Hello all. After recently speaking with a friend regarding some of our finest MW memories I could not resist to pick it back up, so I went out and grabbed myself a Game of the Year Edition for PC which includes both expansions. However, it has been several years since I played it and I am having some trouble coming up with some of the last details of my custom class.

COMBAT

MAJOR:
Block
Heavy Armor
Security
Alteration
Mysticisim

MINOR:
Long Blade
Mercantile
Speechcraft
Athletics
Armorer

SIGN:
The Lady

PREFERRED:
Str and End

This is the current set-up I have come up with and I would like to mention I do not plan on playing with any mods at the moment. I would like to be a combat oriented character who can really stand up in a fight yet I would like to have some utility as well. I am rather happy with the set up however I have concerns regarding Alteration, Security, and Mysticisim. From a RP stand point I would not like to use too much magic, yet as I recall having magic is rather important in the game and I do not want to exclude myself from using it (I don't think) so I went with Myst for the transport spells and soul capture ability and alteration for locks and I recall having the ability to water-breathe/Levitate can be extremely helpful. My concern is that I think many of these spells can be found in items so having the spell is not really needed (I could be wrong) and again I don't want my character to use magic TOO much. Should I replace alt and myst for something like alchemy and enchant? Yet those sound like they may be extremely work intensive to be useful and I am trying to keep the priority on fun Only other concern I have is if having both alt and security is rather redundant since having alt allows for both opening locks and utility so that might make security useless? Should Security be replaced instead? I had it in there for those instances where I might not have enough magicka, where some locks may be higher than my security skill and again I don't want my character to rely on magic for everything (RP reasons I guess).

Thank you all in advance for putting up with my rambling and I hope some of it made at least a bit of sense. Hopefully you guys can help me get through this nasty character creation OCD I am having right now, it is getting rather frustrating lol. Thanks all!

Btw, what race are you going to play?

Yeah I can relate to your fun (preferred) --- work line. I'd still say pick up at least Alchemy. Another major skill you should want is a weapon. - You might not hit anything at start if your weapon skills are only minor, especially when you're low on fatigue. With Alchemy, you could just use some basic, easy-to-find ingredients to make whatever potions you need. How about restoring that fatigue just to hit something? If it's a major skill, it's not that much pain to get it work at start, even without intelligence/luck enhancing. Maybe a little, but not that much pain. I haven't done it much myself, none at the start of the game, and I've got my Alchemy to grow. There are always the trainers, too. So, pick it.

Security is definitely the skill you want to forget having as major (or even minor). You can do it all, and much more, with Alteration, and you don't have to carry and, more importantly, FIND good lock picks all the time. You don't have to count your picks since you can restore/rest to get your magicka pool back up and then try again. The only thing you cannot do is disarm traps. You could have probes - I think it's way easier to disarm a trap than to pick a lock. Or you could just endure the traps, considering you're a combat character and you'll have much health. Use your Alchemy to restore whatever the trap takes from you.

I've come to conclusion that you don't really need Mysticism at all, either. Intervention scrolls are pretty common. The easiest thing would be just to accept that you are not enchanting, and you won't waste a major slot for enchantment. Thus, you won't really need Soultrap, either. If you want to do this, well, pick Enchantment as major as well, and buy a good stack of Soultrap scrolls. Or train Mysticism. The scrolls are fairly common, too. All the better if you find an amulet or such for it, though. Since you're not much of a mage, I think you won't be looking for ways to reflect or absorb spells, either, correct? You just endure them, RAWR! ...Right? :unsure2: So, not Mysticism required. And, thus, I assume now, no soul gems with a charge and, thus, Enchanting. You can do without them as a strong warrior anyway. For me über-enchantments also spoil all the fun. Also closer to your original, no-Enchanting build this way. Ungh. So, my version.


MAJOR:
Block
Heavy Armor
Long Blade
Alteration
Alchemy

MINOR:
*secondary weapon/armor/Acrobatics/whatever you want really*
Mercantile
Speechcraft
*secondary weapon/armor/Acrobatics/whatever you want really*
Armorer/Athletics

Acrobatics can be good at surviving drops, not falling down, etc. Even jump up some cliffs if you're not levitating. You should only take a secondary weapon or armor if you think you cannot find a Heavy suit or Long Sword at start. I never take two armors, since I stop using the other once I have a full set of the better I've chosen. I also end up using just one type of weapons. So, if you'll take this kind of risk, you'd follow the following build. (Or if you were me - considering you don't remember / don't want to use any known places for Heavy Armor and Long Blades, this could be a bit risky. What if you don't find those in a long time? Anyway, I might still do this.)

MAJOR:
Block
Heavy Armor
Long Blade
Alteration
Alchemy

MINOR:
Acrobatics
Mercantile
Speechcraft
Armorer
Athletics

Thank you very much for all of your input, I really appreciate the assistance especially since I have still not yet decided on my final class choice. The race I plan on playing is Imperial btw.

I definitely like your suggestions and I think I might do something like this:

MAJOR: Block, Heavy Armor, Long Sword, Alteration, Alchemy
MINOR: Mercantile, Speechcraft, Athletics, Armorer, ???

STR and END

COMBAT

The Lady

Just curious what would be the best choice for that last slot? I want to drop Security since it sounds like Alteration is much better and I still want to stay with the same Warrior/Knight like feel. Maybe Enchant for better-longer lasting charges?

Thank you all very much again!

mysticism for the last slot. nothing beats being able to teleport when you feel like it. getting mark and recall is harder than getting the other two interventions.

alteration also enables levitation, water walking, and water breathing. true you could use potions but being able just to it is better.

start with a red guard, you will start off with 50 in the long blade skill. a good start in the game.

I second this. I question Alteration though. I prefer to make potions for flying and such anyway...and Security is better suited for that...but still limited. If you're not doing Alchemy, however, that could be an issue.

Well, I question both for a non mage. For mysticism, you can buy a recall amulet in Caldera and mark potions in Balmora, and of course, the intervention amulets from an early mages guild quest. That just leaves soultrap which you can get several ways. For Alteration, it's just open and levitate; there are potions and several items for levitate and loads of scrolls for open. (of course, if you don't mind a little alchemy abuse, you can custom enchant all these spells easily)

For a mage, I'd take both because overuse of enchantments can get boring and it fits the role better to cast when possible IMHO.

It's been a long time since I played an unmodded game, so take my comments with a grain of salt

I'd just like to say that don't get excessively worried about your final skill choices. They will increase to the extent that you practice them. So choosing something you like and think you'll be doing frequently should increase the pace at which that particular skill increases and your level. wrt spells, enchanted items and potions, they pretty much have equivalent effects amongst each category although there are effects that potions cannot do that can be done by spells and enchanted items, e.g., summoning.

WRT teleportation, you can buy potions of marking and recall from a particular merchant in Balmora and in Sadrity Mora; they work all the time reqardless of your current skill level. IIRC, there are also one or two places that you can loot a potion of Almsivi Intervention. And as noted earlier, there are merchants selling amulets and rings that perform thel equivalent to spells/scrolls of mark, recall, Almsivi Intervention and Divine Intervention; they are for sale and don't require performing a quest, just a long shopping trip

WRT locks, there are alteration spells (but also scrolls and amulets doing the same thing) to open and/or lock stuff. But I've never had an interest in that reason to choose alteration because it seems like it's been ridiculously easy to build up the security skill - just requires patience and an adequate supply of lockpicks and probes, and those are plentiful. My current pc is a lvl 31 adventurer who's now able to open level 40 locks using an apprentice lockpick; it took time and practice to get there, though.

And as for enchantment, I choose that if it fits my pc's rp. Otherwise, I find it tedious. Once you start accumulating the gold, it's just as easy to buy the spell for the enchantment you want and then hire an enchanter to do it for you.

Regardless, enjoy your character and have fun. It's said that time heals all wounds, so even if you think you made a particularly bad choice of skills, the game gives you lots of ways to compensate. Or, you could also treat it as a challenge for your character to overcome

John

Thank you all again for all of your helpful replies. I think I have decided to kinda switch it up and go with more or a Warrior/Thief type as my main skill set and I will train up my magic as needed.

MAJOR: Block, Heavy Armor, Long Sword, Security, Sneak
MINOR: Mercantile, Speechcraft, Athletics, Armorer, Alchemy

Imperial

Combat

The Lady

STR and END

Only real question I have regarding this build is whether or not I should switch Sneak and Alchemy and have Sneak be a minor skill instead of a major. Any suggestions regarding that issue? Thank you all again in advance.

Just like to plug my two cents concerning having Mysticism as a major or minor...if it's going to be used just to be able to use Mark and Recall, I just train up to a level where I have a 90% chance, or so, of casting the spell. I don't bother with it as a major or minor. If you're going to use other spells that also rely on Mysticism....sure.

[edit] I don't really like carrying Mark and Recall potions, and I know you can get amulets and stuff, but I also try to keep my inventory as uncluttered as I can. This is just my favorite way to do it, that's all.

it depends on how much you want pay for training. sneak requires agility. you might have low agility at the start, it is easy to increase the alchemy skill. i make water walking potions. make a lot of money doing it. so switching will make a logical sense.