Greetings,

I am curious to what people think about magic in Skyrim being more rare, powerful, and feared. It seems in many video games, magic is always perceived as a sword or shield would be. Usual and not out of place. I would think if average people see a wizard/ spellsword/ sorcerer/ whatever they would hold their breath a bit, wary of having their village cooked. I truly hope Skyrim overcomes Oblivions generic treatment of magic and in general, generic reactions to high level characters who have accomplished much...maybe some townsfolk running in fear. If dragons make people run for cover, what about they guy killing them in bunches?

Thoughts?

Not magic to be more rare as it woud go against how it worked in previous games. However I like the way the worlds NPC's see you to be better than everyone turning round to you all smiley faced "Hey it's you, the hero of Cyrodil". I don't want a damn fan club, go away!

Its is like this in Dragon Age, but the lore for The Elder Scrolls is different... it would be weird to change the power level of magic between games, so I would not want this in TES

It depends on whether or not they give you the option to play an evil character. If you can play an evil character then I'm all for villagers running away scared, but if you can only be a good guy then everyone in Skyrim would know that you're killing dragons to save people's lives and they would be thrilled to have you around, so it wouldn't make sense for them to flee.

Im guessing you've been playing DA? Maybe in DA magic is rare but not in skyrim in skyrim everyone has magicka and everyone can use it but they need to be taught how to so no your idea completly goes aganist TES lore.

I'd like it to be more rare too. Its less special when everyone and their mother (literally) can use spells like its nothing. Magic should take concentration and training and only people with the gift should be able to weild such a power. Unfortunately, TES lore isnt like this.

Well given the 200 yeah gap who knows what violates the lore. The books may not be that accurate of a predictor. The thing is while everyone physically can use magic as you said they need to be taught. How rare that teaching is can vary. With the falling of the empire they might be entering something like a dark age and knowledge might be lost or become more restricted. Then again it might not, we just don;t know yet.

D&D not the crappy 4th edition but the original stuff magic could be learned by anyone of average intellect or higher, you had to be brilliant to learn the highest levels of magic but that seems fairly similar to the ES in requirements for magic. And yet mages were rare and feared for having magic in most of their settings. How magic is taught is a big variable on a things rareness even if everyone can do it.

No...magic could not be lost because several people in the game also have intuitive knowledge on magic and the mages guild and several other large factions that would never let magic disappear and if "the books" are not a accurate predictor what is a reliable source of information in the game?

I can't remember who it was, but some forumer made a comparison that I think couldn't be more accurate: magicka is like math. Everyone knows it to a certain extent, but only some people really have a knack for it and excel at it. To get really good at it, you'll probably need guidance, but you could figure out a lot on your own.

To the OP, magic IS kind of like a sword in TES. People would no sooner run from a skilled swordsman than from a skilled mage.

Personally, I prefer it this way. I don't like it as much when magic is this rare trait in some people and only a select few can learn it, mostly because those who can are completely over-powered and they usually dominate the whole series and the stories.