I am playing a pure mage. I like a hard game.

My conjuration skill is at 50 and I currently have the Apprentice Perk (no Adept yet).

At Winterhold, they were selling the Dremora Lord spell and I bought it out of curiousity.

I thought it would cost 350+ to cast until I got the Expert Perk, but it only costs 149 - which I can easily do.

This seems broken as the Dremora Lord is so powerful - I don't understand why the cost is so low?

It makes sense if I have to get up to 75 skill/perk.....

Can someone explain?

You need to be at least level 65 in conjuration for the spell to start showing up...

And what is your character wearing? Any conj reduction enchants?

I found that spell in a chest when my conjuration was in the low 30s. It was usable then too, since my high-elf character with an elven helmet of eminent magicka and the gauldur amulet had 300 magicka even then. So my conjuration shot up like a rocket to the current 74.

I don't know that I would call it broken. Conjuration is the one aspect of trying to be a mage that I find enjoyable. Destruction becomes progressively weaker, and I abandoned it after I got out of the low levels. I had every intention of being a powerful altmer mage, but it just didn't work out that way. No fun imo. I don't care at all for how magic works in Skyrim. In Oblivion, you had to be at the right level to use a spell. In Skyrim it just gives you the opportunity to cut the magicka cost in half, and the spells don't level up with you at all, like physical attacks do. It's poorly thought out. But at least conjuration is useful throughout you character's development.

Edit:

Not if you find it in a chest inside a dungeon.

I thought your overall (not skill) level had to be 35+ for Expert tomes to show up as random loot? At this point your character is already powerful, so these tomes won't make much of a difference.

And the base cost of Conjure Dremora Lord is 358, so with 50 Conjuration (and no additional perks or equipment) it should cost you 265 magicka. Very odd.

@Cobra good point

You found some amazing loot, so you became really powerful.

Welcome to RPGs

Shhhh... don't say that too loud. There are some who think the loot is useless in Skyrim and that it is not an RPG. They also scream like banshees. Let's hope they never read this.

I can't remember where I got the book - but I never console/cheat etc. In fact the only mods I have are ones that make Skyrim harder ....

That's why I'm wondering what is fubar'd.

My mage isn't wearing anything enchanted (I stripped him when I noticed this so I could experiment). So I thought the cost would be much higher. It feels weird to not use it when it is available - but it is too overpowering to be fun ......

So, Rosveen, exactly: very odd. I even went into the creation kit, thinking I'd set the cost to 350+ (I was assuming the 149 was the base cost) and was surprised to find the cost that high already - which led to this post.

Anyone else get Dremora Lord at low perk/level and find it costing this???

I also found the book on my first mage well before I was at the appropriate conjuration level. My conjuration leveled to 100 extremely fast after that. It was strange how quickly it went up. Once I had 2 of them I barely had to use my destruction magic any more. That was kind of sad really.

In many instances the Dremora Lord really is overpowered - especially when you can summon two. That's why I switched back to destruction whenever possible at the higher levels.

However, when dealing with multiple enemies in an open area, especially if they're powerful ranged damage dealers, you can easily go down before your one or two overpowered summons can clear the threat.

Indeed, if the AI was smart enough to ignore the summons and go straight for the caster (you) then it would become really underpowered.

Ugh. Conjuration is so lame.

"here minion, do all the work for me... I need to finish my coffee"

There is a lot more to it than you think. Then again, if charging in a blindly wacking away is your thing. Then Conjuration may not be your thing.

Nope. I'm the other path.

I scout my targets and take them down one by one unnoticed

Would be nice if that were actually the case in Skyrim.. Unless I'm mistaken, loot is leveled.
Is loot not leveled?? If so, my game must be bugged, because in hundreds of hours and multiple playthroughs, I've not found any loot that wasn't available in stores.

and by all means, tell me what "more" there is to it

Bound weapons, soul trap, ...

Besides. Minions are fun. Moehahaha

For some reason I don't think that going into any detail about it will do much good. You either get it or you don't.

So, you know what? You are right. Conjuration is lame. Don't do it.