Hi guys...I'm having a little difficulty.

I'm playing a Level 7 (almost 8) vanilla Spellsword, and have just started on the Oblivion main quest, beginning with the Kvatch Portal.

Long story short, every time I go in, I get smashed by this bloody Scamp and Clanfear Runt. Every time! :swear: Even if I run past them, I just die later on anyway.

I have Dwarven Armour, a Dwarven Shortsword, enchanted Greaves and Boots, a steel helmet, steel shield, regular sort of stats I believe, and mainly fire spells in my inventory (I also have a Drain Health).

The difficutly is on medium - I'm willing to change it to make it easier, but I didn't think I'd have to do it this soon.

Am I missing something here? Or is Medium-scale difficulty this hard around Level 7/8?

Check your fire spell, make sure it's up to par with your level. Also, look into shock or cold spells. Most daedra are resistant to fire, and many weak to shock. An enchanted weapon will help you by leaps and bounds, even if it has like, charm, on it, as many daedra have a resistance to nomal weapons, which an enchanted weapon isnt effected by. Do you focus on Magic or Blade as your primary offensive attack? If you level both out evenly, you will be hindered greatly, more and more as time goes on. Been always putting points into endurance? It isnt retroactive. you need as high an endurance as possible in as early as possible to have a strong pool oh health. What enchants are on your armor? This can also make a difference.

Hm. Thanks Ashwanderer...in answer to your question, my blade is far below my Destruction (Blade is at 38, Destruction is in the 40's I think)

I prefer magic as a primary attack, but I like blade equally...that's why I went with spellsword and I love it. Most of my level-up points go into willpower (I think), endurance and something else. (strength I think).

I'm almost about to level up - one more cave run and I'll get to level 8.

Bizarrely, I have "Greaves of the Flame", with about a 5-10% fire resist, I think. It's not much and it doesn't help against the Scamps.

And my boots give me some extra 5 points in athletics. And I have an alteration ring that gives me 5 extra points.

I have a Shield spell - 5% though, so it's not worth much, I can use the Nordic Dragon Shield spell, but that only works once so it doesn't help me much.

I have only about ~500 septims (I spent 4K on a nice horse )...so I can't afford an enchanted weapon and I haven't stumbled onto one yet; I'm not in a Mage's Guild, but I was going to join the fighter's guild if that matters.

I would make sure your spells are as up-to-date as your armor and weaponry. You're at least Apprentice in Alchemy, Alteration, Conjuration and Destruction since you have them as majors, but maybe it's time to make some money and make sure you have the best spells you can cast before tackling that gate.

Conjuration - you can purchase and use Summon Zombie and Scamp.

Destruction - Electric Touch or Shock.

Alteration - you can buy a 10% Fire Shield spell, or a 15% normal Shield spell.

Alchemy - Have a look at which http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Useful_Potions you can make at your current skill level.

Be resourceful, be prepared.

Thanks for the Advice UnclePain, but I'm a http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Spellsword#Spellsword. No alchemy for me, but I admit I haven't been using a few of my other skills, so I'll go back and invest in them before I go in again...I'm going to buy a Snowball spell and see if that helps me too.

Thanks for your help!

:facepalm: Sorry, I was looking at the Wiki and totally read the wrong entry without realizing. I guess you don't have Conjuration either, but there's nothing that says you can't use it, same as Alchemy. You just won't be able to summon monsters at Novice level, but you can conjure a bound dagger that might help you do more melee damage.

I'd really recommend Shock damage spells vs. Daedra. Most of them have a weakness to shock. Better use of your Magicka.

Thanks! would you go touch or target shock spells? Should I stay away from the enemy or run towards them?

The choice is yours. You'll do more damage with less Magicka cost with a touch spell, but obviously you expose yourself to harm in the process. The upside of that, though, is the gains to Heavy Armor/Block and the resulting opportunities to gain some decent Endurance boosts.

Personally, as a spellsword I would make use of your shield (item) and touch spells. They are cheaper in mana, and harder to miss. You can also make use of stronger spell damages with touchspells than you can with bolt spells (due to the reduced mana cost)
I'd lay off using your Blade. Your main attack should be in the 50-60 range by level 8, at least. You probbably want it at 80-100 by the time you hit the teens. Otherwise, those baddies can put the hurt on. Using weakness to magic in conjunction with your spells works wonders.

try this:
Ashy's Prank Handbuzzer:
Weakness to Magic 50 for 3 on touch
Shock x on touch (x being whatever size shock spell your can use efficently)

Spam this spell. Weakness to Magic stacks, so it does more and more damage with each successful cast, in that 3 second duration.

Thanks ashy...but I'm not in the Mage Guild. I can get through the guild pretty quick though If I have to...thanks for the help!

As far as I know if you play without the Overhaul mod it is much harder, so that would be normal. More experienced players will probably tell you more. I did finish the main quest without the mod and it is THAT difficult, but still not impossible. If you'd used ranged attacks I could tell you to draw the daedra one at the time. If they are close-by as you first enter use chameleon or invis, summon something to diver attention. Find a rock to jump on so the enemies can't get to you perhaps. You seem to be going for close-quarter fighting.....maybe level a bit more and get better gear?

Thanks for all the help guys...Ashy, your trick is working well - I'm not in with the Arcane Uni, so I couldn't make my own spell, but using a Weakness to Shock, then swapping to Shock on Touch and using that is working well on some low level goblins while I level up.. I'm level 9 now, and working on Alteration (level 50), Illusion (46) and destruction (46). Ignoring blade pretty much (39), but working on Block (41).

Using the Shock spells and Block to protect myself is working well, but all my level up points are going into Willpower, meaning I'm not gaining much Magicka with each level up (i'm not investing in Intelligence). That's ok though, I'm stocking up on Magicka Potions and Welkynd stones, so I can last a while in magic combat.

Thanks for the advice!

Honestly, I just used the console to bring up the spellmaker. I eventually put alters in the halls, and in non affiliated magic shops. I'm eventually going to get around to publishing that mod.

But the Associate quests are a breeze to get through, and net you a [spoiler/] Open Easy Lock on touch (the only on touch open spell in the game), Bouyancy (a Water Breathing and Feather spell that is cheap), potentially Finger of the Mountain, Which potentially/debatibly the most powerful default spell in the game (also the mose expensive, by and far), I THINK you also learn a simple charm spell as well. And a weak to middling fireball spell. [/spoiler]

Actually that would be a mistake. Having high skills makes you stronger, but having a high level makes the enemies stronger. So the trick to having a powerful character is having skills that are higher than normal for your level. And there are only two way to achieve this:

1) Increase minor skills and use them. This makes you stronger, without leveling you up.

2) Specialize in a small number of you major skills and let your other major skills fall behind.

For a Spellsword I'd recommend focusing on Destruction, Restoration, and Heavy Armor with the goal of becoming a Master of Destruction before reaching level 20. There is nothing wrong with using your other major skills whenever you need to, just don't actively work on increasing them. I'd also recommend dabbling in Alchemy. It's a minor skill, but that doesn't mean you can't use it and it will be very helpful.

The most important attributes are Endurance and Intelligence (in that order). You will also need decent Strength to carry the weight of your armor and developing Speed to at least 50 would be very useful as well. Personality is the least useful of attributes and for Luck it depends. Luck gives you a hidden bonus to all skills, but that bonus can't bring a skill over 100. So a high Luck is useful at low levels, but once you get to 100 in your most important skills it becomes much less useful.

Hmm. Thanks for all the tips there!

Whenever I level up, I don't get any points in Intelligence. I don't even get a +2 option, so I'm still at 50 points in it. Willpower is up around 60-70 and my endurance is the same. My speed is atrocious - 25, I believe (but I could have been diseased I can't remember).

I have heard of levelling up weak things -- efficient levelling, I think it's called -- so I'll see if I can do that; I don't mind wandering around a few ruins smashing up goblins/skeletons if I have too -- I'm enjoying my current game a lot, so that's fine. I have been http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Skills and see that I just need to run around conjuring things and making potions to get some intelligence points, but I don't have any Major skills that use Intelligence...but I need more Magicka so I'll do that if I have to.

The problem for me is that most of my Major skills are within one of the Attribute brackets, meaning that efficient levelling is rather hard though.

Thanks for the advice!

As for speed - check your attribute page in your journal and if the speed number is in red then it is being drained by some disease, spell, or poison. If its in red check your active effects tab of the magic section. Here you will see if the attribute drain is part of a disease. If there is no "drain/damage/whatever speed" effect on you then try praying at an altar or getting a "restore speed" spell from a chapel

The intelligence related skills are insanely easy to boost for the level-up bonus. A simple bound dagger spell can be spam casted and you will get the same conjuration experience from 1 cast of this as you would 1 cast of a high level summon. Just spam cast away and you will have 10 level ups in no time. For mysticism, spam cast minor life detection. For alchemy raid some kitchens (mages guild houses work exceptionally well) and make restore fatigue potions. 10 is the magic number. 10 level ups across an attribute's 3 skills (remember intelligence has conjuration, mysticism, and alchemy) will provide you with the maximum +5 option to intelligence upon leveling up.

Well, with all the help I have been given I managed to level up several times and got to Level 11, favouring Destruction (now at 50) and my Heavy Armour isn't far off 50. My alteration is at 51. So that way, when I go into combat, I do a Shield spell, then use Weak to XYZ and then Cast a Destruction XYZ spell.

I took out a hotel room, got a summon Zombie spell and Conjured, then smashed the creature with Destructions, Hand-to-Hand (to raise Strength) or else let him pummel me (raising Heavy Armour).

In the end, I took the Difficulty down to about 7 notches left of medium, to make things just a tad easier. The Daedra are now Flame Atronachs etc, but I can at least take two or so on at a the same time -- my main problem is my Magicka and Health being a bit low, but with some +5 to Intelligence level ups, I got that up a little better now.

Thanks for the advice guys!

ALCHEMY!!

Personally, I like to get my sneak skill way up early on, and take out my enemies with a bow and arrow from VERY far away. I am very good at judging how far above my target I should aim in order to hit it. I am at level 8 as well, and I use a Dwarven Bow and Dwarven Arrows for the most part. Usually, the first shot kills my enemies without them even knowing I was there.