ok, I have been finding my firebolt pretty effective.

but not against mages that glow blue.

is that a lesser ward? whatever it is, it makes them pretty hard to kill with magic.

I threw 5 fireballs at a blue guy. the first 4 did nada. the fifth killed him instantly.

any help?

Its alteration magic, like oakskin or stoneskin. It adds a certan amount of magic/physical armor.

If it looked like a sparkling flat forcefield he had conjured up in front of him, then that was a warding spell, and those deflect spell damage. If they are outlined in blue all over their bodies, then that is a physical protection spell, and your destruction magic will penetrate it effortlessly. Oftentimes you will encounter enemy mages who have both.

-Loth

hmmm.. ok.

he was blue all over, and at one point threw up a wind/shield looking thing. but he was spamming with frost spell most of the rest of his short life.

Most NPC mages carry both forms of defence. The blue glow on their body (Shield) only prevents physical damage - but the shimmering forcefield (Ward) adds both physical protection AND can absorb a fixed amount of magical damage.

If a ward soaks up more damage than it can handle, it'll shatter and stagger the caster but damage does not appear to roll-over. When faced with a ward user, your best bet is to prepare two spells simultaneously (one in each hand, not a dual cast), and unleash them one after the other (With about a second between them), the first will crack their ward, the second will strike home. Rinse and repeat



(Alternatively, smash them in the face with something heavy. Wards arn't very good at physical damage mitigation ;p)

Could it have been a potion? Like resist magic or something? I know poisons Give a greenish tint to people, and since I play in first I'm not sure what other effects are shown through potions. It's a possibility.

There is a potion that does make the person look like ghost. Something Spectural. Cant think of the name. Found it in a Nord ruin. Thought to try it out in a city for a laugh. Make 'em run! Didn't work out the way I wanted.

Some people ran at sight of me but the guards attacked. One landed a good but dangerious blow to my High Elf and almost killed her. I pulled an Invisible trick and vanished.
My sneak is 100, with perks. I pulled out my bow and killed the 3 soliders unseen. Payback.

here is the glow I think it is shield right? only physical?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Jt4uLcyy0&feature=plcp&context=C23447UDOEgsToPDskI5IZ4zzvhanqscgEBWLLMg

You made me LOL at your "rack" comment... you are correct, sir!

But anyhooo...

That is a physical protection spell. Just that, and nothing more. Oakskin, Stoneskin, Ebonyskin, etc.
-Loth

ok. so gues the mages I have fought have used frost one hand and ward in the other. will have to try left hand warding myself.

Beware, Sir Pete of the Funny Commenting... Ward spells will drain the crap out of your mana reserves. Having a high Restoration skill or enchanted gear that reduces Restoration cost will help it last longer, and make sure that you still have the energy to fight back with your own spells. Avoid mana regen gear for this, as your mana regen in combat is tremendously reduced -- 20% of normal, I believe -- and getting gear that regens your mana 100% will still leave you at a 40% of normal... which is dismal, to say the least. I will say this, however: once you get your restoration built up, having the Steadfast Ward, with perks in the restoration tree to reduce its cost as well as good gear for Restoration will make your Ward spell block all kinds of crazy stuff. You will be able to block dragon breath without your Ward shattering -- which is pretty bad-ass.

-Loth

i don't understand. 40% of what? I currently have not gotten enchanting up very high, only like 40, so I don't have any good enchanted stuff yet. need to go kill petty souls, but that sounds dull. and I am out of soul gems. anyway, back to your point...

if I have like 50% mana regn on hat, boots, ring, clothes, gloves...that would give 40% of ______?

what enchanted gear would you suggest? I am liking conjuration and other stuff, but I just loves me some destruction magic. I am liking all the schools.

What he is saying is that mana only regens at 33% of the normal rate while in combat. Your regen enchants are therefor useless for combat. Its only outside of combat where they work. So your better off ignoring them and going for no cost casting gear.

ok. that I undestand. I had a really hard fight at level 12 with Vokun. he toasted anska but left her alive and wated faendal... I was running around and hiding and drinking potions....really really noticed how crap magic regen was right at that point.


thanks.

Sorry... I communicated poorly before.

Your mana regen in combat is reduced to 20% of normal.
If you are wearing gear that increases your mana regen, then it is applied to this 20%... in other words, if your gear increases mana regen by 100% (doubles it), then the total regen you are getting in combat is still just 40% of normal non-combat regen. The short version of all of this is that mana regen gear is CRAP for combat purposes. If you wanted your combat regen to match your non-combat regen, you would need a total of +400% gear from robes, rings, etc. -- it's just not a good trade-off, and getting that much mana regen would take a long time to find/enchant yourself anyway.

A smarter way to go about this is to figure out what kind of schools you like using the most often, and getting gear that reduces the spell costs of that school -- for example, restoration gear that makes it easier to Heal, Turn Undead (lots of undead in this game), and Ward. Eventually, with a high enough Enchant skill, you will be able to make gear that reduces the spell costs of all spells from a school to ZERO. This is made easier with potions that temporarily increase your Enchanting skill while crafting said items for yourself. Imagine being able to heal indefinitely, cast an undraining Ward spell... this is what you can achieve with high-quality Restoration gear and powerful soul gems. If you get the Enchanting perk that lets you put two enchants per item, you can do this trick with 2 schools instead of one, basically meaning that you can cast almost half of the spells in the game for no mana cost! Free fireballs, infinite lightning bolts... fun stuff. I know that a lot of folks dig Conjuration, and will do this trick with the Conjuration and Restoration schools, but it works for any of them.

-Loth

Nope, that wasn't it.

Below is a link, showing a player in GHOST FORM. This person was lucky, no one attacked him.

http://www.youtu.be/watch?v=4PzqRAVtY0w&feature=related