I figure this'd be a fun discussion - though I know very well Morrowind is not the sort of game for powergaming and I'd probably never play a character built solely for power. Mods have of course balanced some of these things to a degree already, but assuming a vanilla character creation.

Anyway, IMHO this is the most powerful starting character, one that will basically be a beast from the very start of the game:

Race: Breton
Sign: Atronach

Already we've got Resist Magicka 50% on top of 50% spell absorption, along with a 2.5xint bonus to magicka. That's insane! Plus the huge shield racial spell for tough physical damage opponents.
Atronach has a weakness in the stunted magicka, but since in Morrowind you only regen magicka by resting rather than in real time, and there are better ways to restore it anyway, it's hardly an issue.

Attributes:
Endurance
Intelligence or Luck

The endurance gives maximum HP. Intelligence just stacks so well with the int multipliers from sign and race but isn't hard to get later while luck you can only increase by 1 beyond the start. I'd go with luck for the long run, but early on int will serve you better.

Skillset/Style or whatever it's called: Combat or Magic, either is good but I'd guess combat would make things slightly easier in the beginning.

Major skills:
Conjuration
Axe
Heavy Armor
Restoration
Alchemy

Conjuration starting high is key, the ancestor ghost summon will be important for refilling his magicka due to the stunt from atronach, but more importantly the bound armor and weapons are what will make this character a juggernaut early on. The bound axe is probably the best bound weapon damage wise and will often knock down(the bound weapons weigh nothing but still count as being as heavy as normal daedric IIRC), so that's why the axe skill, and obviously the bound daedric counts as heavy so that's a no brainer. Restoration will allow for convenient healing and buffing, alchemy is a major money source but also a good alternative to the ghost for refilling his magicka when needed and of course for all the other great things a strong potion can do.

Minor skills:
Mysticism
Alteration
Illusion
Sneak
Marksman

Mysticism is for teleporting, telekinesis, etc. which are very convenient. Likewise, alteration improves mobility with levitate, water walking, etc. and of course shield spells are nice too, and opening locks is always good. Illusion is to support sneak with invisibility which is also great for escape. Sneak is for the sneak attacks, which works with marksman, so this character can start combat with a very high damage. The dwemer crossbow packs some serious punch once you get one as well.

Basically this characters overall approach to combat: Conjure up your bound armor and longbow before combat, open with a sneak attack with the bow from a distance. This will outright kill many creatures at the beginning. Summon your bound axe when things get upclose and personal - use restore or absorb health when needed, or healing potions.

Alternatives:
Race: Orc.

Orcs get a lesser bonus to resist magicka and less magicka total and lower magic skills. However, they start with more health, higher combat skills and attributes and BERSERK. Berserk is absolutely amazing for mowing things down in melee.

Weapon skills: Spear, Long Sword, or Blunt
Spear gives a longer range weapon which still deals great damage. Long sword is a classic choice, and many of the artifact long swords are the strongest non-bound weapons. Blunt also has some great artifact options, and the ebony staff is the best weapon to enchant.
Short blade is a consideration just for the amazing enchantments on Keening, but the damage is so small hardly worth it IMHO. Alternatively Fang of Haynekhtnamet does a lot of damage, but the enchant on it will empty so soon it's barely worth it either.

Skills: Block. If you want to go 1 handed, this is a great later game option for a more defensive, tanky character. The daedric tower shield is amazing when enchanted and gives a ton of armor. I'd replace maybe marksman with it, and then you could probably just replace sneak with something else too and/or illusion. Once you no longer need as much bound armor(the helm and cuirass are the best, the rest are replaced later by found armor) armorer is nice for upkeep.

Ahem: Redguard, Blunt Weapon and Block, spam Adrenaline Rush, get Skull-Crusher, get Eleidon's Ward, proceed to hand Vvardenfell it's ass on a limeware platter.

Done deal.

And it's 2.0x INT with the Atronach, not 2.5. You want 2.5, use one of my plugins. Careful, the Spell Absorption's gone.

Yep, that's a strong character starting with a bound axe. Bound armor, however, counts as light armor. I would still keep Heavy armor though, because there are so many heavy artifacts available once you get to a higher level.

Like Tonal Architect said, a Redguard with Skull Crusher can absolutely break the game. However, starting out with Long Blade is arguably even better. +15 to Long Blade from the very beginning of the game? Get out of here. You can easily go grab a Daedric Katana by finding the lost Ebony Mine, and proceed to just crap all over every single NPC in the game. Pick up Eleidon's Ward, as well as all the other insanely powerful Heavy Armour artifacts (none of which are particularly difficult to get) and you'll have a very easy time with the game.

Who needs a +5 to Attack when you can just get +60 to Agility from the Fists of Randagulf and the Helm of Oreyn Bearclaw?

True, but a Daedric Mace works too, at least it has for me. Took a little more work to get the skill up, but not much.



Exactly.

Although what I call the Yokudan Cheap-ass Tactic is for noobs, really. I prefer to challenge myself as much as I can these days. I've even tried being an Altmer thief before.

2.5x total, I was adding the Breton bonus with the Atronach bonus.

Also I thought adrenaline rush was once per day - if not that is indeed a great choice.
As for Skull Crusher/Eleidon's, this character isn't designed to bum-rush to certain artifacts though, it's sort of assuming you're playing the game without knowledge of every artifact's location.


I stand corrected, didn't know this!

Although it's armor rating apparently stays the same regardless of skill, and the best use for it is increasing your armor skills by 10 with the helm and cuirass, and as you point out the best non-bound armor is heavy so doesn't change the character much.

My bad.



It is a daily power. But in Morrowind that means next to nothing (if you're not a hardcoe RPer).



Still, when a Redguard player comes across any number of powerful weapons that fit their specialty, it's all over.



That's correct. Despite it's Daedric appearance, it weighs nothing, and weight-determining-armor-class is hard-coded.