Thought it might be interesting to hear about and discuss how different people play Skyrim. I tend to have my own ideas about what character types should be and set myself certain rules when playing them. I also put restrictions on them which I always try to stick to. I'm interested to know if other players have their own rules and what they entail.

Here's how I define my basic character types:

Warrior: One handed/shield or two handed, Heavy armour. Uses smithing, no magic, no enchanting but can use enchanted weapons if found or looted. I consider enchanting a magic skill and feel that a true warrior shouldn't be using it. No alchemy but again can use found/looted potions.

Would probably use a Nord or an Orc for this character.

Spellsword: One handed/shield and casting. Light armour. Uses smithing and magic.

Would use pretty much any race for this and I think it's the easiest play style.

Battlemage: Bound weapons, heavy armour. Uses enchanting and magic.

Would use Breton or Dunmer for this style.

Pure mage: All schools of magic and enchanting. Cloth wearing and no conventional weapons or armour. Conjuration/illusion combo is my favourite way to go with this style backed up with restoration.

Would use Breton or Altmer for this character.

Sneak/thief/assassin. Don't play this style although I know it's very popular so quite interested to hear your thoughts on this one.

Please feel free to add your own or any I may have overlooked.

I never use trainers and keep fast travel (by carriage) to an absolute minimum which I find levels up my skills quite fast enough with the skirmish's I get into whilst travelling from A to B.

I'm hoping that sharing ideas and different play styles will maybe help both experienced and new people to the game find new and interesting ways to get their various characters through the adventure that is Skyrim.

All my restrictions are more of a moralistic approach.

I attack if I'm provoked.

I kill no wild non aggressive animals.

That's pretty much it.

I just more or less stay in my RP character, whatever the rules that apply happen to be for said character.

This is where I'm at as well.

Every character I make, I try to make them as unique as possible to the rest. Everything they do form skill selection to dialog choice to weapons to armor to queste to any other limitation, is all based upon their particular personality profile.

Otherwise, we are just defining general class profiles.

Not really what OP means, but in lack of rules like OP's here's some general rules that I have imposed upon myself.

- No wearing of other races' armors. No Elven for a Nord, no Ancient Nord for an Elf.

- Fight against stereotypes! My mages are bulky males, my warriors are axe-wielding Altmer maidens. Do not play stereotypes straight unless playing the default Nord Male Dovahkiin.

- Do not attack animals and people unless provoked or if the murder is required to advance in the game. I have never killed a bunny/deer/other forest animals in this game. Do not kill NPCs no matter how annoying they may be.

- No jack of all trades characters. Pick ~5 main skills and stick to them.

- Be polite, whoever I am talking to.

- No black soul capturing, unless we are dealing with very nasty people/letting people taste their own medicine (Necromancers, witches etc.)

- No fast traveling, sole exception to this is High Hrothgar.

Same here, my restrictions are similar to his yet more RP restrictive then actual rules I follow and sometimes those RP restrictions change as my character changes.

My battleaxe barbarian is similar to the warrior but he only uses a battleaxe for battle, bow to hunt, and wears little to no armor. He also despises magic and considers potions to be magical so he only consumes meat and mead (no fancy soups). He knows how to work a smithing hammer to sharpen his axe and some make money on the side but never touches an enchanting or alchemy table.

I don't have restrictions on what a character learns, due to level-up considerations. But I do have some rules of conduct:

* No unnecessary killing, except within the parameters of my duties as a mercenary or assassin, or when necessary to protect myself or others. If a situation can be solved nonviolently, I am expected to do so.

* Undead, monsters, dragons, and evil orphanage headmistresses are exempt from this rule.

* In this vein, annoying characters shall not be killed just for being annoying. In the case of essential characters, they may not be subjected to attacks that would kill them. Annoying advlts may be beaten with fists, annoying children may be spanked.

* No stealing, unless my character is a thief. Even then, no robbing the destitute.

* In general, avoid serving the daedra. My characters range from neutral to good, and all value their souls.

* Respect for the dead. Dead people that I find should not be plundered. Dead people that I kill in battle may be looted (legitimate prizes of war) but should not be stripped of armor/clothing. When practical, dead bodies should be hit with Flames (for RP purposes).

* Use wagons for long-distance travel. When not possible, try to use horses.

* Most of my characters exist in the same Skyrim. No two may have the same house, follower, spouse, child, dog, or unique item.

I have a pure thief who doesn't kill anything (including animals). For this character I don't even carry a weapon and when I level up I chose to put points into Magicka (Even though she doesn't use magic) to keep my health/stamina low to encourage me to be stealthy. High stamina would make it easy to run away.

I have a ranger where I completely disable the HUD (including crosshair, makes archery a tad more challenging) and wander around in the wilderness using only the sun to guide me. This character also never goes into walled settlements/cities/buildings.

I generally create a perk tree that dictates 100% exactly how I'll combat / earn money / profession's etc.

The decisions my characters make are based on their current experience. For example,

Using Random Alternate start :

My character found herself outside Markarth picking mushrooms etc. for some starting gold which she would use to gear up and do miscellaneous quests to earn cash. Her backstory was that she had fled Cyrodiil through Hammerfell to avoid the Thalmor and had crossed the mountains hoping to lose the agents currently trailing her. Her parents were killed in the purge of Valenwood and her brother was a thief that raised her in the heart of the empire. He was killed by the Thalmor for stealing an artifact and they think she knows where it is.

I had every intention of playing her as a good thief. And then she was involved in the Cidhna Mine incidents and questline. At which point she was forced to kill to survive. This led her to losing the fragile reality she held in regards to killing. She's tired of running and is out for herself. She just wants to get rich or die trying. Her personality literally spiraled into the deep end after the Cidhna mine incident, which really was just a set of in-game choices driving my roleplay.

Rules I follow for gameplay:

1) I don't take the super op sneak perks because they're not realistic, in terms of walking in front of someones face and them not seeing you.

2) I am not allowed to smith, enchant, & alchemy - but I can do one or the other - BUT, I can only take 2 perks in smithing if I main focus in enchanting or alchemy. This way I can improve magical armor / weapons.

3) No fast travel - ever. No matter what.

4) Only 5 of each individual type of potion or poison allowed to be carried at any time

5) Must wear matching armor - not including helmet - and it should fit into the role I'm currently playing (Right now I'm focusing on the Thieves Guild quest line while doing radiant's and the main story, so I'm required to wear Thieves Guild armor, which actually helps for pick pocketing alot)

6) If I go to jail because I get caught, I'm not allowed to reload. I either bribe the guard or have to break out of jail and steal my stuff back.

7) I don't pursue or use evil daedric artifacts, though if I stumble upon them I will store them in my Falkreath house for display / protection.

8) I pray to Kynareth only.

9) No magic on my current thief besides alteration for transmuting ores to craft jewelry.

10) No followers - I used Faendal for a little while and it was just to OP even on 'Master' Difficulty.

I vary rules by character. Right now, I'm playing a Nord melee warrior who uses no magic, no enchanting, no alchemy (found potions are OK), and who won't loot temples or Nord ruins. He also refuses to do Daedric quests, though he might make an exception for Meridia. He only uses a bow against dragons. So far he hasn't done much hunting, and the little he has done is with a 2H weapon, which is a little insane. So far he's refused to use Elven armor or weapons, even for followers, but he might not be dead set against it. Oh, and he's not a fan of reading, while most of my characters collect books.

Most of my characters:

Join a single faction.

Aren't Dragonborn, and never turn in the Dragonstone (if they do Bleak Falls Barrow at all).

Don't initiate combat, and don't kill passive animals.

Won't do nasty quests, especially Daedric.

Level a single crafting skill, and usually retire before maxing that one out.

Choose armor or clothing based on personality rather than usefulness.

Aside from various RP restrictions that depend on the character:

-Most of my characters exist in a single storyline, with one specific "canon" universe. There can be alternate universes if I so wish (My main Skyrim RP depends on them, in fact).

As a consequence, there can only be one Dragonborn(my main RP has an exception, however...), no two characters can do the same quest unless they did it together/were present for it, and no two characters can own the same home unless they live together.

-Items normally inaccessible to a character because of the above quest locking can be "gifted" by those that completed the quest. (This only happened once for me, where Chillrend was gifted to my Breton Dragonborn by my Khajiit Shadowmage as a birthday gift/peace offering).

-Males will always have their weight set to 70+(far right). Only exceptions ever are Khajiit and Argonians, who can have the weight slider set to whatever.

-I can only carry 8 different potion/poison bottles at a time. If I have multiple bottles of a single potion/poison, every four count as a "dose" within a single bottle. If I have 12 Potions of Plentiful Healing, 3 Potions of Extreme Magicka and 5 Potions of Ultimate Magicka, I technically only have 6 bottles: 3 of Plentiful Healing, 1 of Extreme Magicka, and 2 of Ultimate Magicka.

-Magi can fast-travel if they have high-enough Conjuration skill (60). Dragonborn can use the Whirlwind Sprint if they have all 3 words. Everyone else walks or takes a carriage/boat. (That said, I will fast travel if I'm in a hurry or I just can't be assed to follow the same path again, usually after taking it 2 times in a row)

My most restrictive game so far has been with a Light Armor, 2-Hand warrior. She wore Hide Armor and wielded a Nord Hero Greatsword for the whole 47 levels of the game. In addition:

No magic (no spells, no scrolls)

No potions

No shouts

No Alchemy

No Enchanting

No pre-enchanted weapons or armor

No Guardian Stones

No fast travel

This character also leveled only three skills (Light Armor, Two-Handed, Smithing) and put perks into only those three trees as well. This was on Adept difficulty. With creature-and-NPC-adding mods it was a very fun and occasionally challenging character to play.

But most of the time I roleplay. This means that a new set of rules are invented each time I create a character.

Sorry, PW, but I must ask out of curiosity.

How did you get to level 47 with leveling three skills?

Is it with SkyRe and / or the Community Uncapper mod? Or...

Did you Legendary any of them?

Most of my characters have some sort of RP limitations on them but it depends on the character. For my current, nature themed Breton Scout/Skirmisher, in addition to using Frostfall, Realistic Needs and Diseases and Hunterborn, I impose the following RP restrictions:

• Carry at most 48 arrows in a quiver
• No more than 20 potions/poisons total (though I am starting to think that number is too high)
• No fast travel but carriage is fine
• Steel smithing only and only raised naturally. Nothing is sold for profit. Nothing is created to grind the skill. Basically just to smith Steel arrows.
• No equipment can be changed out unless it's assigned to a quick key. If it's not assigned to a quick key then it's presumed it's to be in my pack and unavailable. No armour changes during combat at all save a shield.
• Spells, powers and the Thu'um are exempt from the above.
• Potions cannot be used in combat unless they are assigned to a quick key.
• Must maintain the Blessing of Kynareth from her shrine (the character is a devotee of Kynareth after all)

Everything else is fair game.

Yes, I adjusted skill gains in the Uncapper. But the only skill I needed to adjust was Speech. I gained a few levels of Speech through buying and selling. I didn't use any other skills.

If I was doing it again now I think I'd add one more restriction: "No buying or selling to merchants." That would eliminate that pesky fourth skill and I wouldn't need a mod to cancel its leveling.

My characters vary in their rules for role play. I usually (attempt to) make a different character for each guild/faction. With Skyrim, well you all know how they over-lap so it's a little difficult. So far all of my characters have eventually become dragonborn but one.

1. None of my characters kill non-threatening people unless they are paid to professionally, as in the DB. Keeping people alive could mean future contracts.
2. Most of my moral characters are not above sneak attack with a bow on bandits, undead, and hostile wildlife.
3. Same goes for my not-so-moral characters.
4. No killing of non-threatening wild life unless they are hunting for food, skins, etc.
5. They all sleep at least sometime during the night/day.
6. They try to cook and eat meals but not always.
7. They don't do the glitches (enchanting, alchemy) to be overpowered.
8. Characters marry only after knowing their future spouse for a while or traveling with them. No marrying just to get a house/shop.
9. Adopted children always have someone around, either a spouse, a housecarl or a steward.
10. No fast travel, as a rule they walk, ride a horse or use the carriage.

I made a special character to get all of the daedric artifacts and she was not very nice, and the only one to go against rule no. 1. I really didn't like doing some of those quests.

My assassin characters conduct their business efficiently and professionally. They use light armor, 1H, archery, alchemy, and sneak.

My thief characters usually have a heart and steal only what they need to get the job done. They are light armor, alchemy, archery, sneak and speech. One character was a pickpocket but I really didn't care for it that much.

My warrior characters are the most moral. They do not steal, lie or murder innocents. They usually use heavy armor, 1H or 2H, smithing and maybe some enchanting. They find it difficult to continue the Companion's quests because of certain events. At least one character has finished it.

My mage character is really new to me (having only attempted it once before in this Skyrim). She started out to be a cloth mage but is now wearing some light armor. I'll just consider her a work in progress. She does restoration, conjuration (not necromancy part), destruction and enchanting. She is taking her duties as Arch Mage very seriously and trying to help everyone at the college...eventually.

Those damn pesky forced skill advancements.

... curse them all, I say!

I play a lot (I mean A LOT) of sneak thiefs

Light Armor with Bow/Duel Wielding is my favorite. Sneak is also a main skill, obviously. I also use Restoration and try to use Illusion, but I fall off Illusion quickly. Alchemy and Smithing makes sense for them, but enchanting is a stretch, roleplay-wise (though I still do it because I enjoy crafting).

The few times I have tried to limit my characters into something more specific, I lose interest. My Paladin sword and board with Heavy Armor type did not last long. Neither did my 2-handed Heavy Armor Berserker character. I am just a "blocker" or massive but slow attacks.

The Mages I have tried, I lose interest in as there are so many schools of magic choices I find it difficult to stick with just a few (3 or 4). This really kind of upsets me because I really want to do the Master Spell quests. I think it is the early to mid game that gets to me here. Using a spell for armor and possibly a conjuration and I end up with my magika depleted, even at a 3/1/1 or 4/1/1 magika/health/stamina ratio. I've never played long enough to get the "good" mage equipment that helps out with that.

It is weird and I can not pin down why, but in Skyrim, I just can not get into Assassin characters, though I had a blast going through Morrowind's Morag Tong guild. Maybe it is the marks? I don't know

Some characters just do not fit my playstyle well, which is really a sneak-thief type

My character is a Paladin of sorts. He uses enchanting and smithing for crafts, one handed and shield, heavy armor and restoration magic. Vamp hunter as well. Fits the class.

My restrictions are more around enchanting to avoid being op. Overstacking magicka resistance can kill my enjoyment, even on legendary, so I take some minor restrictions with that, meaning usually not having more than two pieces of the same enchantment besides health, magicka or reduce restoration costs.

I don't invest in stamina. It's a waste, beyond maybe fifty comfort points. But no more. Sometimes I switch to dual wielding when needed.

Always wear an amulet of Talos, at least after I've hit a comfort zone in levels. I always attack Imperial troops traveling by, and same goes for Thalmor. No matter what, never let them go.

I don't do certain missions like Boethia's summoning. Always defy a Daedra when I can. Always accept combat challenges from travelers and such. Never NEVER accept arrest, except in Markarth (but only after killing lots of their guards, hehe.) If its stormcloak, I'll just pay the fine or run, but not kill their guards.

When its dark, I sleep when I can and look for a place to do so, eat when food is in reach. When in towns not on a mission, I'll take off my armor for townclothes. And the only fast traveling I do is with a carriage unless its to get to high hrothgar, or my xbox froze.

I think that covers it.

Lots of good responses in this thread.

I think the restrictions I have used on various characters have mostly been covered. Just one addition that comes to mind:

My "neutral/good" illusionist won't use Fury/Frenzy on living humanoids; strictly calming or fear spells only. Will happily use Fury/Frenzy on undead/monsters/automatons/daedra/hostile animals.

My "restrictions" I guess are more RP related.

Ex-Priestess/"Paladin for hire" of Arkay

Must wear an amulet of Arkay, at all times (Except for maybe getting married)

No Daedric quests. AT ALL!

All quests have to have something to do with bandits or undead.

Restoration is the only magic school, for anti-undead purposes.

Breton Nightblade

No smithing. EVER.

Always try to kill from the shadows first, to weed out the weak

NO DAGGERS, they are for the cowardly who are too afraid to stand and fight

Destruction is for dragons and as such, not worked on.

Yes definitely some good responses and really good ideas, a lot I hadn't even considered. I will certainly be incorporating some of them in my next character. keep them coming folks!

I never use potions(no alchemy of any kind) or followers and play DiD on legendary.

I restrict myself to 1 form of damage dealing(usually has to do with RP)

I never attack neutral animals in the wilderness(though some like to get in my way and get hit anyway)

I don't steal on a good number of characters, but it's not a set rule

Awesome; self-indulgent wall-of-text time!

My restrictions are primarily moral ones, but I've also recently adopted gameplay restrictions, which have only helped make things more immersive and fun.

None of my characters steal or murder as a general rule, and I'll go out of my way to see that I do not have to do either. If I have to take something, there had better be a good reason, and if I have to kill someone, there had also better be a good reason, or I'll look for loopholes and ways out. Killing hostiles or looting dead hostiles is one thing, but killing someone because I don't care for their attitude or getting sticky fingers in someone's shop is quite another. So, generally I try to be altruistic--help the innocent, bulldoze the wicked, or thereabouts. If I have to do something dicey because there's absolutely no way around it, I'll RP it so it can at least be explained away; the only instance of this I've as of yet run into is killing Grelod in order to wipe out (the majority of) the Dark Brotherhood (my character goes to the Orphanage after hearing about the conditions from Aventus, overhears Grelod being verbally abusive towards the kids, pokes around, sees the shackles, talks to the children and hears the stories of abuse, loses it, and waits for the kids to go out to play before drawing his/her weapon and making a mizzle of the old hag's blood. A good deal of time is spent at Mara's temple in shocked reflection after this).

As for gameplay, it depends also on the character. Narienne, my female Altmer spellsword, uses skill and sorcery to dispatch foes, not relying on brute force or intimidation. She does not choose to threaten enemies, takes care to be especially stealthy, and does not ever use shields, dual wield, or shoot bows. This is because I want her to be primarily a spellsword, not a ranger or a warrior, and I RP it as her suffering from an improperly healed shoulder injury which causes her too much discomfort to use anything more than a spell in her offhand. She only ever uses magic in her left hand, and only ever a sword in her right, as I consider other weapons not proper for an Altmer lady (though I'd make an exception for a dagger), though I am considering letting her use a crossbow as a longbow alternative; the slow reload time would be accounted for by her shoulder injury, which renders a crossbow the only potential ranged weapon she can comfortably employ. She only uses light armor, of course, and prefers circlets to helms and gloves to bracers--and prefers to destroy or significantly weaken enemies with spells before they get within sword range. An ex-Thalmor, she can handle a blade well enough, but knows the value of a good spell for those who are not musclebound meat grinders.

Speaking of musclebound meat grinders, Ulfius the Iron is my Nord warrior reboot. Much more of an in-game avatar of myself, Ulfius prefers to intimidate hostiles or give them the sharp edge of his war axe if they presume to do more than posture and sputter. An ex-legionnaire, Ulfius prefers to be in the thick of the melee, axe swinging and enemies falling, with only a stout iron shield in his left hand (maybe I'll play with dual wielding with this character more--just didn't feel right with Narienne) and fire in his eyes. He might use swords or two-handed weapons from time to time (and probably just to give his shield arm a break on occasion), but being the born-again Nord patriot he has become since just prior to his near-death at Helgen, the deep cultural symbolism of the mighty war axe compels him to take only that as his weapon. However, Ulfius will not hesitate to pull out a bow if needed, having learned well the power of a nocked shaft against distant foes whilst serving in the Legion. He uses healing spells, scorning offensive magic as somewhat cowardly, though the ability to magically summon a weapon in case he is disarmed or the ability to temporarily augment his armor is very appealing. Ulfius wears only heavy armor or a mix that primarily favors heavy armor, and has been conditioned enough in the Legion to wear it for days on end; to Ulfius, iron and steel are like hide and leather.

Both characters use Shouts; Narienne despite her persistent dumbfoundedness that she is the Dragonborn of the Nord people, Ulfius in excited awe of the same. Neither use Soul Tear, or for that matter, any form of necromancy besides.

Both of these are infinitely more restricted than previous characters in a TES game or another game, where I was always did what I liked and only held to moral restrictions. But, these have been the most rewarding and enjoyable characters I've ever played, and in large part, it's due to the restrictions I've placed on them.