So I'm thinking about designing a new character in Morrowind, resemblent of the one that I want to play in Skyrim. My favored attributes are going to be Intelligence and Speed. Basically, my character will be a run & shoot type of character, focusing mainly on Destruction (debating Marksman as well, but I feel that Destruction, Marksman, and a melee skill like Long Blade will be overkill) to do damage, as well as summoning creatures to hopefully take the focus. So basically, I said all that to say, I want my character to be fast.

Now I know the speed attribute directly effects how fast you are. If Speed then directly increases your... speed, what then does Athletics do exactly?

Here's the early build, just cuz:

Race: Wood Elf
Class: Summoner
Sign: The Atronach
Major: Conjuration | Mysticism | Enchant | Destruction | Long Blade
Minor: Light Armor | Heavy Armor (?) | Restoration | Athletics | Unknown (debating Marksman, or another melee skill, as I like the idea of being able to pick up nearly any weapon and using it)

Athletics is pretty useless to choose. It just makes you move faster, so it's more economic to choose a truly useful Skill instead.
Athletics also levels up quite fast, since you're always walking. Leveling slow is more fun and coincides with the economics, in the long run.

Having a high Speed skill has almost no bearing on how well you do in combat (except for governing Hand-to-hand, Short Blade and Unarmored... of course)
Yes, you can move faster... but the combat scenarios regarding how fast you move around a room really comes down to how well you play the game, not the Speed level of your Character.

Also, a mostly Magic oriented Wood Elf is not really going to benefit from using Heavy Armor.
The best Heavy Armor is not easily obtained until high levels, and it's very heavy.... which means you're going to have a hard time carrying all that extra weight. (Mages typically have low Strength, since you are busy raising your Intelligence and Willpower instead)
I would take Security or Alchemy instead... both are handy for any character. (and governed by Intelligence)
Marksman or Short-Blade as your second weapon is a good idea, though. (both governed by Speed)


Really, it all comes down to how well you know Morrowind. ANY type of Class or mix of Skills can be successful if you know the tricks of the game and how to get good gear quickly.
It also depends on how you want to play.... Do you want to struggle at the start, or be powerful right away? Which House/Faction are you going to follow?

Pluto, Marksman is governed by Agility not Speed. I think you knew that but didn't catch it.

As a general rule, I don't start a character without Marksman. Up to you, Nell.
I agree with Pluto's assessment of Heavy Armor. You might want to go with Unarmored with this type of character, it's better than you think as you level up, and keeps you from having to carrying armor, although my current character has Unarmored, and Light Armor, but I only wear a Netch Helm, boots and gloves....with only a robe.
I have Short Blade, Athletics, and Unarmored to get the multipliers for Speed when leveling up, and born under the sign of Steed, but that's because I intended to use primarily Short Blade throughout the game. (and Marksman).
I'm like a Monk, with a custom class, and role play accordingly with this char, but no magic; Alchemy though.

If you're going to use magic a lot, I highly recommend Alchemy also...you want your Intelligence to get high.

It's all up to you though...of course.

Thanks for the tips.

The thinking behind Heavy Armor is this:

1.) Currently, my trend in playstyles is heavy armored tanks. It was typically light armored ranged DPS'ers, but when Warhammer Online came out, and I played a Chaos Chosen, I began to really take to tanks. Afterwards, having rebought Oblivion for X-Box 360 following a laptop blowup, and numerous losses of characters on PC, I was able to play a character that I wouldn't end up just losing. This character was a tank. Previously in Morrowind, I had played a stealthy archer assassin type character, and my previous attempts at Oblivion characters were all lightly armored mages or archers (or some combination of the 2), so tanks are my new "trend" in character design.

2.) I like playing characters that aren't standard archetypes. My character was actually pretty standard in Morrowind (Wood Elf archer / stealth), but typically I like to combine races and skills together that aren't typical. Even my Morrowind character had a lot of Conjuration going on (my favorite RPG skill). My Oblivion character was a magic heavy Redguard (who was also a tank, so tank mage), a tank who specialized in summoning and stealing souls. Also, for some reason that I'm not entirely sure of, I am fascinated by the idea of Wood Elf woodland creatures that conjure evil, powerful undead spirits to fight for them. I think a lot of it might come from my main Magic: The Gathering deck which is a green / black reanimation deck that, if I were to roleplay a story about it, would be about the wood elves becoming corrupted by dark magic, and letting that dark magic haunt their forest. It probably also helps that my first big time RPG I ever played was EverQuest, and my first character was a Half Elf Druid, and my 2nd character was a Necromancer, so I find a combination of those 2 archetypes to be appealing. On the flip side, I also like the idea of a Wood Elf in Heavy Armor, running around busting heads with big swords. Wood Elves are typically known as archers, and stealthy types, so overall, the idea of a Wood Elf in big heavy armor, busting heads with big longswords and claymores, while combining the magical talents of druids (creature control) and necromancers (summoning) is incredibly appealing to me, and I think this is the type of character I want to play in Skyrim.

The speed factor is kind of a Morrowind specific thing. Typically, I hate the skills of Athletics and Acrobatics, but admittedly I find the run speeds of Morrowind to be atrocious - similar to those dreams where you try to run away but can't, it feels like you're trapped in quick sand. So I figured focusing on Speed could alleviate that problem. But I wanted that to mean something more than just how fast I run from town to town, so I figured I'd implement speed in my combat tactics, by loading up on Destruction spells, and running around blasting my enemies with fireballs while my summons hopefully keep focus of my enemies. I figured it'd be a fun way to play, and I figured if I was going to try to focus on my speed, that 1.) I should take Athletics to maximize my speed and 2.) Probably need some Light Armor since I can move quicker in Light Armor than I can in Heavy Armor (plus I'm a svcker for Glass Armor).

So what I have (and typically is a problem when it comes to Elder Scrolls character designs for me) is a clash of playstyles. I want Heavy Armor to tank, and I want Light Armor to be able to move quick in, and maybe even Sneak with (I don't want Medium Armor because top end, I am a fan of both Daedric and Glass armors).

Due to how magic heavy I want to be, I've even struggled with what race I want to be, and am torn between Wood Elf and Breton. There's pro's for either one for me, and I don't know which I really wanna play.

Wood Elf
-Probably my favorite race aesthetically, and the entire vibe of "wood elves" I really like.
-Really like the racial power of "Beast Tongue" (fits with my creature control ideas)
-The Wood Elf necro-tank is a very appealing mix to me.
-Fits the stereotype of a quick, agile fighter.

Breton
-More magicka than Wood Elves, making my casting much more effective.
-I like the Dragon Skin racial ability, but not as much as Beast Tongue.
-A "nimble" and "agile" Breton fighter seems to fit my criteria of "outside the box" character design.
-Due to racial abilities like Dragon Skin, and increased magical resistances, seem to fit the mold of a "tank" better to me than a Wood Elf.

In the end, I think Wood Elf probably wins out, but things like the increased magicka pool is definitely a huge benefactor in favor of Bretons.

As far as the role play goes, I have character designs for either choice. I'm not too focused on early vs. later strength, it's not something I really think about, I really just focus on combining a set of skills that I will enjoy playing with, that will help me accomplish as a player what I want to accomplish. Guilds? Outside of the Mage's Guild, which is typically a must for me, I don't know exactly what guilds and factions I'll join. I've been away from Morrowind long enough that I can play and just kind of go where the character takes me, and have it feel like a new experience.

"run and shoot type of character" that is a tank? That's kind of a new concept. Kind of mutually exclusive also as I see it but in the last post it seems like you want to play something in the line of a standard battle mage instead. I could be wrong though. I can't really say that you are very clear in what you want. Heavy armor with a ranged character works, light armor with a tank also works. For a mage it's the same thing, so either way you have a decent character. Running in heavy armor is slower than in light though so there is the choice you have to make.

And the Altmer would probably be the best character if you want to rely much on magic. Huge magicka pool. They have bad resistances but with the Atronach magic damage is halved anyway so it doesn't matter that much.

I would throw in alteration in the mix though. Probably the (third, after enchant and alchemy) most versatile skill in the game.
Beast tounge is kind of useless also but if you want it for personal reasons nobody can argue about that.

And if you wan't speed there is always the Boots of blinding speed.