I was looking forward to getting back into Oblivion, so I decided to come on here to get ideas for a new class setup.
Leave your classes and feel free to explain why you chose a specific skill for that class; alchemy on a pure warrior, for example.

Personally I don't think in terms of class. I think in terms of personality. I play characters, not classes. The notion of 'class' has nothing to do with roleplaying in my opinion. Roleplaying to me is all about stories.

I also tend to play characters who change and grow in response to the events they experience. Many of my characters begin a game approaching situations one way and end a game approacvhing situations in a completely different way. In terms of skills they often begin a game using one set of skills and end a game using a different set of skills. It all depends on the character and the events the characters experiences.

This probably did not help you at all. I apologize.

Mage. Obviously it doesnt fit all of my characters, but I find I get the most enjoyment (combat-wise, mostly) out of a Mage character. Probably stems from the fact that I'm a huge fan of the fantasy genre.

Theif

Have always been my favourite to play...

I lean toward the mage type characters. Tamriel is a place where magic works, and without the magic, my character might as well be a New York cabbie or an Idaho potato farmer. I find it very difficult to be interested in a character who isn't somehow "magical."

I play a range of characters, though, and there's got to be something about the characters that makes them more like real people to me, usually something that has nothing to do with fighting, game quests, etc. I like characters who are flawed and vulnerable in some way, who are not perfect, and who have moral limits. They always have a personal story of what happened "before," even if I don't happen to know that story; they have "baggage." (Like, maybe they used to be an Idaho potato farmer... )

I'm a huge fan of the Ranger class (custom made) I like the whole live off the land and being skilled with both a sword and bow. I always liked the Tolkien version of Rangers as being mysterious travelers that people don't want to bother, but if you get to know him he is a really noble and good person

I usually play thief/ assassin characters, or I will make a crusader character specifically for Knights of the Nine. One of my favorite characters was a ranger who lived in White Stallion Lodge. It was good to live outside of the city walls.

I like Knight class in any game, but in Oblivion, the original Knight is a bad set up. And sadly in Oblivion, no magic means you will game over when reach certain level.

So have to made magical Knight such as Jedi Master or Sith Master. And so the current character i am playing now is that type of a character, i call it Soul Blade.

it is hard to make a 100% warrior with no magic at all and survive in Oblivion. i can make such in other games, but not Oblivion.

Right here. This. So this. My first several Oblivion characters did go by classes. But I've found them to be so much more than my definition of them. How to define that? I also set up flawed characters, flawed in stats and emotion as well. Emotion comes from the back story. Emotion determines my characters' decisions. So I set up general, loose parameters. And then let it flow within those parameters, and the magic begins. Kinda off topic, but it reminds me of my real life job, where I am tasked to bring emotion to a 2 dimensional plane. I have to do it visually, but in Oblivion I can help it along with a backstory, however short or long, if it feels right, it's right.

Now I will step aside with my vague, general suggestion and let the young whippersnappers take over. Lol, I apologize in the vein of Pseron's apology. Probably no help at all.

Ostensibly Thief/Assassin, but it's about oh-so-much-more than that...

I use an "Adventurer" custom class that kind of divides skills equally between sneak/security and battlemage. I don't use any heavy armor perferring to use the leather type armor with a feather enchantment on the boots,a reflect enchantment on the curiess and a speed boost enchantment on the greaves.I use a Chameleon enchantment on a leather helmet also to help get past the physic guards when needed.Using a custom class like this one makes for a good all-around character build for the type of game I like to play.

I always go custom. I make up my own classes, or I'll use ideas from D&D (like paladin) or some other such tabletop game. I like a bit of structure in my games sometimes, and I'm a bit old-fashiioned with class limitations and whatnot. As long as it supports the roleplay I'm going for, it'll work fine for me.

But. Just because I'll choose a certain class-type in the beginning doesn't mean I'm always fixated on it. I've had bad characters try to do good, and vice versa. Some characters remain stable over the long run (like tha paladin mentioned above or my former black-magic witch), others will wander from the original ideas .

I basically cannot answer "what's your favorite type". Sorry.

I like mages the most. Specifically aggressive mages that focus on Conjuration, Illusion and/or Destruction.

Pretty much how I am, I don't see a character by the "class", well I used to, actually one of the reason why I enjoy Skyrim, no need to create a class for a character.
I used to go with the magic type classes so much, but for some reason I am starting to enjoy the warrior types WAY more.
Let's see, Jericho was going to be a sword and board character, but as I got to know him, he started expressing his desire to know how to use the bow, it's been slow progress but he is now average at using it!
As for magic, it was a panic situation that forced him to use magic that he did not know he had, He saw a Imperial Guard fighting a pair of bandits, and well the Guard was heavily injured, that little situation tap into his mana reserves that he did not know he even had and unleashed a rather big healing spell.
He is terrible with destruction magic though! Tried casting a small flame spell to light up a candle, ended up burning half of Nale's book collection.

So yup, I can't see Jericho or my other characters as a "Class" anymore, It's their life, I can't control what they want to do!

I prefer the Paladin/Crusader archetype,

Mage.

Back in the day, I cut all those that I could. I found most of them boring. Those profs had no fire in them, listening to them was like listening to a recording, . I always managed to take the midterms and finals, and I usually got an A or B. Except from those profs who thought it better to grade on following the rules, rather than what you knew.

What? Huh? Oh! You want to know what class in the game, right? Sorry, wasn’t paying close attention. Well I always go for Adventure, mainly because I don’t like someone else deciding what I am or should be. That way I can be what I want. Stealth Archer Alchemist Wanderer with no armor.

Sorry for the confusion.

tmar: lol.

I like it when Baurus talk about the sewer, then he assume what class i am...

"....i think you must be an experience Monk, am i right?"

Me a monk? You joking right?

Yeah I know. I really wish I had paid attention more when I was an up-coming gamer. I'm not remembering a single class prediction he's made for any of my chars. so far.

He actually got it right, once for me, in the middle of a fight he even yelled, "Wizard, help the emperor!" or something like that, and *Gasp* My character was a mage ;o

Are you sure that he perhaps did not yell, "Prisoner, help the Emperor!" ? I can see the similarity in sound in the heat of combat.

I also play individuals rather than classes, to the point where I give Baurus their name as the class. But to try to answer your question, here are some of my favorite Oblivion conflict-management styles. I’m mentioning skills that are most used by the characters, not that I would suggest as majors.

Battlemage: Destruction spells for range, restoration, conjuration, heavy armor, blade (one-handed), block (shield). Alchemy because my battlemage was born under the Atronach. This is the Jerric.

Archer Mage: Inspired by Buffy the Bowgirl. Marksman, illusion, sneak, alchemy, conjuration. For me this is the Lildereth and Eliette.

Ranger: Marksman, blade, and block (with sword, no shield). The rest depends on the character. Light armor or clothing, one or two-handed sword, alchemy or restoration. The Sorendil, Darian, and Kjestrid.

Hope this helps.