Are there any quests in the game that require you to be higher than level 20? I'm not talking about leveled quest rewards, just the quests themselves?

I believe there is only sort of one: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Lich_of_Lost_Boy_Cavern

This is one of those 'not in your journal' quests and can only be fully completed if you are at least level 23.

Below that are three of the Deadric Shrine quests that require the level 20 you are already looking at.

Thanks Acadian. Well that's not enough to stop me from capping my next character at 20

My 600 hour level 20 wood elf thinks exactly the same thing!

I tried to do the quest associated with the Clavicus Vile shrine, but it said I needed to be level 20 to take part in it. I have no idea what the actual quest is, and what you get from it though.

EDIT - Oops, I didn't see that you said "higher than" in your original post.

Wish I had done the same. If only I had known :shakehead:

I keep reading about players capping their characters at certain levels, I have to ask, why is that?

The short answer is that you can easily get as powerful as you possibly ever can in the game by 30, and there is absolutely nothing new or available after 30 except that your foes just keep gaining hitpoints.

I cap at 20 because there is nothing after that level that my character wants. Yet, all quests, almost all enemies and the gear that I want for my character is all available by 20. The difference between level 20 and 30 is a tiny numbe of new enemies, perfect amber/madness gear if you have SI and top leveled quest reward items; those who want that stuff often cap at 30.

Another approach to the question is to ask why would one want to level beyond 30? Oblivion is very different than most games in this manner. Higher level does not equal better or more powerful compared to your foes, since they level as well.

i see.. to me it seems so easy to level up (I only turned level 5 last night after two weeks of sparatic playing) and I have only been to maybe 3 or 4 towns.. there is a whole world yet to discover and it seems i am already a third into an average characters adventuring span (according to what I am reading here).

If you want to cap your level, that has nothing to do with stopping your play. I cap my level by simply picking several major skills to never ever touch. My character, Buffy is a mystic archer. She reached level 20 at 400 hours of play (we level very slowly). She is currently at 600 hours and, of course, still level 20. Note that her game is not tied to quests. In fact she does very few of them, prefering to travel, clear dungeons and create her own adventures. It seems to work for us because we have never been bored for a moment in Tamiel. Buffy is simply a small elf trying to live her life in a dangerous land.

got ya! Was just trying to understandhow others play the game and why it might be a good idea for me to follow the same... Thanks for the info.

I currently am at about 100 hours and just reached level 20. Much too fast for my taste. After seeing your post, I checked out my major and minor skills. I have a few minor skills that are very low. So if I created a new character and set (most?) (some?) of my Major skills to those I don't ever use, such as Hand-to-hand, I should then level up much slower? Will this affect my player in any way? For example, If I set Marksman to a minor skill but use it all the time, will i still level slower since it is a minor skill and not a Major skill?

Thanks for any information you can provide......

The only skills that allow you to level up are Major skills. If you pick Marksman as minor and use it all the time you will get better at it, but you will not level up