How do endings work in this game?

[Elthrael]

I've spent the better part of almost 30 hours playing Daggerfall (Unity) as intended - that is, ignoring the main quest becoming an overpowered, axe-wielding wizard. I'm level 24, have magicka out the wazoo, can one-shot pretty much anything with nuke-level spells, ward off any status effects with ease and I have enough money to buy a house.

I'm not saying this to brag, what I'm saying is that I'm probably prepared to tackle whatever the main quest throws at me with ease.

I read online that the game has like 4 or 5 endings. I know it's a 25+ year old game, but it's new to me, so without going into spoilers, how exactly does the game determine which ending you get, mechanically?
Is it just a choice at the very end? Or is it like Stalker/Metro where you make choices that affect a rep stat in the background which determines the ending? Or is it more like Elden Ring where the quests you've done give you more choices of ending?

[fracs]

Originally posted by Elthrael:

how exactly does the game determine which ending you get, mechanically?

After you acquire the Totem, you can potentially receive a letter from each major faction in the Iliac Bay, except Gothryd, provided you have a high enough reputation with them.
Each letter sender promises you a great reward if you present them with the Totem. Decide who is worthy to bear the Totem, it is entirely your decision. Essentially, this decision determines which faction will "win" in the end, so choose wisely.

[Elthrael]

Thanks! Seems like a reasonable system for the time.

That said, one reason I asked is that I think I might have made a(n expensive, but fixable) mistake.

I went nuts Enchanting items with "Extra Spell Pts: During" and I chose all four seasons for a permanent Magicka boost. I have some jewels that have no disadvantages, or I chose "Weaken Armor" since I don't wear any armor anyway. But I put "Bad Reputation With: All" as a disadvantage for all my clothes and armor, because it was the easiest and I thought it didn't affect anything.

I ONLY wear that armor during dungeons, and I can survive fine without that set as well. As far as I know, the negative reputation is only active when the items are actually equipped (evidenced by the fact that nobody wants to talk to me if I accidentally wear even just one of the dungeon items). I'm afraid that by wearing that armor set during that last quest, that I receive NO letters and hence can't choose any endings (or I can only choose one). Am I OK if I just unequip that set? Or should I pick a different disadvantage (like "Player takes damage in Sunlight"?).

[fracs]

You can give the totem to Brisienna (Uriel VII) or Gothryd since they require no rep

[Elthrael]

I decided to err on the side of caution and re-enchant all my items with "User takes damage in Sunlight" instead of "Bad Rep". Works great. And has the added benefit of killing me if I forget to equip my town items, hahaha. This game. Thanks for all your help, much appreciated.

[76561199273953362]

Originally posted by Elthrael:

I decided to err on the side of caution and re-enchant all my items with "User takes damage in Sunlight" instead of "Bad Rep". Works great. And has the added benefit of killing me if I forget to equip my town items, hahaha. This game. Thanks for all your help, much appreciated.

You want to use Health Leech: Whenever Used on wearable gear (not weapons). This is a loophole because 'when worn' is not the same as 'whenever used'. This gives tons of enchantment points.

The 'weakens armor' is said to not stack so only works against you once when used on all gear.

The section of inventory on the left that has rings and such provides 10 extra slots to wear enchanted gear and you can put multiple enchantments on each piece.

If you are running Daggerfall Unity (that fixes a glitch) you can stack Dodge on stuff and it is like an armor boost, and great for unarmored. You can stack stuff passed 100% for skills, but 100 is max for attributes. (there is a cheat to repeatedly get a book that gives you +30 points for attributes, it's console command: addArtifact 5). Hand To Hand increases damage when stacked, use with Speed attribute for quicker/more attacks.

Stacking magic schools drives down the casting cost and allows you to use the most powerful spells you can make. You can add up to 3 effects, and the duration of spells can be up to 60 secs + 60 secs per level, a whopping 11 minutes at 10th level. This is good for 3 effect spells like regeneration+shield+spell reflection. Can also make 3 effect destruction spells with massive damage. It's overkill. (gets pricey, there's an add gold command if you don't want to wait)

With Enchanting and Spellmaking this becomes one of the most OP games I have played.

[Elthrael]

Thanks for the tips, but I'm already one-shotting Daedra Lords and casting 2 minute spells with 1+1 per level duration settings, so on the power side, I think I'm doing alright, the game will be a cake-walk from now on. Which is how I like it. Combat was never the fun part of Arena or Daggerfall to me.