Seeking suggestions for low-level play

[ElricOfGrans]

I recently got a brand-spanking new PC after going a decade without upgrading and immediately began trying out the games I missed in that time. On recommendation, I picked up Oblivion (GOTY) and was immediately very impressed. I kept finding niggles with the game, however, and started adding mods to fix them. Because I had never played an Elder Scrolls game before, I was also very unsure on what kind of character to create, so I kept scrapping my characters after 5-10 levels when I found them not working how I had anticipated (I kept using the standard classes to get a feel for which combination of primary skills I liked). As a result, I now have a *very* non-vanilla game (approx 160 mods) and have done all the low-level content (that I know of) multiple times.

 

Now, I know the first thing someone reading this will think is `but, the game scales: everything is low-level!'. Francesco's was one of the first mods I installed, which is something I am finding makes it a little difficult for me to judge things (since I have no idea what the new upper/lower limits it sets on the scaling are). I also recently installed Mart's, which has been giving me some very interesting match-ups. I run a full set of survival mods (hunger, thirst, sleep, bathing, realistic fatigue), have race/birthsign rebalancing (Cobl) and use Realistic Leveling (which seems to conflict with something else I am running, as every now and then it jumps me forward 10 levels and I need to reload an older save). I run Supreme Magica and LAME (loaded in that load order), Duke Patrick's archery and Choices and Consequences. The other mods I run have no significant effect on play (eg Better Cities, Let There Be Darkness, etc). I installed The Lost Spires, as it sounded interesting, but it sounds like it is more for mid-level characters.

 

Another thing that is hurting me now is that the build I finally set on was a Ranger (using the Shadow Ranger mod, with a custom class). I have been role-playing it, roaming the forests each day, sniping any evil I find, then returning to the Enchanted Druid Treehouse each night to eat/drink/sleep. The crafting added by MMM is perfect for this kind of character too, though I have not yet found enough material to make many things. I finally have a character a like, but a character who avoids civilisation is becoming very samey very quickly (I am running out of forest to explore, and the repetition of my daily activities is not leading to any new challenges or interesting loot). I could add some dungeon crawling, but I grew bored of that with one of my other characters (because I foolishly did NOTHING but dungeon crawls with them, and got bored of never finding any interesting loot).

 

What should a low-level character with Francesco's/Mart's be doing (I understand Oblivion Gates are painful at low levels with these mods, so I have avoided the main quest)? Are there any quests (vanilla or mods) that would be appropriate for this kind of character? Alternatively, should I scrap this concept and try to make a less antisocial character to enjoy some low-level content elsewhere in the game? I tend to always have this difficulty with sandbox games: I am always too busy exploring to find the content!

[GrailQuest]

What should a low-level character with Francesco's/Mart's be doing (I understand Oblivion Gates are painful at low levels with these mods, so I have avoided the main quest)? Are there any quests (vanilla or mods) that would be appropriate for this kind of character? Alternatively, should I scrap this concept and try to make a less antisocial character to enjoy some low-level content elsewhere in the game? I tend to always have this difficulty with sandbox games: I am always too busy exploring to find the content!

 

After reading your post, I'm still not clear what you are really asking for.

It sounds like you are looking for something to do in Oblivion that is either appropriate for low-level play, and/or will keep you at a low-level.

 

(a) Depending on your play style, there really is no "low-level" play because even at a low level, depending on your skills and willingness to do cheesy things, you can dish out literally hundreds or even thousands of points of damage with alchemy and magic. It just depends on how desperate you are and what resources you have or are prepared with.

 

(b) If you are talking about advancement rate, you can rebuild your character occasionally (just using the console to choose profession or race again is one way to reset your character). Once you have rested or avoided areas long enough, the world will reset to your current level.

 

© You can also keep your character at a low level by changing the advancement rate. Since you are using Realistic Leveling, you can try their advancement race slow-down feature, which has pre-calculated values to use for 5x slowdown or 10x slowdown.

 

My Oblivion mods and reviews

My Oblivion Screenshots

fantasy-art.tel

[ElricOfGrans]

Oh, I am not looking to STAY low-level, just for things to do while I AM low-level.

 

I am not a power gamer, so we can rule-out any and all cheesy combos or anything else that makes it possible for a level one character to do anything and everything in the game. Appropriate questing under normal conditions, with a fairly straight-forward, no-tricks character, no flashy resources or `god items'. I am running survival mods after all: that is not the kind of player who tends to do such things ;) I typically make unoptimised, inefficient characters, so likely I have done the same here. I understand Francesco's mod puts minimum levels on many spawns, so there would clearly be areas I cannot hope to play in, while other mods I have (eg Choices and Consequences) put other restrictions in play that also keep many characters out during low-level play (eg my no magic ranger has no hope of joining the Mage's Guild).

[minutegold]

How about a little pilgrimage? Try to find a wayshrine for each god, all thirteen Doom Stones, all seven Heaven Stones, or all fifteen Daedra shrines.