Getting Around
There are several ways to get around in Morrowind, the first and foremost of which is simply walking. It is possible to run from one end of the map to the other without encountering a loading screen, as Morrowind is a seamless environment.
Faster ways to get around are the myriad of transport services in the game. Silt striders, ships/gondolas, and Mage's Guild teleportation are the three most common services. They allow you to travel from town to town for a modest fee, usually around 10 gold. Not all towns are connected together though, and several trips may be required to reach a destination, particularly if they are far away.
There are also various spells that can transport the player from out in the wilderness to a temple or stronghold.
HUD
Morrowind by default has a three bar display for Health (Red), Magicka (Blue) and Stamina (Green). These horizontal bars are stacked vertically in the lower left of the screen with a small offset between each other and the edge of the screen, in top to bottom order: HP, MP, Stamina. Since one of the earliest patches, a fourth yellow bar displaying the health of an enemy will appear under specific circumstances.
These bars have a fixed length and do not display a number, and as such, the display only gives an indication of the current value compared to the maximum value of the player's health, magicka and fatigue and enemy health. (Compare for example "Fable" where the health and mana bars get longer as the player's respective reserves grow.)
Health
The red health bar displays the hit points of the player. Once the red bar has turned fully black (0 Health) the game will show the player character's death animation from a third person perspective, play the "game over" sound Fate's Quickening and prompt whether the player wants to load from the last save or go to the overlay menu.
Magicka
The blue magicka bar displays the magicka points a player has. Magicka points are used for spellcasting. As soon as a player starts casting a spell, the cost of the spell will be subtracted from the players magicka points. If a player tries to cast a spell without the required amount of spell points, the spell animation will play, but the spell will fail, the game will play the insufficient magica sound and display a message "You do not have enough magicka to cast the spell".
A certain amount of magicka is regained for each hour spent sleeping. Characters who are affected by the magical effect "stunted magicka" don't get magicka by sleeping. Certain magical effects can also increase magicka:
- Restore Magicka: Restores x points of magicka every second for y seconds. This effect is available as a potion or an enchantment, though the latter is rare.
- Fortify Magicka: Current magicka is increased by x points for y seconds, x is subtracted from current magicka as soon as duration y ends. This effect is available as a potion or an enchantment.
- Absorb magicka: x is subtracted from the affected entity's and added to the caster's magicka every second for y seconds. This effect is available as a spell or an enchantment.
- Fortify maximum magicka: The player's maximum magicka is increased by x × current magicka for y seconds. At the end of the spell's duration, the player's maximum magicka will revert to the normal amount, while the percentile current magicka will stay the same. For example, a player has 80/120 magicka and is under the effect of Fortify maximum magicka 1.0 for y seconds. As soon as the spell ends, the maximum magicka will revert to 60 points and the current magicka will decrease to 40 since 60 × 80 / 120 = 40. This effect is only available as a birth-sign.
Fatigue
Fatigue is effectively an end multiplier that determines the rate of success of any skill and/or attribute based action the player executes. At 100% fatigue, such actions are determined purely by the corresponding skill(s) and/or attribute(s). A lower percentage of fatigue means a penalty to the chance of success to such an action.
Fatigue is spent by running, jumping, melee attacks and magical effects that drain fatigue. The amount of fatigue spent by such actions is generally affected by the attributes Endurance and Strength via the player's percentile encumbrance (the total weight of all items in the inventory compared to the maximum, which is governed by the strength attribute).
The amount of fatigue spent by a jump is, in addition to the factors mentioned above, determined by the skill Acrobatics and is deducted immediately upon pushing off from the ground. Fatigue affected by changing kinetic energy in the air is calculated the same way as fatigue affected by running and walking.
The amount of fatigue spent by walking and running is, in addition to the factors mentioned above, determined by the skill Athletics and is deducted at a constant rate while performing the action. Walking normally costs less than the natural restoration rate of fatigue and therefore walking is a way of regaining fatigue faster than spending it. Running costs a fair amount of fatigue, however with a very low encumbrance and a high level in athletics (100+), a player spends almost no fatigue running.
Fatigue is naturally restored constantly at a rate determined by the same factors that determine the amount of fatigue you spend. Fatigue is can also be restored by spell effects, most notably:
- Restore Fatigue
- Fortify Fatigue (temporarily)
- Absorb Fatigue (leeching it from an enemy)
Certain magical effects can cause you to lose fatigue, most notably:
- Damage Fatigue (damage spells do the opposite of restore spells)
- Drain Fatigue (drain spells do the opposite of fortify spells)
- Absorb Fatigue(when cast on you)
Enemy Health
The enemy health bar displays the health of the last enemy against which a successful aggressive action was done that did or could have affected the enemy health. This bar fades away a few seconds after it has appeared unless a new action resets the fade out timer.
Any weapon attack on a target or spell effects cast by the player that directly negatively affect the targets health will make the enemy health bar appear. However, fist attacks on a non knocked-down opponent or aggravating spell effects cast by the player that do not directly affect the target's health, will not make the bar appear.
Races
Skills
Spells
You can use spells by starting with them or buying them. Spells can be purchased as permanent skills or as one time use scrolls.