Yes, yes...been asked...but not by ME

Currently am Bosmer - and am just finishing up my first run at the game (life & tragedy happened & I had to stop playing for some months)...and though I know doing the Civil War isn't necessary - it is interesting - and would like to do it again. Went with Stormcloaks & talk about awkward! Really - could I hear any more disparaging remarks about Elves (this means you, Ulfric)!

So as I prepare to give this all another go, am having that oh-so-common race quandry. Logically I could create a Nord to go the Stormcloak route again - like my Nords in Oblivion - but not thrilled with Nord Traits - never found frost resistance very useful & I don't want to make enemies flee - want to take them on

Mind, I can't recall why I went with Bosmer - though I do love my current self. Tend to go with swords & conjuring - pure mage wouldn't suit me...thoughts? I know you have them!

1: how do you not like frost resistance? Frost mages and dragons are so much more easier because of the whole "slowing you down thing"
2: I'd say Redguard. Considering what happened in Hammerfell, they probably wouldn't be much of a friend to imperial rule.

Redguard or Nords, not much else really...

How about, a Dunmer who wants to help the Stormcloaks to raise his race's standing among Skyrim's Nords.

Nord or Redguard I suppose for reasons above.
Stormcloak's aren't very welcoming to Elves, Beast Races, Imperials, and Bretons if they have interest in the Markarth conflict.
so yeah, that leaves Nords and Redguard's.

redgaurd for sure, or maybe a dunmer, windhelm is lousy with dark elves and i could see one signing up for free food and equipment. Really the only race that seems out of place for me would be an imperial, but even then you could come up with a decent reason for joining

Well, I'm sure you could come up with literally any reason for your charcter to join, it could be as simple as "well, if I have to choose between Thalmor and Stormcloaks, the latter is the lesser of two evils, and they seem to be standing up to the Thalmor more than the imperials are"

I don't really see much reason for anyone apart from Nord to join the Stormcloak ranks. Maybe one of another race who's character is crazy about Talos, but apart from that I just don't see it happening.

I don't think "As an alternative to Empire" is a good argument though. Realistically if I lived there, I'd just join neither if I didn't believe in either. (But I'm with the Empire, so I'd join them... )

I had an Imperial that joined the Stormcloaks. RP'd that she was just manipulating Ulfric and using the Stormcloaks to further her own plans.

An individual of any race could have a beef with the empire. Most of the other provinces have bailed already for one reason or another.

I did think about this - so my follow up is DOES the frost resist help in Skyrim? It didn't feel very useful in Oblivion - so I'm wary...'cause those mages are so annoying!

Still contemplating - eventually I'll do all races - but guess I'm also looking for something not as "easy" as "Go Nord, join Stormcloaks" - loving your answers & thought processes!

Again, not good enough a reason to join an opposing faction.

I don't like Coca Cola. That doesn't mean I automatically like Pepsi.

Yeah, but do you hate Coca Cola so much that you would help Pepsi over throw Coca Cola and buy it out, making all Coca Cola Pepsi, even though you don't really care for Pepsi? The only way I could RP joining the Stormcloaks as an unlikely race would be either indifference to both sides, choosing the one that furthers my own needs, or intense hatred for the Empire. Enough hatred to make it fall, even if it means Stormcloaks are going to rule.

Nords obviously.

Nords, Imperials, Red guards, bretons.

Then I'd technically be with Pepsi, it would seem so to everyone else, but am I really with Pepsi? Do I like their drink? If Pepsi wasn't opposing them and Red Bull was, I'd join Red Bull then. I don't believe in the Pepsi philosophy, so I'm not really part of them, I'm just fighting with them and will discard them when my needs are suited.

I really do not think race matters. it is your character's personality that does. A person of any race might have reason to side with the 'cloaks against the Empire. It might be hatred of the Thalmor, hatred of the Empire, pure mercenaric self-interest (as in if you fight, you will score lots of loot), or even just a gold old-fashioned idealist belief that a people ought to have the right to self-determination, or religious freedom. They might even just think that Ulfric or Galmar or Ralof are sixy beasts, and join up for the chance of scoring a mattress dance....

Nords, Bretens, Redgaurds.

If you really want to role play, it would probably a Nord.

Perhaps a Redguard for the reasons mentioned above.

It would be possible, and maybe very interesting, to play an Imperial one the Stormcloak side, if you develop a good backstory. For example, the Imperial was unfairly charged with a crime by the Empire, and his/her family brutally killed. You can work in the opening into that. So he/she is an Imperial fighting for the Stormcloaks for revenge!!

I played in practically the same sense for my Imperial

Any race that opposes Imperial Rule and Regulation would be fit for a Stormcloak. While they tend to discriminate against Elves and Reach-born Bretons, an Elf or Breton that has motivation to join would probably do so. I can't see Khajiit being Stormcloak, mainly due to the reverance behind the Thalmor bringing back the moon. It would seem that they would approve of current world events being in the favor of the Thalmor/Imperial Legion (while I know the War isn't really Stormcloak vs. Thalmor as much as it is Stormcloak vs. Imperial Rule, the Thalmor are the proponents of the White Gold Concordat, which escalated the events we play in)

I can see Dark Elves and Redguards as mercenaries hired by Ulfric, especially the Dunmer due to the tragedy of Red Mountain. With mainland Morrowind being a pretty bad place to live, Ulfric could easily accomodate the people that lie on the border.

I don't really think it's hard to come up with a reason to join the Stormcloaks over the Imperials. I mean they did want to chop off your head in the beginning of the game. OK, it was by mistake, but it really doesn't make me feel any better. So if you look at it from that point of view, you can join the Stormcloaks as any race.

There's a thread on this very point actually. I suggest going through it.

Well, in Skyrim, they also slow you down, so having a really powerful ice spell at you essentially slows you down to a crawl, making it impossible to avoid the attacks and debilitating for a melee warrior, making frost mages and dragons the most dangerous IMO. Frost resistance eases this burden.

What? Of course it is. You could be very anti-imperial, or very anti-Thamor, the latter of which could well be an Altmer, Bosmer or Khajiit since they've gotten a close-up view of Dominion rule. Even if they weren't affected by purges, some of them by now must have figured out that the Thalmor despise them and are using them. Or you could just be disgusted by Helgen and by seeing Stormcloak prisoners being carted off by Thalmor and imperials. A chaotic freedom lover, in other words. There could be any number of reasons. All this besides the fact that the imperials try to shorten your neck.

Some of them must be skeptical of that. The Thalmor also claimed to have stopped the Oblivion Crisis in Alinor, and not everyone believed them, such as the Rising Threat guy.

My Khajit and Mer characters have a bigger problem with Talos being rammed down their throats - so they end up joining the Legion.