A lot of us just go in and create our own custom class with a custom name, profession, and skills, you know how it is.

But has anyone picked a pre-made class and played it like that? If you're confused, I mean restricting yourself to only using the primary skills of that class - you're not allowed to use anything else.

I was wondering what sort of boundaries, if any, it would have on gameplay. Sort of like a challenge or whatnot.

I have done it and still do it. It just feels odd to me to make a custom class. It is hard to explain but I like the pre-made classes better. And yes, for the skills that class uses but I don't use, I try to make up an excuse to not use it or use and then be done with it. All this from a RP perspective.

I have never done it. Or well, I've picked pre-made classes but end up playing something different anyway. And I can't stay true to my custom classes either.

I did that once, last year. After absolutely loving my Skyrim mage, I decided to try one in Oblivion too. I picked the vanilla Mage class and the vanilla Mage Birthsign as well. I didn't like it. I have never leveled up so fast in any Elder Scrolls game I have ever played. I was level 18 before I even had a chance to get into the Arcane University. The game world changed so rapidly I felt as though I were watching Koyaanisqatsi. Enemies went from Iron to Steel to Dwarven to Elven to Glass right before my eyes...sometimes in a single play session. I am never doing that again.

This is the reason I got the leveled mod (forgot what it is called) so that every bandit in Cyrodiil does not have all Daedric armor, instead they have variants of Steel, Dwarven, Glass, etc. on.

I rarely play this way. As Pseron Wyrd says, it can lead to some mighty fast levelling. Tyically I create a custom class with several slow levelling skills I plan to use only ocassionally, like block, acrobatics, and mercantile (sometimes I will add restoration to the list). Then I pick three or four major skills I intend to use frequently, and I pick three or four minor skills that my character will make frequent use of, and for the most part leave most of the other minor skills alone. Playing this way, you can slow down the levelling somewhat and pick up some decent attribute bonuses along the way. You can also get a wide variety of different characters that have different strengths and weakenesses. I have never felt constrained to only using major skills.

Well, I've been playing pure mages for quite a long time, and I don't find the problem that the above posters mention. I have a Level 1 Bosmer in the University right now. I suspect the problem is a matter of...

1. ...Raising Alchemy too fast. Alchemy is a double-edged sword; it adds powerful effects that are hard to get other ways, but it levels too fast. The key is to never use Alchemy as a money-maker, never make spells you won't use, and never, never, never brew a Restore Fatigue potion.

2. ...Relying too heavily on Conjuration. This is the other crazy-fast riser in the Intelligence department. There's nothing wrong with Intelligence, but most Mage characters are already chock-full of it. You don't need to raise anything fast, unless you're a Nord, in which case, maybe you'd better rethink the whole thing...

2a. ...Likewise Alteration. Stop opening all those locks with it; there's nothing in there but a few septims, two lockpicks, and another Iron Cuirass.

3. ...Pretending to be a Warrior in disguise. This is where you run into a fight instead of away from it. You end up taking more damage, and thus restoring more health, using more potions, etc. More potions and restoration means casting more spells and brewing more potions, which means increasing skills faster, which means, yes, you're level 18 before you finish the recommendations. Mages hate pain, unless it's the other guy feeling it. They run away and hide, cast destruction from a safe distance, blast enemies with a staff.

4. ...Misplaced priorities. This is when you don't attend to the business of learning to be a mage in the first place, and you go all over the map, dungeon diving and exploring "since you're going in that direction anyway." This is great for the Hybrid character, but it doesn't fit the Mage class. You want power. You've been told from early on that you can make your own spells and enchantments when you get to the Arcane University. You want that. You want to be able to make spells that will take out an enemy in one blast, or that will turn him against his friends. The spells you can buy don't do that. You have to make them.

5. ...Failure to update spells and enchanted gear. Blasting away at a level 6 enemy with a novice Fireball spell, which has to be cast more times to kill (raising the skill faster.) Healing with the novice spell. Summoning a skeleton 5 times before the bad guy finally goes down, instead of using a more durable zombie. Trying to protect yourself with that novice Shield spell.

These same observations could be directed at other class choices. The problem of leveling too fast is the problem of wasted effort and useless training. It's not a bad thing to develop skills, but there should be purpose to it. If "Skill X" is rising too fast, find a way to use it less.

I always play the tutorial with the style i'm looking for and then let Baurus decide.

That actually works if you stick with a style. Just don't sneak or pick locks unless you want him to choose a stealth-type class, because those skills advance faster than the other skills you can use in the tutorial.

I have an iPhone app that lets me roll a "13 sided die", so that I randomly choose my birth-sign. And then I do what Edalriso does and let Baurus decide. Although with some of the mods I have, it makes it impossible to make it through the tutorial intending to be a mage (fizzle, for one, makes it pretty much impossible to cast any spells during the whole tutorial).

Hmm... you guys speak of leveling to fast... I'm on the Allies for Bruma Quest (that's the only quest line I have done, the main one) and only level 5. Like, really?

And I'm not on a ridiculously easy difficulty either, I play on the default seting down to about 25 notches to the easy side, anywhere between there; in other words, a comfortable setting.

EDIT: And yes, I use all of my major skills (Blade, Block, Heavy Armor, Speechcraft, Mercantile, Armorer, Athletics).

Well, that's not a premade class, though.

Your level is probably just where it should be expected to be, if you're playing straight through the MQ. There are different philosophies about what level one should do the MQ, but people like to quibble and try to get others to "do it their way." I say just enjoy the game.

I have done the MQ while around level 10, which I think is the norm for some people that do a casual run.