Skyrim- The Standing Stones (Part Five)

[b]The Lover Stone:[/b] The Lover Stone’s sign grants a benefit that most characters will want from the very beginning, particularly in substitution for the benefit of one of the skill-type specific stones found on the road from Helgen to Riverwood.  While you are under the sign of The Lover, you gain experience in all skills 15% faster.   This stone can be found in The Reach, the hold of Markarth.  It is on the mountain North of Kolskeggr Mine, slightly west of the mine and West from Blind Cliff Cave and slightly to the south, on the West face of the mountain.  The short and long of it is that this stone is superior to the Warrior, Mage, and Thief stones for all but a very few characters, as the benefit applies universally to all skills.  While it is noticeably smaller, the universality of the effect makes it superior rather than equivalent.

[b]The Serpent Stone:[/b] The only thing keeping the Serpent Stone from being on top of the list is the capacity of a player with alchemical skill to make paralytic poisons.  The effect granted by the Serpent Stone is the power to paralyze a target once per game day for five seconds, and deal 25 points of damage to them at the same time.  While the paralysis is shorter than the stronger paralysis potions, and the damage can easily become negligible, there is no denying that every character in Skyrim runs into situations where it would be nice to paralyze a target.  Whether it’s so that the player can flee while the enemy or guard lies stiff on the ground and unable to pursue, so that you can take a breather to regain Stamina and Magicka, so that you can face a different enemy and finish them off unmolested, or so that you can rob or murder the victim of the power while they are helpless, this power is nigh-universally useful.  Curiously, if you paralyze a target that cannot see you, they do not get a chance to notice your presence until after the paralysis has worn off, which makes this power particularly useful for the sneakier types of Dovahkiin.  For all that the Serpent Stone’s paralysis power is useful to everyone, it becomes overshadowed by appropriate poisons later in the game, and its limited frequency of use keeps it from being quite as strong as it wishes to be.  The Serpent Stone can be found in Winterhold, far to the Northeast on one of the many icy islands littering the sea beside the hold.

[b]The Lord Stone:[/b] This rates as the most powerful stone not because of the raw strength of its effect, but simply because it is an effect that absolutely every character will want, and that remains useful regardless of the level, skill set, and capabilities of your Dovahkiin.  The stone is in The Pale, the hold of Dawnstar, although it is just as close to Morthal as to its hold’s capital.  You can find the stone directly between the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, the Hall of the Vigilant, Frostmere Crypt, Stonehills, Stonehill Bluff, and Fort Dunstad.  Its location in a mountainous area between a number of dangerous locations makes it hard to find, but it’s worth going to the border of The Pale and searching it out.  While you are under the sign of The Lord, you gain 50 points of damage resistance, the equivalent of an unimproved Daedric Cuirass, as well as a 25% resistance to all forms of magic.  While these benefits are more noticeable the less protection a character already has, the simple fact is that they are strong enough to be meaningful regardless of anything else, and can compound the durability of an already-steadfast character to legendary levels.  Between the damage resistance and the magic resistance, the wearer only fails to gain resilience against poison and Thu’um, both of which will not be encountered terribly much by most adventurers.  Besides, who’s going to argue against effectively wearing an extra breastplate enchanted with high-grade resistance to magic without any weight or movement penalties?  Nobody, that’s who.