Although I have played Daggerfall and Morrowind (a long time ago), I have never played Oblivion. I have spent a number of hours reading the various docs on how to level effectively. My questions deal essentially with starting out. I'm assuming that at early levels, it will be nearly impossible to exercise control over which skills increase and which don't. What will definitely increase (for a custom Nord Warrior type) are at least one offensive combat skill (weapon) and one defensive combat skill (armor) and one or two Speed skills (Athletics and Acrobatics). These increases, I imagine, will start in the tutorial.

I am thinking of doing the +5/+5/+1 attribute increase method. I want the +5's to increase STR and END. I am also thinking of using the "One Major Skill for Each Attribute" method, choosing the least important of the three skills and making that the major skill (from UESPWiki Oblivion: Character Creation document).

Without giving you all the details, I have come to the conclusion that if at the early levels I use only those skills that I have chosen as minor (Blade, H2H; Armorer, Heavy Armor) for combat and for speed (Athletics and Acrobatics), I need not worry too much about the fact that Athletics and, possibly, Acrobatics will initially increase far faster than the combat skills. Ath and Acr will increase faster because they will start out at 5 points each, whereas Blade will start out at 25, H2H at 15, Armorer at 20, and Hvy Armor at 25. After I have accumulated 5 minor pts in offensive and 5 minor points in defensive combat, I can then use my major skills Blunt (starts at 45) and Block (starts at 40) to level up. What will be tricky is making sure that Blunt and Block are increased equally since it will take about 70 hits per skill level for Blunt to increase but only about 25 blocks per skill level for Block to increase (using the UESPWiki Oblivion: Increasing Skills doc). While Blunt and Block are increasing, so will Heavy Armor (hopefully I will be wearing some; otherwise, it will be Light Armor, which is my major Speed skill, which will increase by one level (from 25 to 30) every 14 or so hits, which I don't want since I am hoping for +5's in STR and END, not in SPD. Perhaps if I don't have any Hvy Armor I can lower the Difficulty setting to minimum and then fight with no armor.

Before you reach the point in the game where you can start raising skills by using trainers, how do you guys control skill raising? It seems very complex. Am I on the right track? I'm not interested in total efficiency or in maxing out my attributes. I just don't want my warrior to level up too quickly, that is, so quickly that he can't find weapons and armor for his level. I'm not too worried about being weaker than the mobs, partly because my STR and END will both start out at 65 (Nord bonus of 50, Custom Class bonus of 5, Birthright bonus of 10) and my weapons (Blade at 25, Blunt at 45) and armor (both at 25) will be at Apprentice level.

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!