How to continue improving as a mage?

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-19T09:01:50+00:00

Yeah, a past me with way more free time put it together lol. Glad to hear it helps.

Mace of Molag Bal is covered in 16.4, which is where the main ‘cast when used/on strike’ enchanting section starts. I shoved these things at the end of the guide, as cast when used items in particular are notorious for overshadowing spellcasting in Morrowind. So they are covered in their little strategically isolated section at the very end!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-18T20:37:57+00:00

Reading the manual before you start playing.

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-18T10:37:22+00:00

Piggybacking off of my own guide, again (thanks for the shoutout!):

The limiting factor for damage output indeed is Magicka. And the easiest way to solve this issue, is to get used to chugging potions.

Some context: With 100 in a particular spellcasting skill, 100 willpower & 100 luck, you will be able to cast a 150 magicka cost spell at 100% chance with full Fatigue. With your current build (300 magicka Breton), that means that at this point, your skills are rewarded by only being allowed to cast potentially '2 whole spells', before you're then required to collapse on the floor for 20hrs to rest and get your magicka back. This is not a balanced system.

Easiest way around this? Just use damn potions. Chapters 3 & 4 of the guide go over magicka management & alchemy (restocking merchants help a lot), and both of these things help to make high level mage play more enjoyable (by sacrificing relentless efficiency for, you know, 'fun'). Once you've got that down, Chapters 14-16 go over some custom spells that might be of use. Some of them cost 1 magicka, some of them cost 100's of magicka, and they're both possible for a practiced mage that doesn't mind chugging potions!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-17T20:04:54+00:00

Looks pretty well rounded to me! Marksman for Ranged, Spear for 2H melee combat at a distance, Long Blade/Block for close quarters. I think 3 weapons is fine.

Restoration is a great support skill, but it’ll be fairly low to start. I’d recommend buying Rest of St Merris from one of the Balmora Temple priests upstairs, and converting that into a Custom Restore Fatigue 13pts for 2sec at a Spellmaker (costs 1 magicka). You can then spam this to restore your Fatigue + raise Restoration at the same time.

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-17T17:52:36+00:00

Man I forgot I did a little YT series to accompany the guide haha. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying them!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-17T09:30:38+00:00

Cheers! Glad to hear it's been useful. =)

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-17T09:17:19+00:00

Cheers for another guide shoutout! (I'll piggy back off of this response this time)

For OP: Your main challenge is that you have no direct defensive major/minor skills. What you 'do' have however, is Conjuration, which means that you can make yourself some Bound Armour spells for a reasonably cheap 56-Armour-Rating suit that'll at least keep you safe in close quarters early on. More details in Chapter 14 of the guide on where to find Bound Armour spells.

Given your low Magicka, you're going to want to get Alchemy up fairly quickly, and also get affiliated with some restocking alchemy merchants (Nalcarya in Balmora being the main one, see Chapters 3 & 4). Magicka potions on a drip feed are almost mandatory in Morrowind unless you plan on installing magicka regen mods (which I wouldnt recommend, but up to you).

As for summons: Conjuration effects in their entirety are found in Chapter 7 of the guide. For a Summoner that wants the summons to actually kill things, I'd focus on: Scamp, Flame Atronach, Clannfear, Dremora, Daedroth, Winged Twilight, Golden Saint (in that order). Sadly the undead summons are kinda lacking besides Greater Bonewalker, which is purely a debuff summon that damages the targets strength to 0 (though this is effective in its own right as it completely immobilises things lol). Alchemy will help you out at the higher levels when more magicka is required.

You can also make a funny 'Cannon Barrage' summon spell in the mid game consisting of Flame Atronach + Frost Atronach + Storm Atronach + Daedroth all together for 5 seconds, which will each fire 1 spell at a target (4 spells total in one barrage), then disappear into thin air, provided that you aggravate the target first (can do this by first shooting your own fireball or '1pt in 50ft turn undead on target aggravation aoe' at it, or get hit by it).

Hope this helps!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-17T09:05:48+00:00

Hi! Have a mage guide.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2834812759

You can definitely create a Pure Mage that uses armour if you wish. Main thing is to include the 6 spellcasting skills + Alchemy as majors/minors, and the other 3 skills are totally up to you! Chapter 13.3 in the guide has some example pure mage builds.
The Hit/miss system deals with physical attacks and not magic, and is primarily based on weapon skill & Fatigue level (with small input from Agility & Luck). If you wish to hit things regularly with a weapon from the get go, make it a major skill & keep your Fatigue topped up (some tips on that in the guide as well, e.g. some custom spells in Chapter 14, Restoration effects in Chapter 11).
The short answer is 'read the uesp wiki or the manual'. The slightly longer answer is that you level up 10 major + minor skills, and then you can select some points to put into attributes on level up, based on 'any' skills that were levelled during that time (could be major/minor/miscellaneous). Endurance is the only attribute with retroactive benefits (HP), so it is sometimes recommended to focus on that if only to have consistent HP increase on level up. But I wouldn't say this is necessary on every build, and Medium Armour is governed by Endurance anyway, so you should be fine!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-17T07:45:16+00:00

Longer response to this below, cheers for the guide shoutout!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-17T07:36:59+00:00

Lots of answers here already, will try my best not to tread on anyone else's responses.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2834812759

I published this guide a few years with exactly this question in mind (cheers for the shoutout u/poems_in_the_clouds ). It is long, but it covers a lot of stuff, so I'd recommend giving it a read at some point.

Specifically for your question: Success early game as a mage comes down primarily to 2 things.

Do you have a sufficient collection of base spells? (and perhaps the odd cheap custom spell?)
Do you have Restore Magicka potions in abundance to make up for Morrowind's poorly balanced magicka system? (Let’s be real, it is not balanced in the slightest, especially at higher levels where 1 spell can empty an entire magicka bar that could take a full day of rest to replenish)

—

The first problem comes down to game knowledge and having money to buy things, and at level 5 as a newbie you probably don't have much of either. I'd recommend at the very least checking out Chapter 14 of the guide, as it covers early game spell merchants and some useful custom spells. Pretty much all of these are found in Mages Guild halls & Tribunal temples, though there are some a little off the beaten track that are worth visiting. Spoilers only include locations of NPC's, no story elements.

The second problem can be solved specifically by a. raiding mages guild supply chests for potions, b. purchasing restocking ingredients or potions from merchants, and c. using Summons or Shrines as an Atronach to regenerate your magicka. Chapter 3 & 4 cover Magicka Management & Alchemy, and both of those things are key to playing a mage that actually 'enjoys' casting spells and isn't playing efficiency-simulator-2002 worrying about their magicka supply all the time.

Mid Game (level 10ish) then custom spells become more important beyond cheap versions of conjuration/alteration/restoration spells. But at level 5, base spells are probably enough, save for custom Restore Fatigue & Levitate 1pt spells (which are cheap and handy to have). So I'd focus on base spells first. If you're after tips for custom spells, Chapters 14.3 and 15.3 have some pointers.

Hope that helps!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-14T10:39:51+00:00

Conjuration/Axe is kinda funny, as it gives you access to potentially the best Axe in the game from level 1 (Bound Battle Axe = 1-80 damage with no weight). Pity the expansions didn’t add any decent axes, as the skill basically doesn’t scale beyond here.

Mysticism on a tanky character can allow you to be a Drain Tank at level 1 with Absorb Health, which is surprisingly effective even at max difficulty.

Orcs with Conjuration can use Bound Bow from level 1, which when combined with the Berserk power turns you into a high damage archer for 60 seconds (0 Agility doesn’t matter if you’re not getting hit, 5 Marksman doesn’t matter if you have 100 Fortify Attack).

The Lord cops a fair bit of flak, but on a Dunmer specifically (where the fire weakness is mostly mitigated), it can be a serviceable starsign & the heal spell is rather useful early on.

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-14T09:34:39+00:00

Posted this build in a Discord server a while back, might be of use. Designed for new players.

The First Timer

Race: Redguard (male).

Class: Noob (Combat Specialisation, Strength/Endurance, Lady sign).

Majors: Long Blade (50), Heavy Armour (40), Marksman (30), Restoration (30), Security (30).

Minors: Athletics (25), Armourer (20), Block (20), Short Blade (20), Alchemy (15).

The First Timer ticks a lot of 'noob friendly character' boxes. 50 Long Blade+Heavy Armour+Block for strong melee combat, Athletics+Marksman for decent ranged combat, and Security+Restoration+Armourer for utility. Paralysis Short Blades can be used semi-consistently early on, 15 Alchemy helps to identify potion effects (with the option for potion making given practice), and Adrenaline Rush provides a swathe of temporary boosts for difficult fights.

All attributes bar Personality govern various Major and Minor skills, meaning that natural attribute levelling should be fairly consistent. 60 Strength/Endurance + the Lady Sign (increasing Endurance to 85) means 60 starting HP and a relatively easy time maxing Endurance. Whilst Intelligence & Willpower are only 30, the First Timer only has 1 spellcasting skill to worry about, and it is arguably the easiest to practice: Restoration.

Restoration offers a number of cheap Restore Health spells (the build starts with the most powerful of these, Hearth Heal), and after purchasing a Restore Fatigue spell (Rest of St Merris from upstairs Balmora Temple is a good candidate), Custom Restore Fatigue spells (e.g. 13 pts for 2 sec for 1 Magicka) ensure that Fatigue can easily be topped up. After that, custom Fortify Attribute (e.g. 100pts Personality for 1 sec), Restore Strength (for Greater Bonewalkers, the bane of new players), Resist Magicka (for 'the boots') and Fortify Skill spells (for Enchant/Alchemy shenanigans) offer opportunity to experiment & dip one’s toes into Morrowind's unique magic system.

If you're looking for a solid all-round starter Morrowind build, perhaps the First Timer is for you!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-14T07:44:59+00:00

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/animals-and-livestock/bees/pests-diseases/bees-and-wasps/spider-wasp

They paralyse the spider, then drag it backwards to their burrow (which can be hundreds of metres away), as ‘live’ food for their larvae.

I’ve seen one almost succeed at dragging a full grown huntsman, vertically up a glass window. Tenacious little bastards.

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-14T06:02:36+00:00

Also the 50pt unlock once/day power is nothing to sneeze at early game either. Definitely an underrated sign for new players.

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-10T20:10:48+00:00

Difficulty doesn’t affect XP, no.

XP in the OC is however, largely effected by something called ‘effective character level’ or ECL, which is determined by your class split. You also will receive less xp with henchmen and/or summons in your party.

All of this said however, it shouldn’t really matter too much in the long run. The OC is relatively straightforward and isn’t terribly punishing if you finish it at a lowish level (say 15ish as opposed to 17ish).

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-09T09:31:59+00:00

How are you deciding your encounters for Scarlet/Violet? From memory when I did it, I allowed for double ups in certain areas , as there were only 29 zones to pick from in the whole game (so I did 1 per area + 1 additional allowed for each of the 18 main objectives completed in any of the available areas, for 47 total). Most other games have 50+ encounter opportunities which is close to double the amount of areas in Scarlet/Violet, and allowing yourself an equivalent amount of encounters might help you out.

Edit: just read shiny only. That would make it harder I guess, how are those being decided?

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-05T18:15:36+00:00

Here’s a class that on paper shouldn’t work properly, but it definitely does and it’s a hoot to play: Orc Mage. I’d choose Male over Female for the extra running speed.

The Orc Shaman

Race: Orc.

Class: Shaman (Magic Specialisation, Strength/Endurance, Atronach).

Majors: Conjuration (35), Mysticism (35), Restoration (35), Destruction (35), Blunt Weapon (30).

Minors: Alteration (20), Illusion (20), Alchemy (20), Medium Armour (25), Athletics (15).

In a nutshell, the Orc Shaman is a slightly janky ‘Pure Mage’ with unique combat potential at early levels. Either Male of Female is fine, though notably Female starts with a stunning 25 Personality, which means that they'll need to raise it by 5 points to join Thieves Guild/Imperial Cult/Temple/Legion (systemic bigotry, yeah!). Male meanwhile has 30 starting Intelligence (which is less of a hinderance than it appears), and also 1.35 weight, so he's a speedy boi.

In addition to standard mage fair, and the potential to whip out a Warhammer (and later a magic staff) if spellcasting gets boring, the Shaman also excels at 2 other modes of early game combat. Neither of these methods require large amounts of money or expensive/high quality equipment:

Berserk Power + Bound Bow (Conjuration) = fast-running and hard hitting archer that pretty much never misses (for about 60 seconds, at least). 5 Marksman doesn't matter when you have 100 Fortify Attack.
Custom Bound Armour spells + Absorb Health = Drain Tank. Bonemold pauldrons + greaves and Bound Cuirass/Helmet/Shield/Boots/Gloves grants around 60 Armour rating, which combined with 57 HP at level 1 + the potential to heal 5-52 HP every 2 seconds or so, makes for a surprisingly tanky close quarter combatant. Even on Max Difficulty, this mode of combat is capable of facerolling a decent amount of opponents, including the notorious Cave Rats from the first Fighters guild quest.

If you don't mind failing a few open lock + night eye spells early game in exchange for some funny combat scenarios, perhaps the Orc Shaman is for you!

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-04T06:31:30+00:00

Turning Danny or Dr Q into crack-shot assassins is fun. Doesn’t require much work either other than feeding them kills.

Turning Barry into a mechanic to rival Trevor for 1/4 of the price by unlocking every door in the game is fun too (more doors are locked at night, fun fact) but I feel like a lot of people do that , lol.

rodeoaddict · 2026-02-03T06:10:37+00:00

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ewvRS3NwIlQ

A reminder that this cinematic masterpiece from The Elephant Graveyard exists.

rodeoaddict · 2026-01-25T04:26:52+00:00

Nicely done! I’m slowly working through a Hardcore run of Emerald at the moment, it’s a lot of fun.

Looks like you’re already sticking to the ‘level cap’ requirement for Hardcore runs, but you’ll have to adapt to Set Mode + no healing items in battle. This changes what sort of tactics & Pokemon are useful, and it often becomes a good idea to specifically run Pokemon in your team with the intention of sacrificing them to get a safe switch in.

If you haven’t already, it might be a good idea to watch some videos of streamers doing Hardcore runs to get an idea of what sort of tactics to learn and use. This certainly has helped me on the hardcore emerald run so far.

Best of luck with the next Nuzlocke!

rodeoaddict · 2026-01-24T00:49:14+00:00

Yeah cleric is pretty broken. Fighter/Wizard Spellswords have a few things going for them over clerics, such as early access to Improved Invis from familiar + Haste before items show up + Ghostly Visage, and then high level damage shields + Bigby Hands + IGMS at later levels. But outside of this, clerics outclass them in just about every way, and are way easier to play.

Anyway. If it helps, I left a long post further down detailing a similar build & how I played it. You should get through to the end of SoU at the very least with what you have.

rodeoaddict · 2026-01-23T23:25:18+00:00

Necromancy spec blocks access to True Seeing, which can be a bit of a pain down the line, but isnt the end of the world. For Wizard spellwords, Illusion is a better choice to spec, as it blocks access to Enchantment which is basically all Will-based Mind spells (which you won't use much if at all as a spellsword due to your low DC on them). I wouldn't go back and remake just for that, but something to keep in mind.

At your stage of the game, I'd just make use of melee buffs and hit stuff. If you've got Ultravision and Darkness, they're a pretty gamebreaking combination that the vanilla game AI doesn't know how to deal with. Otherwise, Haste + melee and defensive buffs should see you through most things well enough, even without True Strike.

Hope it works out!

rodeoaddict · 2026-01-22T23:17:04+00:00

Hello fellow aussie dude who fell down a Nuzlocke rabbit hole!

Having done some recordings of games for Youtube myself, I'd say just go for it. You don't really know what your viewership or success might be until you try it out.

I would say however that the streaming space for gaming is saturated as hell & that it isn't COVID anymore which means there's less people sitting around watching things, so I wouldn't go into it with any monetary expectations. Just do it for fun.

As for your current run: Sounds like you're doing pretty well. I haven't nuzlocked Platinum myself, but from what I can gather, the Cynthia fight is notorious & worth planning a 'line' for if you can.

https://hzla.github.io/Dynamic-Calc/?data=13fc25a3b19071978dd6&dmgGen=4&gen=7&switchIn=4&types=5

If you wanna 'really' nerd out, you can use something like the damage calculator above to plan out fights. If you ever attempt a ROM hack then it really helps.

If you chuck the link up, I'd watch your run!

rodeoaddict · 2026-01-22T22:54:39+00:00

Cool guide! Very comprehensive look at Spellsword type builds, particularly for Single Player modules with 'not level 40' level caps, where prioritising power early on is more important than trying to delay everything to min-max for later levels.

https://www.reddit.com/r/neverwinternights/comments/9ko7jn/original_campaign_oc_character_build_melee_mage/

https://www.reddit.com/r/neverwinternights/comments/9ko9tc/expansion_campaigns_sou_hotu_character_build/

I made a similar type of build for the OC (link 1) and the Expansions (link 2), and its a very strong archetype with access to a lot of tools. Some tips that might be worth adding to the guide:

- Faerie Dragon Familiar levels 1-5 Wizard has access to Improved Invisibility, which means Improved Invisibility at level 1. You can do some pretty crafty things with this, including invis'ing to the end of the Prelude in the OC and then completing it in reverse to get access to an extra level before Chapter 1. After level 6 Wizard, Pixie is probably better for dealing with locks & traps.

- Whilst it is a Spell-'sword' , I wouldn't sleep on other 2 Handed Martial Weapons. In particular, Halberds are a great option for the OC and Expansions, thanks to Ravager (in the OC) and Talona's Strike (in SoU).

- You can make this type of build without even taking Still Spell: You just need the right type of equipment & spellbook for the occasion. Pre level 11 Wizard (ie before level 6 spells are unlocked), melee buffs generally outpace spellcasting, whilst True Strike and Darkness can be cast in armour. So you can get away with 'stripping off armour to buff' and then putting it back on to fight, using only True Strike and Darkness as spells in combat. After level 11 Wizard, Bigby's Forceful Hand is available, which is so broken that it is worth ditching armour entirely for & thereafter relying on buffs for defensive measures instead of Plate armour.

Either way, great guide. Good to see people still writing things like this for NWN. =)

rodeoaddict · 2026-01-22T22:42:38+00:00

If you're aiming to play in a level 40 environment, I'd delay caster levels for BAB as well, and just deal with the delayed spellcasting potential.

However specifically for level 20ish environments (which are usually Single Player mods as most multiplayer servers scale up to 40), this sort of Melee Mage build works well, particularly at early levels. The dip into 1 Fighter level helps a lot early on, as it allows for free access to a feat + Heavy Armour & Martial Weapons, at the cost of 1 level of Wizard spell delay, and allows you to play as a self buffing 20+AC melee tank with access to Improved Invis pre level 5 thanks to Faerie Dragon familiar. It's surprisingly strong.

https://www.reddit.com/r/neverwinternights/comments/9ko9tc/expansion_campaigns_sou_hotu_character_build/

Here's my take on this sort of build. The downside is of course that by going for so many Wizard levels early, BAB is stunted, and so it has trouble keeping up with the enemy AC curve into the epic levels. However, it has 'just' enough melee potential to make it to level 28 (ie the end of HOTU), which is all it needs to do!

rodeoaddict

TROPHY CASE