Beginner's Guide - Elder Scrolls Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls Morrowind is one of those older games where the learning curve is significantly higher than most games of its time. You can play for hundreds of hours and still discover new things you didn't know about that will enhance your experience or make you even more overpowered than you were before.
In this guide I am going to do my best to cover a lot of those quirks and provide you with tons of information that I wish I knew when I returned to Morrowind over a decade since playing it last. Due to the amount of information I am putting into this guide it will be broken up into multiple parts. If you'd like to learn more about a certain aspect of Morrowind, say Alchemy, Enchanting or Custom Spells you'll want to visit their specific pages.
Along with those guides I have also created a Tips and Tricks section which takes a more shotgun approach to giving you information. Occasionally ideas pop into my head that I forgot to incorporate into this guide so I add them to my list format in the Tips and Tricks section instead.
For those of you who are still trying to figure out the best skills to choose during character creation I recommend you check out my Creating A Character guide. It will go into detail about each skill and which are best to choose for different playstyles and setups. Once you have created your character and stepped foot into the world there is a list of things below you can do in any order that will help you get some early gear, money and weapons.
Early Game Money Making Tips and Tricks
1. Follow path north out of Seyda Neen to find Tarhiel falling from sky, loot his corpse.
(Optional) In Seyda Neen steal the key behind Sellus Gravius in the Census and Excise Office -- or just break into the warehouse across from the Census Office
2. Balmora: Mage's Guild chest, Fighter's Guild chest, Sword of White Woe
(Optional) Teleport to Ald'ruhn and Vivec and raid their Mage's Guild chest and Fighter's Guild chests too
3. Caldera to collect the Master's Alchemy Set
4. Ebonheart Glass Jinkblade and Frostsword in the underwater cave
5. Boots of Blinding Speed north of Caldera
6. Glass Netch Dagger in Gnaar Mok
7. Vassir-Didanat Ebony Mine Quest for a Daedric Weapon
8. Goldbrand Long Sword - Lots of travel but no fighting required
9. Tukushapal, Sepulcher has a bunch of loot and not many enemies in the way. Need to open a lock level of 90 and Levitate is recommended
10. Steal from the Hlaalu Vaults in Vivec
11. Steal from the Redoran Vaults in Vivec
12. Steal from the Telvanni Vaults in Vivec
13. In Caldera loot the Orchish Armor on the 3rd floor of Ghorak Manor and sell it to the Creeper
14. Complete the Cloudcleaver Quest for +2 Strength (Permanent)
15. Complete the Widowmaker Quest for +1 to Axe Skill (Permanent)
In addition to the list above, there are some spells that you should definitely buy for your character as early as possible since they're so useful. A list of all these spells is included below as well as a little bit of information about the spell and a link to UESP which includes all the locations you can buy the spell.
Spells All Characters Should Get
Mark & Recall: Mark allows you to set a location to Recall to. Both of these spells are absolute must haves for every player. (Where to buy Mark, where to buy Recall)
Divine Intervention: Teleports you to a nearby Imperial Cult Shrine. Sold in Wolverine Hall, Imperial Shrine by Aunius Autrus (More locations for Divine Intervention)
Almsivi Intervention: Teleports you to a nearby Tribunal Temple. Sold in the Balmora Temple by Llathyno Hlaalu (More locations for Almsivi Intervention)
Open: Use this to Open locks in the game; you'll need to make a custom spell that goes up to 100 but the vendor bought one works for now. Best place to buy this is from Sirilonwe in Vivec Mage's Guild.
Frenzy Humanoid: You can use this to provoke NPCs into attacking you to avoid any criminal charges. Only sold by Uleni Heleran in Wolverine Hall Mage's Guild.
Water Breathing: Very useful spell to get for obvious reasons. Sold by many merchants, easiest to get it from is Marayn Dren in Balmora Mage's Guild.
Water Walking: Much like Water Breathing it's self explanatory how useful it is. Sold by many merchants, easiest to get it from is Marayn Dren in Balmora Mage's Guild.
Feather: This spell will reduce your encumbrance limit - can be applied to items via enchants too. (Where to buy Feather)
Levitate: One of the most useful spells to get, some areas can only be reached with Levitate. Sold by many merchants, easiest to get is Marayn Dren in Balmora.
Jump: Allows you to jump higher and further - very useful for fast travel. Sold by a variety of spell merchants.
Night-Eye: Helpful if you want to see in the dark. Arielle Phiencel sells this in Wolverine Hall as well as many other NPCs.
Chameleon: Like Invisibility but you can still interact with objects/attack without breaking your Chameleon. Sold by a variety of spell merchants.
Invisibility: You have a 100% chance of not being seen by enemies but any action you take will break Invisibility. Sold by a variety of spell merchants.
Restore Attributes: Whenever an NPC debuffs you or you're diseased you'll suffer a permanent damage to your attribute until you use a Restore <Attribute> spell. For this reason, it's very important you get a spell for every attribute. Each spell is sold in a different spot, check UESP for a complete list.
Resist Magicka: Very useful if you plan on using the Boots of Blinding Speed. Sold by a few spell merchants.
Last but not least I have compiled lists of all the best items in Morrowind and how to get them. Below you'll find multiple guides that I have compiled for every accessory, armor type and every weapon type in the game. I've also put together lists of the best enchants - both items you can find in game and items you can create yourself.
Use these lists to plan out your character or figure out which upgrades you'd like to pursue next.
List of all Accessories
List of Best Accessories
List of Best Heavy Armor
List of Best Medium Armor
List of Best Light Armor
List of Best Axes
List of Best Blunt Weapons
List of Best Bows
List of Best Long Blades
List of Best Short Blades
List of Best Spears
List of Best Staves
List of Best Constant Effect Enchants
List of Best Custom Enchants
List of Best On Use Enchants