Getting back into Morrowind...

[Zach J.]

I recently found my copy of Morrowind and would like to start playing again, seeing as how I have never gotten very far in the game, much less finish the main quest. The problem is that I am not sure what I want to play. I tend to stick with the pre-made classes, but I can't seem to immerse myself in a character; I find myself starting over and over again. Any suggestions or advice? Should I continue restarting until I find a character with a playstyle that interests me?

[Cespenar]

I recently found my copy of Morrowind and would like to start playing again, seeing as how I have never gotten very far in the game, much less finish the main quest. The problem is that I am not sure what I want to play. I tend to stick with the pre-made classes, but I can't seem to immerse myself in a character; I find myself starting over and over again. Any suggestions or advice? Should I continue restarting until I find a character with a playstyle that interests me?

The "best" first characters in Elder Scrolls games are always (in my opinion) the Blade class. I don't know if it was the actual name of the class (I think it was in Morrowind), but to summarize, it's the jack-of-all-trades guy. Mainly, these skills: Long Blades, Light Armor, Sneak, Marksman, Speechcraft, Restoration. It gives one the chance to try as many facets of the game as it's possible, not to mention the incredible versatility it gets when fighting or in general.

Done it in both Morrowind and Oblivion to great success.

[Zach J.]

Thank you for the quick reply, Cespenar. The idea of a jack of all trades got me thinking and I came up with this.

"Adventurer"

Race: Dark Elf

Specialization: Stealth

Favored Attributes: Agility, Luck

Major Skills: Alchemy, Block, Light Armor, Long Blade, Restoration

Minor Skills: Armorer, Marksman, Security, Sneak, Speechcraft

Birth Sign: The Lady

[Zach J.]

Edit: Oops, double post.

[Dogmantra]

Seems like a solid class, but I'd swap a weapon skill into Majors, since it can be very frustrating early when you keep swinging at a mudcrab and you just can't kill it.

I'd probably also ditch either Spear or Block completely, since spears are all two handed, and block requires a shield, but I can understand wanting to have some versatility. Marksman might be a good thing to replace one with if you wanted to.


(If you're looking for a stronger birthsign too, the Thief is wonderful, the Lady is faaaantastic, the Lover, the Steed and the Atronach are also all pretty decent, though if you plan on using magic a lot I'd recommend against the latter)

[CGforever!]

The Tower? Thats a 1/day open lock, right?

I'd go with The Lady. HP and social skill is a safe bet in this game.

[Dogmantra]

Oh, and I found that a good way to immerse myself and really enjoy the game is when I got a quest, I'd walk there, but I'd investigate anything cool or interesting on the way, caves, interesting rock formations, pools of water, anything. There's so much to discover, you'd be surprised.

[Zach J.]

Thanks for the input, Dogmantra and CGForever!. I was thinking of picking the Tower more for the Beggar's Nose spell than the lock-picking ability (it seemed like something your average dungeon-delver might appreciate), but I suppose there are more useful signs. I was initially going to take Marksman, but I had several skills that ran off of Agility and thought that it might be worthwhile to have at least one skill keyed to Endurance.

Edit: I altered the character based on your suggestions and while I think it looks more playable I am worried that he may be too fragile. I do not completely understand the mechanics of leveling up in this game, but will it be a problem if a character has no major or minor skills that can quickly raise Endurance?

[Dogmantra]

If I remember correctly, you don't actually need a major or minor skill to raise your attributes, any skill will do.

The levelling up works by checking what attributes that all skills you've levelled since your last level up are keyed to, and then the number of levels you gained translates into a multiplier. Once you hit ten skill ups in major/minor skills, you level up.
So if you raise your spear skill, even though it's misc, it will still contribute to bonus points in Endurance, but won't count towards your ten skill raises to level up.

[Zach J.]

Ah, I see. Thank you for the clarification. I had also been confusing the Lady birthsign with that of the Lover. I'll definitely be taking the Lady. Thanks again for all of the advice. Off to Vvardenfell! :)

[dragonsamurai77]

If I remember correctly, you don't actually need a major or minor skill to raise your attributes, any skill will do.

The levelling up works by checking what attributes that all skills you've levelled since your last level up are keyed to, and then the number of levels you gained translates into a multiplier. Once you hit ten skill ups in major/minor skills, you level up.
So if you raise your spear skill, even though it's misc, it will still contribute to bonus points in Endurance, but won't count towards your ten skill raises to level up.

For this reason, I recommend jumping everywhere, instead of running, to raise your Strength a lot. It will help with carrying capacity, and give you a lot of shortcuts in Vivec (eventually you'll be able to jump down from one level to the next lowest without taking any falling damage).

[Eldan]

By the way: get the newest mod, at least the graphical upgrades. if your machine can handle it, Morrowind 2012 is sooo amazing.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

By the way: get the newest mod, at least the graphical upgrades. if your machine can handle it, Morrowind 2012 is sooo amazing.

I would second this. The graphics mods are beautiful. I would also recommend the Tamriel Rebuilt mod, which adds portions of mainland Morrowind to the game.

Other mods I use are Enhanced Blocking, Enhanced Combat, the Less Generic NPC mod, Nymeria's Faster Walking, Nymeria's Monthly Respawn, Darknuts Greater Dwemer Ruins, Expanded Birthsigns For Purists, Graphic Herbalism, the Neverhalls, the Forgotten Halls, Unique Tombs, Sleepers Awake!, a Dark Brotherhood attack fix (SO VERY NEEDED), and Necessities of Morrowind.

Edit: two mods I'm looking very closely at getting are Ravenloft and Galsiah's Character Development... I WAS very excited for Immersive CharGen mod, but it seems to be broken, sadly. There's a spot in that mod where one of the characters is behind some bars, and cannot "see" you when he talks to you, and you can't pass without getting things from him, which means you're stuck unless you use the console to go through the wall, which is, well, the OPPOSITE of immersive.

[Zarah]

"Adventurer"

Race: Dark Elf

Specialization: Stealth

Favored Attributes: Agility, Luck

Major Skills: Alchemy, Block, Light Armor, Long Blade, Restoration

Minor Skills: Armorer, Marksman, Security, Sneak, Speechcraft

Birth Sign: The Lady

A small note: You are going to have to grind the hell out of speechcraft, alchemy, restoration and block to get them anywhere near useful. Alternatively, you could pay for training, but you'll be steadily gaining levels if you do it that way and the enemies will outclass you in no time, especially if you have Tribunal installed.

If you plan to role-play a bit and be immersed in the game, then as you were, but if you want to play to win, then I'd suggest taking some more useful skills as your majors/minors and leave the others aside. You can still train them as much as you want, but you won't jump 5 levels overnight by making them worth something.

Fake edit: I just noticed you didn't take mysticism. Take mysticism. Seriously, it'll save you hours of walking.

[Zach J.]

Urgh, I had forgotten how tedious I found Alchemy to be. :P

Back to the drawing board...

"Adventurer 2.0"

Race: Dark Elf

Favored Attributes: Agility, Luck

Major Skills: Block, Light Armor, Long Blade, Restoration, Speechcraft

Minor Skills: Armorer, Marksman, Mercantile, Security, Sneak

Sign: The Lady

I looked at the Mysticism spells, but I didn't really feel compelled to take it as a skill. It seems like most of the important effects can be bought in scrolls or enchanted into items. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Dogmantra]

Mark and Recall are the two biggies you really want Mysticism for (the fact that Absorb Health is straight up better than Damage Health and is part of Mysticism [it is, right?] is just a nice bonus) but they cost a LOAD of enchant points, so it's a while before you can enchant anything with them (and it's really expensive.

You can get Almsivi/Divine Intervention amulets though, and Soul Trap on Strike is easy enough to come by.

[Zach J.]

Hmm, you are right about Absorb Health being part of the Mysticism school. I missed that the first time I was looking through the spells. Are there any Destruction spells worth using?

[Dogmantra]

Weakness to Magicka is nice, I think. Elemental damage is good when you're fighting people rather than creatures and you're against a particular race that's vulnerable to one of the elements. Damage Strength can be quite useful, since if you knock someone down to 0 they won't be able to move and they'll miss nearly all their melee attacks. Agility and Intelligence are also useful things to damage.

[Cespenar]

Drain Health is cool if you know how to use it.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Huge drain health for 0 seconds. If it's enough to kill them then who cares if they get it back immediately. They are already dead.

[Zach J.]

I wound up playing a vanilla Thief. I am a very indecisive person so it is difficult for me to design a custom class, let alone stick with one. I enjoyed the game at first, but by level 8 I had managed to get my hands on a couple of glass daggers, an ebony short sword and some glass pauldrons. After that I felt my interest in the game beginning to diminish. It felt like I was getting too much too soon. Is that a common problem with the game or just something that those who steal in game have to deal with?

Edit: I only own Morrowind, neither of the expansions, so I am unable to use most mods. Still, the graphics of the game don't bother me and I haven't been playing long enough to notice many bugs. Still...I can't say I find it to be a gripping experience so far.

[Cespenar]

I wound up playing a vanilla Thief. I am a very indecisive person so it is difficult for me to design a custom class, let alone stick with one. I enjoyed the game at first, but by level 8 I had managed to get my hands on a couple of glass daggers, an ebony short sword and some glass pauldrons. After that I felt my interest in the game beginning to diminish. It felt like I was getting too much too soon. Is that a common problem with the game or just something that those who steal in game have to deal with?

Edit: I only own Morrowind, neither of the expansions, so I am unable to use most mods. Still, the graphics of the game don't bother me and I haven't been playing long enough to notice many bugs. Still...I can't say I find it to be a gripping experience so far.

Thieves have that issue in Morrowind, yes. Still, it's not that big of a find. Ebony short sword is cool, of course, but enchantments are where the "real" power is.

Also, don't expect the game to be actively gripping your attention, like many recent games try to do. The lore, while immense, sits there until you look for it, and the main schtick of the game is, as far as I can see it, the atmosphere. Many towns and cities have their own architectural style (sorta), and the wilderness differs a lot from region to region. At the risk of sounding like some kind of a snob, to enjoy Morrowind, you have to take it slow. Walk to places, don't rush to get all quests finished, travel, see the wildlife, aaand this is starting to sound like a tourism fare. Anyway.

[Zach J.]

I made a new character, a High Elf Mage. After enchanting a ring to shoot fireballs and learning how to Levitate I decided that this game is awesome. I just had to find the right character. :)

[LibraryOgre]

I've been playing recently, and here's what I've gone with:

Breton "Adventurer", with the Sign of the Atronach. Favored Attributes are Luck (naturally) and Endurance (more health)

Major Skills: Destruction, Mysticism, Conjuration, Illusion, Alteration
Minor Skills: Restoration, Alchemy, Enchantment, Short Blade, Unarmored

Main weapon used is actually spears, after a bit.

Being a Breton Atronach means I lose a LOT less HP to magic... 50% magic resistance and 50pts of spell absorption straight off the bat. Alchemy means that a lot of my MP problems from Atronach are irrelevant, especially as I back things up with good enchants.

You may be wondering, if I mostly intend to use Spears, why do I start with Short Blade as a minor skill? Because of the early game, where I can summon a Daedric dagger (via Conjuration's free spell of Bound Dagger), meaning I have a great weapon right off the bat, and the ability to use it. Unarmored means I don't have to wear a lot of armor I don't want to (which is good, since my Strength is in the toilet until constant practice with armorers hammers brings it up a bit), and can eventually use some of the nice gloves (like Zenithar's Left and Right Hands, giving me bonuses to luck and personality) without my defense going into the toilet.

Also, using primarily spears means my Endurance climbs quickly, and I level when I want to... I don't level because I've been battered and stabby, but because I chose to train some of my skills (most of the time... alchemy can surprise me).

My first goal, though? Seek out Pemmic the Trader and walk her to Gnaar Mok for Boots of Blinding Speed. I could not play this game without a 200+ Speed. It helps all kinds of movement, meaning I make great time with a Ring of Levitation that is 1 rating and 30-some seconds. It is practically impossible, in normal usage, for me to run out of charges on that thing.

The actual reason I sought out this topic, though? I really wish there was a simple spell that would tell you where you'll go when you cast one of the Interventions. Also kind of wish that Suran and Maar Gan had their own Almsivi intervention wayposts. Vos would be nice, too.

[Lifeson]

Edit: two mods I'm looking very closely at getting are Ravenloft and Galsiah's Character Development... I WAS very excited for Immersive CharGen mod, but it seems to be broken, sadly. There's a spot in that mod where one of the characters is behind some bars, and cannot "see" you when he talks to you, and you can't pass without getting things from him, which means you're stuck unless you use the console to go through the wall, which is, well, the OPPOSITE of immersive.

If you're looking for immersion, Ravenloft is toes the line a little. The modder didn't want to conflict with other mods, so there's not outside portion of the house. You put on an amulet to teleport to the main chambers inside.

Galsiah's Character Development is all kinds of awesome though. Some skills spread out their stat gains, though. Acrobatics feed endurance a little as well as strength, for example.

[LibraryOgre]

I have been making good time avoiding the main plot like the plague. I've already climbed to the top of several guilds (Telvanni, Temple, Archmage, Knight of the Imperial Dragon), and am now messing around in Solstheim.

[Lifeson]

Speaking of mods, does anyone have any good dungeon delving mods? Preferably ones with plots and stuff to discover rather than run in and kill stuff.

I like the community-created stuff a lot. Mostly holdover from NWN, but the user-base is always my favorite parts of the game. :smalltongue:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I've heard good things about the Neverhalls and it's expansion, the Forgotten Halls, but I haven't visited there myself yet.