Archived from groups: alt.games.elder-scrolls (
More info?)
"Sarah" <scrubbrush@DELrogers.comDEL> wrote in message
news:40f86510$0$35746$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
> "Notteliten" <no-reply@c2i.net> wrote in message
> news:Xns95293E271CAFnottelitenrlteliano@212.54.64.134...
> > I want to play the game for the second time. Now I don't want to
join the
> > mageguild, fighterguild, Imperial cult and the Temple guild. Have
done
> that
> > the first time. But what shall I choose? Telvanni, Redoran, Morag
Tong,
> > Hlaalu? I don't like to go for thieving? I want to be a good dark
elv
> mage.
> > Can I go for all four of the houses? Can't go for Telvanni and
mageguild,
> > can I? This time I want to choose Telvanni, may be. Or? Thanks for
the
> > help. Bernt E
>
> Go with Telvanni and the Mage's Guild if you're playing a mage. You
can
> only join one great house unless you run a mod that removes that
> restriction. You could join the Morag Tong if you're playing a mage
that
> doesn't mind performing assassinations to supplement his/her income.
Even
> if your mage is "good", Morag Tong assassinations are legal so your
> character will have to decide if s/he wants to do them.
If you join only ONE of House Telvanni and the Mages Guild, the other
will hate you. However if you join both, the two will cancel out. None
of their quests conflict with each other - while both want you to get
Dwemer stuff on some occasions, neither sends you after the same unique
item as the other.
As said before, you can only join ONE of Telvanni, Redoran or Hlaalu.
I'm surprised you didn't join a House last game - presumably you played
as someone who steered clear of all Dunmer politics?
Hlaalu is the easiest Great House to join, having a headquarters in
Balmora and quests in nearby Caldera, Vivec and Suran. You can get about
halfway through the ranks generally, but if you want to go further you
need a patron, that is Crassius Curio in Vivec. He's one of the few that
isn't into financial corruption (in fact he will provide an
"alternative" solution to the quests of the most corrupt quest-giver,
Odral Helvi of Caldera), but he has other vices which you may find...
distasteful. Fortunately all he wants is a look. To become Grandmaster,
you will have to deal with Orvas Dren (who gives you no quests and is
technically not counted among the House Councillors: but in your last
game you had to deal with him anyway, to become accepted as Hortator by
the Hlaalu), either by murder or blackmail, in order to win the support
of the two Councillors that he is either intimidating, blackmailing or
bribing: otherwise you won't have to kill anybody to get to the top of
the House. The Hlaalu are best for thief-types and lock-pickers, but are
also capable of taking any type if they are good at mercantile or
speechcraft - a mage or warrior who can negotiate well can fare well
with Hlaalu as well, they are the most adaptable of the Houses. Being
good with a bow also helps but is not necessary unless you can't do
anything else Hlaalu-ish, and they favour short blades over long ones
and light armour over heavy.
Redoran have a headquarters in Ald-ruhn, and quests from Ald-ruhn
(several nobles, a couple of minions and a smith), Vivec (one noble in
the Redoran canton) and Ald Velothi (a LONG way north). Your patron for
advancement to the higher ranks is Athyn Sarethi (who will give you most
of the quests), and you won't be able to reach the top rank without
dealing with the obstinate Bolvyn Venim - you already know how, when you
became Hortator last time, it's the same way, an honourable duel that
occurs as a result of following the quest sequences. Redoran is not
really a good path for anyone who is not much of a warrior: all the
skills they esteem are warrior skills - Long Blade, Heavy or Medium
Armour, Spear, Armorer.
To join the Telvanni, you have to go all the way to Sadrith Mora. Quests
from five people in one hall (the five Mouths of the wizard-lords) will
set you off, but you also have to get quests from the wizard lords too.
The one who will give you the most quests, and act as your patron for
the higher ranks, is Master Aryon of Tel Vos, and the only one who will
not deal with you is - just as you found out when asking to be
Hortator - Archmagister Gothren. The solution is exactly the same ;-)
One of your quests will be to ask the reclusive Beladas Demnevanni of
Gnisis to join the Telvanni Council, so if you are a Telvanni you'll
have six rather than five councillors to convince to call you Hortator
when you get to that part of the Main Quest. (However, Beladas will give
his vote free for the asking, since you'll have done at least one quest
for him as the price of him joining the council, and can do another.
He'll turn out to be the most reasonable of the Telvanni lords.) Many
Telvanni quests are of finding alchemical ingredients, or particular
books, or Dwemer stuff. All the skills they revere are the spellcasting
skills, plus Enchant (the same skills that the Mages Guild likes, except
that the Mages prefer Alchemy plus the spellcasting skills.) They have
absolutely no preferences of weapons and armour at all - their weapons
are their spells, and their armour is their summoned minions. They don't
even favour the Unarmored skill, so little do they care about melee
fighting.
If you get to the Grandmaster rank in any Great House before getting to
the part of the Main Quest where you must be named Hortator, then that
House will automatically name you Hortator without you needing to visit
the bosses again - just visit your former patron (Crassius Curio, Athyn
Sarethi or Master Aryon.)
The Morag Tong does assassinations. Most of them are of outlaws,
criminals (particularly criminals that the law has not punished),
Camonna Tong enforcers, Dark Brotherhood members or evil cultists of
Mehrunes Dagon. Some are part of House Wars (the victims may not have
necessarily done anything wrong apart from anger one of the other
Houses, and they know they are targets for assassination, but will not
strike the first blow). To join it, you HAVE to find the secret area
under the Vivec Arena and speak to Grandmaster Eno Hlaalu in person
(oddly enough, he's not a member of House Hlaalu despite his surname.)
After that, you can get Execution Writs from the man himself or from
Morag Tong offices in Balmora, Ald-ruhn and Sadrith Mora, and you can
get a series of special quests from Eno Hlaalu.
(And there is one "hidden" quest - finding 27 items, many of which
are held by people you have writs or quests to kill, some by other
enemies, and a few by peaceful characters that you'll never actually
have an excuse to fight, will get you a spell if you return them all one
by one to Eno Hlaalu. It's particularly necessary if you DON'T have the
Tribunal expansion because it's the only source of the Fortify Skill
spell effect: but if you have Tribunal, the effect has been removed from
the spell, but you can buy the spell effect from spell merchants in
Mournhold instead.)
Morag Tong favoured skills are those of agility, speed, stealth and
assassination. The character is expected to be good with either the
short blade (for backstabbing) or the bow (for sniping), and to be able
to use either Sneak, Illusion or both to disguise his presence.
Acrobatics are desirable, and hence they favour Light armour rather than
medium or heavy.
Another faction you did NOT mention joining was the Imperial
Legion. However, they're almost exclusively fighter-type quests, like
the Fighters Guild or Redoran House: bounties, removing outlaws, getting
rid of monsters, recovering treasures, rescuing kidnap victims, and
their favoured skills are those of a heavily-armed warrior. I can't
imagine that somebody role-playing a mage would care to join them. Also,
there are two more restrictions: (1) You have to go all the way to
Gnisis to join, since no other cohort of the Legion is accepting new
recruits, although there are quests available from Moonmoth (near
Balmora), Buckmoth (near Ald-ruhn) and Hawkmoth (Ebonheart) forts after
you have joined in Gnisis, where Commander Darius (a human commander but
with mostly Orcs on staff: in fact the orcs are pretty decent types, as
orcs go) will also give quests. Also, (2) whenever talking to the quest
givers, you have to be "in uniform" - that is, wearing at least the
cuirass of the most recent suit of Imperial armour they presented you
with.
If you want to be primarily a spellcaster, you could try mixing the
Mages guild with either Hlaalu or Telvanni - Telvanni for real wizards,
Hlaalu if you want a bit more diplomacy (you can manage the lockpicking,
should any be necessary, by using spells or scrolls or paying for an
item to be enchanted to open locks, and any necessary stealth with
spells of Invisibility or Chameleon.) In fact for a dark elf mage, I'd
go more for the Telvanni route, in which case play as someone who
doesn't really get on well with the Empire and mix it with the Tribunal
Temple (even though you've played the Temple before). Join the Imperial
Cult for one reason only, cheaper shrines (do the quests as well if you
want, your choice). But don't go unarmoured - light armour is better
than unarmoured no matter *who* you are. And always have a melee weapon
of sorts to hand in case you run yourself low on mana. If joining the
Morag Tong, make it the short blade and use it as often as possible,
since you'll often have to kill people in cities where it's technically
illegal to summon combat minions. GET GOOD AT ALCHEMY AND PRACTICE
ENCHANTING BY RECHARGING ITEMS WITH FILLED SOUL GEMS. You could do some
of the *early* quests for all the other guilds - a mage can replicate
most of the Thieves Guild quests by using enchantments or spells to open
locks and turn himself invisible (Chameleon is better than
Invisibility), and can use his spells to kill the low-level foes that
the Fighters Guild - or Imperial Legions - will send you to fight. (To
get higher, though, you'll have to get good with either heavy weapons or
heavy armour - better weapons than armour, and the Long Sword is the one
to choose.) Also GET GOOD AT SPEECHCRAFT AND MERCANTILE no matter what -
people will be really pleased to meet a mage who gets on well with them:
most mages have a personality that could stop a halitotic yak at fifty
paces (why do you think they spend all that time reading books, it's
because nobody can stand to talk to them)...
Jonathan.
hant" <phant@usagi.comix> skrev i en meddelelse
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