That last damn hit point

[TenShadows]

I don't know if anyone else has ever noticed anything like this, but there's been something about combat in Oblivion that's been bugging me since forever: regardless of whether I play vanilla or have put up some damage mods and stuff, always, every single time, I seem to have significant trouble finishing off my enemies.

 

I mean, at first they seem to take damage okay - or not, if you have leveled up high enough and haven't installed any damage mods - but once they have only the tiniest sliver of HP bar left, it starts to take a lot more trouble dealing that last bit of damage than it has up until now. At first I can damage them to criticals without significant trouble, but at that point it takes about a million slashes and cuts before they finally surrender that last bit of their lives and die in front of me.

 

Is this some engine mechanic I haven't heard of? Like, does the game actually store nine tenths of the enemy hit points right at the end of their bar, and up until that point I had only scratched them a little? Why must it be so hard to kill things?

Edited August 10, 2013 by TenShadows

[DarJee]

It's the normal behavior. The visual representation for a NPC's health must be obviously non-linear (you guess right, same angles do not correspond to the same amount of health, depending on how close they are to the zero point). In addition, trolls and zombies have the ability to regenerate health over time. If you have overhauls installed (like OOO/FCOM) some special NPCs added by them also have a fast regeneration rate. In similar cases, a well timed Drain Health spell comes in handy, as a finishing stroke.

[DarJee]

And of corse, there are vulnerabilities and resistances. Fire enchanted weapons, as you certainly know, incinerate trolls and vampires very easily.

Edited August 20, 2013 by DarJee

[Faelrin]

This is probably going to be a dumb question but do you pay attention to your fatigue bar? The more you attack, the less fatigue you'll have and the less damage you do. So it might be easy to attack an enemy at first but it can take longer to finish it if you don't have enough fatigue left.