Starting Options When Daggerfall is first loaded, there are three options: Load Saved Game If you already have a character in the world of Daggerfall, and you want to continue his or her adventures, select this option. It leads to the saved game menu to choose which story you wish to resume. Start New Game Select this option the first time you play Daggerfall, or any other time that you want to create a new character and begin a new game. Exit Select this to leave the program and end your adventuring for now. Character Generation A role-playing game is all about assuming another persona. The first part of the game, therefore, is dedicated to creating this person who will be your alter ego in the world of Daggerfall. Some people like to spend hours considering options and fiddling with statistics, while others want to jump into the game as quickly as possible and develop their character as they play. Thus, there are short-cuts and long-cuts in Character Generation, depending on your taste and mood. Selecting A Homeland If you picked the option Start New Game, you will be first asked to choose your character's homeland. There are nine provinces of Tamriel, and eight of them are home to unique races. When you pick your character's homeland, you are really choosing the race of your character. Click on the province you wish to be your homeland. The Imperial Province, having no indigenous race, cannot be chosen. The details on the provinces and their native people follow: Skyrim (Nords): The citizens of Skyrim are a tall and fair-haired people. Strong, willful, and hardy, Nords are famous for their resistance to cold, even magical frost, and are known for their prowess as warriors. Elsweyr (Khajiit): Descended from the great cats of the desert, the Khajiit are an agile, intelligent, and hardy people. Some chose to decorate their faces in the style of their feline ancestors, and most all, given the inclination, make excellent thieves due to their climbing abilities. Hammerfell (Redguards): The most naturally talented warriors in Tamriel, the dark Redguards of Hammerfell seem to have been created for battle. In addition to their affinity for weaponry, Redguards are blessed with hardy constitutions and quickness of foot. High Rock (Bretons): Highly intelligent and willful, the Bretons have a natural bond with the forces of magicka. Many great sorcerers have come out of High Rock, and even the humblest Breton can boast a high resistance to the destructive powers of magicka. Black Marsh (Argonians): The strange reptilian people of Black Marsh seem equally comfortable in the water, surely no other race of Tamriel can swim faster or for longer than Argonians. An intelligent, quick-footed, and agile people, Argonians often train in magery and thievery. Valenwood (Wood Elves): The finest archers in Tamriel, the Wood Elves of Valenwood are nimble and as quick as the wind. Because of their curious natures and natural agility, Wood Elves often become thieves. Sumurset Isle (High Elves): The tall, golden-skinned High Elves are easily equal to Bretons in sorcerous ability due to their high intelligence, force of will, and agility. They are more susceptible to spells than the people of High Rock, but by their nature are completely immune to paralyzation. Morrowind (Dark Elves): The dusky, fire-eyed Dark Elves of Morrowind are a strong, intelligent, and quick-footed people. They are legendary sorcerers and warriors, with a prowess with sword and bow rivaling that of the Redguards and Wood Elves. After choosing a homeland, you will be asked to pick a gender, and then your character's class. Your character's class is the equivalent of occupation and philosophy. It is the framework for your skills and strengths as well as what you consider important and worthwhile. There are eighteen classes from which to choose, and if you want to personalize the character even more, you can create a custom class. A character's class should be selected with great care. If you are not sure what class best suits you, take advantage of the next character generation option. Choose from a list of possible classes to play This first option yields a list of all the eighteen character classes. Double-click on one of them to pick it as your own. The last entry on the scroll is the Custom option, if you decide you want to personalize your own unique character class. For details on creating a custom character class, see the section "Custom Class Generation" after the Character Generation section. Generate your character's class by answering ten questions This second option starts a set of ten questions that will determine the character class you are best suited to play. You can, of course, choose to answer the questions in the persona of your champion, instead of you, the player. Use the result only as a guideline. You do not have to select this class as the one you wish to play. Standard Character Classes Thieves: Crime most certainly pays. Ask any thief. The thief is the most versatile criminal class, capable of any skulduggery and sham. For thiefly skills, a high agility is essential, and intelligence and speed are also very important. A freelance thief may find the tide of the law overwhelming, but a member of the Thieves Guild will have evened the odds. Of course, working against the odds is often the very spice the thief desires. Primary Skills: Pickpocketing, Stealth, Short Blade Major Skills: Backstabbing, Climbing, Lockpicking Burglars: A good burglar can strip a palace to its foundations without waking a soul. Let the vulgar delinquents mug and kill for their gold, the burglar is agile, silent, and curious as a cat. Sometimes it is the challenge of a supposedly insurmountable lock or a tireless guard that sets their blood to burn. More often, it is simple greed. High agility, sharp intelligence, and speed mark the successful burglar. Primary Skills: Lockpicking, Stealth, Climbing Major Skills: Mercantile, Dodging, Running Assassins: This is the business-like attitude of the assassin: we are the merchants whose commodity is death. Cold-blooded and efficient, the assassin is trained to find weakness and to commit murder for a profit. The Dark Brotherhood is largely composed of assassins, and casts a hostile eye on freelancers in the field. Still, a strong, agile, and quickfooted solo assassin can have a long, bloody, and lucrative career. Primary Skills: Critical Striking, Backstabbing, Stealth Major Skills: Short Blade, Long Blade, Blunt Weapon Rogues: Equal parts thief and warrior, rogues do not avoid combat like most of the other thiefly classes. After all, it is often efficacious to beat a few heads to get to the gold. To this end, rogues are trained in a variety of weapons in addition to their thiefly skills. A strong arm is as important as nimble fingers to a rogue, and speedy feet may be most important of all. No one gets in and out of as much trouble as a rogue. Primary Skills: Long Blade, Climbing, Axe Major Skills: Pickpocketing, Backstabbing, Streetwise Acrobats: An experienced acrobat is as difficult to hit or hold as a drop of quicksilver. Dexterous to a superhuman degree, acrobats are remarkable leapers, climbers, dodgers, runners, and tumblers. Not surprisingly, agility and speed are the most important attributes for acrobats. Primary Skills: Jumping, Dodging, Running Major Skills: Climbing, Hand-to-Hand, Stealth Bards: The common bard seen entertaining in taverns is a wandering storyteller, a singer, a dancer, an all-around performer. Some who have mastered these diverse skills have taken to enterprises other than amusement. The bard may be considered a "jack of all trades," for, in addition to the traditional thiefly skills, bards are trained in social and magical skills. Agility and intelligence are essential for all bards. Primary Skills: Streetwise, Etiquette, Pickpocketing Major Skills: Stealth, Backstabbing, Critical Striking Warriors: In a sense, the warrior is the standard against which all classes are judged in terms of strength and versatility. As the name suggests, a warrior's milieu is physical combat. They are the ultimate fighters, capable of using any weapon, any armor, and any shield. Strength and endurance are the most essential attributes for warriors, though agility is also an important factor in combat. Primary Skills: Axe, Long Blade, Blunt Weapon Major Skills: Hand-to-Hand, Archery, Short Blade Knights: Knights are the warriors elite, but their sphere is not warfare alone. They are men and women of honor and breeding, the force of chivalry in a savage land. Like warriors, knights have high strength and endurance, but they rely on their high personalities in social situations. Primary Skills: Long Blade, Etiquette, Blunt Weapon Major Skills: Axe, Archery, Short Blade Rangers: Even as civilization slowly wins its battle with the wilderness, the woodland warriors of Tamriel, the rangers, are unchallenged in their environment. Rangers are hardly savages. They are supremely adaptive fighting men and women, sometimes guardians of the forest, sometimes protectors of travelers. Whatever the individual goal, it behooves a ranger to have great strength and endurance. Primary Skills: Long Blade, Axe, Climbing Major Skills: Swimming, Blunt Weapon, Critical Striking Archers: Archers are specialist warriors whose weapon of choice is the bow. Warriors who prefer close melee have called the archer's long-distance attack dishonorable, but to the archer, efficiency is most important. They cannot waste their arrow shots as conventional warriors can waste their strikes. High strength gives arrows more power, but high agility is even more important for the archer. Primary Skills: Archery, Hand-to-Hand, Dodging Major Skills: Axe, Blunt Weapon, Critical Striking Monks: Monks owe their martial artistry to their superhuman mental discipline. Their bodies and the weapons they wield are one, and such confining annoyances as shields and armor merely get in the way. Many monks even choose to reject conventional weapons, relying on their hands and feet alone to devastating effect. Strength, endurance, and willpower are important attributes for monks. Primary Skills: Hand-to-Hand, Critical Striking, Dodging Major Skills: Swimming, Medical, Blunt Weapon Barbarians: The true savage warriors of Tamriel, barbarians hail from the wastelands, where only the strongest and hardiest survive. What they may be lacking in social finesse, barbarians more than counterbalance with their battle prowess. Barbarians have very high strength and endurance, and the highest starting health bonus of any standard character class. Primary Skills: Blunt Weapon, Long Blade, Axe Major Skills: Hand-to-Hand, Short Blade, Running Mages: Thaumaturgists, mystics, enchanters, conjurers all great specialist spellcasters are, at their core, mages. Mages spend years studying the six schools of magicka, combining and juxtaposing them to create effects beyond the ken. Intelligence is important for mages, as their spells are powered by magicka "pools" based on intelligence. A high willpower is necessary for spells to be successfully cast. Primary Skills: Mysticism, Alteration, Thaumaturgy Major Skills: Illusion, Destruction, Restoration Sorcerers: Sorcerers are much like mages, but with important differences. They do not regenerate magicka naturally within their bodies, but absorb it from the spells of others. Their total magicka "pool"is much greater than the mage's, indeed, they have the greatest magical potential of any of the standard character classes. Like their brother mages, sorcerers must have high intelligence and high willpower. Primary Skills: Mysticism, Alteration, Thaumaturgy Major Skills: Destruction, Restoration, Illusion Healers: A sub-set of mages, healers are specialists in the School of Restoration. Their powers tend to be very strong for defense, but weaker in offense. High intelligence and willpower are essential for healers, as they are for all spellcasters. Primary Skills: Restoration, Medical, Dodging Major Skills: Thaumaturgy, Mysticism, Alteration Battlemages: The antithesis of the healer is the battlemage, whose credo comes from the School of Destruction. Offensive spells come naturally to battlemages, as defensive spells come to healers. Intelligence and willpower are important attributes for battlemages. Primary Skills: Destruction, Long Blade, Short Blade Major Skills: Thaumaturgy, Dodging, Mysticism Spellswords: Spellswords are the warrior-mages of Tamriel, a powerful class able to draw on both the inexplicable forces of magicka and the less exotic, more dependable weaponry. There are few men and women more versatile than spellswords. The class demands not only high intelligence and willpower, but high strength and endurance. Primary Skills: Axe, Long Sword, Running Major Skills: Destruction, Blunt Weapon, Alteration Nightblades: Possibly the most feared class of all is the nightblade. They possess many of the skills and philosophy of the thiefly classes, combined with the powers of the mage. Their natural agility and stealth, and their mastery of the School of Illusion, means nightblades are seldom seen, though their hand is certainly felt. Effective nightblades have high agility as well as high intelligence and willpower. Primary Skills: Illusion, Stealth, Dodging Major Skills: Thaumaturgy, Pickpocketing, Lockpicking Creating A Background Story After choosing a class to play, you have the option of taking charge of your character's biography or letting us create a story for you. Again, this is a question of personal preference. You may to choose the extra involvement or get to the game quickly. Fast Start Select this if you want to skip past the twelve biographical questions about your character's idiosyncrasiesprejudices, talents, special equipment, enemies, friends, and other details that make a character unique. The program will randomly pick answers to the twelve questions. You will still have a background story, but you will not have to pick all of the details yourself. Choose Your Character's Career Path Select this option if you want control over your character's background story. You will answer a series of multiple-choice questions, and each will influence one or more of the following: starting skill levels, attributes, inventory, reputation, affiliations, special abilities, and weaknesses. You might even create background friends and enemies who may have cameo appearances in the game. The next screen enables you to name your character. Any name will do, provided that it is no longer than thirty-one characters. Simply click on the top panel labeled "Name" and type your character's name. Then click the red OK button in the bottom right-hand corner when you are finished. The next screen allows you to pick your character's face from choices determined by your chosen race and gender. Cycle through the possibilities using the PREVIOUS and NEXT buttons, and when you have picked a suitable face, click on the red OK button in the bottom right-hand corner. The next screen shows your final attribute scores based on your class, race, and background. All attributes range from 1 to 100, with 50 being the average score for a character. There is a box to the right of your attributes with a random number of bonus points. These can be used to add a few points to selected attributes. Click on the attribute you want to raise to bring the bonus box to that attribute, and click on the top arrow of the bonus box to transfer bonus points to that attribute. If you decide that you have added too many, use the bottom arrow to remove attribute points, converting them back to bonus points. All your bonus points must be spent before clicking OK and going to the next and final screen. Strength: Strength affects how much (STR) damage you can cause in hand-to-hand and weapon combat, and is a factor in strength-related skills. Intelligence: Intelligence directly affects (INT) how much magicka you store for casting spells, and is a factor in intelligence-related skills such as negotiations and lockpicking. Willpower: Willpower directly affects (WIL) your ability to successfully cast and resist the effects of other spells. Agility: Agility directly affects chances (AGI) of hitting an enemy with a weapon or spell, and of avoiding an enemy's weapon or spell. Speed: Speed affects your movement (SPD) rate and all speed related skills. Endurance: Endurance directly affects (END) your number of health points and healing rate, and is a factor in resisting poisons, spells, and fatigue. Personality: Personality directly affects (PER) other people's reactions to you, your odds of impressing them in conversation, and is a factor in personality-related skills. Luck (LUC): Luck has a small effect on most any action you perform, from aiming an arrow to grilling a Thieves' Guild stooge. Reroll If you are not satisfied with the attribute points as distributed, click the Reroll button and your attributes and bonus points will be recalculated. You can reroll as many times as you like. Save Roll If you are reasonably satisfied with your attribute points as distributed, but want to try your luck at a reroll, you may want to click Save Roll first. The current distribution of points will be saved, and then later loaded back if you never get that dream roll. If you have a roll saved, and you click Save Roll, the new roll will be saved in place of the old roll, so be careful. Load Roll If you have a distribution of attribute points saved from an earlier roll, click on Load Roll to bring them back up again. Skill Descriptions After finalizing your major attributes, you are asked to do the same for your primary, major, and minor skills. Each skill has a governing attribute which acts as the skill's upper limit and is factored into some equations when the skill is used. The following is a complete description of all the skills in Daggerfall: Skill (Governing Attribute): Description Alteration (WIL): The School of Alteration is one of the six avenues of magical study. This School concerns itself with magicka's ability to change, often radically, the structure and composition of any object. Unlike the School of Illusion, Alteration deals with actual change, not the appearance of it. Slowfalling and Shield are two classic spells of the School of Alteration. Buying, creating, and casting spells of alteration are less expensive for mages skilled in this path. Archery (AGI): Characters skilled in Archery are lethally accurate with bows and arrows. Your Archery skill is automatically checked whenever you use a long bow or a short bow. Axe (STR): Characters with great Axe skill are best at striking targets and doing damage with all hatchet-style, chopping weapons such as battle axes and war axes. Backstabbing (AGI): An ungentlemanly but useful skill, Backstabbing is automatically checked whenever you strike a target from behind. A successful backstab delivers three times the normal damage to a target. Getting behind a target aware of your presence is quite a different challenge. Blunt (STR): Your Blunt Weapon skill is checked Weapon whenever you attack a target with any heavy, clubbing weapon such as a mace or a staff. The better you are, the more likely you are to hit and the more damage you are likely to inflict. Climbing (STR): Your Climbing skill is automatically and continually checked whenever you attempt to scale any surface. If you slip, your Climbing skill is again checked as you attempt to regain a handhold. Catburglars and dungeon delvers should invest time into developing this skill. Critical (AGI): A character who is skilled in Critical Striking knows how to inflict the greatest amount of damage to any target. This does not translate as greater accuracy; but if a successful hit is scored, a veritable explosion of damage will result. Assassins and other business-like predators favor this skill. Destruction (WIL): The School of Destruction is one of the six avenues of magical study. This School is concerned with the purely destructive capabilities of magicka, evident in spells like Fireball and Acidic Field. Buying, creating, and casting a spell devised to harm or destroy a target is less expensive for mages skilled in this path. Dodging (SPD): Before something strikes you, whether it be a spell, an arrow, or the business end of a claymore, your Dodging skill is automatically checked to see if the blow strikes home. Shield spells and good armor are excellent defenses, but the first and best defense is avoidance. And dodging is just that. Etiquette (PER): Characters skilled in etiquette are charming, mannerly, witty, and deferentialthe darlings of high society. Nobles and merchants are won over by this behavior and are more likely to champion you as "one of our own." Selecting the POLITE tone while in dialogue automatically uses this skill. Hand-to-Hand (AGI): Characters with great Hand-to-Hand skill are martial artists, capable of punching and kicking targets with great accuracy and damage. Illusion (WIL): The School of Illusion is one of the six avenues of magical study. This School works with of magicka in its capacity to camouflage, illuminate, or obscure without changing an object's structure. Invisibility and Light are two of the School's most basic spells. Buying, creating, and casting a spell of illumination are less expensive for mages skilled in this path. Jumping (STR): The more a character is skilled at Jumping, the further and higher he or she can leap. This skill is checked automatically whenever you hit the Jump key or strike the right-mouse-button while the left-mouse- button is depressed. Languages (INT): Some monsters can be pacified without resorting to spells and swords. However, the character must be able to speak the creature's language. The following languages are available as skills: Centaurian, Daedric, Dragon, Giantish, Harpy, Impish, Nymph, Orcish, Spriggan Lockpicking (AGI): Your Lockpicking skill is checked whenever you attempt to pick the lock on a door or a chest. Long Blade (STR): Characters with great Long Blade skill are best at striking targets and inflicting damage with all long-bladed, slashing weapos such as claymores, longswords, and katanas. Medical (INT): Characters with good medical skills are able to diagnose and treat wounds and diseases quickly and effectively. The skill is automatically exercised when you rest, operating on the assumption that before you sleep, you treat your injuries. This results in a higher healing rate while sleeping. Mercantile (PER): Whenever you attempt to haggle with merchants over prices or discern the market value of any item, your Mercantile skill automatically comes into play. Mysticism (WIL): The School of Mysticism is one of the six avenues of magical study. This School of Magic experiments with the most arcane aspects of magicka and expanding these "accidents" into a useful if eclectic range of spells. Because the forces being manipulated by Mysticism are dangerous and unknown, the spell effects are purposefully specific. They include Far Silence and Soul Trap among many others. Buying, creating, and casting spells of mysticism are less expensive for mages skilled in this experimental path. Pickpocketing (AGI): Your Pickpocketing skill is automatically checked whenever you attempt to sneak an item off another person or engage in a little shoplifting. Not surprisingly, those with a higher Pickpocketing skill get caught less often. Restoration (WIL): The School of Restoration is one of the six avenues of magical study. This School is devoted to the salubrious and soothing powers of magicka, evident in spells like Cure Poison and Troll's Blood. Buying, creating, and casting a spell devised to heal a target are less expensive for mages skilled in this path. Running (SPD): You can move faster by holding down the run key while moving. How much faster you move depends upon your Running skill. Short Blade (STR): Characters with great Short Blade skill are best at striking targets and doing damage with all short-bladed, stabbing weapons such as daggers, tantos, and short swords. Stealth (AGI): When you approach any other creature at half speed or less, your Stealth skill is automatically checked to see if they notice you. Other factors come into play, including the bulkiness of your clothing, the light, and the creature's perception. If you are sufficiently stealthy, they won't notice you. Streetwise (PER): Characters considered Streetwise know all the slang, attitude, and tone needed to be respected by the fringes of society. Underworld figures and peasants tend to respond better to people who adopt their style. Selecting the BLUNT tone while in dialogue automatically uses this skill. Swimming (END): A better Swimming skill gives you more speed and endurance in the water. It also enables you to hold your breath longer. Argonians have a natural advantage in this, but they can improve their abilities with this skill. Thaumaturgy (WIL): The School of Thaumaturgy is one of the six avenues of magical study. This School concentrates on exposing or manipulating known forces and objects within their natural laws. It is evident in spells like Levitation and Detection. No Thaumaturgical spell can permanently change the appearance or structure of a force or object. Buying, creating, and casting spells of alteration are less expensive for mages skilled in this path. Primary skills are the most important skills. They are the ones you probably use the most often, the ones in which you excel, and the ones you can improve most easily. Second in importance are your Major skills, followed by your Minor skills. Following your Minor skills are all the other skills, the ones not considered important to your character class. They are referred to as Miscellaneous skills. If you wish, in the course of the game, you can even improve your Miscellaneous skills and become quite an expert given time. However, they will never be as easy to improve as your Primary, Major, and even your Minor skills. As in the previous menu, click on the skill you wish to enhance with bonus points. Use the left and right arrows on the bonus box to distribute all your bonus points. Then click on the red OK button in the bottom right- hand corner when satisfied with the distribution. The final screen in character generation is your last chance to make any changes to your character. Look over your attribute scores and skill points carefully. If you feel that you must change something more than a few points in this skill or that attribute, pick the Restart button to begin character generation again. Otherwise, pick the red OK button in the bottom left-hand corner and journey on to Daggerfall. Character Generation Option: Custom Class Generation If you want to make a character who is truly your own creation, consider the Custom Class Generator. This is available by choosing "Custom," the last "class" choice listed. Name Every class must have a name. Remember that this is your name for your class, not for your character, and it cannot be longer than thirty-one characters. For Example: I want to play a spy in Daggerfall, so I click on the line marked "Class Name" and type in the word "spy." STR, INT, WIL, AGI, SPD, END, PER, LUC Every class has strengths and weaknesses. Adjust the minimum attributes for your custom class by adding points to more important attributes and subtracting them from the less essential attributes. You cannot add more points than you subtract. Remember these are the minimum requirements for a member of your custom class, not for your character itself. So though they will influence the attributes of your character, they will not equal your character's attributes. For example: Spies need higher than average personality scores to charm and befuddle, so I click on my PER score and add 15 points to it, making the minimum personality for a spy 65. Spies also need a little higher willpower to stand up to torture, so I add 5 points to WIL. Now I need to subtract 20 points from my other attributes. Spies rely on wits rather than on strong arm tactics, so I subtract 7 points from my STR total. Because I am not planning on being a spellcaster, I feel confident in lowering my class's base intelligence score. So I subtract 10 points from INT. The other attributesagility, speed, endurance, and luck, all seem almost as essential to spies as personality and willpower. Reluctantly, I subtract 3 points from LUC, and decide to work against fate. Primary, Major, and Minor Skills Click on an empty square to bring up the list of all possible skills available in Daggerfall. Scroll down the list and double-click on the skill that you wish to add to that square. No square should be left empty. Take your time choosing a skill. A class is defined by its skills more than by anything else, so choose wisely. If you are unsure of the definition of a skill, right-click on it to get a text description. If you are still not certain, look it up in the Skills section of this manual. Remember, the skills you do not pick are still going to be available for your character as Miscellaneous skills, they are just going to be more difficult to improve than your other skills. For example: I first choose the Primary skills for my spy class. BACKSTABBING, STEALTH, and CLIMBING all come to mind as appropriate. ETIQUETTE, STREETWISE, and DODGING are almost as important, so I choose them as Major skills. Finally I pick CRITICAL-STRIKING, LOCKPICKING, PICKPOCKETING, SHORTBLADE, LONGBLADE, and ARCHERY as the Minor skills. Some of the other skills also look helpful, but I know I'll need these twelve. Maximum Health Points Per Level Add or subtract from the default value of 8 to increase or decrease your character's health increase per level. Note that increasing this number will increase the difficulty for your character class to advance to the next level. The dagger on the chart Skill Advancement for Class shows the relative difficulty of this advancement. For reference, warriors are the norm, represented by the dagger at the middle position on the chart. Mages generally advance more slowly, so their dagger would appear higher. Thieves advance more quickly, so their dagger would be lower. Important note: A maximum health point per level score of 12 means that whenever your character increases a level, he or she will earn between 1 and 12 health points. It does not mean that the character class will automatically receive the maximum 12 health points at a level increase. For example: Spies try to avoid combat, so in the interest of letting them advance faster, I decide to decrease the maximum health points per level to 6 rather than 8. Help Select this if you want on-line help with the character generation system. You will be given a list of help topics: general, skills, class name, health points per level, special advantages, special disadvantages and edit reputations. Edit Special Advantages Select this to give your character class special abilities, those little perks like the barbarians' rapid regeneration and the sorcerers' ability to absorb magicka from spells cast at them. Adding any of these abilities increases the difficulty of raising to the next level in a character's class. Some increase the difficulty by more than others. The definitions of the special advantages follow: Resistance to (Harmful Agent) Members of a character class possessing Resistance are more capable of resisting the harmful effects of paralysis, raw magicka, poison, fire, frost, shock, or disease. If you choose to be highly resistant in light or darkness, your resistance will only work in those circumstances. General resistance, on the other hand, makes it much more difficult for a class to rise in level than lightness or darkness powered resistance. Immunity to (Harmful Agent) Members of a character class possessing Immunity are more capable of resisting the harmful effects of paralysis, raw magicka, poison, fire, frost, shock, or disease. If you choose to have an immunity in light or darkness, your immunity will only work in those circumstances. General immunity, on the other hand, makes it much more difficult for a class to rise in level than lightness or darkness powered immunity. Spell Absorption (General, In Light, In Darkness) Members of a character class possessing Spell Absorption are given a chance equal to the average of their INT + WIL / 2 of automatically absorbing the magicka of a spell cast at them and adding it to their own magicka reserves. If you choose to have Spell Absorption in light or darkness, your power will only work in those circumstances. General Spell Absorption, on the other hand, makes it much more difficult for a class to rise in level than lightness or darkness powered Spell Absorption. Rapid Healing (General, In Light, In Darkness) Members of a character class possessing Rapid Healing are able to regain their lost health rapidly while sleeping. If you choose to have Rapid Healing in light or darkness, your power will only work while sleeping in those circumstances. General Rapid Healing, on the other hand, makes it much more difficult for a class to rise in level than lightness or darkness powered Rapid Healing. Regenerate Health (General, In Light, In Darkness, While Immersed in Water) Members of a character class possessing Health Regeneration are able to regain lost health levels over time without pausing to rest. If you choose to have Regenerate Health in light or darkness or while immersed in water, your power will only work in those circumstances. General Health Regeneration, on the other hand, makes it much more difficult for a class to rise in level than lightness, darkness, or water powered Regeneration. Bonus to Hit (Undead, Daedra, Humanoids, Animals) Members of a character class possessing a Bonus to Hit are better at fighting certain types of enemies and find that their blows strike more often and inflict more damage. Athleticism Members of a character class possessing Athleticism find that their stamina decreases much less than other classes while swimming, running, and doing other strenuous activities. Increased Magery (3x, 2x, 1.75, 1.5x, 1x Intelligence in Spell Pts) Members of a character class possessing Increased Magery have greater magicka reserves than other classes. In comparison, most classes possess one-half their intelligence in spell points. Of course, it is also important to have skill in one or more schools of magic in order to cast spells. Adrenaline Rush Members of a character class possessing Adrenaline Rush have a burst of increased ability in a variety of combat-related skills when they are near death from health point loss. Expertise (Short Blade, Long Blade, Hand-to-Hand, Axe, Blunt, Archery) Members of a character class possessing Expertise in a particular weapon type inflict more damage and strike more often with their chosen weaponry than other classes. For example: I'm tempted by Athleticism and Expertise in Short Blade, but I decide instead on Adrenaline Rush. Near death experiences are what spies have for breakfast. Edit Special Disadvantages Select this to give your character class special disadvantages, like the thieves' armor restrictions and the sorcerers' inability to regenerate magicka. Why would you want to give your beloved new character class any kind of disadvantage? You may not want to, but adding additional health levels and special abilities makes it more and more difficult for a character class to increase in level. If the dagger is high on the Skill Advancement for Class, you may want to add a few disabilities to your character class so members can rise in level easily. The following disadvantages are available: Inability to Regenerate Spell Pts (General, In Light, In Darkness) Most character classes, even traditional non-spellcasters, regenerate spent spell points, albeit slowly. Characters who cannot regenerate spell points are severely limited in the practical aspects of spell casting, but may replenish spent magicka with certain potions and spell absorption spells and abilities. Some characters may only be incapable of magicka regeneration in light or darkness, and these disadvantages do less to improve class advancement potential than the general inability to regenerate. Damage (From Sunlight, From Holy Places) An unusual and restrictive disability, damage from sunlight or from holy places may severely limit a character's ability to have a normal life. While the damage the character suffers initially is light, practically unnoticeable at first, it continues for as long as the character remains at the lethal location. Holy places are defined as any shrine or temple. On the other hand, damage from sunlight or holy places is a disadvantage that really helps character classes which might otherwise never advance in levels. Use this one with caution. Phobia (Undead, Daedra, Humanoid, Animals) A character with a phobia has an acute fear of something, and that fear causes the character to react badly when facing the anathema. It is more difficult to strike successfully, to inflict damage, and to defend oneself properly when fighting one's worst fear. Light-powered Magery (Unable to cast in darkness, Lowered casting in darkness) A character class with light-powered magery may have severe limitations on its magic use at night, in dungeons, or inside buildings. The light-powered mage may be entirely unable to cast spells, or find that spells have a tendency to fizzle or work at lesser capacity. Darkness-powered Magery (Unable to cast in light, Lowered casting in light) A character class with darkness-powered magery may have severe limitations on its magic use during the day outdoors. The darkness-powered mage may be entirely unable to cast spells, or find that spells have a tendency to fizzle or work at lesser capacity. Forbidden Weaponry (Short Blade, Long Blade, Axe, Blunt Weapon, Missile Weapon) Being forbidden a type of weaponry simply means that the character class cannot use or equip any of a certain category of armament. The character may buy or sell the forbidden weapons, may carry them in inventory forever, but they may never be actually used. Low Tolerance (Paralysis, Raw Magicka, Poison, Fire, Frost, Shock, Disease) A character with low tolerance for a certain dangerous agent usually takes maximum damage from exposure to it, and can seldom absorb spells or other effects that use the agent. Critical Weakness (Paralysis, Raw Magicka, Poison, Fire, Frost, Shock, Disease) A character having a critical weakness to any dangerous agent would be smart to avoid the allergen at all costs. There is a chance that contact would instantly kill the character, and even if it does not, the character has little chance of coming out of the experience unscathed. This is another of the disadvantages to be wary of choosing. It will indeed help characters rise in level quickly, but at a real cost. Forbidden Armor (Leather, Chain, Plate) Many character classes are forbidden armor or may only wear specific types of armor. Like forbidden weaponry, characters with forbidden armor may still possess the prohibited helmets and pauldrons, they just cannot equip or use them. Forbidden Shield (Buckler, Round Shield, Kite Shield, Tower Shield) Like forbidden weaponry and forbidden armor, characters who are forbidden shields may still possess, buy, and sell them, they simply cannot equip or use certain types of shield. Forbidden Materials (Iron, Steel, Silver, Elven, Dwarven, Orcish, Mithril, Adamantium, Ebony, Daedric) Characters who are forbidden a certain material cannot use or equip any item that is made of that material, whether it be a weapon, a shield, armor, or any other type of item. The character may possess items of the forbidden material, he or she simply may not use them. For example: Because I added Adrenaline Rush to my spy class, I noticed the dagger on Skill Advancement for Class has risen well above the middle point of the chart. I decide that it's important enough that my spy character rise quickly in levels that I'll consider adding some disadvantages to the class. I considered restricting armor because spies are supposed to be more like lightly dressed thieves than hulking warriors, but then I changed my mind. After all, I may want to impersonate a hulking warrior one day. Instead, I choose the Inability to Regenerate Spell Points in General Disadvantage. Sure, it'd be nice to have that spell point reserve just in case, but it doesn't really go with my character concept. Besides, when I see the dagger plunge down the Skill Advancement for Class chart, I know I've made the right decision. Edit Reputations Clicking on the Edit Reputations button brings up the Reputations chart. From here, you can adjust your custom class reputations with certain very general groups. You are in effect determining which people like or respect your character class, and which people will have nothing to do with a member of that class. At its default value, all social groups are of one mind about your new class: they do not think about you at all. In order to balance new classes, if you improve your standing with one or more groups, you must worsen your reputation equally with one or more other groups. You must adjust your reputations all around until your average reputation with all groups equals zero. For example: Spies are generally admired by the typical Underworld gangster for their savoir-faire, so I add 5 points to my starting reputation among Underworld. I thought about giving myself a couple of points for my reputation with Nobility, since they're the people who employ spies most often, but I decided against it. Nobles may respect and rely on spies in their affairs, but they don't like to see unemployed spies hanging around their court. So I decided that this balanced their feelings about spies to around zero. Peasants and scholars seldom employ spies and don't have much need to use them. That leaves Merchants. Merchants would probably not be averse to using spies, but few of them can afford us. Among our other activities, we're the people who let the nobles know which merchants are cheating them. That sounds like good enough reason to give us a -5 initial reputation with Merchants. When you have completed your custom character class, click the red OK button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen to continue character generation, as outlined above. Hot Keys The best way to view the hot keys is in the game. Press ESC to get the OPTIONS menu. Click on CONTROLS. You should see all the key assignments. You can change any of them you want. Playing the Game Mouse Controls Daggerfall has a completely customizable interface. You can choose which keys and mouse buttons perform which functions. There are even two different approaches to using the mouse. The default interface is the one used in Arena. Some of the keys have been changed, so even if you played Arena, read on. This manual assumes you are using the default Arena mouse interface and the default key assignments. Cursor Based Interface (default) When your mouse is in the top portion of the screen, showing the world of Daggerfall, it assumes the shape of either an arrow or an X. Holding down the left mouse button while the cursor is an arrow moves the character in that same direction. The closer the arrow is to the edge of the screen, the faster the character moves. Your character's Running skill and Speed attribute determines your maximum rate of movement. Left clicking when the cursor is an X interacts with whatever the X is on. This is how your character talks, opens doors, picks pockets, pulls levers, etc. Exactly what happens depends on the mode your character is in and what type of object the cursor is on. If you do not have a weapon out, right clicking will activate an object, even in the areas where the cursor is a movement arrow. However, if you have a weapon out, it swings the weapon. Holding down the shift key while right clicking will work anywhere on the screen even if you have a weapon out. To look around, hold down the ALT key and move the mouse. When you release the ALT key, your viewing angle will be locked in place. With this system it is possible to be looking to the left while moving forward. To re-center the view, hit HOME or click the left mouse button while holding down the ALT key. View Based Interface This view based interface uses the mouse to control where your character is looking. As you move the mouse left, the character turns left. If you pull the mouse toward you, your character looks up into the sky. To move, hold down the appropriate direction key. For instance, the up arrow key moves your character in the direction he is facing. Speed is constant, unless you choose to run or sneak. Pressing the spacebar will interact with whatever is exactly in the center of the screen. This is how your character talks, opens doors, picks pockets, pulls levers, et cetera. Exactly what happens depends upon the mode your character is in and what type of object the cursor is on. Spells are always cast at the center of the screen. Pressing the ENTER key will freeze the view and allow the mouse to move the cursor. This is the only way to get the cursor to the icons at the bottom of the screen. It also allows you to aim spells at positions not at the center of the screen. The view based interface moves your character at a constant speed. Since their are times when you may want to move slowly, there is a sneak key. It is only available when you are using the view based interface. Holding down the sneak key while moving forces your character to move slowly (40% of full speed). The Icons 1. Character Portrait. Clicking this brings up your character sheet. (Also F5 key) 2. Health. The higher the green bar is on your health button, the closer you are to peak health. 3. Fatigue. The higher the red bar is on your fatigue button, the more refreshed and alert you are. 4. Magicka. The higher the blue bar is on your magicka button, the more "full" of magicka you are. 5. Options. Clicking this brings up your Options screen. See Options section for all features. (Also ESC key) 6. Sunburst. Clicking on this brings up your Spellbook, from which you can cast all your spells. 7. Wand. Displays a list of all your magical tems. From the list, you can use any of your magical items that are equipped and ready. 8a. Picking Finger. Steal mode 8b. Grabbing Hand. Grab or use item. 8c. Eye. Look at something. May provide information about it. 8d. Word Balloon: Begin conversation 9. Legs. Clicking on this displays a menu with four options: wagon, horse, foot, exit. Riding in a wagon allows your character to carry many objects and not get tired as quickly. To use anything in the wagon, it must be transferred to your person. Riding on a horse allows your character to move faster and not get tired as quickly. When your character is on a horse or wagon, he cannot enter a building or dungeon. 10. Bags. Clicking on this brings you to your inventory screen. (See Inventory) 11. Map. Left-clicking on this brings up your current Automap (See Automap). Right-clicking on this brings up your Travel Map (See Travel Map) 12. Crossed Swords. Clicking on this readies your weapon for combat (See Combat). If you have no weapon equipped, your fists will appear for hand- to-hand combat. Important note: if you walk around with a weapon out or your hands clenched in fists, people will generally not want to talk to you. 13. Camp Fire. Clicking on this allows you to rest. Resting from time to time is important, because it helps you regain lost health, fatigue, and spell points. Choose where you rest carefully: vagrancy is a crime in most towns, and many creatures in dungeons consider a sleeping champion a very special delicacy. 14. Compass. This performs as a traditional compass. Clicking on it brings up information on your current location, the time of day, and the date. Time is shown by a 24-hour clock. 3:00p.m. is 15:00. Combat Sooner or later, you are going to have a fight. That is just a fact of life. In Daggerfall, only a peculiar few people lead lives of quiet desperation. The rest brawl. Combat has been designed to be quick and simple, so memorize these few instructions and bits of advice. When a nest of harpies is ripping your flesh into bite-sized morsels, you are going to want to know what to do fast. Before the Fight When traveling in potentially dangerous areasand most places qualifybe sure to have your favorite weapon in hand. Pull out your readied weapon by clicking on the Crossed Swords Icon or pressing the A key. You may find talking to people very difficult when you have a weapon raised. When the Fight Begins To strike with a weapon: 1. Take a swing at your target by holding down the right-mouse-button and swinging the mouse in the direction you wish the weapon to follow. 2. Keep swinging until your foe is destroyed, or you decide that a strategic withdrawal is in order. To fire a spell: 1. Open your spellbook by pressing the backspace key. 2. Cast a spell by double-clicking on the desired spell in the spellbook. 3. If the spell is directional, such as a fireball, aim the X cursor in the direction you want the spell to go and click your left-mouse button. In the View Based interface, spells are always fired at the center of the screen. 4. To recast the same spell, press Q. 5. To cancel a spell you readied, press E. Important Note on Combat Skills There are a number of combat-related skills, from dodging to critical striking to archery to backstabbing. All are activated automatically. You will always attempt to dodge any opponent's blow and to strike your opponent accurately, causing as much hurt as you possibly can. You are playing for keeps. Special Note on Archery With most weapons, "swinging" the mouse will effectively stab or slash at a close-range opponent. A bow requires taking a shot with more precision, and is handled similarly to firing a spell like a fireball or an icebolt. When a bow is readied, it is aimed in the direction of the X the movement arrows form at the center of the screen. A right click of the mouse fires an arrow in that direction. In the View Based interface, arrows are always fired at the center of the screen. Obviously, you cannot use your bow once you have used all your arrows. You can retrieve any arrows that struck a living (or dead, but active) target by searching the body after it has fallen. Special Note on Swings: When striking an opponent, it is important to be aware that how you swing your weapon makes a difference, both in the potential damage you may inflict and the likelihood that your blow will connect. Swimming, Climbing, & Levitation: Vertical Movement In a few special circumstances, your movement is not limited to the directions on a compass. For example, when you dive into a deep pool of water or cast a levitation spell, you may also choose to go up and down. There are several other movement controls for your character. You can make him run, jump, and crawl. When he is in the water, he can swim on the surface using the normal keys to move forward, backward, left or right. To go underwater, hold down PAGEDOWN. To resurface, hold down PAGEUP. The same keys work when your character is levitating. Swimming When you dive into a pool of deep water, you may sink or float, depending on your swimming skill and the degree to which you are encumbered. Wearing a full suit of Daedric plate armor is guaranteed to sink the mightiest swimmer. There may be little choice but to drop your weightier items to avoid drowning. There are, of course, certain forces of nature that may make this movement more difficult. When you are submerged underwater, a yellow bar appears on the right-hand side of the screen. This represents your breath. Almost immediately, the bar begins to drop. When you are almost out of breath, the bar turns red. When it disappears altogether, you drown. Climbing First move up next to a wall or other surface. To begin climbing, try to move forward through the wall. After a moment, you will begin climbing. Hold down the mouse button and move forward. You will notice that you slip and slide down occasionally. How often this happens depends upon your Climbing skill. It is possible to fall all the way down and be injured. Levitating Levitating can get you into as much trouble as climbing. But so long as you observe the spell effect icon in the top left-hand corner of your screen, you do not need to fear falling. Thus, you can release the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN buttons even in mid air. When the icon begins to blink, the spell duration is running out and you should either descend to a safe location or recast your levitation spell. Dialogue There is plenty of combat, spell creation, and traveling in Daggerfall, but the heart of the game is Dialogue. Through Dialogue, you are able to gather information, receive quests, make friends and enemies, give information to others, and much more. To speak to someone, select the Word Balloon icon (you may have to go through the Grab, Look At, and Pick icons to get to it), and click on the subject with the X cursor. If the person does not want to speak to you, you will be given a message to that effect. If the person is willing to talk, you will be brought to the Dialogue menu. Tell Me About / Any News Tamriel is not a static world. Political allegiances shift, nations succumb to famine and plague, commerce rises and falls. The best way for you to find out about these events is to read the postings at the gates of major towns, or to ask, "Any News?" The Tell Me About button is used in conjunction with Locations, People, and Things. You can hear rumors about anything related to any of the quests you currently have active. Sometimes you can even gain information that will direct you in your quest. Where Is ... Select this when looking for directions to a specific place in the area. In order to complete your sentence, you will have to choose a person, thing, location or work. Click on the appropriate keyword category, and scroll through the alphabetical list until you come to the keyword for which you want to get directions. Click on that keyword. Select a tone for your comment. Click the OKAY button when you are satisfied with your sentence. Tone Polite: Select this to use your Etiquette skill to impress your target with grace and courtesy. Certain social types respond better to this conversational style than others, and, if your skill does not measure up, you are likely to fall flat on your crassness. Normal: This is the default Tone setting, and uses your straight Personality attribute. Your comments are unlikely to be as colorful as polite or blunt tones, and you will probably not impress your target. On the other hand, you are not likely to offend either. If your Personality attribute is higher than your Etiquette and Streetwise skills, Normal is probably the right conversational gambit for you. Blunt: Select this to use your Streetwise skill and adopt a slang-filled, casual hue to your conversation. If your target is of a lower-class, urban background, he or she is likely to warm up to this style. Also some nobles may find it charming if delivered convincingly. If you do not pull it off well, however, you may offend or at least appear very silly. Copy Comment to Logbook Select this button when you wish to have something copied to your notebook. Only the NPC's current comment will be copied, in the format, "8th Mid Year, 3E 407: Galerion Strae told me, "Listen to what I say, the orcs are not the barbarians we think they are." Goodbye Select this button to exit from conversation. Automap Left-clicking on the Map icon on your character sheet brings up your Automap, which shows your immediate surroundings. There are two kinds of Automap: one that appears when you are indoors, and one that appears when you are outdoors. In the corner is a shape representing the shape of the dungeon. North is up. The blue dot is where you entered. The red dot is where you are. The Indoor Map is a 3D orthogonal representation of the dungeon you are in. Because the dungeons may include all varieties of slopes, spiral hallways, staircases on top of staircases, and other features that make map- reading difficult, there are two modes that can be used to view a structure from within. The "Top-Down" mode is the default mode for the indoor automap. The arrow represents your current position, pointing in the direction you are facing. The yellow arrow keys allow you to rotate or move the map to afford you a better view. The upstairs/downstairs arrows zoom in and out. Clicking on the red grid brings you to the "Perspective" mode. The "Perspective" mode represents the building as if it were a model, making corridor heights, doorways, subtle bends, and over-under passes easily recognizable. The yellow arrows rotate or move the model, and the upstairs and downstairs arrows move you to different levels of the map. Clicking on the red grid returns you to the "Top-Down" mode. Travel Map Right-clicking on the Map icon on your character sheet brings up your Travel Map. Although it is possible to walk to any location in the Iliac Bay, this may take hours of real time, so it is often preferable to "fast-travel." Click on the region you are interested in visiting. Your own region blinks. Once you get a close-up of the region, move your cursor over the dots to see the names of each of them. It can be difficult to get the arrow onto these dots. Clicking the right mouse button on the map will blow it up even further. Selecting FIND will allow you to type in the name of a place and have it located for you. In most cases you only need to type in the first part of a place name to get a match. Click the I'M AT button to see where your character is currently located. The four map legend items also act as filters. Clicking on one of them hides that type of place on the map. Clicking on it again reveals them. Most regions in Daggerfall have hundreds of map locations. Late in the game, these filters will become very handy. Travel Options After a location is selected, press the OKAY button on the Travel Options menu to begin your trip. You have a variety of options which will effect your speed, fatigue from the trip, and travel cost. The Character The Character Sheet 1. These info boxes show your name, race, class, level, and total gold. Left-click in this box to change your name. 2. This button shows your current fatigue level over your possible "refreshed" fatigue level. 3. This button shows your current health level over your possible "unhurt" health level. Clicking on it shows any diseases you may have contracted. 4. This shows how many pounds over max encumbrance your character is carrying 5. Clicking on this and holding down the mouse button shows you a list of organizations of which you are a member. 6. Skills: Clicking on Primary, Major, Minor, or Miscellaneous and holding down the mouse button shows you a list of skills of that type, expertise in each, and the attribute that most affects it. 7. Clicking on this brings you to the inventory screen. 8. Clicking on this brings you to your logbook. 9. Clicking on this exits you from your character sheet. 10. Your basic attributes are listed here. Clicking on one of these scores and holding down the button gives you more information on the attribute. 11. Clicking on this brings you to your spellbook menu. 12. Clicking on this brings you to your notebook. The Inventory Sheet The inventory screen is used to move your belongings. It shows three basic places where objects might be located. These are: on your body (4), in your backpack (6), or on the ground (9). First you have to decide what you want to do with your itempick it up, drop it, equip it, etc. This is where the column of buttons comes in. For example, if you want to equip an item that is currently on the ground, select EQUIP, then click on that item. Every item you click on (on the ground or in your backpack) will be equipped until you switch to INFO, REMOVE, or whatever. 1. Click on this to access your inventory of weapons and armor. 2. Any magical jewelry you are currently wearing is displayed in these boxes. 3. Click on this to access your inventory of magical items. 4. Shows the weapons, armor, and clothing you have equipped. Also shows the armor rating for each region of your body. 5. Click on this to access your inventory of clothing and other sundry items. 6. This is your inventory. The image here is either your backpack or a wagon, indicating which inventory you are examining. 7. These boxes show icons representing equipment currently in inventory. 8. Click on this to access your inventory of potion ingredients. 9. This is the "ground." It will show a treasure chest, dead body, store shelf, etc. 10. These boxes show icons representing items that are not currently in your inventory, such as those from treasure piles. Wagon: Works with the other modes. When not in a shop, the wagon and its cargo appear in the right-hand column. You can now move items between your character and the wagon. In shops, the wagon's cargo appears in the left-hand column, allowing you to place purchased items directly in the wagon. Info: Displays information about any item you select. Equip: Places an item on the character. If an item on the ground cannot be worn, it is transferred to your character's inventory. The right-mouse-button will act like the remove mode (see below). Remove: Removes a selected object from the figure. Selecting an object in the inventory gets rid of it altogether by putting it on the ground. Selecting an object on the ground transfers the object to your inventory. In this mode, the right-mouse-button will act like the equip mode (see above). Select: Allows you to pick items to be bought, sold, repaired, or identified. When buying, selected items are moved to your inventory, but kept highlighted. You can try them on before buying them. In the three other modes, selected items are moved to "the ground" (right-hand column). Clicking an item in that column returns it. When you have picked everything you want, click on the BUY, SELL, REPAIR, or IDENTIFY button. Only after the transaction has been confirmed will it be finally transferred. Clear: Returns all items selected for purchase, sale, repair, or identification. Use: Mostly for triggering magical items. However, there are other items that can be used, such as parchments (letters) and books. Selecting an item on the ground does nothing. Buy: The shop owner offers you a price for all the items you have selected. If you accept it, they are transferred to your inventory. If WAGON has been selected, they end up in your character's wagon. Steal: Is only available when you are selecting items to buy. Clicking on STEAL means you are trying to shoplift them. Be careful. There are stiff penalties for theft in most cities in Tamriel. Sell: The shop owner offers you a price for all the items you have selected. If you accept it, they are transferred from your inventory. Repair: The shop owner gives you a price and how long it will take him to repair the things you selected. If you accept his offer, the things will be removed from your character. Come back to the shop to get them when the time is up. Identify: The shop owner offers you a price and a time to identify all the items you have selected. If you accept it, they are transferred from your inventory. Come back to the shop when the time is up to reclaim your character's items. Exit: In a shop, returns all items to their original locations. Experience One the biggest differences between Daggerfall and other role- playing games (including Arena), is the method for tabulating experience. It never made sense to us that a thief became a better thief after killing a troll, but he would never become better at lockpicking, no matter how much he practiced, until he killed another troll. With this in mind, we decided to make level increases coincide with class-related skill increases. If a thief practices and uses his backstabbing, lockpicking, climbing, and pickpocketing skills, he will become a better thief. When you rest, all of the skills you used (even if you failed), and all the skills you practiced at a guild or some other training hall, are examined. Current level and special class-related factors make an increase more or less likely. Your class' Primary skills are easiest to increase; Miscellaneous kills are the hardest. Your character's level is related to his Primary and Major skills. As these rise, so does his level. To make the most out of your character, use the skills listed in these two categories. The more you use them, the faster they will increase, and the quicker you will gain levels. Whenever you increase in level, you also increase your total number of health points. You are also given bonus points to increase your ability scores. There are a variety of other benefits that come with higher levels. These should become apparent during the game. The World of Tamriel The Shops of Daggerfall Buying, Selling, and Repairing There are many times in the game you will want to buy, sell, or repair things. This is done in the various shops of Daggerfall. Selling and repairing items works as it does in most games. Click on the proprietor, and select the appropriate menu option. Buying works a little differently. Each shop has shelves and cabinets full of goods. To buy an item, you must click on the shelf, not the proprietor. The screen switches to your inventory, and you see the shelf in the right-hand column, with its goods listed below. Be sure to check out the different shelves and cabinets in the store. They may have different items in them. Selecting items from the shelves will transfer them to your inventory, or, if appropriate, allow you to try them on. Each item remains highlighted until it is actually purchased. Once you have selected everything you want to buy, click on the BUY button. The proprietor will offer you a price, which you can either accept or reject. There is no interactive haggling. The offered price is calculated from your character's skill in mercantile negotiation, the shop keeper's skills, and the usual factors of quality and type of item. If your character has good people skills and good mercantile skills, he will always get a good price. Exploring the Iliac Bay Shops, Guilds, Taverns, Palaces, and Other Common Locales: Shops The merchants of the Iliac Bay tend to be specialists: gem-brokers, weaponsmiths, tailors, and alchemists, to name but a few. There are, of course, general stores and pawn shops for your "one stop shopping" convenience, but the best deals and highest quality are usually found at the specialty stores. Not all types of stores are found in all locations. Tiny fishing villages have little need for alchemists. In larger cities, there are usually merchants of all descriptions. Value, selection, and quality may vary widely from one store to the next, so shop around. Remember, the shopkeeper will be happy to handle repairs and buy merchandise from you. On the other hand, if you want to buy something, go to the shelves, not the shopkeeper. Guilds Guilds may have services open to the public, but they are different from shops in that one must join a guild in order to take advantage of all of its ministrations. The Mages' Guild, the Fighters' Guild, and the various knightly orders and temples may all fall under the general category of "guild." Inquiring of people on the street will reveal more specific information about individual guilds. If you decide you wish to join a guild, anyone there will be willing to sign you upif you are deserving. Your worthiness will be assessed and you will either be offered membership, or told why you're ineligible. If you're willing to work at it, you can join any guild you wish. After joining a guild, you will be expected to serve the guild's interests. This may mean completing quests or studying to become a better guildmember. The reward for this work is promotion within the guild. As you work your way up through the guild's ranks, you will be given more rights and responsibilities. Many guilds offer training in certain skills the guild considers important. There is one person in each of these guilds who must be visited to receive training. There are some guilds that operate more surreptitiously. The Thieves' Guild and the Assassins' Guild, are illegal organizations throughout Tamriel. One does not approach them for membership. A promising thief or assassin is sought out and given an invitation to join. Once offered, the invitation is seldom declined. The thieves and assassins do not take rejection very well. Taverns If you do not own a house, the next most civilized place to rest and recuperate is the local tavern. There you can get a room with relative privacy, have a flagon of ale, enjoy the bard's versifications, and chat with the pub regulars. Some of the greatest adventures have had their starts in smoky, noisy taverns. The innkeeper handles most of the work at the inn, so he is the one you will want to talk with first. Banks At some point in the game, you will have more money and items than you can carry. It's time to visit a bank. You can deposit unlimited money at the bank. Each region has its own bank, so keep track of which regions you open accounts in. Every town bank within a region has complete access to your funds. A bank can issue a letter of credit. Gold is heavy. Some of the things you will want to buy are too expensive for actual gold coins, even if you load up your wagon! The bank will issue a letter of credit (for a small fee), which weighs next to nothing. All shops in Daggerfall will accept letters of credit, and even give you change with another letter of credit if necessary. Banks can also sell houses and ships to your character. These are both wonderful places to store surplus items. Ships have the added bonus of allowing your character to travel by sea without cost. Of course, houses and ships are hideously expensive. Palaces The ruler of a particular region usually lives in the capitol city, which is more often than not named after the region itself. Thus, if you want to talk to the king of Daggerfall, go to the capitol city Daggerfall in the kingdom of Daggerfall. Of course, not just anyone is admitted to the royal presence. Rulers can be quite fickle, so don't give up if you're rebuffed once. Kings, queens, dukes, duchesses, counts, countesses, barons, baronesses, lords, and ladies are the official power structure of the Iliac Bay. A wise adventurer will find a patron or patroness and build up the relationship by completing quests. All partnerships must have a start, and sometimes it takes a little humility to begin an alliance. Other Locations The really unusual places, witches covens, forgotten graveyards, wizard's laboratories, harpy nests, and other forlorn locales are not found in the standard maps of the bay. They can be found by exploration and luck, by finding secret and arcane maps, or by receiving directions from other people. While many of these crypts and caverns boast untold treasure, they also hold the promise of death for the unwary and underprepared. Weaponry Equipment stores, smithies, and locked storerooms of palaces house weapons of virtually every size and shape. Before picking a favorite armament, consider your best combat skills, the metal used in its construction, and its overall quality. Some weapons require two hands to be properly wielded, so shields and additional weapons must be sacked. Armor Armor Rating is a number representing how difficult it is for someone to hit you. A high agility gives you an ability to avoid strikes. That, coupled with an abundance of armor (so you might not feel someone striking you), are ways to increase your Armor Rating. There are twelve kinds of material from which armor and weapons may be wrought. Armor Material Types: Leather: Thin and light perfect for thieves. Chain: Fairly thin and light. Cheap alternative to plate. Iron: Poor knight's armor. Heavier and more brittle than steel. Steel: The standard. Strong and fairly light. Silver: Same weight and strength as steel, but some monsters fear to touch it. Elven: Slightly heavier and stronger than steel. Dwarven: Heavier but stronger than Elven. Orcish: Rarely found. Heavier than Dwarven and almost twice as strong. Mithril: Lighter than Orcish, but significantly more resilient. Adamantium: A little heavier than Orcish, but twice as strong. Ebony: Very rare, heavy, and almost impossible to pierce. Daedric: The refined form of Ebony. Too heavy for all but the strongest. Magic Tamriel is a land rich in magic. Magic in its raw form is called magicka. All people have a certain amount of it, and it is as much a part of them as blood and bone. Given skill and a sufficient amount of stored energy, this magicka can be spun into an almost limitless tapestry of effects. Because of its potency, training in the arcane arts is only officially done in Mages' Guilds. Unofficially, many other organizations, from certain knightly orders and Thieves' Guilds to the Necromancers, train their members in magical skills. However, the Mages' Guilds are the acknowledged masters of magic. While it is possible to achieve virtually any effect through magic, certain standard spells are most popular and can be purchased at most Mages Guilds. For someone desirous of a unique spell, the SpellMaker is available at the Mages Guilds once you have risen to the proper rank. . The SpellMaker Creating a spell requires only knowledge of a few rules: 1. Every spell must have a name. 2. No more than three effects can be applied to any one spell. 3. Editing "Add Effect" gives your spell its power; selecting one of the Elements "Fire," "Frost," "Electricity," "Poison," and "Magicka" selects the element that the spell utilizes; selecting one of the Target Types "By Touch," "Caster Only," "Target at Range," "Explosion around Caster," or "Explosion at Range" allows you to select the area you wish the spell to affect. 4. Click the "Buy Spell" button to inscribe the new spell to your spellbook. For example: Ymperia the Nightblade comes into the Mages Guild, shaken from a recent encounter with a Fire Atronach. She wants to be better prepared, so she goes to the SpellMaker and creates a spell she names "Atronach Protection." She selects the Add Effects button to create the spell... 1. Add effect 2. Icon selector 3. Buy current spell 4. Create new spell 5. Exit from Spell Maker 6. Target types: caster only, by touch, target at range, explosion around caster, and explosion at range 7. Elements: Fire, Frost, Electricity, Poison, Magika Effects: Clicking the "Add Effect" button brings up a list of Spell Effects available. Once an effect has been selected, the following menu appears. Not all spell effects use every parameter listed below. A scroll appears over the menu giving a brief description of the effect and the parameters needed to define the spell. Duration: Duration describes how long the spell remains active after it is cast. The first box shows the spell's base duration in seconds. The second box shows how many additional seconds are added to the spell's duration if the caster is higher than first level. The last box shows the number of levels beyond the first level the caster must be to gain the additional seconds of effect duration. Chance Chance describes the odds, for each spellcasting attempt, that the spell will be successfully cast. The first box shows the spell's base chance as a percentage. The second box shows the additional chance added to the spell's base chance if the caster is higher than first level. The last box shows the number of levels beyond the first level the caster must be to add the additional chance to the base chance. Magnitude Magnitude refers to the amount of power behind a spell. This can mean a variety of things, depending on the effect, from amount of damage a spell delivers to the intensity of the light created. The first two boxes shows the range of the spell's base magnitude properly read as "a random number between the first value and the second value." The next two boxes show the range of additional points of magnitude (again, "a random number between the first value and the second value.") added to the spell's base magnitude if the caster is higher than first level. The last box shows the number of levels beyond the first level the caster must be to take the additional points of effect magnitude. Cost Shows the spell point casting cost of the spell. Exit Returns you to the SpellMaker. For Example (A Defensive Spell): Ymperia looks through the list of Spell Effects, and finds Shield. This, she thinks, is just what she needed for her battle with the Fire Atronach. She selects this and begins looking at the parameters for the Shield effect. Recalling that each strike of the Fire Atronach hurt Ymperia a lot, she decides that shield strength, which is translated as magnitude, should be very high. As a base magnitude, she makes the range 20-100. She is 5th level right now and she wants the damage absorption to be at least an average of 70 points, so she makes the increase per level 10 to 10 points. At fifth level, the shield will absorb between 70 and 150 health points; at sixth level, the shield will absorb between 80 and 160 health points, and so on. If she does nothing about the spell, it will last one second, plus an additional second for every one of her levels. That's six seconds, which isn't a long time. On the other hand, she really wants the shield so she can survive long enough to run, and she guesses she doesn't need much more than ten seconds of immunity to get a head start. She changes the additional duration to read two seconds, which means that at fifth level, the spell will last for eleven seconds. At sixth level, it will last thirteen seconds, Less, if its maximum damage absorption is reached ... She shudders at the thought. Ymperia finishes her spell effects, picks an icon to represent the spell when it is active, and buys the spell. For Example (An Offensive Spell): Ymperia now wants to hit the Fire Atronach with something that she knows he's really going to feel. Furrowing her brow, she decides to name the new spell "Die Atronach Die Die." From the Add Effects menu, she chooses the effect Damage, and Health under that. There is only one parameter under Damage Health : magnitude. She figures that "Die Atronach Die Die" should inflict at least fifty points of damage at fifth level, so she leaves the base magnitude at 1 to 1 point, but increases the magnitude increase to 10 to 10 points. Now, she knows that the spell will automatically inflict fifty-one points of damage at her present level. At sixth level, it will inflict sixty-one points. She okays the new spell effect and is about to buy it when she remembers some things about the Fire Atronach. For one thing, the Atronach was able to hurt her without even touching her, there was an aura of fire that surrounded him, an aura she was not eager to re-enter. She changes the range of the spell to "Target at Range" rather than "By Touch." It would cost more to buy and to cast, but she was not interested in getting close enough to an Atronach to touch it. The other thing she remembers is a book that said that Fire Atronachs are fed by heat. Would that imply that frost does more damage to them? She selects the Element "Frost" instead of the default "Raw Magicka," and buys the spell. Casting Spells To cast a spell, click the Sunburst "cast" icon or press the C key. This brings up your spellbook. Now double-click on the spell you wish to cast, and the spell is activated. If the spell casts at a range, a message will appear telling you to click any mouse button when you wish to cast the spell. The spell will be cast in the direction of your X cursor. If the spell has a duration, an icon representing the spell will appear in the upper-left-hand corner of the screen for as long as the spell is active. When the spell is about to end, the icon will begin blinking to warn you. PotionMaker Potions are like one-shot spells. Certain temples, guilds, and organizations boast access to 64 of their own. No group gives non-members rights to use the PotionMaker. To use the PotionMaker, you have to join a guild that offers access to one, and work your way up through their ranks. On the left-hand side of the screen are all the sundry ingredients you have in your inventory under the category Ingredients. If you are in a guild that sells additional ingredients, they too will appear in the list, but they will cost an additional amount to use. Keep your eye on the cost button to make certain you are not over-stretching your purse. Clicking on an item sends it to the cauldron on the right. Click the RECIPE button to bring up recipes for any potions you know how to make. Of course, you can choose to adjust the ingredients a recipe calls for and "mix your own." The results can be a weaker or stronger version of the potion you were creating, or a different result altogether. Once you have all the ingredients you want in the cauldron, press the MIX button, and you will create a bottle of a potion. The more you play with the PotionMaker, the better you will become at creating the exact potion you want. But you're going to have to make some mistakes first. Magical Items There are thousands of magical items available, from Rings of Invisibility to Greaves of Orc Strength. Many of these are available at Mages' Guilds at great expense. There are even some unique magical items, called Artifacts, that may not be bought at any price. Keep your ear out for rumors about them. To use a magical item in your inventory, click on the Wand icon. This brings up a list of all available magical items. Double-click on the item you wish to use and it will be activated. Most magical items have a limited number of uses once this limit has been reached, the item breaks and is useless. To avoid this, it is wise to bring your magical items in to a good weapons or armor store to be fixed and recharged from time to time. There are also ways of creating unique magical items of your own, but this is a rare and dangerous secret guarded by Mages' Guilds and certain temples. It involves a specially trained crafter enchanting an item with certain spells, adding side effects if necessary, even binding the spirits of powerful creatures into items. It takes great skill and wisdom to create a magical item, to balance its power. The Guild is wise not to allow amateur mages access to the powerful ItemMaker. Like the PotionMaker, no guild gives non-members or even neonates access to a privilege as versatile and unforgiving as the ItemMaker. In essence, the ItemMaker allows you to enchant items from your inventory. ItemMaker The following principles should be understood before the ItemMaker can be used: 1. Most mundane items have a certain natural enchantment potential, a limit to how much magicka can be stored in their structure. 2. This enchantment potential can be increased by adding certain anti- magics or side effects to the item. A ring, for example, can store a higher- level fireball spell than it normally could contain if a side-effect is added to it that makes the ring unnaturally heavy. 3. Certain spirits can be bound to an item using the ItemMaker to increase the enchantment potential of an item. These spirits bring certain magics and side-effects with them that cannot be removed from the item without removing the spirit. To enchant an item, first find the item in your inventory. You can scroll through the items using the arrow buttons. Click on Weapons and Armor, Magic Items, Clothing and Misc., or Ingredients to view items of different categories in your inventory. When you find the item you wish to enchant, a left-click picks it up and drops it in the box to the left of the inventory list. It has now been selected for enchantment. The information box in the upper left-hand corner of the ItemMaker shows the item's inherent Enchantment Points. The cost of the enchantment, including the purchase price for certain spells and spirits, is tabulated in the Total Cost field. If you click on the Name field, you can rename the item, so an enchanted ring can become "The Ring of Regeneration" or "The Unholy Ring," depending on your taste. If the enchantment point total exceeds the enchantment point potential, you have two choices. Either remove some spells or enchantments to bring the enchantment point total down, or select a side-effect or two to increase the enchantment point potential. It is possible in the ItemMaker to create some very powerful, very bizarre items. For good or for bad, there are few safety mechanisms when it comes to enchanting an item. Consider what you have made carefully before clicking the Enchant button and bringing your creation to life. Reputation Reputation is crucial in Daggerfall. Even if social opinion is not your primary motivation, it behooves you to be aware of the connections between your words and actions and other people's. There is little that happens in the bay without a reason. If you spent your time attacking every moving shape and insulting every mis-fortunate who falls into dialogue with you, you will soon discover how unpopular sociopaths like yourself get treated. Likewise, treating people with respect earns respect for you. The golden rule is practiced all over the bay. You are not, however, the only creature capable of making allies and enemies. A person is seldom a hermit, but often a member of an order or a guild with interested friends and foes. Word can move like a raging river, and some channels may be hidden to you. The stranger you just insulted may be third cousin to the baron, and your stock with his lordship may plummet noticeably. Your reputation with the neonates at the Fighters' Guild may have preceded you, and they may greet you with a compliment the first time you speak with them. Reputation affects nearly every single aspect of Daggerfall; from store prices to jail sentences, from information access to earning potential. You will not be asked to do sensitive and extremely rewarding diplomatic work if a ruler does not trust you; and guilds will eject you from their charters if you are too much of a boor. The rewards for developing a trusting relationship with a bay resident are almost without measure. Everything changes, and friendships can be brittle things. The baron will not always need the Dark Brotherhood, and the Dark Brotherhood may someday need you. As in any other aspect of life in the bay, think before you act, ask questions of a lot of different people, and remember that sometimes it is more important to have fun than be popular.