Player cannot enchant anything?

[Zemecon]

I got rather annoyed and frustrated trying over and over again to enchant my own items because enchanters are way too expensive for their own good, even those who are a member of your own faction. So I trained my character's enchant level all the way up to 50 at Tyermaillin's house in Balmora inbetween doing Redoran faction quests and then tried enchanting an exquisite white amulet. Over and over again, Still would not work. Then I got curious and tried using a console command to raise my character's enchant level to 100. Still would not work (the console command worked but my character's success rate didn't). What is the deal here? Even at level 30 my marksman skill still works much of the time. Is there something wrong with enchanting things on your own now? I don't recall from my Xbox days with Morrowind years ago there ever being an issue with self-enchanting, though this might have something to do with trying to put a constant effect on the amulet (yes I used a golden saint in a grand soul gem)..

If anyone can explain or clarify what is going on here, that would be appreciated because I feel like I wasted gold training my character's enchant level for absolutely nothing.

Thanks for reading.

[The Flying Rodent]

The issue is that Enchant skill in Morrowind is not balanced properly at all, in that it is horribly overpowered, yet horribly difficult to train or use, at the same time.

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Enchant

https://www.reddit.com/r/Morrowind/comments/5fadt6/playing_a_pure_mage_in_morrowind_a_comprehensive/

The author of this mage guide breaks down how Enchant skill works in Morrowind [scroll down to his 'Advanced Enchanting Guide' for the full story].

In a nutshell, without delving too much into the formula:

- Enchant skill is only really worth investing in if you decide to use a lot of Cast When Used items, as the skill level correlates with how much charge an item will use.

- Enchant skill only offers a significant decrease in item charge use at higher levels. Having 50 Enchant means items will use 0.6x normal charge, having 100 means they use 0.1x normal charge, and at 110 Enchant skill items use 1 charge maximum per cast.

- Enchant levels horribly slowly, to the point that the only efficient way to level it is through training. For this reason, there's basically no point making it a Major or Minor skill; it's next to impossible to train naturally, and offers pretty much no benefit unless it is at a high level [50+].

- The Master Enchant trainer also happens to be hostile, just to add insult to injury, so you'll need Calm spells/items or similar in order to purchase training from him.

- To enchant anything decent, you basically have to Fortify your Intelligence or Enchant skill to superhuman levels via Alchemy or Custom spells. To make something like a high end Constant Effect Enchantment on an Exquisite White Amulet, you're looking at something like 800 Enchant skill or 3000 Intelligence needed in order to pull it off.

- If you do not alter the duration of a Cast When Used enchantment, its' duration is instant [to get a proper 1 sec duration item requires increasing the duration upwards and then back to 1 again]. This means it is possible to make something like a Machine Gun Ring that spews out 100 damage per spontaneous fireball , allowing the player to deal 1000+ DPS in a huge area. A tremendously silly way to break the game. Not recommended against opponents with Spell Reflect. :)

- If you have Alchemy skill, you can Fortify your Intelligence to stupendous levels by creating potions of Fortify Intelligence, to create better potions of Fortify Intelligence, onward and upward into a feedback loop of stupidity. You can then translate this godly potion making ability into something like Restore Health potions that last several in-game years, or Fortify Strength potions that allow you to one-shot anybody as well as destroying your current weapon. Another tremendously silly way to break the game.

- If you have access to the Expansion packs [but only in the Expansion packs], then you can purchase yourself a Fortify Skill spell off of various spell merchants. You can then use this to create a Fortify Enchant skill spell or item of 100 points for 1 sec, which you allows you to feedback-loop-fortify your Enchant skill via other spells or items to the level necessary to make extremely high level Constant Effect items [like, say, an Exquisite Amulet]. This is arguably the most 'balanced' way of making high-end Enchanted items without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to Enchanters.

[Teralitha]

Exquisite white amulet sounds like its from a mod. That could be why you cant enchant it. Try enchanting vanllia items. Try it on something simple, using a small soul gem. I have enchanted things before myself. But the success rate is... well you can lose stuff. Thats why its worth it to use an npc.

[Zemecon]

@ The Flying Rodent: Thank you so much for that explanation. The Enchant skill does seem like an odd skill to use and progress through based on what happens with it level-to-level. Fortunately, when I used the console command to up my Enchant level, I did not save afterward. So I am just going to leave it at 50 and forget about it.

In all my stupidity I also forgot that Constant Effect created with Golden Saint souls inside grand soulgems works differently than Cast When Used does, in that for some reason the game knowingly prevents players from creating Constant Effect enchantments. I read that somewhere in the Morrowind forum at Gamefaqs.com but I thought it was console-enclusive and had either been fixed or never implemented for PC. I don't know why I would forget that.

Originally posted by Teralitha:

Exquisite white amulet sounds like its from a mod. That could be why you cant enchant it. Try enchanting vanllia items. Try it on something simple, using a small soul gem. I have enchanted things before myself. But the success rate is... well you can lose stuff. Thats why its worth it to use an npc.

No, the amulet I am referring to is on this page and can be found in the vanilla version of Morrowind: http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Exquisite_Clothing

^^^ It is actually the first article of clothing listed in that page so you won't have trouble finding it.

[Teralitha]

You said "exquisite WHITE Amulet" which is not the same thing as whats on that web page.

[Zemecon]

Originally posted by Teralitha:

You said "exquisite WHITE Amulet" which is not the same thing as whats on that web page.

The amulet I was referring to was white. Does it matter? It cannot possibly not be that amulet so there was no reason to think it had to be modded.

[Teralitha]

Down at the bottom of the enchanting window it tells you what your chance of success is. You are probably trying to make something that the item cant handle. Items have limits to how much stuff can be put on them, and if you go over that limit itll be an automatic fail.

Self Enchanting does work. I just now made a weapon with 51 skill. Grand soul gem with golden saint soul and a deadric staff. I placed a simple absorb health cast when strikes spell on it that does 5-10 damage. My chance to enchant it was 92% and it succeeded. Constant effects have a much lower chance of success. I had tried to add 2 spells to my weapon at first, and the chance was below 50% and I lost 4 gems trying.

You didnt really say what you were trying to do exactly, my guess is you were trying to do something that was way beyond possible.

[Zemecon]

I am pretty sure it is the Constant Effect thing. I saw no indicator of my chance of success at the bottom of my enchantment window though I did see Cast Charge at the top right corner which is affected by Enchant skill level. I was able to make a Cast On Target/Touch with no problem just now and the exquisite amulet has an enchant capacity of 120 so it should have been able to handle the enchantment. For some reason this game just does not want you to enchant anything with Constant Effect by yourself. You need to go to an enchanter for that. And that really sucks because it will take a while for me to come up with that much gold for more than one Constant Effect item.

EDIT: Fixed a typo.

[Teralitha]

That may be, but it seems logical as a means to stifle a player from getting too powerful too easily.

[Tomatosaiyan]

The best way to enchant anything by yourself in this game is increasing... the restoration. I made a set of 5 custom spells fortifying enchant, intelligence and luck (enchant has the most impact in the success rate formula, intelligence is rather for boosting the magicka to cast all the spells). Still it sometimes fails when I try to enchant the most powerful items, quicksave right before enchanting is mandatory.

[The Flying Rodent]

Originally posted by Salinité:

I am pretty sure it is the Constant Effect thing. I saw no indicator of my chance of success at the bottom of my enchantment window though I did see Cast Charge at the top right corner which is affected by Enchant skill level. I was able to make a Cast On Target/Touch with no problem just now and the exquisite amulet has an enchant capacity of 120 so it should have been able to handle the enchantment. For some reason this game just does not want you to enchant anything with Constant Effect by yourself. You need to go to an enchanter for that. And that really sucks because it will take a while for me to come up with that much gold for more than one Constant Effect item.

EDIT: Fixed a typo.

You need a serious amount of skill to have any chance of making a constant effect item, even if a small caliber.

If you check the link to the Mage guide I posted up beforehand, even something like a 15 point constant effect enchantment requires 144 enchant to have an 100% success rate . If you have 50 Enchant, then chances are that you won’t be able to make even the smallest Constant effect enchant.

Your best bet, if you don’t want to spend stupid amounts of money, is to fortify your enchant skill briefly (say 100 points for 1 second type spells). This is something that I’d actually be inclined for at an Enchanter: a 100 points for 1 second Fortify enchant Cast when used item (just remember to bump the duration up and down other use it will be instant).It shouldn’t cost more than a few thousand, and from there you can make your own items.

Granted , this can give you the ability to make some very very powerful enchantments. There’s nothing to stop you from self policing what you decide to make, and it’s a better alternative to spending 100,000+ at an Enchanter.

[Zemecon]

Ah OK. Thanks for the tip. I had the impression it was the game prohibiting the player from making any Constant Effect enchantments at all but if it is just a matter of increasing such a small chance at 100% then that changes things. So I will look into doing that. Too bad I can't make something like the Boots of Blinding Speed for the Enchantment skill (something Constant Effect in itself, I mean).

One more question: Where do I get a Fortify Skill spell again? I recall there was something like that but I don't remember anything more than that at the moment.

[The Flying Rodent]

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Fortify_Skill

If you have the Expansions, then you can either visit Mournhold or Solsthiem to purchase the spells. Probably the easiest way to get one is to teleport to Mournhold from Ebonheart, and walk around the Royal Palace (ie the place that you teleport to) until you find the Royal Palace Imperial Cult Services. There’s two people who will offer a Fortify Skill Spell variant.

Once you have ‘a’ Fortify skill spell, then you can use this to create ‘any’ Fortify Skill Spell. This a similar story for Fortify/Drain/Damage Attribute spells.

[Zemecon]

Thanks. I knew the Fortify Skill spell had to come from somewhere I'd more recently discovered in the game but I guess it coming from somewhere obvious eluded me (^_^;) I have the GOTY version so I do have those expansions and will try to get that spell when I reach that part.

Oh, and I did check out that Mages guide on Reddit. I am not sure I like it assuming I use mods during the class creation section (I've been playing vanilla Morrowind on Xbox since close to when it first came out and mods were not an option back then) or that I should use them in order to enjoy the game, because I don't use mods. And - aside from the bugfix patches - I actually prefer it that way. No offense to anyone who does use mods, they just don't enhance gameplay for me as much as they try to. But it was an interesting and helpful read nontheless so thanks for that..

[The Flying Rodent]

The guide doesn’t assume that you ‘will’ use mods; it just suggests that the game might be more enjoyable with them (particularly the Fair Magicka Regen , which cuts out the need to rest constantly if you don’t have a drip feed of Restore s Magicka potions).

Everything said in the guide should work fine in a Vanilla setting; I don’t use mods either and I found the advice useful. I usually play Atronach Mages , for which the Fair Magicka Regen mod doesn’t do anything for anyway. :)