Hopefully, my reason for not trying to search for an answer is valid: This forum contains enough (legacy) info, it could take me longer to dig through search hits than to complete the game, and since my query is pretty specific, but likely very simple for a few of you to answer, I humbly submit it here in a new post..

My (level 13, or so) Wood Elf Ranger is handy with longsword & axe, running & archery, critical strike, pickpocketing & many other skills, but her magic skillz are quite lacking & mana is only up to about 35 units. She's been using buoyancy, water breathing & Baylana's Balm to train in the only manner she's been able to since char gen, as well as boosting int and/or wis at level-up whenever possible, and at this level, this is all the mana she has. I mention this because currently, she seems to be facing yet a new opponent that uses paralysis to great effect, while simultaneously reducing her mana by half at every encounter (rendering her magic useless until the next rest). Sometimes, she manages to break out of the paralysis before dying but it's rare. Then, she has to backtrack through the dungeon to find a place to rest to regen mana, thus making many of the timed quests nigh impossible. I don't come across too many FREE ACTION potions, though I've had a few. When used, this allows her to make VERY short work of the ghosts, but it's just not feasible to be the ONLY solution. Since her magic skills aren't up to Mages' Guild entry level yet (will they EVER be??), she cannot get training there, or buy or make potions.

Is this character basically borked, or is there hope? She just joined whatever temple it is in Sentinel (Order of something, damn brain), and I see their trainer offers Thaumaturgy, so perhaps there IS hope..? We shall see.. Anyway, any advice y'all could offer would be great!

Oh, and while I'm here, her agility has been compromised somehow or other as well.. I attempted "healing," but they said I have no disease. This is one I'm thinking I can find in the manual, but if you're already looking at the above dilemma, and you know where I can get her stats "healed," I'd appreciate that nudge as well..

Muchas gracias!

The mage's guild doesn't do potions. Some temples and the Dark brotherhood have the potion maker, or sell them.

Thanks.. Yeah, the temple she just joined sells potions (but not to temple n00bs, so I have some quests to complete, of course, these quests will likely bring her up against more of those idiot ghosties that paralyze her into submission before she can unleash the quiver.. *GAAH!*)

The Temple of Kynareth also offers spellmaking (at high rank, though), so you don't necessarily need to go to the Mages Guild. Once you get to the spellmaker, you can make a really cheapo Free-Action spell, which will offer good protection against these paralyzing jerks.

Yea, I'd suggest you get yourself a really good bow and kill them from out of reach.

anything short of re-creating your character is going to require dungeon quests i'm pretty sure.

1 is to get ingredients and create free-action potions at the temples or dark brotherhood. but you have to achieve a certain rank as you noticed.

2 is to get more spellpoints by enchanting items. it's not a huge boost but you'd have to join the mages guild and achieve a pretty high rank.

3 free action spells.

i might try using more archery? are you being paralyzed by spiders or vampires? i've rarely played anything other than a high elf which has natural immunity to paralysis and that's huge in daggerfall. there's also that loophole in char creation that you can take a critical weakness to paralysis and the racial immunity will override it. and that lets you take 3x INT spellpoints advantage and be about even on the levling difficulty even with that many spellpoints, spells like banish daedra or the standard sleep spell were really expensive for my character being close to all his mana.

Well, I have a very nice Daedric bow (thanks to dropped loot, believe it or not), but I usually get caught by these annoying fetchers when turning a corner. Due to the nature of Dagggerfall audio, it's VERY difficult to figure out where they are until they've already paralyzed you.. (well, in my experience, and I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree). Oh, also, sometimes when I AM lucky enough to fire off an arrow or two, they seem to approach me before I kill them, getting within paralysis range easily enough. I know I can back up while firing, but this is often not effective due to terrain. Thanks for the pointers. Guess I just need more Free Action potions, to advance enough to get a spellmaker to make it for me, or wash, rinse, repeat until I get lucky enough to kill 'em before they paralyze me..

Yup.. Indeed. Though I played Daggerfall when new, I still don't know the answer to this (I WASN'T on forums back then): Do enemies level with you in DF in some vaguely similar manner to MW or OB, or is it something much simpler, or are they independent completely? I only ask because as this character has progressed, she first dealt with spider paralysis, then with giant scorpions, then (mage/spellsword/battlemage/nightblade ~ can't remember which humanoid enemy uses paralysis), and now the ghosts. Of course, at each stage, it was nip & tuck getting out of the paralysis before being hacked to death. These ghosts, though, tend to also deplete mana while they paralyze you.. *D'OH!*


This is a problem because it's sort of a catch22. I can't join the Mages' Guild til I progress, but I need to be IN the guild to get the tools/skills to progress..


See my previous response..


Ghosts.


Funny, as I usually shy away from High Elves due to their magic superiority (coupled with being otherwise a bit more fragile). I've always yearned to effectively play a magic user, but it seems I am somewhat too much of a simpleton.. Perhaps I need to try harder?

As soon as you get paraylised, enter the inventory menu. Time will pass, but the enemies can't hurt you. So your Paralise effect will dissipear after a few minutea in inventory screen.

SCORE! I did not know that (though I did notice, previously, that I could use that sort of thing when equipping my bow, but that seems to no longer be effective.. Whatever, it's definitely worth a shot.)

Thanks!

This works for poisens and other ill affects too.


Did it work?

I think he's still paralyzed!

They do level with you, but it's a much more gradual distribution (think Gaussian) than in OB. You can still meet the nasties at level crap, and the weaklings at level awesome. You probably haven't been meeting ghosts much before because you haven't been frequenting Undead dungeons (dungeons have categories, you know, and each category pulls from certain sets of monsters).


Yea, but you have to remember that in DF your race is 99% cosmetic. The only difference between a high elf and a dark elf is the high elf gets immunity to paralysis (and the dark elf looks way cooler). Yea, the game says that certain races are better suited to certain fields, but that's a crock. Attributes, skills, etc are all dependent on your class alone, not your race--yes, even though the manual and strategy guides say differently.


Well, that's one way of doing it, for certain. Might have preferred a tactic that doesn't abuse bugs, but hey

I'll have to let you know. I'm currently at work, unfortunately..

*D'OH!*

Cool. I had not been aware of this, really, at all.. FWIW, I have run across wraiths, one or three Lichs, and of course skeletal warriors (but I'd understand if the latter two are not connected in the same way as the ghosts would be to the same dungeon class).


I must admit that back when I first played, I simply didn't get down to this level of nitty gritty. I was too busy being floored by the immersion..


I pledge/vow to attempt the arrows & retreat method some undisclosed but significant number of times before using the inventory screen exploit. How's that?

What, no, play as you want. Who cares? Mannimarco's method will certainly tide you over until you can get yourself a custom FreeAction spell; I just think that going to your inventory each tie you get zapped will get old after a while.

I am amused, though, that a member named Mannimarco is helping you thwart other undead creatures

edit:

Well, it's not like Undead only show up in Undead dungeons, you just get more of them.

I'm sure I'd agree with you by the time I had to do it for the third time (if not before)


Very good point..

No ones less of a person for the way they play. Each to his own.

update: Well, I didn't have any time to play Wednesday, and last night I only had a few minutes, so upon my first paralysis encounter (I actually did manage to thwart a couple of ghosts by getting in the first hit via bow.. Somehow, it seems their chance of successfully paralyzing me decreases drastically if I get in the first blow with either sword or bow), I tried the inventory screen exploit, and it actually didn't work. It seemed that, as with later TES games, menus don't allow time passage. That said, I KNOW there was a time earlier on in this bout of gaming (though maybe with a different character), I WAS able to employ this sort of strategy to equip bows, where they often take many seconds to actually equip. I have no idea why this might have changed, but it also seems to no longer work..

It didn't change, because it's not the inventory screen: it's the character sheet (F5).

*D'OH!* I'll shut up now.. *heh heh*

I feel better now that I note that Mannimarco DID say "inventory," whether wrong or right, intentional or not.. *heh heh*

OK.. I grabbed both "the Daggerfall Chronicles" guide & Prima's guide off the shelf, and short of reading cover to cover, I could not find mention anywhere of what to do if your attributes (in my case, Agility) get damaged. I've gone to a couple of Temples, but they only cure diseases.. I'll try looking at the UESPWiki, but can anyone point to me a fix for damaged attributes?

Tx..

i think you need to use a spell or effect of 'restore' and affect 'agility'

Create a small effect spell as Jammer1 says, such as heal 1 point and cast it on yourself untill the attribute is back to normal.

I think you can also get them repaired at any temple that you're a member of, as long as you are an high enough level to recieve free healing.