Pathfinder Elder Scrolls Campaign: Bestiary [Archive]

Slayer Lord

2014-11-09, 12:43 AM

Need some ideas for creating some Elder Scrolls beasties. Obviously there won't be perfect matches for everything, but what are some good preexisting monsters to use as a base? Or perhaps tips for making a new monster from scratch? The various daedra will probably need the most help since they replace the fiends entirely, but what about some of the other iconic critters, like the dreughs or the cliffracers? Should I use golems or elementals as my base for atronachs? Anything you can think of would be appreciated. The campaign starts before the Oblivion Crisis, so I don't think we'll need to worry about dragons. However I'm not sure where all the campaign will end up going besides Cyrodiil.

A link to my thread on races can be found here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?383077-Elder-Scrolls-Campaign-Player-Races&p=18389363#post18389363)

Deaxsa

2014-11-09, 01:34 AM

Animals: animals
Trolls: trolls
Minotaurs: minotaurs
Undead: undead
Falmer: Derro
Cliff Racers: DON'T YOU DARE, YOU MONSTER (also, juib killed them all, the saint)
Atronachs: elementals (with SLAs)
Goblins: orcs/Bugbears (morrowind) or goblins (oblivion)
Durzogs: Bulette (minus the burrow?)
Dark Brotherhood Assassins: giant bags of money
Kwama: Formians (toned down a serious amount, though)
Golden Saint: Astral Deva
Winged Twilight: Erinyes
Scamp: kobolds (?)
Hunger: Choker (looks similar, but too scary for a direct conversion, and not the same abilities)
Clannfear: Deinonychus (maybe?)
Deadroth/Deathclaw: fast, bipedal crocodiles? Megaraptor?
Ash Abominations: i have NOOOO clue, maybe apply some template? and then give some of the SLAs?
Dwemer: animated objects, or really any construct
Will-o-the-wisps: Living spell (vampiric touch)
Dremora: Group of poor batman impersonators
NETCH: Incarnate construct animated object weather balloons
Mudcrab: NPC Merchants
Dreugh: umm... this is a tough one. giant anthropomorphic squid/crab?
Ogre/Ogrim: ogre
Spider Daedra: pretty obvious.. Driders
All manner of dragons: All manner of dragons
Horker: Walrus (if you can find it)
Chaurus: Ankheg (advanced significantly)
Giant: Geyser (aaaaand UP we go!)(or, you know, giants)
Grummite: Trog
Gnarl: Treant

There's my list, i hope it helps.

ThisIsZen

2014-11-09, 02:29 AM

Vivec: Eats 1d6 Investigators per round.

Blackhawk748

2014-11-09, 11:52 AM

For the Dreugh id use Drider as a base, just lower their Int (probably to 3) and reskin them. Its been a long time since i've played Oblivion so i cant actually remember what they all do sadly.

For Atronnachs im sure PF has elementals that fit them to a T, you may need to give them some ability to do ranged touch attacks with their element though.

For scamps i would say 1 or 2 HD small outsiders that can shoot a bolt of fire for 2d6 damage a round. I would say their stats would be kinda like this Str 14 Dex 15 Con 11 Int 8 Wis 9 Cha 6. I gave them +2 Dex and Str but a -2 Int and Cha.

And ya, clanfear will probably be a medium raptor with its HD changed to Outsider (and it will probably lose a few in the transition)

For Dremora have you thought of just using various types of Tieflings?

elonin

2014-11-09, 07:31 PM

weckar

2014-11-09, 07:40 PM

I don't think there is space in the elder scrolls world for Resurrection.Console Command: Resurrect

Sayt

2014-11-09, 07:54 PM

I'd peg Daedroths as Glabreezu, probably. Drop the pincer attacks and up the size on the claws.

ThisIsZen

2014-11-09, 11:11 PM

Popping back in again to be useful this time, I'd use Legion Devils from... Fiendish Codex 2, I think? For the Dremora. That said, I'd probably upscale them considerably because Dremora rank fairly closely with Golden Saints and others for the top end of the Daedric hierarchy, and tend to have Obsidian weapons and whatnot.

I'd also make certain to include the skywhales from the Arms and Equipment guide in Skyrim, because they're SUPPOSED to be there even if they weren't included in the game. Similarly, find a sufficiently fuzzy-looking worm and refluff it to be the caterpillars that the Orsimer herd, because gigantic wooly caterpillars are too neat a herd animal to disregard.

If you haven't, I'd read the Pocket Guide to the Empire, because it should give you some idea of some of the background creatures that hang around the various regions that weren't actually shown in the game.

Slayer Lord

2014-11-10, 03:17 PM

I'm curious which era you are planning for. Also, my answer depends on how much of a rewrite you are willing to do to the game as in game races aren't close to the races in the ES universe. Also, the cosmology is different from what is offered in published campaigns. For example, I don't think there is space in the elder scrolls world for Resurrection. Really I don't think any of the Aedra or Daedra would grant such an ability?

Probably shortly before the Oblivion Crises, maybe halfway between Morrowind and Oblivion, since I'm the most familiar with that era's lore and political landscape. I already have player races stat-ed out (which I'll put on another thread) and some fluff for classes, but that's all the time I've had to work on so far. I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to lore, so hit me with whatever you've got. ^_^ I agree about the resurrection thing, but I'll have to check with my players when the time comes. I'm not terribly ruthless as a DM anyway, but if they want the safety net I'll have to defer to their wishes.

Anxe

2014-11-10, 05:58 PM

Blackhawk748

2014-11-10, 06:06 PM

This has nothing to do with monsters but i just realized that TES have no Acid spells, and i find that odd now that i think of it.

Oh and dont forget to have Werebears!

elonin

2014-11-10, 07:50 PM

Blackhawk748

2014-11-10, 08:19 PM

I've thought of running a game in the ES universe but couldn't figure out how to mesh the point system into d20. Perhaps this would be better run in a d100 system? In those systems (skills are represented as a number between 1 and 100 and each skill improves after a number of successful checks.

Also, being able to use the resurrect command doesn't imply that Resurrection was available in the lore.

Most people seem to agree that it would be an E6 to an E10 game. Personally i think E8 if you playing during the Oblivion Crisis as the Hero of Kvatch is just a dude, a really cool dude but just a dude. Id use E10 if the PCs where gonna be the Dragonborn or the Nerevarine.

As for skills you could just port over Call of Cthullus skills. As a bonus its still D20.

Judge_Worm

2014-11-10, 08:22 PM

Resurrection is *kinda* in the lore, what with Mannimarco, the Elf guy from Kot9, and the original dragonborn, oh and Talos to a lesser extent. It just that it doesn't happen the same way as in D&D, but there's nothing wrong with declaring the players as functionally immortal Shezzarines, having them respawn days later after "death" as long as they aren't soul trapped or necromancied.

As for daedra, my question is what are you going to do with the Princes themselves? Will they grant domain spells? Will they interfere in mortal business as much as they can with out violating the pact?

Will you allow Akaviri? How about the Ape-people of Valenwood, or the Sload, or even the Maomer?

Eldan

2014-11-11, 03:39 AM

This has nothing to do with monsters but i just realized that TES have no Acid spells, and i find that odd now that i think of it.

Oh and dont forget to have Werebears!

Poison damage seems to fit acid quite well, really.

Bloody Peasant!

2014-11-11, 05:03 AM

NETCH: Incarnate construct animated object weather balloons
Pffft now there's pepsi*all over my keyboard; I hope you're proud of yourself.

Boring herpa-derp-I'm-evil bosses:
Mehrunes Dagon: Balor with two extra arms instead of a flaming sword and SLAs.
Alduin: Mature Adult Black Dragon with breath substitution feat and a meteor swarm SLA.

Actually halfway interesting bosses (assuming standard e20 system even though that doesn't really make sense and if they actually had these builds in the games they would straight curb stomp you. More based on fluff):
Dagoth Ur: Dark Elf Lich Bard 9/Mindbender 1/Warlock 3/Sublime Chord 2/Eldritch Theurge 8
Almalexia: Aasimar Cleric 20 with heavy use of persists to become a combat beast.
Vivec: Celestial Dark Elf Monk 5/Cleric 5/Sacred Fist 10
Miraak: Human Lich Sorcerer 5/Dragon Disciple 4/Mindbender 1/Eldritch Theurge 10 with a slightly more liberal DM
Harkon: Hell if I know. Human Vampire on the bad kind of meds.
Hircine:
Aspect of Guile: Human were-deer hybrid form
Aspect of Speed: Anthropomorphic Wolf were-deer hybrid form
Aspect of Strength: Anthropomorphic Bear were-deer hybrid form

Haven't played either of the oblivion expansions and Daggefall never really had any "bosses" as such.

*Try delicious PepsiCola™ today!

Eldan

2014-11-11, 05:05 AM

Surely Vivec of all people needs bard levels.

Because he's the bardiest bard who ever barded. INcluding his 36 volume autobiographical epic cycle that explains why he's the most awesome ever.

Bloody Peasant!

2014-11-11, 05:18 AM

Surely Vivec of all people needs bard levels.

Because he's the bardiest bard who ever barded. INcluding his 36 volume autobiographical epic cycle that explains why he's the most awesome ever.

Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. Mostly just of losing a lot of fistfights against the guy. Bard 7/Monk 3/Sublime Chord 2/ Virtuoso 8 maybe. IDK, I can't help but feel like my builds are incredibly lackluster.

EDIT: Or factotum, bard, roguey, something something I 'm really far too tired to figure that out. XD

EDIT: Oh god the 36 lessons those drove me mad when I first read them. All the netchimen's wives and milk fingers and CHIM AL ALTADOON et. all.

Eldan

2014-11-11, 07:42 AM

Don't forget the pornography and the in-jokes on older games.

Slayer Lord

2014-11-11, 12:55 PM

Which territory are you going with to start in? (You said Cyrodil. My bad) And how is magic gonna be working? Are you go reorganize the 3.5 schools into Elder Scrolls schools? Plus, laws on magic are quite different based on the province you're in. I'd put importance on that as a DM and communicate it so players know before character creation.

I'd also consider a level cap? Some of D&Ds higher level spells don't exist in Elder Scrolls. Just a level cap on one type of class though. Like you reach Fighter 10 and then you swap to taking Barbarian levels or something.

I'm probably not going to mess with rearranging the magic system much, mostly since that would take forever and I'm lazy. :p Might organize things around the official schools for fluff and just leave the mechanics alone. Probably throw in some setting-specific classes. Certainly, the players will have to know what kind of magic is and isn't okay in the different regions. As funny as it would be, it'd be kind of a **** move to let the party necromancer try to raise minions in the middle of Mournhold. "Stop right there, criminal scum!"

This has nothing to do with monsters but i just realized that TES have no Acid spells, and i find that odd now that i think of it.

Oh and dont forget to have Werebears!

As for skills you could just port over Call of Cthullus skills. As a bonus its still D20.

Well of course there'll be werebears, are you kidding? There's room for all of Lord Hircine's creatures at the table, and the party is the main course. ^_^ Good idea about the skills, though.

Resurrection is *kinda* in the lore, what with Mannimarco, the Elf guy from Kot9, and the original dragonborn, oh and Talos to a lesser extent. It just that it doesn't happen the same way as in D&D, but there's nothing wrong with declaring the players as functionally immortal Shezzarines, having them respawn days later after "death" as long as they aren't soul trapped or necromancied.

As for daedra, my question is what are you going to do with the Princes themselves? Will they grant domain spells? Will they interfere in mortal business as much as they can with out violating the pact?

Will you allow Akaviri? How about the Ape-people of Valenwood, or the Sload, or even the Maomer?

That's a great solution for the resurrection thing, actually. I'll have to look into it. I actually am planning to have the Princes grant Domain spells, since they are technically gods and it will allow plenty of options for the players (Cleric of Sheogorath, anyone?). Otherwise, it'll mostly be as they do in game, messing with stuff behind the scenes except for the occasional guest appearance.
I would love to include the akaviri and other lesser known races, but there is so little information about them. I could wing it with the sload, maomer and the imga, but so much of what we know about the akaviri comes across as hearsay and anecdotal. I might sneak one or two in if I can, though.

PraxisVetli

2014-11-11, 01:19 PM

I only played skyrim, (filthy casual, I know), and I play 3.5, not Pf, but with the amount I get my butt kicked by Mudcrabs, they should be That Damned Crab.

elonin

2014-11-12, 06:39 AM

Most people seem to agree that it would be an E6 to an E10 game. Personally i think E8 if you playing during the Oblivion Crisis as the Hero of Kvatch is just a dude, a really cool dude but just a dude. Id use E10 if the PCs where gonna be the Dragonborn or the Nerevarine.

As for skills you could just port over Call of Cthullus skills. As a bonus its still D20.

E6-10 could work. Didn't know that CoC is D20. Also, I think it's a bad idea to have the pc's in the role already cast by the computer player (hero of kvatch, Neverrine, dragonborn etc).

Blackhawk748

2014-11-12, 06:53 AM

E6-10 could work. Didn't know that CoC is D20. Also, I think it's a bad idea to have the pc's in the role already cast by the computer player (hero of kvatch, Neverrine, dragonborn etc).

Mostly i was just using it for an example, but i dont think it would be bad to have the PC be the Heroes of Kvatch. Now 4 Dragonborn on the other hand......

Slayer Lord

2014-11-12, 05:31 PM

Thinking a bit more on it, I think a Sload would make an awesome first-dungeon boss. Any thoughts on what the sload race might look like stat-wise? I've never played Redguard, and I only know of them from a couple of lore books, so I don't really know where to start, except for a +2 Intelligence and an affinity for necromancy.

Blackhawk748

2014-11-12, 08:35 PM

Eldan

2014-11-13, 03:59 AM

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Sload

They are compared to slugs and toads, so I recommend a minus to dexterity.

ThisIsZen

2014-11-13, 04:38 AM

Sload are enormous, sapient slugs and well known for practicing necromancy and engineering disease. They're also rather prolific traders, as I recall.

Also, I'm going to caution against just declaring your PCs to be Shezzarines outright, because of the significance of that designation in a metaphysical sense. If you want to play with that aspect of the lore, then go ahead, but if you just want an easy justification for resurrection I'd suggest looking elsewhere. I mean, I imagine you want your PCs to be significant, but well... Do you want them on the level of Vivec and TalOS?

Incidentally, I'm opposed to statting out Vivec, as I'd be opposed to statting out TalOS - they have CHIM. Other deities like Ayem or Seht are perfectly stattable but Vehk and Tiber are both running around lucid dreaming, in love with themselves. If you want to get to that level of things then d20 is going to, regrettably, start failing you.

Also, small quibble, but the Akavirir as most in Cyrodiil think of them are actually just the Tsaesci. Now, if you wanted to include Tsaesci that's actually workable - there were several times throughout the Empire's history where there were large numbers of Tsaesci, and not all of those were war fronts. It might be a little difficult to get across that they're language-eating-becoming morphic snake people, though.

Eldan

2014-11-13, 04:49 AM

Making them Shezzarines sounds rather unwise, really. They would have to be avatars of Shor, of course, and they would have to further the cause of Man and Mundus, which would sort of limit the range of possible plots and character motivations.

Plus, you know. Going by past Shezzarines, they'd have to be extremely powerful. I'm not sure how you would even model the likes of Whitestrake or Tiber in D&D. Exalted, maybe, moving towards Nobilis.

ThisIsZen

2014-11-13, 06:19 AM

Tiber and Vehk don't fit in any game system that can put constraints on their powers, honestly. CHIM, while technically not the end of the path, is probably the ABSOLUTE upper end of what I'd expect to see in a tabletop game, and would necessitate a complete system shift to something diceless. You don't even want to get into the Amaranth.

That said, I'd almost be inclined to say that resurrection as a power could be fluffed as working 'cause the PCs ARE metaphysically significant in some sense. Perhaps even by accident - perhaps the PCs returning to life is a curse rather than a blessing, denying them passage to their aligned AE. This would still end up dealing with the Missing God and his various alternate selves, of course, 'cause our best example of "dying wrong" is Dagoth Ur, but it might not require you to be a literal myth-echo of Shor.

(Mind you, given how utterly fractious the various Ada are, one needn't necessarily work towards any coherent goal to be a Shezzarine. Pelinal was one, after all, and while ultimately he was a boon to Alessia's rebellion, there was also the time where he decided that cat=elf and nearly killed all the Khajiit before the Aedra slapped him smart again.)

Eldan

2014-11-13, 06:36 AM

CHIM is knowing you're a player character. Amaranth is becoming GM and writing a new setting and system. While also still being the character in the first game.

Anxe

2014-11-13, 10:04 AM

Or resurrection could work the exact same way it does in the game. Time rewinds to the beginning of the dungeon and everyone is fine and healthy.

Fable

2014-11-13, 12:09 PM

Only if they remember to make a save game though! :tongue:

NightbringerGGZ

2014-11-13, 12:16 PM

Cyrodiil is mostly a mix of mountainous and forest terrain with a bit of swamp in the southern regions. With the era you've chosen you'll have ruined forts, caverns filled with various baddies (of many stripes) and some Dwemar ruins as common locations. Humanoids of the various TES races should probably be the most common enemies, which will actually make Combat Maneuvers far more viable at higher levels. Here are some suggestions for various monster types that could be added:

Animals
- Wolves, Bears and Mountain Lions are the most common predators. Using Dire variants of these beasts should work fine.
- Mudcrabs - Along all coastlines and often in caves. Considering how they often seem to aggro you randomly in the games I might suggest Bone Crabs as a good option here.
- Slaughter Fish - Various sizes, they tend to be more dangerous as the get larger. Use a piranha type create template. Giant Pike maybe?
- Land Dreugh - I would almost do a custom template for these. I don't remember any aquatic ones in Oblivion but they're usually near water.
- Rats!! For your first quest even!
- Other animals as appropriate. Usually show up as prey or are just NPC critters.

Goblins
Cyrodiil is infested with goblin tribes in the era you're thinking of playing in. You can probably get away with existing Goblin race stats and a mix of NPC classes for common troopers while using PC classes for Shamans, Champions & Chieftains. Maybe tossing the Advanced Template on a few units. Remember that they tend to attack in large bands but aren't very brave. They also tend to infest ruins.

Undead
Common around ancient ruins & Necromancer lairs. I think Necromancy is illegal in your setting so Undead will almost always be hostile. If you venture into Morrowind this may not be the case. Skeletons, Zombies and Ghosts are common. Vampires have some nests in Cyrodiil. Don't forget about the occasional Lich as well.

Nature Critters
Wisps - I think there are some decent stats for these kind of critters already.
Spriggan - Look at Treant variants, maybe some low intelligence Dryads.
Minotaurs - They tend to be found alone or in small bands. Pump them up with some templates or a couple class levels. These guys should be really tough to fight.
Ogres - Another really tough enemy. Usually unarmed. In Oblivion they're really weak against poisons.

Sayt

2014-11-13, 06:03 PM

Necromancy is illegal outside of Morrowind, where there is a cultural dspensatin for the Dunmer people, but the mage's guild still gets tetchy about it, IIRC.

Bloody Peasant!

2014-11-13, 06:11 PM

Necromancy is illegal outside of Morrowind, where there is a cultural dspensatin for the Dunmer people, but the mage's guild still gets tetchy about it, IIRC.

Depends on your time period though. During Morrowind the game it was the empire who was totally down with necromancy and the Dunmer who were against it outside of their very specific (and I think willing?) ritual practices.

Blackhawk748

2014-11-13, 06:21 PM

Or resurrection could work the exact same way it does in the game. Time rewinds to the beginning of the dungeon and everyone is fine and healthy.

I actually though this would be fun. Akatosh rewinds to just before the encounter and only the PC that died remembers what happened, they get deja-death

ThisIsZen

2014-11-13, 06:24 PM

Yeah, Morrowind's cultural allowances for necromancy are actually kind of funny because it means they flipped from being least to most tolerant of the practice in the Empire in the course of a couple years. That said, the ban on necromancy was fairly poorly supported even in-game, largely as a justification for the Mage's Guild questline (which was pretty bunk as-is). Were I to run a TES game, I'd revert that change 'cause it makes no sense, but that's just me.

And yeah, desecration of corpses in Morrowind is a BIG no-no. They call ancestor spirits for aid, but said spirits come willingly as part of their duty to future generations. Defiling the dead or a crypt in any way is punished by death in all cases.

EDIT: Akatosh is so schizophrenic, fractious and fragile that asking him to dance causes him to break into pieces for a thousand nonconsecutive existential years, and even then all of the Jills have to spend a lot of time putting him and the universe back together afterwards. Plus, I don't think Akatosh is actually able to rewind time - he's the dead-dreaming principle of the passage of time and his aspects are various aspects thereof (Alduin being the end of time, for instance), but Aka himself never rewinded time - not even for the sake of Alessia when Pelinal was torn apart by the Ayleids, and Alessia was the Mother of Liberty to whom he first granted the blood of dragons, after she created the pantheon in which he existed forever.

Time is really, really weird in TES and may not be the best thing to play in. That said, you don't need to adhere to the mythopoeia and such of the setting if it gets in the way of your game, so take all of my arguments as coming from that place and disregard if you're uninterested in this aspect of the lore.

Blackhawk748

2014-11-13, 06:31 PM

Yeah, Morrowind's cultural allowances for necromancy are actually kind of funny because it means they flipped from being least to most tolerant of the practice in the Empire in the course of a couple years. That said, the ban on necromancy was fairly poorly supported even in-game, largely as a justification for the Mage's Guild questline (which was pretty bunk as-is). Were I to run a TES game, I'd revert that change 'cause it makes no sense, but that's just me.

And yeah, desecration of corpses in Morrowind is a BIG no-no. They call ancestor spirits for aid, but said spirits come willingly as part of their duty to future generations. Defiling the dead or a crypt in any way is punished by death in all cases.

If i remember correctly the ban on Necromancy was fairly recent in Oblivion and a lot of mages thought it was kinda dumb or at least questionable.

Also Morrowind practices "Responsible Necromancy" animating non buried corpses is fine, grave robbing gets you killed.

EDIT: Akatosh is so schizophrenic, fractious and fragile that asking him to dance causes him to break into pieces for a thousand nonconsecutive existential years, and even then all of the Jills have to spend a lot of time putting him and the universe back together afterwards. Plus, I don't think Akatosh is actually able to rewind time - he's the dead-dreaming principle of the passage of time and his aspects are various aspects thereof (Alduin being the end of time, for instance), but Aka himself never rewinded time - not even for the sake of Alessia when Pelinal was torn apart by the Ayleids, and Alessia was the Mother of Liberty to whom he first granted the blood of dragons, after she created the pantheon in which he existed forever.

And one of those pieces rewinded time

Now that i think about it, maybe Arkay should do the Reviving, you know god of death and all. Or just have Talos do it.

ThisIsZen

2014-11-13, 06:39 PM

Arkay would be a good choice, and it'd be interesting to see what a storyline centered on him would look like ultimately, considering he and all his fractal selves are generally regarded as weedy little gits no one actually likes. No, not even that guy.

malonkey1

2014-11-13, 06:45 PM

What, do Arkay's priests not even like him?

ThisIsZen

2014-11-13, 08:04 PM

Touche. It might be more accurate to say that maybe outside of his clergy, Arkay doesn't get much respect.

Blackhawk748

2014-11-13, 08:06 PM

Touche. It might be more accurate to say that maybe outside of his clergy, Arkay doesn't get much respect.

Which is weird as he is probably the most laid back death god ive ever seen. Hell id go to battle for him.

Anxe

2014-11-13, 11:43 PM

He's my patron bonus- *cough cough*

I mean my patron deity in Skyrim.

Milodiah

2014-11-14, 12:41 AM

E6-10 could work. Didn't know that CoC is D20. Also, I think it's a bad idea to have the pc's in the role already cast by the computer player (hero of kvatch, Neverrine, dragonborn etc).

There's a CoC d20 port, yes. You'd probably be more interested in either Cthulhu Invictus (Roman Empire) or Cthulhu Dark Ages (1100AD). Don't think there's a d20 for them, but really all you'd have to do is know regular CoC and then look at a Dark Ages character sheet to make the transfer yourself.

Judge_Worm

2014-11-14, 08:33 AM

ThisIsZen

2014-11-14, 09:28 AM

@The necromancy debate
Necromancy is only illegal in the province of Morrowind, with exclusions for religious purposes. The Mages Guild banned necromancy when Hannibal Traven took over, but even as of Skyrim it's still legal just unpopular.
Levitation, however is illegal. Although that was because of system limitations, there's no reason to stop your players from using levitation.

As another thought, why not combine the cleric and sorcerer/wizard spell lists, ES makes no distinctions between divine/arcane magic.

Honestly, I think I'd oppose that on purely balance-based grounds. The Archivist is already considered Tier 0 when allowed access to whatever Arcane spells it wants, this is basically making all casters Archivists without the cost of buying scrolls.

It's okay to be a little off-base from the source material when running a game, honestly. We're not trying to recreate the games' various systems whole cloth here - they're ways of deciding outcomes, abstracted from the world itself, not a literal representation of how everything works.

NightbringerGGZ

2014-11-14, 09:38 AM

Levitation, however is illegal. Although that was because of system limitations, there's no reason to stop your players from using levitation.

Specifically, console limitations. They couldn't maintain full exterior cells for all cities like they did in Morrowind. It also vastly simplified level design since they didn't have to plan on players being able to move in 3 dimensions. There's also some legitimate story telling & game playing benefits, flight is a very powerful ability to have. It negates platforming mechanics and made what were supposed to be tense boss fights rather easy.