Hello people!
I am kinda new of playing this game and I would like to make a tank or paladin or whatever you like to say it. Big HP, Good Armor.. And I would like to use two-handed weapon, but what it should be? Melee weapon, no range or mage weapons.
So... Help me:
1. Race?
2. Birthmark?
3. Everything?

Thanks!
~ Greetings from Finland!

My favorite character i made was like this sorta,

I used
Race:brenton
Birthsign:mage
class:Blade
heavy armor
block
restoration
illusion
conjuration
destruction

I guess you could switch out destruction for something else like armorer

I chose brenton becuase you can get a ring later in the game that will give you 50% magic resistance, with the brenton's 50% resistance your immune to magic

My current character level 25 imperial is great...

Race: Mine is imperial ( but there is better such as redguard or orc)
Birthsign: Warrior Obviously
Class: mine is Titan. but call yours tank
Blade block blunt armorer heavy armour acrobatics athletics. combat. strength endurance. you could concentrate on blade or blunt. and then have another one. i like speechcraft. but its all up to you

:)

if your going to go for a pure combat type character the 2 best choices for a race would be an Orc or a Nord, the birthsign is easy, The Warrior.
and for the class, go with a custom. the specialization should be combat, and the 2 favored attributes should be endurance and strength, use whatever major skills appeal to you the most.

I don't see the point of having both blade and block.

The common answer is big Nord or Orc, but actually, I agree with Whiteguyx1, a Breton can be the best Tank. Real tanks are very defensive, and the Breton's magic resistance and superb Restoration skill with high magicka make them great potential Tanks. They are good for new players too. If you want to play around with spells and custom making Command Spells, Whiteguy's build is excellent too. If you want to avoid most spells there are two ways to go about that, take Conjuration which is easy to use, just get the summon Zombie right off then upgrade it when you get to 50 skill. You could also have Lord as a sign (without Restoration as a skill) and just be an absolute beast from the first, however, Restoration, while not quite as good for healing as Lord right off ends up being surperior once you have the right spells. Another way is just to have Conuration, Restoration, and maybe Destruction and just use the best store bought spells you can get.

I agree with Avarae, especially for a newer player seeking a tank. A tank wants good physical defense and good magical defense as well. A Breton is a simple way to do this as he starts with 50% magic resistance (that he will want to boost to 100%). The only downside here, is working with rather wimpy starting combat type attributes. Once a Breton gets his endurance, strength and agility up, he is quite potent at melee.

For more advanced players, a Redguard (or Nord I suppose) Atronach can do the same thing, with better starting combat attributes - at the drawback of stunted magicka. This type of character gets their magic defense from the Atronach's 50% spell absorption (the astute player will seek items to boost that to 100% or course).

I would do it like this:

Orc
Warrior
Atronach
Blunt
Block
Alteration
Restoration
Alchemy
Heavy Armor
Armorer


I dont efficiently level, but these would be the prefered attributes regardless for what your describing. For additional suggestions click the link in my signature.

Well, if you really want a tank you're better off with a longsword and shield. For a 2 hand user, I'd do it a bit differently since Speed and Agility is vital to 2h weapon combat - you want to stay out of reach.

Race: Dark Elf (good starting attributes and skills)

Birthsign: Mage

Spec: Combat

Blade

Block

Light Armor (you can move a LOT better in light armor, the encumbrance penalty is removed sooner and at 100 skill it gives as much protection as heavy armor)

Mysticism

Conjuration

Destruction

Restoration

**IMPORTANT: Train Armorer each level until it hits 50.

There's also some tank-with-a-twist classes you can use:

Imperial - Knight (combat)
Birthsign: Warrior
Attributes: Endurance, Personality
Skills: Blade, Blunt, Heavy armor, Block, Athletics, Speechcraft, Mercantile

A very solid fighter with high personality and social skills. This will make some quests very easy, and can get you great equipment early on in the game because of mercantile. It's more of a role playing character because speechcraft and mercantile both aren't great in this game. It's possible to level relatively efficiently if you train hand to hand and armorer for multipliers.

Nord - Paladin (combat)
Birthsign: The Ritual
Attributes: Endurance, Willpower
Skills: Blade, Blunt, Heavy armor, Armorer, Athletics, Mysticism, Restoration

Basic 2-hand fighter with some support magic. Undead are going to be very easy because of the blessed word lesser power. Dispel is very useful against mages, and you can use absorb strength on other melee fighters. You can level efficiently by using hand to hand, block, alchemy and alteration for attribute training. Of course being able to heal yourself efficiently also helps the tanking.

The reason I'm not recommending a breton is because it's so easy to slip into becoming a spellsword instead of a tank. If you want to become great against mages I recommend just getting a lot of equipment with resist magic. Also tanks generally have enough HP to survive long enough to reach mages and smack them down.

I recommend you create a build yourself and then post for comment. That way it will be your character.

And the real "secret" about the game is that the starting build doesn't really matter all that much (unfortunately, IMHO), except maybe a little at early levels.

But some things to think about

Race: the races build for a tank are Orc and Nord. Reguard too, though that's more of a sophisticated and skilled combat race vs a dumb tank. I prefer Redguards for combat characters. But if you like the looks of some other race (Khajiit, Argonan, tall Altmer) that will likely work out fine.

Birthsign: Warrior and Lady are very good starting tank signs. Longer term Mage is great. My favorite sign is probably Atronach, but I do NOT recommend for a new player, since lack of magicka regen takes some knowledge of the game.

Skills: The trick in the game is to not level too fast, otherwise (unlike many other games) you can get weaker. General advice would be to spread the skills out amount the governing attributes, like one skill from each. But you can alter that a little. For example, for a tank I"d consider Armorer and Block as majors. I would definitely not put all three skills of an attribute as majors (cause problems a bit to complex to explain here). So if you have Armorer and Block as majors, I'd put Heavy Armor as a minor (even and especially if you use Heavy Armor alot). Putting fast leveling skills as majors causes problems - so I'd keep skills like Alchemy, Sneak, Light Armor as minors even if you use those. If you'll ever use a bow, Marksmanship is a good major because it levels slowly. Also Restoration is usually a very good major. Otherwise I recommend picking some skills and posting for comment.

Good luck.

High Strength and Endurance will get you far - so I'd almost recommend those for your favored attributes, because you'll be needing them a lot to get lots of Health and be able to swing your sword effectively and carry heavy armor (which you'll most likely want?). Like someone before me said, try to make your own build and post it for people to comment on and suggest improvements; that way the character will be your character, not a character created by someone else.

The trick to this game is not to level too quickly, because of the way everything in the game world levels with you. You want to be well prepared for higher level enemies, so also try to level your combat skills along with you so you don't get overwhelmed by your higher level enemies. Also, for a tank-type character I'd suggest going with a shield and a one-handed melee weapon instead of a two-handed one, so you can block attacks more easily.

For a melee fighter tank character the Atronach birthsign is really handy, because you get 50% Spell Absorption right in the beginning of the game, which helps overcome mage enemies. You have no magicka regen, but if you're a melee fighter and don't use magic much it doesn't really matter. If you want to use magic as well, I'd rethink the Atronach. It's your first character, and with the Atronach you have to develop a completely different style of playing a mage character than with another birthsign, so you might want the "normal experience" first.

(Tervetuloa vaan, arvasin heti sun nimimerkist?s ett? oot suomalainen... )

Oh, yeah, and I agree with Ramara, sword and shield is better for a Tank. If you read the "Manual of Arms" it states that two handed weapons are for mobile, lighter armored skirmishers and flanking troups. In fact, that is also true with the combat mechanics in the game. There is an often mentioned "sweet spot" with a two hander that you can use to strike from outside of range of some opponent, then retreat, and repeat without getting hit. Also, two handers used that way work great against the larger creatures.

However, the technique requires more room and and a faster character to do it successfully, thus the prefernce for lighter armor and more speed. I have had warriors carry a two hander for those situations and sword and board for faster opponents and close quarters. Another thing to consider is that a short sword and shield is actually better than a longsword for damage over time with repeated regular attacks, but a little harder to hit with the side and backward power attacks. Rome conquered the world with a shield and gladius, which was about a two to two and a half foot sword. Of course, field fortifications and knowledge of siegecraft helped too....

I had fun for a while with the following character:

3) Sir Andrjans “Lichtheld”
Class: Paladin of Light
Race: Imperial Male
Birthsign: Ritual
Specialization: Combat – Wil, End
Skills: Blade, Athletics, Block, Armorer, Heavy Armour, Restor, Speech
Weapon: Silver Longsword “Lichtschwert”
Armour: Armour of Holy Light & Shield of Defense

This was more of a role-play Paladin indeed and the best I could do with what Oblivion could offer. He'd never loot corpses or pick treasure, nor join Arena for fame or fight for causes that were other than justice and honour. Far from the tank you are searching for, but good enough to rp as a real Paladin - btw, do not let yourself be fooled about Restoration as a defensive magicschool: Absorb is of great offensive value, if you know how to use.

Welcome to the best rpg ever made!!! This is a fact. Jk but what I would advise on your first playthrough is that you pick your favorite skills and just go out and explore. It's much more fun finding stuff on your own. So get off the forums and play the game and figure stuff out yourself!!! You'll love the game so much more! Through many trial and error I finally came up with my perfect character in my siggy and I love him to death. Very potent. I hope you enjoy yourself as much as I did when I just started playin the game. Good luck and enjoy!!


- truz4

You will need every starting advantage in the book to play a pure melee tank. That means Orc or Redguard warrior, heavy armor, and specializing in a specific weapon. You may even need to fudge the major skills to slow leveling so that you get those top bonuses at level up time. Keep your armor in perfect condition at all times, know your enemy and go out there and fight.

Bottom line; all it takes to make a tank is to tweak the difficulty slider.