Part of the problem is how you're dealing with them. Clannfears have the ability to Reflect physical damage, so you're actually hurting yourself when you hit them. They're weak to shock magic, and direct Absorb Health works fine against them too.

Wow shame on me lol i didn't even know this

DAng, glargg is right. I should know that about clanfear by now.

Well I'm not using a strategy guide so that would have been nice to know.

But yes, I'm not ashamed to admit I "cheated" *finger wag* to get through Kvatch. When I saw the dual Clannfears guarding the tower base after foolishly going around the island in hopes of sneaking past the enemies (and encountering a lot MORE Clanfears in the process - I felt like an idiot when I realized I was right at the tower's base when I was done sneaking around), I said, "[censored] it" and turned the setting down to easiest.

I attribute it to being possessed by Akatosh since it became like Doom.

Still, I'm going to turn the difficulty back up since I don't mind a challenge, I just felt that was not fun and I have no interest in "efficient leveling."

Edit:

I did, however, grind my Illusion and Alteration and Conjuration skills up along with my sneak so I'm at apprentice levels for all of them. In retrospect, I wish I'd made my Sneak a special skill since I suddenly think this would have been a much better issue.

A lot of the time, the "leveling problem" is really not what it seems. It's true that enemies get tougher as you level up, but just as importantly, the higher level enemies have skills and weapons that the player didn't have to deal with earlier. Part of the process of advancing in the game is learning how to deal with those enemies. You can't use the same tactics at level 10 that you used at level 2, and so on.

The game actually gives you the tools you need. Clannfears (and most other daedra) go down quickly to shock-enchanted weapons or shock spells. Fire works great on trolls and most undead.

Know your enemy.

That's one gripe I have about the Oblivion game, that you don't have any way to find out about things like Reflect Damage from experience. There's nothing in the game to distinguish the reflected damage from that the creature does itself. You just see your health drop while you fight, which is what you expect anyway. When a spell is reflected, it's easier to understand what happened, once you learn the spell effects, because the spell you're hit with is the same one you cast.

Yeah, well, undead and trolls being vulerable to fire makes sense. Sadly, there's no "holy" school or whatever so assuming they were vulnerable to shock was sort of a [censored] shot for me. In any case, I was told to leave Brother Martin behind if I want to continue adventuring in "regular" Cyrodiil for awhile.

I'll assume my Chaotic Neutral Mage/Rogue/Thief just felt his job was done telling Martin he was the Emperor's son and they can sort the bit with the Amulet out themselves when he's Emperor.



(Man, did Emperor Uriel pick the wrong guy)

So I'm going to Guild quest for awhile. Sadly, I've yet to encounter anyone I feel comfortable murdering to join the Dark Brotherhood. THAT was well developed in-game because it's clear even to me as a complete newbie that you have to murder somebody to be contacted them.

You can see it if you're an archer. The clannfear "lights up" when he reflects, and you should be able to see your health drop even though he's not close enough to hit you. It's harder to see if you're in melee, but Reflect always flashes whenever it works. (Your own Reflect does the same thing, if you have it active, and can be seen if you're in 3rd person view.)

Did you tell Martin he was Emperor? Stay away from Weynon Priory, in that case, because the quest line will advance if you go there, whether or not Martin is following you. The "leave Martin at the camp" strategy is based on ignoring him, and not talking to him.

There are plenty of opportunities to get "credited" with a murder. Some of them are unintentional, like accidentally hitting an ally in battle. Also, I've found that if you sneak-attack snipe a vampire, it can count as murder.

Oh believe me you will, a certain obnoxious dark elf might ignite your murdering tendencies if you bump into him ;

No, don't mess with the difficulty. Imo, a really fun Oblivion is a challenging, deadly Oblivion that punishes you for being weak.

What challenge is there to pwn everything?

This. Getting killed is fun on occasion. Better than going through the game on one life anyway..

So noted.

I don't mind this if I have a save only several minutes back. I think what everyone is talking about is the FEAR of death. I am playing an extremely vulnerable character in Oblivion at the moment. I do actually fear for my character's life when he faces spellcasters and magic dealers. (He just cleared a fort of marauders, feeling pretty good about himself, he walks outside and is one-shotted by a spriggan.) It is this fear, which forces you to consider all the tools at your disposal, to deal with your enemy. To reiterate what glargg said, the game hands you everything you will need to succeed. It's up to you on how you make the most of it, or not.

And most importantly, because the game gives you everything you need to succeed, there is no need to efficient level. Really. Trust me. As long as you have one good killing skill, you're good to go. I've fielded many epic characters, even out of the default classes.

My most used skill against enemies that are too strong is 'summon distraction and run away' fast.

I also love the 'I'm screwed' moments when more nasties than I anticipated charge into the room or seemingly from nowhere.

For that reason I'm trying illusion for my current character.

Well I got a bit frustrated after Kvatch and the clannfears, which bothered me to no end, and I went back to Skyrim for a bit. So, I have since returned to the game and decided my character is actually my character from Skyrim returned magically transported back by Sheogorath.

Anywho, I've resumed my gaming. Upon further suggestion I've dialed down the difficulty to about 25% which is not TOO easy but makes my character feel like an action hero. I've finished the Arena quests and I've got to say I appreciate the poignance of the Gray Prince's story. The fact that one of the quests in the game allowed me to join the Dark Brotherhood was also appreciated since I hate having to feel like a TOTAL bad guy (I'll have to svck it up, unfortunately, since the 3rd quest involving a merchant is just a standard "kill an innocent person" quest).

i'm debating visiting the Shivering Isles or the Prophet of Doom first, however.

My two septims: SI first. It tends to have more evil overtones in the main quest. KOTN afterwards to repent for your sins. On the other hand, do what feels right for your character. My character is not doing ANY of the main quests. At least at the moment.

The Isles is calling... calling... Sheogorath is calling for you...

My first Skyrim character was a heroic Knight of GoodnessTM.

My second was a poor guy who just can't stop making friends with horribly evil people or morally ambigous ones despite his best efforts to repent.

Yeah, sounds good. No wonder this guy ends up as Sheogorath.

But remember: BY AZURA BY AZURA BY AZURA , ITS GRANDCHAMPION HIMSELF , I CANT BELIEVE YOU ARE STANDING HERE NEXT TO ME !!

Thank God for, "I don't need a travelling companion right now."

And thank God for Dive Rock *wink wink nudge nudge*

That may be more of an OCD thing. I did that a lot when I first started playing Oblivion and eventually grew to hate it, worrying too much about the numbers instead of just playing.

Glargg is almost always right. He's a wise fellow. People like him make the forums worth visiting.

Hey guys, I played this game for a year and a half without the internet. Talk about duh! But I had fun. I didn’t know I was supposed to worry about all that technical stuff and when I later found out that everyone else was, I just shrugged and went on.

I’ve played this game since the spring of 2008 and I still don’t get all this stuff about leveling or not leveling. Seems to me that you should just proceed into the game and take it as it hits you. Otherwise you’re hedging your bets and doing what your advisor is advising. Oh, sure, later on I wandered into the Wiki and gleaned some classified data to add some things that would never have been known otherwise, but that never altered my basic game play, it remained constant.

If I could go back to the beginning, when the game first came out, I would just play it without consulting friends, neighbors, wikis, or forums. Seems to me, that would add more to your cumulative enjoyment of life than trying to match some elusive predetermined goal.

And to the OP - I used the clunky speech system once - never again - just bribe or charm them!