This has come up in bits and pieces of other threads. So I wanted to compile a listing of suggested ideas, limiting your character for a deeper immersion experience.

I couldn't find another thread committed to this topic, and I haven't been in this forum long. So if it does or has existed, please link accordingly.

This is not meant for a specific character build. But rather a list of guidelines / rules and limits for any character in general. Others have stated, including myself, that they set the diff high and gimp their character for a more challenging gameplay. I have thought about this and have concluded, from the post of others, that a very challenging aspect is to play the game set at normal and use your majors exclusively to level quickly and bring the enemies to a higher enemy to player ratio. I guess that's the way it was intended to start with. This may call for a custom class, as you will be potentially limited to MAJOR skills. This calls for no use of exploits.

This is a rough start to what will hopefully grow into a better and more challenging gaming experience.

You must eat and drink regularly / daily.
You can only eat meat, if you are next to a fire. ie...camp or fireplace.
You must drink twice a day, and when you eat.
You cannot pick up a weapon AND USE IT, if it is not one of your MAJOR skills.
You cannot fast travel. EVER
You cannot wear armor, if it is not a MAJOR skill.
Your HPs are limited. ( when and what amount? )

Maybe we should consider not using any MINOR skills at all? Aside from the obvious running and jumping. This is not carved in stone by any means. It is just a starting point for other ideas and comments. After 5 years, I'm sure that a lot of you have come up with a long and detailed list of this very nature.

I think armor is excessive. After all, myself, who hasn't worn any type of armor except maybe thick leather(if you count that as armor...), can pick up a suit of armor and wear it. True I couldn't fight in it, but I could still wear it. And light armor...anybody who can fit into it can use it and fight. But here are my rules for playing "hardcoe"

1. Only fast travel if you're near a stable or Mages Guild to roleplay you're taking a ride on a coach or using a teleport.
2. When fast traveling, don't fast travel directly to the location unless it's a city, town, settlement, or inn.
3. When horseback riding, get off and rest for a little bit at regular intervals. And walk sometimes.
4. Get a job or some form of occupation. It really depends on your character but as a general rule, pick a job that can pay real gold.
5. Go grocery shopping!
6. Eat at least twice a day and drink stuff. Use alchemy to put a bunch of fruits together and call it a fruit juice or something.
7. Be creative!

Here are some thoughts.

Limit your schools of magic, and do not use spells from your minor schools.

Wear a hood or seek shelter when it’s raining.

Sleep at night, unless you have a reason not to.

Limit waiting. You’ll end up hanging around in front of shops a little, but it’s fun to see the towns wake up as people start their daily business. Especially Skingrad, they have a rush hour.

In towns, behave appropriately. Talk to the guard on the way in. He’d want to know your business, especially if you look blood soaked or shady. Change out of armor before you go shopping, and walk calmly on the sidewalk.

Incorporate your character’s beliefs into your play. This could mean visiting chapels on Sundas, no chapel healing for daedra worshipers, making a pilgrimage for a summoning day, or just not using undead alchemy ingredients or summonings.

Since you’re paying attention to the calendar, think about the alchemy ingredients that you collect. No flowers in the dead of winter, but root pulp would be there year-round. This one is admittedly pretty difficult, and requires planning and a long-term character.

ETA: Here’s one I couldn’t follow through with. Turn off the music so that you have to be more aware of your surroundings. I did this for awhile, but I kept getting jumped by mountain lions. It completely wrecked my nerves. You know, I think I’ll make another detect life ring and try again.

My thoughts on roleplaying limitations can be found in my sig

This thread has been done before, matter of fact look up the "how hardcoe are you?" thread. Don't worry about linking, though...this forum tends to recycle threads under different names all the time. It took me awhile to get used to this.



Yea, I tend to do this. My chars who are dungeon-diving usually only eat near a fireplace, assuming they haven't got a fire spell which can (in theory) roast some food.



Why not? :rolleyes: We like talking about our characters. But I'll refrain.

That being said, it would be nice if skills that aren't used as often had more of a consequence. Like if your character never picks up an axe, and suddenly does so one day out of hte blue, it would be cool if they couldn't swing it as well as the sword that's usually being used. From what I understand, this is how Morrowind did it.

I do things the exact opposite as you. I tend to select Majors that my characters don't use very often, mostly because I hate the way (at higher levels) all these creatures pop up out of nowhere, and literally they were not there the week before. It would be okay if they showed up rarely, but once they start showing up, they're suddenly EVERYWHERE. And let's not even get started on the topic of the glass-wearing bandits. :wink_smile:

My first extended playthough of Oblivion got cancelled for months because I actually started to hate the game for these reasons. the game didn't seem authentic to me. :shrug:

Along with the "Minors as Majors" thingie, I never touch the difficulty slider, and employ the good ol' dead is DEAD rule. All of this keeps my game in balance.

@ Renne : Ha! I seen the thread and it it covers the exact issues. I knew it had to have been discussed before.

I guess it's called using the SEARCH function.

Thanks again.

I've confined myself, for now, solely to immersionistic practices that relate to travel. More specifically, travel by a heavily armed and armoured individual. These principles can be easily adapted for use with more lightly equipped adventures, using a bit of common sense.

No fast travel: This is probably the most hardcoe of my recommendations, and least likely to be adopted by those who don't feel it breaks immersion. I've not been a huge fan of it in any of the Elder Scrolls games. (I played all four.) Didn't even care much for Morrowind's vaunted Silt Striders. The sole exception is 'teleportation mages' as they existed in both Daggerfall and Morrowind. Instantaneous transportation (even if travel-time actually passes at a normal rate) makes sense in that scenario. Truth to tell, even had Bethesda included that function in Oblivion I would take it very infrequently. In my opinion, Oblivion's version of Cyrodiil is so tiny any form of fast-travel is all but pointless.

If heavily armed and armoured, travel at a walking pace EVEN WHILE MOUNTED. Run/gallop only in short infrequent spurts, and only when it makes sense to do so.

PC_ONLY: If heavily armored and armoured, espcially those who ride armoured horses, consider reducing your mount's run-speed. (For mod-added horses this is normally very easy to do with TES4edit.) Not only is it more realistic, but the slower pace is less prone to suffer noticeable lag and stutters.

If heavily armed and armoured, stay on the road as much as possible. Travel cross-country only at necessity, and then only by routes that make sense for someone encased in heavy place armour.

For all, but more specially for those heavily equipped, do not ride your mounts in inappropriate terrain. For me, that means tethering Arrowspeed (my mount) at a hopefully safe spot road-side any time I need to traverse the wilderness. I'll sometimes risk it AT A WALK on reasonably flat, dry, open ground, but such excursions are few and far between.

PC_ONLY: consider a pack-animal or animals. I use Pack_Donkeys by the creator of Companion Vilja. These make a lot of sense. What adventurer worth his or her salt would set out without some means of storing and transporting spoils? Plus, donkeys are more surefooted that horses. I'll often take Groucho (my donkey) right up to a dungeon mouth (with Arrowpeed left behind at road-side) before tethering him.

Do not 'swim' in heavy armour. Use a water-walking spell, potion, or enchanted item, or find a bridge or ford.

That'll do for now. I'll amend this later of something comes to me.

-Decrepit-

One way that I like to define a character is via their attributes. I try to avoid a character that has high attributes across the board. If you max endurance, strength and agility but ignore intelligence and willpower it makes a pretty strong statement about who your character is. Similarly, a magey type might ignore endurance and strength. Clearly, the potential to limit your character, specialize them and enchance your challenge is significant this way. For example, if you permanently maintain a strength of 30 it has a dramatic impact on a character's ability to get rich hauling loot or to defend themselves in melee combat.

I eschew hard rules like eat x times a day because I find my characters speak loudly and clearly about their needs (eating, drinking, sleeping, bathing, etc) with no prompting from me.

I insist on leveling very slowly and carefully, as well as capping characters at 20. Admittedly, this makes things easier, but that is why I incorporate other significant gimps and it is also not why I do it. By allowing the world to advance very slowly (20 hours per level is my average), it seems rather natural to see the changes in foes and equipment that come with advancing levels - I like that. I also like that with a cap of 20, I still see plenty of lower level foes and daedric/glass equipment does not bedeck every single marauder/bandit I encounter.

No worries. Like I said, threads tend to get recycled under different names around here often. This one does have a different feel to it than the HOw hardcoe Are You? one, so don't worry.



- Yea, this is a big one with me. My characters I never swim unless it seems feasible. I also only have my characters carry what seems feasible, in their the invisible backpack or on the belt. So, no three sets of armor, 4 magic swords at a time...

- If (let's say) my fighter character I find a magic sword, I'll drop my iron sword and carry the magic one out, if I'm going to sell or keep it. Same goes with armors. I like having my character wearing cheap armor. As I find more expensive items, I will throw the cheap stuff away and carry out the more expensive stuff.

- I've actually left expensive items behind to go and get them back later. I hate the idea that the only thing in Oblivion that limits us from carrying the entire world is weight. And once the weight limit has been met, all the sudden our characters can't even move. :nope: Skyrim better do this right. :stare:

- I like to imagine whatever items are hotkeyed are being carried on my character's my belt, and are readily accessible. Items that aren't hotkeyed are in the pack. Let's say there's a healing potion in the pack. I won't just pull it out of the pack while I'm in a fight, instead, I'll have my character run off to a spot (or in another section of the dungeon) where it seems more feasible this healing potion could be fished out.

*Sorry I keep mentioning my characters! It's such a habit! :hubbahubba:

I eat 5 Times a day.
Never wait.
Never fast travel.
Dead is dead rule.
I use my imagination ('Cause i play PS3 so I have to)
Bathe and wash clothes.
Drink 10 bottles of ''Water'' (a restore fatigue potion) a day.
I need to pretend I have 1 Sword on one of my hips and 1 on another, and a small shortsword in my right boot(because i carry 3 Blades! )
I always have my arrows equipped. (I also have to pretend I always have my bow on my back. :facepalm: )
I sleep at night.
If its raining i wear a hood or seek shelter.
If its becoming night I find an inn or Tavern i can sleep in.
When i go to bed I wear some pants to sleep and i drop clothes and equipment on tables or the floor near the bed.
If i meet creatures like a Minotaur lord, i try to either outsmart it or run away.

You guys / gals have some great ideas. This is the direction I was hoping to go with this. I didn't want it to turn into a Fanfic. Thus the statement about the specific character thing. I have removed that from post 1, as someone could clearly describe a rule that pertains to a particular character type. ( hugs Renne ) :hugs:

I like the heavy armor / no swim thing, and the idea of teleportation from a mage guild entrance. They make sense, and would be perfectly viable. IMO

The attribute and level cap is something I'm all for as well. I'm kind of torn, at the moment, on exactly what they may be.

The find a sword drop a sword is good, and the utility belt is great. I'm thinking about the repair to weapons and armor should be made only at certain locations. Like a rock or something. Not just repaired on the fly. Of course, there is always a smith in town if your not majored in that.

Lots of good stuff. I just wanted to hit on a few. Maybe we can compile something as a joint effort and give it a title. Who knows?

Thank You, good and bad people of Tamriel...


EDIT : @ lolz Dead is dead...huh...That's pretty...definitive, to say the lest. I can dig it. A true hardcoe rule, that one is. I'm on the 360. So, it's 'Imagination Mods' for us console users.

I play an all rounder character so I set limits on how high her skills can increase. She will never be able to repair enchanted gear, she will never be able to fill soul gems. She only knows a few spells that she can do well. She can't summon anything more powerful than a scamp. It makes no sense to me that one person can be a master at everything.

I use a fatigue mod so that my character gets tired and vision gets blurry when fatigue is low. You also have a higher chance of just tripping and falling when you are tired. I have a mod that makes diseases quite a bit more lethal.

My character has to eat, sleep, and bathe. (I have mods to ensure I don't for get to feed her and have her bathe regularly, but sleeping is easy to remember lol)

She either seeks shelter in rain, or puts on a hood.

I play dead is left for dead, which means dumping your inventory in a respawning container and “waking up” in the nearest chapel. It can be painful to lose your favorite gear, especially if there are no more sigil stones available.

To address everyone talking about not carrying armor or swords with you at all times, I'm a mage, that is no problem for me. I only have 1 dagger enchanted with an absorb magicka enchantment and my only armor is robes enchanted with fortify magicka. I almost never have any more than maybe my dagger/shortsword (my dagger has absorb magicka and my shortsword has fire/shock/frost damage and soul trap) and some kind of staff on me. To roleplay the looting thing I just pretend that feather shrinks the items to make them lighter and be able to fit in my backpack.

I also still have my base strength and endurance but can raise my HP to godly levels using fortify HP spells/potions and can destroy anything with custom spells and enchanted + poisoned (100 alchemy for the win) weapons.

In short, being a mage is awesome end of story.