Summary
Decorations inElder Scrolls: Castlesaren’t just for, well, decoration. Besides adding some much-needed flair to what could otherwise be a gloomy and dark interior, decorations have passive bonuses that they provide just by being around.
These bonuses vary wildly in purpose, some helping production of certain materials happen faster, some giving some help in combat, and so on. A little help is better than no help at all, and there’s a time and place for all of these. But some decorations are going to be a bit more useful than others.
Decoration effects do stack, so making use of multiple decorations that provide the same/similar bonus can be wildly beneficial.
8Garden Nook
Reduce Food Consumption
The Garden Nook is the highest-level decoration that reduces the food consumption of commoners, with each Garden Nook doing so by two percent each. This is not a huge difference, but the bigger your commoner population, and the more of these you have, the bigger the effect. There are other decorations that have similar effects on food consumption, so make sure to grab the one that will help your specific case the best.
This is one of the lesser effects of the decorations, but still, if you’re running into trouble keeping your pantry stocked and have more than a few commoners, this can be somewhat helpful. Most of the time, there is something else that will have a better effect. That said, maybe you like how it looks! Your castle should make you happy; if you like it, build it.
7Lantern Array
Reduce Oil Consumption By 3 Percent
Similar to the Garden Nook, the Lantern Array reduces the consumption of a certain resource, this time reducing how much all stations burn through oil. Without oil, your castle grinds to a halt, and particularly without food, everyone is going to be worse off. If you’re having trouble with keeping up on your oil (which can be a particular problem during the eclipse), then this would be a good pickup.
There are other decorations that provide a similar effect, and as always, tailor your decision to your situation. This is definitely the best decoration of its kind, but if you’re looking for a specific difference, the Wall Garden reduces kitchen oil usage.
6Sword Banner
Increase Happiness Of Commoners
The happier your people, the better. This lowers the chances of someone getting the idea of committing regicide, which can cast a real pall around the castle, to put it lightly. There are banners that affect the happiness of different sections of people, so plan this for either your biggest or unhappiest population.
When making decisions at the throne, if there’s always a certain section of people (or that one subject you really just don’t like) that you’re always siding against, it might not hurt to have banners that keep their mood up more often than not.
5Green Dragon Egg
+3 Gold From Orders
More gold is, in fact, better than less gold, and you’re going to be getting consistently more gold if you’re placing dragon eggs around your castle. For every green dragon egg you place, you’re going to receive three more gold from each order you complete.
These orders are generally very easy to complete, requiring a minimal amount of attention to what you’re producing and adjusting accordingly. These can add up tremendously and really start to fill your coffers.
4Red Grimoire
Increase Maximum Health Of Nobles By 2
It’s a tale (almost) as old as games. The more health you have, the more difficult it is for things to hit you hard enough to knock you down. You’ll often be sending adventurers out for combat, and keeping them healthy is going to keep them ready to get back out there and fight again.
Each Red Grimoire increases the maximum health of your nobles. Those two points aren’t going to make much of a difference, but start stacking more and more of them, and they’ll become noticeably harder to knock down.
3Purple Grimoire
Increase Magicka Of Nobles By 10
The higher the Magicka a character has, the more damage their spell and elemental attacks do. This is going to benefit those equipped with a stave primarily, considering they’re the ones who most consistently use magic attacks the most. But it’s also going to increase the elemental aspect of certain weapons, which can include things like battleaxes.
Stack a few of these together, and your magic-wielders, in particular, are going to be doing quite a bit more damage and wiping waves of enemies much quicker. It’s going to keep some of that pressure off of your shield-bearer and get you through a few more rounds of Sheogorath’s Gauntlet.
2Hanging Garden
Increase Stamina
Stamina increases theweapon damagethat your characters do. This is going to make a noticeable difference on more or less any character that you’ve got, but most on those using a battleaxe, daggers, or bows. Shield-bearers are still going to get some help from this, but their primary focus should be on tanking damage instead of dealing it.
Much like the Purple Grimoire, this is going to make a considerable difference in combat and help you wipe waves of enemies much quicker. Combine this with some extra damage from the Purple Grimoire, and many enemies aren’t going to stand a chance.
1Steel Armor Stand
Increase Healing Potion Effect By Three Percent
Sometimes, you’re going to be in a fight and absolutely have to use a healing potion. When that happens, it’s indicative of a fight not going particularly well. But, the more help the potion provides, the better the chance that you scrape through the fight and come out on top.
Stacking the effect of a few Armor Stands is going to make that difference and turn a potion from keeping you on your feet into a potion that puts you to nearly full strength. Keep your adventurers on their feet, keep them fighting, and you’ll go far.
