Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Majora]

Damn for some reason I thought the level cap for perks was 70, not 50. At level 20 now, I think I'm going to actually sit and write down every single perk I'm going to upgrade. I know I won't be able to get all the perks I want

[Kryptonian]

I forgot to mention above I also made over 10k from selling the stuff I made, all in all a slow but successful trip

[Kiwi Cake]

Damn for some reason I thought the level cap for perks was 70, not 50. At level 20 now, I think I'm going to actually sit and write down every single perk I'm going to upgrade. I know I won't be able to get all the perks I want

Has this been confirmed anywhere? As I've seen reports that people continue to gain perks after 50.

Just so everybody knows, getting all the skills to 100 should get you to "around" level 80, though the world supposedly stops scaling at 50 and as above there are mixed reports as to whether or not you keep getting perks.

[Loki]

Has this been confirmed anywhere? As I've seen reports that people continue to gain perks after 50.

Just so everybody knows, getting all the skills to 100 should get you to "around" level 80, though the world supposedly stops scaling at 50 and as above there are mixed reports as to whether or not you keep getting perks.

I'm sure I read that Bethesda changed their minds on this and you can continue to gain perks after 50 now, aye.

Edit:

A soft level-cap at 50, meaning you can still level-up after this, but it will be extremely slow. A mathematical cap exists around level 75.

Source Elder Scrolls Wiki

[JoeK]

Christ, whether this is right or not, but I seem to have played for around 20 hours, and that's without going to any other major cities apart from Whiterun! I can't quite get over how colossal the game is, but at the same time so thoroughly enjoyable to play without getting bored!

Really enjoying the Companion thread though -

but on my way to somewhere or other I stumble across a lighthouse. Hmm, looks nice I thought, only to open the door to blood everywhere and dead bird on the floor . And then I read the journals and things around the place :(

Really nicely written, and rather sad! And I couldn't continue to investigate, as my lockpicking skills were not good enough, and I'd run out of the damn things!And the worst thing is there's so much on my 'to do' list, that I'll probably forget about it!

[Loki]

As a side note as well. I'd love for it to be possible to leave notes on your map for locations.

It's great that is says whether or not a location has been cleared or not. But it'd be perfect if I could leave other bullet points like "Master chest located here", "Left a Burning Bastard Sword of Judgment here" etc.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

Hey, how do I get Lightning as weapon again? is it down to class?

because all I have right now is Fire.

[Flub]

Alrighty - I have a magic sword of knobbling which is running low on power. How do I recharge it ? I'm assuming its something to do with soul gems - but being an Elder Scrolls n00b confusion is ruling.

You need a filled soul gem (Petty or lesser are best since they're only any good for grinding enchanting levels). You can either fill them by using the soul trap spell (Or a weapon with the spell attached) or just buy a filled one from a shop. It's slightly more complicated than that but that's the basics. The soul trap spell gets cast on the thing you're fighting and when it dies (If it dies quickly enough) its soul gets placed in the smallest soul gem that will hold it. The stronger the monster the bigger the soul gem you need. Soul gems are destroyed when you use them for enchanting or recharging. Human souls need to go in a black soul gem. Everything else is classed as white and will go in an appropriate sized regular soul gem.

What I did with my two characters is disenchant the first weapon I found with soul trap on and attach it to my weapons with a big soul gem I bought. Once you've done that you can carry on. There also a rather nice quest that will help but it's not essential.

[Monkeyboy]

I enchanted my first item today. A silver ring that gave me 2% better one-handed.

I called it "The Ring of Slightly Better Attacks".

[MrPogo]

Hey, how do I get Lightning as weapon again? is it down to class?

because all I have right now is Fire.

You'll be able to buy the appropriate spells somewhere. I started with it (and fire) as a wood elf though.

[redbloodcell]

So yeah, was sneaking around in my newly-acquired sneaky gear today when I climbed a tower and came across this.

Perfect opportunity to test something out as it was asleep. I had my Daedric dagger at Legendary (26 damage), the perk to make sneak attacks with the dagger 15x more powerful and additionally some hand bindings that doubled that to x30. Rough estimate is that a good power hit will hit for a whopping 780 damage.

The result?

One-hit kill on a frost dragon.

My Hero!

[Majora]

I'm sure I read that Bethesda changed their minds on this and you can continue to gain perks after 50 now, aye.

Edit:

Source Elder Scrolls Wiki

Phew. My enchanting, stealthy, bow wielding Mage is still on!

[Cosmic_Guru]

I stumbled upon some awesome cave last knight, Lost Dagger or something like that. Everyone in it fried really easily apart from the bandit thug... Thought it was pretty funny that I could just spam him with arrows from behind a cage door and he only thought to run away and shout for mercy when he was right down to his last health. Needless to say, mercy was not forthcoming.

The loot wasnt too epic though, which was a shame, but the cave itself was lovely. So much better than Oblivion in that respect.

I did that one last night - Lost Knife Cavern near the mine - foolish bandits keeping sabre cats locked up like housecats - THEY MUST PAY. I hope you checked out the chest under the waterfall which had a couple of tasty items of loot for me.

[kiroquai]

My Hero!

Rather like the comment from Radish this morning, I am finding it a tad on the easy side at the moment as I am so overpowered. Thing is though, I really enjoy the feeling of being like a ninja who can go into any situation and, with a bit of planning and a steady aim, come out the other side dusting myself off and saying 'well, that went rather well'. Also, I am a fan of renaming things much in the vain of Monkeyboy. I am rather pleased with my Dagger of Outrageously Outrageous Outrage too!

[Cosmic_Guru]

Damn for some reason I thought the level cap for perks was 70, not 50. At level 20 now, I think I'm going to actually sit and write down every single perk I'm going to upgrade. I know I won't be able to get all the perks I want

Everyone should do this, seriously. It's freakin' scary. At level 25 I have only 25 or so levels to attain and yet my first pass at perks identified 45 as relevent to my playstyle. Of these I have managed to prioritise them somewhat to around 25, some of which I consider essential - basic attack increases in one handed, and bow, steady hand for bow, smithing up to dragon armour, enchanting strength up and so on, and some are "vanity" perks such as getting more treasure from locked chests, the advanced pickpocket ones, the speech ones and so forth. Just can't have everything in this game. I also need to figure out how many skill increases give me a level in the skills I use i.e am I using a broad enough range of skills to get to even level 50?

Then I have to get my head around the whole loop of using echantments to make stronger potions (for example), and then using the potions to increase the enchantments and so forth. Basically need an inventory of enchantments obtained so far and also a separate chest to store all the smithing gear for example - the ingots, some enchanted rings to enhance smithing etc. In other words, it's all been a bit haphazard so far and a bit of organisation is now needed.

[Davros sock drawer]

I did that one last night - Lost Knife Cavern near the mine - foolish bandits keeping sabre cats locked up like housecats - THEY MUST PAY. I hope you checked out the chest under the waterfall which had a couple of tasty items of loot for me.

I let the Sabre Toothed Cat out of the cage in the hope that it would deal with the last bandit.

It did.

And then killed me.

[Cosmic_Guru]

First significant bug encountered - one sword with a soul trap enchantment was always being equipped even when I had deselected it from my favourites entirely (I switch between bow and sword and fire). Had to dump it at home to solve the problem.

[Jarik]

I've spent my time up til now going between Riverwood & Whiterun doing Miscellaneous quests & clearing out dungeons/caves I find around them. I now feel ready to strike out into the rest of the world in a direction of my choosing, but reading through this thread there are just so many places & go & things to do, that no matter what direction I pick I'd feel like I was missing out on something else elsewhere.

[Strangelite]

I've spent my time up til now going between Riverwood & Whiterun doing Miscellaneous quests & clearing out dungeons/caves I find around them. I now feel ready to strike out into the rest of the world in a direction of my choosing, but reading through this thread there are just so many places & go & things to do, that no matter what direction I pick I'd feel like I was missing out on something else elsewhere.

And with a single hammer blow you just hit the nail right on the head...

That's exactly why this game is so great.... Go make your own adventure and make people think they are missing out by what you're doing!

(Edit: My game has so far consisted of not a single wait or fast travel... If I'm not actively playing the game (like going to make a brew or something) my character has to sit down... I've spent an extraordinary amount of time in the tavern of Riverwood, and that one with the attic room..)

Still wish there was a hardcore mode.

[Magoo]

I've spent my time up til now going between Riverwood & Whiterun doing Miscellaneous quests & clearing out dungeons/caves I find around them. I now feel ready to strike out into the rest of the world in a direction of my choosing, but reading through this thread there are just so many places & go & things to do, that no matter what direction I pick I'd feel like I was missing out on something else elsewhere.

That's what second play thoughs are for. I found from Oblivion that trying to 100% the game in one pass spoils it somewhat as half way through leveling the balance starts to tip in the game. It becomes easier and quests a little less significant, you can't specialise in every class to get the most from the specific guilds and you will hit the level cap before you can see everything anyway. So nicely designed quests in the latter part of the game could be rendered dull by your just waltzing through as a human tank.

I find it best to save a guild line and a town or two for a specialised run through, maybe after the expansions come out.

[Davros sock drawer]

The best thing about these games is that you can make your own fun for hours, but the minute you start to feel like you need a bit more focus you can fast travel to a town, pick up a quest, and on you go. It's the best of both worlds really. I got just as much fun the other evening heading off in a random direction and barely seeing anyone, as I did clearing the first dungeon in the Companions quest line. And then I bought a house.

[Guest]

Is there a specific point in the main quest where you get a horse, or is it a set place or what? I'm paranoid about missing out because I never got the dog in Fallout 3, and the horse seems like half the fun of the game in this.

I've mentioned this once already; goto Fort Greymoor, West of Whiterun. There are horses there you can just get on and ride for free - and when you fast travel it will appear at locations with you.

Effectively a free horse, saving you loads of gold.

I've given up rising my horse though as Lydia won't get on one - so she's left behind all the time. I just picked up a stray dog too!

[Cosmic_Guru]

Ok, this could be quite a lengthy post, but it can't do justice to the single most awesome playsession I think I have had in an Elder Scrolls Game, or possibly any other WRPG since the days of Baldurs Gate anyway.

So, after pottering around between Whiterun and Riften and joining the thieves and Companions, it was time to strike out for pastures new. Warming up with Lost Knife cavern, sell up loot and then decide Solitude, Morpath maybe? - no, decide to go up to the Mages in Winterhold and at the very least nick all their soul gems and staffs. I mean how difficult could it be?

The traveller at the start of her journey

Firstly there was a dive bomb attack by a dragon in the farm land which eventually got away but not without leaving a dog whining over his dead master and burning cart.

Then it was ever northwards into the snow country with trolls and sabre cats lurking, OK fine nothing too difficult if taken slowly, even a single giant is grist to the mill now. Get to the coast and find the lighthouse and discover

a decentish quest and a large dungeon attached with a really nasty boss - some uber powerful poison at work there which just emptied my health bar in about a second - ended up chewing a shit load of thistle as the only poison retardent available.

Note - all sneaky types would be advised to make a beeline for this location - one of the ingredients needed for potions of invisibility is plentiful here.

Anyway, this side step had exhausted my stock of arrows, so I couldn't participate in my first epic 3 or 4 way tussle between dragon, giant and sundry others. So dragon escapes for now.

Then, came the most epic bit really - on the map it looked a short hop across the coast but I hadn't realised the pack ice effect - literally this is Frozen Planet in parallel - just as the penguins were struggling to get through their pack ice so was I. The weather was closing in to blizzard conditions, I couldn't find my way, the wolves howled, the bears roared, Jesus it was tough. Going right along the coast was a mistake but at least the seals are easy game and excellent for filling common soul gems. So, turn round again and head inland.

Going south again I took shelter in some weird structure and it turned out to be a disused Dwarven tower with a few surprises. What happened to the dwarfs in Tamriel? Are they extinct?

I couldn't take full advantage of this opportunity so pressed on and eventually got on the approach road to Winterhold. Only to discover it's a complete

shit-hold, a real dump

. All they do is whinge about elves and magic - they should be marketing their town as a tourist attraction. Stupid Nords. Jarl of what exactly - a few log cabins? They deserved my thorough going over of all their valuables for sure.

So, after many weary hours of travel I found the gate keeper to the Magic college who had the outright effrontery to give me a "test" before I could proceed - how dare she? My usual charm failed on this occasion but I was saved by a convenient level up which enabled me to do the necessary spell and scrape in.

Words can't do this sort of session justice.

[womblingfree]

I'm still a fledgling Level 9 High Elf Battle Mage, playing on Expert. I can handle most grunts, have to use scrolls on 'bosses' and get totally massacred by dragons. Just starting to get into conjuration in order to raise my own undead army.

Hoping I have a chance against dragons once I've levelled up some more and crafted/bewitched more powerful armor. Totally ignored bows so far, but might spend a day hunting stuff with one.

[SpagMasterSwift]

The Birth of SPAGGLEHORN

Spaggles had been living a very simple life in a far off land, simple that is aside from the three maidens he had on the go. It was a happy, yet exhausting existence until that tragic night in a local tavern where the planets aligned and all three of his women discovered the truth about each other. Spaggles fled across the boarder, was picked up by an imperial patrol, sentenced to death and attacked by a dragon. A dragon ffs, those things haven't been seen for a thousand years!!! Spaggles was also suffering the worst hangover imaginable, he could barely remember he was black...well, born of the Redguard, but to the local imperial soldiers that made no odds.

After staggering out of a cave, Spaggles was proper lost, asking directions from a local giant only made his headache worse so he went into the first tavern he could find to take the edge off a bit. They only served honey! Honey ffs, in a pub. Wanting a bit of banter Spaggles followed the weird looking fella at the bar upstairs and kept pestering him for a chat. Things turned ugly when he was accused of trespassing, and as he fled the tavern Spaggles ran straight into a group of imperials who began shoving him around and calling him names. There was nothing for it, Spaggles needed to find a place called Dragons Reach or Dragons Breach or some shit that some guy had said was well good.

Dragons Keep was indeed an impressive place, they had their own Wizard and everything. He wanted Spaggles to head into a dungeon and get him some info on where all the Dragons had been buried, which sounded like a quest for Spaggles alter ego - SPAGGLEHORN! But without a horny helmet the transformation could not be performed. Spaggles wondered the great hall, searching rooms for a worthy hat. Then when he began to lose hope a final door at the top of a tower was before him.

Gingerly he entered. On the dressing table was a horny helmet the like of which he'd never to this day seen, its beauty unimaginable. It was certainly one of a kind and perfect for his purpose! Alas the room was occupied, a huge warrior class gentleman was snoozing in the bed across from Spaggles. Suddenly he awoke and Spaggles recognised him instantly from the story books he had grown up with back in the 80s. It was Arnold of Schwarzenegger! "Nrrggaaah" he yawned. "Hellow, I am a weapon! Joo muss use me as a weapon" he roared before climbing back into bed. Could Spaggles steal this god of a mans helmet while he slept? How could he not?

AND THUS SPAGGLEHORN - SLAYER OF A DRAGON AND STEALER OF HATS - WAS BORN!

[ph0rce]

Really loving this now, took a couple of hours to get back into the swing of things but I can't fault the game so far. Only had one 'bug' where I found a battleaxe floating in mid-air on the road but that's it.

Made my first journey up to Windhelm which was pretty arduous but not half as bad as going up the 7000 steps; " a couple of wolves" the guy at the bottom told me to expect, yeah right

frostbite spider at the first turn, a couple of ice wraiths further up & then a snow wolf or two, followed by a giant ice troll.

hardly the same thing!

I think I must have come up here too soon though as I am massively underpowered & on the verge of death all the time, going to drop back down to sunnier climes & mop up around Whiterun instead.

Just spent a very frustrating twenty minutes in Ysngol's ( sp? ) Burrow, am I being particularly stupid or are there no clues at all for the puzzle door?

I got through the first puzzle thanks to the book on the dead scholar but there are no markings in the cave with the puzzle door & no clues. I re-read the book & it said something about no creature being where it was supposed to be, so I put the whale at the top ( sky? ), bird in the middle ( ground? ) and the wolf at the bottom ( sea? ) but that didn't work.

Am I here too early or just missing something obvious?

[Cosmic_Guru]

Just spent a very frustrating twenty minutes in Ysngol's ( sp? ) Burrow, am I being particularly stupid or are there no clues at all for the puzzle door?

I got through the first puzzle thanks to the book on the dead scholar but there are no markings in the cave with the puzzle door & no clues. I re-read the book & it said something about no creature being where it was supposed to be, so I put the whale at the top ( sky? ), bird in the middle ( ground? ) and the wolf at the bottom ( sea? ) but that didn't work.

Am I here too early or just missing something obvious?

I think you may have misread the book - according to the guide I have the animals are to be placed where they are supposed to be, based on the condition / location of the 3 pillars.

[MrPogo]

I thought the people finding all these terrible monsters on the steps must have left it too late and encountered some scaling! I only got a wolf, the ice wraith (which was easy to kill with firey magic) and then the troll, which only took me two attempts (the first being a lesson to stay at least arms length away from it)!

[ph0rce]

I think you may have misread the book - according to the guide I have the animals are to be placed where they are supposed to be, based on the condition / location of the 3 pillars.

That's the first puzzle, the book on the dead scholar gives you the positions / locations of the pillars. I am talking about the next puzzle, involving the claw.

[Loki]

That's the first puzzle, the book on the dead scholar gives you the positions / locations of the pillars. I am talking about the next puzzle, involving the claw.

Solution inside as far as I know:

Inspect the 3D model of the claw itself from the items menu.