one thing that i would like to see in skyrim is for races to have actual gameplay differences between them aside from the underwater breathing, nighteye, cold resistance etc. which are noticable only in specific situations.

if im playing i khajit (wont ever happen but some people do) my character should feel fast and sleek kind of like how aliens in AvP2 were faster than the marines which would be where most other races are at and the predators were the slowest sort of how argonians and orcs would be.

why argonians dont swim way faster than the other races if they are partially adapted to it. they need to lower the swim speed since it was ridiculously high in oblivion but keep it much faster for argonians. since argonians are disease resistant it would be a far reach to give them an armor bonus as well since they assumedly are covered in scales.

khajit should be able to jump much higher and run slightly faster than the other races since my cat used to be able to jump from the kitchen floor to the top of my fridge in one effortless leap. that is several times her height. shes old now so i dont think she can do it anymore.........at least i havent seen her try.

orcs should be able to swing weapons especially heavy weapons faster than other races because of their strength advantage also have a higher damage threshold and maybe slightly higher encumbrance.

i dont see huge differences between the human races and the elf races beyond cosmetics but you could probably make differences there as well.

edit: removed stuff that didnt make sense...... :hehe:

How does maxing out at 100 instead of 90 affect the "feel" of playing a particular race. It doesn't. Story and content are what matters when it comes to what race you are playing, not your stats. Based on what Todd was saying in his interview, I think that is more of what we can expect for differences in the races.

Agreed pretty much.

Woodelves would be interesting if they followed their sleek and nimble build, most would feel "light" on their feet, while "most" orcs and nords much more heavy and built should one run around as a stereotypical nord/Orc. Imperials somewhat average with Bretons just a tad lighter. Altmer going the same route as imperials but not as nimble.

thats why i put the other stuff in as well. im not really sure how they would implement it in TES but when you play games like AvP2 there noticable differences in how the species feel and how they move. if khajit were faster and could jump way higher than the other races i might be inclined to actually make a long term character with one but as it is not its just cosmetic differences which seems silly because of obvious anatomical differences between the races. argonians can breathe underwater and have tails but strangely are no faster in a lake than an orc or nord.

Variety is the spice of life.

Khajiit are faster To Begin With. what you do with them afterwards is up to you.

That is my point though. In the end, your character is what you played, not what you created. Its about if I decide to play my character as a Thief, I'll be nimble and light, if I am a heavily armored Warrior, I'll be strong and tough. Even if I'm playing as an Orc Thief, I'd still expect my character to eventually to have those characteristics of a thief, because that is what he is good at. The race selection really shouldn't be very noticeable at all.

Lore-wise Redguards should be the best with weapons and Nords should be second. Orcs should be the leader in toughness and bursts of rage. But I do agree that you should be able to tell the difference when playing different races. If you're playing an Orc you should garner people's fear and the respect of other barbarians/mercenaries, when playing with a Redguard you should garner the common folk's respect and especially fellow Adventurers, and finally, when playing with Nords you should get the respect of Mages (For your resiliency to magika), soldiers (Not necessarily mercenaries) and the common folk.

I think story adds more than stats but stats and abilities do flesh out the character. I think my issue is that arigonians and khajits are mysterious races and the lore on thoer origins/upbringing ect are essentially unknown. However when you play that character you still know nothing about them. Its like you magically appeared a fully adut knowing nothing of your traditions and origins. Dragon Age did that well.

What you're saying makes sense. Especially that part about Argonians and swimming. If their natural environment is the water you'd think they'd be significantly more adept in it than humans.

I think their current racial stat traits are fine. The reason why it doesn't work is because you can't feel it well.
I agree they should feel more pronounced, I just don't think you can "feel" the differences in stats enough for it to happen, then again its a new game.

I'd rather NPCs react differently to me depending on my race. As in unique dialogue from NPCs depending on what race you are... I hated how in Oblivion, I was treated identically regardless if I was an altmer or an orc... :confused:

Wood elves should be able to make out more details in fog.

High elves should be tall but unable to run as fast.

Bretons and imperials can stay the same.

Argonians should be faster in water while they and khajitt should have some form of bleeding damage to their unarmed attacks.

Khajitt get the increased jumping and should be much less likely to fall over when out of fatigue, or since the game will have sprint they should be able to leap.

Redguard should get more execution moves.

Nords and orcs should be much louder when they walk, make deeper imprints in the snow and be able to bypass abit of armour with their blunt weapons.

Dark Elves should get their chain smoker voice back.

I don't know if I forgot any other race.

Another poll...of a repeat topic....

I hope I can wear purple ragged short with my bright green orc.


RRRAAAWWRRR ORC SMASH!!!!


Would be at least nice to see khajiit and argonian animations. At least make us feel like that.

I think A good way to implement this would be to make it so the racial increases were the only way to increase your skill above the cap of 100 and the negatives didn't let you hit 100. So Orc would be one if not the only class to get blunt and strength or whatever over 100 but couldn't max out magic.... while a kajiit could go over the acrobatics/agility cap.

It wouldn't really stop you from being a orc wizard or a high elf warrior, but it would make it so you would be limited by your class selection a bit... Min maxers would still pick the same classes but it would also provoke replayability from authenticity. But its probably not for everyone, as we all know there are people that only like being certain races.

Dragon Age's origin plots were based more on culture rather than race...there were only 3 playable races.

Re-playability through racial differences is a massive benefit. Its just a matter of figuring out exclusive and compelling attributes for each race that won't get boring or annoying 5, 20 or 130+ hours down the road.

@OP Why did you say Argonians should be slow? They would be one of the faster races, they aren't turtles, they are lizard-like. For slow I would say Nord and Orc.

I think this would definately improve immersion in the game, seeing as heavyer races should have a different gameplay than lighter races. theirs alot of things that should determine this, not just the race. I read in the GI that your characters body will be customizable, not just their face like in oblivion. therefor the option to make larger characters should give pros and cons to the way the game is played, (combat and manuverability possibly?)
I can see a woodelf or argonian jumping considerably higher than an orc. but why stop there? Bethesda already said they reinvented the 3rd person perspective and that they have animations that create realistic effects like getting stuck in spiders webs or not being able to run backwards lol. throw in the environmental aspects and weather and im sure they can make us zone out on this game for sure .
and lets not forget the new dash feature.

No none of us here want any more depth in the game its not about wether we WANT features to be added its if the Devs have the time and man-power to add it.

This. The fastest Dunmer can swim just as fast as the fastest Argonian. Argonians might be more naturally talented, but TES hasn't been the series to cap your skills prematurely because of choice of race, or choices you make during the first 5 minutes of the game.

reptiles have significantly less endurance than mammals. they might be fast at burst speed but like with crocs and alligators they run out of steam very quickly. all of the fastest land animals are mammals or birds. some people have said that they are warm-blooded although everyone says they are based on reptiles so im a bit confused on that point. the dinosaurs were supposedly luke warm blooded but they have more in common with birds than with todays reptiles. between humans and argonian i would definitely give the running speed edge to humans since that is their primary habitat. argonians evolved/were created in swamps where swimming is more important than running which is why argonians should be significantly faster in water than the other races.

im probably over anolyzing it and obviously you cant make one or two races way overpowered compared to the others but that just how i think.

at the people who posted that you start off faster or better in some area that goes away after only a few levels. it makes no sense that a dog could swim faster than a crocodile or that a crocodile can outrun a horse. if you are going to base races on animals and they have some of the same physical characteristics then it seems silly to ignore them for the sake of "fairness". supposedly the bretons and altmer are better at magic in lore yet there is no difference in the actual game which seems stupid to me. if your going to say there are differences then put them in the game.

But they have more magicka.

not to mention altmer are much more sensitive to magic, while the bretons form an unconscious shield around themselves against hostile magic and can consciously make themselves more durable.

Lore-wise Redguards are the best in armours and Nords are the best with weapons, Orcs are the finest in large scale battles along with Imperials being the most intellegent in Politics, Brentens with Magicka, and so on.