Oblivion talk:Fortify Skill

Effect on Leveling

I've seen the various reports that Fortify Skill has the bad side effect that it takes longer to train a skill; and, conversely, the reports that Drain Skill can be useful to train a skill more rapidly. I just tested both of these ideas and could find absolutely no validity to either rumor. Yes, Fortify Skill and Drain Skill have an effect with trainers. But when it comes to the amount of effort necessary to gain experience and level up, there was no effect.

I tested this both using Alchemy and Conjuration (which happen to be particularly fast to train), with a character starting at level 5 in both skills. I counted how many spell-casts/potion-creations were necessary to advance the skill for each level from 5 to 15. I then did the same test with +10 Fortify Skill active. There was absolutely no change in the number of actions necessary to change any skill level (and it should have taken about twice as many actions). I also did the same test using Drain Skill, and again there was no change in the number of actions necessary with or without Drain Skill.

Does anyone have any idea where this myth came from? Or any other suggestions of tests that need to be done? If not, I'll try to root out this misinformation from the wiki. --Nephele 04:02, 27 November 2006 (EST)

I think it depends on how the skill was raised. A standard enchantment may not have any effect, but a scripted skill adjustment, such as that from the Skeleton Key, very definitely has an effect. However, I think these scripted adjustments are by far in the minority. (In fact I'm having trouble thinking of any other examples at the moment.) --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 09:32, 27 November 2006 (EST)

Good point. The Skeleton Key does indeed make it much harder to increase your level. Looking into it more closely, it appears that any ability that provides a Fortify Skill effect (as listed at Free Skill Boosts, i.e. also Gray Prince's training, Night Mother's blessing) enhances both the skill value and the skill base value: getav and getbaseav both return the boosted value of the skill. Whereas other versions of Fortify Skill (spell, enchantment) do not change the base skill value (getav > getbaseav). Similarly for normal Drain Skill effects, the base skill value is unchanged (getav < getbaseav).

So it looks to me like the value returned by getbaseav is used to determine how much training is needed. For normal Fortify Skill/Drain skill effects, getbaseav is unaffected. For abilities, getbaseav is altered. Sound right? --Nephele 21:38, 27 November 2006 (EST)

Skill Perks

I just reinstated the original text that states that using Fortify Skill there are a few (only a few!) skill mastery perks that become available. Note that the text never claimed that the repair magic items perk becomes available via boosting. That perk is like the vast majority of perks that you must earn by naturally raising the skill. The section of the page that was modified is specifically to provide information on the few existing exceptions.

The mercantile perk at level 75 is quite easy to test: if you walk into any store that allows investing and cast a high enough magnitude Fortify Mercantile spell, the "Invest in this Store" dialogue will appear when you talk to the merchant.

The armorer to 100 perk is a bit harder to be absolutely sure of, but I have used this exploit repeatedly and never had a repair hammer break when my armorer was boosted to 100. To check one more time, I just used the ruined Ayleid Crown of Lindai (see the Armorer page). I took a character with 75 Armorer Skill, boosted it to 100 using items with a Fortify Enchantment spell, then repaired the crown as many times as I had the patience for... definitely more than 100 times. I didn't break a single hammer (and in earlier tests I've done with Armorer=99, I broke a hammer about one in 10-15 times). If anyone has ever had a repair hammer break while using this exploit, I'd be interested in hearing about it, but so far I'm not aware of any such examples.

--Nephele 21:19, 7 December 2006 (EST)

Skill Availibility

Seeing as it is availible to get the spell via doomstones, vampirism, (probably) spell tomes, and then make a custom spell at the spell making altar, should the availiblity be changed to reflect that; under the chart to the right on the main page? Also, the article does not say if this effect is disabled at the enchanting altar or not. --Scxe 01:12, 6 March 2008 (EST)

As stated in the introductory section on the Magical Effects page:

Spell: shows whether this effect exists as a standard spell (an asterisk in this column indicates that non-standard spells may be possible under some circumstances)

Fortify Skill does not exist as a standard spell; there are no Fortify Skill spells listed on the Spells page. Therefore an asterisk is the correct entry in that table, signalling that custom spells are possible but that some extra effort is necessary in order to gain access to the effect.

Also, the effect is available at the enchanting altar. Articles only note cases where an effect is not available at the enchanting altar (otherwise redundant notes would be needed on 95% of the effect articles). --Nephele^Talk 12:21, 6 March 2008 (EST)

Oh. Makes sense now. --Scxe 13:24, 6 March 2008 (EST)

Enchantments?

I keep hearing that fortifying a skill above 100 will not make any difference, but my Ring of Wizardry seems to make all spells cheaper. Does it only work with enchanted items and not spells? 68.166.69.89 15:15, 7 March 2008 (EST)

question???

it says that fortifying askill doesnt increase its effectiveness. But i have 125 blade and when i take off the enchantments it makes me hit less. Am i looking in the wrong places or is this wrong .. — Unsigned comment by 92.2.7.178 (talk)

This is definitely the right place to ask this question but I think that you must be either mistaken or that your game is somehow bugged. Another possibility is that you exploited a glitch to raise your skill even only 1 point over 100. In any case I can't tell you for sure, but try testing it again. --SerCenKing 14:39, 24 February 2009 (EST)

Your Blade skill(up to 100) effects damage. I'm guessing you have more than 25 points of Fortify Blade. --Debatra 21:29, 24 February 2009 (EST)

Strong / Grand Potion of Exploration

System: XBOX360, Patch 1.2.1

Situation: Quaffed a strong potion of exploration, I can clearly see the effects active (Blade, Blunt, etc) on me on the effects tab. However, Fortify Skill did not become available at the Spellmaking Altar in Frostcrag Spire. This could be specific to the altar in the Spire, although I highly doubt it. I did not yet have time to confirm other Altars.

Has anyone else run into this situation and if so, anyone find a workaround? And please, no suggestions of becoming a Vampire or anything that involves doing quests. I am building a level 100+ character without having done any quests. Just for future replays I plan to do.

62.45.122.67 13:00, 7 June 2009 (EDT)

Potions do not make any effect available at the Spellmaking Altar. If you're not planning on doing any quest, my only guess is that you use a Doomstone to get that effect, for example the Apprentice Stone. They do not count as quests, and will give you access to fortify skill at the Spellmaking Altar. Wolok gro-Barok 13:10, 7 June 2009 (EDT)

The Fortify Skill page here on UESP does suggest potions make it available though. Well, I at first interpreted the wording that way at least. It is good to have confirmation they don't. And the Apprentice Stone is a very nice suggestion indeed. My gratitude for that one.62.45.122.67 14:12, 7 June 2009 (EDT)

You're welcome, of course! Wolok gro-Barok 14:17, 7 June 2009 (EDT)

oblivion altar of enchanting

on my altar of enchanting witch is in the arcane university, i do not have fortify skills or fortify attributes,, how do i get them to show up on the list of things i can do on the altar of enchanting70.173.242.98 03:09, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

You cannot enchant with those spells. --Elliot^(T-C) 09:44, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes you can. Fortify Attribute is easy - many vendors sell such spells - and once you have one type of fortify attribute spell, you can enchant with any other attribute.

Fortify Skill is trickier, as nobody in the standard game sells such spells. See this page for details of how to obtain the effect. Once you have it, you can enchant anything with it in the usual way. –rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 11:05, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Sneak above 100

Moved from article:
Also, fortifying your Sneak skill beyond 100 will somewhat improve your chance to pickpocket NPCs without being detected.

Uhm, this is going to need some more testing (or some test results). It seems strange that only a part of the skill value above the cap of 100 is used in formulae. --Timenn-<talk> 10:50, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Using fortify skill to prevent skill leveling

If you fortify a skill to 100 with enchanted items, do you still level that skill by using it or does it simply stop because this can be very useful for recharging items: with a combination of umbra, azuras star and a fortified conjuration you cold just recharge items whenever you want by soul trapping your summoned creatures while not leveling your conjuration? — Unsigned comment by 188.25.237.131 (talk) on 11 November 2009

You will still receive experience for your skills (i.e. they can still level), even though you have fortified the skill past 100. As long as the base skill (without fortify effects) is lower than a 100 you can continue leveling it. --Timenn-<talk> 15:37, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Disappearing Spells

moved from article Once you close the game, however, all of the custom spells that you have created will dissapear.

This seems fairly unlikely given that Fortify Skill is a Magic Effect like any other. I'm moving it here, and adding a VN tag pending confirmation. – Robin Hood↝talk 14:22, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Doesn't happen. rpeh •T•C•E• 14:46, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

Fortify Skill as an Ability, and Skill Level 100

I've come across a mod that adds skill bonuses to blade, blunt, and bow if a certain race is wielding it. The problem is that the skill bonus is added as an Ability, and so if I reach Skill Level 75 (Expert) with a bow that adds a Fortify Marksman bonus of 5, and then unequip that bow, the Ability is removed, and then my skill level is reduced to 70, back to the rank of Journeyman. Would this make it impossible to reach Master rank with these items equipped, and keep it? Should I complain to the mod author? Predcon 00:07, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Yes, you can't reach 100 while you have the item equipped. However, if the bonus is only 5 then you should be able to get to 95, unequip the weapon and then use a master trainer to bump you up to 100 easily. Note that although when you re-equip the item your skill will be raised to 105, this won't have any further effect and you might as well get another weapon with a better enchantment (unless they have a really high base damage or something). Legoless 00:48, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, if you buy "New" condition weapons (as opposed to "Old" or "Worn" condition, found only on NPCs) from the added shops, the weapons' highest base damages range from 32(1H Weapons) to 67 (2H Weapons, excluding Bows, although new types of arrows with high base damages, including base elemental damages, are added, which compound Bows' effectiveness). Predcon 00:54, 20 March 2011 (UTC)