title says it all. As a mage, I dont use scrolls. Are they useful for non-mages?

Yes. They're also the only source of "Open" for very hard locks, which IIRC is also the only on-touch version in the game (and therefore useful underwater).

And they're good for emergencies, when the magicka's gone.

My mage never used scrolls. Why should she? Her magic book is full of spells that are way more potent. But as you noted, they come in handy for fighter-type characters who use magic more sparsely.

Also, scrolls (and potions) are useful because they don't cost any magicka to make their effects happen.

I think scrolls are mostly useful for non-mages.

Mages should be skilled enough and have enough magicka to not need scrolls.

But for roleplay reasons, some avoid using magicka. So scrolls can be useful then.

But for most of my characters, scrolls are a nuisance. I don't like leaving them with bad guys, but I don't often use them. So they pile up.

Also, for the atronach birthsign, scrolls can be useful, as magika is not exactly as free...

Yea, good point! :thumbsup:

I find them useful for raising my mercantile skill.

DUPLICATION!!!!!

Every one of my characters ends up carrying around a handful of the best scrolls that are normally found in the game (they sell all the rest), but they never use them. I can't quite bring myself to sell the best ones, but seriously, they NEVER use them.

I always hang onto a few good ones thinking "this'll be useful at some point"- but after carrying them for 10 or 15 levels I usually let the reality sink in and use'em to boost Mercantile. Usually, often as not, meaning "when I can finally cast something better myself and realize they're almost completely useless to me."

When you have no spells, low magicka and low skill in the magic schools scrolls are quite helpfull. They allow characters that have weak magicka skill/power to cast some high end spells.

I use them all the time on my non-casters. Nothing like dropping a couple decent aoe scrolls when a marksman gets surrounded, and the powerful single target spells come in handy for finishing an enemy when a weapon runs out of charge.

On casters, they're emergency spells, just like my staff.

QFT.

You said it brother. You get http://www.fritolay.com/assets/images/blue/Funyuns_Original.gif!

I'm gonna release a mod soon that adds vendors almost everywhere, and they will also sell new scrolls and poisons because in the vanilla game they are clearly useless

But scrolls are very useful

I like scrolls because I keep anything that is magical as trophies. If I wasn't such a pack rat I guess they'd be useful to cast stuff that I don't have a high enough skill level for I don't usually use a lot of magic on most characters unless that is part their main 'career' path.

I've never really used scrolls before. I Keep them in a small cupboard in a corner of my house...or just sell them.

One of my problems with unmodded Oblivion was the completely useless magic system. There are entire spell/scroll ranges that serve no real purpose. Burden, for example. Try as I might, I can't get it to work until I'm so good at alchemy that, WTH, I might as well use something more useful, like damage health ...

Scrolls and a lot of potions are the same way. Most of them are, frankly, useless - with some of the aforementioned exceptions, like Open Very Hard Lock.

IMO, the only way to make them useful, is to roleplay. Play a pure warrior/knight class, and make a "rule" that your character will never utter a spell. If that isn't believable enough, make them mute - due to childhood magical experiment gone bad, their tongue is now sealed to the roof of their mouth. They can only use potions and scrolls.

Outside of that, they're just another way to make money ... good a lot low levels.

~ Dani ~

Wow, I'm just the opposite. Oblvion is the first medieval fantasy type game I have played where I enjoyed playing a mage type character. Most magic systems (D&D I'm looking at you) I can't stand. I think what does it for me with Oblivion is the ability to blend different spell effects and create your own to suit your exact purpose. I agree that some spell effects are less useful than others, but even burden has a purpose. Think of it from the enemies' perspective. In your game, there is like only one living thing that walks around anywhere near their weight allowance - you. I know my character has a puny weight allowance which she insists on filling with absolutely essential useless things like lots of outfits - all with matching shoes of course. The first enemy that hits her with a burden spell or burden enchanted weapon causes her a real challenge as she starts frantically flinging things out of her pack. That kind of challenge is a good thing for her; otherwise her little head gets too big.

For OP, I agree that the benefits of scrolls, with a few special exceptions noted above, is RP for certain types of characters. I don't use them.

Scrolls I usally keep them thinking I could use this, but rarely do.
I dislike the atronach birthsign its inferior in oblivion to morrowind due to magicka regeration and ease of use spells that replicate its benefits imo.
So I have yet to find a reason to use them.

Off topic, Gothgirl Danielle, Acadian I am inbetween with the oblivion magic system. I like it for its streamlined moddable nature but see a few improvements needed.
As certain spell effects are quite pro npc rather than balanced such as burden as mentioned, and it should be more mutable in spell making.

I play as a non-mage but use a good bit of support magic. For me, 'open lock', 'detect life', and 'feather' scrolls are particularly helpful to start off. There are probably a couple I'm forgetting, but once I actually get the spells, I just sell all my scrolls.

You can create an "Open Very Hard Lock" spell, so scrolls aren't the only source.

I do agree with most of what you've said, particularly about blending or merging the magic. But I can still recall my frustration the first time I spent money for an uber burden spell, only to find out ... it doesn't work on the NPCs!!!

On the other hand, when I played Morrowind for the first time ... wow. There's a magic system that appealed to me. (I understand that many people feel the magical system of Morrowind was completely overpowered when compared to the system in Oblivion). I love how low alchemy resulted in failed potions (yes, I know, there's a mod for Oblivion that does the same thing). I loved Levitation, the power of reflect, and so on. Most of the differences between Oblivion and Morrowind have been nullified with mods, but one of my frustrations - in playing Oblivion early on - was how some of the magical effects were basically useless.

@ Madocmayhem: I love Atronach birth sign in Oblivion, for it's 50% spell absorption and boosted magic. Breton (50% spell resistance + 50 spell point increase) + Atronach birth sign (50% spell absorption + 150 spell point increase) + Alchemy as a major skill (Flax Seeds and Steel Blue Entolama cap makes restore magicka) = one serious magical talent. I've taken a level 9 Breton Nightblade through all the Mages Guild recommendation quests - including Fort Blueblood - with FCOM installed, no problem.

But, yes, I enjoy the magical system of Morrowind, too. It'll be interesting to see what comes out with TESV.

~ Dani ~

You're absolutely right I have tried it before and gone out my way to make restore potions / magic items to give point heavy spell effects such as absorb, shield and detect.
Its just a personnal hang up of mine, one I have thought of getting over these last few days, I'll give the birthsign another go with a pure mage and put some extra thought into playing it.
So more use of scrolls and potions should add some more replay-ability, thank you for the info by the way cheers.