Hi folks.

I'm new to the game/series and wondered if someone could help me with the following query ......

After levelling up and I've chosen from MAGIC/HEALTH/STAMINA I have usually then gone into the constellation to select an upgrade from whatever I choose. The thing that's puzzling me is that sometimes it lets me select a perk and sometimes it doesn't - despite saying I have enough points. A friend told me you have to have previously chosen the perk below it in order to do so but I have checked I have done so but still won't allow me to do it.

Any ideas?

you are not at a high enough skill level in that skill tree yet. when you are in one of the skill trees where you have the first perk say its destruction. well look at the bottom of the screen it will tell you what you have that skill at, at present say its 32. then look at the next skill above that perk it will probably say something like requires 40. if you have your skill level only at 32 then you can't afford it yet even though you have perks to spend. you will have to keep using destruction spells all the time and eventually it will go up to 33, 34 and so on until you reach 40 then you can spend a perk point on that perk now. each skill tree will have a different number at the bottom of it so even if you have destruction at level 50 you won't be able to buy a perk in conjuration that requires 40 thinking well i'm up at 50 i can buy it. no its got to be the number at the bottom of the conjuration skill that will have to be 40+ before you can buy it.

OK, get it.

So what does it mean when it says something like 32/30 on the particular perk i.e. what is the 32?

Some perks allow you to put more than 1 point in it, so if a perk says 2/5, it means you have put 2 points into it out of a maximum of 5 points. But sometimes you need to increase your skill level in order to put more points into a particular perk, in which case the 2/5 will be grayed out.

each race has different abilities like better at magic, conjuration, weapons than other races. the number at the bottom of each skill tree for your character will just show what your character is naturally good at. but it doesn't matter if one skill is slightly better than another one because by simply using that skill all the time you will level it up to a max of 100. which will be the number shown that is required to buy the perk at the top of each skill tree. try this out in the game for an example and you will get an idea of what i mean. check your skill tree for sneaking. look at the bottom of the screen and it will have a long horizontal blue bar with a number under it. that number is your present sneak level number say for example 30. now go into the skyrim world and make your character crouch down. you are now in sneak mode. now just start waking along like this for a few minutes don't stand up your sneak will start leveling up and eventually on the screen it will inform you that you have leveled up your sneak skill to 31. now go back into the skill tree again and check your sneak number at the bottom of the sneak tree. it will be at 31 and you will see that the blue bar will not be filled up because you have only just leveled up. the bar goes up the more you use the skill until it reaches the far right and then you level up again. now because you were sneaking which is a skill. that's the way all your skills work if you use it then you will level it its that easy. if you want a perk keep using that skill over and over and you will level up that skill then you can buy perks once you reach the required number that it says of course.

OK that helps, many thanks.