A lot of people these days are all about playing as one type of character, be it mage, warrior, thief, archer, etc. What about jacks? A jack of all trades can do everything and with the later patches you can now truly be a master of all trades (i.e. legitimately having all 251 perks, should you want to). PC users can of course remedy this much easier, but you get my point. Is there no love for a jack-of-all-trades?

Almost all of my characters have some type of hybridization. But I also have some that I attempt to specialize, like a super hot female that might only use magic and depend on a follower or summons for meat shielding. I also like stealthy Illusionist/Thief types which is still a hybrid of sorts. I have some sword and board and dual wielding warrior/stealth/archers which is still a hybrid. I have a cupla Destruction/Archer/One-handers because I liked that concept so much from Oblivion and the racial description of Dunmer in that.

Jack of all trades are easy to play, that's it. No need to think about what they should or shouldn't do. Boring.

I’d say it’s more that a character who can do everything very well is not terribly interesting to talk about.

Then it seems flexibility is the issue with most people. They seem to prefer being "specialized" but as I said, it's possible to specialized in everything since a certain patch that introduced legendary skill reset.

....oops... wrong forum

That is an interesting perspective. Most of the critiques of them I had heard previously is that they are under-powered compared to specialist because of the difficulty of efficient perk use, or the inability to 'level break' the game. I find a warrior only in heavy armor pretty overpowered (with a few stock enchantments) and boring, not to mention infuriatingly slow unless you do something drastic to counter encumbrance. They can be weak to mages but that can be easily countered without using any non warrior skills or perks. Just get some resistances, and one can always take off your armor when fighting mages as it is not needed and allows you to close quicker. I also find stealth only to be boring after a period or the mood leaves me, but I really like them when I am in the mood.

Sadly, I don't have time to create a TamrielIc version of McGyver

Some players use the game’s flexibility to define their characters through their choices, meaning that although the game mechanics allow them to use and perk all skills they choose not to. Other players use the flexibility to do everything with one character. *shrugs* Just different ways to play.

You probably see more threads devoted to specialized characters because there’s more to discuss. When someone posts that they beat the game on Legendary at level 251, there’s not much left to say.

One of my earliest characters in Oblivion was a Jack .... actually Jill-of-all-trades. She was this way mostly because I came from a background of Tomb Raider and other such games in which you just do whatever it takes to 'beat the game'. Back in those days I wasn't sure how long I'd be playing Oblivion; I didn't know how truly expansive it is.

She would follow any quest which comes her way, join any faction, use any weapon or spell, carry multiple armor suits, etc. All of this gave her game a very distracted feel. Who was she? She always had twelve different directions to go, etc.

People can game in any which way they'd like, but nowadays I prefer not to have Jack or Jill-of-all-trades. I prefer to see which directions my characters would like to go, and oftentimes they won't join every faction or take any quest. Plus, I like being with different characters. In Skyrim so far I've had a semi-evil warlock, a Crusader guy, at least 3 brute warriors that use no magic, a Cleric gal, several mage types, etc.

Variety. That's where I'm at; that's what I prefer.

Except I'm massively OP as a specialist well before 81st level never mind 250th level but if I try to play as a jack of all trades I'll be weak at say 20th level due to my perks being spread between too many skills

I'm currently playing a hybrid similar to the MW/Oblivion Witch Hunter who uses a large spread of skills but to make her viable shes still had to specialise in a few, the others won't get any perks until past 30th level

From my personal experience, jacks are boring to play because they have plenty of strengths and little to no weaknesses.

Specialization keeps the game alive for me.

I only have one character that has mastered every ability, http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a487/berret1111/TESV2014-08-0119-40-49-82_zpsf28a2378.png, Why? Because it fits his character and background. He's pretty fun to play from a gameplay standpoint, I enjoyed choosing which skills fit best with the situation on hand, which also fits his anolytical personalty!

As for my other characters, they are flexible, a mage can take up the sword if the situation he is in demands or, or if he is simply curious on learning. Likewise with a warrior, he can take up magic to have more ways to kill bandits, or because he does not want to rely on potions.

There are just so many variables that can happen in my characters life that it's impossible to write them all!

I think it's just easier & more fun to play with a specific type of character. After say, level 40, leveling becomes a Grind. Getting to level 81 takes forever, and you're going to run out of things to do LONG before you get there(atleast if you're on console).

Creating Builds is a lot more interesting than Creating a God. Giving your characters a Backstory, a Role in the World, a certain set of skills, etc.

In any case, I'd rather hear about a Paladin named Leeroy than a Superman Joe.

I'm in agreement with the NON jack-of-all-trades type play that has been expressed in this thread especially with regards to it being more interesting and more to discuss in "the ways one survived" a particular situation with a specialized build. That said, I have played pseudo JoATs all along in that my toons tend to be Magicuser/Thief or a combo Fighter/MU/Thief. Most recently I've been playing an explorer type character. Not worrying so much about my specialization, but using whatever opportunities fall into my lap. For example, I recently was snooping about the Rift and came across a certain location that provided me with the Telekinesis spell. My character being a complete bumbling idiot when it comes to magic started "experimenting" with the spell and managed to spend several hours of hilarious fun dropping apples on the ground and then launching them into a bandit camp with Telekinesis. Most likely this character will end up being a JoAT simply because he uses everything at his disposal and sooner or later he'll have no choice if I want him to continue leveling to perk up more and more trees. I like this form of JoAT mainly because I'm not really trying to be anything, but just explore!

Hybrids and jack-of-all-trades are great and I play them a lot more than specialized Fighter/Mage/Thief characters, but I don't think I've ever played a "do it all" character. Even for the jack-of-all-trades characters I rarely go above six skills for a single character, mostly since by that point I tend to forget to work on them and rarely use them. I feel it'd be all over the place and hard to play.

I enjoy playing "Psuedo-Jacks." I'll usually choose 1 armor type and 2 weapon types. The number one reason is that it slows down the game. I do not "concentrate" on any 1 skill, which also makes my opponents tougher while still playing on Adept

Thing is, you end up being a master of nothing.

Unless you're talking about learning just one warrior skill, one mage skill and one stealth skill.

Maybe you can afford two skills from one of the three branches, but that's it.

Sounds like fun.

A jack of all trades, with the potential to do whatever you want him to, through a smart build? Yes, I've done that on more than one occasion, liked it each and every time -no regrets. My current main is like that anyway.

When patch 1.9 came out I did use the legendary skills on a character, to push beyond level 81. He reached 120+. It was fun in the beginning, but eventually, it made me feel like I had admitted to myself that I'm an idiot. That character, doesn't exist anymore.

I can make things work with 80 perks -I never needed more. And with the respec option, added by Dragonborn DLC, I can do whatever I want -IF I want.

I think jack-of-all-trades characters make a lot of roleplaying sense, in the context of these games. Because this is a universe where most characters adventure alone.

I think specialization works well in a bureaucracy. You have your job to do, I have mine. But if we're out there alone, dependent on ourselves (or, in Skyrim, a companion) for survival, I think we are going to want to cultivate every skill we can learn.

U.S. Frontiersmen and women did this. They learned how to cook, to sew, trap and skin and cure, to fish. They learned how to be stealthy. They learned how to use a rifle, a bow, a knife, a sword, a tree branch, anything they could get their hands on. If magic had been available they would have used that too.

Personally I can't imagine anyone in real life, when attacked, saying, "I'm a pure mage, I won't pick up that iron sword," or "I'm a pure warrior, I refuse to use my magical potential." In real life, facing an enemy alone or with a companion, I think most people would use any skill to survive. In the wilderness, alone or in groups of two or three, someone who is highly specialized is probably going to die.

But there's also the matter of fun. As others have pointed out, gameplay-wise, jacks often become quickly boring. I mostly play specialized characters myself. I do it because it is fun for me, the player, to create interesting limitations for myself. I abandon a bit of roleplaying realism in favor of fun. In my book, having fun is more important than strict, realistic roleplaying.

Those are my thoughts on the subject.

Nicely put! That's why my characters don't have builds, they have personal preferences when it comes to what they will use. And those preferences can change over time.

I usually end up playing this type. I concentrate on a handful of skills and end up utilizing another couple handlefulls to supplement my primary skills.

I generally like to use light armor, one handed weapons, and archery.

Sneaking makes archery much more effective, smithing and enchanting make all three more effective, alteration leaves me less vulnerable to magicka damages, restoration allows me to carry less potions, destruction helps soften up tougher targets, alchemy boosts enchanting and smithing, illusion lets me cast quietly, and a few other skills are handy in some situations.

All in all, it makes adapting to situations easier. I can see how it would be boring to some players though.

I'm going to create a character named Jack, who does everything badly.

...Well, probably not, although I do have an Argonian whose name is "Smells-like-Cheese."

I hate Jacks, blowing Fire and Frost at everything in Skyrim

I like playing Hybrids, and one of My longest running characters keeps One Handed, Two Handed, Destruction, and Archery equal. Dawnguard caused Restoration to get added to the Skillset. My Mages often begin to become Skilled Alchemists and diversify Thier Skillsets to cover every School of Magic to continue play before the ability to go Legendary was introduced into Skyrim.