Game Skyrim Forum

Why is such an item ignored by lore. And why is it so cheap?

I dunno, to me its the single most powerful item in the game.

ST

Most of the really expensive items in the game have some sort of historical value, think of them as rare archaeological finds you'd see in museum. The Amulet of Shadows is only in Morrowind so I'm under the impression that it's pretty new and not very well known so the value is based only on the enchantment.

that is common in the game. many powerful one of kind items selling for you is very low. and the expansive items, no dealer has enough to buy them.

There are some really bizarre valuations in the vanilla game. For instance, compare the stats and values for http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Generic_Magic_Weapons#One-Hand_3.

It practically turns its user into a ghost. A ghost thats even less visible than a real one. Now there must be lore behind this I mean it just screams backstory. Who created such an item? Its just too mysterious. The item may not be historical but it may as well be. That would be cool if Devyiath Fyr made it 100 years ago from a thiefs soul in his corpusarium. That guy always has some crazy enchantments up his sleeve.

Just because it's a great item doesn't mean it needs to have an important sounding backstory behind it and just because it's great doesn't mean it has to have been made years ago. Take stuff like Goldbrand, if that was new with no known backstory would everyone in Tamriel think it was boring? No, because it's still very useful and powerful. Maybe the amulet would become famous and gain a backstory later on, but currently it's just a strange but powerful item you find on a random archer. That said, you're right to wonder where it came from but I just don't really like the idea that everything has to have been made ages ago by famous wizards. Anyway, I think Master Aryon fits in your version better than Divayth Fyr, in the Telvanni questline he's throwing all sorts of his random enchanted items at you, some are more powerful and mysterious than the amulet in my opinion, other than you know that their entire backstory is that Aryon made them because he wanted to.

Clearly the thieves with the amulet are doing their ambush crimes by the puddle just because they have the amulet. It's the amulet makes that kind of plotting possible. However, neither of those really appears to be the maker of the amulet, which only brings a certain Lord of the Rings-like scenario in my mind. Clearly someone else has done the amulet, but lost it, and those robbers have just found it and thought, well, maybe we could be a team with this find. (Of course the Dunmer lady is constant ~80% Chameleon without the amulet, but story-wise his spell clearly comes from the amulet.) With no mention of this miraculous item on Yagrum's writings, it either isn't old or Yagrum just doesn't know about it. Or he just doesn't count it since it's not an artifact, "only" an Extravagant Amulet with a heck of a good enchantment... Why do I get a feeling it's newer than those artifacts though? Mainly because it isn't unique-looking and as valuable - at least yet. Yes, it seems likely that powerful items like that take time to get name for themselves, myths surrounding them etc. It would become famous - if it circled many hands and people at least got to know about it. At some cases (Nerevarine getting it, for example) this might never happen. If the Nerevarine never loses it, people might think he just has a remarkable ability for near-invisible Chameleon. They don't know that an amulet is causing it.

Or would it simply be so cheap just because it isn't mentioned in Yagrum's writings? Is Tamrielic Lore so influential the merchants are ready to pay very much of the artifacts mentioned there, just because they were mentioned there (or otherwise known to be legendary; BM/TR artifacts)? And Amulet of Shadows, be it new or old, isn't mentioned there, so it doesn't have any value in merchants' minds other than the amulet and the enchantment.

There are a LOT of [censored]-up values in the game. My mod (BTB's Game Improvements) does a lot to address this issue.

What is it. Some kind of chameleon? Then its easy. Its power comes from inadequate game mechanics, not real power. AI cant handle certain things, for one reason or another, making certain things powerful for no reason explainable in game values. Same reason the lore being silent about Uber potions of world domination created by boosting INT to insane levels first.

Actually, I seem to remember an in game book about an alchemist who expanded on his knowledge of alchemy with a potion of boost intelligence, by mistake.

I want to hear the name of the book which advocates boosting int to four digits. And then some. Anyway Chameleon, invisibility etc are countered by Dispel. Dont know how exactly the chance is calculated., But a 1pt 50ft area mass dispel costs 5mana and requires no targeting. NPCs are just too badly scripted to cast it.

If you're sneaking and invisible, why exactly should the NPCs know they need to cast it...?


And a few lines under on the same list - the Icicle, which is significantly more effective than the Glass Stormsword just above it. And rarer (I have a huge pile of glass swords stacking up in Ghorak Manor, but I've yet to see an Icicle). Oh yes, it's glass, so just add a couple of noughts on the end for no apparent reason...

:ahhh:
(Never noticed that before)...

What about the book that has the guy prove that the opponent in a debate does not exist? then the opponent disappears in a poof!!!! Its one of the funnier of the MW books

ST

Someone entered the store, but didnt leave it, yet there is noone there. Thats a good reason for the guards to check on jewelry with something more than a simple walk-by. If they are in the open. I dont know. Who knows.. In real world anyone can be killed any second too, with a rifle. Yet, sniper rifles are not the Stuff of Legends either.

well, that holds for most people and most weapons in morrowind too.

the amulet of shadows was made by the same guy who made the black hands dagger just one of the more popular oversights by the developers, really.

Regardless of the type/class/race of character that I'm playing, I ALWAYS end up going for this item eventually, particularly if I'm stealth-based -- as someone else above mentioned, it might very well be perhaps the single most useful enchanted object in the entire game.

The first couple times I played through Morrowind I'd always run and grab the Amulet of Shadows real early on... I'm playing through again now and I refuse to go near it (we'll see how long I can resist haha). It's just a ludicrously unfair item. It makes you into a stealth God, even if you're only level 10. Most NPCs just can't handle it... poor AI mechanics. It is awesome though.



Haha sounds like Bethesda may have borrowed a bit from Douglas Adams for that book: