Hey Guys,

Whilst playing Oblivion, I realised that each of my characters had certain 'Rules' that I would stick to whilst playing them. I did this either to make it more challenging, or to get more immersed into the game. Do you guys have any such rules for your characters? If so, post what ones?

I'll just post rules for one of my characters.

Name: Telina
Rules:

1. No Fast Travelling Unless
A) You're in a city and your fast travelling to different part of that same city
B) You're in a rush IRL and want to quickly finish the quest before you have to go, instead of feeling down that you didn't finish it

2. Dead is Dead Unless
A) Die because of 3rd party intervention (Distraction, Game Bugged etc etc)
B) Character hasn't completed their ultimate purpose (Telina's ultimate purpose is to become the Arch-Mage, once doing this she is then liable for extermination upon death, I do this so I don't feel like i've lost so much of my life without accomplishing something(

3. Don't do anything that goes against the Character's personality (EG: Kill some random person if your a saint)

4. Enjoy the game, don't just rush rush rush to complete it

EDIT: awh damn I think I might have just made a thread that's already been made

very few rules actually, my main one is to play the character, don't do quest the character doesn't like, Use a select number of skills, i try to limit myself to seven. Not necessarily the classes skills but i only use seven skills. It bothers me to have over 30,000 gold at once, I play the wandering vagrant type and it seems strange to be a hobo if i'm filthy rich

Never been one for no fast traveling, i had to walk there the first time, i don't care to take in all the scenery on the way back.

My most important rule: Always act according to the character's personality. By extension, my second rule is never sell Dwemer artifacts unless I play as smuggler.

I use fast travel only in cities.

Rule number 3 is the only rule I consider to be a genuine roleplaying rule. In my opinion, dead-is-dead is a play style that is separate from roleplaying. No fast travel can be roleplaying, but it is not necessarily roleplaying in every instance. And 4, enjoy the game, is something everybody should do whether they're roleplaying or not.

I look at roleplaying a little differently than most, judging from what I read. I believe that roleplaying should be about the character, not the player. It is my belief that whenever we use the word "I" ("I eat three times a day," "I sleep in an Inn whenever I'm in town," ect) we are not roleplaying. Any set of rules my characters follow should be a set of rules that are unique to that character. To me, making a list of rules that all of my characters follow is not roleplaying, it is meta-gaming.

Some of my characters have regular habits. These characters tend to eat three meals a day, bathe regularly, sleep on a schedule. Other characters are more eccentric. These characters may skip meals, baths, even sleeping, for extended periods of time. Most of my characters travel Cyrodiil exclusively on foot or by horse. I see fast travel as a form of magic, so my magic-oriented characters do fast travel (I roleplay that fast travel is a very advanced for of magic which takes much time and patience to master, so it is generally not available to those characters who are able to use it until later levels).

Nearly all of my characters wear hoods and robes (which I roleplay as being well-insulated) when traveling through the snowy northern areas of Cyrodiil and wear as little as possible when traveling through the swampy southern areas of Cyrodiil. But there are exceptions even to this. A few of my characters are less sensitive to temperature fluctuations than others. Cold temperatures don't bother some characters, warm temperatures don't bother others. Some characters are vegetarians, some aren't. Some non-vegetarian characters, furthermore, have preferences for certain types of meat, others don't. Some need to find a fire and cook their food before they will eat it, others are happy to eat food raw. Some of my characters have an aversion to anything magical; these characters do not use potions, spells, scrolls, enchanted weapons or armor (and do not enchant anything of their own), Varla Stones, Sigil Stones, Ayleid Wells, ect. Other characters characters will avoid anything mundane like physical weapons or horses. Most characters fall somewhere in between, depending on their personalities.

To add even more complexity, most of my characters tend to change over time. This means that a character who starts out do some of these things may be affected by events and begin to behave differently. A character who avoids magic in the beginning may have a change of heart and begin to use some magic at later levels; a character who avoids talking to NPCs may become more social later in the game; a character who never bathes at level 1 may fall in love or rise in the ranks of a guild and become very conscious of his appearance and start bathing regularly. A character who tries to be helpful to everyone he meets early in the game may become disillusioned and bitter by the end and kill for no reason, or will maybe just avoid interacting with NPCs; another character who begins life as a hardened killer may experience an epiphany that persuades them to try to be more helpful in the future.

In life people do not all act alike and, in my opinion, neither should the characters we roleplay. People change as they grow older and, in my opinion, so should the characters we roleplay. This means that I cannot establish a set of rules that apply to every character.

Buffy has to live with some limitations that I have imposed on her. She finds herself totally unable to increase her strength or endurance. Those limitations have driven a good portion of what she does to survive.

She lacks the strength to use melee or carry much, so the only weapon she will touch is her bow. She lacks the health to go toe-to-toe so she doesn’t do that either. She doesn’t even have the speed to run all that fast, hence she has learned to disappear and she travels by horse (with saddlebags that help compensate for her tiny encumberance). She discovered that the most arrows her quiver can hold is 25.

She is a mystic archer and the skills she knows are all about enhancing her ability to use her bow. This has caused her to selectively develop the mystic half of her nature.

This is particularly true with magic. Destruction means drain speed and weakness to poison and she is very good with those effects. Her skill with fire and ice however is barely sufficient to chill an ale or cook a mudcrab. Illusion has been her specialty, because it allows her to disengage from foes, immobilize them or even cause them to fight on her behalf. Restoration is something she has become good at. In fact, after illusion, it is her secondary magic specialty. With so few hitpoints, she has learned how to heal very, very well. Yet she has also learned that she can only heal by 'laying on of hands' (touch). She has also learned how to transfer the health of other to her at close range. This has been most helpful when fighting underwater where her bow is. . . less than optimal. Alchemy. She is superb at making poisons, but because she rarely uses potions (favoring spells), she is poor at making potions. She discovered that the higher end alchemy gear is quite fragile - too much so to travel with so she only crafts her poisons when at an appropriate facility with the right equipment. Mysticism exists to see her foes at long range as pink glows and capture their magical energy to recharge her powerful bow. Conjuration exists to summon Spike, her clannfearish protector. Spike can provide a protective barrier from behind which she can unleash feathered death from her bow. Alteration exists to unlock things and to reinforce her bow so she can block without having the fragile thing break. She also freely uses the utility effects of water breathing/walking.

Naturally, she knows how to sneak like a ghostly shadow. She can block well with her bow (reinforcing with a shield spell when she does so) but wouldn't have a clue what to do with a shield.

Her mindset is profoundly influenced by the fact that she is small, weak and fragile. Indeed, that mindset permeates everything about her. She has learned to strike like a dragon, but she cannot overcome that fact that she can also crumple like a butterfly. She greatly respects those who can use steel and go toe-to-toe with foes because she cannot. She respects those who can boldly declare themselves to enemies because, in order to survive, she must preemptively strike from the shadows.

She, of course has an endless list of quirks ranging from being horse crazy to changing outfits a dozen times a day to distinct preferences when it comes to food, drink and just about everything else. I have little control over those.

Buffy is loving, vengeful, empathetic, nurturing, cruel and caring in a manner that makes perfect sense to her. She has been called cuddly like a rattlesnake and lethally blond. She is like the girl next door - who carries a sniper rifle. Fully understanding her can be somewhat akin to capturing a thunderstorm. Or holding a butterfly. Perhaps most illustrative toward trying to understand her is this:
The Buffy Doctrine: If you are kind to me, I will love you dearly; if you are a threat to me or my friends, I will likely kill you.

She travels intertwined with the spirit of an old ethereal paladin named Acadian who died centuries ago. He occasionally offers advice. Sometimes she listens. The two are literally inseparable. Although Buffy considers Acadian a guide or mentor, it is unclear who learns more from whom.

Acadian is Patriarch now! Woo-hoo!

Back on topic-
My Dunmer makes sure he washes his clothes twice a week, taking the time to stretch out in the sun while his clothes dry. This always causes problems when a West Weald Bear wanders by and makes him fight the creature wearing very little. Lol.

Things like going to the Chapel are important to him and I use the sneak button in front of the altar. This makes the character feel as if they are praying.

If the character has been doing a lot of dungeon diving, they always make sure to catch up on the local gossip by dropping into the nearest tavern.

He does love his horse and always carries a basket with apples to leave with the horse in the stable.

He rarely gets along with other races, especially haughty high elves, so will never visit a shop that is run by such person.

Loved the post Acadian, and congats on reaching Patriarch status :celebration:

Truth.



Yea, this is so true. I could spend all day here talking about all the changes my characters go thru. I create them in a certain manner, a month later they are usually nowhere near to what I thought they might be. Love that [censored]. :hubbahubba:

Basically just one RP rule (Ralph Bakshi fans might recognize it :wink_smile: ).

"Better Dead than Dark."

I, myself, have 5 rules that my current character plays by:


1: Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

2: Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

3: Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

4: Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.