Argonians are the only race I haven't been able to 'get'. I've rp'd all the other races with no problems of getting into them (and enjoying them all).

something about the Argonians though...either they look silly in armor, or just weird with a sword and board (which is how I usually like to fight).
I'm guessing I'll play him as a bad guy...thief? though that always gets boring for me after awhile. so not sure if that's the best role for him/me.

Playing on PC, so i usually run a ton of mods (sleep/eat/cold, etc) mostly things to make it a hardcoe type of gameplay. any good mods to recommend for an argonian? visuals/clothing/weapons?
(I do like the armor/clothing to match the character's personality, but haven't found anything I've liked for them)

what should his ultimate goal be?

I've never actually had a character play thru the entire main quest...I usually just roleplay a character to a certain goal (like joining the legion or playing a dead is dead character).

any advice is appreciated!

Honestly, I can't think of anything either, but only in Skyrim. They seem to have no place there. In Morrowind and Oblivion they made more sense.

Maybe they can be undercover agent of the Empire?

There are some Argonians that are trained from birth to kill for the Dark Brotherhood. In fact, the one in Astrid's Sanctuary is one such beast. If I were to play as an Argonian, that is how I would go, but in the end i is your choice.

Said Shadowscale tells you he is the last one, though.

Play as a Shadowscale who uses conjured weapons from the Hist. You can only eat fish you get from the waters and find the DB and live as the last shadowscale. After the DB questline, pick random targets to assassinate as if the hist or the nightmother has contracted you to perform these executions. Where only hide armor as well.

He did tell you that, but how does he know for sure? There may be some that were secretly trained. Astrid's Sanctuary was the last known Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, but still was not in contact with Bruma or Cheydinhal - they did not help to protect the Night Mother's Crypt during the war.

Because those were destroyed. Afair Cicero's journals mention this.

Whatever you do, do not use Elven helmet with an Argonian, it looks absolutely ridicilous! Same with Khajiit.

It does state that, but it also does not mention Astrid's Sanctuary until he has no other option - where Bruma and Cheydinhal combined to protect themselves, there was no mention of Astrid or her "family"

An illegal Immigrant..lol

The only helmets that doesn't look silly in this game are Dawnguard, Steel Plate and Guard's. The open face helmets never fit your head right no matter what race.

Thanks for the help so far. I like the idea of him only eating fish...I was thinking of him only eating meat, but i like the fish idea better .

I played thru the DB storyline a long time ago, haven't done that in ages. maybe that'll be good for him (I do hate the fact that there's unkillable npc's out there. which makes it less fun trying to assassinate anyone)

part of the problem is the only times I see argonians in the game, it's either them stuck working at the docks of windhelm, or just working at random other places (riften)...

it's just hard trying to find the motiviation for an argonian character...why would he be an assassin? do they have any strong dislike of another race? (maybe i'm over thinking it! )

and yeah, i rarely where helmets on any character just because they usually silly. plus i put all that effort into creating their face i want to see it in a kill cam

The Hist has put them against the Dunmer.

I'm playing an Argonian right now, not even out of Helgen yet, so I like this thread.

Yes. I agree, it's more apparent with beast races.

Ups. Wrong quote.

If you need help deciding on how and why your character is in Skyrim, you could always download Arthmoor's alternate start mod. It can start your character out in Skyrim from race specific ways (I don't remember if argonians have one but I'm sure they do) to general ways like just arriving on your ship. Maybe he/she has a friend in Windhelm and travels there by boat? Maybe they came to Skyrim on the promise of fame of fortune? Maybe you were a guard for someone who traveled to Skyrim, got attacked by bandits and left out in the wilderness to die? The possibilities are endless, just make up something that you want his/her story to be.

Dark brotherhood assasin

Well the Argonian would not have to have anything against another race (while they do hate the Khajiit with a passion) to become an assassin. With the training from being hatched, he would not be taught anything other than assassination.

I recently started this. Made it to Whiterun, then got bored and started ME multiplayer again.

But it's a good roleplay idea - http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/m/group/discussion?id=6452022%3ATopic%3A298722

You could make an Argonian Scout. He could work for the Empire/Stormcloaks or for himself, spying on bandits to hear some legends about rare weapons and armor. Scouts know the area and are great Alchemists, they carry swords [usually poisoned] and bows. And of course they excel in Sneak.

I usually start my games with the same Argonian Jack Of all Trades though

Oh, you could also make a Pirate. Just get a Scimitar and plunder seaside caves and port towns and get a follower to be your first mate

I've used that mod alot and love it...only problem is that it makes some quests kinda glitchy. the last character I made I started them as a hunter, but ended up wanting to join the legion, but the quest wouldn't trigger correctly, so i couldn't officially do it. the ideas are cool though...particularly like the bodyguard left for dead.

that is a cool and different idea. never tried a character like that before. and he does look pretty intimidating in the orc armor...not sure why that look never occured to me . thanks for sharing!

great ideas also...i like the scout idea...never thought of poisoning swords. (rarely used it in past builds but that might be fun to try as well)

Did have a thought of making him an escaped slave or servent from Windhelm. fostering a hatred of Nords (I always like to have my characters have a prejudice for a certain race...just to make it more fun...not that I ascribe to that in real life ).

thanks for all the replies so far, very helpful!

Provided he/she were born under the Shadow sign. Not all slimy lizzies are shadowscales, only the acceptable ones.

That is true, but it would be a possible role-playing adventure if he wanted to be an Argonian. Personally I don't like them that much, I prefer the Khajiit

When I think of Argonian, what pops into my head is guerilla warfare, duel-curved swords (maybe orcish or daedric) or daggers , illusion, and sneak. But I've never played an Argonian before, so.

Honestly, I thought my Khajiit would look weird in armor, but his black tail actually looks really cool with a set of Daedric armor, helmet included. He goes full blast duel-wielding againt undead and falmer and goes to guildmaster armor and stealth when fighting humans.

You pretty much can't go wrong as we've pretty much seen Argonians run the gamout from Thieves to Warriors to Mages and everything in between throughout the series, and the same holds for all the races. That said if your looking for a backstory you could probably be some kind of observer sent to keep tabs on the Skyrim Civil War, the Empire, and the Thalmor. I don't believe the Empire controls Black Marsh anymore (not that they really ever controlled it in the classical sense), and the Thalmor certainly don't. This would work with just about any build you want and fits fairly well with your capture at the start of the game. Personally, I like the look of an Iron helm on an Argonian (see my avatar). Really the only problem is that no matter what you wear your tail will clip through it, a problem Kajiit share, but you learn to ignore it and its largly a non issue in first-person.

Alternativly, you could be an agent sent to thwart the Thalmor which sorta meshes with the main quest line somewhat. If there was a dragonborn Argonian I'd bet the Hist would know about it. Admittedly I'm not sure where the Argonians or the Hist fit in with whole metaphysical concept of the soul, Dreamsleave, and being dragonborn as it applies to TES, seeing as all the other races seem to be descended from the Ehlnofex. The Hist are about the oldest living things on Nirn, and I doubt they like the whole unmaking reallity that the Thalmor seem to have as their End Game plan. This also has the benefit of allowing either or neither side during the civil war. The Hist have never been much concerned with politics and seem to keep to themselves. Heck they seemingly knew about the Oblivion Crisis beforehand and didn't bother to warn the Empire, not that I think anyone would have been willing to listen. I have my doubts about how serious men or mer would be about listening to a sentient tree.

Really just about any motiviation will work as Argonians are individuals and the HIst rarely seem to make use of the Secret Mind Control Backdoor^TM installed in them.
Edit: Typos.

Heck, now that I think about it, the Hist probably aren't too keen on Alduin devouring the world and ending the current kalpa either. So tack stopping Alduin onto any idea and you have a reason to do the MQ.