Spell merchants are merchants who specialize in spells and can be found in every city of Cyrodiil, except Kvatch. The base cost in gold for purchasing a spell is always three times the current magicka cost, taking into account your character’s skill level and the spell’s type. In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, spells can be purchased from spell merchants, received as rewards for quests, or during character creation.
The Bravil Mages Guild specializes in illusion, with Delphine Jend and Ita Rienus selling the most illusion spells. The Apprentice birthsign doomstone can be used to receive pre-made Illusion spells. For custom spells, refer to Spellmaking and Altar of Spellmaking.
Illusion spells allow players to charm, conceal, create light, silence, paralyze, command, or affect morale or aggressiveness. The most powerful illusion spells are from the mages in the Arcane University, with some being Borissean and Gasper. The Guildhall at Bravil specializes in the school of Illusion, so most can be purchased there.
Players with Illusion as a major skill start with this spell, which can be purchased from Delphine Jend, Calindil, Edgar Vautrine, and Ungarion. The Bravil Mages Guild specializes in Illusion, and the Guildhall at Bravil specializes in the school of Illusion.
Not all people in the guild sell spells, and it is important to visit them during the day and not during the night. Each city has a mages guild that specializes in a certain magic type. Some Illusion spells are useless or too low-level to use, and crafting them is the only way to make them usable.
📹 Can I Beat Oblivion with ONLY Illusion Magic? 🔴 MDB’s Oblivion Challenges
In this video I take you along my ridiculous Elder Scrolls Oblivion Challenge Journey through the lands of Tamriel as I attempt to …
Is Illusion worth it in Oblivion?
Illusion is a useful skill for sneaks and mages, but it is particularly useful for those with low Personality, Mercantile, and Speechcraft. The most useful spells in this skill set are not accessible until journeyman level, but they are ideal for sneaking around in dark dungeons. Chameleon, Invisibility, and Night-Eye are great for sneaking around, while Silence is useful for stopping mages. Paralyze is costly but can be lifesaver. Light spells are appreciated by almost any character, except for Khajiit.
Illusion is the magic specialty of the Bravil mages guild chapter. With 100 chameleon, a Hero can be completely invisible, but enemies can still hear any noises made. Charm is a useful spell for getting important information without worrying about Speechcraft. A cheap, high-magnitude, low-duration spell can be created by joining the Mages Guild, making it valuable for characters with low Personality, Speechcraft, or gold.
Where do I get the Illusion spell?
Skyrim:Illusion Spells can be obtained from various locations, including Calcelmo, Drevis Neloren, Falion, Farengar Secret-Fire, Madena, Nelacar, Riverwood Trader, Sybille Stentor, and Wuunferth the Unliving in Wylandriah. These spells can be found in Embershard Mine. Additionally, they offer Courage, Fortify Health, and Fortify Stamina. These spells can be obtained from Calcelmo, Drevis Neloren, Falion, Farengar Secret-Fire, Madena, Nelacar, Sybille Stentor, and Wuunferth the Unliving in Treva’s Watch.
Where can I find alteration spells?
The alteration spells can be purchased from the following individuals in the city of Wylandriah: Calcelmo, Falion, Farengar Secret-Fire, Madena, Nelacar, Sybille Stentor, Tolfdir, and Wuunferth the Unliving. The aforementioned items can be located in Fort Snowhawk. The Mage Armor perk elevates the spell’s magnitude to 80, 100, or 120 points (rank 1), contingent on the rank.
Who sells alteration magic?
Tolfdir, an expert in Alteration magic, will be present in the College of Winterhold Quest Line and offers Alteration Spell Tomes and expert training. His initial pedagogical endeavors are conducted in conjunction with Saarthal, the Staff of Magnus, The Eye of Magnus, and Alteration Ritual Spell.
Where can I buy alteration spells in Oblivion?
The text provides information on Novice Alteration spells, including Trayvond the Redguard in the Cheydinhal’s Mages Guild, Ungarion at A Warlock’s Luck in Bravil, and Calindil at The Mystic Emporium in the IC. It suggests that these spells are only available for apprentice or higher levels, possibly due to the player’s level being 32. The text also mentions that each Mage’s Guild specializes in a specific spell type, but cannot recall which guild specializes in Alteration.
Who teaches illusion spells?
Dr. Davis Neloren, an expert in the field of illusion, provides instruction at the College of Winterhold until the student has reached the Expert Level. At this juncture, the quest to learn the Master Illusion Spell begins.
How do you get illusions?
The brain uses retinal signals to form mental images, known as visualization. However, when interpreting a two-dimensional image as three-dimensional, it can trigger an optical illusion. Once it understands the illusion, it cannot be deceived again. The eyes and brain work together in a complex process, with some pathways uncovered. The retina’s cells convert light into electrical signals, which are sent through the optic nerve to the visual cortex, the primary area in the brain where images are processed. The process is complex and scientists still don’t fully understand the steps involved.
Which Mages Guild sells Illusion spells?
Spell merchants are experts in the sale of spells, including those from the Bravil Mages Guild, Delphine Jend, Ita Rienus, A Warlock’s Luck, Ungarion, Alteration, Conjuration, and various spell types. Such establishments can be found in every city of Cyrodiil, with the exception of Kvatch. They typically offer a selection of additional spells outside of their area of expertise.
What is the cheapest Illusion spell in Oblivion?
Many novice illusion spells are suitable for practice, with Starlight being the only one that can be cast on oneself. Other cheaper spells include Inspiration and Inspiring Touch. The cheapest illusion effect for creating a custom practice spell is Light, which can be safely cast on townspeople.
To improve skills, there are various methods, such as paying for illusion lessons, training master illusionists with Welkynd Stones, purchasing skill books, and increasing attributes. Vampires can gain a free illusion skill boost, and there are various generic items and unique items that can fortify illusion skills.
Shrouded Armor, awarded after joining the Dark Brotherhood after the quest A Knife in the Dark, fortifies the illusion skill by 8 points, while the Black Hand Armor, consisting of a robe and hood, fortifies it by 4 points. These items are not Leveled Items or Artifacts.
In summary, novice illusion spells are suitable for practice, and there are various methods to enhance skills and abilities.
Who sells Illusion spells in Oblivion?
The Mages Guild offers various spells, with most available at the Guildhall at Bravil, which specializes in the school of Illusion. The Spell Maker requires only the effect, and Novice/Apprentice level spells are just as good as expensive Expert and Master level spells. The range, magnitude, and duration of these spells have been verified in-game, but some may differ from the Prima Guide. The author has identified at least one vendor for each spell, and may update this information as it becomes available.
📹 10+ TIPS & TRICKS I Wish I Knew (Basics/Advanced) – TESIV: Oblivion
Yo, new wave of people finding the article! Thank you so much for perusal! I know it’s a couple years old, but this is legit one of my favourite articles I’ve made in my 12+ years on YouTube. I had so much fun making this, you don’t even know I’m gonna be making more Bethesda runs soon, but check out that playlist link if you wanna see more! I’ve done Fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion, and Skyrim. I also plan to add Fallout 4 to that list. Gonna be doing more Bethesda runs soon! Thanks!: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXmhjzME06PFJklmU6wwUKKDYJkPL_LGR
My take on how the rules should be. In combat: 1. you can only affect enemies with illusion magic. You cannot use weapons or magic from other schools (alchemy is separate from magic in this). This means, blade, blunt, archery, hand to hand, destruction, restoration, mysticism, conjuration and alteration are all banned. 2. Armor is fine, but shields will not be allowed as autobashing can happen. Better safe than sorry. (Thanks @DORIAN Robinette for pointing that out to me) 3. Potions are fine, you could choose to make some to heal or boost illusion or limit yourself to only using potions you find or buy. As long as the potion isnt causing you to deal damage or affect the enemy, it’s fine. 4. Skills that aid combat encounters but dont affect enemies if you are only using illusion, are allowed. Block, light/heavy armor, sneak can be allowed so long as none of them use a perk to affect an enemy. These skills help you stay alive rather than progress. Out of combat: 1. All non combat related skills are allowed in order for gaining neccessary resources. (Like keeping HM pokemon in your other challenges). Movement skills, Mercantile, armorer, sneak, security 2. While you should try to use illusion to boost social encounters, I would allow use of speech wheel when necessary. Basically use illusion skill, then finish them off by playing the speech wheel. Or maybe it’s the other way around: use the speech wheel some then charm them. 3. Alchemy is fine for selling potions, since alchemy relies on physical properties of substances, it’s not really magic in my book.
You asked for some semantic insight, so… *cracks knuckles * Here we go: Semantic Rule #1: Is Alchemy allowed? I would argue that yes, Alchemy is allowed. But just as long as you’re not using poisons to resolve your conflicts (either by coating your weapons or reverse-pickpocketing them (yes, you can do such a thing in this series)) or your hand-crafted potions to enhance your survivability when Alchemy isn’t the challenge object in itself, only the sale of these items would be permitted. Like this, you can produce ample coin from selling potions and poisons as well as control when you level up if you choose it as a major or minor skill. The loophole I’ll point out here is that, while you wouldn’t be allowed to use your own potions, it’s perfectly fine to buy/find potions and use those. That way, you can still benefit from potions, but they won’t be completely OP. Oh, before we move on, did you manage to escape the master’s vigilance? Semantic Rule #2: Is Lock Picking allowed? Unless the challenge specifically states that you can’t lock pick, I would argue that yes, Lock Picking is allowed. The skill is non-combatitive in nature, and really can’t lead to any harm for any particular challenge run, just as long as you don’t abuse it to resolve every single locked door/gate/chest/whathaveyou in your way. I know very well how laughably easy Elder Scrolls lock picking minigames are, and just how easy it is to accidentally find yourself at level 100 Lock Picking Skill when you’re supposed to be role-playing a barbarian.
when it comes to rules: I’d say for simplicity’s sake: everything is allowed including leveling skills as long as you don’t directly damage a moving entity yourself. Blocking is ok if it does no damage. Speechcraft, jumping really high, using other schools of magic, all allowed, just no damaging enemies/NPCs directly in any way.
I love elder scrolls!!! Side note, i just returned to college after 3 years away. As a full time banker and a student it can be exhausting. I like to play your articles as background noise while studying. Sometimes it helps to have background noise, i learned that after suffering a guy that played weird techno music in college dorm room lobby and as a banker i always hear background music or conversations.
The joy and delight you show throughout this article put a big smile on my face. It reminds me of when I would play this game with my little sister, cracking jokes and trying to make her laugh. Thanks for the nostalgia trip! I hope to see more stuff that makes you this excited to play. As for the rules, alchemy and lockpicking should be fine. They’re the equivalent of Pokémon items and HM slaves: needed to progress the story, but not run-breaking.
I used to think I enjoyed Mah-Dry-Bread because of the Pokemon challenges, but after hearing in one of his articles how he had so much fun making this one I was like “okay I’ll check it out.” Boy was I surprised I have never even played oblivion, but this article was awesome so I think what is important is he enjoys the content he makes and that is what makes him so enjoyable to watch.
Mdb, hope this helps with the algorithm. Please never be afraid to take a break if you need to. You may worry about not being able to come back to the same audience, but if you burn yourself out, you’ll lose that audience anyway. I personally love what you do at the moment, but want to make sure you are happy and healthy. You know yourself better than anyone else, so only you know if you need to take a break or whatever. Much love, and which fossil did you take?
One of my favorite playthroughs of this was with a stealth build who used illusion and conjuration. It was fun to sneak into a bandit lair, cast an aoe Frenzy spell on a bunch of them, and just watch them slaughter each other before mopping up the leftovers. It was also fun to enchant a weapon with Fear for a one second duration and just yo-yo enemies until they keel over.
Okay, he mentioned that Command Creature doesn’t work on Goblins, and the topic of whether or not Goblins are ‘people’ is actually kind of an interesting one. The short answer is whoever made the spell is racist, Goblins are almost for sure people. There’s a bit more (down below), but that’s the main thrust of it. tl;dr: Goblins are only ‘not people’ because Elves (and as a result also Humans and Beastfolk) are racists assholes, they’re just as much of ‘people’ as Argonians and Khajiit. Basically, Goblins are a lot like the Beastfolk (Argonians and Khajiit) in that, unlike the Elves and Men, they are true natives to Tamriel, having been present on Summerset before the Elves (at this time a single species called the Aldmer) were. The first elves actually traded with with the Goblins of the Summerset Isles before eventually deciding that they weren’t loyal to the Elven King and going to war with them. The Goblins of Summerset were agrarian, and were known for taming creatures – definitely a proper civilization. That first war basically ends people ever viewing Goblins as ‘civilized’ creatures again. There’s a couple other times we see more organized Goblin warbands, but their history after that point is mostly limited to small tribes ekeing out a meager existence beyond the periphery of the ‘civilized’ world, with occasional (and usually exploitative) interactions with Man and Mer such as being trained (maybe unwillingly?) as bodyguards/soldiers, taken as slaves, or working with bandits.
Ohhh an illusion challenge! This is the ONE school of magic I was never any good with so this makes it more exciting! Edit: Alchemy, Lockpicking, and even Enchanting I would allow, as those are more passive stats. Alchemy helps you make potions you are using anyway from other merchants, lockpicking is a must in any Elder Scrolls game, and even Enchanting as you can customize in bonuses to your armor, even just for the school of magic you are using. You can also enchant just to sell items at higher prices for the sake of avoiding unnecessary farming, I LOVED this challenge! Also, RIP Baurus….
The question is: “Can you beat Oblivion with illusion magic?” You’re trying to answer that through any means possible, alchemy is just another game mechanic that can increase the odds of the answer being yes. Just don’t exploit it, there are some seriously stupid exploits you can do in Skyrim with alchemy. Not sure if that’s the case in Oblivion, but honestly as long as it’s not exploiting, as long as you’re using illusion magic to beat an enemy or progress through the game, I personally couldn’t care less. And I think a lot of people would agree with that.
Thank you MDB for doing this for all of us! I’m really only subscribed for your Pokémon content, but I had a blast perusal you play a game I’d never heard of in a way that was never intended. Keep up the good work and do whatever you need to do to keep your enthusiasm alive because you are a fantastic creator.
After the birth of our now 4 month old my husband and I have almost led completely separate lives while we navigate her health issues but tonight was the first night we were able to put her in the cot and enjoy a few precious hours together and we thoroughly enjoyed every second of this, occasionally pausing to discuss our own experiences with it growing up. I was adamant it wasn’t possible, surely the game would force a fight to obtain a key etc but man you proved me wrong!! So thoroughly enjoyable 🙂
This was probably the most fun article you’ve done in a while, and by that I mean an absolute smash of fun and goodness. I haven’t played Oblivion since I was in late middle school myself. And I really enjoyed this article! I would never have thought to try this as a kid and was pretty amazed you were able to do it. Like, this was super cool. I’m glad it sounded like you had a lot of fun as well! Easily the highlight of my day. Thanks MDB. ^^
Point of clarity on the lore: Tamriel/Nirn is not a Daedric realm like Mankar Camoran says it is at 35:39. Mundus (the mortal plane) is the center of Aurbis (the universe) and the infinite planes of Aetherius, Oblivion, the Void, etc. are essentially spokes on a wheel. These planes are within the Aedra and Daedra and are created of them, so a plane of Oblivion is basically a plane under full control of a Prince and a plane of Aetherius is under control of an Aedra or other deity (i.e. Sovngarde). Nirn, on the other hand, is not under the full control of any single deity.
Hey MDB, Long time fan. I’ve been perusal since you first started Pokemon challenges. I just want to say I really liked this article and I’m glad you enjoyed replaying Oblivion! I know playing nothing but Pokemon day in day out can get exhausting and because I know you don’t take days off, at least making a article about a game you wanted to play again is probably a nice change of pace for you. I’m in full support of these alternate challenges in whatever games you feel like playing!
Hi MDB! I’m usually a silent viewer, but hearing how much you enjoyed this challenge and playing Oblivion I just had to leave a comment! I very much enjoy your challenges, no matter what games they’re about. Your jokes are funny, you’re witty, your editing is great and the challenges are creative! Please make the content you enjoy making, instead of just sticking with Pokémon because it’s popular. Your subscribers are here to support you, even when you slow your content down or switch it up. Thanks for the great article! 🙂
I don’t comment much, but I’ve got to say this article was absolutely hysterical. I’ve actually been growing a bit tired of the pokemon runs if I’m being honest, but this reminded me why I started perusal you in the first place. You’ve got a great voice, good comedic timing, and just hearing the happiness and enjoyment in your voice as you played this was awesome. I would LOVE to watch more articles like this!
Actually really enjoyed this one, I loved Oblivion ever it came out, I must had over 2500 gameplay hours on my original save file, I’ve had plenty more since then. I would love to see more challenges on Oblivion or even other non-pokemon games, I really like the format of these challenge articles of yours. Also on each challenge article the “miscellaneous” skills such as lockpick or speechcraft are allowed. Also also skills like Alteration need a offence to be effective since it’s basically a defence skill same goes for restoration or a sneak only, some things are outright impossible without other skills for offensive option, and since in your pokemon articles you use items outside of combat, I don’t see how Alchemy or Restoration outside of combat would not be allowed. Finally a recommendation for a future Oblivion or Skyrim challenge is a staffs only challenge, I did that a while back it was slow to start, but got really fun towards the end, with interesting choices such as the wabajak or the skull of corruption, personal advice get one with soul trap and azura’s star.
I honestly didn’t think I’d enjoy this because it was different to the pokemon challenges, but now that I’ve watched it, and seeing that you had a blast doing it, I really like this! I’d encourage that you do more challenge articles on different games too, it could attract people who weren’t into pokemon and or oblivion.
Make more stuff like this! I’m a huge Pokemon fan, that should be obvious, but honestly I feel like the Pokemon challenges are getting a little stale, even if the idea is unique, I know those games inside out, and most of us do, so it struggles to be engaging or fun anymore. So absolutely, make more challenges of other games, I think your sense of humour is very well suited to stuff like this, though obviously very different to someone like MittenSquad(who I think is one of the funniest guys on this site). So yeah man, if you enjoy it, please make more, there’s so much potential because I know you have a broad and cultured taste in games.
This was really funny! Your enthusiasm was really fun to watch, I’d love to see more of this kind of content! I’ve been subscribed for a while now and this is definitely my favorite article of yours so far. As for what’s allowed – Lockpicking is pretty much required in order to complete the game when doing lots of challenges like these, so allowing it is a given. Alchemy during combat can be pretty OP in Oblivion though – I remember stacking 4 continuously-regenerating health potions and becoming basically unkillable back when playing this game in my own high school years. I think it’s probably OK to allow Alchemy for non-combat stuff though, like crafting potions to sell for money. It still encourages exploring more of the world map to find ingredients, but also makes grinding for money less monotonous.
Your experience at the shrine in the cave is just regular old Oblivion. In fact, very normal for Oblivion. From having the guards do stuff to completely exploiting invisibility/chameleon, to attempting Umbra at lv 1, to leading enemies into weird places, to acknowledging that Sean Bean is the heir to the empire.
i used to do a lot of challenge runs in oblivion, but this was pre-youtube so i didn’t record any of them…just for my own enjoyment. one thing that’s extremely useful in oblivion challenge runs is level holding…you don’t have to worry about enemies scaling or falling behind in stats, if you just never sleep.
When i was in secondry school/high school i had two best friends, and them along with my brother, we’d sit there and each take turns playing this game, doing different quests, different parts of the story, exploring various areas Most of the details of the memories are gone now, though i amsure there were great moments, it’s mostly just feelings of having a fantastic time with my friends and brother, intense happiness, bonding, and nostalgia I eventually drifted from both my friends, and my brother and i also drifted as we got older, so, it’s nice seeing this game again, things have been rather bad recently so it brings much needed feelings of joy
Invisibility in Oblivion was totally overpowered back when I was playing it on the 360. If you time the cast right as you interact wth things, you can enter doors, and instantly be invisible again on the other side. Same with just about any other interactable. I remember my Illusion skill hitting 100 long before any other skill because, as you said, running past hordes of powerful creatures that never even knew you were in their oblivion tower, totally satisfying.
Just feeding the YouTube algorithm. Loved the run, love the content. I’m all for alchemy and lock picking. Oblivion lock picking is one of my more favorite minigames, definitely beats out Skyrim’s lock picking. If a bunch more Oblivion runs are done, I can see leaving behind alchemy and lock picking just for more challenge/ finding new ways around obstacles.
Forgot i never commented after i watched this. Really love the Pokemon challenges, but it’s great to see you expand out and try other classics! I’m happy to watch any challenge content you upload as i can’t rest without not knowing what fossil you picked. Ever going to do another randomizer nuzlocke?
Lockpicking falls into the same scenario as Alchemy. You could spend all the time hunting down the express key for that lock, or you could just unlock it. It’s been a while since I’ve played but I don’t think there are any critical chests or doors that you must pick open the lock for, so as long as you avoid “non-required locks that don’t have keys” it’s fine.
The enemies near by thing was not a glitch. The lich stays aggro to you basically forever. My brother stumbled across the dungeun before he knew it was a part of the main quest, ran from the lichj and had to keep running all the way to the nearest city, aggroing everything along the way. Later he was sent to prison and when he got out the lich spawn infront of him. The lich just does not quit.
I know this article is old, but generally considering the Elder scrolls games, it typically depends on how hardcore you want to go, an Only Illusion magic run would technically mean you basically cant use anything except illusion, including Speechcraft barter and alchemy, however that makes the challenge unnecessarily more difficult and would actually make it impossible in some instances so thats why mainly it comes down to everyone agreeing you should try to use illusion as much as possible within reason. Instead of using a 1-handed sword to kill someone you use illusion magic to either ignore them/paralyze them/ get the enemy to shank someone else. This also goes into play with allowing the user to use the duplication glitch for money to buy more illusion magic and shorten the run time.
Will o the Wisps are ghost enemies, which means no physical attacks hurt them, unless the weapon is either silver or enchanted, the red Lightning is just their standard attack which drains your magicka and hurts you, so the wolf was doing no damage while the two Wisps were absorbing each other’s magicka, also good job with the Mankar Camoran fight, thought that would be the end of the challenge tbh with it being a forced fight.
I know I’m late to this but I want to offer a few tips (I’ve spent 500 hours in this game) Tip 1 if you need money there is a cave called rockmilk cave (something like that) it has alot of chests and the enemies respawn every 3 in game days. (idk if you would consider that cheating for your playthrough) Also as I’m sure you learned enemies level with you and some enemies stay a level or two above you until level 18. It’s worth it to learn which ones.
Those “imps” are scamps (imps have wings) and are indeed considered creatures. The reason the level 2 spell didn’t work on them is because they are level 7, so you would need to make a stronger version of the spell at the spellmaking altar. A thing in Oblivion (and Morrowind) is that you can make your own spells with custom effects.
Hey just so you know, you would have had an easier time getting a Daedric artifact if you had done the quest of Sheogorath. Just need a lesser soul gem, a head of lettuce, some yarn and I think that’s it.. take it to his shrine near Leyawin and he tells you to go to this village called border Watch and all you have to do there is pick a lock/pickpocket a key, grab cheese put it in a pot, then get poison for the sheep
There was a better way to complete the Mages Staff quest. If you charm the merchant’s wife, she will tell you where the staff is being kept. You can then pick a few Novice locks to simply steal it back. You may also have wanted to do all the Mages Guild associate quests if that’s allowed in the rules in order to get access to the spellmaker. Most of the time, when you’re given a spell to use for one of those quests, you don’t actually need to use it. For example, for the heavy ring, you can just drop enough stuff or use a potion of feather, and for the Bruma one, you can just pick the lock instead of using the unlock spell. You’re never required to use magic that you’re not allowed to in your rules for that, and having access to the spellmaker would have been a godsend.
health and magicka potions are fine for making, but you should only be allowed to sell/use potions that deal with your hyper-focused build ie: a destruction class could apply poisons to their enchanted weapons, but not their regular weapons, so actually you could make a sword enchanted with an illusion spell and use that for melee, but if it is out of charges and you use it run=over.
On the question of Alchemy (and, frankly, any other type of skill that doesn’t directly harm an enemy): i think that all of those can be allower but only if they directly or indirectly influence your abilities to use Illusion magic. Like crafting a potion that raises your magic ability for a time. Great challange!! i had a lot of fun perusal this article and honestly: your voice just sounds like a chrystal bell when you mile describing something you loved. I think you should do more articles ybout stuff you like.
favorite way to cheese this is enchanting all your armor and necklace and rings with 20% chameleon to give you about 140% which turns you so invisible you actually arent even on the screen anymore like you cant even see yourself as if you literally werent there. you can punch npcs and they just run around with no clue even if you hit guards they just run around and wont try to arrest you unless you talk to them
I’d say for skills, you can use any “passive” or “utility” kills, i.e. light/heavy armor(passive) and sneak(utility). For mods, bugfix mods such as the Unofficial Oblivion Patches and visual mods such as Oblivion Reloaded should be fine. Also in case you forgot Oblivion’s enemies and loot are tied to your level, meaning if you stay level 1 you will only find iron and leather gear, and only encounter low-level enemies like imps and wolves.
Playing passive characters in Elder Scrolls games is always funny. I played a game of Skyrim where my character did nothing but alteration and illusion magic and never once picked up a weapon or threw a single punch the entire game. My companions did all the fighting for me while I stood back and buffed them while weakening and confusing the enemy.
I believe it’s okay to use anything that doesn’t directly harm enemies. Use potions to strengthen yourself, get crazy op armor, accessories, stats, get a cheese position, anything and everything that helps is fine as long as it doesn’t directly harm enemies. Like take away their health in any way. But they can increase your ability to take away their health using whatever the challenge run demands. So replace illusion without whatever and apply these rules and bam a run that no one should really complain about unless they want a pure run with only illusion and nothing else.
My take on single-skill runs is that they would be the most interesting if you use other skills only when it is necessary. Mercantile, Athletics and Acrobatics are almost impossible to avoid, so they are generally fine, but I’d say that using alchemy to earn money or lockpicking to earn extra loot are best avoided. Money is a resource that gets you more equipment, potions and spells, which makes it easier.
Also, since people are freaking about the no fossils, maybe next time you are requested to bring back a daedric relic you could substitute that for it. Maybe clip a list of all of them to the side and continue on with the quest without telling us, then once you are finished you could reveal the answer. Keep up the great work!
A challenge run is what you state it to be, illusion magic only. No alchemy but you can use potions you find. But that doesn’t say you can’t abuse the game and do the dupe glitch to make some money. As well you can enchant as well as it does not follow any skill path. Sure you cannot soul trap, but you can find filled soul gems and dupe them. That being said you can abuse the game even more and max out all your attributes with the enchanting dupe glitch.
Been perusal this run throughout the week and I can say that this is one of ur best works yet: it seriously looked fun despite not knowing about Oblivion at all. I get that many people look for the Pokemon runs, but more people should check this one out, just because one could listen to the run alone and have a good time. Whether it’s Oblivion or another game in the series and whatnot, I’d be down to watch another one like it again :3
I really liked this article and I’m definitely interested in these types of challenges! Oblivion is one of my favorite games however I still haven’t finished it, so I stopped perusal the article towards the end. However I still really liked it, and was very interested to see how non-damaging magic could be used for success.
That was nostalgic to watch, used to love playing oblivion. Illusion is a fun school of magic I always used it since playing morrowind invisibility to get past enemies. If you want a challenge, morrowind was much harder to beat than either oblivion or skyrim. But the magic always really cool (-could levitate)
8:25 my favourite part of challanges like this is seeing just how optimized you can make a very specific part of the game, like what armors, spells, weapons, tricks techniques, skills and other things you can combine to make some ridiculous restriction more effective. So id say using potions or things that boost the thing you’re restricted to is fine, only when you use things outside of the restriction to progress does it ruin the challange
You know, it’s so cool to do a little binge of all of MDB’s challenges. He talks about the pokemon challenges as if he’s not sure anyone will like them, and now we’re here “people usually know me for my pokemon challenge articles.” I know this is like a five month old article, but it’s cool to see how far you’ve come on these. … maybe one day you’ll actually hide a link somewhere so the uncultured among us (like me) can find out what wrestlers all of these names reference…
I’m probably wrong here and no doubt someone will correct me but I’m fairly certain the “creatures” you find in oblivion gates are classified as Daedra so creature nor humanoid control magic will work given they have their own classification. I’m only 11:35 in at this point and wanted to make a comment before I forgot. Sorry if you figured it out by the end or if I’m wrong but hey, comments are good for the YouTube algorithm 🙂 EDIT 14:04 in and I’ve been corrected haha. Brilliant article so far, keen to see many more Elder Scrolls articles on the website 😀
What I thought the challenge was: – no attacking with weapons or unarmed – no attacking with destruction or conjuration spells What you thought the challenge was: – no attacking with weapons or unarmed – no attacking with destruction or conjuration spells – no using any non-illusion magic – no persuading people – no picking locks – no making potions – no speaking to people in general – no walking, running, or jumping – no looking at the screen – no breathing You seem to take “ONLY illusion” far more literally than I do; I was imagining a challenge where the only way you can defeat enemies was through illusion magic. Also, side note: I like.
Okay so I’m a bit late to the party but, any non combat skill should be allowed otherwise you couldn’t buy anything due to the merchentile skill being leveled up. So if it was restricted to just one skill then it would be over when you try to even buy anything. So as long as said skill isn’t an active combat skill such as any armor skill line it should be a ok in my opinion. As for alchemy during battle i think restoring potions for the three resource bars or cure poison would be allowed
My opinion on Alchemy, or any other enchantment/magic is that if it is used for utility (restoring magicka, health, or stamina) or as a way of fortifying the challenge skill or its contributing attributes. (Charisma, Luck, et cetera) You want to push the skill to its logical extreme. That’s the entire point of these challenge runs. Just what CAN you do with illusion magic? So… Here’s a good rule of thumb… Does using X circumvent the need for using Illusion magic? if yes, it isn’t in the spirit of the challenge. A potion of Fortify Barter would circumvent the need for illusion magic (Charm Person) so that’s no good… But fortify illusion potions facilitate the use of illusion magic rather than circumvent it. So that’s fine! Likewise, the restoration spells Fortify Skill (Illusion) and Fortify Attribute (Charisma, Wisdom, Luck) are all totally fine, too. Now, if this was a Restoration Magic challenge… No healing potions… No magicka restoration potions… None of that… No fortify attribute or skill potions… Nah… You can sell them, though. Money lets you buy new spells, but no circumventing the use of Restoration magic in that challenge.
i would’ve suggested starting with illusion magic, since you’d start higher with it and actually start with one or two spells. which would’ve made it much easier. i know a lot of guides suggest picking majors you aren’t gonna use to abuse level scaling but if you’re just planning to use 1-2 magic skills then its not a bad investment even if you get a couple levels off it edit: charm does not work when NPCs are already in combat with you, it’ll still raise their disposition but will only stop them from initiating combat if you raise it to 100.
New to your website. I just discovered your website last night with the necromancy challenge. As I know I am coming into the conversation way late, and my opinions are largely irrelevant, I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents on the semantics ideal. I really think that the spirit of the challenges is based on combat. Since there is very little in the Elder Scrolls games that the player can do that is not tied to a skill, I see no problem utilizing any sub skills which can help achieve the primary objective. Using alchemy would be no different than equipping a robe, or a staff, or a headpiece.
talking with Umbra is one of those things in Oblivion you are not supposed to do. it can set a game check that will slowly corrupt your game file afterwards, making your save either crash on load or your next save. other things to contribute to save corruption include overwriting previous saves, this is why the game just makes a new save every time. you should also disable autosave. and the quest “caught in the hunt” which is a pretty fun quest, but completing it and saving afterward is something that can majorly fuck up your game. I learned these things the hard way. yes, there are forms that list the things you shouldn’t do.
I know I’m 3 weeks late on commenting on this article and you might not even see this but my belief on “can I do x” in this case “can I beat oblivion with only illusion magic” only really applies in combat/moving the game forward. I’m working on beating Skyrim with only blocking right now I’m doing some troubleshooting and research on how the skill actually functions because usually I run a mage build. I know basic stuff like a better shield= better damage so smithing is going to be power leveled so I have access to daedric stuff but as long as I only damage enemies with blocking/shield bashing I should be okay in my eyes. Also I have a suggestion for a run I’m going to try myself for Skyrim. Using the reflect blow perk which will be interesting because you need a skill level of 100 in heavy armor.
Wearing armor in Oblivion weakens the magic you cast. That is why those scamps weren’t affected by your illusions Anyway, in ES games the general rule is: if it can talk, it is a humanoid (black soul), else is a creature (white souls). 15:00 Those are not demons, they are Mythic Dawn cultists Wisps are immune to normal weapons, so animals can’t hurt them, and op at low levels since enemies don’t have silver weapons