Hi,
just wondering what limits you set for yourself or your characters when playing.

I like to play permadeath, although I had a character recently, who died at level 10, that I really enjoyed playing, and I'm now considering going back to continue on from my last save, breaking my number one rule, but hey, there's always the exception, and it's been a while since i experienced the level 20+ end of the game. Whether i'll be able to apply myself in the same way to that character is another matter, i'll have to wait and see.

My second major rule is no restoration. It just doesn't seem right to me that you can walk around with full health all the time, if you do a dungeon and get slapped around a bit, you should need to find a bed to rest, you should be suitably gimped until you do. This tends to preserve a better day/night structure, and makes distance between camps and towns much more of an issue, whereas if you can do three or four dungeons in a row and be none the worse for it it just seems too easy and diluted. This makes the permadeath thing even harder to tackle, but any character that i allow to use restoration healing spells just seems overpowered, and i get bored playing them anyway.

Also i don't like to exploit alchemy. If I'm playing say, a scout, then that character would do a fair amount of gathering herbs, but otherwise i try to avoid power leveling alchemy, it's too easy a way to make money and stock up on health potions. This goes for all skills, rp overrules everything, and i avoid casting spells for the sake of leveling - if i have an illusion user i will tend to only cast a light spell if i've no hands free to hold a torch, but of course it's feasible to play, for example, an egotistical knight who likes to walk through town lit up like a monument, and it is possible to rp as someone who wants to power level their strength, by purely training blade blunt and hand to hand, though i've yet to try it.

Also I avoid using any skills that are not in my main seven, and I've taken to sticking to the core classes too, with maybe one or two skill swaps if relevant to an rp idea i have. This kind of worries me about skyrim a bit actually, that they're getting rid of these classes, because they provide colour - playing a bard is easier if you know you're a bard, but if you're just selecting skills from a list of twenty then you've less background information to work with, and it'll be that little bit harder to nail down an identity for your character.

So yeah, anyone else got methods for intensifying their oblivion experiences?

I'm way too prone to trying out just plain foolish stuff to go for Permadeath. Sometimes I also forget that I'm at 33% health when I decide to engage that Bandit who happens to whip out a nastily enchanted battle axe.

How's this for OCD, though? If I break a lockpick during a lockpicking attempt, I reload. I just can't stand it if a character has a "Lockpicks Broken" stat greater than 0. You can pretty much guess what the first thing most of my characters go and do once they reach level 10.

Same for Repair Hammers, even though there's no record on the stat page for those. I can't stand breaking hammers. I'll reload if I break a hammer, and I stop and save after every 5 successful repair attempts (3 if I'm still at Novice level). If my character gets access to a spellmaking altar, then they make a custom Fortify Armorer spell thst drives the skill level over 100 and prevents the breaking of hammers completely.

wow. haha. yeah that's pretty ocd.
that's another rule i have by the way, no reloads, - even if i run out of lockpicks or hammers,
that way only, like, an argonian thief gets full access to all doors and chests, which makes playing as one all the more worthwhile.
also it can be fun to have to live with whatever happens - if a good character accidentally kills someone it can put a unique twist on how that char develops

My character is a 'glass cannon' mystic archer. She has quite a few gimps that make her more 'glass':

No weapon except a bow backed up with some magic (mostly illusion).
Her endurance and strength are permanently at 30.
She dresses only for fashion, so her armor rating is usually around. . . 12. Lol.
She changes outfits way too often to bother enchanting any apparel except for rings.

We don't play dead is dead because knowing me, I would never ever let her out of her hometown. That is primarily a mind thing though because we play so carefully that despite her tiny red bar and weaknesses, in 600 hours of play, she has died exactly zero times.

She's quite precise and picky about her eating and sleeping and bathing and all that kind of stuff. She travels with a horse and, for those who use them you know that can be quite a pain in the neck and disadvantage - yet she insists on it.

We also have 'capped' her maximum level at 20, but that is actually an advantage to her.

Never fast travel while playing, only while testing. Never load without exiting the game first, I do this to aboid corrupting saves but it's great for immersion. Never do a quest that didn't make sense (not a great effort as I preffer free roaming).

I do lots of stuff to make the game more hardcoe. Some of this stuff has just happened naturally, without me thinking too much about it.

I play on PC, which means mods. In particular I use OOO (which makes almost everything harder), Realistic Fatigue, simple Essentials (an eat,drink,sleep mod),Cava obscura to make dungeons darker plus deadlier Crreatures and Phitts phighting Phixes which make small gameplay changes that increase difficulty.

After that-
no destruction magic
no chameleon or invisibility
no soul trapping
no Azura's Star or eternal lockpick (can't remember proper name)
no training
no making of junk potions to get rich quick (all potions/poisons have to be for personal use)
no fast travel
no exploits like duping or leading essential followers all over the map
all alchemy carried out at home.

Can't bring myself to play dead is dead, but i am thinking of adding Skycaptains Never Die which has a death interception system, dumping you in a nearby Inn with your gear missing when you 'die'.

edit. Also no night eye or illumination spells (I NEED torches)

Because I roleplay I do not have one set of rules for all characters. My characters make the rules. If I make the rules it's no longer roleplaying. Rules have to originate with the character I'm playing or I might as well be playing a first-person shooter.

Most of my physical combat characters avoid fast travel. My magic-using characters use fast travel (in my view, pointing a finger at a map and transporting to that location is a form of magic). My magic characters tend to do Alchemy, my physical combat characters usually do not. Same goes for Restoration. It all depends on the character.

ya, no fast travel is an essential rule,
and ya, i tend to only use alchemy or armorer if i've a seat handy - inns, camps, table and chair set-ups in dungeons,

@acadian - gz on no deaths! quite the achievement.

No fast travel.
No fixing things unless I'm safe. If I can't carry it I dump it.
I cannot use Alteration spells to reduce my encumbrance. Only potions.
I use Alchemy when I need it, rather than when I want it.
No training.
Max armor rating is 25 in clothing. Spells can be used.
One killing skill at 100, Marksman. My character is capped at 30.
I can only carry a maximum of 10 lockpicks, no spells.

To name a few...

"Rules" depend upon the character. I don't do exploits of game engine inadequacies, nor do I powergame (I know things my characters don't, but they don't find out unless there's a good reason.) On the other hand, Tamriel is a magical fantasy world, so I don't limit the possibility of a character to make the most of it. Why would a person who knows alchemy not gather ingredients, brew potions, and sell them to make money? Why would a mage not use a destruction spell, given that destruction magic exists? To me, if there isn't a good answer to these questions, the character doesn't make sense.

An example of my kind of "rule" is in the fast-travel thing. I use a mod that enhances the map, adding wayshrines, rune-stones, etc. One of my characters, who has done the wayshrine pilgrimage and most of the KOTN questline, had discovered that it is possible to fast-travel between wayshrines. This is a "perk" of being the champion of the Nine.

Another character, a mage, uses the rune stones in a similar fashion. This way, it's possible to take advantage of a "map travel convenience" without totally breaking immersion. Fast travel has become part of the role-playing, more like what it was in Morrowind. One could do a similar thing with the Ayleid ruins, or one could role-play that teleportation was possible from just outside the front door of any Mages Guild, to any other city. All it takes is imagination.

^ I think I agree with this post.

There isn't much that I do in the way of "hardcoe"

Maybe the most "hardcoe" thing I do is that I never sleep in beds that are in dungeons, because when I'm out dungeon plundering, it wouldn't make sense for me to sleep somewhere where I'm hunting spirits and evil creatures. So I wait until I get back to town.

I also always sleep for a full 8 if I am sleeping at night time, and 4 hours (power nap) if it's during the day. If there are multiple levels (typically only happens in the early goings) I sleep for another hour (dozing back to sleep after waking up).

I typically don't fast travel, but that's more because I like to experience the encounters and discover things along the way. RP wise, there's really no reason to take out fast travel, because well, it DOES take up the amount of time in game it would if you walked there. It's really just cutting out the middle man. Yes, I prefer the Morrowind style fast travel of silt striders, mage's guild teleports, etc... but the Oblivion fast travel can easily be justified in RP purposes.

My most hardcoe is probably the fact that I want to stick to my main 7 skills. Those are the skills that I selected that define my character and define my class, I really shouldn't be venturing out of those skills too terribly. They are supposed to be skills that you are not necessarily great at, and unfortunately Oblivion doesn't really add any kind of drawback to attempting to use a skill you are not good at (where as Morrowind at least had the fail system for skills, weapons, enchanting, armorer, alchemy, etc.)

Pretty much everything else is fair game tho. As far as drinking / eating, I just pretend I'm sitting down to a dinner or lunch when I'm in my inn room, or in a local tavern, and I'm reading books or the most recent Black Horse Courier. Or I may even have a bottle of Ale or something that I'll drink while I'm watching a match at the Arena. I don't restrict what skills my character can and can't use. Like you said, those magics exist in the world. It's up to me to decide if that is something my character would use or not. And if it's not a skill my character won't use, I won't use it and it won't be a main 7. And I certainly don't play dead is dead. I become way too attached to these characters, and I'd like to beat the game at some point.

And I hope none of this came off as like me knocking certain playstyles or anything. I'm certainly not. We all get enjoyment from the game our own ways, and that's what's great about Elder Scrolls is that it allows us to play the game that way. A lot of this "hardcoe" stuff just isn't for me.

I dont efficiently level and I play the game at full bar.

I don't have any 'set' rules. It depends on the character.

For example, Bartimaeus the Khajiit, who I completed the main quest with, is a goody goody, and never commits any crimes. I've never committed a crime on that file.

With Alaric, who is an Argonian, I have a rule that he will never do anything unless it benefits him. He never does any good quests, and he makes a point of punching anyone who is rude to him lol.

With my newest character, Gul, who is an Orc, I've given myself the rule of 'no fast travel', as I plan to walk the whole map with him. Should be fun!

I don't quick travel, i don't carry an unrealistic amount of things around and i only repair armor and weapons if I'm in front of a a forge that has a fire and an anvil. I also make sure that i sleep through the night.

My rule for fast travel is that it is for a return only. I walk or ride to a quest. I fast travel if I am returning to the quest giver.
I like to keep my attack skills as close as I can, My characters bow/blade/destruction skills should be within two points of each other by level five.I will try to maintain them evenly throughout the game.
My Block should also be kept within five points of my blade or blunt skill.
*I do not train my major skills-any training after level five is for one minor skill per level, and I will not use the +5 for the attribute that was trained.<< I will break this rule, I always get a +5 for Speed at level one and two.
I will try level evenly if I can, I play on a PC and do use quite a few mods. I will try and level Intellegence,Willpower,Personality,and Agility along with Strength,Speed and Endurance if I play a Warrior or a Barbarian. I like my characters "well rounded", A Barbarian should want to understand Magic after they barely survive entering a cave full of Conjurers.
I will always break every one of these rules if it causes playing the game not to be enjoyable.
EDIT I will train two minors at lower levels, depending on the Race I am playing, a stupid Mage or clumsy Archer will die as quickly as a weak Warrior.

I have some rules for rp characters, but they are not for the sake of being hardcoe. Mostly, they're just there to make things interesting

1. I start every character the same way. Immediately after leaving the initial sewers, find a nirnroot. Fast travel to Skingrad and start "Seeking Your Roots." Once I get to the part of the quest with no arrows, I leave that as my active quest so that I'll never have quest arrows. After that, the character fast travels to their hometown, and that is where there adventure truly begins, I just pretend the tutorial and "Seeking Your Roots" never happened.

2. Fast Travel in enabled through use of gemstones. Regular gems, silver, and gold nuggets will get the character to any major city. Flawless ones will get them to anywhere. Shortly before or after using one, I must dispose of it, i.e., throw it in a respawning container.

3. No waiting, except as an alternative to sleeping where no bed is available.

4. No pausing combat to do other game stuff. You can't make potions or fix armor during combat, so why should you be able to open locks or switch around your weapon? I am allowed to pause the game if I just need to take a break in real life, though.

5. There are no set rules regarding basic needs, except that every character must come up with their own rules and adhere to them. For example, Rosalind sleeps seven hours a day, bathes whenever she feels dirty (usually after exiting a cave), and is on a strict diet of Surilles Wine and berries, which she consumes whenever she feels like it.

6. Characters cannot pick up any item with a weight over half their strength. If one such item is placed in their inventory by an NPC, they can't move until they remove the item. If the item can't be dropped, I pretend it's enchanted to be lighter.

7. A. RP characters are randomly generated: their race, birthsign, major skills, hometown, and questline. Their names are also determined by the name generators at seventhsanctum.
B. Reloading is not allowed (including Dead is Dead), unless the game crashes/lags/glitches, or an outside source distracts me.
C. Each time I try a new questline, I put the difficulty at 25, as in, 25 notches above 0. As soon as a character completes it without dying, the next character who assigned to that questline must do it with the difficulty at 30. And so on.
*Rosalind is the exception to these rules. She was not randomly generated, reloading is allowed with her, and the difficulty is always at 25.

8. Don't raise minor skills. Exceptions are mercantile, restoration, destruction, acrobatics, and athletics. Those are just too hard to avoid raising.

9. For every character, I pick one attribute that always gets picked when leveling up, and one that never gets picked.

10, No using local maps unless an NPC gives me information about the area, in which case I pretend they gave me a map.

11. Characters must be a certain level to buy houses. That level is the house's price, with the last three zeros slashed off.

12. This one I just came up with, and I want to see how it plays out. Characters are not allowed to know their stats (beyond health, magicka, fatigue, and encumbrance) so if they want to know what they are (to check if they've been damaged) they must go to a healer. And they can only go on the first of the month.

Lockpicking has always been very simple for me, a very hard chest at 1st level is a breeze.

So, for this playthru my Dark Elf is using the auto function for lockpicks. I allow him to break 5 picks on each chest, and if the chest is still locked then we walk away.
I am enjoying the fact I do not know if we will find the treasure within. :dance:

I too am using the auto option for lockpicks as well, since my guy isn't a skilled lockpick he shouldn't be picking difficult locks with such ease. But I don't have any limit to attempts. If I break 24 picks to pick a lock, so be it.

My character won't touch a lockpick. It took awhile for her to gain the skill to open all locks. Now her only problem is underwater locks since you cannot make an 'on touch' unlock spell. She is entirely too curious to swim away, so she will sit there underwater with her water breathing ring on and pout until I use the command console to open the underwater lock for her. I know, she's spoiled.

I use the auto function for lockpicking, too. I find that Oblivion tends to be a little too far on the "player skill" end of the RPG spectrum, and I do what I can to make outcomes depend on my character's skills, not mine.

I play all my characters dead is dead and limit fast travel use (usually, none whatsoever; powerful mage characters, however, can fast travel as they wish, and some other characters are able to fast travel from/to cities).

Aaand that's about it.

If I play an honorable character I never loot bodies.

I don't really tend to adhere to any rules, as such. More, I don't do things that my characters wouldn't. For example, Helena wouldn't spam Flare at a rat when she could much more easily cast Calm and walk away.

Or, my old Morrowind character, Aralin Hlerayn, wouldn't do anything for anyone unless it had a benefit for her. As you can imagine, she was House Telvanni til the end.

Wow, I am thinking of starting up Oblivion once again (Played one character past 3000 hours, others over 100 hours) Got some good ideas from this topic, never thought people made up rules when playing this game.

I only stick to armor and weapons that could be made by humans.(Leather Boots, Cuirass, Gauntlets, Greaves with black hood, Steel Longsword, Elven Dagger "Enchanted" and Ebony bow and arrows) I walk EVERYWHERE! unless I am in battle. I only carry what i myself would be able to carry to keep the weight down. If one of my characters die he or she will stay dead and on my other files i create a little memorial in their guild hall (all the clothing/armour and weapons they used.) I have it on medium difficult setting. If i need healing because of disease or low health i visit an ingredients place if alchemy is a major for that character. if not i just go to the nearest chapel. I sleep at night in my house or nearest camp site or if it is raining i dive into a dungeon and explore. and i do NOT do the main quest until my characters major seven are at their maximum.