Maximum number of perks?

[Penguin _Overlord]

I am confused about the maximum number of perks available in one playthrough. I keep hearing mixed information about whether perks stop at 50 or the estimated cap of 70. Personally I believe that 50 is a little low considering that each perk tree can have up to 18 perks, with levels with in the perk. Investing heavily in one skill could possible lock you of of other useful perks for other skills. To have a reasonable assortment of skills you'd have to invest at most 5-10 perk points per skill. Which could be claimed by one perk alone. I think 70 is good. Allows you to have a decent skill set, but still requiring hard choices. Thoughts?

[OblivionDuruza]

It's one perk per level, with the level 'cap' at 50, but with the actual mathematical cap around 70. So you can get 70 of the just shy of 300 perks per playthrough, if I'm remembering all my numbers correctly.

[Penguin _Overlord]

That's good to hear, err.. read. Aussie's, such nice ppl and helpful .

[Dean]

Are the perks implemented like a 'tree'? If so then 50 would be a hell of a lot anyway, unless of course you decided to invest in all the 'branches' of that certain skill.

Gotta say that this will sure add a LOT of replay value to the game, what with all those choices.

[OblivionDuruza]

Awwh No problem. Here's an extra article to confirm things (280 perks).

I'll post some sources for the 50 levels info when I find them.

@Dean, you can say that again. I can already see loads of different combinations of perks and skills invested in, equalling many different characters and experiences. I look forward too it, in fact it seems somewhat like Reckoning's character build system will be.

[Argonanza]

When the game is out and I've gone through character creation I'll systematically go through the different branches and decide which perks to prioritize. There will undoubtedly be sacrifices and compromises.

[OblivionDuruza]

I'll be doing something similar. I'll have a number of characters, and I'll try and cover different branches with different ones. After an age of playing Skyrim, I'll probably do as I did with Oblivion and restart my primary character, then go through and choose all the perks I like best.

[soda popinski]

I dont understand where the number 50 came from, or what it actually means.

If the actual cap is around 70 then what happens at 50?

[OblivionDuruza]

It could be that levelling slows down, but it could also simply be a number. Oblivion and Fallout were apparently level 1 to 25 games, which is reflected in Oblivion by the 25 mark being when you started to get the best loot and face the toughest enemies. Levelling in Skyrim is apparently somewhat faster than Oblivion and Fallout, so I'd say level 50 is the point that you've hit the top of the range levelled loot and the hardest variations of levelled enemies.

Here's an article that might be worth reading.

[RohanWarden]

Just some food for thought

Spoiler:

Lv50 is the last level you get an achievement for reaching. Since there is no insanity/hardcore achievement this is likely the highest level Betheseda expects most players to reach

[soda popinski]

I have played oblivion way too much, and I never came close to maxing out a character.

I think it is almost impossible to do without using exploits (like selling 100 items one at a time instead of in one bunch)

[MasterRokon]

But dont the 280 perks also have individual level sets like shield smash can be leveled up 5 times on its own, if so wouldnt that mean to maximize a skill tree completely ie all 18 skills plus 5 levels for each would be like 80 so it would take all maximun mathmatical levels to achieve a near perfect single skill tree? Please do correct me if im wrong and i soo do wan to be wrong here.

[AeraDunmerMoon]

But dont the 280 perks also have individual level sets like shield smash can be leveled up 5 times on its own, if so wouldnt that mean to maximize a skill tree completely ie all 18 skills plus 5 levels for each would be like 80 so it would take all maximun mathmatical levels to achieve a near perfect single skill tree? Please do correct me if im wrong and i soo do wan to be wrong here.

I heard no news of this anywhere, where did you hear this?

[BabyKiller209]

If you're only capable of unlocking 1/4 of the perks in a given playthrough its just more incentive for me to go back and start another character with a totally different playstyle. You might even have to do multiple characters in a single style, for example if you play pure mage, you might be able to get through the trees for destruction and conjuration but not very deep into the other magic schools.

With as much as I played Oblivion I'm sure I'll eventually have unlocked nearly every perk in at least one of my many many times playing through the game

[BabyKiller209]

But dont the 280 perks also have individual level sets like shield smash can be leveled up 5 times on its own, if so wouldnt that mean to maximize a skill tree completely ie all 18 skills plus 5 levels for each would be like 80 so it would take all maximun mathmatical levels to achieve a near perfect single skill tree? Please do correct me if im wrong and i soo do wan to be wrong here.

I don't have any hard evidence for this but I would assume its a Novice-Journeyman-Expert type thing, for instance you unlock Shield Smash and as you level up that shield smash gets stronger without having a unlock another perk. I could also be wrong though.

[lostlast]

If you're only capable of unlocking 1/4 of the perks in a given playthrough its just more incentive for me to go back and start another character with a totally different playstyle. You might even have to do multiple characters in a single style, for example if you play pure mage, you might be able to get through the trees for destruction and conjuration but not very deep into the other magic schools.

With as much as I played Oblivion I'm sure I'll eventually have unlocked nearly every perk in at least one of my many many times playing through the game

I think it's great. I hope this stops or tries to stop the 'jack of all trades' character. I mean sure it's nice to be good at every thing. But my Oblivion warrior style first play though, could cast the [&@%!] out of magic by the time I was done. He ended up, as with most, the best at every thing. So he was no longer just a warrior.

[OblivionDuruza]

I was under the impression the perks with 5 stages counted as 5 perks in the 280. Still 4 times as many perks as you can get in a single maxed out character.

[soda popinski]

I was under the impression the perks with 5 stages counted as 5 perks in the 280. Still 4 times as many perks as you can get in a single maxed out character.

Correct, most perks only have one level, but the ones that you can choose multiple times count that number of times towards the 280 number.


Also, while you can theoretically get 70 or so perks on a single character, it would be much faster to just start a new character with a different playstyle than to keep going with the same guy and trying to get the last 20 or so, since the higher your level, the longer it takes to level up.

[OblivionDuruza]

That is if your main goal was to gain every perk, as opposed to build up your character.