Does lore explain how fighters resist/survive magic attacks? How could an extremely powerful wizard be beaten by a barbaric warrior hero? Could the barbarian be powerful enough without magical assistance from a mage or gear created by an enchanter? Does lore support the idea?

Ermergerd. Phone spelled magic Magix because samsung...thank you...

Well, based on sources like "A Hypothetical Treachery" and Infernal City, in lore, magic is incredibly powerful and more versatile than we've ever seen in any of the games, but also physically exhausting to use.

So I suppose you'd have to tucker a sorcerer out by dodging his spells, or you could be faster and lop off his head before he has time to mouth an incantation.

Unlike in D&D where a high level wizard can easily wipe the floor with anything else, the average mage in TES is relatively weak. Lore-wise, most mages are actually scholars instead of adventurers and warriors and their spells aren't really useful in battle. Of the adventurers and such that actually would be likely to fight a barbarian type warrior, only a handful can actually pull off the kinds of epic magical feats that fantasy usually shows even novice mages casting.

Stat-wise, a high willpower will reduce the effectiveness of enemy spells and destruction magic isn't really any more effective than just using a sword. There's also all sorts of enchanted gear that can give enemy mages a hard time and several races are resistant or even outright immune to certain spell effects.

Lastly, mages don't generally have very high health, which can be translated as mages not being very fit, much like the average real-world scholar. They also have a tendency to wear little or no armor, so they're pretty frail in close combat. All a barbarian would really need to do is exactly what a melee player tends to do: charge in as quick as they can while avoiding the occasional fireball and deliver a few solid hits with their weapon.

Well without the high speed magicka regen in the newer games .

Depends in Daggerfall a good mage could kill any pure meele char that didn't have magic defenses in seconds you would just run out of magicka unless you had a high skill.It's also quite possible to do that in Obilvion.My Altmer mage has spells that kills any normal high level meele enemy in one hit without even using most of his magicka.

Which are relativly rare at least as constant effects(No level scaling)and the normal fighter would never have them .And who do you think creates those items?Mages.

Shield spells.With Arena and Daggerfall style shields spells you don't need health you're invulnerable .Or Morrowinds Sanctuary and Oblivions Reflect damage spells .

Yes and then could do one of these.

1.Levitation+invisibility....have fun.

2.Cast a low level shield spell that absorbs all damage+and a spell that drains all of your stamina knocking you out.

3.Summon a Deadra.

4.Create a Wall.

5.Disintegrate you....

6.One hit kill you with a normal area of effect fireball.Which would work quite well in reality.

7.Charm you.

Why would a normal fighter never have enchanted weaponry and/or armor? Unless they're one of the "magik iz dangeerus an' stoopid" types, fighters would know the value of enchanted items, even if they themselves never cast spells.

Besides, why would a Mage enchant a suit of heavy armor that they could never wear without falling over and a warhammer that's so heavy that they have to drag it it around on the ground? Clearly, they're making those items for other people.

I don't think lore have something to do with how fighters resist/survive magic attacks or any kind of attacks. The only way the Warrior is gonna stand a chance against the Wizard is to wear enchanted Armor, Helmet, Shield, Sword, Boots, Gauntlets and a Healing Spell. Imagine this if you're a fist fighter and you wanna go up against an archer or a gun fighter in the short-long distance without some preparation, what do you think would happen..

Man don't get angry and launch attack at anyone. I'm not asking you for more work, Just answer the question or don't.

For the record the entire Redgaurd culture is basically (Magik iz dangeerus an "stoopid") against the use of magic. I can't remember exactly why they dont like magic but, its considered counter culture to them. I think its because they believe in their own set of gods, that haven't been referenced in the games so far (that i know of). They do have a small group that is overlooked to contain the rise of the undead and such but, the Redguards turn a blind eye to them out of necessity.

I didn't really got angry mate, just saying.

I'm going to get this out of the way. I really like fighter characters. However bias people might be towards mages, we still need to explain how normal people survive their attacks. The reason i say this is because, there seems to be an awful large number of people who casually run around shooting forest fires out of their and and an cryogenically freezing people at will. The problem is that the world would be in total chaos without a counter force to magic created by intelligent forces. There probably wouldn't be many people left alive if the damage done by magic (as portrayed in the game) wasn't mitigated by some (currently AFAIK) unknown force.

Nje1982 wasn't replying to you.

Oops... I might read the wrong sentence , thanks buddy!

I'm not. I'm pointing out that it's a logical fallacy to assume that no fighter would ever use enchanted things, especially considering a bunch of enchanted things exist to be used specifically by fighters.


Big two-handed weapons that drains magic on hit? Shields that resist elemental damage? Heavy armor that boosts overall magic resistance? What mage would need or use those things?

Just like X race vs Y race, the answer always comes down to the individuals in question. Technically speaking, the Barbarian archetypes come in with better odds against mage based characters by being able to close distance really quickly and using weapons with a long range. The games don't represent it because, well, games, but chances are you're not going to keep that gout of fire going if someone is hitting you with sharp metal objects. The fact that Nord's typically get some of the better ends of magical resistances (Frost and Shock circa Morrowind) means they're effective Mage killers, due to the fact that they can't shut them down with basic frost attacks.

What I'm trying to say is...don't get hit, close distance, and unless the other fighter in question is competent in close quarter combat, its mostly in the bag. Shields and Wards can only coup with so much.

Passive magic. Resistance exist is due each person have their own... anti-magic... or just plain out resistance. It's a form of magic, just passive. Which is understandable because hello, EVERYONE is made of magic. Mages are those who has learned to make use of this and form spells from it.


That, as well the fact Elder Scrolls mortals are super humans... Well not comic book level, but just stronger in general because they are literally made out of the fleshes of gods. Sure the mortals are but a spark, a sand compare to the Spirits, but they still have that spark in them. Even warriors. A battlemage could argue all those legendary feats of warriors withstood from destructive mages is because they themselves are using magic... The inert kind that's always been there since birth and can burst in some form like strength or withstand fire unscathed that could be seen as "miracle".


Not all things need to be spells or enchanted.

Well, some being more super human then others helps. Average Legionary getting an ice spike to the shoulder? Terrible day. Pelinal/Wulfharth/the Player getting one? Tuesday.

Also to quickly clairfy, the Yokudans don't dig Tamrielic magic, but supposedly not in the same ways as say, the Nord's do. They view magic as the inferior way to go about things, as opposed to just being superstitious of it in general. Magic is after all, the measly side effect of greater beings fleeing Nirn.

That's not a logical fallacy. Also a pure fighter is not inconceivable as i already explained in my initial response to you about Redguards. Culturally a Redguard warrior would almost certainly be a pure fighter.

That works in a story telling format but, how do you explain pure fighters being lit on fire in the game and surviving in a lore friendly way?

I mean this sounds reasonable but, is it conjecture? Can you explain how magic works (in the lore/game obv.) to support the concept of natural resistance?

No. Not in lore. But in RL, yes. It's similar to the case in which our brains stop us from using our full muscle potential. In emergency, we could lift up a truck.


For TES, I think it was in the book series. The Lord of Souls where a character killed a monster by bursting it into pure bliding explosion. It was a kill be killed situation. This character has little training in the magic art. We can assume from this there is a way to channel this inert magic or strength without making into formulae spells.


Redguards might disagree with a battlemage critic, but given a certain form of fighting style and the extreme training, the sword dancers might have channeled this inert magic to make their blade sharper or faster and stronger, or their body resistant to magic. The training was just them breaking that wall around their body's full potential. Or it might just be general extreme training that forces fighters to somehow channel this on the go.


Mages channel it in one way. Fighters channel it in a different way. Battlemages channel it both way I guess.

Nice explanation. I think devs and players of popular RPGs are so entrenched in traditional RPG mechanics they just take for granted that spells can be resisted somehow to some degree. Most people would just say its "will power" which would be great if it was backed in the lore but, it seems like most people just don't care on either side.

Like Marss said:

I guess we are just forced to assume a lot. Because swinging a man sized hammer hard enough and accurately enough to kill a dragon probably requires some sort of mystical ability. Unfortunately I was hoping there would be some explanation in the lore.

I am fairly certain it was stated in earlier games that the Redguards descended from a long line of Warriors and Mystic Seers, being more proficient in all arts concerning Sword and Shield while the Nords were described as Hardy people stronger than Imperials and Bretons and are very good at Longswords.

The Redguards hating magic when Skyrim's Redguard has a +5 to Alteration and Destruction... when the Yokudans used to wield the same sand magic as the Sinistral Elves? I think it is just the current culture of Redguards is such, much like the Nords are in Skyrim.