critique my class 'the survivalist'

[Claudius]

I've started over oodles of times because I can't get a guy I like and then I give up. I want to finally get it right. I think I have figured out that what intrigues me the most is a character with the theme of being a survivor. Not a ranger in the sense of dnd or tolkien etc but more a green beret.

First the race I have in mind is orc because of the endurance of the race. I don't intend to use a lot of magic. So low intelligence isn't big although it might hurt alchemy which is quite a survival skill (its nice to be able to chug the right potion at the right time). Bosmer is cool but I don't like the low endurance.

Second, I am choosing stealth because you can still have good weapons armor namely shortsword/light armor. Speechcraft will help you get good deals. Sneak is just sexy. Combat would be the second choice which would net slightly better weapons/armor block and higher athletics (convenient)

Attributes are Endurance and Luck. Take more punishment and starting with 10 points in a slow rising attribute rocks.

The hard thing is to choose skills. I will break it down into combat, stealth, magic and list skills I want along with skills on my christmas wishlist. Skills I really want are with a star* and wishlist I type 50 to signify thats about how high I need it at most. The capital M will be explained below.

Combat

Block*
Heavy Armor*
Athletics 50

Magic

Alchemy* M
Alteration 50
Restoration 50
Enchant 50

Stealth

Security 50 if no alteration
Acrobat 50
Light Armor* M
Short Blade* M
Marksman* M
Sneak* M
Speechcraft*

Now to decide major/minor... Capital M appears in the above list if I think the build is accelerated (strong early by having a major skill). That leaves me with....

Major

Light Armor agility
Short Blade speed
Marksman agility
Sneak agility
Alchemy intelligence

Minor

Speech - personality
Block - Agility
Heavy Armor - Endurance
?Atletics? - Speed
?Security? - intelligence

For the remaining two I will pick ones that can level even though they will start low. Athletics (you always run) and security (pick easy locks). I realize that alteration is eventually more powerful but you cannot train a level 15 alt without the cheesiest of spells ie useless practice spell.

Sign: lady to start with even higher endurace and personality for better disposition.

Stat increase: I don't use the cheesy train each level to get x5 so basicly it will depend. Endurance will start very high. Agility (orc) will be hurting and my skills are dependent on it. So ALWAYS agility. I picked Luck as attribute so I wouldn't have to invest in it. Speed will help shortblade to connect.

So what do you think?

claudius

Edit: the build worked good for my playing style. I leveled endurance up to 100 fast (Orc and sign of lady) which made him hard to kill. Short blade levels FAST because you have to hit something so many times to kill it. This means you don't need extreme agility or speed to fight as your blade skill causes a hit. Don't think short blades are bad though. They are very fast and its easy to get enemies in stun lock. Plus they are light so you can carry a few and always have one fully charged in reserve to kill (paralyze, damage etc).

[Raven_Song]

Major

Light Armor agility
Short Blade speed
Marksman agility
Sneak agility
Alchemy intelligence

Minor

Speech - personality
Block - Agility
Heavy Armor - Endurance
?Atletics? - Speed
?Security? - intelligence

1. I've always found 2 armor skills to be somewhat redundent - I'd just stick with whichever one you prefer and major in it.

2. Short Blade does not need to be a major skill as it will train fairly quickly through repeated use anyways. You'd be far better making Block or Security a major skill instead.

3. Speechcraft - I don't know how much good it will do you to be honest ... orcs are naturally less charismatic than other races and as a minor skill you won't be able to influence people significantly for quite some time (even with the lady birthsign.)

[Claudius]

1. I've always found 2 armor skills to be somewhat redundent - I'd just stick with whichever one you prefer and major in it.

I can definately see your point. Eventually you find all the best armor of one type (light, med, heavy) so it doesn't matter if you choose just one.

I choose light and heavy because I don't know what armor I'll manage to get ahold of at lowish levels. I even trained medium armor up to as high as my heavy (which also helped endurance) as I found an orcish breastplate.

2. Short Blade does not need to be a major skill as it will train fairly quickly through repeated use anyways. You'd be far better making Block or Security a major skill instead.

I agree from a lot of standpoints. The character will not level as fast once short blade is at a level that the increment is slow (or even at 100 it is maxed). But remember my theme is survival. And I am a new player So if I come to a cave I don't say 'bah theres no treasure in that' or 'I won't be high enough level to beat the knights of doom' I have no idea what I'm up against so I want short blade to be high.

Wouldn't mind having block higher though too. Good idea.

3. Speechcraft - I don't know how much good it will do you to be honest ... orcs are naturally less charismatic than other races and as a minor skill you won't be able to influence people significantly for quite some time (even with the lady birthsign.)

Yeah I'm experiencing this haha. My char is definately not the suavist but I didn't want this as a major in place of fighting skills. If I had to do it again I might put block in place of alchemy but my thinking may change again as I get access to more varied ingredients. So far I just make some money selling pots and have some cure poison, disease, levitation, combat healing for utility so alchemy is its a trade off and I do like my alchemy.

Even though orc its still not BAD to have speechcraft. Making it a misc. skill would make him even less popular, although I could then choose something else. The nice thing is I can level it easy just by talking to loads of people.

Anyhow thanks for the criticism. I'm happy with my character and game experience but I did learn some things from your critique. Of course I have my own likes and dislikes too.

claudius