Questions new players ask

First session

Is DFO Online free?

The client is free and open source, and Daggerfall itself has been free since 2009; you supply the game data. See What DFO Online is and Playing in the browser.

Do I need to own Daggerfall to play?

Yes — the game reads the original Daggerfall data files, which are not bundled, and the official site points to free sources. See Playing in the browser.

Which files does the game ask for?

It asks for the ARENA2 folder of your own Daggerfall install (under DF/DAGGER/ARENA2 in a Steam copy), or a zip of it on a phone, and it remembers the pick. See Your first launch.

Does it run on Mac, Linux or a phone?

The browser client runs in a current desktop browser or on a phone, and the optional desktop app ships for Windows, macOS (Apple silicon) and Linux. See Playing in the browser.

Do I need a registered account?

You can play as a guest, but professions, the market, player guilds, Marks, festival rewards and several questlines need a registered account, so register before you invest. See Your account.

What happens when I die, and do I lose my items?

You respawn at a safe point with half health and lose one tenth of the gold you carry, while an ordinary death keeps your items; the Open Zone and a revenant's theft are separate exceptions. See Dying online.

How does saving work, and is my progress safe?

Offline saves are browser-storage slots or desktop files, an online character is held by the account service and saves as you go, and loading during online play is disabled. See Saving and returning.

How do I make my first money?

Early gold comes from introduction quests (100–400 gold a step), bounties and the loot you sell at any counter, and banking the leftovers protects it. See Making money.

Where should I stand for questline letters?

A letter reaches you only outdoors in a town by day, one new line starts at most once per character hour, and a step that needs a building waits for a town that has it. See Courier letters.

Which guild should I join, and what does it cost?

An NPC guild hall takes an application when your standing and guild skills qualify and the source names no joining fee, while a player guild costs 10000 gold and Renown 10 to found. See The NPC guilds and Player guilds.

Can I respec later?

Firmament refunds are free below Renown 10 and cost 10 Marks a star after that, a whole-sky respec is 10000 gold, a specialisation change is 1,000 Marks, a skill swap is 100,000 gold, and a mastery can never be undone. See The Firmament, Craft specialisations and Masteries and specialisations.

Can other players attack me?

Not in ordinary play; player damage happens in duels you accept, Arena bouts, guild sieges and the Wrothgarian Open Zone. See Meeting other players and The Open Zone.

How do I report a bug or a player?

/bug opens the private issue form, /report <name> reports conduct, and the Discord or issue tracker carry anything the in-game forms miss. See Keys and commands.

How much time does the game ask, and what is the endgame?

The source sets no completion time; Renown runs to 50, questlines open through level 12, and the late game is Elite Gates, Abyss Dungeons, Arena seasons, the Open Zone, the Eltheric Ocean and Legacy. See The questline ladder and Catching up.

What does the Draft badge mean?

Draft means the page has been checked against the game's source but not yet read end to end by the maintainer for sense or contradictions. See How this guide is checked.

Modes, mods and getting unstuck

What is the difference between offline and online?

Offline is DFO's single-player game on this device; online adds an account, the shared ruleset, other players, Marks, Renown, the market, guilds, events and the account-held character. See Offline and online.

Do I need to decide a mode before creating a character?

Yes. The front door asks Online or Offline first, and a character belongs to one of those worlds; an offline DFO character can be brought online once, and an online character copied to offline. See Offline and online.

Can I use Daggerfall Unity or Nexus mods?

No. DFO has no mod support and does not load DFU mods, Nexus mods or load orders; the Features rows are the game's own systems and settings, and online their scope is fixed for everyone. See Mods, saves and wipes.

Can I import my Daggerfall or Daggerfall Unity save?

Not yet. DFO characters are created in DFO; the only transfers are its own offline-to-online and online-to-offline doors, not saves from another game. See Mods, saves and wipes.

Will my character be wiped at launch or between seasons?

The source and the official site state no wipe schedule. What resets is seasonal standing in the Arena and city control, not the character; character deletion is the permanent, player-triggered act. See Mods, saves and wipes.

How do I play with a friend?

Add the player as a friend, form a party, meet or use party travel, and remember that kills, quest sharing, shared containers and mentor mode have separate rules. See Play with a friend.

Why can't I hit anything?

Check weapon skill, fatigue, weapon condition, target armour, range and the enemy's tells before blaming the character; online combat uses PCAAO's hit and damage rules. See Combat maths.

Where do I store gold, loot and materials safely?

Gold belongs in the bank; ordinary death only takes part of carried gold. Homes, wagons, ship holds, profession Stores and guild vaults hold different goods and have different risks; the Open Zone is the exception. See Safe storage.

Why do guards and guilds treat me differently?

Three separate tracks are at work: People reputation, legal standing in each region, and faction standing with a guild or temple. One does not repair another. See Standing and reputation.

I am stuck in a quest, or an NPC is missing. What do I do?

Use the recovery ladder before assuming a bug: re-read the journal, check a held step, try /unstuck, look for the NPC in the right place and time, then restart or report. See Stuck and recovery.

I know Daggerfall or Daggerfall Unity. What changed?

Fifteen online deltas matter first: walked travel, PCAAO combat, telegraphed attacks, the forced ruleset, no mid-session load, death as respawn, Marks, Renown, immediate guild promotions and online quest behaviour. See Coming from Daggerfall or Daggerfall Unity.

Character creation

Does race change my attributes?

No; attributes come from your class plus a roll and then your bonus points, while race sets your look, some defences and online weapon bonuses. See Choosing a race.

Which class should I choose?

Choose by the skills and role you want to play; compare the options in Classes.

Can I make my own class?

Yes; the custom builder lets you set skill tiers, health, attributes, advantages and disadvantages. Read Custom classes.

What should a warrior, mage, thief or hybrid prioritize?

Each style asks for a different balance of combat, magic and utility skills; see Choosing a playstyle.

What should I double-check before entering the world?

Review the creation summary, your class skill tiers and any custom-class restriction, because the final summary does not show your biography answers and the source provides no general undo. See Choices that are hard to undo.

What does Layered Gearing do?

It presents worn armour on your character model; see Appearance and Layered Gearing.

Playing online

Why does online play force some settings?

Shared-world systems override local switches so everyone in a room meets the same world and balance; see Online rules at a glance.

What key swings my weapon?

The default is the right mouse button, but the Controls screen shows your current binding. See Keys and commands.

What key uses a weapon technique?

The default technique action is the mouse's back side button, and you can rebind it in Controls. See Keys and commands.

Why does Enter open chat?

Online, Enter opens chat; press Y to free the mouse cursor instead. See Keys and commands.

Where do I change key bindings?

Open Settings › Controls › Key bindings; see Keys and commands.

How do I find the available chat commands?

Type /help; other in-game lists include /lang, /emotes and /breach help. See Keys and commands.

Why did my command not appear in chat?

Unknown slash commands are refused rather than sent as ordinary text, and a line beginning // sends text that begins with a slash. See Keys and commands.

Progress and events

What is the difference between character level and Renown?

They are separate tracks: character level follows your skills, while Renown is the online ladder to 50 that adds health and spell points and opens systems. See Renown.

When do I unlock the Firmament?

The Written in the Stars introduction opens at character level 3, and the tree itself is in the pause menu's Growth tab. See The Firmament.

Why did I stop earning Marks or Renown?

Account ceilings, service windows and event receipts use different scopes; check Caps, timers and resets.

When does a daily cap reset?

Many account caps use UTC days, while service rate limits reset each clock hour; see Caps, timers and resets.

How often can I fight the same Arena opponent for rating?

Rated pairs are limited to five counted bouts per UTC day and ten per season. See Arena seasons and the Royal Tourney.

Is the Royal Tourney part of the Arena season?

No; it runs through a proclaimed seat week and has its own pair limit. See Arena seasons and the Royal Tourney.

What unlocks ordinary elite enemies?

Elite spawns begin at level 3 and Renown 5 in your own world. See Elite Gates and the Elite Breach.

Does level 12 unlock the Abyss Dungeon itself?

No; level 12 opens The Hour That Was Not, and the shared dungeon has its own spawn cycle. See Abyss Dungeons.

How do I start the Elite Breach commands?

Use /breach, and /breach help lists the options. See Elite Gates and the Elite Breach.

What can happen to my items in the Open Zone?

Eligible carried items and cart contents can be left in shared remains after PvP death. See The Open Zone.

Is Project Legacy forced on every online character?

No; it is player-owned. See Legacy.

How much gold can an heir inherit?

The estate is one quarter of carried gold, capped at 9,900. See Legacy.

Is there a level requirement for the Eltheric Ocean?

The source sets no universal character-level gate for it, but past Veilhaven's peace the sea is an online open-PvP zone with four-times-stronger foes and death's drop. See The Eltheric Ocean.

Where can I see recent changes?

This sync's player-facing changes are on What changed.

What does an unfamiliar handbook term mean?

Look it up in the Glossary.

Next

• The glossary

• What changed

Sources & checked facts

• Official site https://daggerfalljs.dev/ and upstream/snapshot-e4f093166/index.html: free Daggerfall sources, browser and app support, accounts

• Design records: docs/32-questions.md, docs/23-playing-online.md, docs/34-money-and-loot.md, docs/29-build-systems.md

• The sources listed on each linked handbook page

• src/systems/questlines/qlLines.js: QL_LINES, lineOpens and the introduction gates

• src/systems/questlines/qlLineRunner.js: STEP_GAP_S, mayBegin; src/systems/quest/actions.js: GivePc delivery conditions

• src/net/firmament/firmamentLaw.js: STARS_PER_RENOWN, REFUND_FREE_BELOW_RENOWN, REFUND_SILVER_PER_STAR, FIRM_RESPEC_GOLD

• src/net/professionLaw.js: RESPEC; src/net/guild/guildLaw.js: GUILD_FOUND_GOLD, GUILD_FOUND_RENOWN

• src/systems/skillSwap.js: SKILL_SWAP_GOLD; src/systems/arcanePaths.js: SPEC_RESET_GOLD; src/systems/masterSkills.js: mastery permanence

• src/systems/deathPenalty.js: DEATH_GOLD_DIVISOR; src/systems/deathRespawn.js: RESPAWN_HEALTH_FRACTION, SAFE_KINDS

• src/systems/save/saveSlots.js, src/scenes/dungeonContext.js: ONLINE-LOAD1; src/scenes/world.js: online checkpoint and exit save

• src/systems/inputActions.js: DEFAULT_BINDINGS; src/net/chatCommands.js: channels and commands

• src/systems/eliteFoes.js: ELITE_FOE_MIN_LEVEL, ELITE_FOE_MIN_RENOWN

• src/net/arena/arenaLaw.js: ARENA_PAIR_DAY_MAX, ARENA_PAIR_SEASON_MAX

• src/systems/legacy/legacyLaw.js: ESTATE_SHARE, ESTATE_MAX

• src/systems/bounty/bountyBoard.js: bountyGold; src/net/marksLaw.js: MARKS_FAUCETS, MARKS_BANK

• Research notes: handbook/research/X1.md, handbook/research/L1.md, handbook/research/B1.md

Facts used on this page

• Guild founding cost: 10000 gold
  src/net/guild/guildLaw.js · GUILD_FOUND_GOLD
• Guild founding Renown: 10 Renown
  src/net/guild/guildLaw.js · GUILD_FOUND_RENOWN
• Refunds free below Renown: 10 Renown
  src/net/firmament/firmamentLaw.js · REFUND_FREE_BELOW_RENOWN
• Refund cost per star: 10 Marks
  src/net/firmament/firmamentLaw.js · REFUND_SILVER_PER_STAR
• Firmament respec: 10000 gold
  src/net/firmament/firmamentLaw.js · FIRM_RESPEC_GOLD
• Maximum Renown: 50 Renown
  src/net/renown.js · RENOWN_MAX