Well right now I'm just having a think about what I want to play as. In oblivion I'm currently a dark elf, but in Skyrim I would like to play someone a bit more "friendly". I will most likely play as a stealthy archer. I was thinking Breton but on the wiki it says they are mages. And I dont really like the wood elves history of cannibalism.
I'm thinking I will probably be a stealthy archer Breton but I feel I HAVE to use magic since dont they get bonus's for that? Anyone get what I mean..

you can be whatever you want to be

I play as a Nord and I am a mage, or assasin/thief, or marksman


Edit: I would say be what you think looks the best + fits the overall "feel" of what you are looking for.

yeah haha, Its just I always feel im wasting something if I dont go by what it says. Like if I was a wood elf and I used heavy armour and a 2 handed sword, even though they are meant for bows

I don't know what the problem is really, if you want to be a friendly Breton thief then you have all the tools to do that, you don't have to be a mage just because the race you pick happens to have a resistance to magic and magicka bonus. You could play an Altmer barbarian or an Orc mage if you wanted.

Humans have a history of cannibalism...

Bosmer are nice for rangers, Dunmer are nice for assassins. But your alignment really comes from your actions. You will probably end up using magic anyway so it's fine to go Breton.

sure, while certain races are stereotyped and subtly pointed towards certain skill direction there is nothing wrong with breaking the mould.

abit of diversity!

plus it adds extra challenge if you arnt min-max'd to do that role.

If you prefer to role play over basing a character around performance, then make the bast dam breton archer you can. For me skyrim will be all about immersing myself in the world and acting upon scenario's as if i was the character rather than the dude with the controller.

the beauty of TES pkay how you want.

They aren't "meant" for anything, they just have a jump start for some skills and possibly some powers that come in handy for certain play styles (like Berserker for a fighter, extra magicka for a mage). It might give you an easier time at the start of the game if you choose to be a Breton Mage or a Bosmer Thief, but in the long run, any combination will be valuable.

My usual characters are
Breton=Assassin/Mage
Breton=Assassin
Breton=Light Armor Knight
Breton=Necromancer
Breton=Soul Eater
Dunmer=Assassin/mage
Dunmer=Assassin
Dunmer=Heavy Armor/Light Armor NecroKnight
Dunmer=Necromancer
Dunmer=Death Knight

:D Also the bonuses really do not matter in the long run. You can get every race or class to it's max. (If you are that way)

Don't be what your race tells to be.

Be what the voices in your head tell you to be.

lol of course not

In Oblivion my main character was a High Elf female. I got all of her stats to max and would play as whatever type of character I felt like on that day. If I wanted to be a barbarian, I'd grab a club and a huntsman leather vest and not use any spells. A mage, a robe, a staff, and hotkey a bunch of spells. A thief, a dagger, an invisibility spell, and some light armor. And so on and so forth.

Your stats determine your class, not the race. And, unless the racial bonuses in this game are way more defined than they were in Oblivion, any race can pull off any class nearly as good as any other race once your stats are high enough.

and with that post I will be the best breton archer magician travelling circus hoker in all of skyrim

i like to play as an argonian not for any bonuses just cuz i think lizardmen are cool

I'm defiantly just going to make an Argonian just to see what they look like, because the screens look awesome.
I'm going to spend an age of time in the character creator. Thats something I know Im going to love in this game, I started playing oblivion a few weeks ago and honestly I went through it in about 2 mins, just because it wasn't actually fun to make your character to be honest...he looked ugly however I made him.
In Skyrim I'm going to tweak him to perfection, Until hes perfect, since I'll be spending the next age of my life with him. (No homo)

Also who else is excited for animal companions, I cant wait to find that massive shaggy dog that is in the screens, and have him camping with me in the forest (assuming when howard said "you cant use portable bedrolls, but you can sleep in the forest") meant you can do as so

heh i guess this is why bethesta get rid of the attribute system,which is a good thing

that stuff is just a general idea about the races, just because they can be more talented in those areas, doesnt mean there cant be nords who are more intelligent and have high magicka over others, or even altmer who are destined to be great warriors.

bethesda also seems to be attempting to make it easier to be what you want to be in skyrim, so you can do a bosmer warrior just as easily as a bosmer thief or whatever.

best thing to do is just choose what you like, not everyone of the same race is exactly the same.

Some of the most enjoyable characters that I've played have been created against "type".

One of my best was a female Imperial Sorceress.

Experiment. :wink_smile:

Hey, just what I was going to write.

After the game's start the bonuses don't make a big difference.
Also in TES the races aren't divided into different alignments (good races, evil races etc).

So you can pick any race and play how you want.

I read that and E3 interviews with Lafferty started racing through my head :laugh:

But yea you can be whoever you want to be......and go wherever you want to go :tongue:

awesome I cant wait for this, also sorry to derail my own thread here but just a quick question, when howard said " you cant have a campsite, but you can sleep in the woods" does this mean instead of "waiting" it will just be changed to "sleeping". I wouldve liked it if they put in a portable tent or something, because going to sleep on a snowy mountain would feel kinda weird hahaha

I usually choose a Breton because of their magical prowess, they can heal themselves much faster and with more magicka left over if needed in a pinch, yet I ALWAYS play a stealthy Dark Brotherhood assassin, if I try to play a warrior, I still end up as a stealthy character. There is nothing wrong with it.

What I always do is choose a race that can augment what I am weak at. This means that I choose a Breton almost every time because I don't use magic very much at all, yet I need it for healing as I am stingy with my money and I svck svck svck at alchemy.

You can be whatever you want to be with whatever race. Yes, it's more likely a Breton will be a mage than a warrior or an archer, and yes, it's more likely a Redguard will be a warrior than a mage or an archer, etc etc but that doesn't mean there aren't Breton warriors/archers or Redguard mages/archers. People are different, just like in the real world. The racial bonuses really don't amount to much at the end of the day, so don't worry about that. Pick a race you like and play them however you want.

I didn't know the races told us what they should be. Sure you can make a connection between racial bonuses and abilities and certain RPG archetypes, but that doesn't mean you can't have a that is all powerful . I always picked my race just like I do my character's looks... based upon what I find most appealing.
I can't understand this drive people have to make sure their guy is the absolute most effective at whatever they do.
Sure, I understand the drive for perfection IRL, but I am 100% certain that not a single
person here is what they perceive as perfect, including myself.

Idk, I guess some people will always do that... I like to enjoy my games, not turn them into a job.. When I want to strive for perfection, I do it at work.

I like that races in Elderscrolls have their specialties, but I never felt like they forced you to pick your class along with your race.