New Character

[Snoolas]

So, I've played Oblivion for a while with a pure warrior redguard character. I've since then been playing around with magic and alchemy a bit, and I've discovered that I don't actually mind it since it has been improved so much compared to Morrowind. But I've been frustrated that my redguard started with such bad levels for those skills, so I'm thinking about starting a new character.

But I'm still a melee man, really. I really want to be able to use both magic and combat. So this is what I was thinking:

Name/Class: Snoolas / ...
Race/Gender: High Elf (Altmer) / Female
Birthsign: The Warrior
Specialization: Combat
Attributes: Willpower, Endurance
Major Skills: Alchemy, Destruction, Alteration, Restoration,
Blade, Block, Heavy Armor

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 90/200/170
Max Level: 49.5
Encumbrance: 200

Abilities:
- Resist Disease (constant: 75 pt. Self)

Drawbacks:
- Weakness to Fire, Frost, and Shock (constant: 25 pt. Self)

Stats:
INTELLIGENCE-50: Alchemy-30, Mysticism-15, Conjuration-10
WILLPOWER-45: Destruction-35, Alteration-35, Restoration-25
PERSONALITY-40: Illusion-10, Mercantile-5, Speechcraft-5
AGILITY-40: Security-5, Sneak-5, Marksman-5
SPEED-40: Athletics-10, Acrobatics-5, Light Armor-5
STRENGTH-40: Blunt-10, Blade-30, Hand to Hand-10
ENDURANCE-45: Block-30, Armorer-10, Heavy Armor-30
LUCK-50

A female high elf for magic skill and then warrior sign and combat specialization to get combat better. My main concern with this is that though she has lots of OK skills, none of them are really good. My redguard, for example, began with combat skills around the fifties (I think).

[Akela]

Have you considered a more combat oriented race, like Nord, combined with a magicka oriented birthsign like The Mage? I have no idea how that would turn out. The thought just occurred to me.

[Snoolas]

Hmmm... That could work.

Name/Class: John Doe / Heroic Ex-con
Race/Gender: Nord / Male
Birthsign: The Mage
Specialization: Magic
Attributes: Willpower, Endurance
Major Skills: Alchemy, Destruction, Alteration, Restoration,
Blade, Block, Heavy Armor

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 110/110/180
Max Level: 48.5
Encumbrance: 250

Abilities:
- Frost Damage (daily: 50 pt. Touch)
- Shield (daily: 30 pt. Self for 1 min.)
- Resist Frost (constant: 50 pt. Self)

Stats:
INTELLIGENCE-30: Alchemy-30, Mysticism-10, Conjuration-10
WILLPOWER-35: Destruction-30, Alteration-30, Restoration-35
PERSONALITY-30: Illusion-10, Mercantile-5, Speechcraft-5
AGILITY-40: Security-5, Sneak-5, Marksman-5
SPEED-40: Athletics-5, Acrobatics-5, Light Armor-5
STRENGTH-50: Blunt-15, Blade-35, Hand to Hand-5
ENDURANCE-55: Block-30, Armorer-10, Heavy Armor-35
LUCK-50

Still pretty much the same, except slightly leaning toward combat rather than magic, like the original idea...

[AnimaMortis]

BUT without the weakness to shock, fire and frost.
I think thats a major advantage over the first suggestion

[Snoolas]

But the Altmer has 75 pt Disease resistance... Meh, whatever. I suppose the Nord is fine. So does he look like a good character?

[Vook]

With restoration at 50 you can cast cure disease on self.
With fame>infamy + no bounty, cure disease at a temple.
Without prerequisites, eat mandrake root (common in County Anvil, cheap elsewhere) to cure disease. And even if you catch one, no biggie.

IMHO useless perk.

[Snoolas]

OK. Nords are much more cool, anyway. (Heheh... Nords... Cool. Heheh.)

[Wouldntyouliketoknow]

But I'm still a melee man, really. I really want to be able to use both magic and combat. So this is what I was thinking:

Name/Class: Snoolas / ...
Race/Gender: High Elf (Altmer) / Female
Birthsign: The Warrior
Specialization: Combat
Attributes: Willpower, Endurance
Major Skills: Alchemy, Destruction, Alteration, Restoration,
Blade, Block, Heavy Armor

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 90/200/170
Max Level: 49.5
Encumbrance: 200

Abilities:
- Resist Disease (constant: 75 pt. Self)

Drawbacks:
- Weakness to Fire, Frost, and Shock (constant: 25 pt. Self)

A female high elf for magic skill and then warrior sign and combat specialization to get combat better. My main concern with this is that though she has lots of OK skills, none of them are really good. My redguard, for example, began with combat skills around the fifties (I think).

thats a HORRIBLE character for a melee class and your attributes are f**ked up for melee!
Strength and Endurance is whats needed if your going to have heavy armor and female no less! the females have less strength than male...i have nothing against females...so your going to have NO space for loot if you keep your willpower over strength!!! ill give you stats for a blade mage which is really useful which i played with for a bit... 40%magic/40%combat/20%stealth for the blade mage mostly
you can deal without armor specializations because those dont cost very much to train

High elf/Blade Mage
Mage
Intelligence, Willpower
The Warrior
Major Skills:Alchemy, Alteration, Destruction, Illusion, Mysticism, Blade, and block.

spellcaster with stong destuction abilities and high magicka but can eliminate multiple enemies in melee---> shifting to blade lets you regenerate magicka as well

[Snoolas]

So....

Name/Class: John Doe / Heroic Ex-con
Race/Gender: High Elf (Altmer) / Male
Birthsign: The Warrior
Specialization: Magic
Attributes: Intelligence, Willpower
Major Skills: Alchemy, Mysticism, Destruction, Alteration,
Illusion, Blade, Block

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 100/210/175
Max Level: 47
Encumbrance: 200

Abilities:
- Resist Disease (constant: 75 pt. Self)

Drawbacks:
- Weakness to Fire, Frost, and Shock (constant: 25 pt. Self)

Stats:
INTELLIGENCE-55: Alchemy-35, Mysticism-40, Conjuration-15
WILLPOWER-45: Destruction-40, Alteration-40, Restoration-10
PERSONALITY-40: Illusion-35, Mercantile-5, Speechcraft-5
AGILITY-40: Security-5, Sneak-5, Marksman-5
SPEED-30: Athletics-5, Acrobatics-5, Light Armor-5
STRENGTH-40: Blunt-5, Blade-25, Hand to Hand-5
ENDURANCE-50: Block-25, Armorer-5, Heavy Armor-5
LUCK-50

I'm just not quite sure about the lack of armor as a major skill... Maybe give illusion the boot and get heavy or light armor?

[Akela]

I'm surprised that I don't see Armorer as a major. It's nuisance to have your magic armor all broken and not being able to repair it yourself. It never happens near a town, always deep down in dungeons and caves in the middle of nowhere.

[Wouldntyouliketoknow]

I'm surprised that I don't see Armorer as a major. It's nuisance to have your magic armor all broken and not being able to repair it yourself. It never happens near a town, always deep down in dungeons and caves in the middle of nowhere.

sorry i wasnt clear, i use armorer major but i meant dont use heavy/light armor as a major

[mandangalow]

i think it would be better (on whichever character) to use the sign of the lady to boost willpower and endurance and then make endurance and strenghth your makor skills. Just sayin'

[Snoolas]

Man, I'm very thoroughly confused... I'm beginning to think that all of these will be pretty much the same in the end. Maybe I should just go ahead and do whatever...

EDIT: I kind of like the looks of this:

Name/Class: Jane Doe / Heroic Ex-con
Race/Gender: Orc / Female
Birthsign: The Warrior
Specialization: Magic
Attributes: Willpower, Endurance
Major Skills: Alchemy, Mysticism, Destruction, Alteration,
Restoration, Blunt, Block

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 130/80/205
Max Level: 49
Encumbrance: 275

Abilities:
- Berserk (daily: effects below for 1 min.):
-- Fortify Health (25 pt. Self)
-- Fortify Fatigue (200 pt. Self)
-- Fortify Strength (50 pt. Self)
-- Drain Agility (100 pt. Self)
- Resist Magicka (constant: 25 pt. Self)

Stats:
INTELLIGENCE-40: Alchemy-30, Mysticism-30, Conjuration-10
WILLPOWER-50: Destruction-30, Alteration-30, Restoration-30
PERSONALITY-25: Illusion-10, Mercantile-5, Speechcraft-5
AGILITY-35: Security-5, Sneak-5, Marksman-5
SPEED-30: Athletics-5, Acrobatics-5, Light Armor-5
STRENGTH-55: Blunt-35, Blade-5, Hand to Hand-10
ENDURANCE-65: Block-35, Armorer-15, Heavy Armor-15
LUCK-50

[GrayMouser]

"Man, I'm very thoroughly confused... I'm beginning to think that all of these will be pretty much the same in the end. Maybe I should just go ahead and do whatever..."

Now you're on the right track! There is no perfect answer, only preferences. Perfection depends upon a set of values. Different people have different values so no one but yourself can determine the 'best' character for you.

GM, philosoper, thief, bottlewasher

[Snoolas]

OK, thanks GrayMouser... That makes me feel a bit better.

However, I just read (or rather, skimmed through) the article on the wiki about character creation. According to it, I'm doing everything wrong if I want to make a well balanced well leveled character. None of this stuff makes any sense to me. I don't want to have to plan out my character and control when and how things level... I just want to play. Will that work? I play with the difficulty slider all the way to the left, so pretty much the only thing that can bring my current character down is a group of about five city guards at once.

(Yes, I am totally aware that that takes all the challenge out of the game, but I frankly can't imagine why anyone would prefer a challenge in a game like this if given a choice. I just want to play and get my instant gratification with as little effort and tedium as possible.)

[AnimaMortis]

well, a Breton spellsword with the mage as birthsign works for me.
And playin combat oriented characters seems to be the easiest. So, if you just want to play, go for combat or combat/magic and put everything in it.