely essential mods that will be out in mere months post-release.

Fucking Bethesda.

See, I have a similar problem, except that I will be able to run it, but it will look like shit. Lowest graphics settings make me sad.

If by banged you mean stabbed with a knife for being too ugly then yes.

Time to talk about your Oblivion favorites! Favorite characters, quests, monsters, items, weapons, armors, or anything!


Quest: Whodunit. The dark brotherhood quest with the house and the people you have to kill.

NPC: The Dremora who talks to you in Camoran's paradise. He's honorable, true to his word, and even willing to accept your position as... well perhaps not his equal, but certainly as somebody worthy of speaking to, which is high praise from a Dremora. I thought he was actually quite kind, given the circumstances. "You speak directly, almost like one of my own kin."

Item: Skeleton Key. Unbreakable lockpick and +50 to security? Yes, please.

Armor: Spellbreaker. 30% Spell Reflect? YES. YES. YES.

Ok, so, I picked a leveling mod called S.P.A.M.. It basically allows you to pick your "favorite" stats that you get more points when you pick them for leveling up. I'm wondering, though: By level 11 or so, I'll have strength and endurance at 100 already ( I'm almost pure melee ). What should I get later? Also, should I pick the mod that allows my stats to go past 100?

My skills, if it helps. Conjuration is just for summoning help every now and then, Restoration for better curing and Merchantile for lower prices, you know the drill.
Armorer
Blade
Block
Conjuration
Heavy Armor
Merchantile
Restoration
Imperial and with the Warrior birthsign.

Edit: Seriously, 100+ stats break the game?

For mods, I use:

• AF Level Mod
• Drokk's Vampire Mod
• Arcane Archery (Note: A bit overpowered early on, but makes archery not suck in the later game)
• Quest Award Leveler

And then a bunch of purely cosmetic mods. My favorite of which (and which I could not see playing the game without) is Natural Faces. Gets rid of all the weird ugly skin.

Oh, and, of course, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul.

It gets it's own paragraph, because you NEED that one.

I hope you all are happy. I just installed morrowind again because of this thread. Then I went on a multi-gigabyte jaunt through the internet to find the right combination of mods.

I think I have more fun with morrowind just downloading all the mods, and generating characters. Actually playing is kind of a chore.

So, guys, do 100+ stats break the game? I'm waiting for an answer and this thread is dying.

Depends.

With Oscuros you get a few buffed side quests that you're going to basically need 100 endurance, at least, to really stand much of a real chance.

In vanilla, again, you aren't really gonna break the game, because things level up with you--so you'll never find the game too easy. It'll get easier, if you level right and push your stats as far as you can, but I don't think it really breaks it. I can't be 100% sure, however, because I never got that far in vanilla.

On the other hand, like 200 endurance? Yeah, that'd probably start making things a bit broken.

Or 200-300 speed? Oh yeah. Broken as hell.

So capping out won't break stuff too terribly, but artificially extending your caps much past like 110 can very well break shit.

Crossbows and mods that give you crossbows are the shit.

That's all I really wanted to say. Except that Bruma's guard just got raped because their city is perfect for sneak attacks via rooftop with a crossbow.

Well there are ways in Vanilla Oblivion with spell making to get things like acrobatics or basically any stat you want into the 200s for about 20 seconds. At which point you can do things like jumping up the side of the Arena and then go in through the top. It also makes it ridiculously easy to roof top jump to the walls of basically any city. Once I even made it unto the upper steeple portion of one of the temples. I couldn't get to the very tip but the view from there was awesome. If used in moderation and not set permanently that high over 100 stats can be a fun distraction.

I'm thinking of having Strength, Endurance and Speed at 130-ish.

I'm getting Oscuro's Overhaul mod too, so, yeah. Maybe it won't break the game.

Edit: Okay, so, when installing Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul ( OOO ) mod, I need to import NPC levels with Wrye Bash. I'm assuming I have to export them from OOO and into, apparently, my save file. But I can't. There's no "Import" option on the saves tab. Halp?

I go light on mods, otherwise I'd be more than happy to help.

I ended up finding it out ^^'. So, okay, my first experience with the OOO mod involves killing a timber wolf with two hits and then nearly dying to a conjurer who summoned one of those dinosaur thingies and a flame atronauch...Which just ran past me for no reason.

Daedroth.

Those things are hardcore.

No no. It was like, smaller than a person and had a big forehead. A Clannfear. It survived a LOT longer than the guy who summoned it.

Be careful in the beginning of an OOO game. Level variance in the overworld is fairly moderate in the grand scheme of things, but starting out the way you do makes you quite vulnerable to even a shift of four levels.

I suggest gaining a few levels via noncombatant primary skills, and getting a few secondary magics shored up. Do some social quests before venturing out too far into the wild, unless you're very confident of your abilities. Remember, in OOO gaining levels isn't detrimental to your progress, rather the opposite. Until level 10 or so, you're quite vulnerable. As soon as you're able, either loot some high-fidelity civilized installations (SPOILERZ!) or dive into some Aylied ruins and look for some rather unique varieties of relic weapons.

Edit: Try to get a reliable source of shock damage in your preferred attack type. You'll need it to survive your first encounter with spectral reavers.
Edit 2, after seeing Krylo's: While it's a bit overpowered in SOME aspects, the Midas Magic mod makes you earn it's stuff and at level-appropriate times. It adds a lot of very new and very unique magic effects and spells that mages will find very handy, and a welcome break to their basic and boring arsenal of bolts and touches.

Seriously guys. Rays! Meteor strike! Summoned energy swords and more! My favorite has got to be force bolt, though. Mmm, force bolt + oblivion.

high acrobatics breaks the game easy. You can jump right out of Bravil, and at least in the 360 version, that makes the overworld very interesting to say the least.

The thing is, I'm using a leveling mod that allows me to level up whenever the hell I want. I'm thinking of leveling each 5 levels I get in Blade or maybe 15 levels in my overall primary skills. Don't want to be level 50 with my highest primary skill at 50 y'know.

I'd like a short list of mods that NPF would recommend.
I'm already downloading Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, but I need more, MORE, MOAR!!!!!

No, but seriously, anything that'd improve the game, beyond what OOO does.

Curse you, leveling system!

I thought, "Hey, why not get some Alteration/Mysticsm/Illusion magic? That's pretty neat. Yeah - I can totally level these up." But no, it takes me a few hours to actually find stat trainers and people selling magic low level enough for me to actually cast. (> <)

That being said, I like the leveling system. Instead of being something like, hey you've been fighting for a while, all your stats are gonna go up; it's like hey you've been jumping for a while, your acrobatics skill is going up. Hey you've been bashing people in the face with a hammer for a bit, your blunt skill is gonna go up.

It levels what you're actually doing, kinda like the real world, which appeals to me.

I'm using a leveling mod which allows me to pretty much level up whenever I want but I need to train my skills. Why? Because I'm level 4 using OOO and I'm finding people using elven armor.

I'm playing the unmoddable PS3 version, because my family computer stinks.

List of Oblivion Mods that are necessary...

FCOM, Deadly Reflex, and Clocks of Cyrodiil.

Of course this means you need Oblivion Script Extender but I recommend downloading that regardless of what mods you're running.