What should I pick up? What should I ignore?

[Counterspell]

You guys (and gals) have been awesome so far and I'm sorry for the noob questions but I'm literally brand new to the game. I have vast experience with the Fallout universe and esp. FO4 as many of you know... in FO4 even "junk" was a MUST to pick up if you were into crafting (weapon and gear mods etc used essentially everything you could pick up).
In Skyrim I am still basically in the first hour of the game and coming across a bunch of (at least what I think) useless stuff like tomatoes, wooden plates etc.
My question is, what should I avoid and what should I pick up that I may think is junk but really isnt (for instance it took a long time in Fallout4 to figure out that yes.. even a clipboard can be broken down and used to craft a weapon mod).

Thanks!

[VAMPIRE WOLF]

weapons, staff, high majic clothing and jems are more value than plates

[VAMPIRE WOLF]

for potions plant animal parts and other things

[Clever Monkey]

my ratio when starting out is 1 weight per 10 gold value. that isto sell of course.

pick up all potions, gems, soul gems, arrows, .

plates and cups and other such cra.. clutter, forget about it.

[Dexter]

Just avoid random clutter items like assorted dishes and tableware, brooms, baskets or buckets, and ruined or burned books.

Take everything else you can carry that looks useful or is valuable, but show some restraint as it will eventually overencumber you.

In the vanilla game it is probably best to only take high value and low weight items unless you plan to make frequent trips to merchants to sell items.

Remember that having a horse allows you to travel more quickly and fast travel when overencumbered. You can gain access to a free horse in Riften doing Shadrs Debt quest.

The easiest way to manage items is with mods.

Bag of Holding
Bag of Trash

There are other mods like Bandolier, Bags and Pouches that can increase your carry weight limit.

I usually collect all food and alchemy ingredients, but I also use a mod to allow me to store those items on my Horse along with excess potions until I need it.

[76561198133591931]

At level 1-20 have a 1:10 ratio. If it weighs a pound and is worth 10 golds, it's worth picking up. From level 21-25 it becomes a 1:20 ratio. From 26-30 it's a 1:30 ratio. From level 31-40 it's a 1:40 ratio. After level 41, for the rest of the game, it's a 1:100 ratio.

[Clever Monkey]

Originally posted by darkknight4321234:

At level 1-20 have a 1:10 ratio. If it weighs a pound and is worth 10 golds, it's worth picking up. From level 21-25 it becomes a 1:20 ratio. From 26-30 it's a 1:30 ratio. From level 31-40 it's a 1:40 ratio. After level 41, for the rest of the game, it's a 1:100 ratio.

unless it is ingredients, ore, ingots, soul gems but even then it is easier to buy all this stuff from vendors but once you get a house you might as well collect as much as you can of the crafting supplies you will need for raising those skills.
other than that darknight is right on about other items.

[Zlobenia]

Anything that is not a pelt or an ore, or a Dwemer construct, cannot be used to craft.

A good guide might be that if it doesn't look worth having on your person, leave it.

[Redd]

unfortunatly most crap is crap, focus on weapons jewlery and crafting materials ore ingots etc things you can use or sell, but if your into your mods there is absolutely loads of things that suddenly become useful so be sure to check out what you can!

[Counterspell]

I may have to look into the bag of holding/bag of trash

[Elazul]

Originally posted by darkknight4321234:

At level 1-20 have a 1:10 ratio. If it weighs a pound and is worth 10 golds, it's worth picking up. From level 21-25 it becomes a 1:20 ratio. From 26-30 it's a 1:30 ratio. From level 31-40 it's a 1:40 ratio. After level 41, for the rest of the game, it's a 1:100 ratio.

This is similar to what I do, except I make exceptions for potion ingredients and other crafting materials. Oh and soul gems. Got to keep Auriel's Bow enchanted continuously after all.

[United_Strafes]

Just give yourself 50000 gold and don't pick up anything.

[76561198133591931]

Originally posted by Elazul:

Originally posted by darkknight4321234:

At level 1-20 have a 1:10 ratio. If it weighs a pound and is worth 10 golds, it's worth picking up. From level 21-25 it becomes a 1:20 ratio. From 26-30 it's a 1:30 ratio. From level 31-40 it's a 1:40 ratio. After level 41, for the rest of the game, it's a 1:100 ratio.

This is similar to what I do, except I make exceptions for potion ingredients and other crafting materials. Oh and soul gems. Got to keep Auriel's Bow enchanted continuously after all.

Since so few of my chars ever craft, I forgot to include crafting materials. Most of my chars smith, but very few enchant, and none but one use alchemy. So crafting stuff slipped my mind. Sorry. :)

[TOKEN]

I would normally grab everything of value thats not nailed down. But in the very begining of the game the 1 value items will be worthless to you. You need a pretty good barter bonus before the the 1 value items can be sold for 1 gold. Having the Mask of Clavicus Vile is very helpful in getting that barter bonus up, you should be pointed to the Daedric artifact quest the first time you visit Falkreath.

[⚸ 𝔓riest o𝔣 𝔑◐𝔡]

You should play as a mage and pick the mod called Conjurable Chest and Crafting Furniture Spells

[Matthew]

I usually horde daggers, which are common especially on bandit corpses. They don't weigh a lot and you can enchant them with absorb health and petty souls, and they sell for like ~180 septims depending on speech skills.

Of course you can smith daggers for the same idea, but the point is when you are running through dungeons, they are something you can pick up which only weighs a couple pounds and you can turn around and sell them for 180 septims while also boosting your enchanting. Provided you have massed petty souls, of course :)

Other than that, basically only jewelry, alchemy ingredients (make potions for monies), and other crafting materials (ingots, soul gems).

Once you get higher level you can pick up ebony items which sell for a ton... but at that point in the game, making money becomes stupid easy and it is more about how much running you want to do to find vendors with enough money to sell all your crap.