Skyrim talk:Skill Books

Addition

I found a light armor skill book somewhere in Whiterun -- I believe it was in Dragonsreach. — Unsigned comment by 151.197.253.159 (talk) at 17:26 on 12 November 2011 (GMT)

I found these, feel free to add them.

Illusion

The Black Arts On Trial - Igloo type building SE of Morthal

Pickpocket

Purloined Shadows - Go south from Blue Palace walking alond the waterside. Once you see a boat, head inland. You'll find a cooking cave area by some Stonehenge rocks, it's there.

Bargaining

The Buying Game - Dead Men's Respite

Block

Warrior - Bandit camp a few minutes south-west of Solitude Sawmill. Easily visible at night because of their campfire.

Alchemy

Mannimarco, King of Worms - Just south-west of the Block book, near a mage sacrificing an imperial.

Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim - The Hag's Cure, under the counter, in Markarth

Alteration

Sithis - Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, displayed on the right side of the first room you enter.

Smithing

Light Armor Forging - Cracked Tusk Keep, go from Falkreath to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary and keep going towards the tower in the distance.

Conjuration

Liminal Bridges - Falkreath Watchtower, quite a bit NNW of Falkreath, but it's a tower so it should be easy to spot. Go to the top.

Some kind of armour? Smithing?

Ice and Chitin - Inside the bridge that leads to Windhelm, on a table.

Archery

Father of the Niben - (ship)Wreck of the Brinehammer. Almost exactly between Dawnstar and the Solitude Lighthouse

Two-Handed

The Battle of Sancre Tor - Dustman's Cairn

— Unsigned comment by 84.29.224.30 (talk) at 12:33 on 13 November 2011 (GMT)

I found a book in the Dark Brotherhood's Sanctuary called Sacred Witness that leveled sneak. I'd add it but don't know how to discover the id— Unsigned comment by 69.138.249.166 (talk) at 17:35 on 13 November 2011 (GMT)

I found a copy of Catologue of Weapon Enchantments above in the Darkwater Pass Dungeon (cave). I put this note here in case someone questions the addition I'm putting up >.< — Unsigned comment by ArcHorizon (talk • contribs) at 08:17 on 15 November 2011 (GMT)

Advances in Lockpicking in Chillwind Dephts in the room after the main Flamer (Quest: Trouble in Skyrim from Compagions) — Unsigned comment by 79.251.24.152 (talk) at 15:22 on 16 November 2011 (GMT)

"The mirror" can be found in "Forsaken Cave" (Quest: The White Phial) — Unsigned comment by 79.251.24.152 (talk) at 16:51 on 16 November 2011 (GMT)

(←) "A Game at Dinner" can be found in "Forsaken Cave" (Quest: The White Phial; Room where u find the Phial; on the right ) — Unsigned comment by 79.251.24.152 (talk) at 16:51 on 16 November 2011 (GMT)

I found a warrior next to 2 unowned bedrolls and a novice chest. On the map it is slightly southwest of the Solitude Sawmill. No map marker. It is standing against a rock. --Ji e toy 12:02, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

I found a book titled Beggar. Not easy to find, if you draw a triangle with Windhelm to the south, Winterhold to the west, and the book location to the east. If you walk from Windhelm north-east, it is on the last island before you can't go further. — Unsigned comment by 87.186.29.212 (talk) at 14:32 on 4 December 2011 (GMT)

Vernaccus and Bourlor

It's not a skill book as far as I can see. My character has 0 skill books read and when this book is read no skills are advanced and her stats still read 0 skill books read. Also, this book respawns in Dragonsreach. I'd take this off the list but I'd rather have it confirmed by someone else. Foubister 00:23, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Nevermind. Just came across a copy that does increase your Archery. Seems there's two versions of this book. No way to tell which is which until you open it. Foubister 06:15, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Skill Cap on books?

After looting De Rerum Dirennis from the alchemist in Clearpine, it did not award a skill bonus at 94, even though it did increase my total skill books read by 1. It would seem that the only way I can get a skill bonus out of De Rerum Dirennis is if I read Mannimarco, King of Worms first and then read De Rerum. However, Mannimarco does NOT give a skill bonus if done this way. KHShadowrunner 16:18, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

They cap at 90 like trainers do I read all 5 sneak books at skill level 86 and was only boosted to 90. — Unsigned comment by Artemis Enterei (talk • contribs)

I've successfully read skill books at 98, so there must be something more subtle going on here. — DryHumour 06:03, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Also having similar issue - New game, no books read so far. I am level 96 in Alchemy, trying to get the last few without making many more potions, so I read Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim in Arcadia's Cauldron and it did not give me an Alchemy skill increase. Then I went to Grave Concoctions in Falkreath and read De Rerum Dirennis, it also gave me no skill increase. Does this have anything to do with this being my second character playthrough, and the game thinking I've already read it due to my first character playthrough? • S1D3WYZ 04:21, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I doubt that is the case. I'm on my third playthrough and used skill books to max out Sneak, Smithing & Alchemy with no issues. I use Lydia to "harvest" them and save them until i hit 95. I have noticed some skills have problems with different gains. For instance, trying to use a trainer to gain Light Armor from 34 to 35 takes the money, the EXP bar does its move but the level stays 34. Let some mud crabs take you to 35 and the trainer can go the next level after that. I don't know which levels are buggy for which skills though. I did see a report in one of the other skill talk pages but can't remember where. Philbert 07:46, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Grate Puzzle By Bloated Man's Grotto

Not far from Bloated Man's Grotto, I came upon a little three switch puzzle, the kind with the bird, dolphin, and snake. After finding the clues, and activating the handle, it opened a grate. Within the chest under the grate was some assorted items and A Hypothetical Treachery. Mapwise, I'd say it's north of and between North Brittleshin Pass and Bloated Man's Grotto. — Unsigned comment by 207.155.70.17 (talk) at 02:33 on 2 December 2011 (GMT) Vincas yra cool.

Books inside containers

Are the location of skill books found in containers (crates, bodies, etc) permanent or can they be a random loot?

Need confirmation of:

• Incident at Necrom: Cjest on the totem under the rock west of karthwasten
• Night Falls on Sentinel: Chest Near the Kvenel Throne
• Reality & other falsehoods: Orchendor's corpse
• 2920 frostfall v10: Beem-Ja's Corpse
• Proper Lock Design: in a corpse, o a broken tower SE of steepfall burrow
• Mystery of Talara, v2: in Gadnor's Corpse, inside crystaldrift cave.
• Guide to better thieving: in an argonian corpse in an unmarked snow saber cat hideout northeast Thalmor Embassy Moinante 04:01, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

• Liminal Bridges: Inside a novice conjurer's corpse in a hill east sleeping tree camp.
• Song of Hrormir: Yngol barrow, inside the chest behind yngol's throne
• King: Southwest black-briar lodge, in an unmarked broken building next to the road. Loot from one of the bandits.
• The Black Arrow v2: in a hunter's corpse inside brood cavern.

Moinante 20:19, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

I've been able to identify a couple of these locations. Night Falls on Sentinel, Reality and Other Falsehoods, 2920 Frostfall v10, and Song of Hrormir are all skill books that are placed in those specific locations because of a related quest. So they are guaranteed as long as the quest has been started, and are probably there as quest rewards.

However, for the remaining ones I can't figure out how they would have appeared in those locations. At least for a couple of the books that I've looked at closely (e.g., Mystery of Talara, v2 on Gadnor's corpse), the books don't appear in leveled lists, so they can't be added by random loot. But they also aren't being added by any mechanism that I currently know about. By any chance do you remember if you were in any of these locations because of a quest? Or any other circumstances that might have caused a book to be added? --Nephele^Talk 21:35, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Some of them were picked when I was there because some quest, like the one you get in Orchendor's Corpse, sometimes I triggered some quest entering the location, like Yngol Barrow, but most of the time I just was exploring.

I guess most of them will allways be there because there are fixed locations, corpses with name or already NPC that you will find already dead. Since I was not sure about them, I didn't put them in the table and asked here.

The most intriguing one is the "King" found in a bandit. Get out Black-Briar Lodge and get to the road. Walk over the bridge and you will find the broken tower. There were 2 bandits. Just plain noname bandits (IIRC) and alive. I found the skill book looting one of them. Moinante 13:30, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Instead of hunting down books in containers, keep a follower close by for the purpose of "read book" with my assassin. I don't know if they actually get a stat boost from it, but you can simply take the book from them at your leasure. Some followers will even steal them as well, including housecarls, just make sure you're hidden when you tell them to read books in houses. — Unsigned comment by Artemis Enterei (talk • contribs) at 07:21 on 23 December 2011 (GMT)

Just saw this. Books in inventories/containers are often added through a script call (defaultAddBookScript) found in the VMAD field of the REFR/ACHR form. This seems to be done if the referenced object is a generic one. I recently added the locations that use that mechanism. The only one I didn't add, was "A Dance in Fire, v2" on a bandit (0x00072609), because the bandit seems to be tied to an unmarked quest (dunSnowyGhostPOIEnable) I don't know about. --Alfwyn 14:12, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

VN - Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments, Dawnstar, White Hall

Not tagging the article, since we'll be able to tell for sure if the CK ever shows up, but I can't find this in here. Maybe it's just in a blind spot, but it's a pretty small house and it seems unlikely that it would have *two* skill books (Art of War Magic is in there. Can anyone confirm and give an exact placement? Aliana 03:24, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, it's listed as being there in the game data. At x=-546, y=893, z=12 if that's any help, whereas Art of War Magic is at x=-647, y=970, z=327. --Nephele^Talk 16:27, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. It's on the floor in the enchanting room, between two barrels. Not easy to see, since it's just a vertical strip of brown in a sea of brown. :) Aliana 04:45, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

More Detail on locations

Most of the books are only giving a general location, I can't see how to add or change to a more specific location so I will add them here if I see any

- Mace Etiquette (Sky Haven Temple) - In the small room opposite Alduins wall, on the table — Unsigned comment by 46.7.52.45 (talk) at 13:30 on 19 January 2012

Go to the individual book page (e.g. by clicking on the title) and add the details to the |loc= parameter there. The changes will be automatically mirrored to this list through the template used. --Alfwyn 14:00, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Skill books as Random Loot

On the main page it states skill books are never found as random loot however, I just received one (Beggar) in the chest on the ledge in the first room in Swindler's Den. Level 20, Quest for that cave not started. I don't remember ever receiving this before from this chest. Can anyone confirm this is random or is this a set receive on a first play-through of this cave? Philbert 02:02, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Never-mind, just saw Alfwyn's answer above about scripts adding them to containers on occasions. Philbert 02:08, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

The locations I talked about are guaranteed, and not random. All the references to Beggar I can see in the game data (search for the ID), are the five locations given on the page and one in the "All Skill Books" container in a test cell. There is another report about a skill book as random loot, nor sure if this are isolated bugs, or if there's a system I just can't see. --Alfwyn 15:27, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Curiouser & Curiouser. I'll keep a lookout for more but so far that's the only one I've encountered on this playthrough (now LVL 52.) Thanks for the clarification. Philbert 08:32, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Update - I found the skill book King on one of two bandits that jumped me East of Riften on the path to the gate through the pass you can't go through East of Stendarr's Beacon. I'm pretty sure this was a random encounter. I was through this area in a previous play-through and I remember two mages fighting. Philbert 03:54, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, that would match the last location documented at King. The bandit carrying the book should be non-random. But this probably doesn't prevent random encounters near that location. --Alfwyn 16:53, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Infinite Copies of The Doors of Oblivion

The skeleton found near the Sightless Pit that spawns "The Doors of Oblivion" will infinitely spawn the book. Each time the skeleton is searched it will have another copy of the book. The player can repeatedly search the skeleton without leaving the cell or moving at all and each time the skeleton will have anther copy in its inventory. This exploit allows the player to obtain an infinite amount of the book. Apparently searching the inventory causes the spawn, since the book does not have to be removed from the skeleton's inventory for a new copy to spawn in the skeleton. MyBreton (talk) 02:35, 18 May 2013 (GMT)

I edited the entry on the Glitches page to include this fact, and noted that it was removed by the USKP. --Xyzzy ^Talk 13:58, 18 May 2013 (GMT)

The first time I went to this location and searched this skeleton, he had 4 copies of the book, then each additional time I searched him he just had the one copy. Has anyone else had this happen? Chocoholic (talk) 00:32, 15 June 2014 (GMT)

Skill books respawn.

Purloined Shadows from the burned house near Pinewatch has respawned for me twice now. Can anyone else verify any others?--69.136.59.17 08:14, 4 August 2013 (GMT)

Sithis book info not showing up in table

Has anyone else noticed that the information about the skill book Sithis doesn't show up in the table? I've checked out the page for the book, and it seems to have all the information needed, but it just doesn't display on the skill books page. It will link to the book page, but that's it. Anyone have any ideas why it's doing that? Chocoholic (talk) 00:27, 15 June 2014 (GMT)

Just a caching error, I resolved it so it shows up now. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 00:39, 15 June 2014 (GMT)

Standing Stone and Resting bonuses

The free skills boost you can get from miscellaneous quest as well as the ones from trainers are affected by Standing Stones and Resting bonuses (as stated on the respective pages on this site).

I would like to know if this is true for the skill books as well.

88.76.22.61 15:15, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

Yes. This reply is rather late, but Yes, it is. As has now been noted in the article, standing stone and rested bonuses also apply to skill increases from skill books. Valeria (talk) 19:06, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

Skill Books from Seekers?

How sure are you guys that Seekers can drop skill books? I've cleared out a number of Apocrypha areas and never found a skill book on a Seeker. In fact, I usually clear out Sallow Regent every time I return and find it has respawned, and considering how much enchanting I do, I clear out Sallow Regent well over a dozen times in a single playthrough. Are we sure someone didn't find the non skill book version of Chimarvamidium or Vernaccus and Bourlor and mistakenly believe he had gotten a skill book as random loot? Valeria (talk) 19:02, 25 November 2024 (UTC)