I've always wondered why oblivion never added the feature that gave you experience(at least some!) when you completed a quest, like in many other games that are of the same or like nature. Has anyone created or knows of a mod that would add this feature? Thanks in advance! ^_^

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15619 does this, but not with the vanilla leveling system.

OblivionXP does this.

I r neeeeeeeeeenja'd

Oblivion doesn't use XP like most games do. It's only used when you take an action of some sort and is applied to a specific skill. Like you hit something with your sword and you gain points towards your Blade skill. So gaining XP for completling a quest is meaningless with the vanilla system. As mentioned however Oblivion XP reworks the levelling system so that it's based on XP, not on individual actions. Using that system, the game will play out more like a D&D game. Or like Fallout 3.

hmm, i understand your point. I wish there was a mod that would give you say...~5% to next level? Cause i know each weapon skill gives you 10% i think

Ummm....
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Levelling

All that matters for leveling in vanilla is leveling up your major skills 20 times. While the governing attributes of all the skills you upped effects your attribute modifier. Also with the vanilla system leveling up is ultimately pointless because the enemy levels up too, not to mention leveling FAST is especially bad... even if you're using a mod like OOO which fixes the first problem.

Perhaps more like a skill up for the skill primarily involved in the quest.

Recovering some research book from a cave? Alchemy
Fetch quest? Athletics
Talky talk quest? Speechcraft
theives guild? sneak, lock pick.
Dark Brotherhood? Blade, sneak
Fighters guild? blade, blunt, HtH
etc.

i like your proposal! you should make a mod like that

Ah no, that would be 10 level ups of any of your major skills. So it would be impossible to give 5% towards your next level, unless you were to award points to every single skill in the game. After all, not everyone has the same major skills when they play. That would make for a very clumsy way of designing a quest be kind of meaningless. It would also be very difficult to decide what skill should be rewarded on a quest by quest basis. I can't see why recovering some book should automatically lead to an Alchemy increase. What about Finger of the Mountain, it has absolutely nothing to do with that skill. And what would be the primary skill of the Bravil/Henantier quest? It doesn't really have a distinct focus. Neither does The Forlorn Watchman. In fact most of the quests don't.

Just play the game with Oblivion XP.

Well the book is about Welkynd stones growing in caves, so you'd think the book or the researcher would teach something about nature and the growing of natural elements. As for the hard to distinguish those could always be done through dialogue or a config box that comes up at the end of the quest.


As for making the mod I couldn't do that; my CS knowledge is very limited. The simplified method of just adding a "modpc +1"(or whatever the correct command is, I forget it at the moment) to the quest's completion result script I could probably do if I really wanted to, but I'd most likely screw something up.

But it really has nothing to do with creating potions, which is what Alchemy is all about. And there's another book quest, Finger of the Mountain, which has absolutely nothing to do with alchemy.

Because Oblivion is not Dungeons&Dragons and uses an IMO much more realistic "skills increases as you use them" method, that is more suitable for a computer game.

Well I did specify "cave"... please tell me there's not a different research book in a cave. (I forget is the journal in the fighters guild quest a research book?)But yeah, I was kind of stretching it with alchemy, the only other thing I could think of was like +10 max magicka, but that seemed even more out there.

I just checked the Fighters guild journal and it is indeed a study fauna in Cyrodiil, and includes information on ingredients you can find on at least one of them, so... let's pretend I was talking about that quest. :shifty:


But what about skill uses that have a purpose? That is one of the major flaws with Oblivion's system. Spamming skill use with absolutely no purpose, just so you can level it up quickly. Too bad there's no way to check if you're using a skill as a part of a quest and then apply a multiplier to the skill use counter thingy. (like how certain vows in Vows and Covenants allow you to level up specific skills faster.)

Also there's the fact that most non-item quest rewards svck. ("YAY! 600 Septims I'll just go ahead and add that to my millions...")

Why would you want to spam a skill to level up quickly? :shakehead:
You are playing a single player role playing game. The flaw is not so much the system, as it is the players who try to beat the game instead of living it.

I agree. People complain about the "level up as you do something" system when they really should be complaining about thier lack of restraint. I spam my Conjuration and Mysticism at first to get both up to Apprentice level then let the game take care of everything after that.

I strongly disagree. What you do is like arm wrestling with a five year old kid and pretending it was a tough challenge when you win. Is that fun, do you get a feeling of accomplishement after you won? Not me. Like you said, it is a single player game and everyone can do what he likes, but some people (like me) actually play games for a challenge - a real challenge and not a challenge you imagine. Sure, Oblivion is a role playing game, but a game without a clear set of rules is worth nothing. If I wanted that I could just sit down on a chair and imagine everything. Cheaper and less restrictive. If you constantly have to restrain yourself from doing things you normally could do (without cheating) then it takes all the fun out of it for me.

That's why I use Oblivion XP by the way and there is absolutely no way I will ever get back to the (imo) crappy vanilla system. Apart from leveling mods that get rid of the 'everything levels with player' idiocy Oblivion XP is the single most important mod for me.

I think XP works great in linear games , as it helps the designers "pace" the game. You want the characters to level quickly? Give them a million XP for doing a Fed Ex quest.
For a sandbox game like Morrowind and Oblivion, I think the vanilla leveling system (refined by mods) is the most intuitive. But sadly the system is open to abuse from players who can't tell the difference from role and roll, and who goes to such lenghts as to put a weight on the jump key when away from the computer so that their character will advance in Athletics skill...

I'm not sure why you call that abuse. It is part of the broken game mechanics. Making use of a game mechanic that was clearly intended to be used like that (no glitching) is no abuse for me. If it doesn't work very well then it is a problem with the game mechanic and not with the player.

The problems I have with the regular system are:

1. There are multiple exploits for every single skill. And most of them don't even require you to actively do stupid things, you can do them while playing the game normally. When I played the game with the vanilla system I cast restoration or summon spells all the time while walking around in the wilderness. Sometimes I killed my summons with a few hits from my sword. Why? The answer is: Why not? If I could become a perfect guitar player by plucking the same string over and over I would sit here in front of my computer and pluck the same string over and over while I do other things. It just feels terribly wrong for me not to do it. If I can become better at something without any effort - why would I want to miss that opportunity?

2. When increasing skills only quantity counts, not quality. Whether you hit a few mudcrabs with a rusty iron dagger or fight a level 30 blade master with your super claymore - the result is the same. Whether you sneak successfully next to a sleeping beggar or through the Mythic Dawn headquarters - the result is the same. There is no feeling of accomplishment for completing very hard tasks compared to completing very easy tasks. Why should I fight an Ogre at level 1 if all he gives me are his teeth? For most skills you are even punished for taking on harder tasks. Casting a master level spell gives you the same xp as casting a novice level spell does. Only that you can cast many more novice level spells in the same time.

Both of my points combined are the reason why I think the vanilla system is terrible. You increase your skills by doing useless things and if you use the skills for useful things you (almost) don't get any reward. It should be the other way around, don't you think?

Personally, I find the vanilla system rather intuitive. If I want to get better with my blade, I use it. Think about this: If you take on a dragon with that sword, do you learn any more about how to use the sword then if you took on a bunch of goblins? You have taken on a much harder foe, but you swung the sword the same amount of times then if you have fought the goblins.
They say practice makes perfect. I think it makes sense that you should have to do something many times to get better, instead of doing it perfect a couple times. You don't learn what doesn't work, only what works right then. Quality only makes a difference when you can learn something from doing it much better(which is rare when fighting a lvl 30 blade master or sneaking through a whole dungeon full of mythic dawn members)
I use my healing spells when I need them, and I cast conjuration spells when I'm going to fight someone/something.
I have seen plenty of mods which I would use if I wanted a much more immersion based game. Ones that make it so you DO get more skill for using a bigger spell(magicka based spell training mods, for example, make it so you can't use a tiny training spell to the same effect as a master level spell), ones so you don't have the level up menu thing, ones that make all your stat gains fixed to certain levels based on your build.

Just because a system can be exploited, doesn't mean the system is broken. It just means that it has the potential to be exploited.

I've never spammed at skill other then alchemy(to get out of novice), and restoration(to get out of novice). And even then, I do it because I believe they either are useless at novice(both) or they level way to slowly(restoration), and I don't always do it.

Though I do get the idea that taking on a ogre at level one is almost meaningless, but then again, I can't take one on at level one most of the time.

I like the Oblivion system.

It's great for those who don't want to complete quests etc.

However, it could do with some tweaking. Not sure how they would work it, but would be better if you got the XP for the action only when you did it for a purpose. Like casting Shield only when in battle, but then that would be awkward as I often cast Shield before I initiate battle or if I'm jumping off high objects and don't wanna die

I also think it feels more immersive to know that my actions are changing my character rather than the outcomes of fights or quests.

It's good but it's not perfect.

You really think that sword fighting is only about swinging the sword in the direction of an enemy and doing it often enough makes you a great swordfighter? That would be like playing a children's song over and over to become a masterful guitar player. I think a realistic way would be if you'd only gain experience points in combat skills if you were fighting enemies that are a challenge, depending on your blade skill. If you have a blade skill of 5 you might get an improvement by fighting mudcrabs, but if you have a blade skill of 50 fighting mudcrabs won't help you get any better. Doing a similar thing for all skills would be impossible though.



Again, I disagree. If you can only exploit the system with some weird workarounds (aka glitching), that's okay. I think I could restrict myself from not using exploits in that case. But in Oblivion the system itself is a big, fat exploit rubbed directly into your face. I mean, you gain skill points by casting spells. So if I cast spells I'm using an exploit only because I don't need to cast a spell right now? That is a completely broken game mechanic for me, not a potentially exploitable one.

The fact that you can quickly level up to apprentice because you think novice level spells are useless is a clear sign for a broken game mechanic as well imo. In Oblivion XP (or any other games using XP) you have to spend some of your valuable skill points to get to apprentice level. Otherwise you simply can't use restoration spells or alchemy. That is generally another problem with Oblivion's default system. You can easily become a master of everything and all characters are the same in the end. You start with a Nord warrior, but at level 30 you are a powerful wizard and the greatest thief of all Tamriel as well. Not so with Oblivion XP. You have to choose which way you want your character to go. You might become a very powerful fighter, but then you can barely cast any spells and you aren't stealthy either. If you want to cast a bit of magic at least your combat skills won't be all at 100 in the end. Your choice. And that's what I like about it.