*note, the following post is very depressing and WILL cause you to face palm multiple times.

Ok guys. So, I've had the game since 11/11/11. And, I haven't made a character I can stick with yet. For about three months. I've done the start of the game so many times I can quote the people word for word.

It would appear I have a VERY bad case of restart-itis. I've been planning to make a Dunmer thief since about march of last year, and... various things hinder me.

• I cannot, to save my life, make a Dunmer who doesn't look like: A) a crack head b. a pyschotic hit man, or C) a vulcan. (those eyebrows...)
  
• I can't seem to make a decent theif build to save my life either (gods I hate the lockpicking perks so much)

Guys... advice, help, support, comforting words (ANYTHING). I think I'm slowly going mad...
*by the way, console player... mods cannot save me

Max out sneak, take either Archery or One-Handed, Light Armor ( every perk but the 10% damage one), Alchemy

Yeah, Dunmer are ugly in this game. I think there might be some youtube videos about making some decent faces for them.
As for thieveing, I am coming across so few locks, its hard to gain levels in lockpicking, unless I want to visit a trainer. I miss Open spells. I've done hardly any pickpocketing, and have no real plans to join the Thieves Guild.

I'm actually playing the exact build you got right now (dunmer thief). I must agree, it's hard getting those dunmers to look right, they just look darn right evil! Hang in there with the character creation, try out some mods! Mods really help.

As for the build, I don't think it's very hard to make a good thief build. I mean, mainly you'd have sneak, archery and you might add one-handed in there. You could just ignore the lockpicking entirely. Sneak is enough on its own for the thief-y side (oh and I stop choosing perks in sneak for a while when my sneak skill is over 80, just so I'm not overpowered too much). Oh and you could also try spicing up your build like what I'm doing: adding in illusion for the spell "calm", "muffle" or "invisibility". (Or Alteration for detect life/dead) Adding a little bit of magic when your sneak skill is high really makes the game much more interesting, for me at least.

Hope this helps! Enjoy the game!

You'll find a host of savegame files at Skyrim Nexus

> Files Menu / Catagories / Saved Games

About 650 Builds there for you to choose from

Lockpicking perks are highly optional. Stick to your primary weapon, sneak, and a crafting skill or two.

If Dunmer isn't working out, try another race. I don't like the looks of the Dunmer, either, so I made a Nord thief and an Altmer for a mage. Argonian, Bosmer or Khajiit make good thief characters as well.

I know but... the Dunmer have been my favorite race since Daggerfall... it like a screwed up mental attachment...

This happened to me in Oblivion, I think I restarted about 12 times because I thought I made the wrong character. I solved this by going with my gut and choosing randomly! Kidding, you should search on google they have a lot of builds around the internet. GOod luck

Problem with the way they are looking? Eh, I can agree on the same subject. Always tend to spend an hour or two tweeking the facial features.

All I could recommend is messing around with it to get the look you want, though it seems to be more complicated this time around.

Easy fix... make female DUNMER THIEF. They look better.

If you have to go male... make sure complexion is far left and no dirt... also be very careful about eyeliner and brow/cheek coloring.

You should skip Whiterun all together and head to Riften and join the Thieves Guild. Take their quests till you level up enough to make you feel like a decent thief. One thing to note is that it's quite easy to level up thief skills without having to be around hostiles.

Frank, I agree with you--I tried making a male Dunmer the other day (I like a good challenge ) and was frustrated with the harsh features. All the mouths seemed to be shaped with the corners going down which is very unflattering and the forehead is hideously misshaped. I can make a http://i42.tinypic.com/167qcxw.jpg to my satisfaction but gave up and deleted the Dunmer. <------- note the Dunmer mouth on this emote


waswintermane

I agree. That's what I ended up doing making http://i41.tinypic.com/1scr3t.jpg

My best advice is to devote a day off to create a character:

Manually save the game once you are about to be called forward so you don't have to restart the ride-in sequence every time btw.

Make a character, spend a couple of hours if you need to in order to make everything just how you want it. Leave the game for an hour or so without seeing your Dunmer; watch T.V. while you wait or get things done like tidy the house.

Check back with your character after the hour is up and you will notice you went a little crazy on certain features. Change those, rinse and repeat until you do not recognize anythign you are less than perfectly happy with.

I restarted the game a lot too and it was awful how much time I wasted just creating characters.

The only thing easy to make look good are Nords, Orcs (relatively speaking, I mean, they are Orcs), and the Beast races.

Yesterday I made a breton and for the life of me that bastard looked ugly as hell after I finished, so I did what I described above about 4 times and I made the most attractive character I have ever seen in any character creation I have ever used.

That is a masterful job btw.

Thanks, Daryn Mercio, I've been meaning to share some screenies of them in the character screenshot thread--I love seeing other players characters, too.

I used to be like this but then I just said F@CK IT and now I always play the default preset for each race. If I edit myself I always have in the back of my mind "that nose is to big for his face" and "its not too late to restart but it will be soon"

Do yourself a favour, make an orc instead

It's definitely not impossible to make a good-looking Dunmer. I made one after about an hour in character creation. He's got a mohawk and goatee and looks pretty badass.