Oblivion talk:Character Creation

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Archive 1: Mar 2006 - Jun 2008

"Character Changes during the Tutorial" needs to be expanded

This is quite a bit more complicated than is shown, specifically, the changing of the Class can have drastic effects on skill points. Here is an example: Race is Imperial, Birth sign is Thief and class is Warrior. My goal for the tutorial is to increase Endurance, Intelligence, and Agility +5. Since this guide seems to say you should increase your minor skills before your major ones I did just that, increasing Sneak(minor) to 100, and Restoration(minor) to 25. I then chose Thief as my birth sign and went into the caves and increased Block(major) to 25. Since I wanted to also increase Intelligence I chose Sorcerer as my class then increased Conjuration from 30 to 40. I then switched Class to Warrior and exited the sewers. The Level up icon came up so I slept at Vilverin. The stats page allowed me +5 for Endurance and Agility but only +2 for intelligence. So I went back to the sewer save where I was still a Sorcerer Class and increased my Conjuration to 45. Then switched class back to Warrior, left, slept and then My stats page showed +1 for Intelligence! I also tried other combinations of Sorcerer and Conjuration but could never get the +5 bonus. My goal for leaving the Sewers is +5 Endurance, Agility, Intelligence, and Imperial/Thief/Warrior as my character. Anybody??--TheOtherZack--4.246.21.67 13:59, 3 August 2008 (EDT)

Moved from the Article

I've moved the next three sections because - as their titles state - they're all opinion-based. If we start having one person's opinion we'll end up with two dozen. –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 03:00, 25 September 2008 (EDT)

Would it make you feel better to call them recommendations? 1/4 of this article is opinion. It would help if the article actually contained more direct advice, I came looking at the article for such, to see what others thought and found none, so I added my own. Everything I put in these is based on some level of fact. – Xenoterracide 21:27, 25 September 2008 (EDT)

There's already enough information on the article. The opinions / recommendations you listed are all specific to one way of playing the game. As a simple example, I disagree with you about Sneak, Armorer, Security, Speechcraft and Hand to Hand which means that of two players to express an opinion, there is disagreement about 5/7 of the definite recommendations. –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 00:46, 26 September 2008 (EDT)

Skills you SHOULD take (opinion)

• Sneak Sneak is almost impossible to level at below apprentice levels because you have to succeed at it to level, even then it's slow going although it's one of the most useful skills in the game.
• Marksman Marksman is really only useful with sneak, imho, however, when used with sneak you can kill many low level enemies in 1 hit with the damage modifier. it's limited uses make it hard to level however as with sneak below apprentice it's not very good.
• Armorer Armorer is almost useless before journeyman level because you can't repair magic items and generally you end up with enough of them so fast that you don't have anything for Armorer to repair. It's also a slow building skill meaning you'll probably still need training to get it to level 50. This makes it a good controllable skill too.

Skills you should NOT take (opinion)

• Alchemy Alchemy is VERY easy to level, it's so easy to level as a minor skill and you can make such useful potions so often that you'll end up leveling too fast if you take it as a major skill. On top of it once you reach journeyman you may find that certain potions are harder to make without undesireable side effects, like an intended poison that ends up as a potion you drink because it got restore fatigue (or similar).
• Security Security is a very slow skill to build, on top of it you don't really need it that much, levels higher than Apprentice aren't needed to pick any lock in the game (note: even if you don't play the minigame) , and lets face it there just aren't enough locks to pick, nor will it save you in a fight.
• Speechcraft useless skill, you'll never need it and it's too slow to level to be considered a good way to control leveling.
• Hand to Hand you'll never do as much damage as you can with weapons, and combat is just too important.

Skills you should CONSIDER taking (opinion)

• Mercantile This is all about making the most money the fastest, your buy price is better and you don't lose value because something is damaged. It's also a very, very slow skill to build, although I consider it mostly uncontrollable because you are probably going to buy and sell a lot during the game.
• Restoration this is extremely slow to level even though you use it all the time.

The Simplest Approach

For new players (and even "expert" ones who don't have much patience or choose not to use exploits) the best Race/Birthsign combo is Breton/Mage, by an overwhelming amount. (Take Endurance as one of your favored stats: note that this applies to EVERY character combination, not just this one). That's it. You can stop reading now, unless you're curious.  :)

All characters will "eventually" always have the same attributes and skills (especially if you use Obsessive Leveling) because bonuses don't change the cap. Thus, the only stats that are genuinely different between ANY two characters are Magicka and HP, and the only Birthsigns that have a genuine benefit are those which grant either +Magicka (Mage, Apprentice, Atronach) or +Endurance (Lady, Warrior).

The maximum starting Endurance over a Breton Mage (35) is a NordMale/Orc/Redguard Lady/Warrior (65), which (assuming Obsessive Leveling) nets 3 extra HP for 8 levels, 2 for 2 levels, and 1 for 2 levels, ie 24+4+2 = 30 extra HP. While better than nothing, that's a trivial amount, and becomes proportionately even more so with each level.

Realistically, only +Magicka bonuses are "worth" anything, so that leaves you two races and those three birthsigns to work with. Altmer is too fragile for new players, Apprentice even more so, and Atronach requires so much tedious grindwork it would put almost anyone off the game.

Breton would be the best choice for most players even WITHOUT the huge bonus of only taking half damage from spells, which is even more beneficial for newbies who haven't mastered item enchantment / loot-trolling / etc.

Incorrect

The following sentence seems incorrect:

"The tutorial is set up to help you make some of these decisions: recommendations are provided for birthsign and class based upon how you play the first part of the tutorial."

I've never received a recommendation for birthsigns, not that I can remember anyhow, only for class. Can someone confirm this? If not, can I go ahead and change it? - User:Aces Andre 13:21, 1 June 2009 (EDT)

If I am not mistaken, when the Emperor and Baurus ask you for your birthsign/class, they will suggest one. Supposedly, the game has evaluated your playing style and the class/birthsign you are first offered is the one the game thinks is appropriate to you. --SerCenKing ^Talk 13:24, 1 June 2009 (EDT)

While I agree with a class being suggested, I have no memory of having a birthsign suggested. The Emperor actually asks "I wonder, which stars marked your birth?". I played through the tutorial just a couple of hours ago, and still no birthsign was suggested. - User:Aces Andre 16:03, 1 June 2009 (EDT)

There is indeed no recommendation for a birthsign, at least I never got it. If you're unhappy about that particular sentence, feel free to edit it. Wolok gro-Barok 16:10, 1 June 2009 (EDT)

DO NOT DO THIS

I made this mistake on two separate characters and it have since learned. DO NOT by any means make BOTH blade and blunt as major skills. If you intend to take a class with both of them, make an identical custom class and replace one with something useful, like restoration or marksman. The reason behind this is that no matter how hard you try you are going to end up favoring either blade or blunt and its very difficult to switch between the two, for me it has always been blade because the low level blades tend to do more damage then the low level blunts, also in the tutorial you can get a steel short sword and only rusty iron or iron blunts. this is really just my opinion but i strongly suggest you take it into consideration. --SneakyPenguin77 (also my Gamertag) 22:43, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Thats the number one reason why a lot of the premade martial classes are gimped: they have too many weapon skills, especcially warriors, which have all 3. So rember kiddies, only pick one. Of course, the pick itself dosent actually matter as much as you would think. Blades have the highest DPS, but Blunts tend to do more damage in a combat scenario, due to Blunts staggering an opponent more often, leading to a flurry of free hits. Hand to hand isnt bad at all, and should be strongly considered. You have an Unbreakable, Fast, Fatigue damaging weapon, that also can hurt etheral undead. The fist may max out at 15 base attack, but two punches can be launched in the same time as a daedric claymore swing - Which is coincidentally 32 base damage. So, its your pick, overall. I recommend blades, Namely Daggers and Shortswords, for Stealth chars to back up the bow, A War axe, Fists, or Shortsword for Light armor Melee, a Longsword or Mace for Heavy armor + Shield,Unless you prefer two handed weapons, in which case go for fists, claymores, Or Hammers, Battle axes being less than impressive, except on a staggering standpoint. I should also point out that some skills can sub for others, like Alteration over an armor skill, Alchemy over any magic skill, Destruction over marksman, or Illusion over speechcraft and mercantile. 184.77.194.254 04:31, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Creating a vampire

This removed text indicates that character skin color becomes red with vampirism. If true, it is significant not only on the vampirism page, but here, for players whose main focus for creating a character is to make a vampire. Me? Been there, done that. But it should be included if it can be confirmed. Anarchangel 16:25, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

i created a dark elf vampire and he didnt have red skin!--Rookie1345 12:17, 2 September 2010 (UTC)darkangel14

If I understand what's happening correctly (effect shaders are not my specialty), technically, all races would have redder skin upon becoming a vampire. With races that already have significant colour to their skin, though, the effect is much less noticeable, to the point of being unnoticeable (especially on Redguard) unless you're looking at before-and-after screen captures side by side. – Robin Hood↝talk 17:00, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

My Breton Witch was turned by accident and her skin didn't get redder. It went from really pale to paper white.71.123.174.81 23:29, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Becoming a vampire makes you paler for all races (except arognians wo go gray) but when you go outside and take sun damage you go red and start to smoke 2.219.179.246 20:26, 4 November 2011 (UTC)KNJB98

Facial Expressions

I've noticed that my altmer character changes facial expressions which is very strange being that i never noticed that before with previous characters. It seems he has a permanent 'scowl' even though his menu face doesnt appear so. Occasionally his face will look like the menu face, but then it usually goes back to the mean scowl few seconds after exiting menu. Is this a glitch involving high elves or in their character creation?— Unsigned comment by 24.168.70.184 (talk) at 03:48 on 24 January 2010 (UTC)

This usually happens if your character is looking at somebody he doesn't like. (Usually if an NPC has a low disposition towards you, your disposition is low towards them.) So this is completely normal.--Mptrj - ♠ - ♣ 03:49, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Help

So basicly no matter what race i pick my charters age always goes up every time i load a saved game i come out of the sewers with the bar set where i want it on the age slider then i re load my save later in the day and my guy looks completlly diffrent please help i dont know whats going on

Are you a Vampire?--Arch-Mage Matt^Talk 02:15, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

no

I wouldn't know anything that would do that... do you have a computer? Possibly a mod conflict... other than that I don't know. --Arch-Mage Matt^Talk 20:03, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Character Creator Error

I know it's not made or administered by UESP, but am I correct that the Character Creator at Linkhost is mistaken with regard to the Imperial Heavy Armor bonus? It appears to list it as +5, whereas USEP says it's +10.

Any clarification would be helpful. — Unsigned comment by 87.127.79.8 (talk) on 2 May 2010

UESP is right - it's +10. Just double-checked in the CS. rpeh •T•C•E• 03:07, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Perfect Melee Character Stats?

Hey I'm planning to make a "perfect" melee character on Oblivion over the summer, does anybody have any ideas on what Race,Attributes,and Major Skills I should pick? Also if you have any suggestions on what glitches to do that'll be cool too. For example, I plan on getting the Emperor's Robes before I do anything after I get out of the sewers. I am also taking into account the leveled quest rewards. — Unsigned comment by Achawks123 (talk • contribs) on 19 May 2010

Try this page. rpeh •T•C•E• 03:04, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

A moment to vent

I simply needed to take a moment to say; DAMN, BUT IT'S HARD TO MAKE AN ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER IN THIS GAME! Really, I live in a world where elves, at least high elves, are very attractive. And yet, here they are looking goofy almost no matter what I do. Especially the Bosmer. It takes such a very long time to make a character look even remotly attractive. Why then do I see all over the internet screenshots of highly attractive characters? Is this the result of hours of obsessive fine tuning or some trick I am not aware of.--Zefiewings 00:37, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

If you are playing on a pc, you can change the way that characters look with Body Mods. --Tenraah 00:43, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

Ahhhhh, that's how the chracters all look better than mine, you all cheat! ;) Well, at least I understand how mine suck so bad, but it does not help me much, as I play on the Xbox. Oh well. Thank you for the info!--Zefiewings 01:05, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

I have the same problem on the Xbox. I like to make attractive players too, my problem is i'll spend several hours playng one I like and i'll enter a cave or reload a saved game and POW! Her face is all blotchy after having worked so hard to get it nice and smooth. Even if i have several saved game slots on the character, every single one of them will be all blotched out. Why does this happen i wonder?

I dont mind spending extra time getting the face i want, but it really sux to get 6 hours into the game and a few levels to have her face morph and age for no reason. (no vampirism, or any kind of disease). Seems only to happen to female characters so far too. Haven't had it happen to a guy yet. It doesn't always happen to females either. I've had two last so far without a problem, both with around 90 hours played.

Anyone have tips on how to prevent the face from blotching out?79.234.141.110 05:03, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

help!

i want to now is this a good choice if i want these skills i want 1:agility 2:blade 3:light armour and 4:alteration im a redguard thief nightblade is this a good combo for the skills i want?--Rookie1345 13:23, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

I would suggest that you ask this kind of question in the forums. Questions on the talk page should focus on the content of the article, not gameplay questions. – Robin Hood↝talk 17:03, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Spells

Has anyone else changed their class right before leaving the sewers, but retained the spells they had from their previous class? I initially chose Witchhunter, and had the 2 Conjuration spells, but changed to a custom mage without Conjuration, yet still had Summon Skeleton & Bound Dagger upon my exit. Is this a glitch? 75.47.98.125 07:13, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

The spells you get depends on the value of the skills. If your summon skill is 25 or more without it being a major skill, you'll still get the spells. Weroj 07:35, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

Gender

I don't see how Gender effects anything please tell me If I'm worng Wolfi 04:17, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

It affects your ability scores, so far as I know.--Ghurhak gro-Demril _{or TAO}^Yes? 09:53, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

See this page for details. rpeh •T•C•E• 09:55, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Obstructed Leveling

After reading up on the leveling process and character creation, I came to wonder if your racial skill bonuses can actually keep you from leveling. Let me explain, since it is possible to have a bonus to a major skill based on your race, does this mean that you do not get credit for leveling that skill, therefore making it impossible to gain the level you might have obtained for raising that skill manually? Or does the game simply accept those initial bonuses as gained skill levels and apply them toward your next level? — Unsigned comment by 75.68.31.42 (talk)

They are added before any type of leveling takes place. Getting a racial bonus of any kind will not raise your level. So yes, in effect, it does affect the maximum level your character can obtain. Elliot (talk) 02:24, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

That's an important note I think. Its unfortunate, too, because it means that your racial "benefits" actually restrict your growth. Although I suppose since all attributes can be maxed out early on, the only unavoidable restriction I can see is that it will limit your maximum attainable HP. Still, I think it warrants a mention in the character creation article.

Spells you get at the end of the tutorial

Change your character to a high elf apprentice (to max out your magicka), and choose a class with conjuration (e.g., Sorcerer). You will now have a Summon Skeleton spell available. Chain-cast that spell until you have gained 15-20 skill points, ignoring the level-up message that occurs. Now change your character back to your desired configuration. The Summon Skeleton spell does unfortunately disappear. But your character will now be apprentice level in conjuration, so you can immediately start using summon spells.

This is false, nao? I'm fairly sure (although not sure enough to outright edit it out) that what spells you get depends entirely on your skill level, not on what you pick as a major skill. Hence, if your Conjuration skill is high enough without picking up Conjuration as a major skill, you will still get the summon skeleton spell. Weroj 00:27, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

I am fairly sure it is based on which class you choose. I used a high elf and gained probably 20 levels because I was on max difficulty flaring everything. I did not choose to make it a major skill, since it would mess with efficient leveling. Im almost certain I did not have Shocking touch or the frost touch one. Someone should test unless they remember for sure. Definetely dont delete it yet though.--Catmaniac66 05:43, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Those extra starting spells all come from choosing their school of magic as a major skill. Skill level has nothing to do with obtaining them. Legoless 11:27, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Well, I went and tested it on the PC (with the aforementioned Summon Skeleton spell, and Alteration's Shield spell), and you would be wrong. It's the other way around, major skills have nothing to do with the extra spells; All that matters is being an apprentice (25 skill) in the spell school.

I didn't edit the article yet, though, and hope that someone else could confirm this as well. Weroj 16:33, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

So you could exploit the starter spells by training with them, and then get to keep them? That would definitely be notable, as it isn't usually possible in the tutorial unless you chose it as a major skill (due to the lack of spells to train with). If someone could give the scripts a quick lookover in the CS first, I think you should make that edit. Legoless 17:55, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Final Selection!

It has come to my attention that choosing the right skills at the start may be the difference between completion or completely failing. I found that you should have one armor skill, fighting skill and magic skill. Without these fighting and general getting through the game can be painful. But just as a personal opinion........ What do you recommend is the best overall build (race, skills, birthsign, etc.) for the game? My first account didn't have a weapon skill or armor skill and I was level 11. I struggled to complete even some simple battles. I would love to hear your personal opinions and experiences. By BronsonGrylls — Unsigned comment by BronsonGrylls (talk • contribs) on 25 October 2011

This isn't the right place for this kind of discussion. Please use our forums. rpeh •T•C•E• 07:25, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

armour and weapon skills are not needed if you use magic.

making my own character the first time.

Can you explain to me by what you mean of making your character at the most possible maximum level you can get?. Cause I have tons of idea in my head to make but Idk if it'll work