Character Challenge #3 -- A Humble Beast

[thealtkey]

Welcome to the Character Challenge!

First, allow me to give you a quick rundown of how this thing works; it's quite simple, really. Below is a custom class that I have come up with, begging for a proper story to be told. You will be given a set of rules for how the class is to be played, and all you have to do is play it. Then come back to this thread and tell us all how the story goes!

The purpose of this exercise is threefold:

1. Give veteran players new challenges and give newbies ideas on out how to start
2. Investigate/debunk various doubts or criticisms of game mechanics and skill choices
3. Amass a library of fairly thorough strategy guides for various custom classes

The Rules

- Each challenge character will have a set of guidelines to follow; some will have more or less restrictions than others, but you will generally always be free to choose your own gender and favored attributes.
- Alignment (good, neutral or evil) will be dictated in the class description.
- Challenge characters are to be played with the difficulty slider set exactly in the middle (default).
- "Efficient levelling" is strictly prohibited. Powergaming effectively eliminates challenge, although you are free to abuse gameplay mechanics within the context of your character (ex. thieves don't need the Security skill because the lockpicking minigame is so easy anyway).
- Post all the details of your experience in the week's Character Challenge thread (i.e. this one).
- You can play a challenge character for as long as you'd like, but don't bother posting your experience if you've barely played it (i.e. you haven't reached level 10).
- Feel free to describe your experience to the fullest, including order/choice of quests, personal backstory, and character morals and personality traits. There is no such thing as "not the kind of information we're looking for", so let's hear it!
- A new challenge will be issued every Sunday, but you are free to post anytime before that.

With all that said, let's get to this week's character!

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CHARACTER CHALLENGE #3
"A Humble Beast"

Raised the offspring of a simple farmer, you have always felt your purpose in this world to be something greater than the fields of your homestead. As a child, you used to go on for hours and hours, beriddling your friends and family with your favorite tales of brave knights and heroic champions, and you had even crafted your first cuirass before you could walk (much to your father's dismay, as he subsequently had lost the cover to one of his prized books). You had no doubt in your mind that it was your destiny to help the hopeless and heal the afflicted, and so, upon reaching maturity, you set out to the province of Cyrodiil to study at the Mages Guilds there. But little did you know, armed with a sharpened hand axe and a few basic spells, that trouble lie on the horizon, and your childhood dreams of heroics were about to become frighteningly real.

Race: Khajiit or Argonian
Birthsign: The Lord, The Mage or The Ritual
Specialization: Combat
Major Skills: Athletics, Blunt, Armorer, [Armor Skill], Restoration, Mysticism, Alchemy

Class Restrictions:
-- Cannot use Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration or Illusion magic
-- Cannot sneak
-- Cannot use bows
-- Cannot use blades

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That doesn't sound too hard, now does it? Of course, feel free to ask questions, make suggestions or correct me if I've missed anything. And happy gaming!

[Butterknife]

lore-wise, that doesn't make much sense. Khajiit and Argonians are natural masters of stealth and depend on their stealth skills for survival in their respective homelands. Also, Khajiit traditionally avoid heavy armors.

[Vesna]

Yeah, but the point of the character challenge is so that the player can have a reason to play a character beyond the normal or advantageous (skill/attribute wise) combinations. It makes the game somewhat exciting. Imagine that you are the only Orc member of the Mages Guild for example.

There are always exceptions: a bosmer that teaches heavy armor, the khajiit yellow team fighter in the arena carries a war axe and heavy armor, and the occasional redguard in the Mages Guild. There are always racial stereotypes, but there are also always people who defy them.

[Tryzon]

This all sounds like good fun to me. It's kinda like the definition of 'proper' roleplay. I'm not sure I'd try this idea any time soon, having only aquired Oblivion the other week, but maybe later in the year, when all I can bothered to do normally has been finished.

[thealtkey]

Yeah, but the point of the character challenge is so that the player can have a reason to play a character beyond the normal or advantageous (skill/attribute wise) combinations. It makes the game somewhat exciting. Imagine that you are the only Orc member of the Mages Guild for example.

EXACTLY. The idea is to avoid the obvious and the conventional, and the challenge is to see where and how far that road takes you. And choosing a seemingly conflicting race and skillset can be advantageous anyway. For example, the Khajiit +10 bonus to Agility is extremely helpful to a melee character, just as the Argonian +10 bonus to Athletics would be helpful to a lightly-armored mage. And this week's character happens to be both of those things!

As far as the lore goes, you may be right, and to be honest, I didn't really take that into account with this challenge. Vesna hit the nail on the head there too though; there are always people who defy stereotypes, and I'm pretty sure that neither Black Marsh nor Elsweyr are without their non-stealthy, average merchants and farmers. Or maybe everyone in those places is stealthy, and that's why anyone who isn't stealthy packs up and leaves.

Also, heavy armor in particular wasn't in the spec, just an armor skill. So y'all get your pick.

[Coulsonji]

n-n-n-no s-s-sneaking?!
Yeh ill give it a go

[The Silent Argonian]

This is kind of what I did for my Imperial. I made a Heavy Archer o.o
He is good with heavy armor, marksman, blade, sneak, security, and a few other strange things. He is doing well =D
He killed off the whole town of Hackdirt <_<

[Lunarsweets]

My Favorite ArcaneArcher uses these skills...

Security, Heavy Armor, Destruction,
Conjuration, Marksman, Athletics, and Acrobatics...