I'm new to Daggerfall, and before I commit to a single character to make my first playthrough with, I have a couple of questions regarding gameplay styles, and how they're implemented within the game.

First, when using stealth, how exactly does one make use of "stealthy movement"? By having a high stealth skill, does that alone make you harder to detect, or does crouching have an effect on this? Also, backstabbing - how is this done, exactly? Does it literally imply having to sneak behind an oblivious foe? Can you "backstab" an oblivious foe from any direction? Can you backstab a foe that's aware of you if you can maneuver behind it?

Secondly, regarding magicka, does armor have an effect on how efficient it is? Is it possible to play as a pure mage, without having to resort to weapons? In the spellbook, where you select your spells, there's an icon that changes as you click on it. What is the purpose of this icon? Lastly, how does one cut down on the amount of "saving throws" made by enemies to totally negate your spells? Does it take a higher INT or WIL, or is it all a matter of chance?

Thanks to anyone who tackles this loaded question. Without the manual, I'm finding that I have alot of questions...

"Lastly, how does one cut down on the amount of "saving throws" made by enemies to totally negate your spells? Does it take a higher INT or WIL, or is it all a matter of chance?"

An area spell thrown at the enemy cannot be negated but you need to keep a safe distance or have spell absorption.

About playing a mage, it's not hard but since you are so poorly equipped with spells at start raising the first levels is somewhat boring and requires a little grinding, robing cemeteries or doing non-fighting quests to gain money to buy good spells for your spell book. You also need to find where to buy potions and enchanted items that cast destructive spells. Thats the mages guild and some temples.

uesp.net describes the guild ranks, quests and shops from where you can obtain these things.

I'm not sure if this is valid or not, but the Daggerfall Manual suggests you can get behind an enemy and backstab them while they're aware of your presence.

Stealth is checked whether you are running, walking, riding, swimming, jumping, whatever. Doesn't matter how you approach an enemy, once you get in range your stealth is checked. How successful you are depends on your skill and how fast you are moving. So while you CAN do a stealthy-sprint if your skill is high enough, you will be much more effective if you move slowly. Other than walking, there are two ways to slow yourself down: sneaking and crouching. Sneaking doesn't add any other benefits other than that which comes from moving more slowly. Stealth-crouching is theoretically the best way to go, but has the added danger of having to not only release stealth but hit the uncrouch button as well if you have to run away.

You get a chance to backstab anytime you strike someone in the back. Be default, any creature that is not aware of you will have their back to you when you approach them (of course, if you move around to their front, they'll probably see you). However, even if they are attacking you and turn their back to you, you can hit them and try to get a backstab. This is great like when they get stuck on a corner and have to retreat and try to renegotiate the turn, you can stick it to them as they turn away.

So backstabbing is just about hitting them in the back; it doesn't matter if they know you're there or not, it's just a lot easier to do it stealthily, as they automatically start with their back to you. Also, I've found that backstabbing is really easy to do with a bow--if they aren't ware of you, your first hit pretty much always scores a backstab.


Armor doesn't affect stealth or spellcasting. Is it *possible* to play as a pure mage, but I don't know of anyone who's successfully done that without resorting to exploits. The icon you can select just changes the icon it shows on your screen while it is in effect (so this only matters for duration-based spells you cast on yourself). As for saving throws, it mostly has to do with the monster itself, as each enemy has their own spell resistance.

Great. Thanks for the info.

Remember also, not all versions of Daggerfall have the sneak key. If anyone's curious about that.

Which versions do not have the sneak key?

If you set the mouse to Cursor instead of View, then Sneak is replaced with Look Around. You can still sneak, of course, because how close you click to the edge of the screen determines how quickly you move. You can actually move extremely slowly in cursor mode, which theoretically would be very good for stealth, but I've never really tested that idea because I don't use cursor mode.