Starting a New Character need advice.... (x-box)

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 12:35 pm

Well I made it up to proving myself to the tribes with my almost vanilla thief when I decided I need something new. I like the whole idea behind the Nightblade but I don't agree with some of their skill selections. I know I'm going to have to end up doing a custom class, but I just want some help. For starters I've decided what I wanted to join to help my focus. I've done thieves guild and house Hlaalu so I wanna do something different, and more. I think I'm gonna deffinately do the Mages Guild and House Telvanni, and I'm also contamplating the Morag Tong and Imperial Cult. I'm just curious to see what you vets think of that assortment of allegiances. Now for skills, i've decided I want Alteration and Mysticism basically so I can teleport, levitate, and water walk/breath. I've also decided I want Persuasion, Sneak (better than Illusion), Security, and probably Acrobatics(very usefull I found). now as to the weapons and armour aspect I'm afraid I'll get bored picking Light Armour and Short Sword again, but I definately want Marksman (although I may using throwing impliments or a crossbow rather than a bow this time). Which do you think is better? And does it really matter which arrows/bolts you use aside from when fighting ghosts? And since I definately do not want Heavy Armour I was gonna go with Medium Armour because I remember finding some Orcish Armour relatively early on, and it'll help my Endurance. Now for a weapon, i know Longswords are the most plentiful and would suit my character pretty well but should I stick with Shortblades?

So what do you think?

Oh and what about a class and birthsign(probably either Atronach or Lady). The only restriction here is no beast-races. I want to be able to wear full suits af armour. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Almost forgot.... what race and favorite atributes? And which skills to be major and minor.

Alien_Newborn · Post by **Alien_Newborn** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:50 pm

Well, I've been in all of those factions before, and I honestly would only recomend Telvanni and Morag Tong because:

Telvanni: Coolest stronghold ever, great (and I mean GREAT) spell selection/training, and some very interesting characters.

Morag Tong: sneaky/slashy assasin action, killing people without getting a bounty, living up to when Dunmer say "There's someone watching me. I can tell"

Why Not Imperial Cult:
Mostly boring quests (e.g. fetch me five marshmerrow, fetch me a piece of netch leather, fetch me some rat meat, go collect some pledges from nobles, go collect some alms for the poor, go find a crappy staff with only three standard skeletons guarding it, and the list goes on), plus the fact that it kinda reminds me of the Temple, which I hate.

Oh, and for races, Argonians kick arse (it's only the pansy ones that get enslaved, the rest are HARDCORE)

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:59 pm

There should be some favorite race and attributes threads around, Skuld, but for myself, Bretons with the Apprentice/Mage signs do nicely. I enjoy playing a sort of spellsword or battlemage, casting an occasional spell (especially off the battlefield) as I slice and dice.

Oscuro_Sol · Post by **Oscuro_Sol** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 5:32 pm

I started Telvanni a while ago and I agree that it's VERY cool!

I would suggest Telvanni for sure if you want to try something new. Imperial Cult is good for money, because the quests are easy and you can sell rewards and get attribute upgrades from books they give you and stuff.
And for races, I would also suggest Breton because they get that alteration bonus without all the weaknesses from High Elf.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 5:45 pm

Regarding the Temple and Imperial Cult:
The initial quests, it is true, are pretty boring.. "fetch this, heal that" etc. But, when you advance they can be quite a lot of fun, and depending on your level, some quests are even challenging. Further, you end up with some nice items.
Or, if you join these factions later, chances are that you'll already have a stash of alchemy ingredients, so completing those early, boring quests won't be much of an issue.

And yep! Bretons are a lot of fun!

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:29 pm

I think my problem here is that I want a character too like my old one and i'm afraid I'll get bored. I kinda want to go with Medium Armour and Long Swords. I know there are plenty of them around, but how plentiful is medium armour? So I've decide on Breton with the sign of the Mage or Lady(need some help here). Now to pick skills. I definately want Alteration and Mysticism and I'm thinking about Illusion. For combat related skills Marksman is a must along with Longswords. Now for armour I'm open to anything from Umarmoured to Medium Armour. As for the others I almost require Acrobatics and Athletics, and you can't assassinate anyone if you can't get in so I'd have to take Sneak and Security as well. I need a little help in this department because I don't know which skills to use as Major/Minor. And also what type of class should this character be and which favorite attributes? I'd like my character to have the following attributes: Illusion, Mysticism, Alteration, Long Blade, Medium Armour, Marksman, Acrobatics, Athletics, Sneak and Security. I basically want this character to be somewhere between a Nightblade and a Scout as far as skills go. So I think That says it. I'm really asking because I don't recall the mechanics of character creation and some of you know what works best a whole lot better then I do. Thanks.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:32 pm

I'm finally settled on Skills....

OK, so I've decided everything but a sign. Here's what I got:

Breton
Stealth
Major Skills: Alteration(35), Mysticism(40), Security(35), Medium Armour(30), Speechcraft(35)
Minor Skills: Long Blade(15), Marksman(20), Athletics(15), Acrobatics(20), Sneak(20)
Favorite Stats: Agility and Luck

I want to know if any of skills should be switched from major to minor and vice versa, and what sign I should take. I'm really torn between the Mage and Atronach. I'd take the Atronach but I'm afraid of running out of magicka when I need it. Screw it I'd rather be damn near impervious to mages than not be able to levitate for a while, so Atronach here I come. I hate cheating, but since decent med armour is hard to come by early on I've read that there's a dude, who wants you to kill him, wearing a full suit or orcish NE of Suran so as soon as I can I'm gonna make a mad dash for him ASAP. Well I'm gonna start this up and see if I can make it out of Seyda Neen in one piece unlike my last attempt which got thwarted in Adamasartus.

Oscuro_Sol · Post by **Oscuro_Sol** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:43 pm

This actually sounds a lot like the character I have now.
I have alteration (a must for Telvanni characters!!), mysticism (helpful for mark/recall or soultrap), athletics and acrobatics (good for fast leveling), and sneak and security (who can live without?).
Since my character is mostly mage I've chosen Unarmored which a lot of people I know don't prefer but I must say I favour it. It saves you cash on armor. And for long blade, well, I don't really use weapons, I prefer to use spells or just levitate over anything that tries to hurt me. It's actually quite amusing.

As for the sign, I would pick the Mage but it's really up to you. The mage gives you a small magicka bonus, no extras that I can remember. The acronach (astonach? I can never get it right >_<) gives you a larger magicka bonus if i remember correctly, but I think it gives you stunted magicka

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:57 pm

[QUOTE=Oscuro_Sol]The acronach (astonach? I can never get it right >_<) gives you a larger magicka bonus if i remember correctly, but I think it gives you stunted magicka

[/QUOTE]

The Atronach is *the* way to go. It gives you a wopping Times 2 to Intelligence bonus. It gives you 50% magic absorption... Combine this with the natural magic resistance of Bretons and you are practically immune to magic from the get go. The stunted magicka really is not a handicap. If you join the Mages Guild (you don't even have to do their quests if you don't want to) you'll find 10 restore magicka potions in the Vivec, Balmora, Sadrith Mora and Ald Ruhn supply chests.. and they keep on restocking. These keep you well supplied until your Alchemy is good enough to make your own restore magicka potions. If that weren't enough, when you warp to an Imperial or Dunmer temple you can use their shrines to replenish your magicka because of the magic absorption that the Atronach gives. Just select "restore attributes," or "almsivi restoration." Out in the wilderness? Easy, just summon an ancestor ghost, attack it, and let it blast you with fire a few times.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:49 pm

OK, so I made it through Adamasartus after a few tries... shoulda known then something was outta whack. Went thougth doint my usual looting of Pelagiad, then figured since I have a magical sword I can take on some ghosts so I went to the Andrano Ancestral tomb to really put this guy to the test, and he cant hit a darn thing. Albeit it's a ghost but out of probably almost 100 swings I hit it once. I think it was sheer luck that I made it through Adamasartus at all. I'm now secondguessing the offensive abilities of this character. I'm thinking of remaking him and making Long Blades a major skill and Speechcraft a minor one. That should hopefully do the trick. Any advice here?

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 1:18 am

Yes, if you can't hit your enemies, you can't kill them and chances are you won't be able to progress in the game. I'd say go with survival over having a silver tongue.

I just kill everyone outside of mage's guilds and a single merchant regardless anyways. Sooo, maybe I'm a little biased here.

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:59 am

INstead of that, remake him and put armor as minor, sneak as major, and switch agility for strength. You'll hit more enemies and the armor skill will help drive your leveling. Plus you can't sneak past a rat with a 20, so having it as a major will help you succeed more.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 8:02 am

Well in my last game the two skills I maxed before starting this one were Sneak and ShortBlade. I Sneak a lot. Pretty much everytime I'm in an unfamiliar interior area, I really just needed to put LongBlades as a major skill. And switching agility for strength would only enable me to carry more and do more damage, but what I need is to Hit more and be hit less. And I have plenty of time to boost str via long blades and acrobatics. I'll look into the armour thing, but I'm afraid I'll get handed my own arse real soon if I put it as a minor.

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 8:31 am

Agility won't help you hit more with long blade, strength will.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 9:38 am

I'm really sorry to doubt you but according to the manual Agility determines to hit and strength determines melee damage. I'm quoting the Manual here:

Agility - Affects your ability to hit and dodge attacks. It also affects how much Fatigue you have.
Strength - Affects how much you can carry, how much Fatigue you have, your starting Health, and how much damage you can do with melee weapons such as swords and axes.

I can see how since Strength is the governing attribute of Long Blades having a higher Strength would help in some way, butmore importantly you'd also have to have a higher Long Blade score as well. And between Long Blade and Acrobatics I should be able to get my Stregth up to a decent level pretty soon. The actual mechanics of the game are really unclear compared to the games I'm used to playing(2D isometrics like BG, Fallout, and Arcanum) where they'll tell you what equals what, and you know exactly where you stand.

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:06 am

Yeah, you're right. Well, I think we both are. Strength augments Long Blade and Agility augments attack. So the real question is other than hitting people what one is better for you. That's the one you should take.

I forgot that agilty affected attack. Always question, never forget that.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:22 am

Well I'd rather be able to hit things more often and do a little less damage. And being as Marksman is a skill that's slow to level it needs all the help it can get. Thanks.

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:37 am

NP, you should check out the gamefaqs faq pn character creation. it give a LOT of good info on these things.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:40 pm

Oh, I have don't you worry.

Eric V · Post by **Eric V** » Mon May 02, 2005 6:32 pm

i use a dark elf for fire defense and chose the lady as my sign cause of her constant effect attribute. i like using unarmored skill my self, because armour weighs u down. and short blade skill for the same reason. i like to build my strength up so i can carry more. i steal every thing down to the silver candlesticks.