- For the stone in Oblivion, see The Ritual Stone (Oblivion).
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Effects
This stone allows the Dragonborn to re-animate any nearby corpses to fight for them once a day. The ability granted by the stone is not actually a simple resurrection spell that reanimates a single dead body, but rather a large resurrection field that expands out from around the Dragonborn, resurrecting all corpses in its radius for 60 seconds.
Only corpses level 75 and under can be reanimated, however this limit can be increased with the Necromage perk. Once the time has elapsed, the re-animated will behave similar to a Dead Thrall and fall to the ground.
There does not appear to be any limit to the number of corpses that can be reanimated using the stone, however a high number can cause several of the raised dead to be completely unresponsive.
For those with Lycanthropy, the dead raised with this power remain active even after changing to werewolf form.
Location
The Ritual Stone is found east of Whiterun, between Whiterun and the Valtheim Towers (south of the river), guarded by a hostile necromancer and two skeletons.
Perks
This power is affected by the following perks:
- Necromancy - Greater duration for reanimated undead
- Dark Souls - Reanimated undead have 100 points more health
- Twin Souls - Reanimate two corpses.
- Necromage - Increases the potency by 25%, allowing higher level corpses to be raised.
Exploits
Armor and item duplication
An exploit to duplicate items and armor on almost any corpse is available by using The Ritual Stone, provided they are the default items of the character. The following steps explain how this can be achieved:
- Remove all items from a corpse.
- Cast the Ritual Stone power.
- Once the corpse is reanimated travel into to a different zone.
- Upon entering the new zone, the reanimated corpse will have all items/apparel that they originally had in their inventory.
- Kill the reanimated corpse and retrieve the duplicated items from the corpse.
This exploit is confirmed to work on the following unique armors/clothing:
- Ancient Falmer Armor set from the corpse of the Arch-Curate Vyrthur.
- Ancient Shrouded Armor set from the corpse of the Assassin of Old.
- Cicero's Outfit from the corpse of Cicero.
- General Tullius' Armor from the corpse of General Tullius.
- Telvanni Robes from the corpse of Ildari Sarothril.
Furthermore, weapons do not seem to respawn on corpses when transitioning between zones. This exploit is also possible via the Dead Thrall spell.
Multiple uses per day
By assigning the Ritual Stone to the Aetherial Crown, the power can be used multiple times per day by un-equipping and re-equipping the crown after it is used.
Bugs
- After killing all or most of a hold's guards and thereby using the Ritual Stone on them, some of the raised dead can become permanent. For example, a Whiterun Hold Guard will act as if he was on duty. Speaking to them directly initiates normal dialogue, but outside of dialogue, he might moan like a normal raised zombie would.
- The effect will sometimes fail if used in 1st person settings but will not in 3rd person.