Hey again, as I stated in the last thread I just started Oblivion for the first time. Unlike the standing stones in Skyrim this seems rather permanent, so I want to choose the right one. Always used steed in Skyrim, but here it does not seem to raise the amount you can carry, nor remove stagger, so I guess it's rather useless. The Mage seems to give the most effect, but I usually wait with getting into magic before later in the game. My playstyle will probably be thief/assassin with a focus on melee (sadly I can't dual-wield). Ironically The Warrior looks the most attractive in regard to what I need, but The Thief looks useful too. Any advice?

P.S. Ignore the once a day abilities, not interested in those.

I'm not a fan of the word "best", I like the word "favorite" better. I've used The Lord, The Shadow, and maybe a couple of other birthsigns. I may have used The Thief once or twice, too. Not sure....my memory's really svcky for stuff like this.

I would go with The Thief for your character. You're making an assassin/thief, so you'll have some instant bonuses with certain skills right off the bat, right? I'd go this route, unless for some reason I would want more of a challenge with this sort of profession.

Ask your character.

Decided on warrior. Then assassin.

Yeah, Oblivion birthsigns are permanent, and as such, they can really define your gameplay experience - or completely hamstring it.

For an assassin, you might want The Shadow -- the ability to completely become invisible for sixty seconds every day will get you out of a lot of trouble.

Or, you could try the Thief and accept the bonuses for skills. The other good one is The Tower -- opening an Average lock for free every day will be a big help to a novice thief/assassin.

Personally, I tend to be a Combat Mage-based character, and my latest playthrough was using The Mage. Getting the big boost to magicka really helps me. The Apprentice can be good, as the magic boost is even greater than the Mage, but the 100% weakness means that a battle with another magician can be really tough. The Atronach is horrible. No magicka regen... so tough....

Personally I'm rather fond of the thief sign, when the character permits. Hard to argue with 10 points of luck.

OP doesn't want a once-a-day perk, as stated by him or her.

But me personally? I agree. Being able to go invisible when things really got tough is really cool, especially for young characters who aren't good with ILlusion, or completely avoid magic.


Truth. I suppose it could come in handy for a character who never uses magic, though. Isn't there some bonus with this sign?

ahh...another trip to UESP.

Brash played a lot of pure archer characters and would always pick the Atronach Birthsign. I seem to recall that she did it because it gave her protection against magic attacks, but I could be wrong.

Yea, I just read about it. You get a 50% magic absorbtion right off the bat, which is pretty cool. It is possible to get this up to 100% thru magic items and such, which is wear this Starsign really starts to show its worth.

Spell absorbtion = this is one of the ways how we regenerate magic. It's a tricky game, I'm sure.

Yes you can regenerate magic by getting blown up by fireballs and whatnot, so the trick is to be able to keep health up if this happens.

Man, I feel like I missed out vital parts of this game, now. :glum: That actually sounds kinda challenging, yet if the player deals with this challenge, eventually a very good thing comes out of it.

True, but I think the OP should consider these abilities as part of the entire birthsign package. Vanilla Oblivion birthsigns aren't exactly perfect, so when the OP is only able to choose from these, he/she should consider the once-a-day perks.

But if you don't want to focus on once-per-day perks, then I would probably (reluctantly) agree with the Thief. I've just never seen any Luck benefit.


Yes, you get a 50% absorb magicka spell. But that means I have to stand in the line-of-fire of any enemy mage/scamp/dark welkynd and absorb that damage to replenish my magicka. Or else, stock up on Restore Magicka potions -- alchemy skills is a must if you want to survive using this.

I did manage to play a mage using Atronach for a while, but at higher levels, you can only cast about one or two Destruction spells before you are completely out of Magicka, and higher level Mages can just tear you a new one with their spells.

Edit: Darn it Renee! I was just answering you!


Yeah, trust me, this sounds easier than it actually is. I would never recommend Atronach outside of RP-ing purposes. Gameplay wise, it makes the game ten times more difficult for a mage. Maybe it would do well for a Battle Mage who can fall back on blade or blunt, but just wants to soak up some magicka from time to time.

Like I said, I agree on The Shadow. My very first long-term character (Renee Gade I ) had the Shadow. Besides the ability to get out of any hairy situations, it's just cool being able to go invisible (and get a taste of what it's like) early on in the game.

So far as Luck goes, I have seen what it does in the game, but i didn't like it. One of my characters did focus on Luck for 2 or 3 level-ups. It made her game way to easy. I forget which character this was, though. But i definitely noticed a difference with + Luck.


Oh, and thanks for the advice regarding Atronach, then.

any that add magic, imo. For pure mages either the apprentice or mage, for hybrids or anti-mages i would say atronach. A case could also be made for the warrior as it raises your endurance which will lead to quicker maxing out of endurance, which will lead to higher end game hp. Any that give once a day spells are fairly useless because 9/10 you'll forget about them, or replace them with more reliable spells.

I actually tend to agree with that. As much as I do like the once-a-day powers for some of the signs, more often than not, I tend to forget about them.

I only remember about them when it's far too late.

Thief ain't bad, since high agility = less staggered, and high speed = average run speed up to 1.5x Skyrim's sprinting speed. Warrior is also good since high endurance = increased health on level-up.

I never use the once a day powers. I would always save them up for when I really needed them. But then I would not realize it was that time until it was too late and it was over. So I modded them all to either be constant effects, or made them recastable like a normal spell.

There's an art to the Atronach sign. I wouldn't recommend it for the first few character builds. But it is by far the most game-changing birthsign, and mostly in a good way. The big advantage isn't the magicka bonus (although that's good); it's the Absorb Magicka. Any non-mage can benefit from it.

Incidentally, I'd say that an Altmer Mage with high Alchemy and the Atronach birthsign is the most powerful combination in the game. But it's not for beginners, because of the need for constant potion-juggling.

Warrior sign, if you're looking to be able to carry more stuff early in the game before Feather spells/potions/enchantments become available. Also, strength governs melee skills.

This. Different birthsigns for different characters. There is no best.