Races

[Nunda]

If I play a race with low Intelligence and wisdom but pick mage things for the character and play as a mage, am I gimping myself? or will it only make the beginning hard because you can quickly level up your stats to sute a mage, or will it be fine because early spells are hard to find and you can effectively use melee until you bluster your spell list and at that point you'll have good mage stats, or are all my theories wrong?

[TheCalliton]

mages are best done with

high elves

bretons

or dark elves

 

BUT you can use any race

those are just th ebest for mages

 

i myself like argonians for a battle mage

[Retribution]

Female argonians are good at being mages.

[Crimsanity]

Meh. You're gimped for the first few levels, which are a little harder, but you're normally gimped anyway by lack of good spells. After gaining a few levels and some decent spells, it begins to balance out. As such, I tend to just pick whatever race I feel like playing from the start.

[dezdimona]

it makes it a little harder at first but as you gain levels the ability to cast really good damage and or healing spells far outweighs the beatings you'll take at the lower levels

[gpstr1]

If I play a race with low Intelligence and wisdom but pick mage things for the character and play as a mage, am I gimping myself? or will it only make the beginning hard because you can quickly level up your stats to sute a mage, or will it be fine because early spells are hard to find and you can effectively use melee until you bluster your spell list and at that point you'll have good mage stats, or are all my theories wrong?

Broadly-- over the long term, the races that appear to be the best for a particular class are actually not, and the ones that appear to not be the best actually are. You actually gimp yourself more (again, in the long run) by choosing the race that seems to make the most sense-- not the one that seems to make the least.

 

In your example-- if you choose, say, a Breton for your mage character, then s/he starts with relatively high numbers for intelligence and willpower and relatively high magicka, which seems perfect for a spellcaster. The problems though are:

 

1) S/he will have lousy numbers for endurance and strength, and thus low hit points, encumbrance and fatigue.

2) You'll be using your magic skills the most, so you'll be increasing intelligence and willpower the most, and since s/he already has high numbers for those attributes, you'll max out sooner.

3) S/he will get killed in a hurry by anyone who makes it through his/her spells with a melee weapon, since s/he will have lousy fighting skills.

 

The only way to compensate for those weaknesses is to go out of your way to train fighting skills and thus raise endurance and strength, and you generally have to play out of character to do that, which spoils the immersion.

 

If, however, you pick something like a Nord or a Redguard for your mage, then you start out with probably all the fighting skills, strength and endurance you're ever going to need, so you never need to worry about deliberately training those things. Yes, you'll start out with relatively low numbers for magic skills and for intelligence, willpower and magicka (though you can bump them up a good ways by carefully picking favored attributes and birthsign), so yes, you'll have a bit of a hard time for the first few levels, but the thing is that those are the skills and attributes you'll be using the most anyway, so they'll go up in a hurry. By the time you've gone up a few levels, you'll have plenty of magic skills and the appropriate attributes AND you'll have more strength and more endurance, and thus more hit points, more encumbrance and more fatigue than one of the theoretically more appropriate races. In the long run, you'll be a stronger character-- not a weaker one.

 

This works especially well with spellcasters, since raising most of your magic skills (and thus your intelligence, willpower and personality) is just as easy as standing somewhere and casting a simple spell (bound helmet or minor life detection or starlight or protect) over and over. At lower levels, you can cast them enough times to level up with nice bonuses in a few hours of game time, which is only a few minutes of real time. The only schools that doesn't work with are restoration and destruction, because both require that the spells actually accomplish something. For instance, you only get points toward your restoration skill if you cast heal minor wounds when you're actually wounded, and only get points toward destruction if you cast flare (for instance) on a creature that then suffers damage.

 

It also works nicely with fighters though, which is why I favor Breton fighters. I'll put one of my Breton fighters up against a Nord or a Redguard any day of the week, just because he not only has comparable numbers for all the fighter skils and attributes but has MORE useful magic and higher magic resistance. In the long run, a Breton with maxed fighter skills will ALWAYS be a tougher opponent than, say, a Nord with maxed fighter skills, just as a Nord with maxed magic skills will be a tougher opponent than a Breton with maxed magic skills.

 

That's the truth.

[Nunda]

Thank you, you've all been very helpful! :D

[usernamesux]

Stats and skills for any race (endurance, intelligence, destruction, illusion etc) will always end at 100. This is the same for any race, and is your gaol and cap. In other words, by end game all characters will have identical skills and all, regardless of race.

 

The only things that alter gameplay for races are the racial powers, the ones to keep an eye on are ones that give bonuses to magicka (bretons, high elves), and ones that give weaknesses (high elf, they have a few). So, a high elf and breton may have 100 intelligence (end game), the high elf will have more magicka, but the breton will not suffer the penalteis the high elf does.

 

Birth signs can also boost magicka, but are you willing to trade the bonus magicka with penalties for maximum magikca, or will you settle for a lesser magikca and no penalties.

 

Certain race/birth sign combos will always have more magicka, thus be able to cast better spells that require more magicka. Any and all races though, by end game will have mastered all aspects from weilding a sword to casting a spell. The difference is how you choose to get there, the race/character is just a means of getting there. So, all things being equal (mostly), just choose a race your happy with.

[wasder]

If you read the guide booklet that comes with the game it encourages you to go with what you think is cool rather than try to go for the best possible character. I advise you read it.

[Nunda]

to the above post (the quote button seems to not be working) I wish I had the booklet. I have allot of basic questions that I have to look up online. but thank you.