Hey guys, I have never played Morrowind before but I've heard that it's a pretty great game. I've played Daggerfall, Oblivion, and Skyrim, and I really want to experience the world of Morrowind. However, I know that the core mechanics of Morrowind work a little bit differently than Oblivion's and Skyrim's. Can anybody give me a good starting build for a first timer? I need to know race, birthsign, class, just everything that you all think would be helpful to a first time Morrowind player. Thanks in advance.

First read this: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Differences_Between_Morrowind,_Oblivion,_and_Skyrim
Lots of great info detailing how Morrowind gameplay is different than OB/Skyrim.

A Combat oriented class is easiest for beginners. Magic and Stealth are a bit more difficult because they require more patience and understanding of the game mechanics. But most classes use a bit of magic anyways.

A Custom class is preferred, so you can get rid of skills you don't need in favour of skills that will help you more.
Once you leave the Census office, you cannot change your Major/Minor skills, Birthsign etc... But the game lets you see in detail how your character is built before finishing Character Generation. Very helpful.

It would be helpful to know which style of gameplay you want. Combat, Magic, Stealth, or a bit of everything.
Dunmer are usually considered the most well-rounded Race for any type of class.
Redgaurds and Nords make great warriors.
Kahjiits and Wood Elves make good thieves.
Bretons and High Elves make great magicians.
All the starting attributes for Races can be seen here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Races
Click through to see each Races starting Specials/Ability

The Lady birthsign is great for beginners. You get a big bonus in Endurance which is very handy.

Main advice:
- Try combat class first. Until you get the feel of the game.
- Keep your Fatigue (the green health bar) full at all time. Fatigue has a HUGE impact on success of every action.
- Save often, and make more than one save file.
- When doing quests, pay attention to what people say, and what is written in your Journal. There is no compass.
- Have fun! Morrowind can be frustrating at first. You will probably die a lot. But keep learning and you'll be greatly awarded.

If on PC, install the two community patches, they fix many bugs. If you need links, just ask

use a combat overhaul mod since vanilla combat system can be VERY frustrating

I guess I'll add some Skill picks. Regardless of class type, these are helpful....

Good Majors to have:
- One of the three Armor skills
- At least one weapon skill (starting above 35-40 at least)
- Armorer (repairing your gear is essential)

Good Minor skills to have:
- A secondary weapon skill (starting at least at 20-30)
- Speechcraft (helps with bribing people)
- Enchant
- Acrobatics (helps you jump around better)
- Security (lots of locks to pick, although you can also use magic instead)
- Possibly a second Armor skill (if you want to wear all sorts of gear)

Rather useless skills, in my opinion:
- Athletics... just makes you walk faster. It levels up a lot anyways.
- Mercantile... not very useful. Money isn't too hard to gather, eventually.

**Note that the Unarmored skill is broken in the original game. You always need to wear one piece of real armor to make the rest of your unarmored body correctly defend you.
The Code Patch does fix this (on PC)


I disagree. Especially for beginners. Get in the game and experience the vanilla combat first.

I wouldn't recommend playing as one of the beast races, such as khajiit or argonian though. Khajiit and Argonian's can't wear helmets, so if you're going for a thief, wood elf would be ideal.

Also, unlike oblivion or skyrim, in morrowind, fatigue matters A LOT. If you have a low fatigue, that means you have a low chance of hitting the enemy, they won't lose any health. This is why I would recommend walking in dungeons a lot, instead of running, walk. Your fatigue will regenerate, and if your fatigue is at the max, your chances of hitting the enemy is pretty much 95%. In morrowind, you lose fatigue while running, unlike in oblivion or skyrim again.

One more thing, you should rely on power attacks much more than you did in oblivion or skyrim, this will bring the enemies health low for you and likely will save your life a lot.

Use potions a lot, especially fatigue potions.

The game is much harder than oblivion or skyrim

Ok, now I have another question. Is Morrowind's major skills and leveling up act the same way as Oblivion's? In the regard that it is better to choose major skills that you will hardly use while making your Minor skills things that you actually will use, so that the world around you will not scale out of control? Sorry about the wording, wasn't quite sure how to put it.

NO, definitely not. Put your major skills as what you will use, otherwise, you'll get very little health out of the enemies when you hit them. The game will get really hard. Enemies don't scale in morrowind, as far as I know.

No.
Morrowind is not broken like Oblivion in this way.
You want the skills you use to be Majors... otherwise you will never be successful at want you want to do.

No, you won't want to manipulate the system like that. Morrowind's level scaling is much more subtle, subdued, and non-apparent than Oblivion's. It works naturally and realistically enough. NPCs always have the same health no matter what, and low level creatures and high level creatures exist from start to infinity. The game gets easier as you go on, not harder.

Point is, it's way different than Oblivion. You don't need to use that strategy.

Three identical replies at the same time... Looks like you got your answer on that one.