Playing a mage character in Oblivion and Skyrim is pretty straightforward. You pick a few Destruction spells and blast away. You pick a few Conjuration spells and let your summons do the work. You pick some Illusion spells. Most of these are not really all that tops until the mage gets to Journeyman level, and that's when Invisibility and Chameleon kick in. Control and frenzy spells too!

It doesn't take that long to get to this level of magedom if some spells get spammed, though. Only if (let's say) somebody is totally new to the game, or if somebody is going for something unconventional, like a non-confrontational-type of mage, might they need to plan ahead.

Morrowind is nothing like the others. I don't know about Daggrefall yet, but MW is definitely more difficult to approach than Arena is, even with Arena's forced classes. And I've had to rethink a lot of ways I'd normally game, just to make my mage successful in this game.



----------------------------------------------

Tip 1: Restore Magicka potions seem like they're almost extinct in this game. Even as an alchemist at Journeyman level (three effects can be seen when making potions) I still haven't figured out what to mix with comberries to make dozens of these potions!

I did not know that all Mages Guilds have a respawning chest though, called Mages Guild Supply Chests. These include 10 free mana-restoring potions. I'm not sure how often stuff respawns in this game, but still, 10 potions per guild is a lot better than scrounging around in merchant shops. Merchants seem to sell every damn potion in the game except magicka potions, sometimes.

---------------

Tip 2: The Spellmaker is a mage's best friend. This becomes more apparent especially as the game levels upward higher and higher. My opinion now: I never really found the Spellmaker that useful in Oblivion. In that game, it can be merely used to make some spell effects more creative, effective, and/or efficient. But in my opinion, I never actually needed to use the Spellmaker in Oblivion. It's more of a convenience than a necessity (in my opinion).

Well in Morrowind, you really are going to NEED to make your own spells, and you'll also need to know how to use the spellmaker. Thank goodness we don't have to get into any university just to create our own spells. Nor do we have to be a Mages Guild member. There are some temple-dwellers, and probably a few other NPCs out there, who can help us make spells. All we need is some gold, and also to know the effect we're trying to work with.

-------------------------------

Tip 3: Conjuration levels up slowly in this game. MUCH slower than in Oblivion. In OB, those who spam this school will be guaranteed to hit Journeyman level within a month, if they play frequently enough.

And this seems to be a reaction against Morrowind, in which Conjuration levels upward extremely slow, especially if it was started as a Minor skill rather than a Major.

And here comes my very first use of the Spellmaker. There's a reason Conjuration moves upward so slowly: it's because a lot of the default Bethesda-made spells (Summon Bound Dagger, for instance) last 60 seconds each. Once the spell is cast, we have to WAIT that entire 60 seconds before it can be cast again. Unless we cast the summon, cast dispel, cast the summon, cast dispel, etc. Tedious work to go back and forth like that.

Each time that dagger is cast, 3 points get added toward the Conjuration level-up of 100. Doing the math, this means that somebody diligent enough to keep casting this spell will spend thirty-three real-time minutes (I think I got my math right...) doing nothing but waiting to recast that silly spell over and over.

BUT, a trick I learned is to simply make a Bound Dagger spell which lasts 5 seconds, not 60. Voila. When this version is cast, have a look at the number of Conjuration points the game gives toward 100. It's still 3 points per summon! This means two things: you'll be able to level this skill up much faster, but the overall level of the game will also level up faster, too.

Still though, if you are like me, and want to see your character become a conjuring fool in no time, this is a good way to go.

-----------------------------------------

Tip 4: Last one for today. Also deals with Conjuration.

A lot of default Conjuration spells, lasting 60 seconds each from Bethesda, will have rather high magicka costs, not to mention some pretty dismal success ratings. For instance, the Bound Dagger spell is pretty light. My mage could cast it with 95% success, and it only cost maybe 5 points when it was still a 60-second spell.

But a more advanced spell, such as Summon Lesser Bonewalker, cost my mage almost 40 points of mana, with a really [CENSORED]ty 61% percent spell success rating. That's just too unreliable to be useful. And let's remember my mage has been using Conjuration for several months now.

The way to fix this is to use the Spellmaker again. Make a Summon Bonewalker spell which lasts maybe half as long. Matter of fact, I made a spell for my mage which summons this undead for 25 seconds instead of 60. Voila. Magicka cost went way down to just 17, and the spell failure rate is just 3%.

Time for some pwnage!

Interesting tips. I'll have to keep those in mind. The next time I create characters in Morrowind an Oblivion, I want to make them predominantly mages. I've done so in Skyrim recently though. With the exception of Arena (where I could use magic items to cast spells since I was a pure warrior), all of my Daggerfall/Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim/Online Heroes all used magic to varying degrees but definitely relied on melee first and foremost.

Yes, that is true about Arena. That game throws so much enchanted stuff at us from loot, right?

Playing a mage is really fun in this game, in my opinion. It takes more know-how though. One day I basically got fed-up trying to figure it all out though. Googled "how to play a mage in morrowind" and read a lot of really interesting results. We can really get creative in this game with magic, and make all sorts of variations of magic-user.

My mage is more of a flash 'n' fury type. She likes blowing stuff up! And making other beings do things for her. But it's possible to play somebody who is nothing like her, if you want to go for somebody who is more sly, or more saintly, or more ... whatever you'd like.

Improving Destruction spells is important. At the beginning of the game, it's a good idea to buy Fireball and Frostbite as soon as possible. These spells are sold by the treehouse merchant in Seyda Neen, and they're pretty cheap. There is also Firebite, which can be bought in other locations. Fireball is not as useful as Firebite and Frostbite. It does not do as much damage, but it can be tossed across a room, whereas the other two are touch spells.

Firebite and Frostbite are really the main ones to focus on, imo. Both do 15 to 30 points each on touch. Which is actually quite a lot of damage, compared to a lot of early weapons.

Touch spells cost less magicka than ranged spells, by the way, so my mage has mostly touch spells in her book. Using Firebite and Frostbite in the early game, you can take down rats, nix hounds, mudcrabs, and other such weaklings, in one or two shots. Cliff racers usually take three blasts of either spell.

Eventually, these two spells don't seem so great anymore, especially when going up against some stronger enemies. But I am proud to announce that my level 9 mage just took down Godrod Hairy-Breeks, who is a level 12 Nord Barbarian with 151 hp. Godrod lives in Ulummusa, or lived there, I should say.

It's a good idea to keep Firebite and Frostbite though; these two spells remain useful, and don't use very much magicka. They are good up against weaker enemies.

But it's also a good idea to make a really high-powered version of both of these spells. I used the Spellmaker once again to make a Fire Damage spell, and also Frost Damage. Some enemies get hurt more drastically by fire, others by cold. Anyway, each of these deal 20 to 25 points of damage, for 5 seconds, in three feet. Think about that. Overall, this spell is doing anywhere from 100 to 125 points of damage. Spells which deal damage over time cost less magicka than those which wallop the enemy all at once. And "3 feet" means the spell will flash three feet around the spell-caster's hands, meaning we don't have to be so accurate with touching the enemy.

Overall, this spell costs 34 points of mana, and has 100% chance of success, so it's pretty potent. - A lot of weaker enemies can be 1-shot by these spells, but since they use more magicka than the starter spells, the more powerful versions should be reserved for more powerful enemies.

Mages can't rely on Destruction all the time though. Godrod does a LOT of damage too, and very quickly, with his battleaxe. So what my mage had to do was

1). Cast First Barrier (a shield spell, basically)
2). Summon a lesser bonewalker, which lasts 25 seconds.
3). She then rushed up to Godrod, then made herself invisible, so Godrod attacked the bonewalker instead.

4). While Godrod and the undead began dueling, Igodan then blasted Godrod (who is a Nord. which means 100% resistance to cold) with her Fire Touch spell.

It took two tries. Godrod must have healed himself up at some point, but after two touches of her fire spell, I was happy to hear the guy croak.

My two Septims; Pick Atronach birthsign. Really does wonder along with any item that absorbs Magicka. It is counter-intuitive to stand in the way of a blast, but it does pay off nicely

Mostly though my character visits the shrine at the fort in Solstheim. A small contribution and Magicka is filled up.

My tip is to use a mod that makes your magicka regenerate over time, like in Oblivion and Skyrim.

I leveled up Destruction by going into the water. Touch spells still work underwater, so I would use a Touch fire spell (probably that Firebite spell you mentioned). The second you go in the water in Morrowind, the slaughterfish come charging for you. Kill as many fish as you can until your magicka runs out. Or if you get hurt badly. Then just step out of the water. That way you can keep from getting killed.

The funny thing about no magic regeneration is that I thought "how am I going to play a mage without magic regen?" Better question is WHY? But I've gotten used to it. Also, there is no magic regeneration, but magic items regenerate their own power, and in real-time (not just while waiting). So it's like Bethesda actually did a flip-flop in Oblivion. Magic items don't regenerate mana in Oblivion, but character mana does regenerate.

So that's something to consider for mages. I think each mage is a little different, like I said there are multiple ways to play a mage in this game. For my current mage, who mostly focuses on Destruction and Conjuration, one of her weak points is Restoration. After blasting away at some enemy (or a group of them) if her health has been impacted, yet her magic is running low, she's not going to want to spend more of it healing herself. So she recently bought a Life Belt, which recharges 10 points of health at a time.

A lot of Mages Guilds sell belts and rings that'll do this. 10 points doesn't sound like much, but like most mages, Igodah hasn't got much health to restore anyway; I think she's somewhere in the high 40s with health. As she spams her Life Belt, her Enchant skill rises. As her Enchant skill rises, this makes the power in any enchanted items recharge even faster.

Batteries not included.

The one big omission in this is the enchanted items you can carry that will provide you with spell power. When you cast a spell from an item, it uses the item's reserve, not your own, so you can switch rings, for example, and cast some more. Expensive rings are best magic-to-weight ratio, I think, or it might be amulets. Absolute numbers aren't as high as armour pieces, but you can carry more.

You may also want to plan your mage for maximum magicka. I have an Altmer Atronach that has close to 500 points available. She can go a long time between refills, which as SubPosa points out, you can get at a shrine. (Hint, set a recall marker near one) Her atronach absorb usually cancels out the Altmer weaknesses.

Like Oblivion, there's a loop effect you can exploit with crafting fortify potions to increase your alchemy, to make stronger potions to increase your enchanting, to enchant items to increase your alchemy etc. It starts slowly but really accelerates after a while. There's probably some fortify intelligence in that, I forget all the details. Some attributes aren't capped, and your numbers can get silly. You may consider that cheating.

In general it seems that Oblivion corrected the learning curve of Morrowind. In TES III, you start slow, but speed up faster as you go along and get overpowered at the end. Oblivion tried to start you off faster, and bring in diminishing returns at higher levels. That means anything you can do to get a quick start in Morrowind really pays off. Grabbing a good weapon/spell/enchanted item early is a must!

Slaughterfish are best killed with one of the cloak spells. Just enter the water and let them come and get it.

Thanks ghastley. I agree that with Oblivion, Beth went backwards on a lot of things.

Super Potions
This post is going to describe how to make super potions. Really, the sky is the limit when it comes to Alchemy in this game! Some may think what I'm about to describe is cheating, but there's a lot of work involved, a lot of button-mashing, and it does take some time to create these sort of potions. I'm not just entering a code and walking away.

The key is to make and consume a lot of Fortify Intelligence potions. Luck can also be fortified, too. If you've got a spell, scroll, or item which fortifies Luck, this increases your character's early chances for potion-making success. Eventually though, Intelligence will get so high, there will then be 0 chance of Alchemy failure.

Most of all, this endeavor begins with a lot of gold, at least 1000 pieces, so you can buy plenty of ingredients.



1). Empty your character's inventory (especially heavier items, but also anything that is not an ingredient, or clothing) into a safe place. Place any potions, scrolls, and other such items in this safe place too. It helps to have a near-empty inventory menu, so we can zip back and forth in this menu later on.

2). If you've been saving any ingredients to make into potions, go grab these now. Also, go on a buying spree, snatching up as many ingredients as you'd like. There's going to be a very large potion-making session, and it helps to be prepared. To make this process go as efficiently as possible, it helps to focus on certain types of ingredients. If you're planning to make a lot of Restore Health for instance, only grab up wickwheat, corkbulb, and other ingredients which make these sort of potions.

3). Now go to any Mages Guild. Find the teleport lady, and teleport to the Wolverine Hall.

4). Find the door which leads out of this hall. Now go downstairs. Straight ahead is the Imperial Shrine. Go in there. Find Aunius Autrus.

5). Get into his Barter menu. Buy all 10 of his ash yams, and all 5 of his bloats.

6). Pay for these items, and back out of Aunius's dialog menus entirely.

7). Speak to Aunius again, get into his barter menu again. Notice that the ingredients you just bought have been restocked. This guy has a never-ending supply of ingredients! Buy all 10 ash yams, all 5 bloats. Keep doing this until you wind up with about 75 ash yams, and 75 bloats. Both of these ingredients Fortify Intelligence. You can also go for 150 ash yams at this point, since they are cheap. Save whatever you don't use for later.

Note: Netch Leather also fortifies Int as well, and Aunius sells these, but this ingredient also weighs a lot more than yams and bloats. Your character won't be able to move if too many of these are carried.

Note 2: it is a good idea to buy a few frost salts, which are sold by various vendors in Mages Guilds and Imperial Shrines. Craetia Jullalion of the Vivec Mages Guild (the alchemy guy, basically) sells these. These are rather expensive at 75 gold a piece, but they mix with comberry to make Restore Magicka potions, and any mage knows it'll be worth it to be able to make a few of these.

Hound meat is also another good, cheap buy. Once your mage gets really smart, and all four alchemy effects can be seen, suddenly we learn that hound meat and comberries mix to make Reflect potions. Very useful against mages, vampires, daedra, and other powerful magic-users.

Optional: To really make potions with 1N$4n3 amounts of powers, it's best to use a Master alchemy set, which is expensive to buy, but there is a set available in the game which can be used for free.



You won't actually need the very BEST equipment though. A full set of Journeyman gear (mortar & pestle, retort, calcinator, and alembic) will also do the trick. But with Master stuff, you'll get to that golden nirvana-like level of potion-making much faster.

8). Take note of your character's current Intelligence. My mage has an Int of 89, Which is pretty high, right? Well, it's going to get a lot higher!

9). Get into your character's inventory window, and make sure All is selected at the top of the page.

10). Select an alchemy apparatus, then mix an ash yam and a bloat together. Exit the alchemy menu, then get back into the inventory menu.

11). Drink this potion, exit the menu, then immediately get back into it, and create another Fortify Intelligence potion. Drink that one, exit the menu, then immediately create another potion. Keep doing this!

* It's important to keep exiting the menus over and over, rather than just drinking each potion as they are made. The reason is, each potion will begin to stack on top of the last one's effect.

So initially, you might create Fortify Intelligence 15 points for 36 seconds. If you keep making potions and drinking them (without exiting the menus) you will wind up making a lot of Fortify Intelligence 15 points for 36 seconds potions. But if you exit and reenter menus, eventually you'll begin to see Fortify Intelligence 77 points for 223 seconds after making and drinking roughly 25 of these! And these potions only get stronger and stronger from there.

At this point Igodah still had 125 ash yams, and 67 bloats to go. She kept mixing potions until I got that "carpal tunnel" feeling with my hands. My character leveled up in Alchemy TWICE, and then a third time. The game informed me it was time to "rest and meditate..." She kept mixing until just 10 bloats were left. Overall, her Intelligence reached 18,533, and she was making Fortify Intelligence 771 points for 2,306 seconds. It is not good to keep going on for hours with this method; I have heard eventually the game will crash. But once your character has gotten this smart, now's the time to move on.

It's a good idea to NOT drink all the Fortify Int potions... once your character has gotten super-smart, save a few of these potions (maybe 10 or 15) for later. When the next potion-making marathon comes, the potions you saved can be gulped down, exiting the menu after each gulp, for a nice, easy boost of Intelligence.

12). Eventually, you get to the point that you get sick of mixing Fortify Int potions, or all the bloats are gone. SAVE the game.

13). Now's the time to start making other potions. Let's take Restore Health, for instance. Normally, Igodah would make something like Restore Health 2 points for 9 seconds. Not very useful when up against a horde of cliff racers and kagouti. But after getting her Intelligence up to 18K, now she could make Restore Health 157 points for 464 seconds! ! ! She basically can become a little God for about 7 minutes, and even the most powerful daedra in the game won't be able to take her down (health-wise, anyway).

Notice that any potions you make with this process will be worth extreme amounts of money. Way too much for any one merchant to afford, in full. In my opinion, this is why I only focus on certain types of potions which my character will actually use. All the "throwaway" potions, such as Restore Fatigue and any poisons ... these can be made as well, but you won't be able to sell them at full price, or anywhere near full price... (without mods, of course).

Overall though, now my mage is ready to take on the world. This method also works with making enchantments too. That will get described in the next post, hopefully.

The info in the spoiler tag includes some notes from UESP I was gonna use to start getting into Enchant, but for me it's not worth it. I was trying to create a Constant Effect item, something which maybe reflected or absorbed magic full-time, but to do this, I'd need a "400" sized soul gem, which is the TOP gem in the entire game! Expensive, and rare.

I get plenty of exploitation from the potion trick up above. All Igodah needs.

Now nothing can stand in the way of Igodah Pwn U!