Not sure if this has been discussed yet, but I think a great way to further distinguish the races of TES (because when playing t hem I don't always feel that choosing a specific race really has ramifications) would be a racial perk tree. Like Khajiit and Nords get their own respective perk trees with perks JUST for that race to further enhance racial differences.

Just a thought. Anyone else have an opinion?

Tried it, didn't work out. I tried substituting one skill, added branches and qualifiers for each race, but there are too many races and too many variables that I personally would try to put in(like a dozen...). so until a redo the perk tree system its kind of a no go, and shoehorning them into existing skills is just no.....as it is right now It wont work on the premise that you'd only have perk points to use them + they'd be dependent on Skills/Level and its just one big ass mess of imbalanced OP/UP in the worse sense. single player game yes but trust me going off of how skyrim does it right now it'd be a mess unless the system was changed.

I worked out something better dependent on H/M/S and in some other areas Skills but Life took over and some other games caught my attention.



This is based purely off of how Skyrim did it and not on future titles ;p

I really hope the next TES will have racial perk trees because as they are now, the races are rather cosmetic choices and that dilutes the purpose of having racial diversity. When I play a certain race I want to feel it not only in the world's custom reactions and dispositions, but also more often in gameplay.

This would be great.

I'm all for specific perk trees for each race. More differentiation, more incentives to choose wisely and more replayability value.

I think it would be a bad idea tbh. They should just make the powers scale with your level or be useful throughout your gameplay and the skill bonuses and traits should be more diverse and accentuated.

We should feel the racial differences in game. There should be people who like you or hate based in your race and will only deal with you under the most ideal of circumstances while still doing it begrudgingly. Certain quests and choices should be available to each race. Something in the flavor of the origin stories from Dragon Age except not origin stories but just unique quests that only they can do. Certain groups should welcome you in either more easily or less easily depending on your race. Stuff like that should make the differences. Not a perk tree. That would just be a waste. Eah race should have some kind of rather major advantage over another. Dunmer can withstand flames and resist disease more effectively than say an Imperial. Argonians can breath water and resist poisons and disease more than the Khajiit. For those things to be useful we would need poisons and diseases to be some highway you actually have to worry about. Like diseases that can literally cripple you until younger them cured or poisons that are in general use by creatures that do rapid DPS. In order for race to be more effective the skills and traits they have need to have purpose. Like lots of underwater content for Argonians to explore or even creatures that will drag you into water and attempt to drown you if your not careful.

i agree with a lot of what you said, Albinodunmer. i really do wish that making the choice of what race to be should be much more of a factor and rp element. it just doesn't feel significant enough choosing a dark elf over a nord or an orc. the racial abilities are not enough, and the ability to only use them once a day makes them virtually meaningless. in all honest, i never touch my racial ability....

Hmm, would be nice but not really necessary.
although I have thought of the Idea before of the Birth sign your born under have it's own Perk tree (that is if they went back to choosing your birth sign rather than willingly change it with Standing Stones)
Only by following your birth sign (putting perks in it) would it benefit you, would make more sense than automatically getting powers from something your born under unless you willingly decide to follow it's path.
In addition, the Birth Sign's already have their constellation design like the Normal Skill perk trees

Perks could be like :
Steed - Increase running speed slightly, Armor weighs less when worn, Horses have longer duration of Running, Horses are slightly faster, Stamina decreases slower when running, ETC.

I view Perks as being learned abilities, extensions of skills, something like learning new kata in Karate. Which, to my mind, is the opposite of racial bonuses. I see racial bonuses as inherent, genetic. The notion of learning to be a better Redguard or a better Argonian seems counter-intuitive to me.

Well if you play on PC the Better Racials mods are a start. They aim to make the powers more effective so they are more fun to use. The Dunmer edition is probably the highest quality one. However they are not all finished but they have been released separately. Just a few races are not done but if you want individual races the Nords and several others are done. Here they are. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/search.php The powers are leveled and traits are tweaked and all have been filtered through the Lore forum so they are lore friendly. Even the bonuses have been changed to better reflect the culture of each race.

However it does nothing for in game impact for choosing the races. No dialogue or anything like that. I use the Dunmer edition. Powers are actually really useful in the mod. However they are still just a one time power. They just feel as effective as a one time power should feel. imo.

I think rather than racial perk trees I'd prefer an advantages/disadvantages system combined with a points system for creating your character.
Each race would have certain advantages, initial skills, attributes etc that were cheaper for them so whilst not every Orc would have the Berserk power and some members of other races might also have it the Orc would be able to get it cheaper
Some races (most hopefully) might have multiple advantages to choose between but no character would be able to afford them all eg Nords might be able to pick from a list including Battlecry, Thunderfist and Woad
Doubt I'll ever see it unless I write my own PnP TES system (which is unlikely since I prefer playing games or pontificating on forums to actually doing anything )

They could have certain races begin with certain starting perks.

Personally I find have preset abilities asinine and would rather a light list that sprawls among differing powers, so that the PLAYER can make the choice. so that races aren't chosen solely on class affinity (since classes probably wont ever be coming back) but by player preference, and that they are awarded both bonuses and draw backs for that descision.

I always thought Bosmer characters should get some sort of in-game bonus if the player follows the Green Pact... or a different type of bonus for being everything a Bosmer isn't supposed to be.

I'm just not sure how you'd apply this to other races.