Fresh Off the Boat

Step 1: Try, against all odds, to obtain a Morrowind install that looks nice and isn't horribly bugged. I am using MGSO 3.0 and following this guide to mitigate its...issues. Most notably, Animated Containers wasn't properly tested in Tribunal and Bloodmoon, and the satchel charges and the Mortrag Glacier key simply don't show up. Less infuriating but still aggravating: the animation on the Heart of Lorkhan is broken, and there's no visual cue that you've destroyed it. You can watch Akulakhan collapse into the magma, but the Heart will just float there forever. I don't know whether the guide fixes that issue, since (obviously) you have to play through the whole main quest to see the bug.

Here we go!

It's Jiub! I hope nothing horrible happens to him in the Oblivion Crisis!

Gavis Andalor: Dunmer Assassin.
Sign of the Atronach.

I've never seen any discussion of this, but Atronach is fantastic for non-spellcasters! You get 50% Spell Absorption with no downsides. I'm going for magic immunity in this build (without the Royal Signet Ring, which is just cheating) using the following items:

• Necromancer's Amulet: 25% Spell Absorption
• Robe of the Drake's Pride: 25% Reflect
• Marara's Ring: 20% Reflect

In Morrowind, Spell Absorption stacks multiplicatively, while Reflect stacks additively, so the calculation works like this:

100% - ([SA #1 Failure] * [SA #2 Failure] * [R Failure]) = SA or R

100% - ((100% - 50%) * (100% - 25%) * (100% - 25% - 20%)) = 79.375%

That's the probability that any spell cast on me will be either absorbed or reflected. Since almost all of Morrowind's heavy hitters do magical damage (except werewolves...), this is quite a formidable defense.

As an aside, I really miss having such powerful magic items in Elder Scrolls games. Skyrim's magic items just feel incredibly wimpy by comparison, for a number of reasons:

• Cast on Use enchantments have been limited to scrolls and staves, neither of which have I ever bothered with.
• Most of the non-combat utility spells are gone. I remember being so excited the first time I found an Amulet of Almsivi Intervention: no more worrying about running out of scrolls and being forced to hike back to town! I think utility spells are the best part of playing as a mage: Any idiot can kill someone, but can they fly, open locks, and teleport?
• Skyrim's enchanting system lets you make magical items far more powerful than anything you'll find in a dungeon. In Morrowind, on the other hand, it's impossible to duplicate the above artifacts no matter how high your Enchant skill.

Bethesda: Make magic items great again!

But now it's time to actually play the game.

Seyda Neen. A lot prettier than it looked in 2002.

There's not a lot to do here. Steal Fargoth's treasure and burgle the Census and Excise Office and lighthouse, buy some weapons (not armor) from Arrille, and clean out Addamasartus. Pony up 14 gold and we're off to Balmora!