Games PC THE ELDER SCROLLS I-ARENA User Manual

The Elder Scrolls

Arena

Player’s Guide

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ii

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iii

WARRANTY CARD AND WARRANTY PROTECTION
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iv

Credits

Designed and Produced by:

VJ Lakshman

Programmed and Directed by:

Julian Lefay

Executive Producer:

C. S. Weaver

Programming by:

Jennifer Pratt

Foroozan Soltani

Additional Design by:

Ted Peterson

Additional Programming and Art by:

Chris Green

Fred LaBar

Rick Kauzlarich

David Lee Anderson

Music by:

Eric Heberling

Computer Art by:

Jeff Perryman

Ken Mayfield

Bryan Brossart

QA and Testing by:

Melissa Bogley

David Bogley

All the Testers

Documentation by:

VJ Lakshman

Peggy Meile

v

Table of Contents

Software License Agreement

& Limited Warranty.............................iii

Warranty Protection ..............................iv

Contacting Bethesda

Softworks ..............................................iv

Credits ......................................................v

Designer’s Note........................................5

Installation Guide....................................7

Starting Options......................................9

Character Generation..............................9

Character Stats .........................................10

Choosing a Face........................................10

Character Stats .........................................11

Page 1 of the Character Sheet...............13

Explanations of the modifiers..................14

Page 2 of the Character Sheet...............17

Armor Ratings...........................................18

The Races................................................19

Character Class Descriptions ...............21

Thief Classes.............................................21

Thieves.......................................................21

Burglars.....................................................21

Assassins....................................................22

Rogues.......................................................22

Acrobats ....................................................22

Bards..........................................................23

Warrior Classes.........................................23

Warriors....................................................23

Knights......................................................24

Rangers......................................................24

Archers......................................................24

Monks........................................................25

Barbarians.................................................25

Mage Classes.............................................25

Mages ........................................................25

Sorcerers ...................................................26

Healers.......................................................26

Battle Mages.............................................27

Spellswords...............................................27

Nightblades...............................................27

Character Starting

Equipment............................................29

Experience Tables..................................29

Character Condition..............................30

Keys and Commands.............................31

On-Screen Buttons...................................31

Mouse General Controls..........................31

Mouse In Character/

Equipment Sheet ....................................31

Crossed Swords icon–Attack...................32

Sunburst icon–Cast ..................................32

Fingers picking gold icon—Steal.............32

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Hand grabbing icon–Use.........................32

Snake-staff icon–Player Status Icon........32

Parchment with lines icon–Logbook.......33

Campfire icon–Camp................................33

Automap icon–Automap/

Continental Map.....................................34

ESC key–Setup Menu..............................35

Character portrait

–Character Sheet....................................35

Mouse Controls.........................................36

Keyboard...................................................37

The Cities of Arena................................39

Days and Dates.........................................39

Talking to the People................................40

Getting Quests..........................................40

The Temples..............................................41

The Mages Guild......................................41

The Taverns and Inns...............................43

The Equipment Stores..............................44

Armor Pieces.............................................45

Equipment Effects....................................45

Shields.......................................................46

Normal Weapons......................................47

The Palace.................................................47

The City Gates..........................................47

Various Guilds..........................................49

Thieves Guild............................................49

Mages Guild..............................................49

The Dark Brotherhood ............................49

The Blades.................................................50

The Necromancers....................................50

The Wharf Rats ........................................50

The UnderKing.........................................50

A Note on Thievery..................................51

A Note on Negotiating.............................53

Traveling.................................................55

The Continental Map...............................55

The Wilderness.........................................56

Magic ......................................................57

The Spellmaker.........................................57

Casting Spells............................................65

The Known Spellbook...........................67

The 1st Circinate.......................................67

The 2nd Circinate.....................................68

The 3rd Circinate......................................69

The 4th Circinate......................................70

The 5th Circinate......................................71

The 6th Circinate......................................72

The 7th Circinate......................................73

The Arch-Circinate...................................73

Combat......................................................75

Attacking...................................................75

Treasure.....................................................76

Healing up.................................................76

Damage, Diseases, Curses, Etc. ..............77

The Bestiary..............................................79

General Hints and Tips............................83

Index..........................................................87

vii

viii

THE ELDER SCROLLS

The Arena

alin awoke in the darkened cell, his head pounding from the blow it had
received. A single candle guttered and flamed in one corner. Occasionally
the clink of chains could be heard as they swung in a slight, fetid breeze. He
knew where he was now. It came back to him even as he struggled to his

T

rupted by a low moan that came drifting down the corridor outside his cell door. Suddenly he
was glad for the obvious strength of his cell door. I have been left to die, he thought incredu­lously. They did not even bother to strip me of my possessions. Indeed, upon self examination
Talin found that he still carried his dagger and his pouch of money. It seemed that the
Emperor had no fears of his escape. And why should he? He did a quick circumspection of the
room, finding that except for the slime covered walls and floor, no water or food had been left.
A slow death indeed.

Suddenly the air near the center of the cell seemed to brighten, slowly coalescing into a
globe of brilliance. Talin fell back, shielding his eyes from the glare. The light receded, and in
the purple afterimages of that burst he could see the shimmering form of a woman floating,
her body draped in gossamer and blown by an unseen wind.

“Do not fear Talin, for it is I, Ria Silmane.”

Talin looked on in shock as the figure of his friend took on form and substance, though
somehow it did not seem to lose its edge of etherealness. “Ria! What in the name of the Lady
has happened?”

Ria’s face seemed etched in grief, drawn by a sadness he could not comprehend. “Talin, do
you remember the last time we saw each other? It was at the Mid Year’s festival. I fear that is
where the evil took form.”

“What happened to you?” Talin asked in a shocked whisper. He had known Ria since he
had been summoned to court to learn under her tutelage the ways of Sorcery. Ria had been the
senior apprentice to Jagar Tharn, the Imperial Battle Mage of Tamriel.

“I am dead, Talin. Only my powers keep me in this form, though the pull to the afterlife is
strong. I can resist, but only for a time. It is imperative that someone know the truth; that
someone stop the evil which has struck from the heart of the Imperial Seat.”

Talin sat down once more, his legs seeming to no longer obey. Left to die in a cell, my
friend already dead? What has happened to us all?

feet. Fighting off the nausea he made his way to a crude stone bench.

I have been taken by the Emperor, but for what? His thoughts were inter-

1

“The Emperor is not who he seems to be, Talin. He is in fact, Jagar Tharn. The true
Emperor was captured by Tharn and shifted to another dimension, a prison in which time
runs much slower than on this plane of existence.”

Talin looked up, his face a mask of shock and outrage, “But what of the Amulet of Kings?”

“The Emperor is not dead. Only in the event of his demise would the Amulet warn the Elder
Council. Tharn was meticulous in his planning. With time in the dimension in which the
Emperor has been imprisoned running at a fraction of what it does here, it will be centuries
before the true Emperor dies. And when he does, who will care? Those people will have seen the
glorious rule of Uriel Septim VII end generations in their past. Tharn must be stopped, here
and now.” Ria’s face had a resolute set, one that if T alin had noticed, would have sent shivers
of foreboding through his body.

Talin looked around, “Why are you here? I am but one, and not skilled in much of any­thing. Why not go to General Warhaft, or the Imperial Guard?”

Ria shook her head, “They have been captured along with the Emperor, and Tharn has
transmorphed others to take their places, those who are loyal to him only. I cannot trust any­one else with this Talin. As you said, Tharn will not search for you as he would someone he
considered a threat. Most of them are dead already. You can see the disdain the Wizard has
for you, not bothering to even bind you in this cell. He does not see you as a threat, and in
that arrogance he has made his first mistake.” For the first time the ghost of Ria Silmane
smiled, and to Talin it was as if the sun had come from behind a cloud.

“I wish to escape, that is sure. Beyond that I know not what I can do, Ria.”

“Take this,” at Ria’s gesture a ruby key flashed into being in a niche in the northern wall
of the cell, “it will unlock the cell door. You are in the sewers of the Imperial City. If you make
your way west, then south, I can effect your escape.”

Talin thought a moment, “It will not do to have me surface in the City itself, for I would be
quickly captured. I think it an uncommon occurrence to see a man pull himself through a
grating on a city street. The guards at the least will have questions, ones I will be unable to
satisfactorily answer.”

Ria smiled again, “I am not as helpless as you may suppose. Even in this form I am able
to work my magic, but to do so depletes the energy I use to remain on this plane. Your escape
however is paramount to all other considerations. Get to the south-west corner of this sewer.
There you will see a Shift Gate. It will transport you to another city, where you will appear
inside their city gates. Teleportation between cities is common enough, I doubt you will come
under scrutiny. With that you will be far enough from the center of the Empire to begin.”

Talin felt a faint fear gnaw in the pit of his stomach and he whispered, “Begin what?”

“Your training, of course.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Talin looked at his friend. He did not entirely trust
his ability to help her; to really make a difference. The alternative however was to allow the
man who had killed his friend to continue the charade. Talin was not one to let a lie go unan­swered. Ria concerned him however. Even now he could see the fringes of her form dissipating,
and her face took on a worn and lined expression, as if she were tiring. He did not relish the
idea of being alone in this, not knowing who he could trust. “Will I see you again?”

2

“If you survive these sewers and escape, I will come to you again. There is much I must
investigate first so that we may find a way to free the Emperor from the dimension in which
Tharn has placed him. Only by his release will the truth come to light. Remember Talin,
Tharn has taken on the form of the Emperor, and no one will gainsay his word for yours.
Had I been able I would have appeared to the Elder Council, but my body lies close by, forgot­ten and decayed. In this form I cannot travel far from my mortal remains.” Ria looked down,
her once wheaten tresses hanging limply as the ethereal wind diminished, “I cannot come to
you again as I have now. It takes energy I dare not squander.”

She reached out and touched Talin on the forehead. He felt a slight tingling, like an itch
behind his eyes. A moment later it was gone. “I have linked us so that I can appear to you
regardless of the distance, but I will only appear to you henceforth in your dreams. The way
is safer and less costly. It is very important that you rest now and again, when you are safe.
It will only be during those time that I can reach you.” Ria looked into Talin’s eyes, “You are
entering a dangerous arena, my friend. One in which the players are beings beyond your
mortal comprehension. I see in your destiny the ability to transcend. There is a power within
you as yet untapped. Look for me when you have gained some experience in the world. You are
my last and best hope, Talin.”

Before Talin could respond the form of Ria faded from view. In the deepening gloom Talin
could feel the icy fingers of fear creeping slowly back into his flesh. Then the glint of ruby
caught his eye. He walked over to the niche and picked up the key. It felt warm to the touch,
and strangely comforting. He thought about his friend Ria, dead now though she clung to
unlife for the sake of justice. He thought about Jagar Tharn, who had killed his friend and
attempted his own life. Such evil could not be permitted to grow, or go unchecked. Looking
about the cell his purpose became clearer, as if his ruminations had opened a door to the
beginnings of understanding. Perhaps Ria had ensorcelled the
key to produce this reaction, he knew not, but a litany from his
old Armsmaster came to mind and he whispered, “Given
the outcome of certain death, die with a blade in hand.”

The cell door was a massive construction of iron and
steel. He paused only a moment to listen. The moan­ing was gone, but from the darkness he could hear
dozens of tiny claws skittering and scratching the
damp mossy brownstone. Occasionally red eyes
gleamed out at him. Talin inserted the key to the
lock and turned it. With a groan the mechanism
released and the cell door swung open on rusty hinges. Despite
the noise nothing flew out from the darkness to attack. It was
as if the sewer itself had decided he was no threat, and turned
its back on him. “Tharn,” he thought, “you will not escape me
so easily.” Grabbing the candle from its holder Talin drew
both breath and dagger as he ventured into the darkened
hall...

3

The Quest

To rescue the

Emperor from the

dimension in which

Jagar Tharn

has imprisoned him,

by recovering the

eight pieces of the

Staff of Chaos.

4

Designer’s Note

emember the old pencil-and-paper RPG’s? The limits of your adven-

R

was doing) but instead allowed the players to explore the world he had created.
If you wanted to stay in the town and become a local hero, fine. If instead you
wished to step into the shoes of a starship Captain and save the universe, that
was also fine. A good DM had lots of imagination, and all the answers. The
players provided the adventure.

We have given the world many areas of exploration, over four hundred places
where death can be dealt in new and exciting ways. It is a place where those of
you who love combat and spell casting can earn fame and fortune by proving
your prowess in battle. Among the hundreds of quests present in the world, the
opportunity to save the Empire is there, for those who are brave or foolhardy
enough to seek it out. We plan to dedicate further expansion and adventure
modules to giving people new areas to explore or other mysteries to solve.

held that the idea of “good vs. evil” is a bit cliché, however effective it may be
for running a story. Things in the real world are rarely black and white. We
did include an overall quest for those of you who wish to participate in the nev­er ending battle of Light vs. Darkness. Failing this, however, only means that
particular character or adventurer has met an unfortunate end, not that the
game is over for the dozens of other characters you might otherwise have cho­sen to play. If you wish to become a thief who robs innocent nobles, fine. If you
wish to play a warrior who makes it his mission in life to kill these thieves,
that’s fine too. All we did is give the computer all the parameters of the Land,
from NPCs and their motivations, to monsters and their treasures, to nobles
and their quests. The rest is up to you.

dimension in which Jagar Tharn has imprisoned him, by recovering the eight
pieces of the Staff of Chaos. Learn the world and its ways well, however, before
you journey down this road. The Arena can be deadly to the uninitiated. Explore
as often as possible, perhaps using the many crypts and forgotten lairs around

ture were only defined by your own imagination. The dungeon mas­ter didn’t force anyone down a particular path (if he knew what he

In The Elder Scrolls, we have strived to put the fun back into role-playing.

In The Elder Scrolls there is no absolute right or wrong. We have always

The quest outlined in the introduction is to rescue the Emperor from the

5

the land to hone your skills. This will give you the experience necessary to win
against stronger and tougher adversaries later in the game. I suggest you pay
attention to any dreams or messages you may receive. The information con­tained in them can be very valuable, even necessary to complete the final quest
successfully. There are many tests of character in the quest to recover the Staff
of Chaos. The eight pieces of the Staff are the only way to open the gate to the
world in which the Emperor has been banished. Bide your time and gain experi­ence. Neither the Emperor nor the pieces of the Staff are going anywhere...

Creating a CRPG for the first time was a sometimes frustrating, always
exciting, and wholly enjoyable process. Many nights were spent discussing dif­ferent aspects of the game, trying to make sure that you, the consumer, would
get to journey within in the most realistic fantasy environment possible without
being forced into yet another boring world (any of us can do that by just look­ing out the window). Our commitment and goal was to create the strongest fan­tasy role-playing game possible. It was very important to us that the people
who bought TES:Arena got as much enjoyment out of playing it as we did creat­ing it. As with any creative endeavor however we know that we do not have all
the answers. Your feedback on TES: Arena is very important to us. We invite
your letters, suggestions and comments, so that together we may make future
chapters of The Elder Scrolls as good as they can be.

With that said, may your sword be sharp and your spells close at hand, for
your adventure begins here...

VJ Lakshman
Chief Designer

6

Installation Guide

Installing the Game:

To install the game place disk #1 into your computer’s floppy drive, then
type the drive letter corresponding to that drive. Once the onscreen prompt
shows you are logged onto the drive in which you placed the Arena Disk #1,
type INSTALL. Hit the ENTER key on your keyboard. Follow the
onscreen prompts to install the game.

Example:

If you have a 3.5” floppy drive called the ‘B’ drive, do the following. (key-

board commands will be bold)

1. Place Arena disk #1 into the B drive.

2. Type, B:

3. Type, INSTALL

4. Follow the onscreen prompts to install Arena onto
your hard disk.

We highly recommend that you use SMARTDRIVE to speed up disk
access during gameplay. For more information consult your DOS manual or
look at the General Hints and Tips section in the back of this manual.

Arena will not run off of floppy disks and is meant to run on IBM or
100% compatible machines with DOS version 5.0 or greater. We have also
found that Disk Doubler®or other disk compression routines for hard disks
may have adverse affects on running the The Elder Scrolls: Arena. If you
have any questions consult your DOS manual or contact our customer sup­port service at [phone], Monday thru Friday, 11 am to 5 pm Eastern
standard time.

Configuring Arena to your system:

You will need to configure the Sound FX and Music drivers once Arena
has successfully installed if you have a sound card and wish to play the game
with sound and/or music. To do so you must choose the ‘Configure Game’
option. Once done you will see the following choices:

7

Select Sound Card
Select Music Card
Change Sound Default
Change Music Default
Done

You can select your sound and music card using the first two options.
Consult your sound card manual for precise instructions on type and settings
for your particular card. Not using the correct setting may cause problems
with your system. For your information Arena is shipped with the following
default settings:

Sound/Music card selected: No sound
Base I/O address: 220 Hex
Base IRQ setting: 7
Base DMA setting: 1

Playing Arena:

From the \ARENA directory created during the install you must type arena
to play the game. Select Load Game if you wish to load a previously played
game you have saved. Select Start New Game if this is your first time play­ing. Select Exit to exit back to DOS.

8

Starting Options

1.Start new game:

This will begin a new game, reinitializing quests and NPC’s in the world.

You will want to select this option the first time you play.

2.Load saved game:

Brings up a menu of saved games from which you can pick one to play.

Play will resume where it was last saved.

3.Exit:

This option exits you to the wonderful world of DOS

Character Generation

You will be given two choices:

1) Generate

2) Select

Option 1 will allow you to generate a character based upon a set of 10
questions that will determine which character class best suits your personali­ty. Follow the onscreen prompts to create your character. You DO NOT
have to select this class as the one you wish to play. The class chosen for you
only reflects what you would probably survive longest as, based upon the
way you answered the questions. Use it only as a guideline. When you are
finished, follow the onscreen prompts to rolling up your stats.

Or select Option 2 which will just bring up a pick list of the 18 character
classes for you to choose the one you wish to play. When you are finished,
follow the onscreen prompts to rolling up your stats.

9

Character Stats

Once you have selected your homeland and your name, and answered the
questions that will aid you in choosing your class, or selected your class using
the Select option, you will enter the stat generation section. All stats range
from 1 to 100, with 50 being average. You will notice that you have a range
of stats based upon the race you have chosen, and a box that shows your
Bonus points. These points can be distributed amongst your stats to person­alize your character. Remember to follow the advice given to you about what
stats are important for success as the class you have chosen. All classes have
two governing stats and six secondary stats.

Remember, a stat of 50 is average. It means that 50% of the people in the
world are better than you in this particular area, and 50% are not. Using
Strength as an example, a STR of 72 would mean that my character was
stronger than 71% of the people in the Empire. People with a 72 STR would
be my equal, and those with a higher rating would be stronger.

When you are finished click ‘Done’ to continue to the next section.

Choosing a Face

10

After you have finished distributing
your stats, you will be able to choose
what your character looks like. Click
his head with your left mouse button
and you will cycle through the different
faces available to you. When you are
finished choosing, click ‘Done’. You
are now ready to journey into the
world of Arena.

Character Stats

There are 8 governing stats that make up your character in the world of
Arena. Here is a list of them and their explanations:

1. Strength: STR

This governs how strong you are. It affects how much damage you
do in combat and is a factor in determining your fatigue points.
Strength also affects how much you can carry and not be encum­bered, and how far you can jump. It is essential that any warrior class
have a high Strength.

2. Intelligence: INT

This governs how smart you are. It affects the total amount of spell
points you get to cast spells with. Intelligence affects your chances in
negotiating for items and other purchases. It also affects your
chances of figuring out a lock in case you wish to pick it. It is essen­tial that any mage or thief has a high Intelligence.

3. Willpower: WIL

This governs how mentally tough you are. It affects your ability to
withstand or resist spells. It affects your ability to negotiate success­fully with shop owners and innkeepers. It is vital that any character
wishing to be adequately defended against spells should have a high
Willpower.

4. Agility: AGI

This governs how nimble you are. It directly affects your chances of
hitting an enemy with a melee weapon, your chance of getting hit in
hand to hand melee, and your chance of getting hit by targeted spells.
It also affects your chance to steal an item or pick a lock. It is essen­tial for thief class characters to have a high Agility.

5. Speed: SPD

This governs how fast you are. It directly affects your movement rate
in and out of combat, and the fire rate if you are using a missile
weapon. It is important that any class characters have a high Speed.

11

6. Endurance: END

This governs how healthy you are. It directly affects your hit points,
your healing rate, and is a factor in determining your fatigue points.
It also affects your resistance to poisons and other drugs that you
may come into contact with while adventuring. It is essential that
warrior class characters have a high Endurance.

7. Personality: PER

This governs how charming and socially acceptable you are. It direct­ly affects your ability to negotiate with other people you may meet in
your travels. It is essential for any person wishing to interact with
others have a high Personality.

8. Luck: LUC

This governs how fate affects you. It is a powerful modifier to any
action you may take, whether it be attacking, defending, stealing, or
anything else. It is important, but not essential, for any character
class to have a high Luck. Remember, just as in other stats your char­acter can be ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ depending upon your luck score.
The average is 50.

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Character Sheet

Page 1

Your chosen name is here Your chosen race is here

Your chosen class is here

Health: Your current hit points here
Fatigue: 2 - 200 fatigue points rating here
Gold: Your current gold here

Done This button
exits the screen

Experience: Your current
experience points are
shown here.

Level: Your current level
is shown here

Next Page This takes you
to page 2 of the Character
Sheet

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Explanations of the modifiers

As with all other modifiers in the game, a positive modifier is a bonus to your
abilities, a negative modifier is a penalty to your abilities. The modifiers listed
above next to each stat define the following:

STR

Damage - This number modifies that amount of damage you

inflict in hand to hand combat. People with STR rat­ings 55 and above will have a positive modifier; those
with 45 and below will have a negative modifier.

Max Kilos -

INT

Spell Pts. - The number here represents the amount of magical

WIL

Magic Def. - This number represents the penalty or bonus an oppos-

This is the maximum amount you can carry in kilos. As
you reach this max you will find yourself getting more
encumbered. As characters carry more and more, they
suffer gradual penalties to their fatigue until they cannot
move or swing.

power a spellcaster has. Non-spellcasters will have a 0
in this slot. Spellcasters will have a range from 2 to 200.
Sorcerers can have a range here from 3 - 300. As a
spellcaster’s INT rating increases, so will his or her
spell points available for casting.

ing spellcaster gets when attacking you. The higher
your WIL, the better chance you have of resisting
spells cast at you.

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AGI

To Hit - This number represents the bonus or penalty you

receive when attacking an opponent in hand to hand
melee. The higher your AGI rating, the better your
chance of hitting your opponent.

To Def. - This number represents the addition or reduction to

your Armor Rating because of your natural agility
or clumsiness. The higher your AGI rating, the more
is subtracted from your Armor Rating. Remember,
the lower your Armor Rating, the more protected
you are.

SPD

General - Although speed is explained under the Stats section, it

is important to mention here that a character with a
higher SPD rating turns quicker, and runs faster.
These advantages, or penalties, can make the difference
for you between life and death.

END

Health - This number represents how many health points are

added or subtracted from your health during character
generation and each time you level. Characters with a
high END rating will receive more health points on
average each time they gain a level.

Heal Mod - This percentage represents the modification to the base

healing rate every character has. You heal a certain
percentage of your total health points for each hour of
rest. This number is added or subtracted from that per­centage. Therefore characters with a higher END will
heal faster for each hour of rest.

PER

Charisma - This number represents the modification to the base

chance of successfully negotiating with the different
people you may meet while adventuring in the land.
Characters with a high PER rating will find it much
easier to get cheaper prices, better sales, and more
information from those people they meet.

LUC

General - It is important to mention here that LUC can have a

profound effect upon your life. Characters with a high
LUC rating find that they have a better chance at
everything they attempt to do. Conversely, those with a
low LUC rating find that things don’t always work out
their way.

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Character Sheet

Page 2

Your name here

Your race here

Your class here

Your current level here

Equipment

Your list of equipment will go here.
Right clicking a piece of equipment will give

you info on that particular piece.
Left clicking an item will equip it, if possible.
Equipped items will be displayed in yellow.
Equipable items will be displayed in tan.
Unequipable items will be displayed in red.
Unidentified magical items will be displayed

in cyan.

Character Portrait

Your various armor ratings will
show up on this character portrait.

See ‘Armor Ratings’.

Unidentified magical items that are equipped

will be displayed in bright cyan.

The arrows will scroll through your

equipment
You may carry up to 40 items
Drop: Drop will drop a highlighted item

from the inventory
Spellbook: Spellbook will list spells in

the equipment area. Clicking a spell

will allow you to see its effects.
Exit: Exit goes to page 1 of the character sheet

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Armor Ratings

On this character sheet you will see numbers printed next to your body.
These numbers represent your level of protection on various parts of your
body. Armor ratings range from +10 (unprotected) down through 0, to nega­tive numbers which represent better and better protection. Basically, the
lower your AR is, the better protected you are. Therefore a character with
+10 rating is less protected than a character with +3 rating, and a character
with a -4 rating is better protected than either of the above.

The numbers on your figure are positioned to represent various parts of your
body. They are arranged as follows, from top downward (we have put the
armor piece that protects this area in parenthesis):

Head (helm)

R Shoulder

Chest

(cuirass)

Hands

(gauntlets)

Waist and Legs

(greaves)

L Shoulder
(pauldrons)

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Lower Legs

and Feet

(boots)

For a complete explanation of Armor, armor pieces, AR ratings and the
effects of equipment, see Equipment Store.

The Races

Here is a brief description of each of the races, their strengths, and their suit­ability to a particular art:

Nords:

Nords hail from the province of Skyrim. They are a tall and fair­skinned people who are strong, willful, and hardy. It is rumored that
growing in their arctic environment has inured them to its effects, for
they seem to shrug off all but the coldest of attacks. Nords take half
damage from Cold based attacks, and on a successful saving throw
take no damage. They are excellent in all arts concerning the blade and
shield.

Khajiit:

Khajiit hail from the province of Elsweyr. They are a fair skinned peo­ple who are extremely hardy, intelligent, and agile. Legend has it that
they descended from an intelligent feline race, for they still retain a
strange cast to their features. Many Khajiit have taken to painting their
faces to more resemble their distant cousins, the predatory cats that
hunt the great desert. Khajiit are expert climbers, able to scale chasm
wall sides with speed unmatched by any other race. They are adept at
all arts involving thieving and sleight of hand.

Redguards:

Redguards hail from the province of Hammerfell. They are a stocky,
powerful race that are known to be extremely hardy and quick. Leg­end has it that the Redguard are innately more proficient at weapons
than any other race. Redguards receive their (level / 3) as a bonus to
hit and damage with any melee weapon (ie...excluding bows). They are
excellent in all arts concerning the blade and shield.

Bretons:

Bretons hail from the province of High Rock. They are a tall, dark­haired people. Bretons are a highly intelligent and willful people, and
have an outgoing personality. It is said that Bretons are weaned on
magic, for it seems to suffuse their very being. As a result Bretons take
half damage from any Magic based attacks, and no damage on a suc­cessful save. They are excellent in all the arcane arts.

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Argonians:

Argonians hail from the province of Black Marsh. They are a highly
evolved race of reptilians, at home in any marsh-like environment from
which they hail. They are known for their intelligence, agility, and
speed. Because of their reptilian nature, Argonians do not tire easily
while swimming, and seldom drown. They can also swim faster than
any other race. They are adept at any art involving the arcane, or
involving thievery and sleight of hand.

Wood Elves:

Wood Elves hail from the province of Valenwood. They are a people
of the forests, matching their features to all that is found growing in
the green woods of their homeland. They are known to be extremely
agile and quick. Wood Elves receive their (level / 3) as a bonus to hit
and damage with any bow weapon. They are well suited towards any
class, although their nimbleness serves them best in any art involving
thievery.

High Elves:

High Elves hail from the island province of Summurset. They are a
tall, golden-skinned people with almond shaped eyes. High Elves are
extremely intelligent, agile, and willful. High Elves seem drawn to
magic as a moth is to flame. They have a natural affinity to its use, and
often make quite formidable wizards. High Elves are naturally immune
to paralyzation. They are adept at any art involving the arcane.

Dark Elves:

Dark Elves hail from the province of Morrowind. They are a tall,
dark-skinned people with red, glowing eyes. They are known to be
extremely strong and intelligent, and very quick. Dark Elves seem
innately attuned to weaving magic with weapons. Dark Elves receive
their (level / 4) as a bonus to hit and damage with any melee or ranged
weapon. They are adept in any art involving the blade and shield com­bined with the arcane arts.

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Character Class

Descriptions

Thief Classes

Although all thieves and thief sub-classes have the ability to pick locks, pick
pockets, and steal items, various classes have certain advantages or disadvan­tages in these areas. The governing statistics for all thief classes are Agility
and Intelligence. A high Speed rating is also very desirable.

Thieves

Quick, agile, cunning, Thieves use agility and speed to steal for a living.
They are useful in combat to surprise the enemy, scout, or try for criti­cal hits. Thieves have a chance per level of experience to score a critical
hit when attacking an opponent. A critical hit is defined as 3x the dam­age the weapon normally does. Thieves are the fastest to rise in experi­ence levels. They start with 25 health points plus a d10 in health.
Thieves have the ability to pick locks and pockets. This ability increases
as the Thief increases in levels.

Weapons: Dagger, Shortsword, Broadsword, Saber, War

Axe, Short Bow
Armor: Leather only
Shield: Buckler only
Starting Health: 25 + d10

Burglars

Burglars are adept at picking locks and infiltrating different areas.
They do this better than any other class, honing their skills to be able to
find ways into areas thought inaccessible. They are very useful when
exploring new dungeons, palaces, or other areas where others may be
stopped by locked doors and/or chests. Because of the delicate nature
of their work, they are restricted in the armor they may wear and the
weapons they may carry. They may not use shields. Burglars also
receive a chance per level to score a critical strike (3x damage) when
attacking an opponent, though they are not as adept at this as Thieves.

Weapons: Dagger, Short Sword, Tanto, Short Bow
Armor: Leather only
Shields: None
Starting Health: 25 + d8

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