Hi. I play on a console.

I have a question about levelling. Basically I would like to stay at a low level, say around twenty, before high end equipment becomes available. Can I achieve that by simply not opening my character sheet to level up? Will that effect the world around me in terms of levelled creatures and loot? Do you think that unbalance the game greatly, since my skills will continue to increase?

Or if I want to stay at a certain level longer before eventually levelling up, will my progress keep building if I don't open the skills menu? For example if I stay at 20 for a long time before eventually levelling up to 21, will I immediately level up to 22?

Many thanks.

You can stay at a level for as long as you want so long as you don't open up the skill tree. As soon as you do that you will be forced to level up, sometimes a few levels at a time if it's been awhile.

You can stay at a given level by not opening up the skills menu. Your skills will increase but you won't be able to select perks or increase health/magicka/stamina. The enemies will stay at your lower level as well.

If you don't open the skill menu, you don't level up. Simple as that

Not opening the level up menu is how this one guy stayed lvl1 but had the skill levels of a level 42 player.

I've stayed at level nine for as long as I could with a few characters to avoid the vampire attacks.

The game stays balanced by spawning creatures that match your level. However, you still need to be aware that there are higher level enemies, such as a wispmother or a snowy saber cat that will attack and are much harder to take down. They have been known to spawn at low levels.

As far as staying around level 20 goes, write down the perks you want to use and never open the skill menu again after you're ready to stop.

You'll also find that if you potentially gain 50 levels in your adventures, opening the skill menu will force you to level all 50 of those levels. Simply correct this mistake if you happen to do it by reloading your last save.

Take care.

That answeres all my questions. Thanks everyone.

That's cool. One of the reasons I want to do it is to encounter really deadly creatures to instil a sense of danger and threat in the game.

In that case, keep the difficulty on Adept or higher.

To avoid to be forced to level up like that could I just serve time in jail? Does serving time in jail reset the overall levelling progress, or is it just for skills?

If it's the former how long do you think my sentence would be to completely reset my progress so that if I have a few levels saved up as it were, I wouldn't be forced to level up that much.

I ask because lets say I stay at level 15 for most of the game, but when I get to Solstheim I find it's too hard and I want to start levelling normally.

Thanks again everyone.

That obviously unbalanced the game somewhat, but did it make it radically easy?

Jail time resets the accumulated skill, not levels. Say if you're almost 100 in one skill but go jail, you'll lose the skill progress.

Not really. Some level 1 mobs are perfectly capable of wiping you off the map with your default 100 or so HP.

Oh well.

Cheers.

you won't encounter the deadly creatures if your level stays low. Better off increasing difficulty or keeping your health low to keep things dangerous.

Yeah I think I'll have to do that. But I would rather there be a few really dangerous creatures to have to watch out for, rather than being owned by everyone and their granny.

Thanks everyone.

There is another way to stay at a low level for as long as you want without using the menu exploit: Just develop one skill. It's really pretty easy and effective. I've done it with both Destruction and 2H. At 100 in your chosen skill and some unavoidable amount of Speech and a few others you'll top out at about 19-20 and stop leveling. When you get tired of that, continue on with other skills.

Yeah that's how I've been able to level quite slowly, by being careful what skills I use. When one handed and sneak gets to 100 my levelling slows to a crawl.

But I think I would prefer to stop all together because I just prefer the game at lower levels.

Me too. That's why I start so many characters with limited skills and goals. ( like finishing the MQ by level 20 with 2H only, or even more focused like getting through Forelhorst without dying at level 7 )

Be a mage because mages are lolz in Skyrim. I level slower than a sloth, especially using only Destruction and Restoration.

Level one characters pose an interesting challenge. Falmer, Dwemer Spheres and centurions, and draugr undead, plus the aforementioned bears and saber cats, you can be killed pretty quickly if you don't plan ahead. Makes the Guardian Stones that much more valuable. Any piece of high-level gear you find would be a true rarity. Expert difficulty would probably be the best balance for a level one character.

With the exception of some perks, playing a level one character is much like playing a level 30 character. All the same enemies. Some more rare than others.

One downside: Level-locked quests. There are too many of them. I'm not aware of any mods that remove the level restrictions on quests.

When I am setting up my characters ( on console ), I often wait to pick my "perks" til I am sure exactly what I want my character to do. I have noticed a big difference once I do put the perks into place. An extra 20% damage or not having that extra bit might not seem like much...but what about when you are up to an extra 80% damage? Your armor protects you 20% more...than what ever you have smithed it to.... leave the "perk" points alone, no one says you have to use them.

You want a challenge then don't use your perk points or use them very sparingly. For a warrior, non magic user, put the majority of your m/h/s into Magic. Keep you crafting to a minimum.

I often have my followers in "epic" smithed armor and my pc is in "fine". Sure they can one shot/hit wolves...but bear's and sabre cats can still take out my lvl 30 character's, if they aren't careful. It may help that I don't have my HUD on or the music... so I have to pay attention to other things. ( no footsteps either). My S & B has to decide between seeing with a torch and keeping his shield in caves, ruins and at night. Archery is that much harder with no crosshair to rely on.

My new...lvl 5 Orc 2h heavy died 4 time's trying to take Valtheim towers on a bandit bounty. ( well actually 5, but I don't count that as it's my fault for making her jump off the bridge)

Sabre Cats hate me. Pesky things, always so hard to see.