There are a large number of diverse magic items to be found in Oblivion.
Types of Magic Items
There are a few different ways to find magic items.
- Some are given as quest rewards.
- Most of these items are leveled items, which means that the quality of the item and the strength of its enchantment depends upon your character's level.
- Other quest rewards - in particular, those given for completing the Daedric Quests - are considered to be artifacts.
- Most magic items are found as random loot. The items that can appear in random loot are determined by your character's level.
- The random weapons are all listed on Generic Magic Weapons; the Weapons section on this article provides some general information.
- The random apparel (armor, clothing, and jewelry) is all listed on Generic Magic Apparel; the Apparel section on this article provides some general information.
- A few magic items can be purchased from merchants.
- Most merchants have a single unique enchanted item available.
- A few magic items can be found as guaranteed magic items. These items are available in guaranteed locations and can be retrieved even by level 1 characters.
- You can create your own custom magic items using Sigil Stones or using an enchanting altar.
Weapons
Weapon Leveled Lists
All generic magic weapons are most commonly found as random loot, either in chests or on boss-level NPCs. The weapons that can appear are determined by your character's level using various leveled lists. In general, the weapon's quality dictates the level at which it will first appear, as specified in the following table:
| Weapon Quality |
Unenchanted (as loot) |
Unenchanted (from vendors) |
Enchanted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Steel | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Silver | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| Dwarven | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| Elven | 9 | 13 | 11 |
| Glass | 12 | N/A | 14 |
| Ebony | 16 | N/A | 18 |
| Daedric | 20 | N/A | 22 |
The exact level at which each individual weapon can be found is listed on the Generic Magic Weapons article, along with notes about any unusual circumstances when that item can be found. Some general exceptions are:
- Iron weapons can be found at level 1 instead of level 3 in several places where enchanted weapons are available to level 1 characters:
- In one chest in Black Rock Caverns.
- In the reward chest for The Forlorn Watchman.
- In a chest in Sancre Tor.
- A few specific iron weapons are also found at level 1 instead of level 3 as part of some other quests:
- As the reward for the Fighters Guild quest The Master's Son.
- On Kylius Lonavo, the target in Raid on Greyland.
- On adventurer Orcs randomly encountered in some dungeons.
See Leveled Lists for more details on how leveled lists work.
Weapon Articles
- Weapons: Base (unenchanted) weapons except for arrows and staves
- Ammunition: All arrows (enchanted and unenchanted)
- Staves: All unique staves
- Generic Staves: All generic staves
- Generic Magic Weapons: All magic weapons found in random loot
- Leveled Items: Leveled magic weapons, generally received as quest rewards
- Unique Items: Unique weapons, available from merchants or received as quest rewards
- Artifacts: Unusually powerful one-of-a-kind weapons
- Dremora Equipment: Weapons specific to Dremora, including several enchanted weapons
- Oblivion-Weapons: Category listing all of the weapons in the game
Apparel
Apparel Leveled Lists
The magic items listed on Generic Magic Apparel are in general found as random loot, either in chests or on boss-level NPCs. The tables on that article provide the level at which each item will start to appear in random loot. For the armor items, the level at which it may start to appear can also be determined from the armor quality, using the following table:
| Level | Light Armor | Heavy Armor |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Fur | Iron |
| 5 | Leather | Steel |
| 8 | Chainmail | Dwarven |
| 12 | Mithril | Orcish |
| 17 | Elven | Ebony |
| 22 | Glass | Daedric |
There are some exceptions, which are noted using parentheses. Individual cases are explained in the tables; some general exceptions are:
- Elven Armor can very rarely be found at level 7 instead of level 17. There is a typo in one leveled list, which is only used for Fathis Aren's Chest, encountered during Arrow of Extrication. There is only a 50% chance of finding a single piece of enchanted armor in this chest, and even then it could be of some type other than Elven.
- Fur Armor can be found at level 1 instead of level 3 in one chest in Black Rock Caverns.
- Base Jewelry (base rings, base amulets, and base necklaces) can be found at level 1 instead of level 4 in several boss level chests.
- Detect Life Helmet will always be found in one chest in Swampy Cave; if you go there at level 5 and below you will find either the Deer Skin Helmet or the Helmet of Arkay.
Apparel Articles
- Armor: Base (unenchanted) armor
- Clothing: Base (unenchanted) clothing
- Generic Magic Apparel: All magic apparel that can be found in random loot
- Leveled Items: Leveled magic apparel, generally received as quest rewards
- Unique Items: Unique apparel, available from merchants or received as quest rewards
- Artifacts: Unusually powerful one-of-a-kind apparel
- Oblivion-Armor: Category listing of all the armor available in the game
- Oblivion-Clothing: Category listing of all the clothing available in the game
- Oblivion-Jewelry: Category listing of all the jewelry available in the game
Stacking Magic Rings
Because the items listed on Generic Magic Apparel are all generated randomly, it is very possible to find more than one of any item. If you find two copies of the same magic ring, you may be tempted to wear both of them and get twice the effect. For example, if one Grand Ring of Steelskin provides 15% Resist Normal Weapons, if you found a second one you might want to also wear it, in hopes of getting a 30% effect.
However, the game does not allow you to wear two identical rings at the same time. When you try to put on the second identical ring, you will receive an error message "You cannot equip this enchanted item right now". This restriction does not apply to rings you create through enchanting.
You can simultaneously wear two rings with different names that provide the same effect. For example:
- You can wear both a Grand Ring of Steelskin (15% Resist Normal Weapons) and a Ring of Steelskin (13% Resist Normal Weapons), to get a 28% effect.
- You can wear a Base Ring of Freedom (20% Resist Paralysis) and a Base Ring of Steelskin (also 20% Resist Paralysis) at the same time, to get a 40% effect.
You can also wear a ring at the same time as other items that provide an identical effect (for example, wearing a Grand Ring of Steelskin and a Quartz Cuirass, both 15% Resist Normal Weapons, gives a 30% effect).