Here we go.
Bethesda describes Luck as an attribute that "governs no skills, but affects everything you do in a small way." Screw that. It didn't help me, and it won't help you. It turns out that this is almost exactly what Luck does in the game, but "everything you do" is a little vague. My goal here is to explain each and every nuance of Luck and to help you realize that this attribute is basically God's gift to Morrowind players.
I'm about to read your mind. I know that you do one of two things with each level up; you either try and go for a x5/x5/x1 attribute bonus because you've read that it's important for your character (if you don't know what this is, that's okay - just keep reading), or you completely ignore Luck as an attribute.
Whichever way you go, however, there's a good chance you don't actually understand how Luck can affect your character. Let's go over some basics now:
- You can only ever increase Luck by one point at each level up, and you start with a Luck of 40 (unless it's a primary attribute, in which case it starts at 50).
- Luck affects almost every attribute check in the game, and usually affects your results half as much as the corresponding attribute. Keep in mind that the corresponding attribute usually only adds up to 20% to your results; skills do all the heavy lifting here.
- Luck does not affect speed, jump height, damage, damage reduction, or loot quality. It also doesn't change any of your other base stats.
Keep this all in the back of your head.
You should immediately start to pick out a few things. First of all, you will only ever get a +6% increase to your skill checks if you raise Luck from 40 to the maximum. Secondly, you will have to sacrifice one of your attribute bonuses for 60 levels to do it (50 if you chose Luck as a primary attribute and 30 if you also use the Bittercup, but those aren't great options, either). If at level 60 you don't already have a 100% chance to do most everything you want, you should probably take a hard look at your character build.
You might also realize that this +6% bonus is the only thing you will ever get out of leveling Luck naturally. Don't do it.
The best alternative is the x5/x5/x5 leveling scheme, which will keep you much further ahead of the curve than you'll ever need in Morrowind. Regardless, it beats out the x5/x5/x1 scheme by a landslide. Remember the 3rd stat increase that you sacrifice for 60 levels.
There are only two situations when increasing your Luck is the best option: you have already increased 5 attributes to 100 (only 4 if you don't need Intelligence), or you are a specific type of wizard. I'll go over the latter category below.
Are you casting spells that have more than 145 Magicka cost? What about spells with more than 89 Magicka cost? If either one of these is the case, you might still be able to use naturally leveled Luck. If you want to cast a spell between 140 and 152 Magicka cost (and have already maximized your magic skill and your Willpower), a natural Luck high enough will allow you a guaranteed cast at full Fatigue. The same goes for spells between 86 and 92 Magicka cost at 0 Fatigue. Keep in mind that you start with 40 Luck, which is why I initially mentioned Magicka cost values in the middle of these ranges.
There are only a few spells worth investing in Luck for:
- Summon Golden Saint for over 52 seconds (32 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 800 pts. for over 3 seconds (2 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 400 pts. for over 7 seconds (4 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 200 pts. for over 14 seconds (8 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 100 pts. for over 29 seconds (17 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fire/Frost Damage 100 pts. for over 5 seconds (3 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fire/Frost Damage 50 pts. for over 11 seconds (7 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fire/Frost Damage 25 pts. for over 23 seconds (14 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Invisibility for over 144 seconds (88 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Chameleon 100 pts. for over 29 seconds (17 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Command Humanoid/Creature 20 pts. for over 9 seconds (5 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Command Humanoid/Creature 10 pts. for over 19 seconds (11 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Command Humanoid/Creature 5 pts. for over 38 seconds (23 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Burden 100 pts. for... heh... just kidding...
When I say "over X seconds", the over isn't inclusive.
There are likely other good spells that I'm overlooking, but these are the major ones. If you're not using a spell like this, don't put a damn point in Luck. If you are using one of these spells, think carefully about whether it's worth forgoing a third attribute for 60 levels.
You're not going to increase Luck naturally anymore, but I wouldn't make a whole guide to tell you not to do something; there's still a way to make Luck useful. I've already mentioned that Luck can have an effect on your magic, but your magic can also have a great effect on your Luck through the use of Fortify Attribute spells. Popping one of those aforementioned Fortify Attribute 800 pts. for 3 seconds spells can really help you out when the attribute fortified is Luck.
If you've used one of these spells before, you probably know the drill. For 3 seconds, you're able to do almost anything you want to with the associated Attribute. The difference with Luck is that almost everything is associated with it; only your "speed, jump height, damage, damage reduction, [and] loot quality" will be unaffected. What this means is that you can become nearly omnipotent for 3 seconds at the cost of 120 Magicka. This clearly won't cover all of your bases, as I've mentioned before, but it does replace the effects of Fortify Willpower, Personality, and Agility.
There are a few neat variations on this:
You can enchant your gear with constant Fortify Luck 1-X. This will give you a significant bonus to everything you do; you get 47 points from Exquisite amulets and rings, 23 points from Exquisite shirts and pants, 15 from Exquisite robes and belts, 39 points from a Telvanni Cephalopod Helm, and 89 points from a Daedric Tower Shield. That's pretty damn Lucky.
You can string together multiple different spells that fortify Luck. A string of 100 points, 200 points, 400 points, and 700 points will get you 1400 Luck at 0 Magicka cost if you add Drain Intelligence 100 pts. on Self for 1 second to each one. Hell, you don't even need to stop at 1400.
Magic is what makes Luck so useful; even though you almost never want to increase it naturally, every character gets more powerful with the careful use of Luck.
You might want to hear about the specific equations for Luck, though. Here they are:
- Cast When Used/Strikes Enchantments:
Enchant + (0.25 * Intelligence) + (.0125 * Luck) - (2.5 * enchantment points)
- Constant Effect Enchantments
Enchant + (0.25 * Intelligence) + (.0125 * Luck) - (5 * enchantment points)
- Lockpicking/Probing (I know my characters focus on probing):
((Security + (Agility/5) + (Luck/10)) * Lockpick multiplier * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue/Maximum Fatigue) - Lock Level)%
- Spellcasting:
(Spell's skill * 2 + Willpower / 5 + Luck / 10 - Spell cost - Sound magnitude) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue/Maximum Fatigue)
- Hit Rate:
(Weapon Skill + (Agility / 5) + (Luck / 10)) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue / Maximum Fatigue) + Fortify Attack Magnitude - Blind Magnitude
- Evasion:
((Agility / 5) + (Luck / 10)) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue / Maximum Fatigue) + Sanctuary Magnitude
- Sneaking:
(Sneak + (Agility/5) + (Luck/10)) * (0.5 + Distance to Target/500) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue/Maximum Fatigue) + Chameleon Magnitude - NPC Spot Chance
Luck affects more than this, but these are the only equations I could find. If you discover more, please post them below.
There are a few things you should take out of this: you should almost never increase Luck naturally, it's good to exploit Fortify Attribute for all it's worth, and nobody has yet found a use for Burden.
And that's all she wrote.
Here we go.
Bethesda describes Luck as an attribute that "governs no skills, but affects everything you do in a small way." Screw that. It didn't help me, and it won't help you. It turns out that this is almost exactly what Luck does in the game, but "everything you do" is a little vague. My goal here is to explain each and every nuance of Luck and to help you realize that this attribute is basically God's gift to Morrowind players.
I'm about to read your mind. I know that you do one of two things with each level up; you either try and go for a x5/x5/x1 attribute bonus because you've read that it's important for your character (if you don't know what this is, that's okay - just keep reading), or you completely ignore Luck as an attribute.
Whichever way you go, however, there's a good chance you don't actually understand how Luck can affect your character. Let's go over some basics now:
- You can only ever increase Luck by one point at each level up, and you start with a Luck of 40 (unless it's a primary attribute, in which case it starts at 50).
- Luck affects almost every attribute check in the game, and usually affects your results half as much as the corresponding attribute. Keep in mind that the corresponding attribute usually only adds up to 20% to your results; skills do all the heavy lifting here.
- Luck does not affect speed, jump height, damage, damage reduction, or loot quality. It also doesn't change any of your other base stats.
Keep this all in the back of your head.
You should immediately start to pick out a few things. First of all, you will only ever get a +6% increase to your skill checks if you raise Luck from 40 to the maximum. Secondly, you will have to sacrifice one of your attribute bonuses for 60 levels to do it (50 if you chose Luck as a primary attribute and 30 if you also use the Bittercup, but those aren't great options, either). If at level 60 you don't already have a 100% chance to do most everything you want, you should probably take a hard look at your character build.
You might also realize that this +6% bonus is the only thing you will ever get out of leveling Luck naturally. Don't do it.
The best alternative is the x5/x5/x5 leveling scheme, which will keep you much further ahead of the curve than you'll ever need in Morrowind. Regardless, it beats out the x5/x5/x1 scheme by a landslide. Remember the 3rd stat increase that you sacrifice for 60 levels.
There are only two situations when increasing your Luck is the best option: you have already increased 5 attributes to 100 (only 4 if you don't need Intelligence), or you are a specific type of wizard. I'll go over the latter category below.
Are you casting spells that have more than 145 Magicka cost? What about spells with more than 89 Magicka cost? If either one of these is the case, you might still be able to use naturally leveled Luck. If you want to cast a spell between 140 and 152 Magicka cost (and have already maximized your magic skill and your Willpower), a natural Luck high enough will allow you a guaranteed cast at full Fatigue. The same goes for spells between 86 and 92 Magicka cost at 0 Fatigue. Keep in mind that you start with 40 Luck, which is why I initially mentioned Magicka cost values in the middle of these ranges.
There are only a few spells worth investing in Luck for:
- Summon Golden Saint for over 52 seconds (32 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 800 pts. for over 3 seconds (2 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 400 pts. for over 7 seconds (4 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 200 pts. for over 14 seconds (8 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fortify Attribute/Skill 100 pts. for over 29 seconds (17 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fire/Frost Damage 100 pts. for over 5 seconds (3 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fire/Frost Damage 50 pts. for over 11 seconds (7 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Fire/Frost Damage 25 pts. for over 23 seconds (14 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Invisibility for over 144 seconds (88 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Chameleon 100 pts. for over 29 seconds (17 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Command Humanoid/Creature 20 pts. for over 9 seconds (5 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Command Humanoid/Creature 10 pts. for over 19 seconds (11 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Command Humanoid/Creature 5 pts. for over 38 seconds (23 seconds at 0 Fatigue)
- Burden 100 pts. for... heh... just kidding...
When I say "over X seconds", the over isn't inclusive.
There are likely other good spells that I'm overlooking, but these are the major ones. If you're not using a spell like this, don't put a damn point in Luck. If you are using one of these spells, think carefully about whether it's worth forgoing a third attribute for 60 levels.
You're not going to increase Luck naturally anymore, but I wouldn't make a whole guide to tell you not to do something; there's still a way to make Luck useful. I've already mentioned that Luck can have an effect on your magic, but your magic can also have a great effect on your Luck through the use of Fortify Attribute spells. Popping one of those aforementioned Fortify Attribute 800 pts. for 3 seconds spells can really help you out when the attribute fortified is Luck.
If you've used one of these spells before, you probably know the drill. For 3 seconds, you're able to do almost anything you want to with the associated Attribute. The difference with Luck is that almost everything is associated with it; only your "speed, jump height, damage, damage reduction, [and] loot quality" will be unaffected. What this means is that you can become nearly omnipotent for 3 seconds at the cost of 120 Magicka. This clearly won't cover all of your bases, as I've mentioned before, but it does replace the effects of Fortify Willpower, Personality, and Agility.
There are a few neat variations on this:
You can enchant your gear with constant Fortify Luck 1-X. This will give you a significant bonus to everything you do; you get 47 points from Exquisite amulets and rings, 23 points from Exquisite shirts and pants, 15 from Exquisite robes and belts, 39 points from a Telvanni Cephalopod Helm, and 89 points from a Daedric Tower Shield. That's pretty damn Lucky.
You can string together multiple different spells that fortify Luck. A string of 100 points, 200 points, 400 points, and 700 points will get you 1400 Luck at 0 Magicka cost if you add Drain Intelligence 100 pts. on Self for 1 second to each one. Hell, you don't even need to stop at 1400.
Magic is what makes Luck so useful; even though you almost never want to increase it naturally, every character gets more powerful with the careful use of Luck.
You might want to hear about the specific equations for Luck, though. Here they are:
- Cast When Used/Strikes Enchantments:
Enchant + (0.25 * Intelligence) + (.0125 * Luck) - (2.5 * enchantment points)
- Constant Effect Enchantments
Enchant + (0.25 * Intelligence) + (.0125 * Luck) - (5 * enchantment points)
- Lockpicking/Probing (I know my characters focus on probing):
((Security + (Agility/5) + (Luck/10)) * Lockpick multiplier * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue/Maximum Fatigue) - Lock Level)%
- Spellcasting:
(Spell's skill * 2 + Willpower / 5 + Luck / 10 - Spell cost - Sound magnitude) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue/Maximum Fatigue)
- Hit Rate:
(Weapon Skill + (Agility / 5) + (Luck / 10)) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue / Maximum Fatigue) + Fortify Attack Magnitude - Blind Magnitude
- Evasion:
((Agility / 5) + (Luck / 10)) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue / Maximum Fatigue) + Sanctuary Magnitude
- Sneaking:
(Sneak + (Agility/5) + (Luck/10)) * (0.5 + Distance to Target/500) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue/Maximum Fatigue) + Chameleon Magnitude - NPC Spot Chance
Luck affects more than this, but these are the only equations I could find. If you discover more, please post them below.
There are a few things you should take out of this: you should almost never increase Luck naturally, it's good to exploit Fortify Attribute for all it's worth, and nobody has yet found a use for Burden.
And that's all she wrote.
