Guardian Stones

The Guardian Stones, also known as standing stones, are upright magical stones located throughout the Tamrielic province of Skyrim.

Legend tells of the stones granting special powers to heroes of old, giving them the ability to rewrite their fate.

Characteristics
Standing at approximately 2 meters in height, the ancient menhir-shaped stones each display a different Tamrielic constellation carved into its body. A total of 13 stones are dotted across the land - one for each month of the year, except for The Serpent, which has no month associated with it. . The stones only seem to respond to certain individuals, but it's unknown what the qualifier for this is.

Usage
Activating a stone will grant the Dragonborn special bonuses, these are:


 * Increased speed of specific skills gains by up to 25%.
 * Improve an existing skill or ability.
 * Grant a special once-a-day ability.

Only one stone can be active at any one time, unless the Draongoborn is wearing the Aetherial Crown which allows the user to have two active stones at a time.

Stones

 * The Warrior Stone: Combat skills increase 20% faster.
 * The Thief Stone: Stealth skills increase 20% faster.
 * The Mage Stone: Magic skills improve 20% faster.
 * The Lover Stone: All skills improve 15% faster.
 * The Apprentice Stone: Recover Magicka twice as fast; twice as vulnerable to magicka damage.
 * The Atronach Stone: 50 extra Points of Magicka, 50% Absorb spells, -50% Magicka regen.
 * The Lady Stone: Regenerate Health and Stamina 25% Faster.
 * The Lord Stone: +50 Armor, 25% magic resistance.
 * The Ritual Stone: Raises all the dead around you to fight for you once per day.
 * The Serpent Stone: Paralyze the target for 5 seconds, and do 25 points of poison damage once per day.
 * The Shadow Stone: Invisibility for 60 seconds once per day.
 * The Steed Stone: Carry weight +100, equipped armor has no weight and causes no movement penalty.
 * The Tower Stone: Unlock any expert level lock (or lower) once per day.

Trivia

 * Despite Archery falling under The Warrior skill set, it is counted as a stealth skill and covered by The Thief Stone in this instance only. It is unknown if this is intentional or a bug.
 * Reading An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim will add 4 of the 13 stones locations to the in-game map.

Strategy

 * In order to maximize skill gains, it is recommended to visit the Warrior Stone prior to Smithing, the Thief Stone prior to Speechcraft or Alchemy, and the Mage Stone prior to Enchanting.
 * In a dungeon environment where a player values skill gains over other combat advantages, The Lover Stone offers the best value. This is because the player can expect to use skills from at least two if not all three of the primary skill groups (Warrior, Thief, and Mage). For example, primarily Mage players would dip into the Thief skills for Light Armor and Lockpicking.
 * Both the Steed Stone and the Tower Stone are most useful after a dungeon has already been cleared. The player can initially enter and clear a dungeon using a more combat or skill focused stone, then return under the influence of the Steed Stone to carry more loot, or the Tower Stone to open any locks too difficult to pick with their current skill.
 * The Lord Stone (25%) allows Bretons to have 85% magic resistance while wearing no armor. Racial ability (25%), Agent of Mara (15%), and Magic Resistance 2/3 (20%).
 * The extra armor provided by this stone can be used with the Deflect Arrows perk to reduce the effectiveness of enemy arrows, even those not deflected by the shield.
 * Magic resistance does not block friendly spells.
 * The Atronach Stone (50%) allows any race to have 85% magicka absorption when using ward spells, combine with the Atronach perk (30%) and the perk Ward Absorb (25%).
 * The Restoration school also allows one to counteract the -50% magicka regeneration of the stone through use of the Recovery perks.
 * Magicka absorption affects friendly spells, as well as hostile ones.

Trivia

 * Reading An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim will add 4 of the 13 stones locations to the in-game map.
 * Despite Archery falling under The Warrior skill set, it is counted as a stealth skill and covered by the The Thief Stone in this instance only. It is unknown if this is intentional or a bug.

Bugs

 * It is possible to get the Standing Stone Achievement without actually going to all the stones. Simply go to the Guardian Stones of the Thief, the Mage and the Warrior for 13 times. You can actually "find" more than 13 standing stones.
 * Sometimes the achievement blessed will not be unlocked the first time you get a blessing.
 * The standing stone from which a blessing is accepted appears to be invisible. Probably related to low graphics settings.
 * After activating the Atronach birthstone, Conjurations that summon Daedra or familiars may fail due to the absorbtion of your own spell.

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim