Hi all,

I'm planning out my next Morrowind character, and came up with an idea for an Argonian scavenger / treasure-hunter type. He would wander the coasts, investigating smugglers' caves, shipwrecks, sunken ruins, etc. Here is what I've come up with so far:

Specialization: Stealth
Favored Attributes: ??
Birthsign: ??

Major skills:
Alchemy
Athletics
Light Armor
Spear
Marksman

Minor skills:
Mercantile
Acrobatics
Security
Sneak
Hand to hand

My only reservation with skills is the last one, Hand to hand. I don't really know what else to put there. I don't see any other stealth skills I'd want to use, and I don't want any magic skills (apart from Alchemy). I guess I could go with Armorer, but I had figured not taking Armorer would give me something to spend my money on when I bring my loot back to town.

Also, I'm not sure about the birthsign yet. I'm still fairly new to Morrowind, so they're not all familiar to me. The Thief seems intriguing but I'm not a fan of the once-a-day powers usually.

Finally, I'd like some advice with regards to gameplay. I want to avoid the main quest this time, and I can't think of any factions this character would join. Do you think just exploring the coastlines and following up on rumors of treasure will be enough to sustain me for awhile?

And really finally, what would make a good place for a home base for this character?

If you really don't want to use magic, I'd suggest one more weapon or armour skill to give you more options. Another Armour would help with training up your Endurance and another weapon would help bring up your Strength and make your life much easier at the early levels, when good equipement is hard to come by. A minor in Restoration or Alteration would be really helpfull though, so think about adding one magic skill.

I'm not really sure about the Attributes. Argonians have low starting Endurance and you've chosen Spear as your main weapon, so you probably should pick that. And Agility looks good, you have 3 skills using it, 2 of them in your majors - if your Argonian is male, this will raise it to 60 - that's really high for lev1 character.

Akaviri Danger-sense you get with your Thief birthsign is an Ability, not a spell or power - it's a constant effect, not once-a-day one. And yes, it's pretty nice, especially early on, and fits well with your build.

Good place for a homebase would be Balmora - it's a travel hub and it's right next to the Bitter Coast region, where most of the smuggling happens.

About factions - have you thought about House Hlaalu? Bitter Coast is their territory, they are friendly towards outlanders, and their favoured skills are pretty close to yours, so your Argonian should fit quite well. Also there's a whole questline that should appeal to an Argonian fighting smugglers.

Or you could get religion, I suppose. Those quests involve a lot of traveling and a lot of exploring, so you should like that, and on top of that, almost all Imperial settlements are on the coast.

Hope that helps.

Edit: I'm new to the forums (hello), so I'm not really sure how you guys treat the "no spoilers here" rule, I hope I haven't crossed the line.

No problem not joining a faction. You'll find more than enough to keep your char busy for quite awhile

Hey, thanks for the tips! And welcome to the forums, dzio.

I think I'll still avoid any magic skills, despite their usefulness. I need to check the skills again and see which attributes they govern. It would be nice to have a decent strength score.

I haven't ever done any of the Great Houses questlines, but maybe Hlaalu would work for this guy. They seem like a suitably roguish bunch. And they are (probably?) in conflict with House Telvanni, whom I have already decided that my Argonian will declare a guerrilla war against (the slavery thing).

Akaviri Danger-sense does sound perfect! It's a Sanctuary effect, right, so I'm harder to hit? Think I'll go with that.

It'll improve as you use the weapon(s) to fight monsters. Another suggestion, remember to work on your armorer skill. It governs strength and can only be used when not fighting. And in the short term, sujamma can be your friend

Thanks for the welcome.

If you haven't done any Great Houses you REALLY should try Hlaalu, it's a great questline. I don't want to give spoilers, but from what you've said about your plans I can see that they will be a perfect fit for your guy, and with your skills you can actually get to a high rank (with Telvanni that would be extremely difficult).

Danger-sense works exactly the way you said - it adds 10 to your chance of dodging attacks.

If you want to work on your Strength, go for a weapon, not an additional armour type (heavier armours use Endurance). You're not using Block, so just pick something two-handed and alternate between that and your spear. I'd go for Long Blade, some of the most powerful weapons in the game are artifact claymores, so it would be nice to know how to use them once you find one of them.

You inspired me to start doing these kind of roleplays myself.

Anyway, the build is solid so I wouldn't worry about that.

A good home base would be, hmmm...
I believe you had some sort of abandoned shack not far from Gnaar Mok. But that one is quite small.

I personally find islands the most fun to explore so I don't think you'll get bored soon.

I think Unarmored would fit the bill perfectly, since swimming is easier without too much encumbrance.
At least it works very well for my http://morrowind.inventivegamer.com/tools/chargen/?character=2,1,13,3,4,8,8,18,9,20,19,24,23,22,21,25, which is more of a sneaky one than your fighting Scavenger, but of a similar background.

It looks like many of us have a thing for these water hunters. It's a shame that Argonian water breathing is a spell rather than an ability.

My last character (Acrobat premade class) used Unarmored (though he did have a piece of light armor on because of the bug I heard about). It was very cool, but clothes in the game don't look as awesome as the armor pieces, so that's part of the reason for light armor this time, honestly.

It's funny; I never really cared to make an Argonian character in Oblivion or Skyrim. But now with spears in Morrowind, it seems much... cooler.

And Panda Claws - yeah, I was thinking some shack-like house would be good for this character. I was wondering if I could find anything like that in the vanilla game... preferably someplace I could rest without trespassing.

ISTR that there's one or two on the islands along the Bitter Coast. IIRC, the UESP Wiki gives some info - search for either 'abandoned' or shack.

Seyda Neen has one shack that can become vacant.

Or you could clear out a smugglers cave and camp out there, some of them are quite cozy and well furnished.