Some of the more interesting aspects of the game Morrowind are the alchemy and enchanting systems. Being able to create your own potions and magic items is a good idea. But, unfortunately, they don't seem to work as well in practice.

Let's face it, you've loaded so many soul gems that you've about driven cliff racers into extinction but you can't enchant an item if your life depended on it. Or, you've eaten so many ingredients that you are about to deforest Vvardenfell but your potions come out worthless or with trivial effects. What can you do?

Well, before you resign yourself to paying for potions and enchantments, here's something to try. This takes a bit of gold and a lot of patience and mouse clicks but the results are worth it.

First, you need a lot of alchemy ingredients; specifically you need as much Ash Yam, Netch Leather and/or Bloat as you can get your hands on. Collect, buy or acquire them however you can. I would recommend about 100 each of any two of them. You will also need a mortar and pestle. If you need one there is a master's set at the top of the stairs in the Mage's Guild in Caldera. Go ahead and take it; no one is watching.

Finally, you will need soul gems and enchant items for everything you want to enchant and enough ingredients for any other potions you want to make. (Some suggestions? Any two of Marshmerrow, Wickwheat, Corkbulb Root or Saltrice make Restore Health potions, Comberry and Frost Salts make Restore Magicka and any two of Luminous Russula, Hackle-ho Leaves and Kwama Cuttle create Water Breathing potions.)

OK, let's get started. Open your inventory and drag the mortar and pestle onto your character portrait. This will open up your potion menu. Select any two of the Ash Yam, Netch Leather or Bloat as your ingredients. This creates a Fortify Intelligence potion. Keep mixing until you have several created. Then, stop and drink them then quickly switch out of inventory mode (so that you see the magic effect animation) then switch back in. If you look, your Intelligence should be quite a few points higher.

Now, the potions you have created should only raise a few points for a few seconds. But, while you have your inventory open, the game is paused so your heightened intelligence should last as long as you are mixing. (That's why you have to switch out then quickly switch back in; the potion won't take effect while the game is paused but you don't want to stay unpaused any longer than you have to. That's also why I suggest mixing several up then drinking them all at once.)

Go back into the alchemy screen and mix up another set of potions. You should notice that these are slightly better than the first set you made. Drink them as before then start on your third set. Continue this pattern until you run out of ingredients.

You will notice after a while that your potions are getting better and better and that you are having more and more success at creating them. This is because the game considers both your skill level and its controlling attribute when determining success. The controlling attribute for both Alchemy and Enchanting is Intelligence and that should be climbing faster and faster.

Once your Intelligence hits 1000 or so you can start mixing your other potions and enchanting the items you need; your success rate at this point should be close to 100% and the potions you create should be of top quality. Saving a few of your high-quality potions to sell should recover any costs you had in purchasing the initial ingredients.

For the record, I started with an Alchemy skill of 8(!) and an Intelligence of 55. By the time I ran out of ingredients my fortified Intelligence was 1431(!). (I also gained 3 levels in Alchemy along the way.) My final potions were increasing my Intelligence by 49 points for 148 seconds. I then mixed up a bunch of very high quality potions (for example, my Restore Health potions were at 10 points for 30 seconds) and enchanted over a dozen items flawlessly.

While some may consider this an exploit (since you are taking advantage of the fact that the game pauses in inventory mode) it is certainly preferable to using the console to boost your Intelligence long enough to make the items. Using this method allows any character to create their ultimate enchanted item. Try it and have fun.