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Character Creation

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 6:56 am
by Saven
Hi guys , I am new here and I have a problem with creating my character. I want a Combat and Magic combination character but the problem is, that I do not know which race and class to choose. If you recommend a custom class then please tell me which specilization , favored attributes and skills I should choose.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:24 am
by Tricky
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Races

Not included on that specific page are the races' individual abilities. But you can click more on the races from there to find out.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:25 am
by Saven
Checked that long ago , I cannot decide :/.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:27 am
by galraen
Custom class is best, but skills to chose is problematic as the game is very counter-intuitive. It's easy for a straight mage, all the magic skills except for one (I usually leave out either Alteration or Restoration) and one skill you'll never use hand-2-hand for example. Don't have skills you use a lot other than those, otherwise you'll level up too quickly and be out matched by 'monsters' rapidly.

Even for a fighter mage I'd go with:

Destruction, Illusion, Mysticism, Comjuration, Alteration, H2H and Speachcraft, and never use the last two if I could possibly avoid it.

Favoured attributes, whatever you fancy and Luck, I'd recommend Endurance and Luck. Specialise in either combat or magic, magic will go up at a reasonable rate even if you take combat, and with weapons and armour as minors, combat ios probably best with the above build.

Keep your eye on how close you are to levelling up, and when you get close use minor skills to boost whatever attribute you want to increase. So, initially it's good to increase endurance as quickly as possible, along with strength, so make sure you have ten increases in endurance and strength related skills before you hit level up.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:33 am
by Saven
Well...you see I don't really like H2H , so any other combat skill as a replacement for it ?

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:27 am
by galraen
Saven wrote:Well...you see I don't really like H2H , so any other combat skill as a replacement for it ?

The whole point of having it a a major is that you don't use it, but use one of the weapons in your minors. Yes that means a slow start with the weapon, but better slow than use a major slot on a weapon you do use and level up too quickly. As I said the game is counter intuitive. If you take the build I mentioned and use destruction spells, plus conjuration and mysticism to level up, you will level at a reasonable rate. Top up whichever mage attribute (willpower or intelligence) by spamming either alchemy or restoration, then by using the armour skill, plus wearing heavy armour and blocking and swinging away with blade or blunt weapon you should be able to add 5 points of strength, endurance and intelligence/willpower at every level up.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:20 pm
by Garriath
I'll just butt in and say that I've never followed Galraen's advice on avoiding leveling up, and I've enjoyed the game just fine. I'll go ahead and recommend that you replace H2H with Blade, and have some fun with the game's swords. Level up whenever you feel like it.

As far as race goes, Dark Elves are a nice Fighter/Mage type, having nice bonuses to blades and magic. Bretons and argonians would be fine middle-of-the-road types. If you want to lean more on the fighter side, go with a Nord or Orc. If you're feeling more magic, go Breton. But I'd really recommend the dark elves the most for what you're describing.

Hope this helps!

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 6:38 am
by galraen
You can have fun with the game's swords whether blade is minor or major.

I agree about Dark Elf, the 75% fire resistance is a major boon in this game.

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 12:19 pm
by Garriath
Er, am I crazy for thinking that Oblivion doesn't have minor skills? You either have them usable from the start, and help you level up, or they start out nearly useless and contribute nothing towards developing your character...

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 1:14 pm
by galraen
Minor skills, i.e. those that aren't major and don't cause you to level up are far from useless, and can contribute a lot towards developing your character.

Every time you level up you get a choice of three attributes that you can increase, the amount you can increase them is dictated by how many times you have increased a skill related to each ability.

So if you have an intuitive warrior mage with major skills Destruction, Conjuration, blade, heavy armour, block, armourer and restoration and wade in to adventuring only using those skills when you level up you'll likely have options something like

Can increase Endurance by 3, Willpower by 2, Intelligence by 1, and Strength by one. Not too bad for endurance but horrible for anything else.

Have the skill setup Destruction, Illusion, Mysticism, Comjuration, Restoration, H2H and Speachcraft, and never use the last two if I could possibly avoid it., and use a blade exclusively, backed up with destruction armour and mending your armour and weapons, even those you only want to sell t every opportunity. Additionally either spam alteration spells (purchase necessary spells, and even buy skill increases) or make potions like crazy and the first time you level up you could have the option to increase Endurance, Strength and Intelligence or Willpower by 5.

Obviously don't try to take on tough monsters initially with your blade, follow the coast and slay mudcrabs like crazy.

For a straight mage it's even easier, the aim being to increase endurance, willpower and intelligence by 5 at each level up. So even though you don't wear armour or swing a weapon, repair as much as possible, block frequently and even wear heavy armour when killing mudcrabs. Is this the way a game should be player? No. Is it the way that's likely to lead to least aggro at higher levels? Yes. Unfortunatley the levelling system in all Elder Scrolls games from Morrowind on is somewhat broken. Oblivion is broken in this way more than either Morrowind or Skyrim, the plus sides of the game overcomes this for me, especially with the mods you can run.

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 3:23 pm
by Garriath
What you're saying is all correct, but I've never found it especially important in developing your character for anything less than a hardcore game. If you've played the game a while and want to take on a higher difficulty, all you're saying is very applicable, but for Saven, who's never played the game before, he can be totally safe choosing "blade" as a major skill if he wants to use swords.

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:55 pm
by Claudius
I took:

(took as majors slow levelers)

Int - Enchant (for trinkets, very good don't use magicka/mana)
Wis - Destruction
Agi? -Block
Sp - Athletics (as I say elsewhere slow running/walk = less xp per time gaming.)
Int - Security

Str - Long Blade
Agi - Light Armor
? - Mysticism
Illusion
Speechcraft

I leveled Endurance and Luck and one other attribute until endurance topped. You need gold for training in the fighters guild on: Med Armor, Heavy Armor, Spear... That should get you started :) Don't level personality as a priority, but it's not a total waste as there is a lot of bribing and things.

You can take: combat, stealth, or magic and it will just effect what levels faster. I think Magic if you want to use that without 'training' (spamming spell to level). Combat to hit the power curve fast of grinding out melee. Stealth if you want to hit a super high level developing all the skills for playing a complete exhausting all content play through.

This build can fight, use trinkets and potions (you don't need alchemy as a major or minor it levels like mad).. And it can use utility mage skills and destruction magic. But it may be more a 'batman' build and less of a 'battle mage'.. Not sure to your taste?

Always take Breton as a race, they are far and away superior even for fighters imho. It's just a broken balance in the game.

I take the Lady star sign so I get my max hp/level sooner. The HP is not retro-active to endurance earned. There are other better star signs, like the autronach but that is more difficult to manage if you are non-cheesy. Steed is nice in the beginning because you level faster the less time you spend walking. Mage and Warrior and Thief are good I think.

Enchant: you don't actually enchant anything, but the trinkets are insane power it is like you can cast 1000 mana a day. Very easy to find several chameleon rings to boost defense very early and high enchant means you use them more often :)

I don't find 'level scaling' in Morrowind to be nearly as annoying as in Oblivion. It's impossible to break your character to have no possible region to level higher.

I put most of my gold into training and one of the first things is mercantile so during the whole game I get more selling and money advantage. More training in merc leads to more money leads to more training = a virtuous cycle.

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:04 am
by galraen
Wrong thread Claudius, this is an Oblivion thread not Morrowind.

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:30 pm
by Claudius
Doh! ::facepalm::