ESIV: Oblivion - Character Creation Help

[Lenny]

I get Oblivion tomorrow (hopefully), and I've decided that I'll try and learn as much as I can about creating characters and what not before I start playing, so that I can create a character that will work.

My basic template is: character who is good at magic, yet is also good at hand-to-hand combat (balanced between the two, really - fire fire from afar, and yet can slash or axe well in close quarters). I'm one of these people who will explore to the max, and go hunting for hours on end just for weapons, so I want a character who can carry a lot, has the health to explore, and also won't tire out.

So far I've decided on: Male Breton. Mage birthsign, and maybe Combat as my class.

Attributes wise - it's a toss up between Strength + Intelligence, Intelligence + Endurance, and Strength + Willpower.

When it comes to Major Skills, I've got very little idea. Though I do know I'll go with Light Armour, Blunt or Blade, Destruction, and Restoration.

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I've played with a few builds so far, but I've been reliably informed that they have serious flaws - but the three people I've spoken to all disagree as to what the flaw is.

So, what do people think of what I've got so far? If you've got ideas for small parts of the build, then please share. And if you've got an idea for a completely different build that does what I'd like, then by all means, post it.

You've got until Saturday morning - that's when I'll settle for sure (out tomorrow night, so won't be playing).

Thanks in advance!

 

[Crymic]

I think that's what I went with.. but I used heavy armor after I maxed my stealth. If you really wanna become over powered fast, do the mage school quests asap.
So you can have access to the spell creation, then create a level 1 spell that affects only you. Such as a level 1 fire spell, Burn yourself until you're max ranked. Then learn invisibility, the game is pretty much a cake walk once learn that spell..
Fun to sneak up and backstab a mob then cast invis then do it again or skip annoying content.

 

[Commonmind]

I hate to say this, but having played Oblivion with several custom builds, there simply isn't as much diversity as the game would have you believe. A Battlemage build, simply by the way you play through the majority of the game, can become inherently more efficient at certain aspects of its class that take away from others; or, more specifically, if the player doesn't actually take the time to progress the aspects of the class they chose to focus on during character creation, they can essentially turn their custom build into a generic mage, fighter, etc.

I'm definitely no expert, but I do feel there could have been more polish with this mechanic; I never felt like a custom class I put together actually became what I intended.

 

[Aes]

I've been playing this game too, although I kind of feel like I'm cheating myself by not playing it on an HDTV, so I'm considering putting it off until I get one. When building characters, I've found that only a few races are really worth it, and only two real character types have any practical application: Fighter types, and mage types.

You did a good thing by choosing Breton, as they're one of the best races (if not THE best) for mages in my opinion. As for birthsigns, you might want to reconsider, and go with one of the +x to various stats ones instead.

Edit: I know it almost sounds like cheating, but check gamefaqs.com for information about leveling. It really bothers me how the game can and will cheat you out of getting the most from your level-ups if you don't know exactly what you're doing as you build your character. (The stats you are planning to raise should always be offering +5)

 

[Lenny]

Hmmm... originally I actually chose Dark Elf rather than Breton. But I was advised against it if I wanted to do magic.

Out of the three attributes (Strength, Endurance, Willpower), which do people think would be best? Looking at the four major skills I've chosen, I'm guessing that maybe Strength and Willpower will be a nice mix, but Endurance would come in useful.

Right, I'll have a play around, see what I come up with, and post a complete build.

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EDIT: Here we goeth!

Sex, Race: Male, Breton
Class: Combat
Birthsign: Mage

Attributes: Strength, Willpower
Major Skills: Blunt, Blade, Destruction, Restoration, Security, Light Armour, Marksman

Initial Stas:

I can't see myself needing Sneak, nor Acrobatics to be pretty high. And Speechcraft and Mercantile will go up anyway as I'll be talking a lot and hopefully selling quite a bit.

 

[Crymic]

Dude, it's all about sneak when moving around in dungeons until your learn invis.. Better you get the first drop on them, then the other way around. Though it is pretty easy to level sneak and acrobatics.. Just jump around alot.
My character was good in all aspects, I chose Breton with Mage birthsign and probably combat. I had no problems killing stuff melee and magic wise.

 

[Finnien]

The game spawns creatures to match your character level. Your character power doesn't necessarily ramp up as quickly as the mobs power. Your level is based off of the advancement rate of your 'main' skills. If you want to min/max the game, place half the skills you plan on using regularly as non-main skills, and pepper the main skills with a few that will never go up, such as heavy armor. This will slow the rate at which you level, and keep the mobs much more manageable.

It's a bit cheesy, but so is their levelling/spawn system. Ultimately the arbitrary nature of it turned me off of the game, but I did have fun winning an Arena championship at level 3 before I quit.

 

[Lord P13rr3]

A mage with combat specialisation is amazing when it comes to dealing in massive amaounts of damage. So in that aspect your build is perfect( or almost)
However, i think that the whole point of oblivion doesn't lie in combat ( you can get that in any RPG) but in stealth. I found the idea of sneaking around at night amazingly fun, so here's my assassin build:
Khajiit(specialised in acrobatics and stealth), under the thief sign, with an assassin profession. It allows the player to sneak around, jump rooftops and from towers(once your acrobatics is maxed)
Getting this character to level shouldn't be too hard, regarding how much you'll sneak around as a thief...

 

[Lord P13rr3]

Your build is near perfect when it comes to dealing damage, but i found that the whole point of oblivion wasn't combat ( you can get that in any RPG) but sneak and thievery. For me, nothing is better that sneaking around at night, jumping from rooftops and killing civilians....
So, here's my assassin build:
Khajiit, born under the sign of the thief, and assassin profession. If you ever have the time, try this out, I'll guarantee that you'll have fun!

 

[Lenny]

Your build is near perfect when it comes to dealing damage, but i found that the whole point of oblivion wasn't combat ( you can get that in any RPG) but sneak and thievery.

Tell me about it. I seem to get messages telling me my Destruction, Blade or Blunt have levelled up every half an hour or so.

Sneak, however, levels up every couple of days. I'll have to work on that.

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Methinks that once I've, erm, I would say, "completed Oblivion", but that's nigh on impossible, so I'll instead say, "once I've played 500 hours of Oblivion" I'll try some other builds. Assassin will be one of them.

What are the major skills for the assassin build, out of interest?

 

[Lord P13rr3]

Assassin builds focalise on stealth, acrobatics, speed and security skills. Thid allows you to move quickly, undetected, pick a lock easily and jump from high places.
However, a skill I found extremely useful was alteration: because lockpicks can easily break if the lock you're picking is Very Hard, a good alteration skill could save you if you run out of lockpicks into a mission.
Assassins should also wear light armor, as heavy one will considerably slow your speed.
From the race point of view, Khaajiits are the best choice, as they are quick and stealthy.

 

[Somni]

It is true that your enemies level with you, is a pain in the neck to have all my major skills at max and still to have trouble with wolves, but the daedra things through the portals do not seem to level as much. That is once I was tough enough to take on one of the draegaroth (crocodile things) one on one I never really had much problem.

Magic wise I only ever really used the small fireball, light and restoration spells, preferring a heavy armour sword weilding Nord as my character. I like towering over the NPCs (sad, I know).

 

[fantasy noob]

It's a bit cheesy, but so is their levelling/spawn system. Ultimately the arbitrary nature of it turned me off of the game, but I did have fun winning an Arena championship at level 3 before I quit.

exactly i find morrowind was jsut more of a challenge and better

i was an orc, orcs are great so are argonians

 

[Somni]

Happy memories of Morrowind. Not as pretty and tended to spend a lot of time marching everywhere being attacked by the dratted cliffracers but I agree it was better. I felt more engaged with the characters I met and the story and, well dash it - it was just more fun.

I may be just growing old but I don't find new games as much fun as the older ones.

 

[fantasy noob]

well you cant beat a classic