Vanilla means unmodded, and thats nonsence. Ive played and loved Oblivion on PS3 forever.

Just started a Nord Crusader(the pre-made class) born under the lord. Only lvl 18 so far

I'm currently playing as a Breton Spellsword. I usually play a Dunmer assassin/magic type.

But the game was meant to be played with mods. There's the unofficial patches, which fix a bunch of glitches and object placement errors that Bethesda didn't even care enough to fix themselves. Overhaul mods (Francesco's Leveled Creatures & Items, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, WarCry, Martigen's Monster Mod) which fix the piss-poor excuse of a leveling system, which as we all know punishes the player for not being a munchkin (Francesco's and Oscuro's overhauls also fix the problem of some skills increasing faster than others. And then there's FCOM, which lets you use all four of these overhauls at once). Body replacers (The vanilla body models are pretty underdeveloped for an RPG hero). Deadly Reflex, which makes combat more realistic. (Why give us a sword if we can't decapitate our enemies and see the damage we do? Don't tell us the system can't handle it because that's a damn lie. There was no legitimate reason to not make combat realistic.) Custom races (Some of which come with COBL). Ingredients (COBL adds a bunch of ingredients from Daggerfall and Morrowind, thus opening up more possibilities for the aspiring alchemist). Ad infinitum.

Back on topic: I'd never use any of the beast races. Sure, they may make for good thieves, but you can get the same water-breathing and night-eye effects through spells, potions, and enchanted items.

Glim-Mere the argonian

I'm playing a Bosmer thief/rogue woman named Korine. My Wood Elves are modded, though, with "Better Looking Wood Elves", so they have the full-black eyes (my char is in my avatar), the women are a little shorter than normal, and the men are back to being taller and skinnier. Beyond that, I do usually play Wood Elves, if I play a vanilla race. I do mostly like the elven races. For human races, I prefer the Nords because of their strength.

I am currently playing a Nord, a Breton and a Ra'Gada.

I have been playing with my wood elf for a long time. She is by far my favorite character. She is a vampire and is skilled in destruction magic and swords. I am probably going to make a similar character in Skyrim. It will be great to actually be able to dual wield.