...open locks without picking them? If so, what else can Towers do?

Sorry for questions, a little bit of a noob here... :confused:

i tried tower briefly - the lock pick only goes up to average, which is not great but handy maybe if you're not familiar with the security mini-game or not taking security as a major, or alteration - you get a spell to do that at journeyman level which you can use as many times as you like.

also you get a reflect damage greater power, which is also not that great - only 5% or something.

imo it's more of a birthsign you take if you're trying to make things challenging for yourself, or trying to set yourself limits.

Oh, ok. Do you have any suggestions on other useful birthsign for an assassin / warrior?

depends on a lot of things, for a start what race will you be? what class or skills will you use? will you be using spells at all?

Huh? There's nothing to be sorry about, if anything i feel positively envious of any TES newbie, so many adventures ahead. Anyway, that Tower sign lets you open one lock per day, but i'd rather use alteration myself, it's far more useful.

Personally, I avoid all purely stat increasing birthsigns like the plague. At end game they're completely redundant.

Other than that, whichever seems most useful to you.

Er, did anyone notice a weird flicker just a moment ago? I posted, there was a delay and that happened. Um, better i check the dust buildup or something, hopefully it's just my pc.

The Thief or Warrior can be good for early attribute boosts if you have trouble building up attrubutes or want to worry a little less about it. If your are comfortable building attributes nicely as you level, then those don't provide much of a boost though. If your character will be using much magic at all though, the Mage is a great choice - just a simple and forever helpful magicka boost with no downside. My comments reflect that you seem to be a newer player. More experienced players often choose one of these as well, but several of the others offer interesting, even challenging considerations.

There is one advantage to the Tower birthsign, and it's the Reflect Damage spell effect. It's very difficult to acquire that spell effect otherwise (the only other way involves going through the entire Shivering Isles Main Quest, and making a certain "right" choice near the end.) Even though the Tower's spell isn't very powerful, once you know the effect, you can create more powerful versions with the spellmaking altar.

It raises interesting possibilities if you wanted to play an unusual sort of mage.

See Link Below and Use Lots of Alchemy

I am the same way. I only take the stat-bonus signs if it is somehow in character. For example it was just right for my transgendered magician http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Aela01.jpg to have been born under the Lady.

I find it is best to stick with the signs that give you some form of special power that cannot be obtained any other way. The magical ones like Mage, Apprentice, Atronach rank highest on this list, as most of the other power-based signs can be duplicated by visiting doom stones.

I agree. One birthsign that is sometimes overlooked is the Lord, which has a very good Healing Lesser Power. It works really well with a Dunmer warrior-type, because it isn't reduced by wearing armor, and the Dunmer fire resistance offsets the Lord's 25% fire weakness. It also doesn't train Restoration, in case somebody was holding that as a never-used Major.

Mage and Atronach are the most powerful birthsigns, for any character. This doesn't mean they are always the ideal pick, but if you want to make your character as powerful as possible you should pick one of these two.

At least for spellcasters. One who never uses spells can avoid them imo

I'm trying to remember the last time I wanted to create a character who was as powerful as possible (yawn.) :wink_smile:

Now why didn't I think of that. I always thought the Tower was useless but it does have a purpose.

The Atronarch is awesome for characters that use no spells because it provides 50% spell immunity that can NOT be offset by any weakness spells or effects. The Breton racial can be countered by effects while spell absorb is an absolute value...

If you're trying to make a character that is as powerfull as possible you're going to be a spellcaster. Also, what Gurkog said. For characters that aren't spellcasters Atronach has no downside, just a huge 50% chance to ignore enemy spells.



Well yeah, that's why I put in the "if" part.

Birthsigns can be divided into three categories. The first category are attribute enchancers (Lady, Steed, Thief, Warrior). These provide an early benefit, but they are useless in the long run. This makes them a good choice for people who are not going to play their character long enough to max out their stats as well as for people who play without leveling (either never use major skills or never sleep). But if you expect to eventually reach 100 in your relevant attributes they are ultimately useless.

The second category are power providers (Lord, Lover, Ritual, Serpent, Shadow, Tower). Some provide more useful powers than other, but ultimately the effect of every one of these powers can be replicated by a spell. So they can again provide an early benefit, but they are not very useful in the long run.

The final category are the Magicka birthsigns (Apprentice, Atronach, Mage). Apprentice is clearly weaker than Mage (50 extra Magicka is not worth the 100% Weakness to Magic), but both Mage and Atronach are good birthsigns that always remain useful.

One thing I want to make clear is that I'm not saying that people should pick Atronach or Mage because they are better than the rest. I'm just saying that if you want to make a powerful character, there is no better choice. And of course I agree that if you care more about flavor than about stats, any birthsign can be fine.

I did a character with the Lord sign once. Yikes. That healing power saw me through the entire time I played her. It was so powerful, I never played it again because it felt like it was too much!