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Section 1 - Version History
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Version 1.0 - 13,745 bytes
This is the first version of this FAQ. The *Skills* and *Star Signs* sections
are yet to be added. First version to be released.
Version 1.1 - 14,968 bytes
Corrected Version No. Added base points for female characters. Again, the
*Skills* and *Star Signs* sections are yet to be added.
Version 1.2 - 21,317 bytes
Added *Star Signs* section. *Skills* section still not added.
Version 1.3 - 28,776 bytes
Corrected some of the star sign comments and ratings. *Skills* section to be
completed in the next version. I've had some e-mails concerning skill
advancement, and that information will be added once I have completed the bulk
of the FAQ.
Version 1.4 - 34,876 bytes
Added several comments to the races section and various other small additions.
Will finish the rest in the very near future. Once that is done you can expect
the FAQ to have the bulk completed in the next update (1.6?). *Skills* section
to be done for version 1.5. Sorry for the huge gap (1 year+) in updates, I
really lost interest in morrowind but now I have an X-Box and Morrowind: Game
of the Year edition which has renewed my interest in Morrowind. Don't worry
though, this guide is still written for the PC version.
There are 10 playable races in Morrowind, each has its own strengths, and in
some cases, weaknesses too. The 10 playable races are:
Argonian
Breton
Dark Elf
High Elf
Imperial
Khajiit
Nord
Orc
Redguard
Wood Elf
Each race has a predefined set of attribute base points, skill bonuses and
specials. Each race gains a total of 310 attribute base points and 45 bonus
skill points. NOTE: Female character base points are different than male base
points. Refer to section 4 for more information on skills. There are two main
types of specials - constant effect (specials that are applied at all times and
are not activated) and activated (specials that are cast as powers (can only be
used once every 24 hours of in-game time)). These two types of specials are
indicated in the tables below.
Resist Disease (Constant) -- Resist Common Disease 75%
Immune to Poison (Constant) -- Resist Poison 100%
Water Breathing (Activated) -- Water Breathing for 120 secs on Self
Comments: The Argonians are a "Beast Race" and as such they will not be able to
wear boots. On top of this they can only wear open-faced helms, which narrows
down the selection a bit. This is a major disadvantage, as they will not be
able to wear the "Blinding Boots of Speed", an item which increases the speed
of the wearer by 200 points. Because of this, they will travel around
Vvardenfell a lot slower than other races, a major time waster when travelling
for all of the missions in Morrowind.
Aside from the obvious disadvantage that is mentioned above we can see that
Argonians have a 15 points bonus to their Athletics skill. For the same reason
as above, other races are better because they can wear the Blinding Boots of
Speed to help them move faster, and as such will not need the athletics skill.
To compensate, the "Beast Race" disadvantage we have this bonus, and male
Argonians also start out with at least 50 points in the Speed attribute.
Being immune to poison can be useful, as can the resist disease, but these are
nothing special. The water breathing is certainly nothing to choose this race
for.
The female Argonian starts with at least 50 intelligence and 40 willpower, so
she will make a good mage in any case. Argonians have a 5 points bonus to the
Unarmored skill. This can be useful for mages to, and with a female character
can make a very good combination. On top of all of this, Argonians have a 5
points bonus Illusion and Mysticism to make them even better spellcasters.
Summary: Argonians have several disadvantages as mentioned above, but also have
several advantages. The male Argonian can make an excellent thief, whilst the
female can be a brilliant mage. The sex you choose will be the ultimate decider
in what path you will take in Morrowind.
Rating: D - Not as good as other races, but they look cool!
Magicka Bonus (Constant) -- Fortify Maximum Magicka 0.5x INT
Resist Magicka (Constant) -- Resist Magicka 50%
Dragon Skin (Activated) -- Shield 50 pts for 60 secs on Self
Comments: Quite obviously, the breton is a mage. But that is all he is. The
male Breton can make a fairly good battle mage, but lacks the Endurance that is
needed to be a real battle mage. Bretons come along with a nice 50% resist
magicka, useful for anyone, especially for a mage. The fortify magicka isn't as
high a magnitude as the High Elven one, but Bretons don't have that horrible
magicka weakness, infact, Bretons have resistance to magicka! A 50% resistance
to magicka really is something to choose this race for, since you will need to
enchant a lot of clothing to get yourself up to that coveted magicka immunity
later on in the game.
The skill bonuses that Bretons have are quite nicely matched. They don't have
any pointless ones like athletics and acrobatics. If you are going to fault
anything, it would have to be that there isn't a skill there that has all 15
bonus points, so you won't be a master of any particular school of magic too
soon, but this does, however, give you a nice opportunity to decide for
yourself what you want to excel in early on.
Well, now we come to the special abilities. Aside from the two mentioned above,
there is only one other - Dragon Skin. Certainly not the most powerful special
ability, but could be useful in some situations nevertheless.
The female Breton starts off with more speed, but less strength than the male.
I would say that the speed advantage is better than the strength one for a
mage, but I wouldn't say it is anything too prominent.
Summary: Bretons are excellent all-round mages, but just don't cut it as
anything else. If you want to be a mage, then you should seriously consider
being a Breton, but otherwise, stay well clear.
Ancestor Guardian (Activated) -- Sanctuary 50 pts for 60 secs on Self
Resist Fire (Constant) -- Resist Fire 75%
Comments: At first glance, the Dark Elf appears to be a good mage, but I would
sat otherwise. Compared to the Bretons and High Elves they just don't seem very
appealing. A lot of the skills here, you should note are well suited to thieves
(for example the light armor and short blade skills), so that becomes a
prominent factor in determining whether or not you choose them.
Again, there aren't any 15 point skill bonuses, which is a shame, but the
skills in which there are bonuses are very useful. Since you will probably
be being a thief (with good spellcasting abilities as backup) these skills are
almost perfectly suited.
The Dark Elvish special abilities are very good. Constant effect resist fire
75% and a very strong sanctuary spell for 60 seconds. The latter could be life
saving in many situations as could the first. If you play as a Dark Elf for
very long, then these abilities will be missed.
The male Dark Elf gets more Endurance that the female, however the female gets
a higher personality rating. Personality is better suited to thieves, so that
would be useful, however, the aesthetic choice might sway your choice of
gender.
Summary: Dark Elves can be excellent in any area, provided you start with the
right array of skills. They are particularly adept at thievery, and don't lack
any magic skill. A wise choice in any case.
Magicka Bonus (Constant) -- Fortify Maximum Magicka 1.5x INT
Weakness to Magicka (Constant) -- Weakness to Magicka 50%
Weakness to Fire (Constant) -- Weakness to Fire 50%
Weakness to Frost (Constant) -- Weakness to Frost 25%
Weakness to Shock (Constant) -- Weakness to Shock 25%
Resist Disease (Constant) -- Resist Common Disease 75%
Comments: Don't be put off by the ridiculous amount of weaknesses for this
race. You can cut those weaknesses in half for a start by using the Atronach as
your star sign (you'll absorb instead of taking the damage for all those
spells). Instead you should turn your eyes to the Magicka bonus - 150%!!! In
other words, if you would normally recieve 50 magicka points, you'll recieve
125 instead with this. Couple that with the atronach sign as mentioned above
and you'll start the game with no less than 225 magicka points. Choose
intelligence as a favourite attribute aswell and you should start off with an
enormous 270 magicka. Quite a bit I think you'll agree.
Looking at the skill bonuses for high elves, we can see that all of the skills
listed are for magic orientated. Have no doubts about it - high elves are
incredible mages, but all this specialisation (which you don't have a lot of
choice over) stops high elves from being much else. Starting off with 50
intelligence helps that magicka to be as high as it is, and with 40 willpower
to top it all off you have the perfect combination.
I would suggest choosing all of the magic skills for your chosen skills, except
perhaps 'Unarmoured', and instead choose a *real* armour type. Then, choose a
weapon. I prefer long blade, but the choice is yours. You may even prefer
marksman, but I find that my array of spells leaves me with quite enough
options to use from a range. It is only when I am at close range that I have
problems.
The difference between the male and female high elf is that the male has +10
endurance, and the female has +10 speed. I would go for the endurance, because
you need that extra health being a mage. Though if your chosen weapon, and/or
armour will be governed by speed, you may want to choose the female high elf.
Summary: High Elves are one of the best choices for magic, but they really
aren't good at much else. If you wish to be a mage you should strongly consider
choosing a High Elf as your race.
Star of the West (Activated) -- Absorb Fatigue 200 pts on Target
Voice of the Emperor (Activated) -- Charm 25 to 50 pts for 15 secs on Target
Comments: Imperial's are only really suited to fighting. We can see from the
skill bonuses that there are several weapons that Imperial's can handle well. A
lot of persuasion skills have been thrown in here - we have a very high
personality rating, aswell as 10 points in each of speechcraft and mercantile.
You might to well in the thieves guild as an Imperial due to this, though you
would need to add a lot of thief orientated skills during character creation.
Turning to the skill bonuses we can see there are three weapons that Imperial's
are suited to. I personally only like to specialise in one weapon, which means
that two of those will go to waste. Blunt weapons are generally useless, and
hand to hand is only good if you have already beaten your opponent to the
ground and want to keep them there. Therefore, 10 skill points are wasted here
(out of 45). Mercantile is largely a pointless skill, since you can do just as
well by stealing and then selling things, also you don't save much from it.
For skill selection, you should definately choose heavy armour as your skill if
you plan to use your Imperial as a fighter. Other things you should consider
are restoration, conjuration, long blade and illusion seems to be well suited
to the high personality rating aswell. If you are looking for a thief, then you
can take advantage of the 5 additional skill points and choose light armour as
a major. Sneak and security are also obviously vital here, and marksman or
short blade would be good choices for a weapon.
The difference between the male and female imperial's is that males have +10
speed and females have +10 willpower. The male seems to be well suited to the
thief class, however if you are going to be a fighter then neither will help
you.
Imperial's have two activated specials, neither of which should persuade you to
choose this race. 'Voice of the Emperor' seems to be a complete waste of an
ability largely because the skill would be very easy to cast as a spell. 'Star
of the West' does not fit this description and would be very useful for a
fighter class. It would also be very helpful if you are going for a boxer class
(you should only try this if you have mastered the game) because it can greatly
speed up the time it takes to start damaging an opponent.
Summary: Imperial's are bested in every field they aspire to by other races.
You may however want to use them as a boxer class (you should only try this if
you have mastered the game) due to several of the aspects of this class that
they are suited to. The best class choices that you can make with Imperial's
are Heavy Figher and Figher/Thief.
There are three ways to choose your class in Morrowind. The first and most
interesting is by answering a set of prewritten questions to automatically
choose a class to suit your personality, the second is by choosing you class
from a list (you way wish to refer to"RBryant"s "Pre-Generated Character Class
List" (Hosted on GameFAQs) for further details on this), and the third, and
most decisive choice is to generate your own class by choosing a specialization
(from Combat, Magic or Stealth), two favourite attributes (from Strength,
Intelligence, Willpower, Agility, Speed, Endurance, Personality and Luck) and 5
Major and 5 Minor skills (see skills section for more details).
When creating a custom class (the third choice) you should remember the
following things:- Special Thanks to Z-Force for the following tips.
If you choose Acrobatics, Athletics or Sneak you will advance in levels too
quickly and this might make the game less enjoyable. So, don't!
You should choose skills with a mix of attributes (i.e. choose skills that are
governed by various attributes). This will give you an easier time getting
multipliers when you level up.
Choose at least 1 weapon skill, 1 armour skill and 2 magic skills (preferably
one offensive and one defensive).
In the land of Morrowind there are 8 different attributes. The 2 attributes
that you choose to be your favourite attributes get a +10 points bonus. Each
attribute affects different aspects of the game. Some attributes govern skills,
while some do not. Attributes also affect your starting health, fatigue,
magicka, and the stat. bonuses that you acquire when you level up. One
attribute - luck - does none of these, however it effects some other things
within Morrowind. The various attributes in Morrowind are:-
Affects your ability to dodge and hit targets in melee as well as your maximum
fatigue.
Comments: Archers and thieves alike will use this skill well. Light armour is,
by far, the most useful armour specialisation early in the game. Sneak is an
essential skill for thieves as is Marksman for an archer.
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Endurance
---------
Governs: (3) Heavy Armour, Medium Armour, Spear
Affects your starting Health, your Health gain per level, and your maximum
Fatigue.
Comments: This skill is ideal for combat specialized characters. The extra
health gains and extra starting health can give you a kick start when playing
a combat orientated run-through of Morrowind.
Comments: This skill can be very useful when you are a high level mage. This
skill makes it much easier to create enchantments and potions.
----
Luck
----
Governs: (0) NONE
Affects every action you do in a small way.
Comments: Luck affects things such as what you will find in randomly spawned
crates and the chances of finding items of value. This is a handy attribute,
but it is sometimes a waste because it does not really affect the game as much
as the other attributes. You can only ever increase luck by 1 point every level
so it will take you till at least level 60, (level 50 if you choose luck as a
favourite attribute) to max out luck.
Affects your ability to deal with other characters and how much they like you.
Comments: Personality is one of the least useful attributes, Illusion, however,
can sometimes be useful when becoming a mage.
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Speed
-----
Governs: (4) Athletics, Hand-to-hand, Short Blade, Unarmored
Determines how fast you can move.
Comments: This attribute governs the Short Blade skill. The Short Blade is,
without doubt, the most common and easy-to-come-by weapon in Morrowind. Also,
the Unarmoured attribute is quite important for those who wish to become Mages.
The Blinding Boots of Speed will increase your speed by 200 points, which makes
choosing this attribute pointless.
Affects your starting Health, how much you carry, your maximum Fatigue, and how
much damage you do in melee.
Comments: This attribute is well-suited for those who wish to join the Fighters
Guild early on in the game. Strength governs 5 attributes, most importantly -
the Long Blade.
Affects your ability to resist magic, and your maximum Fatigue.
Comments: This attribute governs only magic, so, unless you wish to join the
Mages Guild, I suggest that you do not choose this attribute. Likewise, this
attribute is very well suited for those who wish to join the Mages Guild so if
you wish to join the Mages Guild, you should choose this.
There are a total of 27 skills that each fall into one of three categories. The
categories are Combat, Magic and Stealth. When creating a custom class you must
choose one of these categories as a specialisation. Each skill that falls
within that category gets a +5 bonus. Here are the various skills, their
governing attributes, in game comments and some extra information:-
**To be added in a later version**
======================
Section 6 - Star Signs
======================
Every character you create must have a star sign. Each Star Sign has some
powerful advantages but also, in some cases, some strong disadvantages. It is
usually best to pick a Star Sign suited to your character, i.e. a mage should
choose Either "The Apprentice" or "The Mage" to give him some strong magicka
bonuses. For each star sign I have given a rating between A+ and E- and some
comments. An A+ grade is the best rating and E- is the worst.
--------------
The Apprentice
--------------
Rating: B+
Comments: This star sign is well suited for experienced mages who can defeat
opponents quickly and effectively. With the huge Magicka bonus an experienced
player can kill their opponent without suffering any considerable damage, and
hence, the disadvantage is not so bad. The Apprentice is a very nice sign for
Bretons, but not so for High Elves. Picture a high elf with 100% magicka
weakness. That means that if hit with a paralyzation spell or a damage strength
spell, that it will have up to twice the normal duration or magnitude. It would
make bonewalkers and jinksblades a nightmare to fight.
Ability == Elfborn -- Fortify Maximum Magicka 1.5x INT
Weakness to Magicka 50%
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The Atronach
------------
Rating: A+
Comments: You get a massive magicka bonus from this sign, but you also have
stunted magicka. This means that you cannot regain your magicka from resting,
so instead, you must regain your magicka through spell absorbtion. The
Atronach, most people agree, is the best sign in the game. The 50% spell
absorption is crazy, you take no damage from traps/spells half of the time!
That's an effect you CANNOT constant effect enchant yourself in the game. The
huge magicka bonus is great, and the stunted magicka can be overcome with
Summon Ancestral Ghost for quick refill with spell absorption, or just use
alchemy. If you choose Conjuration as a Major skill, then you get "Summon
Ancestral Ghost" as a spell when you start the game.
NOTE: For those who wonder how you can use Summon Ancestral Ghost for refilling
magicka, the answer is simple if you think about it. Attack the ancestral ghost
and it will attack you back by casting spells. As long as you are strong enough
to survive the damage when and if you may take it, you will gain a lot of
magicka points back. You have a 50% chance of absorbing 50% of a spell, 0%
chance of absorbing 100% of a spell, 90% chance of absorbing 10% of a spell and
so on. You can use constant effect charms to increase your spell absorption.
Ability == Wombburn -- Spell Absorption 50 pts
Fortify Maximum Magicka 2.0x INT
Stunted Magicka
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The Lady
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Rating: B+
Comments: You get a 25 pts bonus for both personality and endurance, that's 2.5
times bigger bonus than you get from choosing either of these as favourite
attributes. This is, overall, quite an unbalanced sign and the resulting
endurance and personality bonuses can be more than helpful for any character,
giving increased health and better mercantile and speechcraft skills
respectively. The Lady, to the newbie, is a great sign. However, it's really
easy to train your endurance up to 100 by level 12 / 13 from 40 at level 1.
That early in the game, you'd have already lost any benefit from the lady Star
Sign. Anyone who can manage their levelling multipliers should stay away from
Attribute raising signs.
Comments: Firstly, the weakness to fire makes you take twice as much damage
from any fire spells or weapons, and the spell you get in return for this
disadvantage is far from brilliant. The Blood of the North is not such a great
spell when your dead from fire damage! Plus, you can just buy yourself a spell
of this magnitude for a reasonable price.
Ability == Trollkin -- Weakness to Fire 100%
Spell == Blood of the North -- Restore Health 2 pts for 30 secs on Self
---------
The Lover
---------
Rating: B-
Comments: This sign can give your Wood Elf 85 pts Agility and a 50 marksman
skill, (achieved by choosing Marskman as a Major skill and specialisation in
Stealth) thus creating an extremely powerful marksman. The power "Lover's Kiss"
is far from brilliant, but can be very useful in some situations. A good choice
for all stealth orientated players. For the same reasons as with The Lady, you
can easily train your agility skill up to 100 so the agility bonus is lost when
you get a little way through the game. When there are ample paralyzation weapons
in the game and it's easier to just enchant a weapon with damage strength
(permanent paralyzation).
Ability == Mooncalf -- Fortify Agility 25 pts
Power == Lover's Kiss -- Paralyze for 60 secs on Target
Damage Fatigue 200 pts on Self
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The Mage
--------
Rating: B+
Comments: Gives a fairly good and straight-forward bonus to magicka. Quite good,
but I'd rather choose a more powerful sign such as "The Apprentice". This is a
good choice for less experienced players as you suffer no disadvantages.
Ability == Fay -- Fortify Maximum Magicka 0.5x INT
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The Ritual
----------
Rating: B-
Comments: Mara's Gift is a very strong power to have, especially for fighters.
But as for Blessed Word and Blessed Touch it, they can't be used very often,
only on undead creatures, and the effects still aren't too great even on undead
creatures. I'd prefer choosing a magicka bonus sign, and buying a strong heal
spell from a spell-maker, that way, you can cast the spell as many times as you
like in a day.
Spell == Blessed Word -- Turn Undead 100 pts for 30 secs on Target
Spell == Blessed Touch -- Turn Undead 100 pts for 30 secs on Touch
Power == Mara's Gift -- Restore Health 100 pts on Self
-----------
The Serpent
-----------
Rating: E-
Comments: Quite simply, you do 90 pts damage and you take 30 pts of damage in
30 seconds. You could much easier kill your opponent with a good weapon, or buy
a spell that does this much damage to your opponent. There are better signs
than this for any character. I strongly advise you not to choose this star sign.
Spell == Star-Curse -- Poison 3 pts for 30 secs on Touch
Damage Health 1 pt for 30 secs on Self
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The Shadow
----------
Rating: D-
Comments: Well, this sign would probably get a C if it was a spell instead of a
power. But invisibility isn't that great, you become visible again as soon as
you touch/steal/attack anything.
Power == Moonshadow -- Invisibility for 60 secs on Self
---------
The Steed
---------
Rating: C+
Comments: This can come in quite handy when you want to flee from a battle, and
you get a nifty little bonus to your Short Blade and Unarmoured skills. All in
all, this is a pretty good star sign.
Ability == Charioteer -- Fortify Speed 25 pts
---------
The Thief
---------
Rating: C+
Comments: Basically, you've just got 10 pts added onto your chance-to-dodge
ratings. You can, however, enchant an with an equal magnitude constant effect
on something. Better suited for mages and thieves.
Comments: You can buy Ondusi's Open Door in Balmora Mages Guild right at the
beginning of the game, and if you start with Alteration of around 40 or 45,
then you have a 81% chance at 15 magicka cost to open any 50pt lock in the game.
And that's not once a day. Better suited for thieves and possibly mages.
Spell == Beggar's Nose -- Detect Animal 200 ft for 60 secs on Self
Detect Enchantment 200 ft for 60 secs on Self
Detect Key 200 ft for 60 secs on Self
Power == Tower Key -- Open 50 pts on Touch
-----------
The Warrior
-----------
Rating: c
Comments: This means that your attacks have a 10% higher chance of hitting your
opponent. This is, really, the opposite of The Thief. Pointless for those who
do not wish to use many weapon (instead of magic). An average sign for a
fighter. A bad sign for anyone else.
The most up-to-date version of this FAQ can always be found at GameFAQs
(http://www.gamefaqs.com)
(c) This document is copyright 2002-2004 gritta
This FAQ may be published by anyone who wishes to do so, as long it is posted
unaltered and as long as I receive an e-mail saying where it is to be posted.
By doing this, I am also able to send you any updates to this FAQ.
My e-mail address is:- adamgritt@hotmail.com
You may not seek to gain profit by redistributing this FAQ either on the
internet, on paper or in any other form.
This FAQ was written using the PC version of Morrowind. Although it is very
likely that some, if not all, of the information in this FAQ is correct for the
X-Box version of Morrowind as well.
This FAQ was written entirely by gritta unless otherwise noted.
I would like to give credit and a special thanks to the following people:
Lord Tenebrae - For correcting some of the star sign comments and ratings.
Z-Force - For allowing me to put some of his tips in this FAQ.
CJayC - For making such a great website, and hosting this FAQ.
Bethesda - For making a truly amazing game.
If you would like to add to this FAQ or ask a question about it, please e-mail
me at adamgritt@hotmail.com
