So with the removal of choosing your class at the beginning of the game, you lose out on some of the starting spells that you'd get from each magic skill. For example, in Oblivion when you choose Illusion as one of your major skills, you'd start off with a basic light spell and I believe a calm spell, basically each magic school gave you a few basic spells of that school when chosen as a major skill. So I was wondering, is there going to be something that replaces that sort of thing since there's no major skills anymore? Will we start off with a basic spell from each school? Or will it be like Oblivion where it was just a basic healing spell and a basic fireball spell and that's it (the other spells were gained a bit later in the tutorial area)? What do you guys think? Just something I thought and don't ever recall coming across a topic like this.

In the demo they started out with 3 spells , I only know that one of them was fire ....

I REALLY hope we don't start with one from each, it annoyed me enough in oblivion when I had to start with the 2. When I make a warrior I don't want him to know how to shoot a fireball >_> I understand it's optional but I just didn't like the fact of knowing how to do it. I suppose they could maybe have a magic trainer REALLY early in the game and you could choose for him to teach you maybe basic spells from 2 or 3 classes.

I hope we don't start out with any spells.

We might find a spell tome in the cave where we start the game, nothing wrong with that, but I don't like the idea of starting with any pre-learned spells.

They also started off with iron armor and other things, if you're talking about the QuakeCon demo... But yeah, never trust a demo.


Exactly, it never made sense why you would always start off those spells, they should have come in after choosing your major skills/pre-defined class, not right at the beginning.


Would be interesting. I'm not exactly for or against that, as I wouldn't care either way, was just curious what people thought of how they may be doing starting spells.

EDIT:


Even better. Though if it were like the ones from Oblivion from a leveled list of random items, it would svck/be weird.
... And I completely forget what else I was gonna say after that.

Most likely a heal spell, a destruction spell (prob fire) and prob clairvoyance. Clairvoyance shows a trail to your objective.

I think one of the other 3 was a healing spell.

I really hope we don't start out with Clairvoyance.

It's such an awesome spell that recaptures part of the mystery of the arcane arts. It's quite original and different from most of the spells we see over and over in so many fantasy games. If you have to work hard to actually earn it, whether by saving up gold to buy it or discovering this spell in a spell tome, that would be great.

To start the game with Clairvoyance tremendously cheapens this fun spell and turns it into something akin to the Microsoft Office Paperclip Assistant. "It looks like you're writing a letter. Would you like some help with that?"

Was lightning the other one? That looked amazing, and it can curve off walls!

Now I remember what I was gonna say... Was there any confirmation of spell tomes being in? In the same sense they were as Oblivion? Something different? Or just no mention at all?


Yeah, I agree, the purpose of having Clairvoyance was to sort of replace the compass, having you start off with it would sort of defeat the purpose as it would be almost always available, aside from the whole limited magicka aspect of course.

i hope but dont hope we have basic starting spells, yes because nice my battlemage has something to work with early not so nice because wtf my warrior doesn't need a fireball hes going too tank [censored] it

I dont want to start with any spells... I intend to play a pure mage (or close to) but the joy of discovering the arcane from a spell tome - thats what I crave.

Having magic to begin with takes away from the value and the mystery of what is magic. Discovery is everything.

Would be even better for players new to a TES game, the mystery.

I agree... and if we're out in the snows and have to make a fire to warm ourselves to survive cant we resort to either a magical fire spell we just picked up or if we are a warrior or thief toss aside the fire magic tome as useless and use a flint and tinder.

While I can see the appeal in that for a warrior leaning player, I have to say no. That wouldn't work. We know nothing of the characters background, and any player might desire a character who remembers at least a few magical skills from his pre-prisoner life. A mage leaning character with NO spells at all is stuck running from town to town in search of spells before he or se can even start exploring, essentially. And heaven help them if mage shops turn out to be a little difficult to find at first. The game world is also to open to put a spell tome in a cave that the player might completely bypass.

The ONLY way I could see starting with no spells working out, and I think this would actually be a very good choice even without pre-selected classes being in the game, , is to have some minor spell tome PRESENTED to the player at the very beginning of the game, or at least VERY early on, around the tutorial stage. The player would be made aware of what it was, and it would have some minor spell in it from a few of the schools of magic. The player could read it, and be asked if he/she wished to learn the spells (each spell in the tome would give this option, so you would not be forced to learn all of them if you only wished to know one or two).

This way, the character leaning towards wizardry is able to begin engaging their craft, and doesn't start out at a huge disadvantage in the ability to persue his or her interests, when contrasted against a warrior or thief, who can likely grab a dagger from a guard whilst fleeing execution or just start sneaking around right out of the gate. ALSO, it would allow those pure builds which do not use magic to avoid possessing any.

In addition, races which start with some skill boosts may also start with a few spells from those disciplines

When IGN got a hands on demo they said that you get a fireball, healing spell, and something else. So its a basic start.

keep in mind that it is a demo, i believe they created there characters and started AFTER the beginning of the game in a random area and were presented an assortment of weapons to choose from. can't make assumptions about the beginnign from them

No, that was only for the special 60-minute Quake-Con hands on demo for the journalists. They started the demo with advanced weapons, armor and spells so that they could get a feel for how to use these things during their brief demo.

I get that this is likely for role-playing quirks - a warrior shouldn't have access, etc - but if one wanted to role-play as a wizard, what happens if they want to be someone who knew magic prior to the incarceration? Wouldn't it be easier to just avoid the spells than to ruin it for someone who specifically wants to have them from the start?

Ya this its in the q&a.races will have some base skills that differ and have a spell or two.

Actually if I was playing a warrior, of course it would also be a bit odd, but this is more relevant to playing a mage, for me.

It's more interesting for me to play a beginning apprentice mage who knows no magic at all and learns spells from tomes or training. I will appreciate every tome I find all the more. I think it would be great as others suggested if we find a spell tome in the cave where we start the game.

Otherwise, just starting out automatically knowing spells, especially something really cool like Clairvoyance, takes away part of the mystery of studying the arcane arts. What kind of creature are we that we are born with this sort of knowledge.

Some people like to role-play characters that already have some knowledge of their profession, but I prefer to roleplay complete novices, who are learning from day one through adventuring, speaking with wise NPCs, etc.

As for special racial abilities, these are part of your heritage from whatever race you are, nothing wrong with starting off with these.

Alright you may feel at a bit of a "disadvantage" playing a mage, but as a warrior you too would be at a "disadvantage" as you wouldn't have a weapon, after all you're a prisoner. So I think the best solution would be one mentioned already by AinurOlorin where within the tutorial you're presented with some spell tomes for some basic spells, though it'd be better if it wasn't directly thrown in your face as weapons shouldn't be either, judging on how Oblivion's tutorial went. You could go throughout the entire tutorial of Oblivion only picking your race, class, and birth sign completely avoid all items except for the amulet and then leave sewers. If spells were presented in that same optional sense that weapons, stealth, spell casting, etc. were in Oblivion, I think it'd be fine.

As I mentioned above, I quite like the idea of finding a spell tome in the cave where we start the game, or somewhere nearby.