Alteration (Skyrim)

''The School of Alteration involves the manipulation of the physical world and its natural properties. This skill makes it easier to cast spells like Waterbreathing, magical protection, and Paralysis.''

Alteration is a skill in and is one of the six skills that falls under The Mage play-style. Alteration skill raises by using certain kinds of spells; these spells identify themselves as Alteration spells. The Alteration skill can also be advanced by paying a trainer (see below).

Description
Alteration spells include the ability to envelope oneself in Magic Armor, detect entities either by illumination of the area or by magically sensing their presence; the ability to temporarily stun foes (paralyze), and a few special spells marked with * in the list below.

Changes from previous games
Since The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does not feature custom spell creation, all Alteration spells are learned through Spell Tomes. Open Lock spells have been removed.

Books
The following books provide a permanent skill up to Alteration; locations are listed under each title, and may not be exhaustive. Skill Books are one time use only. After a skill book is read once, reading the same book does not increase skills.
 * Breathing Water
 * Ilinalta's Deep underwater room, next to a submerged chest.
 * Kraldar’s House, Hidden inside the basket on the shelf.
 * Snapleg Cave in the most north-eastern room.
 * North of Ysgramor's Tomb is a Shrine to Talos; the book can be found on a barrel next to the cage.
 * Daughter of the Niben
 * Reward for completing the quest Hitting The Books by Urag gro-Shub.
 * Understone Keep - straight ahead, up the stairs, on a table to the right.
 * On top of the fireplace in Brandy-Mug Farm.
 * Under an overturned rowboat on the shore East of the Wreck of the Brinehammer.
 * Reality & Other Falsehoods
 * Snowshod Farm basement on the bookshelf in the first room.
 * On a table in the Yngvild throne room, next to Arondil's throne.
 * On a barrel in a Forsworn tent between Sundered Towers and Red Eagle Redoubt. Alteration_perks_tree.jpg
 * Sithis
 * Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary on the bookshelf in front of the map of Skyrim.
 * On the second floor of Cradle Stone Tower next to the linen wrap and troll skull.
 * On Krag's body in Nchuand-Zel.
 * The Lunar Lorkhan
 * Faldar's Tooth at the top of the tower to the right of the chest.
 * Solitude Lighthouse on the shelf in between the two tankards and ale keg.
 * In the central chamber on the Arcane Enchanter in Cragwallow Slope.

Quests
The following Quests increase the Alteration Skill: There is a quest in order to obtain the master level Alteration spells:
 * Retrieve Frost salts for Dravynea the Stoneweaver in Kynesgrove
 * Find Pantea's Flute for Pantea Ateia in the Bards College in Solitude (Note: also increases Illusion, Enchanting, Conjuration, Destruction and Restoration)
 * Discerning the Transmundane
 * When reading the Oghma Infinium, selecting the Path of Magic will increase all magic skills (including Alteration) by 5 points.
 * Tolfdir, at the College of Winterhold, gives the player the quest Alteration Ritual Spell, which allows for the purchase of Master-level Spell Tomes when the Dragonborn's Alteration reaches level 90.

Spells
The following is a complete list of Alteration spells: * Special Spells

Master spells can't be purchased initially. To unlock Master Alteration spells, the Alteration Ritual Spell quest must be completed upon reaching level 90 Alteration.

Note: Unlike other protection spells, such as Ironflesh or Ebonyflesh, Dragonhide is not affected by the Mage Armor perk, so the player can use light or heavy armor without losing any bonus of the spell.

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Trainers

 * Melaran (Adept): Solitude
 * Dravynea (Expert): Kynesgrove
 * Tolfdir (Master): Hall of the Elements or the Hall of attainment at The College of Winterhold

Leveling
One can easily level up Alteration with these tactics:
 * With 100 Enchanting, it is possible to enchant armor to reduce Alteration spell magicka usage (Fortify Alteration effect) to 0. With this armor equipped, it is a simple matter to raise the skill using virtually any spell.
 * If the player has a Telekinesis (Adept) spell, then he or she can use it repeatedly to boost up their alteration spell really quickly. However, it is very magicka-costly, unless the player has a lowered magicka usage. You can just wait an hour every time you run out, and face a wall so when the item is thrown it doesn't hit anyone or get lost. A good spot to train using this method is the top of Winterhold College accessible through the Arch-Mages Quarters. You can also play "catch" by looking directly upwards and casting Telekinesis over and over with an object.
 * Casting Magelight and Candlelight as often as possible provides a slow but easy flow of experience. Since these spell levels are Novice-level, they are easily attained early on.
 * The player can use Transmute Mineral Ore to convert Iron Ore into Gold Ore (Iron -> Silver -> Gold) after purchasing the starting ore from a blacksmith. From there, the player may craft Gold jewelry to repay the losses. This method is time-consuming, but using Magicka Regen items or the Highborn Power (exclusive to Altmer) helps the process. Enchanting obtained items will increase prices, thus rewarding the player with Alteration, Smithing, Enchanting and Speech experience.
 * Casting Detect Life is a very quick way to level Alteration. The more "Life" the Dragonborn detects, the faster this method works. Such areas are: the marketplaces in Whiterun and Riften, The Winking Skeever in Solitude, the lower level of The Bannered Mare in Whiterun at night, and the The Ragged Flagon (if player has restored the Thieves Guild). Alternately, if the player has chosen to side with the Stormcloaks, the Blue Palace in Solitude will be full of the Jarls and their Housecarls from the various territories the player has conquered. Waiting one hour to restore Magicka or equipping items that give extra Magicka is beneficial to this method also.
 * Standing in shallow water and repeatedly casting Waterbreathing also raises the Dragonborn's level.
 * Wearing Master Robes of Alteration, Morokei (Mask), The Apprentice Stone, and an Amulet of Akatosh, the player can achieve a base 375% magicka regen. This can be brought even higher with an enchanted ring of magicka regen depending on enchanting skill.
 * Repeatedly casting Stoneflesh next to an immobile enemy (like the caged wolves in Cragslane Cavern) quickly levels Alteration up (Level 100 in very little time with no perks invested in the skill).
 * Cragslane Cavern is involved in the quest Skooma Trade, a bug exists that may prevent that quest from being completed if it is visited before the quest sends the player there. Note, however, that there should be two caged wolves immediately outside of Cragslane cavern, which may be used for this purpose without triggering the bug.
 * Alternatively one could go to Bloodlet Throne southwest of Helgen and practice spells with the vampires on the other side of the barricade.
 * The player can also repeatedly cast Paralysis on a follower. They will not turn hostile, and the skill will increase very quickly. Note, however, that Paralysis is an Expert level spell, so this technique can only be used once this skill level has been achieved by the player.
 * Using Morokei, Archmage robes and anything else that lowers the cost of spells and running around Attainment hall paralyzing your fellow mages is a very entertaining way to quickly level during the later stages. They wont hold your training against you.

Bugs
Altération Изменение (Skyrim)
 * The master spell Dragonhide doesn't increase the armor rating, at least not while wearing dragonscale or dragonplate armor. If changing the apparel while being under the effect of the Dragonhide spell, the armor rating will be brought down to 1.
 * Casting the Waterbreathing spell while underwater can result in the spell not working. It is currently not known what causes this.
 * Killing a paralyzed enemy will prevent it from being resurected with conjuration spells