Oblivion:Roleplaying/Hunter

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This article provides one suggestion for character-type roleplaying. Please see the main Roleplaying article for contribution guidelines.

A hunter is, simply, a character who hunts deer and the animals of the forest, such as wolves and bears. Your livelihood will come from these animals.

Any race can play a hunter in Oblivion, although Wood Elves are a good choice for their talents in archery. For your class, suitable skills include Marskman, Athletics, Sneak, Acrobatics, Blade or Blunt, Restoration, and Light Armor, although any set of skills will do fine. (On the gameplay side of things, you might find that these skills level too quickly, so you might have to pick something else to control your leveling. You could also just deliberately not level-up.) Concentrate on combat, with Agility, Endurance, Speed or Strength as your favored attributes. The Thief is a good birthsign for a hunter, though a good player can make just about any birthsign work.

As for equipment, you might want to wear a green wool shirt or a huntsman vest, with some huntsman leather pants, and huntsman moccasins. You might also like to wear light armor, such as fur or leather. You'll need a bow and a good blade. Black Bow Bandits have good bows for characters that are just starting out.

If you talk to Honditar, you'll find out that alchemy can be helpful, for poisoning arrows, otherwise you may have to go chasing down deer, rather than just shooting them from the bushes. You might want to pretend that Honditar gave you a map that shows you where the best places are to hunt for deer.

As a humble hunter, a man/woman/cat/lizard/elf of the woods, you should live cheaply. For towns, Chorrol is a good spot to stay in; you can stay at the Oak and Crosier for only 10 gold a night, and there are a number of good hunting spots within a few minutes or a few hours of running distance. Bruma is also a good city to stay in, as Olav's Tap and Tack only costs 10 gold a night, and there are some good hunting spots near there as well.

If you dabble in alchemy, use only a mortar and pestle. You're a hunter, not a scientist. You'll find that a cheap Damage Health poison, made from Stinkhorn, Nightshade and other ingredients, can help you bring down deer with one good arrow fired while sneaking. If you miss, you can probably chase down the deer and whack them one good time with a poisoned blade or blunt and wait for the poison to act and kill them. Blackwood is a good spot to find Stinkhorns and Nightshade, two ingredients that combine to make Damage Health poisons for your bow or sword. You can find Nightshade and Dragon's Tongue (another ingredient for damage health poisons) in the West Weald. The West Weald also happens to be the best spot for picking Flax, which combines with the venison you get from deer to make Feather potions. These Feather potions will be your primary means of income. Wolf pelts will generally sell for enough to buy you a night or two at taverns, but potions made from venison and other ingredients will be the real money-makers for you.

If you use magic, you probably won't need those high-powered spells they teach in the Mages Guild. The simple Restore Health spell you get at the start of the game will do fine, and you'll rarely, if ever, need anything else.

When you come across ruins, be cautious and rarely go in them. You're not out for treasure, you're out for venison and animal pelts. Leave the adventuring to adventurers. Bandit camps, however, are fair game. Bandits are threats to you out in the wilderness and the Imperial Legion won't take care of them, so you have to do it yourself. Feel free to make a bandit camp your home if you don't like staying in towns.

You might find it fun to ignore the map in your journal and just use your compass and landmarks to orient yourself. Being lost in Cyrodiil's woods can be an interesting and enjoyable experience. Lastly, always remember an important rule of roleplaying, never fast travel!

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