Hey y'all. I'm new to these forums. Anyway, I just purchased both Oblivion and Morrowind GOTY edition, and I plan on playing Oblivion first. So I ask: what's the most fun build? easiest? what is the oblivion version of stealth archer, aka the most op build? Thanks, and I hope to enjoy my stay here!

As many as you can dream up. You can't only play one.

You're quite right. I've only played skyrim thus far, and the only build I've used is spellsword breton with a hint of stealth. Need to change it up.

Play the character you most enjoy playing. The character you find most enjoyable will be the character that is the most fun and the easiest to play.

just like my foreposters (if that's a word) said, just play and see where it takes you.

and to that, i'd like to recommend starting with morrowind instead of oblivion.

definitely preferable to play them forward in time (both tamriel and technical specs time) than backwards

edit: ...and wood elves make great stealth archers btw

on a side note, i'll never get how people manage to do that "character build" thing at all anyway.

i always play myself, in different surroundings though

i mean, when i play, just as in life, what i do or say is a result and an expression of my personality, in that my first impulse on how to react will always be pretty much the same, no matter what "character build" i currently am, it'd just take up immense concentration for me to keep focussed on who, what or how i'm supposed to be this time around all the time, turning the game into a constant exercise of impulse supression.

to that, my judgement of what i do will always be the same in the end, so, when i play, say, a total a*hole, it'd just not be "oh, great to be an a*hole for once" for me, just "bleh, i behaved like an a*hole"....

really, i just don't get it

There are certainly ways to optimize builds, if you want to do that. I have several ideal builds I play that look rather similar in actual major skill selection, but vary based on which specialization, race, birth sign, and how I choose to play it.

For me the most powerful is usually a combat spec with magic for backup, or a mage spec with strong combat skills. Just wade in and kill everything.

I have also played stealthy archers with maxed Alchemy skill that could fire off a single arrow from hiding and then just wait for the poison to do the job. Or stealthy mages who sit back and crowd control the foes and send in summoned creatures for the kill. Or war mages who just blow everything away with powerful destruction spells. And hybrids of all three.

Here are some basic rules for making decent character that doesn't level too fast and gives you the option of getting good attribute bonuses at level up:

Use a custom class. Pick no more than two skills from any attribute as majors. My personal approach is to pick one skill from each of the 7 attributes. Always pick Endurance as one of your two favored attributes, since your character's health is based on Endurance (and cumulative health increases per level as well). Make your primary killing skill(s) major skills. I usually go with Blade or Blunt, Destruction or Restoration, and Marksman as majors. I NEVER take Conjuration, Alteration, Alchemy, or Athletics as a major, since they level you so fast.

Now you can certainly play any way you like, but you did ask. Here's a typical build for me:

Majors: Blade, Block, Destruction, Light Armor, Marksman, Mercantile, Mysticism.

Favored attributes: Endurance and Strength (even for mages - got to carry the loot out somehow).

For an archer-type:

Spec: Stealth

Race: Dark Elf or Wood Elf (though other races are OK too, those are ideal).

Birth Sign: Thief, Warrior, or Mage. With Dark Elf, the Lord works too.

For a mage type:

Spec: Magic

Race: High Elf or Breton

Birth Sign: Mage or Atronach. Atronach requires some expertise to play.

Warrior type:

Spec: Combat

Race: Nord, Redguard, Imperial, Dark Elf. Orcs if you want, but I can't get into them.

Birth Sign: Atronach, or Warrior. Atronach here is more for the 50% spell absorption more so than the extra magicka.

Hybrids:

Spec: Any, though I use this to counter the race's strengths. I.e., for a Nord, I would spec Magic, for a Breton, I would spec Combat, since this is a hybrid build that needs to be good at both.

Race: Combat-oriented = Dark Elf. Magic oriented = Breton. I have also played very effective hybrids that were Argonians and Imperials.

Birth Sign: Mage or Atronach. If you are going to be a part-time caster, you need some extra magicka.

Those are some suggestions based on what works for me. You may not like those builds at all, so feel free to try your own.

It's a matter of getting into a different role; it's exactly what actors do when they play a character.

TV and movie casting choices are made on who can play the role best; and often, that's an entirely different character than the person. Teal'c's actor (from the Stargate: SG-1 series) is actually a relaxed, casual, joking guy (from the short DVD interview I saw).

And yeah, I get that it's something you find hard to do, and would have to concentrate to have any chance at...But that's not unusual; that is, not being good at everything. Give me a mechanical thingamajig more complicated than a socket wrench, and I'll most likely almost certainly stare at it in confusion. For that matter, don't show me the inside of the socket wrench. It probably won't help.

People have different aptitudes. *Shrug* And there's people who understand those cthonic mechanisms known as car engines. Heh.

Some interesting builds there! I've played 2 hours so far, and I've decided on a Paladin Orc. Heavy armor, blade, resto. I feel so bada*s!

I can see where you're coming from. On a side note, I've played 2 hours and already LOVE this game. I can see why people prefer Oblivion over Skyrim. I assume that, since I'm not that far into the game, I can just start Morrowind and follow your suggestion of playing it first. Not too sure, though. I'll definitely be playing both of them at the same time rather than waiting to "complete" one of them then play the other. Anyway, I've decided on an Orc. A paladin, to be specific. Heavy armor, blade, resto. Pretty awesome. Finally, I really like these forums. I was on a forum a good while back, and whilst I don't have that much memory of it, I enjoyed it and I'm glad I'm back in a seemingly familiar area. I mainly just browse reddit nowadays, and sometimes there's a reason why it has such a bad rep.

On a first-time playthrough of any game, I take the defaults, and see what the developers had in mind. So my first Oblivion character was a male Imperial. He used the first weapon and armour he found, and stuck with that style.

Later, I've played a female Orc who maxed out Speechcraft and Personality. Both were fun.

I used to just play myself. It wasn't all that satisfying - I just ran around and did stuff.

I broke myself of that by playing a female character (since I'm male). Instantly, I couldn't just play myself. Instead, I had to figure out how to play her. Instead of just charging through without really thinking much about things, I had to stop and consider things - I had to figure out what she would do in a given situation instead of just doing whatever I'd do, since she wasn't me. In order to figure out what she would do, I had to figure out what her personality was like - I had to essentially get to know her.

It took some time and effort to start to figure out how to do it, but as I did it more, I got better at it, and now it's second nature. And it's the exact reason why, eight years and 30-some characters later, I'm still playing this game.

Now - all that said, I don't have a good answer for the OP of this thread, because, to me, "build" is relatively immaterial. The technical aspects - majors and specialization and such - don't vary much between my characters. I just use slight variations on a standard build I worked out some years ago that simply exists to get around the shortcomings of Oblivion's leveling system. The only "build" I generally have in mind as far as the rest of it goes is gender, race and some broad preferences - melee and/or magic and/or marksman, light armor or heavy armor or no armor, that sort of thing. All the rest of the details just come together a bit at a time as I'm playing the character.

There's a lot of that in the way I play, too. Some things, like Armorer, and Restoration, level slowly, and you need them working well early, so my builds include those as majors just for an early boost (where applicable - a pure mage won't need armorer).