What character build do you prefer?

[Chaosblade02]

This is the current build I'm using, and its with basic Oblivion with the exception of a few non-game changing mods.

 

I finally got a build that works right this time:

 

Race: High Elf (For extra magicka)

Sign : Mage (for extra magicka)

Class: Custom

Specialty: Magic

Level: 28

 

Attributes:

 

100 in all but personality and luck, 60 pers, 54 luck

 

Major Skills:

 

Blunt

Light Armor

Alchemy

Merchantile

Restoration

Mysticism

Armorer

 

Master Skills:

 

All Magicks

Blade

Heavy Armor

Sneak

Armorer

 

Summary, this was the first build I made that is brutally effective, even at hard mode I still slaughter anything, and I did use Falconhurts mod that gives +5 attribute at level for one skill increase, so I didn't have to waste time rationing levels. I combined a solid warrior type minus the block skill, which isn't really needed, its only like 28, and assassin type, and a flawless spell caster in one. I use various types of magic weapons, many lower spell resistance by 100% to fire/frost/shock for 2 secs and 10 fire/frost/shock damage plus soul trap for 2 secs on strike, only 24 charges or so, but I can fill them back easily, and I keep more than one around. My armor is loaded with willpower stat boosts so I can recover magicka faster, and I also have another set that has Chameleon on every part, gets 100% combined with a ring I have. I figured out by accident that you can stack spells ontop of each other, like fortify magicka buffs for example, I keep 6 fortify magicka 100 and willpower+20 for 120 secs, and gave them all something different and added a shield for 1 sec or a light that way they would stack. This allowed me to make some destruction spells that take more than my base magicka to cast and drop even the mightiest foe down in one swift blow. Run up and cut with the weapon with -resist then follow with a touch destruction spell for the finish. Or if they are Liches or enemies with magic reflect, I just run up and hack them to death.

 

I'm thinking of making another character similar in most every way except getting apprentice sign instead of mage, and using bow instead of blade. Bow seems like it could have some potential, magic damage from arrows and from the bow would stack up, and can zoom in, follow up with a ranged destruction spell, I think I'm gonna make this character right now. The -resist for the high elf aren't that bad, find an elemental ring +20% fire/shock/frost resist, almost counters it, Ive gotten them from mythic dawn guys.

[Oruboris]

Frankly, by level 28 most characters can kick the snot out of almost everything if the difficulty is set to medium and you aren't using OOO or other make-it-tougher mods.

 

I usually work around this by adjusting the slider as I go, but a lot of people who spend a lot of time with the game create more RPG type characters that don't worry about power leveling and sometimes limit themselves to a single school of magic, or refuse to use blunt weapons, etc.

 

For classes like you describe, I play Bretons a lot and usually use the thief birthsign for the luck boost.

 

Case you haven't come across this info, the game assumes Luck of 50 is neutral. 40% of Luck below that is subtracted from your other skills [that is, luck of 40 means you loose 4 points out of each skill-- 50 minus 40=10, and 10x40%=4]. And of course, 40% of luck above 50 is added to all your other skills, so a Luck of 60 adds 4 points to everything.

 

So one approach to leveling is to put one point into Luck every level-- called 5-5-1 leveling. The math supports it, if you are looking to make a character that's even more 'Uber', even earlier in the game.

 

If you are going to switch to a bow next time, be warned it will make things tougher: bows are pretty underpowered in Oblivion and concentrating on them will definetly up the difficulty. I'd think about making a custom class with stealth instead of magic-- a sneak attack from a skilled bowman can temporarily paralyze the target.

 

But the great thing about a single player game is that there's no 'wrong' way to play it: some people like big brusing Conan type characters, other little elf girls with a lot of speed and a bad attitude.

 

It is, quite literally, all good.

[Chaosblade02]

Frankly, by level 28 most characters can kick the snot out of almost everything if the difficulty is set to medium and you aren't using OOO or other make-it-tougher mods.

 

I usually work around this by adjusting the slider as I go, but a lot of people who spend a lot of time with the game create more RPG type characters that don't worry about power leveling and sometimes limit themselves to a single school of magic, or refuse to use blunt weapons, etc.

 

For classes like you describe, I play Bretons a lot and usually use the thief birthsign for the luck boost.

 

Case you haven't come across this info, the game assumes Luck of 50 is neutral. 40% of Luck below that is subtracted from your other skills [that is, luck of 40 means you loose 4 points out of each skill-- 50 minus 40=10, and 10x40%=4]. And of course, 40% of luck above 50 is added to all your other skills, so a Luck of 60 adds 4 points to everything.

 

So one approach to leveling is to put one point into Luck every level-- called 5-5-1 leveling. The math supports it, if you are looking to make a character that's even more 'Uber', even earlier in the game.

 

If you are going to switch to a bow next time, be warned it will make things tougher: bows are pretty underpowered in Oblivion and concentrating on them will definetly up the difficulty. I'd think about making a custom class with stealth instead of magic-- a sneak attack from a skilled bowman can temporarily paralyze the target.

 

But the great thing about a single player game is that there's no 'wrong' way to play it: some people like big brusing Conan type characters, other little elf girls with a lot of speed and a bad attitude.

 

It is, quite literally, all good.

 

Yeah everyone has their own different playing style and what they think is fun to play. Lots of people do try and role play certain characters. Compared to that I suppose I'm fairly easily amused and just being content with dungeon hopping, raiding Oblivion gates, killing civilians, fighting the guards etc. And I wasn't aware that luck effected things in that way, ill have to try that out. I did set the bar up to max for my level 28, I never get killed either, even when I'm being ganked by 3 Dremora Kynmatchers and a Xivilav, they die in 2 spells tops. Or I have an area spell that can kill as many targets in 15 ft as I can hit in about 4 hits. I enjoy making the strongest, most balanced character I can make, the first few characters I made I limited them to a certain style, but having a character that can do all of the above sorta makes things kinda fun. Having the option to go for a sneak kill, or to hack someone to death or to pick someone off with a destruction spell sorta keeps things interesting. Sometimes ill enter a dungeon and go for nothing but sneak kills, or ill get my best magic weapon out and just hack everything to death. I'm not really much of a role player.

[jaysus]

jaysus standard build:

 

breton +50% magic resistance rules!!!

thief sign +10 luck + 10 agi!!!

magic - to raise restoration faster

luck and somin else, doesnt really matter

marksman and restoration cause they take so utterly long to level

the rest doesnt really matter and i usually take stuff i dont use much to level slower

 

usually running round with a blade,

interchanging between bow + poison + sneak + light armor(not as main skill) + restoration + illusion (not as main skill)

or heavy armor (not as main skill), destruction, conjuring and even more magic

 

the limited max mana in vanilla sux tho... taking mage isntead of thief can be helpful if one want to create super heavy summon spells

[Oruboris]

All my characters start out different, but end up turning out a lot the same: I'm a generalist, in as much as I like to learn all the weapon classes and magic schools, join everything join-able.

 

I always end up with a lot of speed because I'd rather run places than use fast travel, and absorb health ends up being my primary magic attack, especially as an area effect where you can just stand there getting healthier while half a dozen attackers die...

 

I also love paralyze: the animations for fall down/stand up take the opponents out of the fight for an extra second on each end of the actual spell efffect...

 

And I definetly over-use invisibility. I often clear an oblivion gate without killing any daedra just because its quicker that way.

 

I'm starting to think that if I want to break out of this rut, I'll have to basically have to randomly generate a character... or maybe just re-load OBSE and load up some of the mods that change the whole game.

[David Brasher]

I play a wide variety of characters, but they all tend to have a few things in common:

 

--They spend time to become good alchemists so they can have all the healing potions they want.

 

--They become armorers because it is just too expensive to pay the blacksmith for repairs, and their armor is usually an utter ruin which is about to fall off halfway through a dungeon. An exception would be some of my magic-users who don't wear armor or who don't use weapons regularly.

 

--They generally have an alignment of lawful good, neutral good, or chaotic good.

 

--They don't like enchanted weapons but love enchanted armor, clothes, or jewelry. It is just too much of a pain recharging weapons all the time.

 

--They don't like fast travel. It is really fake in Oblivion. You should have to roll the dice to see if you have encounters, and with all the monsters and bandits roaming Tamriel, I am sure there would be encounters.

 

One thing I enjoy doing, is starting a new character and rolling dice to find out his race, birthsign, and class, I then try to roleplay, and stick with what the dice decided. I try to make the most of my talents, and do the things which that sort of character would naturally do. I permit re-rolls if the dice tell me to play a character just like the last character I played.

[Chaosblade02]

I heard there is someway to charge your magicka back really fast and easy with the atronach sign. Anyone know the details on how to do that? Even considering the potential for picking thief for the luck bonus, the extra magicka from mage or apprentice sign is considerable if you plan to use spells as your primary damage.

[Oruboris]

Theif is the only birthsign that gives you 30 points of bonuses [luck, agility, and speed]-- the rest top out at 20. And since +10 luck [over 50] translates into +4 for all skills [not attributes], the advantage starts to seem almost unfair...

 

But it goes to how you want to play: my biggest issue with Oblivion is that if you leave the difficulty set to the default 50%, the game starts out tough, gets stupid easy. Picking a less advantageous character build is one way of making it interesting.

 

Making a magic user with the Atronach sign would be a little too challenging, for me: I get tired of dieing after a while. But its' great for fighters, since it gives 50% spell absorption, probably enough to heal himself when needed. A mage under Atronach is still going to need to build up willpower, but won't get the advantage of fast magicka regen, which actually matters more to me than total magicka on tap.

 

For mage types, a breton born under the Apprentice gets the same +150 total magika, but his natural resisstance cuts the weakness to magic down to 50%, plus he gets a boost to willpower for faster regeneration, and +10 to inteligence to max that attribute sooner. For me, the 50% weakness is a much easier problem to deal with than the lack of regen.

 

I don't know of any instant way round the Atronach's stunted magicka, except the usual: learn where all the aelyd wells are, and use them; collect welklynd and varla stones [though that isn't really cost effective, and they weigh a lot], learn to make the potions.

 

Oh-- I'd never use enchanted weapons without having Azurra's Star, easily the most important artifact, for me. Until I've done her quest, I usually find an enchanted weapon and use it up, then sell it. Once I have Azurra's star, I close a few oblivion gates and collect the transendent sigil stones that absorb 25 health, apply them to my blade and bow, and carry a dagger with 20 seconds of soul trap. Makes keeping things charged up eazy peazy.

 

A bow with absorb health is the only non-cheat, non-mod way I know of to cause that effect from a distance-- I don't believe you can ever find it as a targeted spell, or on an in-game item.

[Chaosblade02]

Does magicka regen cap out after a certain number in Willpower? I made a bunch of buffs to stack willpower and get it to about 350 or so and it recovers mad fast, I notice a good difference between 250 and 350, and I'm not sure if or when this caps out. Even hard mode is easy if you stack a bunch of fortify magicka 100 and willpower buffs, you can make them last 2 min or so. Just gotta stop and renew the buffs every now and then. I normally don't do that, because it is a bit overkill, but sometimes I do just for fun just because I feel like destroying the Imperial guards. Yeah Azuras star is one of the most useful things you can get in the game, the skeleton key ranks up there too. I actually saw a guide that recommended you give the artifact up for the main quest, I was like whaaaat?

[Oruboris]

I believe Dezidimona reccomends it as the sacrifice item, and she's an Oblivion Goddess-- it just goes to show we all have different playing styles.