Oblivion:Luck

Luck governs no skills directly and does not boost your skills over 100. However, it affects nearly every aspect of the game. A Luck value of 50 means that nothing goes for or against you, while Luck above 50 influences events in your favor, and Luck below 50 influences events against you.

In-game Description: Luck has an effect on everything you do, but governs no skills.

Luck modifies all your skills (except Acrobatics, Athletics, and Speechcraft) behind the scenes using the following formula:

SkillModifiedByLuck = SkillInQuestion + ( ( fActorLuckSkillMult * Luck ) + iActorLuckSkillBase )

With default settings the formula simplifies to:

SkillModifiedByLuck = SkillInQuestion + ( 0.4 * (Luck - 50 ) )

In other words, a skill is increased by 40% of the points of Luck you have over 50. For example, a player with a Luck of 60 will see influenced skills increased by 4 (40% of 10) skill levels, while a player with a Luck of 100 will see influenced skills increased by 20 (40% of 50). These Luck boosts do not grant skill perks if the hidden bonus pushes you past a multiple of 25, except for Armorer. If Luck raises your Armorer skill to master or above, your repair hammers will not break.

Fortifying Luck past 100 continues to raise the modified skill values. However, the modified skill value is constrained to a range of 0 to 100 in the game's calculations. This modified value is not displayed in the Skills menu but is used for all game calculations, such as damage dealt with a weapon or the magic cost of casting a spell.

In addition to modifying skill levels, Luck likely influences most situations where the game randomly determines events, such as the breaking of a repair hammer or a lockpick. Confirming the role of Luck in changing probabilities is difficult, as many details are hidden within the game engine. However, there are specific cases where scripts factor in your Luck:

• When betting in the Arena, your Luck affects the initial health of the gladiators, improving your chances of winning.
• Luck determines the chance that striking an opponent with Mehrunes Razor will result in Daedric Banishing.

Luck does not impact the loot you receive from containers or other leveled lists.

While other attributes can be maximized relatively easily with 10 or so levels of +5 attribute increases, it takes at least 35 levels to maximize Luck (50 normally, 45 if Luck is a class attribute, 40 with The Thief birthsign, and 35 with both The Thief Birthsign and a custom class enhancing Luck). For more information, see Leveling +5/+5/+5 vs +5/+5/+1.

Character CreationEdit

• All races and genders start with a Luck value of 50, which is considered "neutral" by the game's calculation. Anything lower is detrimental.
• An initial +10 Luck bonus is available by selecting The Thief as your birthsign.
• No standard classes have Luck as a class attribute, meaning you must create a custom class to gain a +5 bonus to Luck at character creation.
• The maximum initial value of Luck is 65, which can only be achieved by choosing The Thief as your birthsign and creating a custom class with Luck as a class attribute.

See AlsoEdit

• Increasing Attributes: Information on how to increase Luck.
• Magic Items: There are multiple generic items that fortify Luck.
• Unique Items: A list of unique items, of which only one fortifies Luck. These do not include leveled items, such as those received from quests, or artifacts.

• Ring of Wortcraft: Obtained from Falanu Hlaalu at All Things Alchemical, this ring fortifies Luck by 5 points.