Seeing as how the classes have been removed, the choice of race seems like it would be the biggest decision hat the player has to make during character creation. With this in mind, I would expect many racial bonuses to come in the form of perks. I thought a racial perk might look something like this:

Bosmer: "The Green Pact" (see http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Green_Pact)
-Extra health gained from eating meat
-Can cannibalize fallen enemies for health

I also think this is a nice tip of the hat to the game lore, and casts the Bosmer more as badasses, instead of the happy-go-lucky midgets that they have become in recent installations.

if anyone has any interesting ideas for a racial perk, post it below and i will add it.

edit: also fits nicely with the bethesda tradition of adding cannibalism/vampirism or otherwise eating npcs as a game feature.

after some feedback, it seems like that racial perks would be better if they did not overtly limit the player; so don't feel pressured to add a downside to your perk ideas. More ideas are below:

Khajiit: Favour of the Moon (courtesy of artatm)
-night eye
-boost to sprint and jump
-penalties to swim and stamina

Imperials: "Imperial Legacy" (Courtesy of Broken-Scale)
-Bonus health and damage to companion characters
-While with companion, health boost to player, but penalty to movement speed
-Unique interactions with other Imperials and pro-empire characters

Uh, since when did cannibalism become "Whoa, you are bad ass" from "Eeeeew, you are one sick [censored]?"

So is that the real reason why Adoring Fan and Glarthir were following me around?

Wait... what? Bosmers are Cannibals... I knew the Adoring Fan was a bit too adoring.

As for the the Racial Perks, I really hope they don't have that. I don't want to have wait to get a perk that is nature for a certain race; Khajiit's Eye Of Night or Argonians's ability to breath underwater.

Well, some might consider it a neat feature. its certainly morbid, but I also think its cool, in that it reflects the hunter aspect of the wood elves, while also emphasizing their ties to nature. Also, I feel that a penalty to npc perception would reflect the "eew, you ate his liver, icky" part, so I agree with you there.

Yeah, hopefully. Though I'd hope racial traits are more important and pronounced anyway.

Yup, The entire time they where thinking "Braaaiiiinnnssss" Oh, What, That's zombies........

Not bad ideas. We'll see what comes out.

He was adoring your spleen.

So, would this be an automatic perk? Because not many Bosmer outside of Valenwood are cannibals. In fact there's plenty of Bosmer in Valenwood that dont adhere to the Green Pact either.

Well, I'd expect that if they implemented the racial abilities as perks, they'd be added at the beginning rather than gained at level-up.

It gets into that whole "what's in a name" thing, just like Fallout 3 having "perks" you picked at level up, then "perks" you gained as quest rewards, then New Vegas had "traits" which were nothing but perks you picked at character creation...so I wouldn't worry much about having to wait to level up for racial traits implemented under the "perk" name.

True, but different khajit are born according to the different phases of the moon; various types of khajit have been represented throughout the series. Maybe this is the TES game where the Bosmer PC adheres to the Green Pact.

you know, i always thought a good way to give racial perks would be like the traits in FO:NV. give, according to race, like 6 options of perks they could pick one or two of. things that wouldnt affect playstyles necessarily, but would impact your game. like giving a bosmer the chance to eat his enemies. If you choose it, you have given your bosmer the choice of following the green pact. it may take a while to do this for every race, and finding multiple perks for every race would be a [censored], it would add a TON to the game IMO.

Khajit: favour of the moon
-base speed and jump increased
-night eye
-poor swimmer(slow swim speed and hold breath for less time)
-penalty to fatigue(balance speed n stop spam jump)

Why would anyone want perks that limit the player?

dont know about the bosmer one specifically but i would like to see increased swimming speed in argonians and a bit extra armor since they do have thick hides. kitties could get better night eye and possibly a small boost in jumping as well.

I'd like to see racial traits; it'd be a good way to give the game more flavor. Make different races stand out from each other a little bit, instead of having bonuses to the now-defunct Attibutes. And if it was something simple, like Night Eye for Khajiiti when entering a darkened surrounding, that'd be even better.

Maybe they could have a variety of traits at the start, and you could pick a racial and a regular one, for example. If it was entirely optional, nobody would have a problem with it.

That's not the same thing. Adhering to the green pact is a choice, not a breed of Bosmer. I'd rather just have more meaningful racial benefits in the start, that maybe level with you.

Another racial ability thread, huh? I'm all for each race having unique and interesting strengths and weaknesses as well as including culture, pride, and rivalry between them. I'd be thrilled to be able to follow the green pact as a Bosmer. Perhaps ancestry rituals as a dark elf?

I would think they would have racial perks mixed in seeing as how they are making 280 plus perks, but I also think each race will still have some sort of starting bonus power that pertains only to their race.

I like that, but the Green Pact would have to be an optional choice, like traits in FO:NV. Other ones could be like

Imperials- "Legacy of Emperors"
All companions gain +10% to health and +5% to damage.
When travelling with at least one companion, health is increased by 15% at the cost of -5% to movement speed
Special interactions with pro-Empire characters

...if it is automatic it's not a perk. It's a racial ability. Regardless, I don't believe perks do a number of things. I think all of them are single additions. Craft racial perks likewise.

Khajiit:
-bonus jump height
-bonus speed
-bonus h2h damage

Redguard:
-bonus base damage
-bonus fatigue

Orc:
-bonus encumbrance
-weapons/armor deteriorate more slowly

Dunmer:
-increased attack speed (1-h)

Altmer:
-faster magicka regen
-magic ignores [blank]% enemy resistance

Bosmer:
-reduced staggering
-increased sprint speed
-increased sneak speed

etc. etc.

Each - is its own perk