Can anyone in tameriel use magic?

[Firehawk01]

I plan to do a magic knight playthrough (spell on left hand, sword on right hand) but im curious about the whole magic thing lore wise.

I noticed that by default you always have a healing spell and a fire spell , no matter which race you pick. So i was wondering if technically, anyone in tameriel can use magic. Our charcaters have the capabilities to cast a spell but people like the companions or the guards dont cast spells at all. On face value, it looks the same as dragon age whrere a select few get to be mages while others are badass normal people. I dunno if its the case in the elder scrolls lore wise so can anyone shed some light into this?

[alexander_dougherty]

Anyone can use magic, but very few actually train extensively.

Elves of all types (except the Orcs) tend to view magic as an integral part of their culture, and train at least a bit (usually a lot), they also train in alchemy.
Bretons Also view magic as part of their heritage, but to a lesser degree than the Elves.
Nords mistrust all magic, but some do train in it.
Redguards are ok with magic, except necromancy.
Imperials are also ok with magic, and most know at least some.
Khajiit either love magic or ignore it, impossible to predict.
Argonians tend to know some magic, but generally low level.
Orcs generally ignore magic, but have a few shamans in each clan.

[sweeker]

Iirc it was like this since Oblivion at least:
Even a fighter might cast some weak healing spell (provided the NPC has it in his list of availlable actions).

So yeah, lore-wise a lot of people can do a little bit of magic, but if not trained properly, it will only be weak spells - whereas pure mages are depicted like the Winterhold people in that they have to train and learn for ages, to learn the better spells - even have to specialize in 1 school to master it (which again doesnt count for player chars obviously).

Gameplay wise in Skyrim every player can do anything, if they level up the skills for it (basically it was the same in Oblivion but restricted a bit in the way of classes and main skills+ racial bonuses, which in Skyrim are all but indifferent.. at mid to high level it makes no difference that your race started with 5 points more destruction skill).

In their stats and char sheets npcs still use character classes, but they are barely more than standard packages of behaviour and skill sets.
Those packages often have only a very small amount of skills, barely what that npc needs to "work".

As an example of a more varied npc skill set take Isran or Serana from dawnguard.
Isran will cast speells against undead and melee fight... kind of like a cleric or paladin or some such.
Serana does her vampire magic and dagger thing (or whatever weapon you give her).
Many of the base npcs are much more restricted in magic use... some have magic skills listed in their sheet but pretty much never seem to prioritize them.
But also in base game there are followers that are regular spell users and some that are a mix.

[SmooshieBanana]

Personally, when I play, I know no skills of extraordinary quality like magic. I require myself to not only be trained in the particular school of magic, but also I require myself to read a book that blesses that skill all before I actually "learn" a magic spellbook.

While everyone in the game can do magic, I just feel that each skill should be learned unless you are raised in it or something. Maybe I'm just weird and roleplay my characters where others just play the game.

[cwsumner]

I read something a couple of months ago, that was talking about the devs intentions. Apparently the devs wanted to avoid limiting the player to just 4 or 5 player types, so they made a system where players can develop the character as they play, as they want. With any combination, but only what you have time and experience for.

It seems to work well. And it can surprise you, what you get sometimes.

[sweeker]

Originally posted by cwsumner:

I read something a couple of months ago, that was talking about the devs intentions. Apparently the devs wanted to avoid limiting the player to just 4 or 5 player types, so they made a system where players can develop the character as they play, as they want. With any combination, but only what you have time and experience for.

It seems to work well. And it can surprise you, what you get sometimes.

Well... tbh i think it only works soso.

The liberty and freedom is great... but vanilla skyrim is imo busted by too fast levelling.
And since you are not restricted in what you do, you level alot.
And since skills are levelled by usage pretty much everything aside from chopping wood will make you level up.

Sell a bunch of crap loot = your first couple speech points ... getting hit, hitting back .. suddenly you are level 15.

Start smitthing or brewing potions... you hit the 30s and didnt even kill the first dragon.


And if u play really long, all chars look very much the same, no matter your initial playstyle: important skills 100 redundant skills low to mid, armor and resis max or close to, damage off the rails... speech slowly nearing 100 and together with barter apparel totally breaking the economy.

It has its reasons, there are so many mods, that make it harder.

[cyäegha]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Redguards are ok with magic, except necromancy.

perhaps in other provinces, but, at least during the oblivion crisis, the people of hammerfell were mistrustful of mages, according to trayvond (a redguard with the cheydinhal mages guild)

of course, that also assumes he's not personally biased because his family kicked him out of his own country or something

[Saelune]

Anyone can learn magic in TES lore, and a few in-game books talk about a rather common person learning a spell or two, such as a man learning silence to quiet his wife, and one guy learning Fortify spells to impress a woman he liked. (Not that these spells exist anymore in Skyrim but whatever)

[EmotionallyBroken]

Originally posted by emark.mark20:

I plan to do a magic knight playthrough (spell on left hand, sword on right hand) but im curious about the whole magic thing lore wise.

Traditionally in the elder scrolls world, this is called the "Spellsword" class.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by cyäegha:

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Redguards are ok with magic, except necromancy.

perhaps in other provinces, but, at least during the oblivion crisis, the people of hammerfell were mistrustful of mages, according to trayvond (a redguard with the cheydinhal mages guild)

of course, that also assumes he's not personally biased because his family kicked him out of his own country or something

Well Redguards do have a somewhat checkered past with magic, but most of the bad magic was Necromantic magic by certain rulers wanting to live forever. These rulers were defeated by a combination of swordsmen and mages. As a result magic has a good historical reputation amongst Redguards, but few take it beyond a certain utilitarian level.

It's possible Trayvond came from a town in Hammerfell that had slightly different feelings from the rest, or even that it was Trayvond's own preferences(like you said).

[Mr. Mannperson]

You start the game with spells. I think anyone and their grandma can light a cigarette with a snap of their fingers. Nords just think it's the devil's work.

It requires training to actually make better use out of it, like weaponizing it or healing large wounds. That's why you level up, take magic perks, and go to the college of winterhold.
your sign also plays a large part, but apparently, since Oblivion, you can change that.