Standing Stones

The Standing Stones are upright magical stones located throughout the province of Skyrim. Legend tells of the stones granting special powers to heroes of old, giving them the ability to rewrite their fate.Watcher of Stones
==Characteristics==
Standing at approximately 3 meters in height, the ancient menhir-shaped stones each display a different Tamrielic constellation carved into its body. A total of 13 stones are dotted across the land — one for each month of the year, and The Serpent, which has no month associated with it.The Firmament The stones only seem to respond to certain individuals, but it is unknown what the qualifier for this is.Watcher of Stones
==Usage==
Activating a stone will grant the Dragonborn special bonuses, including but not limited to:
*Increased speed of specific skills gains by up to 20%
*Grant a special once-a-day ability
*Increased Health/Magicka/Stamina or their regeneration rates
*Improved miscellaneous stats (armor, carry weight, resistances, etc.)
The Apprentice and Atronach Stones, however, also confer penalties such as Magicka vulnerability and a decreased Magicka regeneration rate, respectively.
The Dragonborn can only have one stone active at any one time, however, their active blessing can be changed at any time by activating another stone. If they have the Aetherial Crown equipped, they can have the blessings from two stones active at a time.
Unlike shrines, followers are incapable of activating standing stones.
==Stones==
Name 	Description 	Effect 	Location
The Apprentice Stone	Those under the sign of The Apprentice recover Magicka faster, but are more susceptible to Magicka damage. 	
*+100% Magicka regeneration
*+100% Weakness to Magic 	On an island in the Hjaalmarch marsh, just north of Fort Snowhawk, west-northwest of Morthal.
The Atronach Stone 	Those under the sign of The Atronach absorb a portion of incoming spell damage and have a larger pool of Magicka, but recover it more slowly.	
*50 extra Points of Magicka
*50% Absorb spells
*-50% Magicka regen 	In the southernmost part of the hot springs of Eastmarch, northwest of Mistwatch and east-northeast of Darkwater Crossing.
The Lady Stone 	Those under the sign of The Lady regenerate Health and Stamina more quickly. 	Regenerate Health and Stamina 25% faster. 	On an island in Lake Ilinalta, directly north of Falkreath, west of Riverwood.
The Lord Stone 	Those under the sign of The Lord are more resistant to both Magicka and physical damage. 	
*50 points of damage resistance
*25% magic resistance 	East of Morthal, northeast of the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, about one and a half times as far as Stonehills, on the mountain summit. Follow the path starting north of the Hall of the Vigilant to the shrine and the stone
The Lover Stone 	Those under the sign of The Lover always feel a Lover's Comfort. (All skills improve faster). 	All skills increase 15% faster. 	East of Markarth, north of Kolskeggr Mine.
The Mage Stone 	Those under the sign of the Mage will learn all magic skills 20% faster. 	Magic skills increase 20% faster. 	The Guardian Stones, southwest of Riverwood on the roadside.
The Ritual Stone 	Once a day, those under the sign of The Ritual can reanimate nearby corpses to fight for them. 	Resurrect corpses around you to fight for you once per day. 	East of Whiterun, on the roadside, above the entrance to Graywinter Watch.
The Serpent Stone 	Once a day, those under the sign of The Serpent can use a ranged paralyzing poison on opponents. 	Paralyze the target for 5 seconds and do 25 points of poison damage once per day.	Directly east of the College of Winterhold and northeast of the Wreck of The Pride of Tel Vos, on an icy island in the Sea of Ghosts.
The Shadow Stone 	Once a day, those under the sign of The Shadow can become invisible for an extended period. 	Invisibility for 60 seconds once per day. 	A small mountain range south of Riften near Nightingale Hall.
The Steed Stone 	Those under the sign of The Steed can carry more and do not suffer a movement penalty from armor. 	
*Carry weight +100
*Equipped armor has no weight and causes no movement penalty.	West-northwest of Solitude, directly north of Statue to Meridia, near Ironback Hideout.
The Thief Stone 	Those under the sign of the Thief will learn all stealth skills 20% faster. 	Stealth skills increase 20% faster. 	The Guardian Stones, southwest of Riverwood on the roadside.
The Tower Stone 	Those under the sign of The Tower have the option to automatically open Expert or lower locks. 	Unlock any expert level lock (or lower) once per day. 	About halfway between Dawnstar and Winterhold, on a high snow-covered cliff.
The Warrior Stone 	Those under the sign of the Warrior will learn all combat skills 20% faster. 	Combat skills increase 20% faster. 	The Guardian Stones, southwest of Riverwood on the roadside.
==Usefulness==
*In order to maximize skill gains when crafting, it is recommended to visit the Warrior Stone prior to smithing, the Thief Stone prior to alchemy and the Mage Stone prior to enchanting, respectively. These three stones are encountered at the very beginning of the game, letting you specialize in one or switch between them depending on your next actions.
*The Thief Stone also gives a boost to improving the speech skill for bartering with shopkeepers and persuading/intimidating people. The effect can also be combined with enchanted gear that fortifies speech.
*One of the best bonuses, especially in the early game, is conferred by the Steed Stone. Especially appreciated by characters wearing heavy armor, this stone provides the bonuses of two perks, significantly improving your capacity to carry loot. Not only does it increase carry weight by 100 points, allowing longer dungeon crawls, it also negates the movement penalty of equipped armor.
*In a dungeon environment where a player values skill gains over other combat advantages, The Lover Stone offers better value than any of the Warrior, Thief and Mage Stones. This is because the character may use skills from more of the primary skill groups. Furthermore, the 5% difference between +15% and +20% bonuses does not compensate for the limited versatility.
*While the Tower Stone can help opening most locks too difficult to pick at low lockpicking skill levels, it also slows down the improvement of that skill as no experience is gained by using the stone's special power.
*The Lord Stone (25%) allows Bretons to reach the maximum cap of magic resistance at 85%, while wearing no armor. It requires their Racial ability (25%), Agent of Mara (15%), and magic resistance 2/3 (20%).
*The Atronach Stone (50%) allows any race to have an 80% spell absorption, when combined with the Atronach perk (30%).
**The Restoration school also allows one to counteract the -50% magicka regeneration of the stone through use of the Recovery perk.
==Gallery==
Apprentice.png|The Apprentice
Atronach.png|The Atronach
Lady.png|The Lady
Lord.png|The Lord
Lover.png|The Lover
Mage2.png|The Mage
Ritual.png|The Ritual
Serpent.png|The Serpent
Shadow.png|The Shadow
Steed.png|The Steed
Thief2.png|The Thief
Tower.png|The Tower
Warrior2.png|The Warrior
==Trivia==
*Despite Archery falling under the Warrior skill set, it is counted as a stealth skill and covered by the Thief Stone in this instance only. It is unknown if this is a bug or an intentional element for game balancing.
*Reading An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim will add 4 of the 13 stones locations to the in-game map.
*In some of Skyrim's early gameplay footage, the Standing Stones map marker was different. Instead of them having their own unique map marker, they had the marker for a landmark.
==Bugs==
* It may be possible to get the "Standing Stone" achievement without actually going to all the stones. Simply go to the Thief, the Mage and the Warrior stones at the Guardian Stones 13 times. Players may actually "find" more than 13 standing stones.
* The standing stone from which a blessing is accepted appears to be invisible; this is probably related to low graphics settings. (Keep the Object Fade setting on at least "1.")
*Sometimes the achievement "Blessed" may not unlock the first time a blessing is received.
==Achievements==
 
==Appearances==
* 
==References==
de:Findlinge (Skyrim)
es:Menhires
fr:Pierres Gardiennes
pl:Kamienie Przeznaczenia (Skyrim)
ru:Камни судьбы (Skyrim)
Category:Skyrim: Locations
 
Category:Skyrim: Interactive Items