I've returned to the game (bought it yet again, on the Steam sale) and am trying to finish the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood quests using a new character, a Khajiit thief. I'm at level 21, and find that one problem is - skeletons. Being 100% resistant to poison, my range of usual bottles is of no use. Since they're normally found indoors, it's hard to kite them, pinging arrows at them. And even if I get to Master level, they're still 100% resistant to paralysis. So I find that indoors I have absolutely no chance against them, even swigging health potions like crazy. Any tips?

P.

I never really had a problem with skeletons, besides the annoyance of arrows bouncing off them and getting lost. Have you been keeping your bow upgraded and what enchant if any do you have on it?

Bow with fire damage does wonders. And you can get your non-enchanted arrows (most of them) back after you kill it. They should be laying on the floor about 5 to 10 feet in front of your kill. Several bow shots, followed by target soul trap, followed by killing shot. Claymore enchanted with fire is cool too. The best is whacking one with the expert blade power move. They "explode" scattering bones all over, then the bones come back together, and you can finish it. Or you can finish it while it is laying on the floor, all to pieces.

How's your conjuration level? What about a turn undead spell? You can turn them, and if they have no where to run to, fill 'em full of arrows. When they come back at you, turn undead again.... rinse and repeat.

or you could summon your own skeleton (or whatever) to act as a distraction while you fire away.

Hmm. . . bow vs skeleton. For a non-magey type of character it sounds like ---

Enchant a bow with turn undead at maximum magnitudex2 seconds + soul trapx1sec + fire damage to tastex1sec.
When you hit the skellie (or any undead), they will stop and start to run away as you reload. After only a step or two, they will turn to charge you again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

(A strong weakness to poison spell that is in effect when you shoot your poisoned bow can bust immunity, but that type of tactic better suits a more magey archer who also can immobilize the skeleton (drain speed, command creature etc) to make the skellie holds still.)

Remember that Oblivion's leveling system does not punish you for not killing everything you see. If the enemy is too difficult to kill, just sneak past it and steal it's treasures :hehe: Playing with a thief or assassin takes patience, sometimes it takes quite a while for an enemy to move to a position where he is easy to kill without attracting attention or to sneak past it.

My khajiit assassin for example is an assassin, not a mass murderer. She engages enemies on her own terms, if the battle is impossible, it won't be started.

Just remember that even the sneakiest assassins need to be good at close quarter open combat for those situations when it cannot be avoided.

True, which is why killing easier enemies is required to bring up Blade and Marksman skill, or just buy training. But due to no experience point system there is little point in trying to kill all most dangerous enemies, especially skeletons that don't have very good loot either.

If you have good illusion skill, casting invisibility can help. In many cases, if you are invisible long enough, the enemy will lose interest in the battle and stop fighting you.

Don't you have dagger? Sneak behind it, stab it in the back (silver is the absolute best, I hear Daedric is good too). 2x, 3x or 4x damage depending on level.

Can you make a weakness to poison potion, anyone? Do that first and then poison the bag of bones.

Turn undead never worked for me, I just flame it until it dies (I'm mage).

Correction: 3x or 6x. 2x is Bows with <25 Sneak, 4x is Bows with >25 Sneak. 2h melee is 1x and magic doesn't get a bonus - functionally the same thing, but displayed differently (you actually see a sneak attack notice for 1x damage with a 2h melee weapon). Also, Skeletons don't have Resist Normal Weapons afaik, so there's nothing special about using a silver weapon on a skeleton.

1. See Kris' comments. (BTW, my char does not touch any weapon except a bow and does very well.)

2. No, you cannot make a wtp potion or poison. You can enchant or create spells with the effect however. The effect must be active on your target before you inflict them with poison. Weakness to poison, properly used, can temporarily bust poison immunity.

3. Turn undead works fine for me. Make sure that the magnitude of the spell is at least as great as the level of your foe, corrected for any possible armor-induced spell effectiveness penalty.

Doesn;t the wabberjack work on them?

At least turn them in to something without the resistences

Opening with a sneak attack should do it.
If all else fails, you're still an assassin. Whip out your blade and finish it off.

4x/6x for melee, 2x/3x for marksman.

With Sneak Overhaul mod and 100 sneak, 6x for bows, 18x for daggers and 1x for claymores. And the Assassination greater power that doubles that.

Thanks for the tips; in the end, I crafted a bow, Ghostbane (yeah, original...) that has a few damage enchantments (shock, fire, etc) plus a few seconds of Turn Undead. Mr Boney will invariably run away for a few seconds so he never get a chance to get in range of me. Using sneak and keeping hidden is every better.

Cheers,

P.