I've decided to get morrowind so i'd like to know beforehand what are the notable gameplay changes between morrowind and skyrim (seeing as im not too familiar with the mechanics of oblivion, i've decided to use skyim as a benchmark).

And yes, i know there's a comparison page on the wiki, but i don't think the wiki has everything, yea? For example, i've heard that moving speed is a total snail in morrowind; thats a notable difference to me. (because im probably gonna use mods for that)

Morrowind seems more of a classic RPG than oblivion/skyrim, so i'd like to know what i should do to avoid messing up my character grandly 50 hours into the game.

Also, if this info would help, im probably playing a spellsword character. (how unoriginal, im ashamed)

Sword combat is dice rolls. Not good enough skill? You don't hit the enemy.

Magic spells can fail based on a dice roll.

There are cursed items.

Some questlines kill important NPCs of other quests.

There are no NPC schedules.

There is medium armor, long and short blade, with spears.

Go to the UESP. They have excellent spoiler-free guides. Yep. Trust me.

In a nut shell, nearly everything is based on the old dice roll mechanic. While Skyrim (and most games actually) still use it, it's more "behind the scenes" today. Morrowind pretty much plays just like an MMO.

There's also no voice acting. Everything is text based. And lots of it. That allows for deeper stories and more consistent structure, it can also make just picking up a quest about 10x longer if you're interested enough in actually reading through all the dialog. You can easily waste several hours doing a whole bunch of nothing but reading with a few pit-stops sprinkled with playing. Kinda like an MGS game, actually...

morrowind is awesome and skyrim is a turd wrapped in.. thinner turd paper

The big thing, and this is my biggest gripe about Skyrim, is that you can't be good at everything. In Skyrim I played through every big questline the same way. I did the mage's quests, thieves quests and the companions all the same play styles and all the same skills. In Morrowind, you have to choose quest based on your skills. You can't rank up to get quests in the mage's guild, thieves guild, or fighter's guild, unless you have the skills. This is what in my mind makes Morrowind thousands of times better.

Also you said that you would mod your way through the slowness. Don't. You're really just cheating yourself.

The vanilla leveling system is a bit frustrating in the same manner that Oblivion was. You can look up efficent leveling in the wiki, if you are the type who likes to max all attributes at max level. If you are looking to get the most amount of health per level, you'll definently want to make sure you are getting x5 modifiers for endurance every level up.