I've played Skyrim for many (hundreds?) hours, but Morrowind is pretty much the most recent Elder Scrolls game that will run on my computer, and I hear good things about it. However, I have some questions about class creation that would undoubtedly be answered after playing the game for a while, but I thought it would be simpler to ask experienced souls here on the forums.

In Skyrim I, of course, eventually mastered every skill, but this is evidently not possible in Morrowind. To start off, though, I used one-handed weapons (tended to be swords) and light armor, but I did have the knowledge that you could max your armor even with light armor. Moving slowly does kind of svck. I'm also quite a fan of sneak, pickpocket, and lockpicking.

So... I'm guessing picking a preset class is not the best option. And where's the fun in that? However, with so little knowledge in the game, I feel bound to make a mistake. I have a few questions to start out with, but just general information about what skills are helpful and what skills are generally not would be great. I have a feeling these won't be very well organized, so bear with me.

Is Block as useless as it is in Skyrim?

Does Short Blade only apply to daggers, as it sounds? Doesn't sound particularly helpful. True?

How do Axes, Spears, Long Blades, and Blunt Weapons differentiate? Should I only pick one as a major skill and focus on that?

What roles do the magic skills (alchemy, conjuration, enchanting, etc.) play, and how should I go about deciding which ones I want to major/minor in?

Is Medium armor as pointless as it sounds? Usually it tends to be beneficial to choose one end of the spectrum, not sit in the middle. What specifically are the differences in the armor types?

I'm sure those questions aren't enough, so anything else you can offer to help me transition from Skyrim would be extremely helpful (for instance, mysticism and acrobatics aren't even skills in Skyrim). I know I'm probably asking a lot from anonymous forumgoers, but this will help me immensely.

The main difference in combat between newer Elder Scrolls and Morrowind is that there is a chance of failure. So, if you have ,say, 20 in Axe, then you hardly hit anything. You need to get it to atleast 40 to have a chance of hitting more than you miss and above 65 for guarenteed hit on your averege enemy.

1. In morrowind, block is automatic. If you equip a shield, your charachter automatically blocks. Blocking completely negates the attack, but I think you recieve 'cast on strike' damage from weapons even if you block. Also, Frequency of those blocks increases with increase in skill. Your skill nedds to be above 40 for decent blocking.

2. Shortblades include Daggers, Shortswords, Tantos and Wakizashis. Shortblades do less damage than other weapons but are faster, so you more than makeup the less damage per hit by more hits at the same duration. Each weapon has its own Advantages and Disadvantages.

3. As I said in 2. each weaopon types are different. Since there is more chance to miss at lower levels, it is recommended to choose one weapon as major and devolop just that. Also, chance to hit also depends on Agility, hence if you raise your agility, you can develop other weapon skills later.

4. Alchemy includes preparing potions using ingredients. So with higher skill you can create powerful potions which last for ridiculous amount of time, making them effectively constant Effect. Its one of the most powerful skill along with Enchanting, but again only after you develop it. Enchanting allows you to create enchanted items using filled soulgems. Destruction, Alteration, Illusion and Mysticism are casting classes, in that they determine tha chance of you casting spells of those particular skill. Destruction are basically damaging spells. Alteration is most useful class which includes Jump, Levitate, waterwalk and also Open spells. Mysticism includes telportation spells and Soultrap for your Enchanting needs and seriously overpowered Absorb spells. Illusion includes Paralyze, Sound and other Disruptive spells.

Note that, at lower levels, Mages are really weak and Die frequently, but once you become proficient, you become most over-powered charachter.

5. Main difference is the weight, obviously. Medium Armor provides Decent protection without the criipling weight like Heavy armor, but since the strongest Medium Armor is weaker than strongest Light armor, the point is moot. The expansions does add decent Medium armor, but you get that so far into the game.

Unlike later game, you have to be prepared to read in this game. All the dialogue is through wall of text and make sure you exhaust the topics concerning while recieving quests. AND keep your Fatigue up. I can't stress this point enough. Low fatigue increases chance of failure in almost everything including Barter prices.

I'll let others to advice on class creation.

PS :As for mods, I suggest you play vanilla first, then add mods. But I suggest you get the http://btb2.free.fr/morrowind.html#morrowind_patched and http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/19510. They fix many bugs and issues.

Also don't install morrowind in Program FIles.

PPS : You might want to look at the wiki page on Differences between the games.-->http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Differences_Between_Morrowind,_Oblivion,_and_Skyrim

Mind your fatigue. Unlike Skyrim, managing your fatigue is crucial in Morrowind. You will pretty much fail at everything in the game if you attempt to do things when your fatigue is low. Fatigue affects everything from combat to spell casting to speechcraft and even affects the prices you can get from vendors.

Is being a spellsword practical? Is there a good way to go about this without screwing myself over? In Skyrim I mostly just used restoration for healing myself and then did other combat with bows and swords.

1. Sounds much better. Would you say it's worth investing in and using a shield, then? I'm assuming there's nothing stopping you from running around with two swords, dual casted spells, flame and a dagger, etc.

2. Yes, I understand the point of short blades (faster attack speed, lower damage), but in Skyrim daggers were essentially worthless (in my opinion) as they would hardly make a dent in a real opponent. Sure, they attacked quickly, but you'd be attacking 100 times to kill something.

3. B-b-b-but you didn't tell me what was different.

4. Opinion time. Since using everything is impractical, what do you recommend? What would be a sin to go without? Are there some that should be majors and others that should be minors? On the topic, I don't actually know the difference between major and minor skills, or any of the other stuff that shows up on that screen.

5. Is the weight a problem? I mean, practically, will you be able to have heavy armor, weapons, and still loot sufficiently? Also, does it affect fatigue or anything like that? Movement speed, etc.

Spellswords are viable. Why wouldn't they be?

1. blocking is very useful for melee warriors. There, however, is no dual wielding in Morrowind.

2. Shortswords are perfectly viable in Morrowind.

4. It really all depends on personal preference. Any weapon is viable.

5. Yes, weight makes a big difference. Carrying too much affects your movement speed and affects your fatigue dramatically, and fatigue affects everything you do.

Major and minor skills contribute to your characters overall level and increase faster than misc skills. Misc skills start lower, increase slower and do not contribute to overall character level but they do contribute to attribute increases. That's the main difference.

So if there's no dual wielding and you don't want to use a shield, the other hand just does... nothing? So there's no reason not to use a shield?

Alright so I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I was thinking...

Race: Orc (berserk looks pretty good and it's decent in Skyrim, mages also bone me in that game typically, not sure how the agility debuff works, though)

Specialization: Stealth

Favorite attributes: Agility and Strength

Major Skills:

Sneak

Armorer

Light Armor

Short Blade

Security

Minor Skills:

Acrobatics (not sure if this is more of a luxury along with athletics or if it's actually something you should make sure to include)

Athletics ( ^ )

Block

Marksman

Enchant (not sure how good this is in Morrowind, but it's fairly good in Skyrim)

Also possible that I'm over-thinking this, but I like to think not. Suggestions certainly welcome.