So I never actually played Oblivion. I was a big Morrwind fan and sunk most of my time into a thief build. For whatever reason when I intially picked up Oblivion I couldn't get into it, but I think that was mostly due to time constraints.

Anyway I'm going to try again. From what I've read it seems like it functions similar to Morrowind in terms of attributes etc.

Anything I should know upfront. Do's and don'ts?

Thanks!

For the first time you might want to stick to just installing DarNified UI and the Unofficial Oblivion Patch. At least for the first few hours. The only thing you could do wrong imo is install too many mods and mess up your game.

This is a good place to start:http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Differences_Between_Morrowind,_Oblivion,_and_Skyrim.

Some players use character-leveling strategies to combat Oblivion's scaling system. As you've probably heard, in addition to Morrowind's leveling Oblivion also adds scaling . It also does away nearly entirely with static loot and instead levels nearly all loot according to your level. These two things have the effect, many people feel, of making the game harder as you you level. Some folks deal with this by 'playing the system' to avoid http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Under_Leveling.

My advice is to just play the game as you would play Morrowind, and enjoy it.

This - admittedly I've modded the nuts off my install but play it like you would number 3 - it's a beautiful game, the best in the series imho.