General Malaise "vs." reading comprehension ; also some talk of skyim and the elder scrolls (2 Viewers)

[Kirby]

- Took care of Mjoll's little sidekick. He starts walking to Riften at day break. Got tired of following him so, waited until he was near a guard and cast "Frenzy" on him. I had to sheath my weapon and bribe the guard 20 gold not to arrest me, but then he turned on the little peckerwood attacking him and took him out. So that's that.

Oooooohhh! I can't wait until I get my illusion high enough to cast silently... going to F whole towns up.

 

[Hawks64]

Question for double enchanting while I am on the topic. Do you do both at once? Or do you enchant the item once normally, then choose it again and do the second enchantment just like you did the first one?

Sounds just about like my day yesterday. For the double enchanting you have to do it at the same time, you will be able to select two enchantments when you are enchanting. I finally got the absorb health enchantment. Now to just get a daedric bow forged and fire up the old enchanter.

 

[TxBuckeye]

Question for double enchanting while I am on the topic. Do you do both at once? Or do you enchant the item once normally, then choose it again and do the second enchantment just like you did the first one?

Sounds just about like my day yesterday. For the double enchanting you have to do it at the same time, you will be able to select two enchantments when you are enchanting. I finally got the absorb health enchantment. Now to just get a daedric bow forged and fire up the old enchanter.

Oh, ok, good. That's actually how I prefer it to work, but I really didn't think it would. I figured it was going to be a two step process.Oh, bonus question, does that mean you get two enchantments for one soul gem? If so, even better! I am/was expecting two per item, one for each enchantment.

 

[Hawks64]

Question for double enchanting while I am on the topic. Do you do both at once? Or do you enchant the item once normally, then choose it again and do the second enchantment just like you did the first one?

Sounds just about like my day yesterday. For the double enchanting you have to do it at the same time, you will be able to select two enchantments when you are enchanting. I finally got the absorb health enchantment. Now to just get a daedric bow forged and fire up the old enchanter.

Oh, ok, good. That's actually how I prefer it to work, but I really didn't think it would. I figured it was going to be a two step process.Oh, bonus question, does that mean you get two enchantments for one soul gem? If so, even better! I am/was expecting two per item, one for each enchantment.

Two per gem, and the are the same strength as if you were doing a single enchantment. I have so many freaking soul gems now it's ridiculous. If you want to get a lot of them just go through dwemer ruins, they are everywhere, think maybe the dwemer automatons were powered by them or something.

 

[GregR]

So far the coolest weapon I have found came from the quest with Sam. I highly recommend trying to trigger the quest. I am a sneak archer and use this weapon often since getting it.

Spoiler

I love being able summon a Dremora with the Sanguine Rose, guy is badass and his commentary while laying waste is hilarious.

Spoiler

Game Informer (magazine I got free for a year when signing up with Gamestop) has a two page article on Skyrim tips this month. One of the items they mentioned that you should make an effort to acquire was this one. I've never come across this guy that I know of. My bud at work keeps telling me I have to because he just loved that whole quest line. He never even mentions the reward item though. Don't know if he ever realized what he had when he got it.

Spoiler

The story with the quest is also very cool. Definitely. Want to find Sam?He's found in the Inn in Whiterun. He isn't always there, so go do a quest or clear out a bandit cave, then map jump back until you find him.

Yep, that's where he found him too. Given that Whiterun is the first town I visited, and given the fact that I would try to go everywhere and talk to everyone, I am wondering if I did in fact run in to him and just turn down his offer to have the contest? It's quite possible I did thinking it was a waste of time or, more importantly that early in the game, coin.He doesn't show until you are at least level 14 according to the article I just read.He also doesn't necessarily show up in Whiterun. My first character I met him in Winterhold. Restarted that character and the next time he showed up in Riften. I think he just shows up in a tavern when you're the appropriate level.

 

[The Gator]

The game won't load on my 360... just get the initial load screen and it never happens.

 

[TxBuckeye]

Two per gem, and the are the same strength as if you were doing a single enchantment. I have so many freaking soul gems now it's ridiculous. If you want to get a lot of them just go through dwemer ruins, they are everywhere, think maybe the dwemer automatons were powered by them or something.

That's exactly what it is. They are powered by captured souls, which is why if you try to use soul trap on them, it fails. They don't have a soul to capture as it is already in a gem. I have a bunch too. Much like higher end arrows, I tend to try and never use the higher end gems. My current bow, the Nightengale one, uses three commons to fully recharge if it is totally empty. Once I make my final armor set, I'll probably not be so shy of using up the higher end ones as I'll know I don't need to save them to enchant armor anymore. My thought going in though was that I would need two for everything since it was a dual enchantment. So I was trying to save at least 20 to do all the armor, shield, bow, amulet, ring, and at least one sword. Now I know I can halve that.

 

[culdeus]

The game won't load on my 360... just get the initial load screen and it never happens.

Try to copy to hour hard drive.

 

[The Gator]

The game won't load on my 360... just get the initial load screen and it never happens.

Try to copy to hour hard drive.

 

[NCCommish]

So far the coolest weapon I have found came from the quest with Sam. I highly recommend trying to trigger the quest. I am a sneak archer and use this weapon often since getting it.

Spoiler

I love being able summon a Dremora with the Sanguine Rose, guy is badass and his commentary while laying waste is hilarious.

Spoiler

Game Informer (magazine I got free for a year when signing up with Gamestop) has a two page article on Skyrim tips this month. One of the items they mentioned that you should make an effort to acquire was this one. I've never come across this guy that I know of. My bud at work keeps telling me I have to because he just loved that whole quest line. He never even mentions the reward item though. Don't know if he ever realized what he had when he got it.

Spoiler

The story with the quest is also very cool. Definitely. Want to find Sam?He's found in the Inn in Whiterun. He isn't always there, so go do a quest or clear out a bandit cave, then map jump back until you find him.

Yep, that's where he found him too. Given that Whiterun is the first town I visited, and given the fact that I would try to go everywhere and talk to everyone, I am wondering if I did in fact run in to him and just turn down his offer to have the contest? It's quite possible I did thinking it was a waste of time or, more importantly that early in the game, coin.He doesn't show until you are at least level 14 according to the article I just read.He also doesn't necessarily show up in Whiterun. My first character I met him in Winterhold. Restarted that character and the next time he showed up in Riften. I think he just shows up in a tavern when you're the appropriate level.He shows up in the Hold you were closest to when you hit level 14.

 

[TxBuckeye]

So, back to enchanting, any easy way to tell when your enchantment potion runs out? I figure in 60 seconds, if I have it all planned out, I should be able to get through several pieces of armor as I won't be renaming any of those. I am hoping I can actually get through all 4 pieces (Helm, Bracers, Chest and Boots) with a single potion if I have it all planned out. But obviously, I want to be careful that I don't enchant anything once the potion effects have wore off. I plan to just check the numbers without the potion first and write them down and then, when actually enchanting, just watch for the numbers to return to "normal" so I will know the effects have worn off. But am hoping maybe there's an easier way, like a sound effect when it ends or something?? I know in third person view, I can see some floaty blue bubbles around me when I am under the potion's effects. But that doesn't do me any good while at the enchanting table.

Oh yea, I also finsihed the skooma quest and got the house in Riften. All those wasted sidequests I did trying to trigger that dialog. I find it kind of crappy that you have to do one PARTICULAR quest to get the whole thane thing in that town.

 

[The Hank]

Started my 2nd character, an Argonian who is an aspiring pick-pocketer that is a fast-riser in the Thieves Guild and soon plans to join the Dark Brotherhood in the near future.

He goes by the name "Sneaky *******".

 

[Bigboy10182000]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...

I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

 

[The Hank]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

 

[Joseph]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

 

[coyote5]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

 

[TxBuckeye]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

My answer would be, no. I say this because your enchantment will be uber short. The easiest thing if you are going to be a character that uses a bow is to disenchant the weapon to learn the soul trap enchantment, make yourself another flawless Elven Bow (or wait until you find one or buy one if you aren't doing the black smithing thing) and enchant the bow with soul trap. Then all you need to do is buy inexpensive, empty gems from the mages in town, and kill things with your soul trap bow. That will capture the souls in to the gems. No worries about time limits this way.Edit to add: The poster above didn't mention Black Soul Gems. You need those to capture human souls.

 

[Bobcat10]

Finally picked this up 92 and a half pages later. Started playing last night for a couple hours with a Khajiit. A little out of the ordinary for me. Amazing how tough a decision this is right off the rip.

 

[coyote5]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

it took me a few attempts at level 30 something, I'd suggest going to a save just prior to facing Malyn and getting some fire resistance either through potions or items.

 

[TxBuckeye]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

Don't do this. Give the gem to the fellow in Winterhold I believe. Winning the fight only makes the Azura Star a grand soul gem. If you take it to the fellow I mentioned, it becomes a black soul gem. That is much more valuable since it can hold human souls.

 

[Joseph]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

it took me a few attempts at level 30 something, I'd suggest going to a save just prior to facing Malyn and getting some fire resistance either through potions or items.

Sounds like I'm probably not high enough level. I'll try to get a few more levels under my belt before I try it again.

 

[TxBuckeye]

Finally picked this up 92 and a half pages later. Started playing last night for a couple hours with a Khajiit. A little out of the ordinary for me. Amazing how tough a decision this is right off the rip.

If it is early on, then decide if you like that charcater or not. If not, make a new tune and start over. It won't take you long to make it up and you are going to be spending a LONG time with your character once you get rolling. So you are going to want to like the toon you are going to spending a lot of your life with.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

 

[Joseph]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

Don't do this. Give the gem to the fellow in Winterhold I believe. Winning the fight only makes the Azura Star a grand soul gem. If you take it to the fellow I mentioned, it becomes a black soul gem. That is much more valuable since it can hold human souls.

Spoiler

That's what I'm doing... the battle is the same whoever you take to, right? I'm going with that guy that got throw out of the college.

 

[Joseph]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

I've been buying empty ones. If you're an archer, make a bow with a 1 second soul trap enchantment and use it on low level fights (mudcrabs, wolves, etc) to level up your enchanting skill.

 

[Kirby]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

You can find a lot of gems in dwemer ruins, and you can buy them from the jarl's mage usually. Yup... stock up on them and get a weapon that has soul trap on it, or cast soul trap if you are a mage. Make sure you have some of each type. If all you have is a grand soul gem and you kill something with a petty soul it will fill the grand... a giant waste.

 

[TxBuckeye]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

Don't do this. Give the gem to the fellow in Winterhold I believe. Winning the fight only makes the Azura Star a grand soul gem. If you take it to the fellow I mentioned, it becomes a black soul gem. That is much more valuable since it can hold human souls.

Spoiler

That's what I'm doing... the battle is the same whoever you take to, right? I'm going with that guy that got throw out of the college.

Oh, I'm not sure. I screwed the pooch and didn't know about the options and chose the wrong one. I assumed there was no battle if you went the other route. But I could be completely wrong. I'm sure someone that knows will be along shortly.

 

[culdeus]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

I've been buying empty ones. If you're an archer, make a bow with a 1 second soul trap enchantment and use it on low level fights (mudcrabs, wolves, etc) to level up your enchanting skill.

Why does the time matter? I scored a soul trap bow off a dragon yesterday so I'm starting to feel this stuff out as well. It's a 60s bow.

 

[Joseph]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

I've been buying empty ones. If you're an archer, make a bow with a 1 second soul trap enchantment and use it on low level fights (mudcrabs, wolves, etc) to level up your enchanting skill.

Why does the time matter? I scored a soul trap bow off a dragon yesterday so I'm starting to feel this stuff out as well. It's a 60s bow.

If you're an archer and will be making the kill with the bow, you don't need more than 1s, and using such a short duration gives you a lot more charges when you enchant it yourself. If you create a 60s soul trap bow, it might only have 5-6 charges before you need to refill it, but a 1s one will have a whole lot more.

 

[culdeus]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

I've been buying empty ones. If you're an archer, make a bow with a 1 second soul trap enchantment and use it on low level fights (mudcrabs, wolves, etc) to level up your enchanting skill.

Why does the time matter? I scored a soul trap bow off a dragon yesterday so I'm starting to feel this stuff out as well. It's a 60s bow.

If you're an archer and will be making the kill with the bow, you don't need more than 1s, and using such a short duration gives you a lot more charges when you enchant it yourself. If you create a 60s soul trap bow, it might only have 5-6 charges before you need to refill it, but a 1s one will have a whole lot more.

Begs the second question. Seems half the point of these things is to level enchanting to make some uber stuff. Wouldn't a faster discharge lead to faster leveling?

 

[Thorn]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

I think I was around that level and there was just no hope with sneak in that environment. I switched to a sword and charged the daedra, making sure to pound potions whenever necessary. Then I ran and hid, healed, and charged the main guy. I think I might have used an invisibility potion too somewhere in there.Only other thing you might try is poison your arrows with paralysis, I finished off a different tough boss that way during the early going. Paralyze, then sprint up there and start hacking.

 

[Joseph]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

I've been buying empty ones. If you're an archer, make a bow with a 1 second soul trap enchantment and use it on low level fights (mudcrabs, wolves, etc) to level up your enchanting skill.

Why does the time matter? I scored a soul trap bow off a dragon yesterday so I'm starting to feel this stuff out as well. It's a 60s bow.

If you're an archer and will be making the kill with the bow, you don't need more than 1s, and using such a short duration gives you a lot more charges when you enchant it yourself. If you create a 60s soul trap bow, it might only have 5-6 charges before you need to refill it, but a 1s one will have a whole lot more.

Begs the second question. Seems half the point of these things is to level enchanting to make some uber stuff. Wouldn't a faster discharge lead to faster leveling?

I'm not sure if your enchanting level goes up when you recharge an item, but having more charges on the weapon will let you fill more soul gems without having to use one of them to recharge your weapon. If you have 10 charges on a soul trap weapon you can fill 10 soul gems and then use one of them to recharge the weapon, if you have 100 charges on the weapon you get a lot more bang for your buck.

 

[Thorn]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

Don't do this. Give the gem to the fellow in Winterhold I believe. Winning the fight only makes the Azura Star a grand soul gem. If you take it to the fellow I mentioned, it becomes a black soul gem. That is much more valuable since it can hold human souls.

Spoiler

That's what I'm doing... the battle is the same whoever you take to, right? I'm going with that guy that got throw out of the college.

Correct.

 

[Thorn]

Ok a newb boring enchanting question or two...I just enchanted my first weapon (flawless Elven bow) that does 15 points of shock damage and half stamina damage. I realzed that after a journey or two that this thing needs to be refilled so I have been buying some soul gems from the Wizard in Whiterun. Is there any way to get these myself? I just did a quest and got a weapon that says something to the effect of "Fills a soul gem when enemy dies"...but its a two-handed weapon and I roll with two one-handed mace's...would I be better served to enchant one of the maces (or can I do both?) so I can fill up on these gems?

I'd use the "Soul Trap" enchantment on one of the maces, and a different one on the other.

So after i kill someone I will get a soul gem to replinsh my weapons with?

No, you need to have empty soul gems and then if you use the soul trap spell (either cast or enchanted on a weapon) you can fill the empty soul gem when you kill an enemy. Higher level enemies require better soul gems, the progression of gems is: (petty, lesser, common, greater, grand). You can buy soul gems from certain shops or you can find/steal them in various areas.

Is there a better place to buy/ steal these gems?So I should just stack up on empty ones and just go from there?Thanks for the help...this part of the game has been hard to get my head around.

I've been buying empty ones. If you're an archer, make a bow with a 1 second soul trap enchantment and use it on low level fights (mudcrabs, wolves, etc) to level up your enchanting skill.

Why does the time matter? I scored a soul trap bow off a dragon yesterday so I'm starting to feel this stuff out as well. It's a 60s bow.

If you're an archer and will be making the kill with the bow, you don't need more than 1s, and using such a short duration gives you a lot more charges when you enchant it yourself. If you create a 60s soul trap bow, it might only have 5-6 charges before you need to refill it, but a 1s one will have a whole lot more.

Begs the second question. Seems half the point of these things is to level enchanting to make some uber stuff. Wouldn't a faster discharge lead to faster leveling?

I'm not sure if your enchanting level goes up when you recharge an item, but having more charges on the weapon will let you fill more soul gems without having to use one of them to recharge your weapon. If you have 10 charges on a soul trap weapon you can fill 10 soul gems and then use one of them to recharge the weapon, if you have 100 charges on the weapon you get a lot more bang for your buck.

Enchanting does go up on recharging, but I still think your advice is correct.

 

[TxBuckeye]

Why does the time matter? I scored a soul trap bow off a dragon yesterday so I'm starting to feel this stuff out as well. It's a 60s bow.

Well, for one thing, you are NEVER going to be able to MAKE a bow with anywhere near a 60s enchantment. I was in the 80s or 90s before I could get the bow enchanted for FIVE seconds. But the fact is (as has already been mentioned), the bow makes the kill. So anything other than 1 second is a waste and will cost you recharging. Your enchanting skill is much better served by enchanting daggers with the ton of petty and lesser soul gems you'll be able to acquire and fill then by the low rate and waste of constantly recharging your bow.As far as a 60s bow, the only real use I can think of for a recharge this long would be for a melee character. I can see hitting the target with the bow just to get things rolling, then switching weapons and charging in with your sword or whatever for the kill. But boy, that's a lot of weapon swapping if you are in a room with 5 Draughr or something.

 

[Kirby]

Begs the second question. Seems half the point of these things is to level enchanting to make some uber stuff. Wouldn't a faster discharge lead to faster leveling?

I'm not sure if your enchanting level goes up when you recharge an item, but having more charges on the weapon will let you fill more soul gems without having to use one of them to recharge your weapon. If you have 10 charges on a soul trap weapon you can fill 10 soul gems and then use one of them to recharge the weapon, if you have 100 charges on the weapon you get a lot more bang for your buck.

Yah, I don't think that it does.

It does... my enchanting actually leveled the other night when I recharged my bow.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

You can find a lot of gems in dwemer ruins, and you can buy them from the jarl's mage usually. Yup... stock up on them and get a weapon that has soul trap on it, or cast soul trap if you are a mage. Make sure you have some of each type. If all you have is a grand soul gem and you kill something with a petty soul it will fill the grand... a giant waste.

OK...last newb question for at least the next 10 minutes....You get to choose which gem to put the soul in after the kill?

 

[Joseph]

You can find a lot of gems in dwemer ruins, and you can buy them from the jarl's mage usually. Yup... stock up on them and get a weapon that has soul trap on it, or cast soul trap if you are a mage. Make sure you have some of each type. If all you have is a grand soul gem and you kill something with a petty soul it will fill the grand... a giant waste.

OK...last newb question for at least the next 10 minutes....You get to choose which gem to put the soul in after the kill?

no, it automatically goes into the smallest empty gem that will hold the soul you captured.The only time you need to worry about it is if you have an empty big soul gem (grand or greater) and that's the last empty soul gem you have. You could end up "wasting" it with a tiny soul if that's the case. I normally just keep a rough idea of how many empties I have available. Normally I don't carry more than 10 or so with me, so its not too difficult to keep track. Or you could just make a habit of filling any big soul gems you have quickly before you chance making a mistake.

 

[Hawks64]

Two per gem, and the are the same strength as if you were doing a single enchantment. I have so many freaking soul gems now it's ridiculous. If you want to get a lot of them just go through dwemer ruins, they are everywhere, think maybe the dwemer automatons were powered by them or something.

That's exactly what it is. They are powered by captured souls, which is why if you try to use soul trap on them, it fails. They don't have a soul to capture as it is already in a gem. I have a bunch too. Much like higher end arrows, I tend to try and never use the higher end gems. My current bow, the Nightengale one, uses three commons to fully recharge if it is totally empty. Once I make my final armor set, I'll probably not be so shy of using up the higher end ones as I'll know I don't need to save them to enchant armor anymore. My thought going in though was that I would need two for everything since it was a dual enchantment. So I was trying to save at least 20 to do all the armor, shield, bow, amulet, ring, and at least one sword. Now I know I can halve that.

Do you have the Black Star?

 

[Hawks64]

What level were you guys when you finished the Black Star quest? At level 20 with a sneak archer type build I was getting absolutely housed in the final confrontation.

Spoiler

My best attempt started with a damage magica poison on my bow, hit him with that immediately, then pulled out sanguine's rose and got a minion, whirlwind sprint and I had Malyn trapped between me and the dremora while I pulled out daggers to hopefully cut him down before the dremoras wiped me out, but his fireball spells just tear me apart. I was using the Dark Brotherhood armor, so I didn't have any fire resistance going, was that the problem, are my tactics bad, or am I just too low of a level?

Spoiler

Don't do this. Give the gem to the fellow in Winterhold I believe. Winning the fight only makes the Azura Star a grand soul gem. If you take it to the fellow I mentioned, it becomes a black soul gem. That is much more valuable since it can hold human souls.

Spoiler

That's what I'm doing... the battle is the same whoever you take to, right? I'm going with that guy that got throw out of the college.

Oh, I'm not sure. I screwed the pooch and didn't know about the options and chose the wrong one. I assumed there was no battle if you went the other route. But I could be completely wrong. I'm sure someone that knows will be along shortly.He's doing the most advantageous options.Joseph, there's some discussion on this fight 30-70 pages back but I'd say just keep giving it a try. A few people here got housed a dozen or more times before finding something that worked. The way that I finally beat the guy was...

Spoiler

I did the windsprint to where the platform turned and plunked him with a spell or arrow to kinda get his attention and then summoned an atronach. Then I ran back more or less to where you started from, scoped with the bow, and hit Malyn with an arrow. This made him bum-rush me while his dremora fought with my atronach. Getting him alone like that, I was able to kill him before his goons caught up.

Spoiler

I actually left and created an ebony sword with 25 point shock damage and half as much magika. As soon as I could I whilrwind sprinted to him and started beating on him. Sword was ~50 damage points before the enchant bonus and he went down really easy with that. I wound up getting pulled out before I could loot him or the Dremora he summoned.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

You can find a lot of gems in dwemer ruins, and you can buy them from the jarl's mage usually. Yup... stock up on them and get a weapon that has soul trap on it, or cast soul trap if you are a mage. Make sure you have some of each type. If all you have is a grand soul gem and you kill something with a petty soul it will fill the grand... a giant waste.

OK...last newb question for at least the next 10 minutes....You get to choose which gem to put the soul in after the kill?

no, it automatically goes into the smallest empty gem that will hold the soul you captured.The only time you need to worry about it is if you have an empty big soul gem (grand or greater) and that's the last empty soul gem you have. You could end up "wasting" it with a tiny soul if that's the case. I normally just keep a rough idea of how many empties I have available. Normally I don't carry more than 10 or so with me, so its not too difficult to keep track. Or you could just make a habit of filling any big soul gems you have quickly before you chance making a mistake.

Is there more bang for your buck as far as these gems go? Would I be better served getting a bunch of empty common ones?

 

[culdeus]

You can find a lot of gems in dwemer ruins, and you can buy them from the jarl's mage usually. Yup... stock up on them and get a weapon that has soul trap on it, or cast soul trap if you are a mage. Make sure you have some of each type. If all you have is a grand soul gem and you kill something with a petty soul it will fill the grand... a giant waste.

OK...last newb question for at least the next 10 minutes....You get to choose which gem to put the soul in after the kill?

no, it automatically goes into the smallest empty gem that will hold the soul you captured.The only time you need to worry about it is if you have an empty big soul gem (grand or greater) and that's the last empty soul gem you have. You could end up "wasting" it with a tiny soul if that's the case. I normally just keep a rough idea of how many empties I have available. Normally I don't carry more than 10 or so with me, so its not too difficult to keep track. Or you could just make a habit of filling any big soul gems you have quickly before you chance making a mistake.

Is there more bang for your buck as far as these gems go? Would I be better served getting a bunch of empty common ones?

yes, but if you don't like which one it filled just drop it on the ground and pick it back up. Dropping it empties the gem.

 

[culdeus]

Begs the second question. Seems half the point of these things is to level enchanting to make some uber stuff. Wouldn't a faster discharge lead to faster leveling?

I'm not sure if your enchanting level goes up when you recharge an item, but having more charges on the weapon will let you fill more soul gems without having to use one of them to recharge your weapon. If you have 10 charges on a soul trap weapon you can fill 10 soul gems and then use one of them to recharge the weapon, if you have 100 charges on the weapon you get a lot more bang for your buck.

Yah, I don't think that it does.

It does... my enchanting actually leveled the other night when I recharged my bow.

Interesting

Sorry, I should have been more direct in first post on this topic. I noticed enchant skill xp on recharge as well.

 

[TxBuckeye]

yes, but if you don't like which one it filled just drop it on the ground and pick it back up. Dropping it empties the gem.

Did not know this! Doesn't matter much now but, early on, wish I had this info.

 

[cj*]

The awesomeness of hitting a game killing bug is just sweet. Had the join the stormcloaks, kill the ice wraith quest open but didnt want to make a choice so I got all the way till the greybeards peace conference quest when it happened. Talk to ulfric was the quest but he kept saying i think such and such guy has a job for you. Well that guy just says i cant beleive you got ulfric to do that. Game over as that is a quest you have to finish. Lost about 2 hours. Really happy to have those 900 saves right now.

I had to go back and join the stormies and now I am known as storm blade after slaughtering a couple hundred imperials.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

You can find a lot of gems in dwemer ruins, and you can buy them from the jarl's mage usually. Yup... stock up on them and get a weapon that has soul trap on it, or cast soul trap if you are a mage. Make sure you have some of each type. If all you have is a grand soul gem and you kill something with a petty soul it will fill the grand... a giant waste.

OK...last newb question for at least the next 10 minutes....You get to choose which gem to put the soul in after the kill?

no, it automatically goes into the smallest empty gem that will hold the soul you captured.The only time you need to worry about it is if you have an empty big soul gem (grand or greater) and that's the last empty soul gem you have. You could end up "wasting" it with a tiny soul if that's the case. I normally just keep a rough idea of how many empties I have available. Normally I don't carry more than 10 or so with me, so its not too difficult to keep track. Or you could just make a habit of filling any big soul gems you have quickly before you chance making a mistake.

Is there more bang for your buck as far as these gems go? Would I be better served getting a bunch of empty common ones?

yes, but if you don't like which one it filled just drop it on the ground and pick it back up. Dropping it empties the gem.

That's a good tip!So the bigger the enemy the bigger the gem it will fill? Am I following this right?

 

[The Hank]

You can find a lot of gems in dwemer ruins, and you can buy them from the jarl's mage usually. Yup... stock up on them and get a weapon that has soul trap on it, or cast soul trap if you are a mage. Make sure you have some of each type. If all you have is a grand soul gem and you kill something with a petty soul it will fill the grand... a giant waste.

OK...last newb question for at least the next 10 minutes....You get to choose which gem to put the soul in after the kill?

no, it automatically goes into the smallest empty gem that will hold the soul you captured.The only time you need to worry about it is if you have an empty big soul gem (grand or greater) and that's the last empty soul gem you have. You could end up "wasting" it with a tiny soul if that's the case. I normally just keep a rough idea of how many empties I have available. Normally I don't carry more than 10 or so with me, so its not too difficult to keep track. Or you could just make a habit of filling any big soul gems you have quickly before you chance making a mistake.

Is there more bang for your buck as far as these gems go? Would I be better served getting a bunch of empty common ones?

yes, but if you don't like which one it filled just drop it on the ground and pick it back up. Dropping it empties the gem.

That's a good tip!So the bigger the enemy the bigger the gem it will fill? Am I following this right?

Precisely.

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

I didn't know that dropping a gem emptied it, either. that's good stuff.

 

[The Hank]

I didn't know that dropping a gem emptied it, either. that's good stuff.