Place where I can buy regular gems?

[PsxMeUP]

Is there a place where I can buy gems? Not soul gems, just regular gems. I need it when I start my increasing alchemy/enchanting thingy. Or better yet, is there a store where I can buy various rings and necklaces, like that Red Diamond Jewelry store in Oblivion?

[ita]

The Redguard chick in Markarth and the lizard in Riften are known jewelry merchants.

 

Merchants in general sell some gemstones as well.

[worldofscotty]

If your using Vals meltdown you can melt jewellery down into their base jewels

[ThrowingTracks]

Would it not be easier and cheaper to pick up the gems from dungeons and the like? You could then go and mine some silver/gold ore and then make all the jewelry you like at the forge. iirc a single gold/silver ingot will make 2 rings or 1 necklace you can also put in whatever gem you like as well during the process to create your jewelry - this will also increase your smithing.

 

unless of course cash is not a problem :)

Edited April 14, 2012 by ThrowingTracks

[BrettM]

General merchants will offer gemstones of certain types (never flawless gems) and a few pieces of jewelry, but never a large quantity of either. Radiant Raiment in Solitude carries a wide selection of jewelry and the two jewelry booths (Markarth and Riften) carry a small selection, but none of them carries gems.

 

You also have a chance of getting a gemstone when mining any kind of ore vein, so this may be a good source for you, especially if you follow ThrowingTracks's advice. Smithing jewelry is a good way to raise your smithing level faster than you can by smithing cheap items such as iron daggers.

Edited April 14, 2012 by BrettM

[PsxMeUP]

Thanks. The merchants will have to do. Whatever I find isn't enough. I need on average 10 rings/necklaces. That's 8 different gems. I went through all the gems I had collected since starting the game in one session. And I have a mining mod that makes me find 27 ores per vein. I enchant the items with alchemy boost. Put them on. Create better enchanting potions. Drink enchanting potions. Enchant new batch of jewelry. I need to do it a bunch of times. I'd need to go through all the mines and spend days or weeks in dungeons looking for gems to accomplish that. Kinda weird they didn't include a decent jewelry store when Oblivion had one. God knows Solitude could use more stuff. It's the capital of Skyrim and all it has is a convenience store, a clothing store and an alchemy shop... The clothing store really doesn't cut it if you want jewelry. Edited April 15, 2012 by PsxMeUP

[BrettM]

I've never found any real need to do that. Once I have Enchanting and Alchemy to 100, then I use three sets of jewelry to optimize my Fortify Alchemy gear: 25% for the first set, 28% for the second, and 29% for the final. It may take me a little longer to get Alchemy to 100, but I also don't get into a situation where my foes are leveling faster than my combat skills can handle. I can see making maybe a couple of sets of Fortify Alchemy gear before then to speed the process just a little, but going through a whole bunch of sets that only differ by a small amount seems like such a pain when I could be out questing. The questing gives me far more than enough loot jewelry -- not to mention gems, gold, and silver -- to get the job done. However, if you're going to do it this way, why bother with gems? Plain gold/silver necklaces and rings will work just as well and are much easier to come by.

 

To each his own, but I find power-leveling crafting skills just makes the game more difficult than it needs to be.

[raatorotta]

Khajiit merchants usually also sell some gems.

[RedRavyn]

Can't you craft jewelry without using gems? I never tried in the vanilla game (first playthrough) and I have a crafting overhaul mod installed, so that might be why I can craft ordinary silver jewelry. Circlets, I think, do require gems, but rings and necklaces don't.

 

Anyway, it sounds to me like you're grinding alchemy from day one. You'll find that you level up far too rapidly, that way and your opponents will all be more survivable than you are, especially later on in the game. Take your time. This game drops an obscene amount of pre-made jewelry once you have a few levels under your belt. BrettM speaks truth. Do this whole remake of your enchanting gear three, maybe four times. The little incremental boosts aren't really going to make that much difference in the long run. Also, you'll get Smithing, Enchantment, and Alchemy up to 100, eventually. It isn't necessary to march into Whiterun to save the world with all three of those skills that high and with precious few of your survival skills over twenty. That just makes the game harder.

 

For the most part, though, I don't even bother with crafting jewelry. Most people probably do this for money, but I find that I'm rolling in cash after about level ten to fifteen, since I meticulously clear an area of loot before I finish with it, even it it means multiple grab and run trips My biggest problem is actually finding enough people with gold to buy it all from me. The profit margin from crafting in this game is a bit ludicrous. In fact, most of the "profit" is negative, since most crafted items sell for less than the combined value of their raw materials, so it's more logical to sell the raw materials. I need to use my toes to count all my playthroughs, to date, and I haven't crafted a single item that requires silver or gold since playthrough three.

 

I see silver/gold nuggets, raw gems, and even most jewelry as trade items. Indeed, at about level 25 or so I don't even bother picking up most of the stuff I encounter. If I can use it, myself (or I know its required for a quest later on), it goes on-board. If the only thing it's good for is padding my pockets with gold, I don't bother. They're already sagging with more gold than I can ever spend.

[fms1]

Look up the reward for completing the "unusual gem" quest, it's a long scavenger hunt, but may solve problem.