You start with Shock, but it's an 'on touch' spell so it only damages if you're in contact with what you're trying to hit. When you're in the spellbook, there are different symbols on the right for what element it is, where it's directed (self, on touch, area, etc) and the effects.

I really don't have issues with the beginning. But I managed to get a VERY good roll on my stats.

For me it was quite easy. My character is a Khajiit Archer and I don't have problems with killing monsters and bandits, but liches are real problem. They just blast a fireball (kind of) and my character dies without a chance to do anything.

That's kind of the point. Gotta love these older TES games. Actually encourage you to run away sometimes.

I just bashed my way out with the barbarian the first time around. I didn't learn about the dagger until the third time I started the game.

I almost forgot, I have this little page that came with the game that has the walkthrough of Privateer's Hold and a map of it. It is an advertisemant for The Daggerfall Chronicles, the hint guide for the game.

What's even better, at later levels when you *can* survive their spells, is when two liches shoot their area of effect fireballs at you, but that they kill themselves in the process.

Yeah! That little "accident" has occured before my eyes, when I was sent on a mission to kill crazy orc-mage

Grab a potion of resist fire and shock (and maybe frost?), which you can get from temples once you have high enough rank, and surviving liches becomes easy. Just make sure you're as close as you can get without triggering their "melee" response, and first they'll paralyze and shock you, then throw a big fireball. They might survive the first one, but they won't survive all the nukes they can drop. You, however, will.

especially if you picked up the absorb magicka perk

Who needs an ebony dagger when you have a silver flail?
Im still using it!(Lvl 2 I think)
I got lucky and found a golden helm* in privateers hold,+4 armor!

*Actually called helm

Well, the first dungeon can sometimes almost kill you.

I'll elaborate with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n58htVGHbXc

Yes, that's me playing. Safe for work.

I've died to the skeleton and an archer once.

The beginning would be much easier for mages and thieves if the player could customize his inventory and the spells he starts with, during char gen. If i remember well, Battlespire char gen adds this to Daggerfall system, however i don't think nobody will change xp for money to start with a good sword.

You can still start as a wizard or thief. You only need to make long blade your primary skill and if you are lucky your inventory will have a sword.

Are those custom messages or something? What the heck? Thy wounds are unwounded?

They indeed are custom messages. I'm using brendan2 as my text.rsc replacement. I prefer it over the brendan1 version (since some of the stuff in brendan1 is really immersion breaking)

I could also post my custom class here if there's any interest.

Sure, post it.

Yet it doesn't replace "Enemy just died"

1) Whre can I get the Brendan2 file, I can only find the brendan11 zip! EDIT:It's alright, I found it!

2) I think Privateer's Hold has a reputation for being hard because many people are just still getting used to the controls half way through! If only Bethesda had edited the Z.cfg so the game used the viewplyr.dat file before zipping it for download, then the default control scheme would have been WASD with mouse look, which is how modern games work, of course.

I think also many gamers are coming to this as though it's a modern game, and that somehow i) you have to kill all the monsters, and ii) it's good for your character in some way, if you kill all the monsters. No one tells you you have to go in each door as you find them! You can also do them in a different order based on your character, check to see what's inside, then re-close the door and move on. In other words, do in the Privateers Hold what you will do in the main game! People coming to this from Oblivion, of course, are thinking its the same as the sewer tutorial, where you couldn't die whatever character you chose, and in fact you were still choosing half way through the tutorial! If gamers just thought 'non linear' from the get-go, they would be a lot better off!

Also, many first time player's will choose a character that is the same as they chose in Oblivion, without realising that choice could mean a much harder beginning to the game. Also, by choosing a pre-determined character, they don't get to choose any weapons,etc. Finally, the loot drops will also change how difficult Privateer's Hold is. I had some bow skill,and was lucky enough to find a bow and 6 arrows (on the bowman behind the desk). I also found an Elven longsword in the treasure in the first 'rat' room. This meant, for example, I could killthe skeleton with the bow (from a high ledge) without him coming near me. The Elven sword also meant I could deal with the imps.

So what makes Daggerfall so brilliant, is right from the get-go, there are so many variables As to how the game is going to pan out in the early stages! Certainly coming from Oblivion, a lot of pre-conceptions are made about Privateer's Hold that do not bare fruit - to say the least!

My lucky +4 armor Golden helmet.
I don't know if it's part of a specific suit or if it's just a random object,But I love it so much!
EDIT-It appears it's dwarven,In the first dungeon too.

Duplicate post deleted by poster.

I used to use BRENDAN2.RSC as well, but half the messages weren't formatted right and would line break at weird positions. Drove me insane.

The difficulty of the Privateer Hold dungeon comes from the character you create.

Buidling a strong , agile and big healthed character with some good resistance and taking the ebony dagger (that's like a built-in cheat, no way the game should have allowed a level 1 player to take such an extremely powerfull weapon capable of going through every kind of magical/material resistance of an enemy at the very beginning of the game) makes the dungeon extremely easy, as you can take out bears, orcs , imps and skeletons etc... without a problem.

Now do not exploit the ebony dagger "cheat" and build a character more magical, intelligence and wisdom oriented, you will find the Privateer Hold a -very- lot more difficult and dangerous because even a rat can kill you at level 1, the first bat can be a big challenge too in such case.

Overall it is what is great with Daggerfall, you basically build your own challenge depending on the character you will create.

Horizon, that's why it has no 'difficulty raing' per sae, and people coming to Daggerfall from Oblivion don't get that character creation is your difficulty level!

Anyways, my custom class. It's crazy and powerful.

Race: High Elf
Advantages: Improved Magery 3x int, expertise in long blade, athleticism, spell absorption general
Disadvanges: Critical Weakness to Disease, Critical Weakness to Paralysis, Critical Weakness to Poison
Hit points per level: 20
Stats: 70 STR, 45 INT, 25 WIL, 70 AGI, 50 END, 45 PER, 70 SPD, 25 LCK
Primary: Critical Strike, Long Blade, Running
Major: Dodging, Restoring, Thaumaturgy
Minor: Alteration, Destruction, Jumping, Medical, Mercantile, Speechcraft

Get your STR, AGI, and SPD at 80+ during your stat reroll. You should only take one weapon mastery. Replace your expertise with that. You can probably change the speech skills to something else. Running as a major lets you level up quickly if you want to. Personally I like running and jumping around towns over getting on a horsie and letting it move for me. Feels more epic to leap from building to building.

I haven't had any problems with this class. Name it what you want, I don't mind. There's a way to be a little more cheap, but it's not really that worth it past you getting into the mage's guild and access to the spell crafter.

Levelling up Speechcraft is easy. Just talk blunt to everyone you meet. Mercantile is also easy. Sell things one at a time. Mind you, Mercantile and Speechcraft are easily two skills that can be changed. I do not recommend taking Swimming, even if it's hard to do. The problems of swimming are easily rectified with a custom water walking/water breathing spell. I take only Restoration, Thaumaturgy, Alteration, and Destruction as my spells since I use those spells much more often than illusion or Mysticism spells. The only Mysticism spell I cast every dungeon usually only twice is Recall. I do know quick training tricks, but they usually are a little too cheap for me.