New

[agentile]

Good evening,

 

I've just downloaded the game from Steam and I've installed a few mods and I can't help but be struck with how overwhelming it all is. So I have a few questions for those Oblivion veterans to answer.

 

(*) I've just installed the Rens mod for the Mystic Elf race and it looks fantastic. What other mods would you recommend to improve the appearance of the characters?

(*) I've also installed the HGEC Body mod. Are there any other mods you would recommend to improve that further? maybe some texture mods?

(*) What world mods would you recommend to improve the textures?

 

(*) With the game itself I'd like to create a Mystic Elf but what classes are most suited to that race? does it even matter?

(*) I would like my first character to be either a warrior or archer type, could you recommend any builds for me? and what is the most effective?

 

Any other tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

 

Thank you.

[Myriss]

What world mods would you recommend to improve the textures?

Qarls Texture Pack III

 

 

Visuals and Graphics

Beside "Files" and "Pages", there should be a section called "Organise".

 

Click "Name" and change it to "Downloads", and click "Asc" to "Desc" and press "Go", and the Visuals and Graphics section will be reordered in number of downloads.

 

With the game itself I'd like to create a Mystic Elf but what classes are most suited to that race? does it even matter?

There aren't really noticeable advantages. It's best to create a custom class anyway, so your skills can suit your needs (of course, you don't want your major skills to all be skills you use, else you'll level too quickly).

Edited April 29, 2011 by Myriss

[okappa]

(*) I've also installed the HGEC Body mod. Are there any other mods you would recommend to improve that further? maybe some texture mods?

 

First make sure you have OBMM, then get EVE's mod here. It will change female clothes to properly fit the HGEC bodies and be more attractive. As for textures, I wouldn't know. I don't really play nudity mods, I mostly use the aforementioned mod to just make girls look better. And believe me, it does. :)

 

(*) What world mods would you recommend to improve the textures?

 

I don't know why this isn't on tesnexus, but Qarl's Texture Pack makes the environment look delicious.'

 

EDIT: Oh, you already said this. :3

 

(*) I would like my first character to be either a warrior or archer type, could you recommend any builds for me? and what is the most effective?

 

The two don't really combine well, so the builds will be different based on a number of things.

 

For a Warrior, pretty much any non-elven, non-beast race works. Orcs, Redguards, and Nords make good non-magical warriors, if that's what you're into. For an archer, Bosmer (Wood Elf) is hands-down the best, but you can also use Dunmer (Dark Elf,) Khajiit, and male Argonians effectively (yes, stat bonuses differ from male to female.) Especially if you want to use swords along with your bows as a marksman, you might prefer Dunmer over Bosmer.

 

Sadly, Imperial is pretty much the worst race in every regard, but since they're universally not great you can still play pretty much any role EXCEPT archer with them. It's not as tough as, for example, trying to play a paladin role with a Khajiit (whose stats, with -10 to both Willpower and Endurance, will deliberately get in the way of that strategy.)

 

Your sign should either be The Warrior (for a warrior :wallbash:) or The Thief (for an archer.)

 

Now for the tough part -- class. First of all, vanilla Oblivion has a leveling system that many would describe as "f**kin horrible." If you don't like that, you should download a mod called Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, which changes the game in a ton of great ways, and makes it so that you can actually specialize in your MOST used skills, not your least favorites. But OOO makes the game harder too, so if you use it, don't be adverse to turning the difficulty down 5-10 notches so you don't die all the time. :)

 

In vanilla Oblivion, builds take a lot of thought. When you level major skills 10 times, you level up. But since the enemies level with you, this is bad if you aren't getting good enough stat boosts. Since stat boosts are determined by skill leveling, you need to make sure you have minor skills which you'll use frequently that are related to the stats you want. What you want to do when picking major skills is choose ones that you don't expect to use much, but which will upgrade the stats that you want. The exception to this is the skills that take ages to level, such as Restoration or your preferred weapon. I would say there's no danger in having Blade or Heavy Armor as a major skill, for example, but then you'd want to keep Block as a minor skill so that you can level Endurance by defending a lot. Or as a Marksman, for example, since you'll be Sneaking a lot and Sneak levels quickly, having Sneak as a major skill could be suicidal -- keep it minor, and you'll gain Agility like a beast. Aside from your primary weapon and armor skills, you'll need to make sure to make your other major skills things you don't expect to use frequently, but that it would be nice not to have to level as much (Alchemy and Acrobatics are common choices, for example.) The biggest, worst mistake you can make is making ALL the skills for a certain stat Majors -- that way, if you're coming up to a level and you don't think you got enough in a certain stat, you can't use the minor skill to pump that stat a bit.

 

In OOO, it's much more intuitive. Your major skills can be whatever you think you'll use most and things that will pump your stats better, since enemies no longer level with you. Of course, the downside is that now you'll have a lot of trouble with weaker enemies at the beginning. :confused: I recommend trying vanilla Oblivion's system first, and then switching to OOO if you don't like it.

 

As for which skills are controlled by which stats, I think it says it on the selection screen. Otherwise, it's in the game manual.

 

Whichever way you go, a Warrior will like Strength, Endurance, and Willpower. A Marksman wants Agility and Speed, and probably some Luck (which you can't actually deliberately pump -- it can only be raised by one every level, but if you specialize in it and keep the Thief birthsign, it will begin at a nice 65.) You could also put Strength on a Marksman if you plan on using a blade in tandem with the arrows.

Edited May 1, 2011 by okappa

[agentile]

Gosh by just reading that it seems like a horrible system but I will give it a go. It looks like I might need to start fresh too.

 

(*) Can you give me a build example to follow?

(*) When I level do I just want to concentrate on three attributes for example strength, endurance and willpower?

[okappa]

When you level, yes, it's best to concentrate on three attributes in the beginning. Ideally, you'll want to get +5 in each of those attributes every level (meaning 30 skill increases total, 10 for each stat. Or, with a Luck build, 20 increases, since no skill relates to Luck.) If you can't do this, then you should at least be sure to get +5 in the most important skill (Endurance for Warrior, Agility for Marksman.)

 

Alright, this post'll take some time since I pretty much always play mage and thief characters.

 

I've never actually made a solid Warrior in Vanilla so I can try but other users might have a better one.

 

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Defensive Warrior (Vanilla)

Race: Orc or Nord

Sign: The Warrior (or, alternately, the Atronach if you want to focus on magic resistance. Both are good.)

Specialization: Combat

Preferred Stats: Strength and Endurance

Stats to level: Strength, Endurance, Willpower/Luck

 

Major Skills:

Blade/Blunt (Strength, main weapon. Redguards and Nords should go Blade because it's universally better, but an Orc will prefer blunt.)

Heavy Armor OR Block (Both are endurance -- Two-handed weapon users should go Armor, while anyone using a shield will need Block.)

Armorer (Endurance, making it major will allow you to fix enchanted items sooner)

Athletics (Speed, but it levels slowly and without it you'll be ridiculously slow)

Alchemy (Intelligence, levels slowly and allows you to make your own health potions)

Restoration (Willpower, levels incredibly slow and is obviously useful)

Mercantile or Illusion (Mercantile helps you get more gold, Illusion lets you pull off some interesting tricks)

 

Notable minor skills:

Heavy Armor or Block (whichever you didn't choose will be pumping your Endurance)

Blade/Blunt and Hand to Hand (can be used in a pinch to make sure you got enough Strength)

 

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Pure Marksman (no Blade)(vanilla)

Race: Bosmer

Sign: The Thief

Specialization: Stealth

Preferred Stats: Agility and Luck

Stats to level: Agility, Speed, Luck

 

Major Skills:

Marksman (Agility, main weapon)

Light Armor (Speed, needs to be a major skill because you shouldn't be getting hit too often anyway.)

Alchemy (Intelligence -- in this case, you're using this skill to make poison for your arrows, not potions.)

Acrobatics (Speed, allows some useful maneuvering skills)

Illusion (Personality, lets you do incredibly useful things like become invisible mid-fight. Can allow you to avoid ever playing close-range.)

Restoration (yeah, pretty much every build has this as a major skill. Alteration is another option if you don't plan on using this, but...)

Mysticism (allows you to Detect Life, reflect damage, and recharge your own enchanted items.)

 

Notable minor skills:

Sneak (You'll be doing this all the time, and it will influence your Agility so much that you're pretty much guaranteed to get +5 there.)

Security (Also pumps Agility -- since lockpicking is a rather simple minigame, you don't actually need this skill for any reason.)

Conjuration (Being able to summon tanks will help in a few situations, but it levels very quickly, so it should stay minor.)

Athletics (very natural Speed increase)

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Keep in mind that neither of the builds above is designed to be the "greatest possible character ever." They should just allow you to gain favorable stats while playing naturally, rather than obsessing over controlled leveling.

 

And like I said, I almost always play as a thief. I probably did a much better job on the archer build than the warrior one. :/

Edited May 2, 2011 by okappa