<~~~~~~ STEALTH SKILLS ~~~~~~>
-> Acrobatics
Attribute: Speed
Novice: Cannot attack when jumping or falling
Apprentice: Can make normal (non-power) attacks when jumping or falling
Journeyman: Gains the Dodge ability--hold Block and jump in a direction
to evade attacks
Expert: Fatigue loss for jumping is cut in half
Master: Water Jump--time your jumps just right and you can jump across
water surfaces
Acrobatics is one of those little-used skills, the main purpose of which is to
use in leveling up. Acrobatics is pretty controllable--it levels slowly and
you won't rank up much if you just do the normal amount of jumping that's
required to get around. This makes Acrobatics, along with Mercantile and
Restoration, as must-have major skills, since you just won't get anything out
of them if you have to rank them up from Novice.
-> Light Armor
Attribute: Speed
Novice: Armor degrades at 150% the normal rate
Apprentice: Armor degrades at the normal rate
Journeyman: Armor degrades at 50% the normal rate
Expert: Equipped Light Armor does not encumber the wearer
Master: Gains a 50% bonus to armor rating if wearing only Light Armor
Light armor (fur, leather, chainmail, mithril, Elven and glass) is for those
characters that rely more on stealth and speed to stay alive. While these
armors provide some protection, they are not meant to keep you alive if you
consistently go toe-to-toe with the bad guys. Light armor is sort of the back-
up plan for ranged characters who get caught in melee or Stealth characters
who are spotted before they can deliver a critical blow.
-> Marksman
Attribute: Agility
Novice: Drawing a bow causes a loss of Fatigue
Apprentice: There is no loss of Fatigue when drawing a bow
Journeyman: Hold Block while your bow is drawn to zoom in on the target
Expert: Gives a chance of knocking down the target with arrows
Master: Gives a chance of paralyzing the target with arrows
The only ranged weapon in Oblivion is the bow, and characters who depend upon
it must have Marksman. Generally, one should choose a single combat skill and
stick with it; however, Marksman may be mixed with a melee skill that you can
fall back on should you get caught by a rush. If you decide to go the archer
route, make sure you always have plenty of arrows before leaving town and also
be careful to recover arrows you have used. Since archers will want the
Journeyman perk as quickly as possible, you should start with Marksman as a
major skill if you plan on being a ranged fighter. Mix it up with some spells
to keep from ranking it up too quickly, and getting your class levels too
quickly.
-> Mercantile
Attribute: Personality
Novice: The condition of an item reduces its selling price
Apprentice: The condition of an item does not affect its selling price
Journeyman: Buy and sell any item with any merchant*
Expert: You can invest in a shop, giving that shop a bonus to the
amount of gold on hand.
Master: All shops have an increase of 500 gold for bartering
*This does not mean you can sell stolen items to non-fence merchants.
It only means, say, an armor merchant will buy rings or a ring merchant will
buy weapons. Etc.
Mercantile affects your ability to haggle with a merchant. While the
merchant's barter screen (the shop inventory) is open, click the Haggle
button. You'll get a slider from Easy (far left) to Hard (far right).
Underneath you'll see the percentage of base cost for items you buy from the
merchant (e.g. 185%) and the percentage of base cost for items you sell to the
merchant (e.g. 35%). Moving the slider from left to right decreases the buy
cost and increases the sell cost. Once you've chosen a buy/sell combination
you like, close the Haggle window and try to buy or sell an item. If the
merchant refuses, open the Haggle window and move the slider to the left. The
higher your Mercantile skill, the more likely the merchant is to accept deals
on the right side of the slider.
At high levels, Mercantile increases the amount of barter gold each merchant
has available. The barter gold a merchant has is, essentially, the limit of
what you can sell that merchant per transaction. E.g. if the merchant has 800
gold and you have three pairs of boots the merchant would normally pay you 400
gold for, you cannot sell all three to the merchant in one transaction (1200
gold total). You could sell them one at a time, or two and then one.
Normally, the largest individual transaction with a merchant is 1,200 gold. If
you advance to almost the end of the Thieves Guild, you get a fence with 1,500
gold. The Thieves Den official mod includes a 1,500 gold fence. The Wizard's
Tower official mod includes a 2,000 gold normal merchant. Any merchant's
barter gold can be increased by 1,000 gold at Master Mercantile (by investing
500 gold in the store).
-> Security
Attribute: Agility
Novice: Up to four set tumblers will fall if you fail to set a tumbler
Apprentice: Up to three set tumblers will fall if you fail to set a
tumbler
Journeyman: Up to two set tumblers will fall if you fail to set a tumbler
Expert: Onlye one set tumbler will fall if you fail to set a tumbler
Master: No set tumblers fall if you fail to set a tumbler
Security controls the lockpicking mini-game in three ways:
* Higher Security provides a more likely chance of success if you use the Auto
Attempt button to try to pick the lock.
* Higher Security keeps set tumblers in place when you break a pick by failing
to properly set a tumbler.
* Higher Security causes tumblers to drop back down more slowly.
The lockpicking mini-game pops up whenever you try to open a locked object.
You'll see a stylized rendition of the internal workings of a lock. Through
the middle runs a hollow bolt into which your pick is inserted. This bolt is
held in place by from one (very easy locks) to five (very hard locks)
tumblers.
You may attempt to automatically open the lock using the Auto Attempt but-ton,
or you may pick the lock manually. Move the pick under a tumbler and push up
to push the tumbler out of the bolt. The tumblers are spring-loaded and will
pop back down either immediately or after a one- or two-second delay. While
the tumbler is still seated in the up position, LEFT-CLICK or press the right
trigger to set the tumbler. If you click at the wrong time, the tumbler falls
back into place and breaks your pick. Depending on your Security skill, other
tumblers you have already set will also fall and you'll have to set them all
over again.
You can figure out when to set a tumbler into place in one of two ways:
1) Keep pushing it up and letting it fall and watch the pattern. For the most
part, a quick reset of the tumbler is immediately followed by a long reset. So
all you have to do is watch for a quick reset and then set the tumbler on the
next try.
2) Listen to the sound of the tumbler moving up. There is an extra, very quiet
click when the tumbler is going to stay seated for a second or two. That's
when you can set the tumbler. Once you learn how to recognize that little
extra click, you can pick locks very easily.
Whether you take Security as a minor or major skill depends on how much you
intend to use it. While you'll occasionally need Security for quests, it only
becomes important in Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests. If you don't
plan on performing those quests, make Security a major skill. You won't use it
often enough to class level unexpectedly. If you do plan on a bit of
skullduggery, leave Security as a minor skill. You can successfully complete
the lockpicking mini-game regardless of your Security rank, and you don't want
to gain unnecessary class levels from all the locks you pick.
-> Sneak
Attribute: Agility
Novice: Undetected attacks have a bonus of 4x damage for one-handed or
hand-to-hand attacks, 2x damage for bow attacks
Apprentice: Undetected attacks have a bonus of 6x damage for one-handed or
hand-to-hand attacks, 3x damage for bow attacks
Journeyman: Weight of your boots does not affect chance of detection
Expert: Moving, regardless of speed, while Sneaking does not affect
chance of detection
Master: Undetected attacks ignore armor rating of opponents
Sneaking is the bread and butter of the thief-type character, whether you are
a basic sneak-thief or a stealth-oriented fighter. Attacks made while
undetected do more damage:
* Novice: 4x from one-handed weapons and hand-to-hand,
2x from bows
* Apprentice and above: 6x from one-handed weapons and hand-to-hand,
3x from bows
*Note* you do not receive any damage bonus when Sneak attacking with a two-
handed melee weapon.
Sneak also allows you to pick pockets, avoid detection while you burglar a
house, etc. When in Sneak mode, an eye replaces your standard crosshair. If
the eye is grayed out, you are undetected. If the eye starts to glow, another
creature hears or sees something suspicious. Remaining undetected while
Sneaking is not just a matter of your skill rank, it also takes gameplay
skill. You have to move slowly, stay in shadows, avoid being in another
creature's sight (i.e. only move when their back is turned), etc. The only
clothing item that makes a difference when sneaking is your boots, and at
Journeyman level you can Sneak in steel boots if you're so inclined.
To pick someone's pocket, approach in Sneak mode. While remaining undetected,
Activate the NPC. You'll get a pick-pocket inventory rather than a
conversation. The higher in value or weight of the items you try to remove,
the more likely your attempt will be noticed. Sneak is best left as a minor
skill. You can rank it up quickly in a number of ways. Perhaps the best way is
to Sneak behind an innkeeper, and then run into a wall. You can level up Sneak
pretty quickly that way. This is a good way to get +5 modifiers to your
Agility.
-> Speechcraft
Attribute: Personality
Novice: Can bribe most NPCs for Disposition bonuses
Apprentice: Can get one free rotation of the Persuasion mini-game wheel
during each play of the mini-game
Journeyman: Disposition decreases more slowly during the Persuasion game
Expert: Lower reduction in Disposition from the hated response
Master: Bribes are 50% lower.
Each NPC has a Disposition score that indicates how likely they are to give
you important information or Haggle with you (if a merchant). You can increase
an NPC's Disposition using a Persuasion mini-game. In some cases, getting or
continuing a quest requires you to get a high Disposition score with the
target.
*NOTE* You can also increase Disposition by using Charm spells, the Imperial
ability, "Voice of the Emperor", or the vampire ability, "Vampire's
Seduction".
To play the Persuasion mini-game, click the Persuade button (face icon on the
left of the conversation menu) during conversation. A segmented wheel opens
next to the NPC. There are four segments: Admire, Boast, Joke and Coerce.
During each round of play, you must perform each action once.
To perform an action, select it and LEFT-CLICK or Right Trigger. Of the four
actions, the NPC will love one, like one, dislike one and hate one. You can
tell the NPC's reaction by examining his or her face when you select the
action. Inside each action's segment of the wheel is a wedge. After each
selection, the wedges "rotate", changing their position.
There are four wedges: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. They always rotate clockwise
and their order will differ from round to round. The actions the NPC loves,
likes, dislikes and hates will always be the same, so you only need to test
them at the beginning of the mini-game.
Basic gameplay involves choosing liked or loved responses when they are filled
with a medium or large wedge and choosing disliked and hated actions when they
have only a small wedge in them. All the while you're deciding which action to
pick, the NPC's Disposition is falling.
First, get a blank sheet of paper and sketch four large X's on it:
\ / \ / \ / \ /
\ / \ / \ / \ /
\/ \/ \/ \/
/\ /\ /\ /\
/ \ / \ / \ / \
/ \ / \ / \ / \
Start the Persuasion mini-game and quickly examine the NPC's reactions to each
action. Pause the game and note these reactions in the appropriate section of
your diagrams. In this example, the NPC (a city guard) loves Admire, likes
Boast, dislikes Joke and hates Coerce:
LV LV LV LV
\ / \ / \ / \ /
\ / \ / \ / \ /
LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D
/\ /\ /\ /\
/ \ / \ / \ / \
/ \ / \ / \ / \
H H H H
Next, quickly examine the current position of the wedges, pause the game and
note these in your first X:
LV
\ 25 /
\ /
LK \/ D
75 /\ 50
/ \
/100 \
H
You can now extrapolate where each wedge will be for each selection:
LV LV LV LV
\ 25 / \ 75 / \100 / \ 50 /
\ / \ / \ / \ /
LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D
75 /\ 50 100 /\ 25 50 /\ 75 25 /\100
/ \ / \ / \ / \
/100 \ / 50 \ / 25 \ / 75 \
H H H H
The strategy is simple: First determine in which turn you get the 25% wedge in
Hate and take that--in this example, it is the third turn. Then you want the
100% wedge in Love, or, if that's unavailable (because it occurs in the same
turn as 25% in Hate), then take 75% in Love (second turn in this example).
Then Dislike when it is lower--of the remaining turns (first and fourth),
Dislike is lower in the first. So, the correct strategy for this round is:
Dislike (50%), Love (75%), Hate (25%), Like (25%). You then start the next
round and your opening looks like this:
LV
\100 /
\ /
LK \/ D
25 /\ 75
/ \
/ 50 \
H
Planning ahead yields: Love (100%), Like (50%), Dislike (25%), Hate (25%).
You'll get a greater increase in Disposition this round than the previous
round. Continue until you've maximized the NPC's Disposition.
Your Speechcraft skill can help with the Persuasion mini-game in several ways:
* At Apprentice rank, you can get a free rotation of the wheel during
the mini-game.
* At Journeyman rank, the NPC's Disposition falls more slowly while
you're making your decisions.
* At Expert rank, there is less reduction in Disposition from the
hated response.
Once you get good at this mini-game, you won't need to sketch out your moves;
you'll be able to do it in your head, which dramatically decreases the time it
takes to sweet-talk NPCs.
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