I will break up my custom spells into three posts, so there isn't a resulting wall o' text. Some of these are for master mages, others are great for beginners... The higher my luck, the lower the cost of spells in terms of magicka uses. Also, spells cost less magicka as you increase level in that school of magic. That said, with most of my magic skills at 100, as I level, I find that only my custom spells decrease in cost these days. From my calculations, I believe I will level up maybe two more times, one for sure.

Three other things: I am at 100% Spell Effectiveness. I use light sometimes as I then know if I actually hit my target, plus on a blade it looks cool with a short duration, as every time I whack someone or something, especially in a dark interior or at night, it lights up the joint. And the third, I often put shock as the first damage, because then the animation gives me a shock spell, which gets there quicker than the others. Fire and frost are too slow imo, unless you are up close and personal.

TARGET SPELLS

Follow Me!
Command Humanoid Level 25 for 30 seconds on Target
Command Creature Level 25 for 30 seconds on Target
Weakness to Magic 100% for 1 second on Target
Light 3 feet for 1 second on Target.

Open Sesame

Open Very Hard Lock in 15 feet on Target
(I made this an area of effect spell, because when I do it on target, I seem to maddeningly miss a lot.)

Party Time

Frenzy up to Level 25 in 60 feet for 30 seconds on Target
Invisibility for 30 seconds on Target
(You will never have to take out a weapon with this baby)

Showstopper

Soul Trap for 6 seconds on Target
Paralyze in 20 feet for 1 second
Fire Damage 25 points for 5 seconds on Target
Shock Damage 25 points for 5 seconds on Target
Frost Damage 25 points for 5 seconds on Target
Weakness to Fire 100% for 5 seconds
Weakness to Shock 100% for 5 seconds
Weakness to Frost 100% for 5 seconds

Subzero

Paralyze in 30 feet for 1 second
Frost Damage 40 points in 30 feet for 2 seconds
Weakness to Frost 100% in 30 feet for 2 seconds
Weakness to Magic 100% in 30 feet for 2 seconds
(The paralyze makes 'em fall down, guaranteeing they must take damage for at least 40 points. The beauty of this spell is that I DO NOT HAVE TO ACTUALLY AIM IT. I can cast in the general direction of the enemies, and guarantee a hit.)

Zombies!

Fire Damage 20 points for 3 seconds
Turn Undead Level 25 for 15 seconds
Weakness to Fire 100% for 3 seconds
Weakness to Magic 100% for 4 seconds

Zombies II

Soul Trap for 4 seconds
Fire Damage 26 points for 3 seconds
Shock Damage 26 points for 3 seconds
Turn Undead Level 25 for 20 seconds
Weakness to Magic 100% for 3 seconds
Light in 50 feet for 4 seconds

Zombies III

Soul Trap for 8 seconds
Fire Damage 28 points for 7 seconds
Shock Damage 28 points for 7 seconds
Turn Undead Level 25 for 24 seconds
Weakness to Fire 100% for 7 seconds
Weakness to Shock 100% for 7 seconds
Weakness to Magic 100% for 7 seconds
Light 10 feet in 10 feet for 2 seconds

TOUCH SPELLS

Void

Soul Trap for 3 seconds on Touch
Paralyze for 1 second on Touch
Absorb Health 7 points for 2 seconds on Touch
Fire Damage 26 points for 2 seconds on Touch
Frost Damage 26 points for 2 seconds on Touch
Shock Damage 26 points for 2 seconds on Touch
Light 30 feet for 2 seconds on Touch
(Expert Level in Destruction)

Void, The Movie
Soul Trap 6 seconds on Touch
Paralyze 5 seconds on Touch
Absorb Health 10 points for 5 seconds on Touch
Fire Damage 25 points for 5 seconds on Touch
Shock Damage 25 points for 5 seconds on Touch
Frost Damage 25 points for 5 seconds on Touch
Light 100 feet for 10 seconds on Touch
Weakness to Magic 100% for 5 seconds on Touch
(90% of the time, or so, this is a one-hit kill. Especially nice when there is more than one attacker, as you can hit one, and whack the other with a weapon as you get healed.)

Elemental Aegis

Shock, Fire and Frost Shield 30% for 45 seconds

SPELLS ON SELF

EZ Cash

Fortify Mercantile 100 for 10 seconds on self
(Just remember to cast before talking to each shopkeeper, or you will have to max their disposition all over again.)

Pack Llama

Feather 100 points for 120 seconds
(a helper spell in addition to other feather spells)

Spelunker's Aid

Detect Life 100 feet for 120 seconds on Self
Night Eye for 120 seconds on Self
(I rarely use this anymore, preferring now to enjoy the interior lighting.)

I'm still experimenting with various low damage, large area of effect spells. The apprentices at the Arcane University are helpful, if unwilling subjects. SAVE before creating a spell, then test it. That way if it svcks, as a lot I've tried have, you can reload. I also have created Restore Attribute Spells for each attribute, which cuts down on potions carried.

1 pt Luck = 0.4 pts skill, and cost to cast goes down with skill. This effect is most pronounced when you're just short of Master.

If you want to lower the cost of casting spells of one or two skills, you're better off with a Fortify Skill for each. If you want to lower the cost of casting spells of three or more skills, Fortify Luck is a better friend.

Shameless bump. Been out of town, but will continue updating the thread.

Wonderful guide!
It's actually somewhat inspired me to play the game again..

Wow a very detailed guide. Thank you for making this!

Personally, I'm a minimaxer, so I have differences in opinion -- I'd choose an Altmer over a Breton, figuring 50 additional magicka outweighs magic resistance. But this doesn't hurt your guide because you provide the details to back up your recommendations, so readers will be able to make their own choices. Well done!



This is wrong. A spell does not stack with itself. Casting spell 1 gives the enemy 100% weakness to magicka. Casting it again would still give the enemy 100% weakness to magicka, so it's pointless. You need to make a second weakness spell and alternate cast with the first, in order to stack weaknesses.

Shameless Bump.

Actually, that is why I posted this spell. Normally spells don't stack, but this one does, I assure you having used this two spell combo to kill hundreds of enemies 25+ without being hit much. The inviso on self effect does something in the mechanics that causes it to stack. Try it if you don't believe me.

Most spell effects will simply reset themselves if you cast them again via the same spell. Weakness to magic however, is an exception and will indeed stack upon itself.

Spell effects can also stack, you just have to create custom spells with different names and alternate casting the different named spells.... The game will only replace the LAST spell when the same named spell follows it.

I wish I'd seen this thread before I just recently started the game. I now realise just how inefficient my character build is :shakehead:

Actually, it is not necessary to create a whole string of spells. This spell can be cast multiple times and so long as it is cast quickly enough that the last one is still in effect it will stack. One spell, one name, one hot key slot, stacks.
:
Spell 1 Weaken/Disappear (Journeyman Destruction, Journeyman Illusion)

* Weakness to Fire and/or Frost, Shock 100 pts for 2 secs on touch
* Weakness to Magicka 100 pts for 2 secs on touch (if you can cast the effect, if not the first effect will still work)
* Invisibility on self 2 secs

After casting about 4-6 times cast your damage spell. This is not a theory, I am absolutely, 100% positive about the effectiveness of this spell, and would bet any amount of money, if someone wants to actually try it and see.......

Avarae, your spell sounds wonderful. I suspect it is the weakness to magic component that helps it to stack on itself. That is a unique feature about weakness to magic. When spell stacking, everything goes better with weakness to magic!

I recall a poster that used a spell that simply had weakness to magic 100 x 5 seconds or so. They would cast it quickly multiple times, then whack the baddie with any old enchanted weapon for devastating enchanted damage.

The inviso is a nice touch.


What I like to do is include a drain speed 100 component on my long range spells and launch them from hiding. The drain speed makes enemies 'forget' that they were just hit by a spell. Since I normally include a weakness to poison component on the spell, it boosts the poison damage and preseves my sneak bonus for the poisoned bow shot that quickly follows. No stacking involved here, but is is nevertheless, great fun. I guess my point about drain speed is that it can allow you safely cast spells repeatedly from a distance against an enemy that remains clueless (any friends he has around can be a problem though).

It seemed like when I was making the spells originally I tried the pure Weakness to magick and it didn't seem to stack, but I can't recall for sure. I have made it with Inviso for a long time now as unless you are very sneaky and no one else is around you can't really stand in front of a Daedroth and cast a spell 4 times without gettting staggered, which blows my chain.

Bump since it's been a few months... :spotted owl:

If this thread remains helpful for anyone, please post a response just to keep it bumped...still lots of "Rate my build" or "need good thief build" etc. threads going up. :flamethrower:

Give me a day or Two and write a hell of a guide.

You just bump away, this guide is amazing! I'm glad to finally have a comprehensive Oblivion guide, written by people who actually know what they're doing (I assume we all are). Thanks for writing this. Also thanks to the people who contribute to it. I might just do so myself.

Thanks. If anybody has any information, sections they'd like added or expanded on or looked into, just post here and we'll hit it up. :cake:

Finished mine tonight http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1105630-zakarius-svedlins-guide-to-character-building-in-vanilla/

You can take ideas from it as you like. Id be honored.

In the "Useful spells and enchantments" section, might wanna include the link for http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Useful_Enchantments

One that I often make early on, and is probably listed there, is a basic amulet or ring with Night Eye. If you want to use that effect, you can just pop on the jewelry when it's needed, then remove when you're done. Sometimes I make one for Water Breathing too. Very handy in larger dungeons.

A helpful tip about utility enchantments like that: when using a necklace, you can name it "Amulet of [whatever]," and it'll appear at or near the top of your gear list for easy retrieval.

One very basic utility spell that IMO merits mention: Open Very Hard Lock, since it doesn't exist otherwise. I wanna say it's castable at Expert Level, but don't remember for certain. Totally worth training up for though.

Yes, that's true. I make my own custom spell of this type with an area of effect of about 5 feet on it, as sometimes, and maddeningly so, I constantly miss when firing an open lock on target.

I gone against most of what the guide said even though i only just got the game few days ago im about to try the following build

class Myrddin
race altmer (magicka bonus)
birth atronach (magicka bonus)
main attribute fav : int , end (per lvl il toggle between endurance and strength raising luck last to retain lvling control)
major : (to have total control of leveling )
1 blunt
2 marksman
3 conjuration
4 alteration
5 illusion
6 heavy armor
7 security

main combat skill i will use :
light armor
blade & block
destruction
mysticism (i read that telekinesis can regenerate atronach magicka !?)
restoration (emergency healing & defence etc.)
alchemy

plan
befor begin training any major training do not use any major skills (use scrolls related to major instead) untill after complete recommendation to arcane university from there start fighter guild quests effectively raising blade mysticism , restore and destruction high as possible after fighter guild quests il begin using major separately to 10 skill lvls befor sleeping untill reach lvl 15
apart from caves there is a location to train atronach fast with constant supply of free magicka "lady luck statue in bravil" use "self" spells

tips i got from wikia
raising difficulty will not increase combat exp to lvling up skills how ever the more hits the faster the skill will raise
the max cap for staff quest is level 15+ so wait untill at least lvl 15 to continue mage guild
staff of paralyze or shock seem best choice's
max cap on equipment such as armour n weapons is lvl 35 if you character surpass this the easier the game will become ! some players like the challenge
atronach lady luck statue will stop working after complete dark brotherhood quest of similar name
sorcerers ring has 25 spell absorb and drops as random loot after lvl 20 ,2 these will make atronach the god of all witchhunters

spell crafting as i not using pc version i dont have luxury of deleting spells so i will save game just before using alter to test that the spell is worth keeping

R8Bob - Note that the only reason to keep those skills you love to use, like light armor, destro, blade/block as minor skills...is to keep them from leveling your character too fast.

Check out the mod Progress to see how you can eliminate the need to do that. You can change the global leveling speed to be up to 5 times faster, and then change each skill's leveling speed after that.

So, for instance, if you want to use blade and block, but don't want to be leveling up all the time...you can change their multipliers to be much smaller, so you'd have to chop enemies 1000 times instead of 100 to get a ding....therefore you could have them as main skills effectively.

No more messy character sheet, no more minors-as-majors, straightforward character building. Just a thought, hope it helps.

(that is, if you're on the computer version at all).