lol why should it be either? We drink potions in combat!

As a matter of fact you have a point. Whos to say I dont use that poison on my sword charging headfirst into combat rather than be stealthy? ........Owned.

It's a Thief skill; you steal stuff from Mother Nature. :yes:
Lorewise it can be explained: in the past 200 years, the people of Tamriel found out mixing up ingredients isn't magical at all, but pure science.

Oh boy mixing science and magic, cant wait to get my mechanical shaman totems... oh wait wrong stupid Fing game

Because in the Elder Scrolls universe potions have always been a form of magic.





Yes, I've wondered about this myself.

If they called them combat, magic, and stealth & miscellaneous, we would all just say stealth anyway, like as not.
Though tbh, if I had a folder marked 'not really important stuff, you don't need to worry about any of this', alchemy being under stealth would get filed there.

Well, the archtypes aren't that bad this time around. We can just switch guardian stones when we feel like leveling a different branch faster. The Three Roles are useless-ish now, but I don't mind it; it's a small throwback to traditional RPGs.

So why doesn't it make sense then? Seems like it could fit under either of them.

Alchemy is made to use Potions, Mainly poison, which goes with archery and archery goes with stealth.

Oh, come on, mixing a cheese wheel with a cheese wedge gives you a resist fire potion (anyone gpt the cartoon?). How scientific is that?

Read my post above. You can use it on a sword and charge headfirst into combat rather than be stealthy. Poison doesn't equal stealth.

You can do that with the enchanting skill too :shrug:

So there's examples where it could be under any of the archetypes. They chose Stealth.

Chesse will cause constipation, which prevents your body from releasing methane, which makes you less flammable... ya know what screw it, put it back in the magic section...

Last time I checked the 3 archetypes were called the warrior, the mage and the thief, not the sneaky guy.

It's as much a stealth skill as security, speechcraft, mercantile or light armor is. There is a stealth skill for that already. It's a good thievery type skill though since those potions and poisons help thieves get around the bad armor, bad offense and lack of supportive magic all in one.

The three 'types' of skills are just poorly labeled and rather artificial. Combine that with a need for symmetry/balance, and you have the design decision to put Alchemy under "stealth" or the "thief" archetype.


End of story.

Don't overanolyze it. Just go with it. Makes little difference in the end. Say if you are playing a witch type character who likes to throw a bunch of ingredients in a cauldron to get different effect potions and poisons (alchemy does still make potions too and not just poisons right?) would it really kill your build if you have one "stealth"(alchemy) skill in your main skills? I would imagine witches would need to be kind of stealthy with their craft, given the tendency for villagers to want to burn them at the stake and everything.

As mentioned, it's all about gameplay reasons. A crafting skill in each of the three archetypes. (Also, poisons.)







Streetwise, coercion, bluffing, lying, negotiation, subterfuge. Politics. Diplomacy. ("Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggy', until you can find a rock." :tongue:)

Of the three basic archetypes, Magic Combat and Stealth, Speechcraft fits into Stealth the best by far.

The Combat, Magic and Stealth archetypes are not class restrictive.

A fighter type doesn't have to just choose skills from only Combat.

For example, a fighter type may wish to use skills from the Combat archetype, such as Smiting, and from the Stealth archetype, such as Light Armor, as well as Enchanting from the Magic archetype.


Consider that if a "pure warrior" did not use alchemy from Stealth, or restoration from Magic, healing would be rather limited.


I can very easily see a magic type character selecting alchemy from the Stealth archetype...and a thief type character might want to use Enchanting from the Magic archetype.

Again, the archetypes are not class restrictive.

It's just a category, nothing more. Your mage can still use alchemy like before.

:goodjob:

My thoughts exactly! Having some skills from other "achetype" categories only helps to further define your character.

It's more that it has a greater effect on stealth gameplay, if you can apply poisons or other effects to a weapon for a few uses it makes the assassin more versatile. Sort of like how the ability to create armor/weapons doesn't really have anything to do with knowing how to use them.