I realize that if you take the matrices to the smith, he'll create enchanted versions of our items. That said, I don't like a basic "Damage Health" enchantment. I think I might like something else.

Is it possible for me to simply have him create an amber longsword and then go enchant it myself someplace else? If so, where and how?

Sure it is. Simply give the smith the requisite number of amber pieces with no matrix and ask them to make a longsword (or whatever). The result will be tuned to your current level and unenchanted. You can then enchant the item at the enchanting altar or via sigil stone as you wish.

Thank you very much!

I looked on the Wiki, but it didn't state anything that I could see... And God forbid you ask a question there. Thanks for your help. I did try to look before I asked here.

Here's another one... Are Amber arrows recoverable?

All arrows are recoverable, sometimes. Sometimes they aren't.

Amber and madness weapons and armor work just the same as the rest of them, with the exception of the matrices and them having to be made to order.

IIRC Unenchanted arrows have a timer on them that keeps the arrows recoverable until the timer expires -- enchanted arrows are not recoverable

Not true. The magic arrows that you can get off Schlera Sestius at Pell's Gate (The Stormcall Arrows). Those are non-recoverable. If you shoot one into the ground at your feet you might be able to get it back in time. You have about 1 half of a second to do so before it vanishes forever.


Thank you for the answer about the Amber arrows, however.

Damn, I should have specified that more clearly. Sorry about that, but that's essentially what I meant. Normal, unenchanted arrows. Yeah.

I would wait until level 23 to start enchanting Amber Items because that's the level where they start to equal the Glass Armor in terms of armor rating and the enchantments are at their best rating.

What about the enchanted Amber arrows? That's what I'm looking at getting.



I'm level 30.

This is very true.
I can't find any alive people there :poke:

Oh, they're alive alright. They're just not someone I'd go to with a question, or even just to chat with.

Apologies for the bump. I have a new question.

Say I take a stack of oh... About 3,000 Amber Arrows and I get my hands on a sigil stone. If I enchant them, how many will become enchanted?

Sorry. You cannot enchant arrows yourself. Not with a sigil stone. Not with a soul gem + enchanting altar. You can find enchanted arrows, or you can have enchanted arrows made from amber or madness ore in the SI, or you can buy them from the odd vendor (like the fletcher in the Thieves Den DLC). Obviously, I'm talking about the vanilla game + DLCs (no mods).

Ugh. Most unfortunate. Obviously none of the game team ever played as an archer.

Thanks for the info.

You can enchant the bow instead of the arrows, so you're at the same point as a swordsman or axeman enchanting his sword or axe. You get one self-enchanted item to use.

The Hand-to-hand specialists don't get anything to enchant. They're the ones who should complain.

They certainly are pretty screwed. On the other hand I don't know many people that actually desire to play a hand to hand character. That doesn't make it okay, it just makes the issue less prominent. You have a valid point though.

An arrow + a bow is still not equivalent to a sword; especially during a sneak attack, for the record. Add to this the added weight of arrows and their tendency to be non-recoverable and I think it's fair to say that "Hand to hand got screwed worse, but archery still got pretty screwed."

I've played several hand-to-hand monk-type characters. My position is that if I decide to go weaponless, for whatever reason, I am choosing to give up some of the advantages that a weapon-user has. My mages never carry weapons, either; their fallback is hand-to-hand (although they never have to use it.)

I'm not sure I understand the problem with the bow enchanting. The only difference of bow vs melee in sneaking is the amount of the bonus you get for the sneak attack. Given that the bow is ranged, and that most enemies have to come to you before they can damage you, it seems to me that the inequality is offset. Using a heavily enchanted quality bow, with high-damage arrows, you can often one-hit-kill enemies while sneaking. You can certainly take them down before they can get to you, which means that you often take no damage at all. You're carrying arrows, but you're not carrying as many healing potions, and you don't need as much armor.

Enchanting the bow rather than the arrows is the only practical way of applying enchantments in the game, since the same item (sigil stone, soulgem) is used to apply the same amount of effect to whatever weapon you are enchanting. I'd say that it was better to enchant the bow than the arrows, since you don't "use up" the bow (it can be recharged.) Enchanted arrows are "use-once"; they can't be recovered.

That's a considerable chunk. nearly double actually. Also bear in mind that even with 100 in agility and 100 in sneak, I can be seen as soon as I shoot. This is true through walls, and even once I run like a banshee the distance of a large cave, sometimes all the way back to the entrance where I then give up, draw my sword, and go to town.

I think that you have a very different perception of how archery actually works in practical application as opposed to "in theory" in the game. If not, I might ask if you're playing with mods or using exploits such as duping or chameleon, reflect damage, and so on.



It seems to me you haven't tried it. The closing speed of enemies is pretty high. Bear in mind that in any kind of an environment there are obstructions so that I can't get a line of fire on the enemy, but they can still see and track me, and what you're saying doesn't actually happen very often.



Now I KNOW you've either not tried it yourself, or you're running mods or an exploit. On lesser creatures (Imps, sprigans, some of the lesser minotaurs, and so on) it works sometimes, but no. Not often, and not on the creatures we need it to.

Try it. Take off your mods, don't use duping (not even for alchemy ingredients or arrows), and go clear Fingerbowl Cave. Come back and let me know your stance. If you don't like that cave, I can pick another for you. For a real kick try it out in a goblin mine. I'd save first, though.

This (Fingerbowl Cave) isn't a unique environment. It's just one I used here because the size of the cave allows for ample retreat and the creatures are somewhere in the middle range of difficulty for an archer to deal with - and I still find myself backed up to the entrance six or seven times during an outing because that's how far I've had to back up in order to get the shots off to kill something.

Seriously. Try it. Try it without the mods or exploits. I don't mean to be presumptive, but what you're saying about how things ought to be with archery is very, very different from how it actually works.


PS: I have an enchanted bow. I have for a while. It's a perfect amber bow - the best bow in the game. I use amber arrows as well. The best arrows in the game. The problem is not the equipment - except in the design and functionality of that equipment within the game - flaws in game design. This is the best equipment out there, however.

I don't use exploits, or any mods that alter the way weapons or archery work. I've played a number of sneaky archer types over the years, often glass-cannon types like Acadian's "Buffy," who use little or no armor or melee. I use a combination of enchantments and poisons.

I suspect that the biggest difference between your game and mine is the position of the "difficulty" slider. Mine is generally slightly left of center, depending upon the character. The slider is set at the beginning of the game by the following procedure: I kill a rat. In my game, a human with a sword can kill a rat in one hit. I consider that reasonable and realistic. I set the slider at the position where that happens, and then I leave it alone.

I think you will find most archer players back up their bow. Although a blade is popular for this, magic works well also.

My character is a mystic archer. She uses magic (mostly illusion) to make her more lethal as an archer. When charged, she does not run or back up; rather she immobilizes, commands or turns her foes against each other, then continues firing. I estimate that 85% of her kills are from her bow. She doesn't touch melee weapons and normally has an armor rating of about. . . 6. Lol. We use no mods that affect bow or magic. We find illusion, drain speed, weakness to poison, sneak and detect life extremely helpful. For underwater combat, she blocks with her bow and casts a combination absorb health + paralize touch spell.

I do believe that playing an archer with no melee or magic in support would indeed be a challenge. :foodndrink:

Yes, most of my sneak-archer types have had at least one magical skill to supplement the bow. I'm fond of Restoration. When an enemy gets within touch range, you can use Absorb Health on them, while blocking with the bow.

I'm of the opinion that arrows in Oblivion actually cause more damage than they ought to, rather than less. You can shoot an enemy from a long distance away, requiring you to aim way above him, and when the arrow hits him in the elbow (!) it does just as much damage as if you'd shot him through the eye. Arrows penetrate much further into a body than they should, often protruding right through. And they do mortal damage to heavily-armored opponents, where they really should not.

Edit: I'm pretty off-topic here anyway, I guess. I don't recall a character of mine using an amber bow (although I'd say it must have happened at some time.) In recent times, I tend to ignore the whole SI thing. More than one of my characters have carried Hatred's Soul, which I believe is the strongest bow in the basic game.