Daggerfall:Daedra Summoning

A Daedra Summoner of the Cabal of the Mages Guild

Although the act of Daedra Summoning is no common service, it is one nonetheless. The only reason to summon a Daedric Prince is to gain possession of a certain artifact. Few can perform this service, therefore access is restricted. People of noble origin have the means to access a Daedra Summoner; it is rumored that every ruler has his own Daedra Summoner at court. Common people can access a Daedra Summoner only within the services of certain Factions. However this special service is restricted to high-ranking members within these factions and the cost are in most cases exorbitant. There are rumors that certain Witch Covens can also summon a Daedric Prince for whoever has the required amount of gold.

Daedric Princes request a certain service from mortals that dare to appeal to them. If the mortal completes this duty to the satisfaction of the Daedric Prince, he or she might grant the petitioner possession of a legendary artifact.

Detailed Information

Summoners

There are three ways to summon a Daedric Prince:

• Using the Daedra summoning service of the Mages Guild, available to members at rank 6
• Using the Daedra summoning service at one of the eight Temples, available to members mostly at rank 7, except the School of Julianos (rank 6) and the Resolution of Z'en (rank 8). Note that temples will not summon Daedra who are their enemies.
• Speaking to the beldam of a Witch Coven, to one of the bugged warlocks sometimes found in cities, or to the lone witch who can be found in a dungeon during the Knightly Order quest The Artifact

Daedra can only be summoned at the Mages Guild or Temples on certain days (see Summoning Days). At witch covens, however, the situation is completely different. It seems that random chance alone determines which Daedric Prince will be summoned on that particular day. You can, of course, simply visit the coven every day until they offer to summon the Daedric Prince you wish to speak to.

The only exception is Hircine, who can be summoned every day by the Glenmoril Witches. He cannot be summoned by other Daedra Summoners, even on his Summoning Day.

Sheogorath

The Daedric Prince Sheogorath

Although Sheogorath has his own Summoning Day, there is a 5% chance (or 15% if thunderstorm) on every other Summoning Day that he shows up instead of the Daedric Prince who would normally appear.

Summoning Twice

Hermaeus Mora, summoned a second time

Trying to summon a Daedric Prince after you've already done so once will bring up a dialogue where the respective Daedric Prince refuses to interact with you.

Summoning Costs

The costs for summoning a Daedric Prince are quite high, and are determined solely by your reputation with the summoner's faction. The base price for summoning a Daedric Prince is 200,000 gold. The exact costs are calculated as follows:

200,000 gold − (Reputation with the summoner's faction × 1000 gold)

This means a having a reputation of 100 with the summoner's faction will lower the cost of a summoning session to 50% of the base price.

Regarding this formula, the best choice for a summoner (if available to you) would be the Daedra Summoner of the Mages Guild, because:

• Your reputation with him is the same as with The Mages Guild as a whole. Therefore, you need at least 20 successful quests for the Mages Guild for a total reputation of 100.
• Summoners of Temples are only subgroups of their temples, so you only get 2 reputation points with them for every successfully completed quest. Therefore, you will need at least 50 successful quests to acquire a total reputation of 100 with them.
• If you successfully complete at least twenty quests for a witch coven, you will also have a total reputation of 100 with the beldam at the end, but finding a witch coven without any hints is a difficult matter.
  • There is only one quest in the original game which points to a coven, Business with Vampires, which reveals the Kykos Coven in Dak'fron.
  • In addition, lycanthropes may get a hint pointing to the Glenmoril Coven in the Ilessan Hills, but these witches only summon Hircine.
  • Two other quests, The Daedric Book and The Thieves Gang), that should reveal the Skeffington Coven in Phrygias and the Coven of the Tide in Myrkwasa respectively, are broken in the original game. The covens will not be revealed unless a patch for these quests is installed.
  • There are no rumors or books about any coven locations. If you are very, very lucky, you may receive a dungeon map which reveals the location of a coven. However, you must be in a region which has a coven. Even then, the chances to get such a dungeon map are marginal since, according to the law of probability, the calculation 1 ÷ (Number of unrevealed dungeons in the region) is terribly low.

Chances for a Successful Summoning

Chance(%) = 30 + player's reputation with specific Daedra + bonus

• The bonus is 30% and applies unconditionally for most Daedra. The following Daedra receive this bonus only during a specific weather:

Daedra	Weather Type
Boethiah	Rain
Nocturnal	Rain
Sanguine	Rain
Peryite	Rain
Sheogorath	Thunderstorm

According to The Daggerfall Chronicles, the maximum chance for a successful summoning is 95%. The remaining 5% is for Sheogorath's chance of appearing, which rises to 15% during thunderstorms.

If a summoning is successful but you decline the Daedric Prince's quest, waves of one of the five daedric foes will begin appearing to punish you for three in-game hours. After this period, they will return to Oblivion.

When a summoning at a witch coven is unsuccessful, the daedric foes will also appear. At guilds, they will not. If a quest for a Daedric Prince is successfully completed, you will gain +5 reputation with the witch coven who summoned the Prince and +2 reputation with its allied factions, if any exist. Considering all these factors and circumstances, it is wise to always save the game before attempting a Daedra Summoning.

Note: Gameplay experiences indicate that the daedric punishment feature only has a marginal chance of actually occurring.

Summoning Days

The summoning days are hinted at in the book Invocation of Azura.

Date	Daedra Summoned	Quest	Artifact
Morning Star 1st	Clavicus Vile	Clavicus Vile's Quest: Slay a werewolf for Clavicus Vile.	Masque of Clavicus
Morning Star 13th	Meridia	Meridia's Quest: Kill a spellcaster for the Daedra Prince Meridia.	Ring of Khajiit
Sun's Dawn 2nd	Sheogorath	Sheogorath's Quest: The Daedra Prince of Insanity wants you to invite a battlemage to tea with him.	Wabbajack
Sun's Dawn 16th	Sanguine	Sanguine's Quest: The Daedra Prince Sanguine wants you to get rid of a turbulent priest.	Sanguine Rose
First Seed 5th	Hermaeus Mora	Hermaeus Mora's Quest: Execute a noble for the Daedra Prince of wisdom and knowledge, Hermaeus Mora.	Oghma Infinium
First Seed 21st	Azura	Azura's Quest: Kill a priest for the mistress of dawn and dusk.	Azura's Star
Rain's Hand 9th	Peryite	Peryite's Quest: Dispose of a Vampire Ancient for the Daedra Prince Peryite.	Spell Breaker
Second Seed 9th	Namira	Namira's Quest: Destroy a Vampire Ancient for Lady Namira.	Ring of Namira
Mid Year 5th	Hircine	Hircine's Quest: Hunt down a wereboar for the Daedra Prince Hircine.	Hircine Ring
Sun's Height 10th	Vaernima	Vaernima's Quest: Destroy a lich that has displeased the Daedra Prince Vaernima.	Skull of Corruption
Hearthfire 8th*	Nocturnal	Nocturnal's Quest: Slay a malicious spellcaster for Nocturnal, the Lady of the Night.	Skeleton's Key
Frostfall 8th	Malacath	Malacath's Quest: Execute a Daedra Seducer for Malacath.	Volendrung
Frostfall 13th	Mephala	Mephala's Quest: Assassinate a noble for the Daedra Prince Mephala.	Ebony Blade
Sun's Dusk 2nd	Boethiah	Boethiah's Quest: Kill a spellsword for the Daedra Prince Boethiah.	Ebony Mail
Sun's Dusk 20th	Mehrunes Dagon	Mehrunes Dagon's Quest: Exterminate a Frost Daedra for Mehrunes Dagon, Prince of Destruction.	Mehrunes Razor
Evening Star 20th	Molag Bal	Molag Bal's Quest: Slay a spellcaster who has incurred the wrath of Molag Bal.	Mace of Molag Bal

Bugs

• Nocturnal's Summoning Day is intended to be on the 3rd of Hearthfire (instead of the 8th). This is hinted at in the book Invocation of Azura, which is made less vague in the version found in future The Elder Scrolls games.
• The Daggerfall Chronicles further supports the claim of her summoning day being on the 3rd.