Now I realize that it might be some sort of blasphemy against the Elders whose Scrolls we honor, but I would like some more options in Race and Birthsign bonuses. Not new Races or Birthsigns, just the ability to tweak the options we are given. All Dunmer may not be created equal, some might be more equal than others. And if your birthsign really has that much of an impact on your natural abilities then surely it should make a difference if you were born under the wane, wax or equinox of the sign.

I understand that Nords are supposed to be stronger, tougher and resistant to the cold; but I would like the option to adjust exactly how strong, endurant and frost resistant my Nord actually is. What I would like to see is a submenu during race selection that lets you tweak the racial attributes to your liking. If a standard Nord has +10 Strength, +10 Endurance and 30% Resistance to Frost each of these could have a slider to adjust them up or down but the total value of the racial bonus would have to be the same. In other words you couldn’t boost Endurance to +20 without dropping Strength or Frost Resistance. Think the Enchanting Menu from Morrowind, not the SPECIAL Menu from Fallout. (Because some people have an aneurysm when you mention anything that even sounds like it was in Fallout, What!?! You want swords, knives and a lock pick mini game??! This isn’t Fallout 3!!)

For many of the Birthsigns it would work the same way, but for some like The Serpent or The Atronarch you could have a direct correlation between the positive and negative effects. For example if The Atronarch grants +150 Magika and 50% Spell Absorption and Stunted Magika then some can adjust it to +275 Magika and 25% Spell Absorption or +25 Magika and 75% Spell Absorption. I personally would like the option to set it to -100 Magika and 100% Spell Absorption but someone else might like to get +25 Magika and 25% Spell Absorption in exchange for a less severe Womburn, like 10%-25% normal regen rate.

So what say you? Would this a boon to the character creation system already in place or more like the beginning to the complete destruction of The Elder Scrolls as we know it?

I think there are enough races and birth signs.

However, I would like a Daggerfall-style http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Background, or something like the system used in Arcanum, where you can pick some advantages and disadvantages for your character.

Yeah, the backgrounds would be nice (provided there were enough skills to make it worth it) and it would be nice if they played some sort of role in dialogue, but that might be hoping for a little too much.

I 100% completley agree! I'm not asking for more Races and Birthsigns, I want more customization with the Races and Birthsigns we already have.

The ability to adjust the starting traits and attribute mean more to me than the ability to adjust eye color and nostril size which is where most of the focus on character creation seems to be in recent games.

I'd really prefer this system to the birthsign system. The birthsigns just weren't a good idea.

I like birth signs, but the problem is that they aren't very well balanced. Some signs are obviously more beneficial than others. Additionally, they don't scale well. While a b'sign lesser power might be useful at low character levels, at higher levels it might be easily surpassed by learned spell.

It would be cool if NPCs had birth signs, and used the abilities/powers (such as in some TESIII mods). Personally, I modded TESIII birthsigns to be fun and actually add several unique features/abilities to the character for increased customization.

It would be cool to have a sort of background generator (as mentioned above) that did (sort of) what the OP suggested. Have the same basic racial bonuses and weaknesses as before, but alter them slightly based on your characters given background. This could go both ways, though. It could add some customization to characters, or it could decrease the strategic value of selecting certain races for certain roles.

I think it could work best if there were two or three subtypes to choose from for each race. It could work like the gender differences in each race (for the ones that have a gender difference, anyway). You could have an argonian who was a swamp-dweller, a slave, or a shadowtail for example. Each one would have slightly different bonuses; the shadowtail would gain obvious stealth proficiencies over other argonians, the swamp-dweller could be more resistant to disease and illness as well as increased athleticism and acrobatics, while the slave would have greater strength and endurance.

I think something like that could work and add a little more depth to character creation. The birthsigns are kind of shallow as they are now, since the bonus attributes are usually the only thing worth taking in the long run. New playable races may not make sense depending on the context of the game. We already have pretty much every race in Tamriel available to us, and being an akaviri race, while potentially interesting, may just not make sense for the lore of the game.

I love your idea. I would also like if NPCs were given birthsigns, and if they were NOT chosable. This would make me end up with a random birthsign, hopefully one I would have never chosen.
Also, improved birthsigns would be nice. level scaling (maybe, depending on what they do), or maybe if they were just so unique it wouldnt matter cause they were always helpful in a tight spot.

You have to choose from 4-5 premade backgrounds=restrictions.

I like your idea, wouldn't mind seeing it implemented. I liked the background generation even more though, but more or less anything that gives me more customization options for my character is welcome.

I agree with this, but I also used Tejon's racials to replace the vanilla one's because they were awesome.