Oblivion:Chapels

A typical chapel in Cyrodiil

There is a chapel in each major city of Cyrodiil devoted to one of the Nine Divines and specializing in one of the eight attributes, offering Fortify and Restore spells in that attribute, much as the Mages Guild Halls each specialize in a single school of magic. The exceptions to this are Anvil's chapel, which specializes in both Luck and Personality, and Kvatch, which does not have any specialty (due to the destruction of Kvatch, it is possible the Anvil chapel was required to assume Kvatch's duties). Also, Akatosh is represented in two cities - the Imperial City and Kvatch - and Kynareth is not represented in any traditional chapel.

Each traditional chapel contains ten altars: one to each of the Nine, and a tenth central altar which will cure diseases, restore all attributes by 100 points, and restore health by 200 points. However, the central altar can only be used if your Fame is greater than your Infamy and you do not have an active bounty. The altars to the Nine will each fortify an attribute by 5 points for 5 minutes, with the exception of Arkay's which will fortify health by 10 points instead. However, in order to receive blessings from the altars to the Nine, you must have visited one of the wayshrines in the wilderness dedicated to the same Divine first. The wayshrines offer blessings more potent than those received from the associated chapel altars, along with the restorative effects of the central altars.

The staff at each traditional chapel consists of at least three people: the Primate is in charge of all administrative duties at the chapel, the Healer provides healing for the citizens of the city (though not for you), and the Priest or Priestess sells mostly Restoration spells, as well as a selection of Turn Undead spells from the school of Conjuration. Aside from standard healing spells, they will each sell spells to fortify or restore the attribute(s) with which their chapel is associated. The Primate and Healer generally do not offer any services, although a few are skill trainers. Additionally, some chapels host a living saint, a mortal representative of their respective Divine.

All traditional chapels have the same layout, with a large chapel room and an area below the front entrance with three doors: one to the chapel hall housing the residents' living quarters, and two to the chapel undercroft. Upon joining the Nine Divines faction, entering the chapel hall and the undercroft is no longer considered trespassing, taking items from the chapel is no longer considered stealing, and the sanctified dead in the undercroft will not attack unless your Personality is less than 30 or you initiate combat.

There are several non-traditional chapels in Cyrodiil as well. The Temple of the One has a single altar, available after the main quest, that provides the usual restoration of a central altar as well as the especially powerful Favor of Akatosh blessing, which fortifies Luck and Personality by 25 points each for 24 hours. Gottlesfont Priory, the Priory of the Nine^KotN, the Temple of the Ancestor Moths, and Weynon Priory all feature only a small central altar. Cadlew Chapel has been defiled by necromancers, rendering its blessing unavailable, while the Chapel of the Brethren has no altar.

The chapels in each city will also ring bells every in-game hour, but they can only be heard while outside and standing very close to the chapel's entrance.

Chapels

Traditional Chapels

• Chapel of Akatosh — Near Kvatch's south gate, southeast of the castle. (map)
• Chapel of Dibella — In Anvil's Chapelgate district, next to the gate to Castle Anvil and across from the town's graveyard. (map)
• Chapel of Stendarr — In the western end of Chorrol across from Jirolin Doran's house. (map)
• Great Chapel of Arkay — In the east side of Cheydinhal, next to the stream and facing several residential homes. (map)
• Great Chapel of Julianos — In southeast Skingrad, across the street from Shameer's and Tamika's houses. (map)
• Great Chapel of Mara — In the western end of Bravil's first island. (map)
• Great Chapel of Talos — In the southern end of Bruma, between the Jerall View Inn and Olav's Tap and Tack. (map)
• Great Chapel of Zenithar — In northwest Leyawiin, across the street from Margarte's house. (map)

Non-Traditional Chapels

•  Cadlew Chapel — A defiled chapel east of Bravil containing necromancers. (map)
• Chapel of the Brethren — A small chapel in the southern part of Hackdirt. (map)
•  Gottlesfont Priory — A settlement and chapel between Chorrol and Skingrad. (map)
•  Priory of the Nine^KotN — A settlement and chapel southeast of Skingrad (download-specific). (map)
•  Temple of the Ancestor Moths — A settlement and chapel north of Cheydinhal (quest-related). (map)
• The Temple of the One — The main temple in the Imperial City Temple District, and the location of the climax of the Main Quest. (map)
•  Weynon Priory — One of the three buildings at Weynon Priory. (map)

Altar Blessings

The central altar in a chapel cures diseases, restores all attributes by 100 points, and restores health by 200 points; however, the central altar can only be used if your Fame is greater than your Infamy and you do not have an active bounty. In addition, each smaller altar along the sides of the traditional chapels gives a specific blessing from one of the Nine, but only if you have visited a wayshrine to the associated Divine first.

Divine	Altar Blessing
Akatosh	Favor of Akatosh: Fortify Luck & Personality 25pt/24hr (at the Temple of the One)
	Blessings of Akatosh: Fortify Speed 5pt/5min (at all other chapels)
Arkay	Blessings of Arkay: Fortify Health 10pt/5min
Dibella	Blessings of Dibella: Fortify Personality 5pt/5min
Julianos	Blessings of Julianos: Fortify Intelligence 5pt/5min
Kynareth	Blessings of Kynareth: Fortify Agility 5pt/5min
Mara	Blessings of Mara: Fortify Willpower 5pt/5min
Stendarr	Blessings of Stendarr: Fortify Endurance 5pt/5min
Talos / Tiber Septim	Blessings of Talos: Fortify Strength 5pt/5min
Zenithar	Blessings of Zenithar: Fortify Luck 5pt/5min

Bugs

• Characters with Spell Absorption may absorb an altar's spell. This is one way for characters with the Atronach birthsign to restore their magicka.
  • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch, version 1.7.0, fixes this bug.
• When praying at an altar, you may receive the message "You've already received your blessing this day." even if the altar hasn't been used in the past 24 hours.
  • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch, version 3.4.0, fixes this bug.
  • One workaround for this bug is to wait an additional 24 hours and then use the altar again.