Magic-combat hybrid!

Oh god, you can pick different races in Oblivion games?  Im gonna go into this game not knowing what Im doing....

Guess I'm going altmer for some maging

@Adamsons: Damn, that guy does look like Drogo!

Anyway, I myself am not interested in the skills and bonuses, since you can usually play however you like without much of a setback in these games. Instead I'm thinking of stories for characters and how they look. Right now I'm thinking about a Dunmer since the events in Morrowind after the Oblivion Crisis would make a good story, but I'm also interested in an Altmer due to a preset face I saw and am currently really digging.

@AndrewB: @Adamsons said:

@AndrewB said:

Hey, do you want to be a mage? Why would you play any race besides Altmer?

That's one thing I never liked about The Elder Scrolls. You have 4 races that are built almost exclusively for combat and only one worth choosing for building a "power" mage.

Though I'm not a power player. I usually choose Argonian for my first time through. Argonian + spear in Morrowind really helped with under-leveled combat because I could leap on top of something and attack with the reach of a spear and cheese the toughest of enemies.

50 Magicka wont be a huge deal imo, the only thing that is absurd is the Orc racial. Sure is a definite advantage for min-maxers though, indeed.

I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about it though, I will probably still roll a Dunmer Thief just because I like the race.

@TheMasterDS

Dunmer get +10 destruction. Edit - Updated with stat bonuses.

Even the races built for combat have stat bonuses and skill sets that make them better suited for certain types of combat. I haven't spent as time as I would have liked to with Morrowind yet, but even to me it's clear that it looks like the Orcs seem geared toward being tanks and the Nords more for heavy damage based on this list. This goes for the magic users, too, as it seems like at least two of them are better for damage and the others are better for other things.

Full racial sounds dirty.

I'm glad that the different races are truly distinct and all have at least one thing good going for them.

Dunmer, once again I'll be a sneaking, stabby, spellslinger.

Hmmmm. A little sad the Kahjit i had planned was duel weilding and i am not sure how good Kahjit claws might be vs what other races get. Otherwise everything fits for what i want. Granted it still no impossible. just not Optimal. I probs break optimal classes all the time. Still have fun.

Wait. Is it just me or has the Dunmer fire resistance been gimped? Wasn't it a 100% fire resistance in the past? I swear I remember it being crazy; standing on fire had no effect on me.

Eh... this stuff is sort of silly. I never really find myself using the racial 'once a days' and the 10 and 5 point bonuses don't mean much after playing 30+ hours. I think people are best off choosing the class that is most appealing to them. Nothing stops you from being a Nord mage other than it being a little tougher in the beginning.

@HatKing: Nope, it was never 100%. It was 75%, which is still pretty extreme.

Nord. I'm of Norwegian ancestry and have always loved Viking lore and history.

Humans only here. I hate orcs and Kajits and argonians. When i get strong enough, the game will just turn into a genocidal spree.

@Moonshadow101: Was that it? Still, that's a pretty good bonus to get.

Orc Racial = totally unbalanced in all ways. If you are a melee fighter Orc is the only choice for any munchkin bar none.

Imperial .... you can charm people but you get no bonus to speech craft???

Nord.... gets a bonus to speech craft???? WHAT?!?!?! Have you ever talked to a Nord in one of these games? "Hail I am bear claw I am called that because I kill bears and wear their claws, I also have no pants on!"

Mage whiners.... Breton's are still solid. Remember they have the once a day majicka absorption which is better than any cheesy simple plus 50 any day.

Remember that the game is Skyrim. It takes place in Skyrim. The Nords are the people who are going to be most acquainted with the local customs, and are going to be the one who know how to behave. It's not unreasonable that they'd be the Speechcraft race in this game.

The Imperial method of "Speechcraft," which probably consists of some very proper etiquette with bowing and curtsying and such, probably doesn't work as well in Skyrim as it did in Cyrodiil.

So tempted to read... But I'm on a self-imposed specifics-blackout until launch.

Arrrrg, but I am sorely tempted. Better play some Dark Souls to purge the system.

snip.

@Karkarov said:

Nord.... gets a bonus to speech craft???? WHAT?!?!?! Have you ever talked to a Nord in one of these games? "Hail I am bear claw I am called that because I kill bears and wear their claws, I also have no pants on!"

Congratulations, you've just given me a premise for my second character - a Nord who has sworn to never wear pants ever again.

Also since I've been thinking my 2nd character would be best as a loud obnoxious warrior, I've been thinking my Wizard should, instead of knowing Kung Fu, know some stealth to do the stealthy missions along the way and have been leaning more towards Dunmer than Imperial as time gos on. Maybe he could also know Kung Fu, I don't know where the Hand-To-Hand skill ended up getting folded into so I have no idea.

And none of it matter, because in the end I will reign as the stat-max Elder Dragon God of Skyrim.

FUCK YES, I was torn between Orcs looking awesome and Bretons being broken...but I guess Bretons are balanced now.

So Orc it is!

I'm thinking Orc for a warrior class, and Argonian for a stealth build.

@TheMasterDS: Dude seriously, play Morrowind and Oblivion again. I could swear to god that is almost a 100% match for what some of the nords you meet in game say to you the first time you meet. Hell I probably made them sound more eloquent than usual.

Aww yea, extra monies for the Imperials. Like a boss.

This thread is racial.

Hm. Greater powers still seem kind of crappy, unfortunately.

Im stuck between Breton Altmer and Nord. On the one hand the Nord is native to skyrim but I love me some magic

I initially wanted to play as a Nord, but an Imperial sounds mighty tempting.

I want to play as an Elf of some sort but I don't know which one!

I'm thinking Dark Elf.

Always be Nording

Khajit sounds pretty bad compared to the other races. Boosted unarmed damage, when unarmed most likely will be pretty useless compared to weapons. And a 60 sec night eye spell.

I'm liking the look of the Argonian racials for my sneaky sneaky dude

@abara said:

that's racialist

first comment...beat me to it

@gike987 said:

Khajit sounds pretty bad compared to the other races. Boosted unarmed damage, when unarmed most likely will be pretty useless compared to weapons. And a 60 sec night eye spell.

From the wording of Eye of the Night's description, it may be that Khajiit have native, weak night eye all the time, and their greater power simply gives them more powerful night vision. It's probably just poor wording, though.

Main reason to be a Khajiit will probably end up being aesthetic preference.

I plan on being a stealth character, so I'll likely be an Argonian or Khajilt.

@gike987 said:

Khajit sounds pretty bad compared to the other races. Boosted unarmed damage, when unarmed most likely will be pretty useless compared to weapons. And a 60 sec night eye spell.

From the wording of Eye of the Night's description, it may be that Khajiit have native, weak night eye all the time, and their greater power simply gives them more powerful night vision. It's probably just poor wording, though.

Main reason to be a Khajiit will probably end up being aesthetic preference.

I'll probably be a Lizardman yet again for my sneaky build, despite the fact that neither of those passive bonuses are that great and the active ability seems at best like a panic button. That Orc power however... holy crap.

Worst race looks to be Khajiit. Bonus unarmed damage and night eye? Please. Bosmer doesn't look that great either.

@Adamsons said:

@cesson said:

@Adamsons: Is it correct that the Bosmer only have 4 "secondary" skills? All the others have 5.

Will look into this.

Edit - Bosmer was missing light armor, fixed.

@emergency : That is pretty neat. Do you mind if I add to the OP?

Go for it duder. This thread and all the talk about racials make me hope I enjoy this game enough to play about 3 characters.

I want an elf ranger, a nord warrior and a imperial mage.

Looks like I'll roll with the Imperial again. I did that in Oblivion and did sort of a half magic/half combat sort of guy.

Dunmer: FLAME ON!

If only they provided Kinect support.

Also, that screenshot looks more like the dude from Planescape Torment

Hope Altmers look cool in this game.

I think that I will play as a Kajiit for my first play through. I played as one in Oblivion, and I had an absolute blast stealing things I didn't need. By the end of the game I had a key to everyone's house in the game that you could get a key to. No real reason, it was just fun. Hopefully I could get my magic up high enough to use the occasional illusion spell. I am kinda tempted to roll Dunmer for this, but that will be second or third play through.

Orc racial is hilariously over-powered compared to the others. Compensation for being an ugly green gorilla?

Important Q: Do all the dragons in Skyrim breathe fire, or can it be frost or lightning, etc? Also, that 25% magic resistance just against spells, or breath, is dragon breath a spell? Getting close to this game and going down the rabbit hole for real.