OP, the most useful scrolls are the ones that let you use the master-level spells, and since they undergo the same (if not slightly longer) casting process I can give you some tips about using master level spells in general. The scrolls that you'll find most useful are Firestorm, Blizzard, Mass Paralysis, Harmony, Mayhem, and Hysteria (and Guardian Circle in very specific circumstances). Also the atronach summoning ones are pretty good too, especially Summon Storm Atronach (you can make these scrolls extremely easily in the Atronach Forge under the College of Winterhold too! - just put Void Salts, Charcoal, and Roll of Paper in the offering box)

Ok, first of all it's worth noting that while scrolls can be very powerful and are effectively a 'free' spell, the Master spells will still need their charge dance. The easiest way to do this is to use the Become Ethereal shout before starting the charge up. You will remain ethereal for the entire 8 seconds (plenty of time even for the longest charge up) or until you release the spell - you don't break your ghost form simply by charging it up. When your character has done the dance and is holding his hands up in the air still for a while, release. Spells like Blizzard, Firestorm, Hysteria and Mass Paralysis give you a bit of breathing room as you leave ethereal form, but for the other ones make sure you quickly hop out of the fray.

I always sell them, they go for quite a but.

Thanks! the BE shout is something I never would have considered... I might go to that giant foresworn camp to practice these. I'd also forgotten about the Forge....I'd skipped over the basic recipes and went straight for the weapons.

I think I've used the scrolls on one character, the first one, which was basically my test char. I'll give them another go with my mage. Otherwise their just loot.

I rarely use scrolls. Even though I pick up some cool scrolls that I want to use, I never remember I have them until I get back to my house to dump loot.

Scrolls are one of those Elderscrolls OCD habits I've never been able to shake. Despite using a scroll only once in a couple hundred hours of play, each of my characters shleps around more than a handful. It was the same thing back in Morrowind (though there were a couple quests where having cure disease and intervention scrolls were a must).

D&D had enchanted weapons. For sure. As a matter of fact, you couldn't attack certain enemies without an enchanted weapon. For example, in D&D you could't attack a ghost with a regular sword, it at least had to have an enchanted +1 damage on it. I liked the consistency of that: only magical weapons can kill magical creatures. I wish that were the case in Skyrim. It's not a big deal though. Having a weapon run out of charge while having no filled soul gems would seriously stall a lot of quests.

Morrowind was actually like that. You needed silver or better weapons to attack ancestor ghosts.

I like scrolls alot. Scroll of firestorm is pretty effective.

Just hold the trigger down until the hands stop moving in the circular motion. I guess the only thing that svcks is that you can't move around and aim with them. They do have theire uses though. Mass paralysis, as previously mentioned is another good one. And the bane of the undead scroll i like too.

In Oblivion, even without charges, weapons were still counted as "enchanted". The only non enchanted weapon that could touch ghosts were silver. I am kinda sad they removed this mechanic from Skyrim. I loved going into a dungeon with a standard weapon only to find its powerless.

i have only tried once to use a scroll with no result.

so i sell some and forget that i have the others until i get to a store.

i believe my character to be a human dual class (AD&D)

I always carry around a Mass Paralysis scroll figuring one day I might really need it to get me out of a sticky situation, but that day has yet to come. Plus I'd probably forget I had it in such a situation anyway.

They have their uses. Storm Atronach scrolls are useful against mage enemies & Thalmor, whereas others like mass paralysis, firestorm & blizzard have all helped me out at one time or another. If you're a lightly armoured character, it can't hurt to carry around a few for when you get mobbed by multiple high level bandits & such.

I generally forget I have them. The ones I use most are Fireball (at low levels, when I realise I'm doing NO damage at all to that troll) and Guardian Circle. Guardian Circle is awesome in almost all situations. I could care less about the undead run-away thing, just the massive heal-over time is worth the casting, you become a pretty hefty tank for the duration, if you stay within the range.

This post will make very little sense to anyone who hasn't played D&D, but humor me for a minute.

I started playing 1st ed. D&D back in 1979. Moved up to 2nd ed. as soon as it came out and I was one of those dissenters who has hated every variation of D&D since, so I stuck to 2nd edition. Most of my D&D friends are on the same page, so it works for us.


It's a little odd for me to hear D&D geeks complain about Skyrim's casting time for scrolls. Maybe your DMs were a lot nicer than me. Every campaign I run (have EVER run, for that matter) uses the "Individual Initiative" rules of combat. One round of combat = 1 minute. Each round is broken into 10 segments. The segment on which you act in each round is based on your initiative roll, plus or minus modifiers. At the start of each round, I have the players roll a tenner as I do for my NPCs and monsters. Then everyone acts based on their initiative rolls.

Fireball, for example, is a level 3 spell. Casting time (regardless of whether it's cast from a scroll or from memory) is 3 segments. That's an equivalent of 18 seconds folks. "Hold Person" is also a level 3 spell and it's probably closest I can think of to Skyrim's "Mass Paralysis". Casting time is also 3 segs (18 seconds).

How spoiled are we that we've forgotten how things "really" worked in the best RPG ever made (you know...the one that's responsible for Skyrim to begin with)?

I almost think they've made magic a little too easy in most of the FPS RPGs that they're coming out with these days. This concept of instantaneous magic is a little ridiculous and gives mages WAY too much power, in my personal opinion.

There's definitely an imbalance between scrolls vs "memorized" spells in Skyrim, but the problem isn't that scrolls take too long to cast...it's that "memorized" spells are casting WAY too quickly.

I've got those 1979 copyrighted books on my shelf (never went past those - didn't care for the nerfing of the Cavalier).

Careful now - you're gonna' make their heads explode. ...and if you haven't yet tell them how magic worked without magic points/mana/magicka.

Too true!
And good luck talking me into letting your mage read a scroll in near darkness.
I didn't have a thing against mages in particular, but I ran campaigns with a little logic...i.e. if your mage gets hit by a mace and takes damage, now he gets to go through his list of potions and see which vials might have broke (Item Saving Throws, DMG Table 29). You want to play a mage in my campaign, you better find a smarter way to store your potions than in fragile, glass vials.

I do love Skyrim, but yeah, the mage route is WAY too easy.

Unlimited spells in your "spellbook".
Unlimited access to spells at a moment's notice (no studying, memorizing, etc.).
No chance of spell failure, regardless of the level of spell being cast.
No chance of failure when scribing spells to your "spellbook".

Makes me feel like I hacked the game and entered some cheat codes in order to be invincible.

Dang...we get grumpy after 45 don't we?!!

Not on any kind of regular basis. Only in those situations where I find myself in a pinch and search my inventory for a panic button.

On my theif just earlier, messed up and found myself surrounded by about 6 angry Falmer.

Quick rummage and I found a scroll of hysteria, staff of fire and a couple of paralysis poisons, Saved my characters life.

I'll admit I welcome an easier way to do magic, but, damn, if you had a high-level Magic User in D&D you friggin' earned it.

We're not grumpy...we're strict.