User:Sandgroper

I'd heard about Daggerfall years and years ago, but never got around to playing it. Then a while back, I saw it somewhere as abandonware, downloaded it, but couldn't get it to run on my machine, or wasn't patient enough to fiddle around with every single possible DOSBox setting. I tend to go on occasional downloading sprees when I want to try out something new (as in "new to me", not "the latest game or app"). My "RPG history", if you will, began with Dungeon Master on the Atari ST (yes, I'm that old!) and includes stuff like Ultima Underworld, the Avatar MUD, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, and, more recently, Princess of Twilight from the Legend of Zelda series on the Wii.

So when I read online that Morrowind and Oblivion were supposed to be really good, and I saw a cheap GOTY edition of Morrowind for the PC, I decided to give it a try. I enjoy what I've seen so far, and, being the sort of person who wants to know the gory details of how stuff works, couldn't help but come across this site. Maybe I'll try Oblivion when I've had more of a go with Morrowind.

I think the concept of collaborating on something like this is brilliant, so I figured I might as well create an account to submit minor changes - I can't read past spelling mistakes without my eyes nearly bleeding ;) - and to perhaps contribute something of my own once I have enough knowledge. Although I'm beginning to doubt that there's much missing from this site... it's enormous!

Keeping Track of Level Gains

There are many FAQs, infos, and explanations to be found on the web about how advancement works in Morrowind. The mechanics of it seem simple enough - try to get as close to three maximum (5x) multipliers as possible each level, using misc skills to make up for what the 10 increases in major/minor skills leave out - but it took me a few tries to figure out how to best write down what attributes and skills I'd like to aim for each time I advance a level.

So here's what I do since I can't keep it all in my head:

• Pick 3 attributes I'd like to increase (in the example below, Str, Wil and Spd).
• Distribute a total of 10 points to major/minor skills I'd like to increase belonging to those three attributes (in the example: 2 Armorer, 4 Restoration, 4 Short Blade).
• Assign points to misc skills to make up 10 points within each attribute (in the example: 4 Acrobatics and 4 Long Blade to add to the 2 from Armorer makes 10 in Str).
• (Optional) Make a note of how I'll get those skill increases.
• Once I level, hopefully with triple 5x multipliers, I transfer the planned and actual values (you can't avoid "accidental" increases from running, jumping, fighting, etc.) to my little text file where I keep track of my level gains. (The "++" columns are the planned increases, the numbers are the actual values; 01 = level 1, 02 = level 2, etc. - to make the transfers easier, I've got those in the order in which they appear in the game for my character.)

I've actually gone from using a textfile to using a spreadsheet by now, but the principles remain the same.

This is what an early version of my text file may have looked like:

*** SET 3: 5xSTR + 5xWIL + 5xSPD ***

ATTRIBUTE/SKILL | MAJ/MIN | MSC |
STRENGTH:       -----------------
  Acrobatics    |         |  4  | Auto
  Armorer       |      2  |     | Auto, Wayn
  Axe           |         |  0  |
  Blunt Weapon  |         |  0  |
  Long Blade    |         |  4  | Auto..., Elone, Books?
INTELLIGENCE:   -----------------
WILLPOWER:      -----------------
  Alteration    |         |  4  | Auto, Only-He-Stands-There
  Destruction   |         |  2  | Auto, Estirdalin, Galbedir
  Mysticism     |  0      |     |
  Restoration   |      4  |     | Auto, Sharn gra-Muzgob
AGILITY:        -----------------
SPEED:          -----------------
  Athletics     |         |  4  | Auto
  Hand to Hand  |         |  0  |
  Short Blade   |  4      |     | Auto
  Unarmored     |         |  2  | Caius
ENDURANCE:      -----------------
PERSONALITY:    -----------------

Skill         Att  01 ++ 02 ++ 03 ++ 04
---------------------------------------
***  MAJOR  ***************************
Short Blade   Spd  40 +4 44    44 +4 48
Mysticism     Wil  40    40    40    40
Alchemy       Int  35 +4 39    39    39
Enchant       Int  35    35    35    35
Mercantile    Per  30    30 +4 34    34
***  MINOR  ***************************
Marksman      Agi  20    20 +2 22    22
Armorer       Str  15 +2 17    17 +2 19
Restauration  Wil  20    20 +4 24 +4 28
Block         Agi  15    15    15    15
Heavy Armor   End  15    15    15 .. 15
***  MISC  ****************************
Medium Armor  End  05    05    05    05
Blunt Weapon  Str  05    05    05    05
Long Blade    Str  10 +4 14    14 +4 18
Axe           Str  05    05    05    05
Spear         End  05    05    05    05
Athletics     Spd  10 +4 15 .. 18 +4 22
Destruction   Wil  20    20 +4 24 +2 26
Alteration    Wil  10    10 +2 12 +4 16
Illusion      Per  10    10 +4 14    14
Conjuration   Int  10 +2 12    12    12
Unarmored     Spd  10 +2 12    15    15
Security      Int  05 +4 09    09    09
Sneak         Agi  05    05 +4 09    09
Acrobatics    Str  05 +4 09    09 +4 13
Light Armor   Agi  10    10 +4 14    14
Speechcraft   Per  05    05 +2 07    07
Hand-to-hand  Spd  05    05    05    05

Attribute          01 ++ 02 ++ 03 ++ 04
---------------------------------------
Strength           40 +5 45    45 +5 50
Intelligence       50 +5 55    55    55
Willpower          30    30 +5 35 +5 40
Agility            40    40 +5 45    45
Speed              50 +5 55    55 +5 60
Endurance          75    75    75    75
Personality        55    55 +5 60    60
Luck               40    40    40    40


*** TEMPLATE ***

ATTRIBUTE/SKILL | MAJ/MIN | MSC |
STRENGTH:       -----------------
  Acrobatics    |         |  0  |
  Armorer       |      0  |     |
  Axe           |         |  0  |
  Blunt Weapon  |         |  0  |
  Long Blade    |         |  0  |
INTELLIGENCE:   -----------------
  Alchemy       |  0      |     |
  Conjuration   |         |  0  |
  Enchant       |  0      |     |
  Security      |         |  0  |
WILLPOWER:      -----------------
  Alteration    |         |  0  |
  Destruction   |         |  0  |
  Mysticism     |  0      |     |
  Restoration   |      0  |     |
AGILITY:        -----------------
  Block         |      0  |     |
  Light Armor   |         |  0  |
  Marksman      |      0  |     |
  Sneak         |         |  0  |
SPEED:          -----------------
  Athletics     |         |  0  |
  Hand to Hand  |         |  0  |
  Short Blade   |  0      |     |
  Unarmored     |         |  0  |
ENDURANCE:      -----------------
  Heavy Armor   |      0  |     |
  Medium Armor  |         |  0  |
  Spear         |         |  0  |
PERSONALITY:    -----------------
  Illusion      |         |  0  |
  Mercantile    |  0      |     |
  Speechcraft   |         |  0  |

Obviously the skill and attribute tables grow longer as you level up. Oh, and don't forget to add in the occasional increase in Luck, especially useful if you want to concentrate more on major/minor attributes of only two areas for a level and don't get a third 5x multiplier. Hope that makes sense... if not, feel free to add comments to the discussion page. Perhaps someone may come across this and even find it useful... :)