So, I started playing Skyrim again after nearly a two year hiatus. I played Skyrim heavily for the first year after release on PS3 and Xbox, then took a long break from it, while I built a gaming PC and learned how to manage a heavily modded load order in Oblivion and Morrowind. Someday I am going to mod Skyrim, but last weekend, after reading one of the threads here about s player returning to Skyrim, I had an itch to start a new character, which I did on the spot on my Xbox.

So, this thread is to discuss my new character and solicit ideas from the community. The first issue I need input on is “health,” as in how many level-ups to take in health. But I am sure as I move forward with the character there will be other things to discuss, so I am not going to limit the thread to that one issue. Anything relating to the character or to returning to Skyrim after a long hiatus is fine.

Here is a brief summary of the character. He is an Altmer named Carpathian, who focuses primarily on destruction and restoration magic, as well as enchant. He is not going to go for zero cost spells (cause I think that is cheesy) but will need to reduce casting cost through enchant to be able to sustain wards and cast bigger destruction magic. Carpathian will also wear elven armor (cause he likes the look of it) at some point and use swords, but won’t be perking combat skills, instead, he will rely on his enchant skill to inflict enchanted damage with weapon strikes.

My plan is to play on apprentice. Two reasons for this: (1) so Carpathian will be able to kill enemies without having to spam too many destruction spells at them, and (2) so ward spells will be a little more powerful than vanilla. But I don’t want combat to be too easy, and I want to maintain a sense of danger, so the plan is not to put too many points into health. Higher difficulty levels just turn enemies into damage sponges, and I want a game where my character can kill in a few hits but can also be killed in a few hits (but hopefully more than one, unless it is a boss or briarheart power attack).

The question becomes, how much health is too much and how much is not enough. The plan is to play DiD, and I’d like to keep the character alive a while. Right now the character is level 8 and I have only put 10 points into health. This seems like more than enough at present, but as the character levels are there certain levels where things suddenly become more difficult and should prepare by putting more into health before that level?

I’d hate to be one hit killed by something less powerful than a boss or briarheart power attack (or dragon bite) and loose the character in a surprise situation simply because I did not put enough points into health. But once you put points into health, they cannot be taken back, and I don’t want the character to be too overpowered, which could easily happen on apprentice difficulty.

I don't play mages much but when I did, it would apply the health/magic/stamina as followes.

First lv up, magic

second lv up, health

third and forth lv up, magic

fifth lv up, health

and so on. I'd drop a point into stamina but for the most part ignored it. I focused on armor to help from getting one hit killed. and used magic to destroy from a distance as best I could.

I think Resident summed it up pretty well. Your primary is obviously magic and should be addressed as such. Since you have Alteration spells to boost defense a 4-2-1 ratio in my mind is warranted. I personally would go with a 2 magic, 1 health, 2 magic, 1 health, 1stamina routine.

I have used basically the same formula in reverse on my warrior. 2 health, 1 stamina, 2 health, 1 stamina, 1 magic.

And yes he is a bad a**

that's the same formula for my warriors but not magic if it doesn't suit the RP.

Thanks for the responses! It sounds like you are recommending quite a bit more health than what I have been doing, which has been a 6:1 Magicka to health ratio, for the first 7 levels. I have not entered the level up screen, and instead saved with out leveling up, so I could think about whether to take magic again or health. At level 8 my character has 110 health and 210 magicka.

May I ask what difficulty level you play on when you use these ratios and whether it might be a different ratio if I continue playing this character on apprentice?

I'm an RP/screen archer so I play on casual or what ever the lowest setting is. Not to easy and not to difficult either.

Absolutely. This warrior has had very little magic training except in restoration.

I normally play on adept so if you're going for apprentice or novice you are probably using the right mix.

I've been playing a new character recently - after a bit of a break from the game - who is a conjuration/illusion specialist (with some destruction). I've only put levels into Magic. Most of the time, he wears clothes rather than armour (though I've not been strict with that rule). I wanted a kind of 'normal' guy.

It's a lot of fun. There's more strategizing to be done, there's a lot of backing out of situations, there's a lot of thinking about whether to play with an opponent's mind, or if I can knock them down before they get a shot at me.

The game will obviously become more demanding as I keep levelling, though, so I may add some health levels if it fits the RP. But for now, not putting anything into health has added a bit of an extra dimension.