Hi,

I want to play MW again. It has literally been years since I spent any considerable time in the game. But there are so many mods and "rebuilt" worlds. There's Tamriel Rebuilt, Morrowoblivion, Open MW, MGSO. The issue I have is that I never finisged the main quest back in the day and would like to build a character that I'll have fun with and actually finish this time. I spent many hours wandering and doing side quests and I got to the part in the main quest where you had to visit the 3 or 4 camps up in the north. But something always came along that captured my attention. First it was Diablo 2, then Oblivion, then something else.

Is there a decent character build for a Redguard or something like that? I want a strong character and do melee.

Then what are your thoughts on the rebuilt mods I mentioned above? Which do you like and which is easiest to install? I have tried MSGO and while it's nice it takes a while to install iirc. I don't need fast travel but more ship or silt strider routes would be nice. I don't mind walking either or using mark/recall.

Thanks in advance for your help and thoughts. I'll reinstall the game today and get started.

I would play the base game first. Then add the mods. That being said, there are some graphics mods and texture replacers that make the game look almost modern without changing the base game.

As for characters, really, once you are level 20, it really does not matter what you started with. But, in the beginning, build choices can matter. However it is more important to pick Major Skills that you only use for things like Combat. So, do not pick Athletics for a Major skill or you end up leveling just by running around. I picked Majors that fit into each of the governing attributes to get the most balanced leveling as I went along.

There are a few mods that help with traveling, Multi Mark is one of them.

Welcome back! I agree with what CCNA says. It sounds like you are practically starting over from scratch again after all these years so it might be a good idea to go easy on the mods this first time back in the game.

But that said, I think Tamriel Rebuilt would be a good choice, even if you haven't played in a while. It changes very little in the base game while adding most of the mainland to explore, which is a "win/win" in my book. Tamriel Rebuilt is one of the best mods ever created for any Elder Scrolls game, in my opinion. I highly recommend it.

I never think much about "builds." As CCNA says, they are mostly important in the early levels. As you may remember, new enemies stop appearing in your early 20's, so almost every character becomes god-like after that point, no matter what stats or skills they have in the beginning.

I used MGSO for a long time but the only graphics mod I use now is Morrowind Watercolored. http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43375/? It installs in seconds.


You also will want the Morrowind Code Patch and maybe MGE XE.

Redguard with a long blade is easily one of if not the most powerful starting build for a character, especially if you're going for melee. So if you want melee and an easy start, I'd go with that.


It's up to you if you want to go a heavy armour or light armour build. I personally prefer the light armour build because you're not weighed down as much, you move faster and jump higher (and if you're concerned about getting bored, I think this matters because you'll get bored quicker when it takes you longer to run everywhere).


What sort of build do you want?


I'll make a sample good starter build for getting into the game, choose to take it or not, or modify if need be.


Race: redguard

Class: custom

Favoured attributes: agility, strength or luck or endurance to replace either or.

(I choose these because strength gives more damage to begin with as well as more carry weight. I like agility because it helps with your to hit ratio, and also keeps you from being knocked down, something that is a pain for melee builds.

Endurance is good for anyone because it gives more health in the long run and that's obviously a good thing, and luck just helps with everything and doesn't have a multiplier to increase on level up, so it can only be increased by 1 per level and so picking it as a favoured gives it a good boost).


Major skills:

Long blade (best for redguards, and also the strongest weapons in game)


Block (if you want to use shields, if not than replace this with armourer, acrobatics, or anything really)


Athletics (feel free to swap this with armourer, it helps you move faster and use less fatigue, which is essential for melee classes. I'd take it in either major or minor)


Light armour (I'd take this for a few reasons. Less weight to carry so you can carry more potions and repair hammers, the best light armours are very good, you can get early access to a good light armour from dark brotherhood assassins, you will move faster with light armour, makes running around not much of a pain. Also medium armour doesn't have as strong as armour as either light or heavy. So if you're gonna go with either, I'd take either light or heavy)


Security (you want a way to open locks, the only other alternative is to go alteration, and if you're gonna use some magic, you want at least two skills governed by intelligence to go with it)


Minor skills:


Armourer (you want this skill as either a major or minor, I find it goes up fast enough as a minor, but can be placed wherever you want. This skill is essential for warriors)


Acrobatics (this helps you jump higher, for sake of moving around and getting places, you want it. Also governed by strength)


Marksmen (if you want to use bows, I find they help for annoying cliff racers sometimes, it also helps increase agility)


Mercantile (just for ease at shops, not essential at all and feel free to replace this with anything)


Alchemy (just to make more potions, again not essential at all, it can be increased easy enough without being a major or minor, and isn't really needed if you know where to shop for potions)



Now if you want to use some magic as well to make things more interesting, just think of a few things before hand.


If you want destruction to shoot fire balls and stuff, I'd replace it with marksmen.


Otherwise I'd replace security with alteration (this let's you open doors as well as has spells for flying and jumping really high), I'd replace mercantile with restoration for heading and buffing purposes, and just for the extra intelligence modifiers, I'd replace either marksmen or acrobatics for conjuration.


Mysticism does give you teleportation spells, which are handy, but these can be achieved through either alchemy or buying enchanted items like amulet or marking and amulet of recall. However mysticism does have an insanely overpowered absorb health effect (and a fatigue one), and if you want to use this, I'd get rid of either marksmen (you can make targetted absorb health spells better than arrows) or block (if you just want to use two handed weapons, which are the strongest).


Just remember if you go with magic skills, you want at least two intelligence governed skills, either security and alchemy, or alchemy and conjuration (if you replace security with alteration), or some combo there. Intelligence gives you more magicka which you want for more spells.



As for the birth sign, I'd go with either the thief or warrior if you're gonna go strictly melee (I like the thief better, it makes you even harder to hit), or go with the mage or apprentice (the weakness isn't too bad if you're already a warrior type character) if you're gonna use some magic as well.


Also if you want to avoid magic altogether, then the atronach is also a great choice as it keeps you from regaining magicka naturally but gives you a spell absorption and you'll find half the spells cast on you are absorbed.

wow, thanks a lot guys. I appreciate the input. I am going Redguard with Light Armor, long blade and I'll decide the others when I get in game. I will keep you informed as to my character and his progress.

As for mods, I'd strongly recommend the Morrowind Code Patch, and either the Morrowind Patch Project or Unofficial Patch (which both do the same thing). The UOP or MPP fix literally THOUSANDS of minor issues with dialog errors, placement of rocks and grass (sometimes "flying", or with gaps between them and the ground), objects "clipping" through each other, quest glitches and bugs, and other mistakes and problems. The MCP fixes a number of issues which were formerly unfixable by traditional "Construction Set" based mods. The latter has its own little installer utility that allows you to select which "fixes" to make, since what are "bugs" to some players are "features" to others.

Tamriel Rebuilt adds major portions of the mainland (I think they now have the entire landmass, although major portions of it are still empty or incomplete), done in a way that holds rather closely to the feel and style of the original game. In other words, it feels like a natural continuation of the game, rather than a jarringly different "add on". In your present situation, you probably don't need the distraction, but I'd strongly recommend it for your next character after this one completes the MQ.

With regard to Light versus Medium or Heavy armor, remember that encumbrance plays a LARGE role in the speed of your character: either travel light and go fast, or load down with armor and equipment and move at a snail's pace. There is no serious drawback to wearing a few pieces of a different armor class, and many of my characters mix one or two pieces from other sets and classes. For example, wearing mostly medium armor, but with a light open helmet and leather boots, possibly with heavy bracers (vambraces). A few sets, such as Imperial Chain, are actually split between Medium and Heavy. Your armor class will rise faster if you use 100% of a single class, but light armor affects Agility, while Medium and Heavy affect Endurance, so a mix will allow you to improve both Attributes.