In these TES games you can always find a way to break a character. I see what they did in Skyrim to avoid some of this but I think there may still be a way for people to make a bad character, whether on purpose or not.

From what I’ve read you increase your skills faster when they are lower. So you will lever faster using skills you are very unskilled in, thus getting your single stat boost and a new perk quicker. Now for the perk hungry player he (or she) may decide to use only their lowest skills at all times to gain levels and perks faster. The problem is they will remain fairly low skilled overall. Add to that many of the better perks will require a minimum skill level, which they won’t have. Thus a broken character is created, getting clobbered by high level monsters.

Personally I liked having a starting class and boosted skills that helped the way I knew I would play that character. This of course can also create a broken character if developed wrong (Alchemy).

I would point out thought that either the Skyrim or OB character would work fine if you stuck with your class or desired skills and just played the game. The main difference would be the OB (or MW) character would start out better prepared to play the part and could easier fit into any role-playing background you made for yourself.

Thoughts?

it's the other way around, higher leveled skills level faster

One thing to remember is the higher the points are in a skill that levels (IE) blade going 32 to 33 will have more influence on your leveling up than say a skill going 5 to 6.

I thought you leveled faster in skills that you were good at? Even of that's not the case though, I still don't understand why anyone would do that :confused:

You are wrong. Low skils don't level you faster. A low skill contributes a lot less for level up than a high skill. Although a low skill does "level up" more often either. So the two effects cancel each other somehow. The question is, how much?

So 10 total skill points (in any skill now) do not equal a level-up anymore?

All skills level as fast as each other when they are the same level. 10 in alchemy will level just as fast as 10 in one handed if you use them the same amount, but if you raise a higher skill say a 60 in marksmanship it will go towards your overall level more-so than a lower level skill. Say that 60 in marksman levels up, you gain 20 overall exp, but the 10 in alchemy only gets you 1 overall exp. Just as an example. The time it takes to level a skill is only affected by the level of that particular skill, and raising higher level skills levels you up overall faster. That's what makes this better than Oblivion. In Oblivion you could set all your Major skills to be magic and be a combat orientated character, therefor levelling your combat skills to 100 whilst retaining your level 1 status. You can't do this in Skyrim.

You can break your character in any game by trying to use/raise too many skills instead of focusing on a few. I think that would be the most common mistake now that we don't have to choose a set amount.

Well that is interesting. I'm curious to see the real mechanics behind this system (not that I want to break it or anything).

The one backdoor they added this time is that a region or dungeon remembers your level from the first time. Which means, if it is too hard because your character is sh?it, you just go somewhere else, train more, and come back when you are stronger.

Good explanation Myke, that's how I understand it too.



Agreed. At first I invisioned playing around with a bunch of different skills to raise a few levels quickly to get me going. But I think we could find ourselves in the same boat as OB if we're not careful: Having 50 one-handed, 50 light armor, and 50 destruction will make us more powerful at level 10, than if we raised one-hand to 25, two-handed to 25, light armor to 25, heavy armor to 25, and 25 in both destruction and alchemy. I don't know the formulas of course, but assume you were level 10 in both scenarios. Which do you think could stand toe-to-toe against the baddies better?