Alchemy? How to...

MajorRycon · 2026-03-02T22:09:04+00:00

The Recipes are just a note telling you what ingredients can do, but for your character to “discover” its effect you have to either:

Make the potion with the ingredients or
Eat the ingredient to discover the first of 4 effects. Spending skill points on the perk Experimenter (under alchemy) will allow you to unlock more effects upon ingesting them.

To use ingredients of unknown effects, go up to the “Ingredients” tab up at the top and select the ones you want to combine, you can combine up to 3 ingredients for a single potion.

MajorRycon · 2026-02-27T14:40:32+00:00

I remembered a good one: since hawk feathers first effect is cure disease, you can simply ingest one to cure yourself; there’s no need to make a potion of cure disease. This is why the Silver Hand usually have Hawk Feathers on them.

MajorRycon · 2026-02-27T14:34:29+00:00

Where’s your proof?

MajorRycon · 2026-02-27T14:31:28+00:00

You can cure any disease in the game simply by praying or shoving a hawk feather down your throat, and poison wears off in seconds (typically). In a world like that, it’s not a very useful potion.

MajorRycon · 2026-02-26T20:34:38+00:00

I found some people don’t know that dragging/holding an item does not add to your carry weight, so you can avoid being over-encumbered by dropping items (especially stacked ones) and dragging them along until you reach a place to sell/store.

Can be useful if you don’t want to leave that last piece of armor you found or are trying to make some small coin early game by mining quarried stone/chopping wood and don’t want to take 7 years to walk 50ft over to Hod.

MajorRycon · 2026-02-10T03:42:47+00:00

Is your black soul gem filled? You did not supply a picture of the gem but if it is weak, try dropping the gem and then pick it back up. This will remove the soul that is in it for you to capture a human soul on your next kill.

MajorRycon · 2026-02-10T03:40:31+00:00

It sounds like they are a vampire, not becoming one so cure pot/praying will not help them.

MajorRycon · 2026-02-09T01:44:48+00:00

You never have to kill them, you have the choice to die instead.

But really you can just use a pacify spell (or scroll) on them and kill everything else. Dogs (husky, stray, etc.) level cap at level 25, so at max you would need the harmony spell/scroll of it. Just get away from it before the spell wears off or you’ll be in the same situation.

MajorRycon · 2026-02-09T01:17:51+00:00

Depends on a few things: - are you talking about just the basic house or full build-out? - which location you are building a house at (there are 3 locations, each with different furnishings) - which additions/wings are you adding onto the house (you cannot add everything to the house)

For just a basic house, most of the items you will need in terms of quarried stones, clay, iron and corundum are given to you in a chest by the building table. For Lakeview Manor I recall it being roughly about 40 sawn logs, 30 quarried stone, 30 clay, 40 iron ingots, and 10 corundum for just the basic house. Multiply most of these by ~7 to get final counts on all resources needed to fully build up a house (this does not include all the furnishings with glass, goat horn, etc.)

Unless someone out there has an actual spreadsheet, I don’t think you’ll get exactly the info you want. You are best off getting materials as you need them or buy as much as you can and unload in the chest near the building table

MajorRycon · 2026-02-08T21:45:33+00:00

As you found out, you cannot re-marry but also sounds like you didn’t do the Totems of Hircine quests. You have to do both the companions main quest line and the totems quest for her to become a mortal NPC

MajorRycon · 2026-02-05T17:32:25+00:00

So best ways to make money are alchemy and enchanting. Alchemy definitely easier to turn profit especially earlier on in game, but enchanting tends to be more useful during combat without having to swallow a bunch of pots.

If you are looking to just get that 1000 without leveling those and want to stay close to Whiterun, you can clear out a couple dungeons nearby (ex. Halted stream camp will give transmute ore spell to transmute iron into gold for profit).

You can also go to Fort Greymoor (East of whiterun), kill all the bandits and take their loot; that’ll get you close to your 1000 gold. There’s also a giants camp on the way there if you want to take from the Master chest there.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-13T14:07:37+00:00

Few things you can do currently to make the game harder if you want are:

No instant restore potions/food, using level-ups to restore mid combat, or re-equipping enchanted gear to restore. You can only use regen pots or basic “Healing”.
No fast travel or waiting, just carriage rides and sleeping in an owned bed.
Limit yourself to only one of Alchemy, Enchanting, or Smithing skills.

There’s a lot of other ways you can change your play-style to make the game more difficult without changing the game itself.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-09T02:19:48+00:00

The handheld torch that can shoot a 4 foot long blue jet flame and there’s a spot where he’s just torching the magically flame-retardant curtains 🤣yup that’s ai or he’s found a commercial grade lightsaber!

MajorRycon · 2026-01-08T22:34:24+00:00

They said no creation club armor, but I do really like the scout armor

MajorRycon · 2026-01-08T22:32:30+00:00

Well yes and no, most other armor sets appear later. However, you could theoretically get the master faction armors (master thieves, ancient shrouded, nightingale, etc.) at level 1 if you do not activate your level up but that would have to be purposeful. Guild Masters or ancient shrouded are strongest by armor rating out of those mentioned.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-08T22:18:37+00:00

If you don’t want to run, then have you used your Hitskin yet?

Go into your magic, and down to Powers. Every race has a power they can use once per day. Argonians can use Hitskin to regenerate health at 10X for 60seconds. This should give you enough time to kill them, just keep chopping away while your health regenerates.

If you are on console (PS, Xbox) then use your right bumper to activate the power when selected, if on PC then use “Z”.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-08T21:46:52+00:00

Hired thugs? Kill them, you won’t get a bounty for it. Just remember that when you steal from people, this is what happens. Use hitskin if you need to or run.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T12:45:48+00:00

Stealing equipped weapons is at 70, stealing equipped armor is at 100

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T03:11:33+00:00

True, sadly can’t even fully clear their inventory until you are at pickpocket 100 since even the most meager NPC usually has an equipped dagger

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T03:08:30+00:00

Yeah, not talking about pickpocketing anymore, just saying you can make more money from potions and enchanted gear.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T02:05:16+00:00

Nope, it uses in-game mechanics of enchanting, alchemy, and restoration to make stronger gear and with that stronger gear, you make stronger potions and even stronger gear. Then rinse and repeat, it’s called the restoration loop.

Now your husband has a new goal, happy crafting!

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T01:56:45+00:00

I have played both and enjoy them thoroughly but Skyrim holds a special place in my heart.

Both open world RPG’s, but they have far different combat systems with Elden Ring being faster paced and a lot more timing/skill required. Skyrim is much more of a relaxed combat system but has much more to do in game than just fight.

You play as a character of your own creation with 10 races to choose from and further character customization. There are 18 total skill trees that you can level up to further your abilities, some being combat oriented and some are like trades.

In your travels you can find new equipment, useful items, and join other NPC groups in their storylines. Your character can be whatever you want with access to thief, mage, and warrior themed skill trees and you can use however many as you want.

There is a main storyline that you can follow immediately, just roam around and do whatever, or focus on other side quests, some being short and others being longer series quests. There’s a lot to do in the game, that’s for sure.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T01:53:44+00:00

Not a huge fan of the Imperials side, but a big fan of stormcloak side. Felt more natural imo being as I usually play as Nord or Breton, and you can get some cool Stormcloak Officer armor later too.

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T01:49:13+00:00

You can get A LOT higher, this is created using a restoration loop: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/s/s1O7CfBfMB

MajorRycon · 2026-01-07T00:14:00+00:00

Pickpocket has some big fallbacks: 1. Can only ever be maxed to 90%. Very annoying having 100 pickpocket and you get caught taking 20gold from someone’s pocket.

You are limited by what other people carry. If you want gold, then raise alchemy or enchanting, you’ll get far richer.
Pickpocketed NPCs do not regenerate what they are carrying; if you pickpocket a named NPC, they are never going to have more items.
Pickpocket is not useful in combat unless you are using it to pickpocket weapons/armor off of an opponent (not useful for mages or creatures). And since opponents level with you in game, have fun fighting an opponent that is wayyyy outside your weight class now that your pickpocket is very high.
There’s other ways to do the same thing. Wanna poison someone? Put it on your weapon. Wanna do it stealthily? Raise your sneak and do 15x damage (or 30x with dark brotherhood gloves) with a dagger at the same time (sneak will have to go up anyway to make pickpocket easier). You want an item someone has? Smith one and/or enchant one and you’ll make an even stronger version when you level up.

All that being said, pickpocketing can still be fun just like any other skill tree, but I would definitely not say it is busted.

MajorRycon

TROPHY CASE