Hi guys, new to these forums and just wondering if you guys could help me build my character.

So yeah, it has nearly been a week since the game has been released and I am still having trouble deciding what character I should play, over the past week I have been playing around with a few different character concepts and I have decided that I am going to restart my main character on the weekend, however before that I would like to get a clear idea of where I want my character to go. Now from my understanding the maximum amount of perk points a character can recieve is about 50 and while this does sound like a lot given the amount of perk points that can be sunk into a single skill it really isnt making specializing all the more important. While I do like the idea of having a more specialized character I must admit it is quite hard to break the "Jack of all Trades" character mentaility that one picks up from previous games in the series. What I had in Oblivion was a Warrior that specialized in blades, was sneaky, could pick locks and was good wtih a bow and had a few good spells to augment combat prowess as well as aiding dungeon navigation and sneaking, armour was mostly decided by looks and was sometimes even done away with completely in favor of robes, now obviously I am not going to be able to put perks in all of these (unless I only put a minimal amount of perks into each skill), especially if I want to be able to create and enchant my own weapons and armour.

Now for my main weapon choice I am having trouble deciding between 2 handers (mostly greatswords) and dual wielding, as much as I would love to use a sword in one hand and a destruction spell in the other I think I might be best off ignoring destruction completely (as much as it pains me to do so) and instead going with 2 handers and using shouts in the place of destruction magic. If I do go 2handers though is it worth investing any points in the lower level block perks or is blocking mainly for those with shields? Also if I do use mostly greatswords are the deep wounds perks really worth it?

The ability to pick locks is a must however so far the general consensus seems to be that the lockpicking tree is a waste of perk points, pickpocketing and speech dont strike me as being that useful either so I will probably give them a pass as well unless somebody can give me any reasons as to why they might be considered useful. Sneaking I would probably like a few points in for if I decide to follow the Dark Brotherhood or Theives lines however so far I have not really found anywhere that sneaking has come in particularly useful, especially considering that like Oblivion there doesnt really seem to be anything worth stealing. Is there also an open locks spell in this game? If there is would it be more worthwhile picking that up instead of lockpicking?

As for magic I have yet to find a good list of spells yet however if I decide to put points into a magic school Alteration seems to be the most useful for my needs. If anyone knows where I can find a full list of spells it would be greatly appreciated. Alchemy never really took my fancy however I find it is hard to pass up the ability to create and enchant my own weapons and armour, while which path down the smithing tree I take depends on my armour preference it would seem that in a few armour types such as elvish armour there seems to be both heavy and light variants, and no matter what armour type I choose it would seem that the right hand side will give me access to the best weapons.

As for armour I am reluctant to put skills in one tree or the other due to as I said earlier my armour choice mostly comes down to looks and while I generally prefer lighter armour it would seem to get the most out of the smithing tree it would be wiser to focus on heavier armour, is it worth investing points in an armour skill or can I get by without it?

So as you can see I am a little conflicted in regards to the direction I want to take my character in, does anyone have any advice? What are in your opinion must have perks or skills?

No advice?

the one thing i have learned - let the game determine your skills and not viceverca...just start and look where it leads you...i also planned out in detail several characters with all their skills...but in fact with the character i am playing, i am exactly using 3 skills for 90% of the time, and all other skills for 10%....so why in vest perks in them? just because something sounds good on paper doesnt mean you will actually use it in game... armors are an example - i planned to pretty much max one of the armor trees on all my characters cause they seem so usefull - while in fact i have not one perk in any of the mright now...why? i dont get hit often so i cant level them...my warrior uses block and i rather put points in there, my archer stays away and my mage/assassin vanishes in the dark.... same goes for alteration - alteration has its uses but leveling it is quite hard at least in the beginning....even if you cast oakflesh for every fight it will level slowly....then again just because you use a skill very very often doesnt mean you need to perk it heavily - sneak being a good example, i simply dont need the 5 levels of harder to detec from the sneak tree, cause i dont get detected as it is, so why improve one that?

thats what i want to tell you, the only thing i would think about in the beginning is what kind of damage you want to cause - magic / 1h+shield / 2h or dw or sneak.... and then just go from there and the rest will set itself

good advice, I would however like to state a few things:
1. you can set out to use certain skills, and some like alteration may level slowly for some playstyles but faster for others (mine levels rather quickly)
2. a bit of planning is good, so you don't invest perks in skills you don't end up needing, the advice about just playing and seeing what you use applies very well here

now on the topic of answering your questions:
1. in regards to smithing, the left hand side is viable, in fact the elvish weapons are better than the dwarven weapons, and I have yet to see elven heavy armor, but I also haven't looked for it, and if you did want the daedric weapons, just pick up the perk after dragon armor (it's so late game and difficult to find the materials for anyway)
2. in regards to damage skills, I personally love using 1 handed (1h) + blah (spell, shield, etc...) the damage output is satisfactory and the versatility of the offhand is something great, need healing? boom equip restoration, need to finish an enemy a little faster? equip fire for the damage buff. while I haven't messed around with a shield yet, the enemy using them and from what I've read, they are real lifesavers and if used properly can make you really hard to damage with physical weapons. I have tried dual wielding out a bit, and it does crazy amounts of damage, the power attacks can often kill an enemy outright, or leave them with only a little health left and staggered, so it is definitely viable. Haven't gotten around to using 2h at all yet, so no comments there.
3. pickpocketing is good for at least one thing... extra pockets it's a perk that increases carry capacity by 100, but it does require a bit of investment to reach, you decide if you want to invest in it
4. as far as I know, no open spells, sorry. lockpicking is popular and a few perks would be justifiable to me, namely the core ones (decreasing lock difficulty) as the higher end locks can be just downright frustrating

well that's my 2 cents, hope it helped, but remember it's just a game go out there and have fun, and nemesis did give some really good advice as well, if you can't decide, just play a bit and see what you use.

Hi,

In my opinion, the limiting factor introduced by the small number of perk points (49 points before the soft level cap, ~80 in total if you lvl everything to 100, which becomes VERY difficult after character level 50) makes specialisation all the more important. Creating a god-character (as some may have done in TES Oblivion) who mastered a wide range of skills is no longer recommendable. All skills can be levelled up, but it is perks that define the character and how it must be played to survive. (Assuming you play on hard difficulties, which will punish a jack of all trades. On easier difficulties, their versatility at the cost of effectiveness may go unpunished.)

A character must specialise to survive; otherwise, he will lack the pure strength (in any department) to take out powerful foes. But if he specialises, he will have strengths and weaknesses. The name of the game thus becomes mastering a playstyle that plays to one's strengths and mitigates the weaknesses.

In your case, it sounds like your priority is to be using both hands for offense. Then, you struggle between 2-hand, dual-wield or 1-hand + destruction. You also sound like you'd prefer a warrior type character. In short, I think you should go for 2-handed. Here's why:

Y NO DESTRUCTION: If you try to add destruction magic to the repertoire of a warrior, you will face an impossible conflict of whether to allocate magicka or health/stamina to your character. Ultimately, health/stamina will win out (b/c you're in close combat) and destruction magic will soon become an obsolete part of your offense.

Y NO DUAL-WIELD: This is a less obvious decision. My main reason to say this is that you cannot block while dual-wielding, a drawback if you want to be in close combat. Moreover though, being in close combat you will probably want to invest in Heavy Armour (or you'll die, especially without a shield). Seeing as heavy armour slows your movement, and dual-wield perks increase speed, you'll be using the dual-wield-specific perks only to make up for your own slowness. Not much added value there. A 2-handed weapon on the other hand will have big damage dealing capacity as well, in addition to the added benefit of the weapon-specific perk. It won't suffer from the slowness (and waste points making up for it) because it's intended for slow, BIG hits. Last of all, the dual-wield really comes into its own when daggers are used and the backstab/assassin's blade perks are used to boost sneak attack damage. This won't factor into your warrior-type style. Thus, 2-handed is the way to go.

On to your other queries:

Lockpicking and sneak? Skip them. Lockpicking is not worth it in the long-run (you can pick any lock without the perks anyway) and sneaking... well you're not going to need to sneak if you can kick ass in head-on combat.

Speech? The perks are not game-changing, only handy (so pass it up).

Pickpocketing? A few interesting perks (e.g. dropping poisons on people or increasing inventory size), but also can be passed up in favour of more combat-oriented, productive, game-changing perks. Pickpocketing/speech/lockpicking seem to me to have more of a role-playing utility rather than being truly necessary to any playstyle.

Alteration? Pass it up. If you're a warrior, armour will negate the 'mage armour' perk, meaning you can't get the best out of the mage armour spells. What's left are some nice debilitating spells, but the perk tree is a bit iffy. Stability is a dubitable perk for instance, and the only truly appealing perk is the atronarch magic resistance, which it isn't worth spending so many points on (also, you should have sufficient health as a close combat warrior and the means to dispatch unarmoured mages quickly).

So what then:

Well, we have thus far got 2-handed and heavy armour. They alone found a solid warrior playstyle. Also, not using a shield frees up a LOT of perks in the block tree. You could sink a couple into the block tree for blocking, but here's an argument against: as a two-handed berserker, you hit hard and get hit hard. You want to dispatch enemies faster than they can dispatch you. You choose for offence as the best defence. Hence, blocking is not a major part of your playstyle to survive (use it sure, but don't specialise in it).

Now you have lots of room to play... Armour wise, dig into smithing. Many say daedric armour looks best, in which case you can ignore the light armour perks. However, you might want to get the appealing dragon armour by just maxing out the tree. Of course, smithing is best not for creating the actual armour, but improving it. Specialise in smithing to make your weapons and armour strong enough to complement (in fact, make unstoppable) your warrior-style.

Heavy Armour, 2-handed, Smithing... good stuff already. You have a solid basis. Now you have some more freedom. If it were me, I'd throw in some restoration to help deal with sticky situations. Lastly? Well you said you'd like enchanting. Sink some perks into that and you'll have a solid warrior with AMAZING equipment. It will allow you to plow through mostly anything.

Your style would then be: Get in close (easy with shouts) and annihilate everything in your path. No mercy.

Those are my opinions. I hope they help you in your decision!

I suppose there is wisdom in that, let your playstyle define your skills and not your skills define your playstyle, but surely there are some perks that are more useful than others?

By the way, I might get a lot of flak for this ^ post. I admit I lean towards specialising characters somewhat, and adjusting my playstyle to take advantage of it. To me, it's the essence of RPG combat. For instance, in MMORPG's, PvP was a question of exploiting the opponent's weaknesses whilst minimising your own and countering their attempts to do the same. In normal RPG's, predictable AI's make this chess-game-like battle of minds significantly easier.

I don't mean that mine is a final opinion though, so take it however you like

And if you miss the versatility of jacks of all trades, the different guild experiences etc.... just make more characters! (my solution anyway, I'm going to have a 1-handed board and sword, a C&I Spellsword and a Stealthy Rogue bow/dual wield/alchemy)

By the way, the warrior build I suggest above might be best complemented by an Orc or a Nord. Perhaps a Redguard would be nice too (for the adrenaline rush ability allowing you to spam essential 2-handed power attacks)

Good luck!

Whatever you do, do not make a Wood Elf. It's racial power does nothing, as in it's 100% useless.

My advice would be to lay your burdens to rest and play the game.

You know what type of character you want to play like that and don't obsess over stats.

The game has been designed so that it may be completed by a number of different character types with vastly different skills and abilities.

Let your game be driven by your character and choices rather than the fleeting desire to ape some "uber build" you read about on the internet.

This just forces your character through an un-natural life cycle of boosting and irrational choices.

We live in a digital age and so we are used to knowing everything.

Not knowing "everything" and having an element of uncertainty can seem quite offputting to begin with but give it a try and you may just find you get more out of your game than you ever expected.


Hope that helps.

Azrael
The Nord with the Sword

Nemesis and nohbdy make good points as well, I haven't as much experience as them with the game it sounds and am mostly arguing what works on (my) paper, so take me with a grain of salt . See what the game requires of you, if you don't force the adjustment of your playstyle but instead build your character around what works naturally that is also a good way to go... as long as it works .

You got some great advice here already but I just want to throw my two cents here.

Skyrim is less a role-playing game and more an interactive novel, which really is becoming more and more the way RPG's are designed. Essentially your story is already written, you aren't going to be creating the story, you are simply going to be filling in the blanks, making some moral choices, picking sides and developing your characters style of playing through that story. In as a whole the power game approach simply doesn't work in interactive novels like Skyrim because the game is very easily exploited. Its very easy to create a power build that will quickly get you to the point where you can one shot anything you want and nothing in the game is capable of killing you. Thats not the route to take if you want to enjoy the interactive story that Skyrim presents. Since you aren't maknig any initial choices at the start of the game other than your characters race, my suggestion is simply go with your gut feeling about what feels most natural as you play the game.

For me for example.. I found a sword early on in the game, than I found a second one. I started using the sword and utlimatly became a dual wielder. Unable to block, I needed more defense so I started using heavy armor. I found the absence of healing spells a problem so I started using potions which lead me to alchemy. Dragons became a problem because I couldn't attack them with anything when they where flying around so I started specializing in the bow. And there it was, a dynamicaly created character that just developed on his own. He's not a god, there is stuff that can kill me, I have my vulenrabilities, the game is challenging and I'm simply playing that characters story. I don't sneak around because I wear heavy armor.. so i think of myself as a battlefield warrior, I kick down doors and make a lot of noise.

Next time around I might take a different route, but the point here is that if you plan too much, read into the effects of perks too much and do to much math you will eventually find the exploits and discover that the game is very easily broken with power gaming. I feel sorry for people who have ruined their experiance by approaching this game with that pencil and paper RPG mentality because while it works in some RPG's, interactive novels like Skyrim handle it very poorly. This game is ill equiped to deal with power gaming.

I spent hours planning out a build and it ended up being incredibly dull, started again and I'm playing as something completely different, a Khajiit with Restoration in one hand, War Axe in the other, then Light Armour, Smithing and Enchanting. Having a lot of fun with it so far.

So yeah, just save your perks for a couple of levels, go with whatever you find fun really. I'd say the game was quite easy which is great, since it means you can focus on pretty much any skills that interest you without worrying too much.

Ok thanks for the advice guys, still a bit unsure of where my first character will end up but at least now I have a starting point.

I've been more impressed by dual wielding than 2-handers, but I haven't used weapons that much so can't say with any certainty.

Locks seem perfectly pickable to me without any perks. I haven't done any master locks, but expert locks typically take me half a dozen picks to open. Picks cost me about 5 gold each and have no weight.

I would love to have the high level speech perks to be able to invest in shops, as the merchant gold supply is much more limiting than in any previous TES game (as a mid-level character, after a big dungeon run I have to visit every store in the largest city and a few in a 2nd city to unload all my loot). Unfortunately, there's high speech skill requirements and lots of perk prereqs required to reach it.

The sneak perks look pretty good to me but I have not yet tried them. I have done half a dozen thieves guild quests so far and didn't need that much skill for them.
There are no lock opening spells.

spells: http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Spells
Overall magic looks less versatile and less powerful than in any previous TES game.
The smithing skills tend to be the most powerful skills in Skyrim, particularly in combination with each other.
The only smithing perks that allow construction of both heavy and light armor are "dragon smithing" and "advanced armors".

You can get by without perks in armor skills, if you use the steed stone or use light armor. Heavy armor without the perks or steed stone seems like too much weight to me.


My advice is:
weapon/shield: 1-handed + block OR archery OR dual-wielded 1-handed weapons
crafting: every crafting skill that you don't hate, especially enchanting
magic: conjuration, and possibly a little alteration for the magic resistance perks
thievery: sneak

Wise spoken !
And it's what I was thinking about ! ...
I know, it can be very hard to make desdesicions each time again and again ... desicions
One thing I clearly remember reading the Manual: Perks are just extra's to put into the skills you like most etc ...
Extra's, so all you need to do is play & enjoy the World of Tamriel ! And while doing that, Skill increases follow one after another

Here's my story. Beforehand I struggled hard between Breton and Redguard. I started to play with Redguard + Heavy Armor, but after a while I noticed that it didn't work for me. I created a new character, Breton + Light Armor, and have played it thereafter. The replies above tell that you need to concentrate, that is absolutely true; and the concentration means selecting perks, and e.g. buy training to certain skills to gain perks (if the skill has not developed naturally enough).

Take a look to the Standing Stones. With Heavy Armor, you have basically three options at the beginning: (1) you don't mind the weight; little loot, slow movement, (2) you pay extra attention to Stamina, and use sprinting to overcome the slowness problem, or (3) you go to look for Steed Stone. Heavy Armor eventually gets weightless, but that happens very lately; you need to survive long with your heavy armor.

That was not for me for first game play. Thus, quite quickly I chose a different path. Breton + Lord Stone + Light Armor is a combination, that gives you magic resistance (nice against mages and dragons), and Lord Stone slightly compensates the weaker armor rating. I chose One-Handed + Shield, as I like to have versatile options, when trying out the game.

For ranged attacks, I chose Archery, which I usually use only for first stealth attack before changing to melee. At the moment, the only magic school I am frequently using is Restoration (I have only Novice level spells in use; Healing, Lesser Ward), but I have thought starting to use also Alteration (although I am not putting much perks for those). (Necessary) perks for Sneak I have selected are: Muffled Movement, Deadly Aim (those need two other perks before they can be chosen). For Archery, I have just chosen those basic perks (Overdraw 1, 2, ...). I don't need zooming, I sneak close enough to hit. I don't need much stealth options, as I don't have to get to close range to backstab.

All in all, the character is quite good against mages, but she definitely lacks bare shielding against powerful melee enemies. It is hard to gain natural advancement to Light Armor, as stronger enemies take you down in a few strikes (that is, the fights are usually quite short, few strikes and there is one body, you or your enemy). For these reasons, I have bought training to Block and Light Armor.

I have spent most of the perks (at the moment at level 20) to the bare basics - Armsman for One-Handed, Agile Defender for Light Armor. But for Block, I have chosen differently - just Shield Wall 1, in addition to Quick Reflexes, Deflect Arrows and Power Bash. I think that Deflect Arrows was sort of a mistake. When in fight, you really cannot use your shield to take arrows shot to your back. When you have only archers left, you rush to your opponent as quickly as possible, and thus you don't usually block, but dodge. Initially, I was thinking to get Elemental Protection perk, but at the moment I think that I don't take it: Ward is just good enough, when you are dealing with spellcasters (as you don't usually need shield with them).

I really want to explore the crafting skills as far as I can, so my character will not be The Ultimately Most Powerful One, instead she will remain perishable and the game probably maintains the challenge long time, although I don't know it yet.

- - -

EDIT: One important note! You need Smithing perks ONLY to CREATE certain types of armors and weapons. You can improve any type of armor or weapon, just if you have the raw materials (and enough points in Smithing).

Wow I can't read or write that much O.O

My advice is to not underestimate sneak because of the past games (it was very difficult to get into melee range without being detected in previous titles).

My first character of choice was a sneaky rogue type and once you get some perks to sneaking, you really do end up being like a shadow (I've stood directly in front of enemy npcs within a couple steps and they had no clue). This makes it very easy to the perked 15x (30x with gloves) ambush attack with daggers. The 100 sneak perk essentially makes you vanish when you're spotted or in the middle of a fight as well and the cinematic stealth kills they added to the game are very nice and worth mentioning as a big +.

I don't know if you would like that type of play style, I just wanted to make sure you didn't overlook how powerful sneaking is compared to the past games.

Yeah, Sneaking is great and I haven't yet put a point in a Perk for Sneaking ! ! but combined with a bow mostly 1 shot and killed !

But thanks to speak of the Perks for Sneaking ... I've now 3 perks left, so ...

Like others have said, let your play style determine your build... However a few things should be said to go along with that.

1. Whatever you start using in the beginning will more than likely end up being what you stick to.. So, with that in mind, experiment as early as you can with the different skills.

2. Don't waste perks, and don't over-specialize in one particular area, unless that's a type of character your trying to build.

3. Keep versatility in mind. Not only for combat's sake, but so you have variety and viable options on how to play the game.. Playing as nothing but a sword & board warrior will get dull eventually.

4. Smithing is awesome stuff.. But be damned sure you get the Daedric gear perk, unless you have some personal hatred towards the best weapons and heavy armor in the game.. Dragonscale armor is the best light armor to my knowledge.. Hate the way it looks though.