Ok, i want to make a new character. After seeing a few topics about how orcs are the least played, most hated, ect, i decided to create an orcish character

For the build i was thinking something like this

specialization: Strength
Class War monger
skills: Blade
Heavy Armor
Armorer
Destruction
Conjuration
I'm not sure what to put for the last skills, i probably won't use them much, but maybe alchemy or restoration?
Attributes: Strength
Endurance

Birthsign actually i'm at a lose, i was thinking mage, atranoch, or steed.

Steed because orcs move so damn slow
Mage cause 50 points of magicka might make destruction and summoning more fun
Atronoch adds another style to casting, more magicka, and an awesome amount of spell absorption, makes the starting boost orcs get to willpower useless


Description: Basically uses the orcs natural strengths, and my favorite schools of magicka. See some guy shooting at you in the corner? Blast him with a high end spell and charge him. Run into a room full of people? Laugh as your pet clannfear rips out their throat

Oh i was also wondering if anyone could point out any mods that add some brutal looking swords or armor to the game, Something good for an orc besides orcish armor. i got realswords orcs, and the scimitar looks awesome

Blunt>Blade for Orc

i thought about that, the weapons just seems to goofy and big to me. Plus i have some swords added my a mod made for orcs that look brutal. And after about three levels the starting skill bonuses won't matter that much

Although i do like the amber hammer, guess i could always make a trip into the isles to fetch a new one every five levels

I would probably go with alchemy, because if you put a little time into it you'll get a lot of value from it.

Hm. I wouldnt use conjuration with an orc. But then again, I wouldnt use an orc, so...

Alchemy would be pretty useful for poisons and such, and restoration I find to be just helpful period, what with the healing and stuff. I would go with restoration.

That is why Blunt > Blade for an Orc.

I always pick two attributes and pick all three skills from both. I then usually pick a weapon from strength.

With regards to orcs they are naturally highest in Endurance (50), Willpower (50) & strength (45).

They also get bonuses in armorer (+10), Block (+10), Blunt (+10),H2H (+5), Heavy Armor (+10)

The obvious choose is therefore

1. Armorer
2. Block
3. Heavy Armor
4. Alteration
5. Destruction
6. Restoration
7. Blunt

When I made my orc character I decided to drop the Willpower in place of Intelligence so that I could conjure, make potions & soul trap. I also did this as my Nord character specialized with both endurance & willpower skills so I wanted my orc to be different.

1. Armorer
2. Block
3. Heavy Armor
4. Alchemy,
5. Conjuration
6. Mysticism
7. Blunt

the birth sign most suited is The Warrior (strength +10 & Endurance +10)

Well, that's one way to make sure that your enemies are always hard to defeat.

I actually rolled an orc as a pet project.

The idea was to be a two handed blunt / heavy armor atronach.

Any suggestion on magic skills for your typical low int / low will / atronach? Should I actually major in alchemy for magical effects even though it levels quickly? I chose restoration for the healing qualities, still wondering if it was a good choice.

This is my first fighter type so it is till an experiment.

Not really. Its common knowledge that its better to be a master in a few areas rather than just be a novice at many. The other reason to do this is when you sleep and level up you get better bonuses. When I made my Nord I decided to go for Willpower as my second attribute as it enabled lock pick spells so I didn't have to waste valuable level up points on agility based skills. It also enable ranged attacks and enabled me to heal myself. Added bonuses were spells to carry more whilst on dungeon raids. It worked very well and my character soon became very tough as half my leveling up went on endurance based skills. He was soon 100 at blade, heavy armor, block etc. and was able to carry plenty and take a lot of damage.

I worked this out on my own accord but I later found out that even in the Oblivion "Official Game Guide" it recommended this. So no. it doesn't make you enemies hard to defeat. It does the opposite.

Try looking at this the other way around. If you start out with all of your Endurance skills as high as possible, as you are doing, then you have fewer skill-ups that will occur, before each of those skills reach 100. The only way that your Endurance attribute will rise is because of bonuses earned by raising those three skills. By making those skills high to begin with, you are limiting the number of points that you will have available to raise Endurance.

In addition, you are making it nearly impossible to get a +5 Endurance bonus at level-up, because all of the skill-ups in your Endurance skills count toward the 10 that force the next level-up. In order to get a +5 in Endurance for that level, you would not have been able to raise any of the other four (non-Endurance) major skills at all!

Remember that your enemies level up as you do. A character built the way that you are suggesting will get gradually weaker, relative to the enemies you are facing, and will be harder to play in the mid-levels.

??? You get +5 on a skill if you've worked mostly on that skill and not other skills during the time you level up. If you are a jack of all trades then you'll get lower increases but probably more skills to choose from when you level up.

That is another eason why you should specialize and not be a jack of all trades and a master at none.

This is not true. You get a +5 bonus if you raise the skills governed by a single attribute 10 times before your next level. It doesn't matter whether those skills are major or minor skills. If you raise Blade 3 points, Hand-to-Hand 2 points, and Blunt 5 points then you get a possible +5 bonus to Strength the next time you level up (you still have to pick Strength as the attribute you want to raise).


glargg is right about this. Take the first build you used:

Armorer
Block
Heavy Armor
Alteration
Destruction
Restoration
Blunt

Now let’s say that you are going to spend the first several levels concentrating on getting that +5 modifier for Endurance every time you level up so that your health increases at the optimum rate. Well, first you have already limited yourself to only using a sword (or Hand-to-Hand) in battle because you don’t want to raise Blunt by mistake. You also have to be careful not to raise Alteration, Destruction, or Restoration. You can still use the spells and the axe; you just have to be judicious about it because you don’t want one of your level up points going to Willpower or Strength. In order to get the +5 modifier for Endurance every major point toward your next level has to go into the three Endurance skills.

Is such a build viable? Absolutely. Most of the in-game classes have three skills from the same attribute as majors (which is why most of us roll with custom classes). Does such a build call for a great deal more micro-management if you want to control the level-up modifier? Yes it does.

Is that not what I said.
"If you've worked in that skill and not others during the time you level up"

In other words if you have governed a single attribute. If you work on other attributes during the time you level up (as in a character that dos a bit of everything) then you won't get the +5 bonus. No one said anything about it being a major of minor skill. I just said and still say it is better to specialize in specific areas. That is why I choose my major skills from two governing attribute and work hard at those skills. This way I get full bonuses throughout. My Nord character is strength, endurance & willpower and as he grew I first concentrated on endurance and strength so he rapidly became stronger and can now carry maximum amount and can inflict maximum damage (at a lower level than someone doing a bit of everything).

I have a Bosmer character who I specialized in stealth & speed who is very fast and is maxed out in marksman, sneak & acrobatics etc but he is nowhere near as strong or can carry nearly as much.

When Oblivion first came out a friend of mine had a Breton who after so many weeks was a lot greater level than my Nord (He was not working so spent all day playing the game). As it was on PC, he was able to zip up his character and send it to me and although he was much higher level, my Nord was a much stronger character to play with as I had specialized. My Nord was useless with certain spells and sneak etc but that didn't matter as he was so strong and inflicted so much damage that he could walk through most dungeons without a worry. And He was a much lower level than my friends Breton. Comparing the two side by side by playing them one after the other, I would have thought my Nord was the higher level as he just felt so much stronger and able.

This talk is probably the reason why Bethesda has left attributes out of Skyrim.

Once again, I wasn't attacking the viability of your character build. If it works for you then that's all that matters. I'm saying that some of the things you've said are inaccurate. Check out these pages on http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Leveling#The_Leveling_Problem and http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Efficient_Leveling.


So true!

My Orc guy is like this

Armorer
Block
Blunt
HandtoHand
HeavyArmor
Alchemy
Restoration
There are items in the game that make you practically imune to magic so I didn't concentrate on that much I wanted a fighter. I have made just about every character I can think of and I believe that a fighter who is imune to magic is one of the best you can make. Plus I picked the Thief as a sign because of the agility Luck and speed bonuses agility is great so I don't get knocked down plus you all know speed and luck help too.

My current Orc character Bobop gro-Bopum, has exactly that build. Except that he has Athletics instead of Restoration. His birthsign is Atronach and of course Combat specialization. However, I am use the nGCD mod which changes leveling significantly from the default system.



Yes! And also why people (like me) like leveling mods like nGCD.

Hopefully Skyrim leveling will be much less contrived.