Hello all,

I am returning to Oblivion after quite sometime. I played Morrowind GotY on Xbox thoroughly, and only somewhat played Oblivion. I have ordered Oblivion GotY for Xbox 360(will have the game by mail soon), because Skyrim will be coming out later this year(as I've read many others have done this as well). I have read up on the forums and UESP. I intend on my character being Altmer, Atronach birthsign, achieving 100% spell absorption, and used the character creation for an example. Pretty firm on Race, Birthsign, Attributes +5 Intelligence/ +5 Endurance/ +1 Luck, but seek advice on specialization and major skills. With that said, I am open to any and all advice. My main objective is to enjoy the game, but this part of creating a character is enjoyable for me as well. Thank you in advance!


Name/Class: My Character
Race/Gender: High Elf (Altmer) / Male
Birthsign: The Atronach
Specialization: Stealth
Attributes: Intelligence, Endurance
Major Skills: Alchemy, Restoration, Illusion, Marksman,
Acrobatics, Blade, Armorer

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 90/360/155
Max Level: 51.5
Encumbrance: 150

Abilities:
- Resist Disease (constant: 75 pt. Self)
- Spell Absorption (constant: 50 pt. Self)

Drawbacks:
- Weakness to Fire, Frost, and Shock (constant: 25 pt. Self)
- Magicka regeneration disabled

Stats:
INTELLIGENCE-55: Alchemy-30, Mysticism-15, Conjuration-10
WILLPOWER-40: Destruction-15, Alteration-15, Restoration-25
PERSONALITY-40: Illusion-30, Mercantile-10, Speechcraft-10
AGILITY-40: Security-10, Sneak-10, Marksman-30
SPEED-30: Athletics-5, Acrobatics-30, Light Armor-10
STRENGTH-30: Blunt-5, Blade-25, Hand to Hand-5
ENDURANCE-45: Block-5, Armorer-25, Heavy Armor-5
LUCK-50

I'm considering changing one of the attributes on the build to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Luck. As I mentioned above, I plan on my character having 100% spell absorption. I didn't mention that I want him to be very stealthy, so I will look up solutions to have high % Chameleon to help with sneak. I don't plan on doing any quests, etc. until I max my intelligence and endurance(unless it's very contained environment). Then I'll do the dark brotherhood and thief quests first, then do the main quest to reset my fame to zero.

I don't know how in depth you want to get with your efficient leveling, but it seems that you are halfway to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Creating_an_Awesome_Character already (scroll down to the bottom of he page for the build). Good luck.

Thank you for the link. I have not started my character yet, so I'm not halfway.. oh well! From what I've read, if you use 100% Chameleon, it makes the game incredibly easy.. so I will only use a degree of it. I plan on playing with the slider on most difficult, and using something like the ultimate armor setup to become invincible would take the enjoyment out of the game. Wiki states that even 10% Chameleon, when your sneak level is high, will make you almost undetectable.

I haven't completely decided if I will stick to light armor, or no armor. The daedric and madness armors are so cool, it's hard to deny myself. I haven't roleplayed before, I've always just played as myself.. but reading threads about the subject has peaked my curiousity. Coming up with a character that I can fully immerse myself in is becoming quite the challenge! I have unanswered questions about http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Doom_Stone#Doomstones; such as.. at what level can you use the Thief Stone to help you level up? This would make choosing the Atronach Birthsign over the Thief Birthsign a piece of cake. I am still not waivered to use the thief birthsign, but it is truly interesting how much luck influences your gameplay.

The setup I have been considering most for my character is Bow/Dagger/Enchanted Clothing(Or Perhaps Light Armor) relying on agility, speed, and magic to fight. The major skills I choose will be chosen only to help me level efficiently, and to maximize my level. Not sure if I will send my character to prison yet to extend his level, I don't know enough about it yet. And I am not interesting in doing a glitch to max my character's level to 254. Perhaps if I have enough time to play a second character before Skyrim comes out, I will play less "efficient" unless someone offers some excellent advice to sway me away from leveling up first before doing the quests.

The birthsign stones don't do anything to influence your level. The powers they impart are for use once every 24 hours. There are a few that are extremely useful early game. The Ritual Stone gives you a high level heal spell that is very useful in a pinch. It also has a good heal other spell for keeping idiot NPCs alive. The Serpent stone has an expert level paralyze spell which comes in handy, but Acadian is the expert on that. I personally like the Tower stone because it gives you an Open Hard Lock spell that you can use until your security gets higher (or until you get a certain item).

While reading uesp it mentioned when your luck is increased, it affects your leveling to a small degree. For example, if you choose the Thief Birthsign and you're leveling Alchemy, the overall amount of potions you are to make will be less than if you have another birthsign. If I find the section on luck I'm referring to, I'll edit in a link to it. Seems I should focus on items enchanted luck, if there are easily attainable ones early in the game. I found a non random loot item, amulet of luck, listed that will help.

to be honest i think because of the new videos and news of the skyrim game coming out soon ALOTTT of people are going back to oblivion and the GOTY version is the best way. i also went back to playing oblivion after playing alot of fallout new vegas and i must say, out of oblivion, fallout 3 and new vegas.... oblivion is the oldest but easily the best out the 3 and best game i have ever played. im going to go and play it right after i finished writing this actually.

but anywayyyyy, when i started playing again i wanted to make a guy that i have never played as before and what did i come up with... a BUM, yes i played as a homeless poor guy, its pretty hard as the game goes on but if u stick to the lower levels, dont go higher than level 7-8 its great. i lived in the sewer in the market district stole everything i could and fenced it in bruma. you keep what you carry or store it in a safe place (for me it was the sewer) and finally after a good solid few days of playing i got the cash together to buy a house in leyawiin just because it seems like the most 'bum ridden' city in the game.

If I played a bum he would become addicted to skooma and commit suicide I received the game in the mail today!

I just don't understand one thing. It's insignificant, but I suppose I'll say it. Why is your specialization stealth is you're an Altmer with the Atronach birthsign?

I will use either stealth or combat for the +5 bonuses you receive in those fields. It is better to choose one or the other if you play an Altmer, for efficient leveling. If you raise your skills from the base 5 by spreading out your distributing points, then almost all of your skills will raise faster when you train them yourself. You can read more about it on UESP Wiki under Efficient Leveling. Hope I explained it in a way that's easy to understand.

Is http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Luck the section you are referring to? The way I read it Luck influences your skills by a factor of 40% of your Luck score over 50. For example, with the Thief birthsign and with Luck as a favored attribute you would start with 65 Luck at level 1. That’s 15 points over 50 which would raise all of your skills by 40% of that 15, or 6 points per skill. It means that it might take you 16 casts of a spell rather than 19 to take that school of magicka up a notch. Not a really big deal IMO. It’s certainly not something that drastically changes the game. The thought of using the Luck boost provided by the Thief Stone to increase the speed at which you level isn’t viable because the boost only lasts 2 minutes, not enough time (again IMO) to raise any skill more than once or twice.

It should also be noted that Luck has no bearing on Acrobatics or Athletics.


You suffer from a bit of the ol' OCD when it comes to leveling too? :yes: Same here! It got so bad for me that I spent nearly six months thinking about how to effectively play my character instead of effectively playing my character. It sounds like you have all the mechanics of leveling down. Don't worry too much about maximizing everything to make your character powerful. I guarantee that with your knowledge by level 30 nothing will be able to stand against you. Enjoy the game.

Lol, touche! I'll do my best to Oblivion is so interesting, it's hard to not want to understand it. I think playing legitimate characters in Diablo 1 made me anolyze a bit too much. Though, I think I might bring some variant ideas I use to play over to this game. I'll make sure to do an early save as a starting point to avoid the annoyance of playing out the prisoner. To give you an example of a variant I played, we called it Ironman. You start with a level 1 character, and you cannot purchase anything from town. You go straight to the dungeon, fight and level up using only what you find along the way. You could not purchase any equipment in town, nor scrolls, potions, etc.. If and when you died, delete and make a new character. Generally you would do this with a friend and would have a friendly fight once you made it own of a certain level alive. I think there are certain aspects of it that can transfer over to Oblivion. If enough interest was shown, we could even have a forum thread(with detailed guidelines how to play it) dedicated so people could post their results, ideas, etc.

After reading Zakarius' thread and many posts by forum members speaking of roleplaying and leveling only into the 20's. I'm becoming more intrigued by this idea. Going against the efficient leveling grind to enjoy the game more fully.

Acadian's character Buffy as described made my head start turning with ideas! Along with gpstr's story of how playing female characters with their own personality made his experience more enjoyable.

Just when I thought I had everything all figured out...
;)

Choosing is tough, isn't it? :tongue:

I am uncertain the best route to take on my new character concept. I want a class in the area of a Nightblade, Thief, and Witchhunter. I really like Roadrunner's assassin character, though I will use magic somewhat. Yet I do not desire to use a shield, or shortsword. If I use a blade at all, it must be a dagger. No armor at all, conjured armor, or light armor.. I have not yet decided. I do want to have sneak mastered, sounds so exciting sneaking into a cave taking out bandits one by one

Please offer up advice from your own experiences. Capping your character in their 20's and being a thief archer mage type roleplaying character. Ideas for character build that will be exciting!

:wavey: Hopefully after much thought my second attempt will turn out to be a better playing character! Undecided on six at this point. Playing a female may prove more enjoyable for the immersion aspect of roleplaying. Hopefully the face generation will be quicker(the opposite six knows what they're attracted to!), as I tend to spend hours with male characters.

I had gpstr in mind while creating this character. I did not choose Mysticism, nor Marksman, though. Input?

Name/Class: Blank / Blank
Race/Gender: Breton / Male - for example
Birthsign: The Thief
Specialization: Stealth
Attributes: Endurance, Luck
Major Skills: Alchemy, Destruction, Illusion, Sneak,
Acrobatics, Blade, Armorer

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 70/150/165
Max Level: 51.5
Encumbrance: 200

Abilities:
- Resist Magicka (constant: 50 pt. Self)
- Shield (daily: 50 pt. Self for 1 min.)

Stats:
INTELLIGENCE 50: Alchemy 30, Mysticism 15, Conjuration 15
WILLPOWER 50: Destruction 25, Alteration 10, Restoration 15
PERSONALITY 40: Illusion 30, Mercantile 10, Speechcraft 10
AGILITY 40: Security 10, Sneak 30, Marksman 10
SPEED 40: Athletics 5, Acrobatics 30, Light Armor 10
STRENGTH 40: Blunt 5, Blade 25, Hand to Hand 5
ENDURANCE 35: Block 5, Armorer 25, Heavy Armor 5
LUCK 65

Here are my thoughts on this example of a build:
Birthsign The Thief Birthsign offsets the Breton race deductions, except for Endurance, with a nice bonus to Luck.
Attributes If I select Endurance as an attribute, it makes up for 5 of those points for a total of only 35. You can't beat 65 Luck at level 1 ^_^
Specialization Sneaky ^^

Stat allocations
Alchemy is a minor bonus for the Breton, compared to the other Intelligence skills. It's very useful in the game, but I've read it levels quite fast.
Destruction was not a bonus for the race, and it's easy enough to use when needed to level up.
I much prefer Illusion to Mercantile or Speechcraft for usefulness.
From what I've read, Sneak is quick to level up, so Agility maybe better served under Marksman?
As for Acrobatics, Blade, and Armorer; I plan to use each of these throughout the game. As gpstr mentioned, Armorer is one of the most useful skills. Acrobatics is easy enough to wait to use until you're ready. I'm not sure how my character will feel about hand-to-hand or blunt yet.

I like alchemy and sneak a lot, and use them a lot. I also like leveling up very slowly. Since those two skills level up so quickly if used a lot, I would never pick either as a major since they would cause me to level up much faster than I would like.

Realize that I pick major skills based only on how fast they level and/or how controllable they are. Just a consideration, but it depends entirely on your style of play and objectives.