I'm playing a mage, and I accepted the offer to join the blades after rescuing Martin from Kvatch. Is there any downside to joining the Dark Brotherhood at this point? For that matter, is there an UP side?

Downside? Infamy points, depending on what kind of character you're playing.

Upside? Loot, money, Infamy.

Depends on your character.

But if you're a mage, I hope you have illusion with some Invisibility/Chameleon.

Infamy points can be a problem in two cases: KotN requires zero infamy for some things, but provides a quest to reset it if you need to. And with infamy higher than fame, you can't use altars in chapels.

Other than that, any character can do all the questlines if they want to. It may just be necessary to gain some more fame if your infamy start to creep ahead of it.

I would suggest that your mage get pretty far in the Mages Guild, then you should have little trouble with the infamy points. Keep an eye on it though.

I would join them, I did the main quest then fighters guild, mages, DB, Thieves. Then I did KotN which reset my infamy then Shivering Isle. At the end of all that I had 0 Infamy. Cant see why people dont do Infamy guilds unless it means you cant sleep at night.... :laugh:

My mage is about to complete the final guild and become the Arch Mage. He's located the amulet of Kings, though he hasn't gone after it yet. I'm lvl 24, and will probably start closing small Oblivion gates.

I need to slow down on quests and play a bit anyway... I've done some potions making but not much in the way of spell-making, item enchantment, or filling soul gems.

It is by far the most interesting story out of the all the guilds and more fun.

I always join all the guilds too, but there are some DB quests that I have a hard time with. There's one in particular that I dislike so much that I've actually loaded a mod to change the outcome The only thing with joining the DB that you might have to wrestle with depends on how strongly you role-play. Some people find the DB too much of a departure from the role they've created for their character, so they don't join. My character is always rather ambiguous, so while I don't consider him evil, he'll do whatever he damn well feels like, whether that be saving the world or murder

The best quest in the game though has to be the final Thieves Guild quest - I join that guild just for that

The main problem is roleplay.

The Dark Brotherhood quest line has you doing some very despicable things. So if you're character would not be involved in the ruthless murder of innocents, then you might want to skip it with this character.

Doing all guild quests with one single character does not seem right to me.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:M%27raaj-Dar

Need to join to buy his spells and goods. His "Void Gazer" spell can't be purchased, or made, anywhere else without the spell tomes plugin. That spell is the only "Night-eye" you'll ever need. He has several other highly usefull spells, along with a supply of lockpicks.

Rufio really needs to catch a slight case of death so it's OK for the standard "good" character. There is also no penility for joining and never takeing any contracts beyond Ruifo. Only a RP character that refuses to kill under any circumstances has the Dark Brotherhood closed off to them.

Wow o that spell costs only 54 whereas if you created it it'd cost 330? Thats a steal.

Not all the spells M'raaj-Dar sells are best buys though - just a caution. A couple of them have higher magicka costs than making them yourself. But Void Gazer and Deathly Visage are great deals.

Just some perspective? My thieftank is the master of every single faction, including DLC.

So you're capable of doing everything, but get the Knights of the Nine out of the way first. I had to mass murder guards to get my infamy back up to where I wanted, because doing the pilgrimage clears it.

Thing is you can't make it at the spellmaking alter and at 100 Illusion skill the casting cost is 10. It's pretty much a buyable lesser power.

"Deathly Visage" and "Nightmother's Caress" are both nice spells of his. All three spells are good enough reasons to get abit dirty. Can even use Mephala's Shrine quest to trigger the DB invite. Well, that's how I triggered it with the current character.

Agreed. I usually do it after I've finished the Thieves' Guild quests, or do them roughly at the same time. Mage's Guild is usually in there as well.

Seems like one of the most boring and challenging to me. Particularly after the first playthrough. Mostly about killing weak and innocent people who often don't or can't defend themselves. Very unimaginative too, in my opinion.

I wouldn't go that far, when held up to the mages and fighters guild, both of which I find rather tedious, I think the DB questline is far and away the better of the three. The only questline I think that can hold a candle to the DB questline and may even be better is the Thieves guild. Aside from the first few "hits" who exactly are these weak people unable to defend themselves?

I think it had the most potential of all the Guilds, but it just seemed sort of .... meh to me. The one mission in Skingrad to me is the perfect example of what the DB could have been, and what it became. The devs had a chance to build a totally Agatha Christie And Then There Were None type story full of intrigue and fear. Instead it was filled with a bunch of one hit kill NPC's that was so laughably easy to complete that it lacked any challenge at all.

The only things I liked about the DB was the Friday the 13th reference, and the chance to kill that punk-assed Dunmer from the beginning of the game. Other than that, I really think the DB is overrated.

edit - I agree with Savlian.

I thought the skingrad mission/quest whatever, was completely out of character for the DB quest line and one of the more non satisfying quests. Talk about killing weak oponents, you have them all in the same house, not that hard to get them separated and then whack them. Agathie Christie is all well an good, I enjoyed her books, but to me the DB wasn't necessarily a cloak and dagger type guild, but more of a "hitman type" guild. If the money's right, then people die.

The Thieves guild is cloak and dagger, minus the dager...

See to me, assassins imply cloak and dagger. If I want a bust the door down and kill everything type of character I join the Fighters Guild. The Dark Brotherhood aren't butchers, they are surgeons. Its the difference between a rapier and a claymore. Anyone can commit murder, a true assassin uses death the way Van Gogh used a paint brush and canvas. Only without amputating an ear to impress a hoker.

Thieves guild was blah and bore. Steal this, frame that, pay the blood price if you kill someone. Mage's guild was nothing more than a necromancer kill spree disguised as a quest line.

Dark Brotherhood at least had some variety. Sure, most of the targets couldn't fight back. That's the point. None of the supposedly "challenging" fights in Oblivion were actually challenging; Mannimarco went down in 10 seconds flat with an 80 shock damage staff, Mankar Camoran was a pushover, Umbra barely nicked my armor. By focusing on the buildup to the kill rather than the actual kill itself it excelled where the entire rest of the game failed.