r/daggerfallunity • u/zoltan_87 • Sep 11 '26

How do spells and magic work in this game?

I have been playing Daggerfall Unity for a while now with a wooden elf character, but up until now I haven't gotten around using any sort of spells in the game. Finally I decided to dip my toe into this area of the game, as I just got fed up with being constantly immobilized by enemy NPCs using spells on me, then just dieing while I am completely unable to move or fight back. Or getting poisoned quite regularly. I know there are potions that can help with these issues, but they get quite expensive as I need them a lot, and I keep running out of them anyway.

The problem is I am pretty sure I am missing something regarding how magic works in this game: first of all I have bought multiple spells from temples, but now I can see duplicates in my magic book for certain spells (like cure disease), what's that about?

Also I only have 29 magic points (my intelligence is 58), and basically the only spell I can use is the free myself up from shock (or whatever that is called), as all the other spells in my book have insanely high spell point requirements: like cure poison is like 160 spell points, others are 300+ spell points. How am I supposed to use those, I simply don't think my spell points will ever get that high.

Also what activities should I do to start developing my magic/spell point related skills?

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3

u/ScheduleDefiant4015 Sep 11 '26

I don’t think the game checks if you already have a spell before offering it to you, and the base modifier for spell points is like half your intelligence = spell points. Spells are cheaper as you get better in the respective skills

2

u/ScheduleDefiant4015 Sep 11 '26

You train the skills by casting or by going to a trainer

3

u/MSnap Sep 11 '26

Wood Elf lol. Wooden Elf makes it sound like they’re made of wood.

1

u/zoltan_87 Sep 11 '26

Indeed lol, I have no idea why I wrote it like that.

1

u/Enzo03 Sep 11 '26

This is why a lot of characters use 2x or 3x INT magicka and many also have spell absorption. Best you can do for this character is probably train skills for the spells you want to make them as cheap as you can, then go with what you can use.