[IndorilTheGreat]

So, I have not played Oblivion for a while, as I got Fallout 3 about a year ago, and I played that for a while, and then my computer decided to kick the bucket, and I had to reinstall my OS. I just didn't want to bother with reinstalling Oblivion. And now that I have a new graphics card and shiny 28" monitor, I'm going to reinstall it and play again.

So, I'm here to ask my fellow Nexus members, about creating a new character.

I want a magic based character, but I could never manage to create a sucessful one, because I either a) Got slaughtered by almost everything that was higher than level 10, b) Had to wait until I leveled up to cast certain spells, falling back onto combat for the rest of the game, or c) Getting bored quickly and putting on massive amounts of cheats.

So, I want a character that can use magic well, but fall back to a bit of combat when required.

Any information about race, birthsign and skills would be greatly appreciated.

This is Vanilla, just to let you know. I want to play it through normally before using any mods.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
gman021

[Master Marksman]

The problem with full magic characters was they only really shine till the late game (enemies explode anyone?), because they die pretty fast until you have an array of resist and reflect enchants.

However, what you want is a hybrid. For this, your best bet is probably the jack-of-all-trades: Dunmer/Dark Elf.

They have reasonably rounded stats, but they're too rounded. Not great for anything, but good for anything.

You'll probably want to go something like:

Magic - Strength/Intelligence

Blade - Block - Marksman - Light Armor - Destruction - Conjuration - Choice (Better if its Alchemy)

Choose 'The Thief' Birthsign, because it offers good mobile bonuses, as well as the late-game suited luck bonus.

What you'll have to do is sight the target, blast them with every destruction spell you have, then summon a 'meat-shield' (scamp), then start loading off some of your arrows. When your 'shield' dies, or the target is on really low HP, switch to melee and finish it off. Alternatively, run backwards while shooting until they fall. Your choice.

[Jenrai]

Dammit, thats my build on my Darkie! Well, almost

Yeah, fully agree with the above, excepting one thing ... Alchemy as a main skill is an utter waste of effort (as is any alchemy training) because its oh so easy to level. Unless you're looking to use that in order to level up quickly. Use sneak/security instead.
Come on, as if pottering around the market district laden down with 100s of lbs of stolen goods isn't fun, and you can pretend you're doing it all in the name of levelling up.

Jen

[Sarya]

Sneak is quite easy to level too. Especially with a bit of Illusion and in certain places. As well as almost any magical or armor skill with the exception of Restoration/Destruction (oh yes, Conjuration too, anything you can level anytime you just cast a spell, though mods seem to extend that on all magic skills). I always pick a set of skills "one skill per ability" to easen control over levelling, whether it's 5/5/5 or 5/5/1. Also I would advice not picking as main any skills that level more or less authomatically but slowly, such as Athletics, Acrobatics and Security (and somewhat Armorer). But I do agree that Marksman and Destruction should be primary if you intend to use them.

And well, actually, vanilla magic is a bit... well... not really truly impotent, and universally useful as a secondary addition, but going solely/mostly on magic may waste some neural cells. A small overhaul would be nice, but if you insist in keeping your game virginal for some time, then it's your choice.