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So I've been thinking of making a warrior for a while now, and he's going ot be proficient in Block, One-Handed, Enchanting, Smithing, and Heavy Armor. I've spent time looking over the races, and I've been wondering which one would make the most sense. Any ideas?

For open face-to-face combat, Bretons have the best defensive racial and Orcs have the best offensive one.
However, if you take the full benefits form smithing and enchanting it shouldn't matter much as your gear will end up being VERY powerful.

Hold to whatever feels best settled within your heart— either to withstand the tempest. Or become the tempest.

Breton. Or Redguard.

In other words: you take it, or you deal it. You'll kick their ass in either extreme.

Nord or orc

Go Redguard... they are very similar to Nord..... And there is a real lack of redguards in Skyrim.

As for ideal... The starting advantage you get with any race can be over come. So without saying too much more, there is no 'ideal' race for warrior.

Dunmer

the only elvish race with red eyes and ability to flame cloak

racial bonuses pale to insignificance after a few levels, so go with what you like the look of - remember the loading screen dark elf with dual daedric daggers? awesome,

I was also very impressed by the orc with axes and blood all over his beer gut - thats a character you can really enjoy playing lol

FrostMage79x wrote:So I've been thinking of making a warrior for a while now, and he's going ot be proficient in Block, One-Handed, Enchanting, Smithing, and Heavy Armor. I've spent time looking over the races, and I've been wondering which one would make the most sense. Any ideas?

All of the skills you mentioned are favoured by Orcs and their racial power is one of the best in the game.

Altmer. Your enemies will be suprised while you are chopping their head of.

Any race makes for a passable warrior.

The three races the game gives a bump towards this role would be Orc, Nord and Redguard each with his own strengths.

Dunmer, Imperials and Argonians can adapt to the role well enough.

Orc

The races that are good enough for warriors are the Redguards, the Orcs, and the Nords.

If you want some fun then grab a Bosmer and wield heavy armour with double war axes or a huge warhammer.

Redguard, Orc or Nord would probably be the way to go. Still could use any race.

In the lore, obviously every nation has its own standing armies. There are professional Khajiit soldiers, and not just ones who use bows or claws. It depends on what skills you take the time to develop. The game gives certain races a slight advantage at early levels but nothing that can't be overcome. A Bosmer tank is doable, as is a Redguard master sorcerer.

Breton is basically the universal best race due to the magical resistance being useful even later in game. That being said, Orcs and Nords are also traditionally warriors, and Orcs have a pretty cool racial ability.

I would say though, honestly race doesn't matter that much. You could be a high elf warrior if you really wanted to, the initial bonuses matter for like 5 levels, and the race abilities are...sometimes useful, but many of them are universal. For example 50% fire resistance on a dark elf will be useful no matter what character you play, 50% ice resistance on Nords works the same, as well as Bretons. There are certain races where the abilities kind of point you toward a certain direction though, and that's mostly going to be because lore dictates, for example, that Orcs are primarily warriors, as a result, an Orc mage can be done, but their racial ability will help a mage very little.

The weird thing about Nord warriors in the beginning is that their +10 bonus is two-handed and they get a +5 in light but not in heavy armor. I guess maybe they're going for the Conan look, wearing animal skins and swinging a greatsword? Looks cool, but not real practical.

I'm playnig a bad___ Altmer tank. I never use highborn, but I really dig elves. Played a Bosmer and a Dunmer in TES IV

frostmaw wrote:The weird thing about Nord warriors in the beginning is that their +10 bonus is two-handed and they get a +5 in light but not in heavy armor. I guess maybe they're going for the Conan look, wearing animal skins and swinging a greatsword? Looks cool, but not real practical.

I think this is one of the reasons that the smiting/enchanting/alchemy combination has been made so powerful. It allows you to go with what looks cool so players can feel less constraint.

Easily Orc, I would say- all of their bonuses are combat and have bonuses in both 1 and 2 handed weapons. Then Berserker is very useful for tough combat situations.

Excuse me if this sounds bad, but I'd rather play as a turd than an Orc .

FrostMage79x wrote:Excuse me if this sounds bad, but I'd rather play as a turd than an Orc .

If you don't want to play one because they're ugly, just stay out of third person mode.
Or, have fun with it and make your Orc as ugly as possible and have a good laugh! That's what I did, and I find it surprisingly fun to play as a hideous character.

frostmaw wrote:The weird thing about Nord warriors in the beginning is that their +10 bonus is two-handed and they get a +5 in light but not in heavy armor. I guess maybe they're going for the Conan look, wearing animal skins and swinging a greatsword? Looks cool, but not real practical.

Light Armor protects just as well as Heavy when maxed out with good perks, especially by exploiting Smithing. My Dragonscale suit protects me to the maximum AR allowed by the game and beyond, easily.

And yes, my character is a full melee character, not a stealth rogue or battlemage. He never had a problem surviving most encounters even at earlyish levels.

I did choose to go with twin war axes rather than one fat battleaxe, though. I guess that's more of an "Orcish" fighting style. Maybe my Nord has a little Orc in him. Oh, those cold winter nights in Skyrim...