» Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:10 pm
The most versatile races that I've found are Imperials and Dunmer. Both are decent at combat, but not specialists in it. Neither is particularly good or bad at stealth, and the Dunmer's slight advantage in magical attack and fire resistance is offset by their lower personality.
The LEAST versatile races, in my opinion, are Orcs and Nords, and I don't particularly care to play either.
I consider Stealth to be the most versatile class, although a Custom class gives far more versatility than any of the pre-defined ones.
I generally pick one Combat-class main weapon, either Medium or Heavy armor as a major/minor and often with Light armor as a minor/major, Armorer as a minor, from one to three magical schools (depending on the role of the character), and the rest Stealth skills. Your weapon skills increase quickly, so if you've got decent Agility, you can bring a second weapon (often either Short Blade or Spear) up to par by using it against weak creatures, and saving your "main" weapon for the nasty stuff. Speechcraft is a near-must, and Sneak has to be a Major unless you either don't intend to ever use it or expect to buy a gazillion levels of training just to get started. If you don't pick either Medium or Heavy armor, and wear at least a couple of pieces, your Endurance tends to stagnate, and you can never make up the lost hitpoints when you really need them in the expansions.