Advice for a noob

[bishopoz]

just after some advice , this is the first elder scrolls game i've played , prob even the 1st rpg ive really played lol ...

all abit daunting for me atm , i made a guy last night , 1 of those nord guys..

so pretty much , what would be the best race for beginners , and any other handy tips you wanna throw to a noob would be appreciated..

i played for an hour or so last night and was really enjoying it even know i had no idea lol , cant wait to sink some more time into it ...

[Marius]

You sorta just play and don't worry about mistakes...

Focus on two complimentary perk trees to start with. I chose sneak and archery. A mage might choose restoration and destruction. A melee fighter might go heavy armour and one hand or two hand weapons.

Then after that you branch into other trees as you need the skills. For example I found myself needing to use daggers to defend myself up close, so put some points into the one hand tree.

Then you just explore.

[>XaartaX<]

Doesn't seem to matter much what you put attributes into on levelling either. Mix of Magicka and Stamina mostly with a dash of Health since I swap between melee and casting on a whim

[Marius]

Depends on the character. I don't have any points in magic... magic's just not very useful for an archer.

Stamina's my most important stat. It's used for zoom aiming, for sprinting, and for silent rolling (stealth roll that moves faster than a normal jog).

Health's got some importance and I've taken it to 150 or so to guard against being one shotted.

Magic's absolutely useless for an archer:

1. Potions are better than healing spells in combat. If I get seriously hit usually I just spam a few minor health potions, and I have heaps from collecting the required ingredients whenever I see them. Three can completely regen my entire life in an instant.
2. Swapping out a bow to cast a spell is a pain in the arse, unless you're out of combat. I try to avoid it since it deletes my dual dagger hotkey.
3. Shouts are better than any spell. And should I really need something extra I also have the Nord battlecry once a day, which has proven useful in getting out of the occasional tough spots.

[Nekosan]

just after some advice , this is the first elder scrolls game i've played , prob even the 1st rpg ive really played lol ...

all abit daunting for me atm , i made a guy last night , 1 of those nord guys..

so pretty much , what would be the best race for beginners , and any other handy tips you wanna throw to a noob would be appreciated..

i played for an hour or so last night and was really enjoying it even know i had no idea lol , cant wait to sink some more time into it ...

TES games are not an MMO, you can't "gimp" your character the way you can in an MMO and the race is more about making a character you like than picking the most op one.

Just choose a race based on looks and what you're interested in playing, once you get in a bit you'll realize that skill point alignment really isn't such a big deal. It's quite feasible to play a greatsword wielding, magic casting, pickpocketing enchanter who can talk their way out of anything. Pick something that suits your personality and enjoy it.

The game is designed so you can't really level too fast for your skills, if you have 50 points in archery and sneaking then leveling up in those skills will raise you character level quite fast, at teh same time if you only have 20 points in 2 handers and you decide to play with them for a while then levelups will only contribute a tiny amount to your overall level until the skill catches up to your primary ones.

[Agent_Dark]

Though I would argue that you probably can gimp your character in Skyrim unlike in previous TES games. The perks are quite powerful and you have limited perk points. I mean if you were to spread them all over the place and have them in things you never use then you would be 'gimped', but only such that your playstyle that you wanted to use might not be effective. I'm not sure if there is a way to respec in game, but you can use the console to manually remove and add perks if you're on the PC (I accidently put a point in enchanting rather than alchemy and didn't even realise it until 10 levels later. So I just removed it with the console and added it to where I actually wanted it to go).

Just throw your points in the trees you actually use. If you want to be a warrior guy, put the points in heavy armour and two-handed/one-handed/block. If you want to be a mage, put them in destruction/illusion/conjuration etc. You can't go wrong that way.

[Marius]

I wonder where people get the time to be a sneaky two handed barbarian illusion mage.

I'm at level 29 so far (57 play hours), and have simply put points where I naturally use them. My stealth and archer trees are almost maxed out, I have a few points in light armour, and that's it. I'm getting the thief craft skill alchemy next for the poisons.

A lot of the really good perks are at the end of the trees and I like to focus on a couple of trees to get them.

It's possible to get all other skills up to 40 or so with no real bother from using trainers (taking a skill from 15 to 40 with a trainer costs about 6500 gold, which is doable). But running out of perk points is the problem.

Also not sure if I want to sacrifice stamina points for magicka. That would mean I can't sprint as much. Sprint rolling makes sneaking tolerable for long distance sneaking.

[Nekosan]

I wonder where people get the time to be a sneaky two handed barbarian illusion mage.

I'm at level 29 so far (57 play hours), and have simply put points where I naturally use them. My stealth and archer trees are almost maxed out, I have a few points in light armour, and that's it. I'm getting the thief craft skill alchemy next for the poisons.

A lot of the really good perks are at the end of the trees and I like to focus on a couple of trees to get them.

It's possible to get all other skills up to 40 or so with no real bother from using trainers (taking a skill from 15 to 40 with a trainer costs about 6500 gold, which is doable). But running out of perk points is the problem.

Also not sure if I want to sacrifice stamina points for magicka. That would mean I can't sprint as much. Sprint rolling makes sneaking tolerable for long distance sneaking.

Level a little pickpocketing first, that way you can train and then steal your money back

[Agent_Dark]

I wonder where people get the time to be a sneaky two handed barbarian illusion mage.

Well, you don't need to max out the trees. If you're being a sneaky two-handed barbarian illusion mage then you can basically ignore the right handed side of the sneak tree (one-handed, bow and dagger sneak attack damage). I dont even have the sneak roll thing - why not just stand up and run when no-one's around? If someone spots you, well thats what the two-hander + illusion (invisibility spells?) are for.

[Marius]

True. But then I guess you're still only speccing into two trees - two handed and illusion spells. Same issue - you've made some sacrifices, not have three fully fleshed out trees. So I can't say magic is good for a physical combat character unless you properly plan it in advance - you won't get the perk points to just add it on top on a whim.

Even at level 30 now, with excellent archery and sneak, I don't have the points for magic. I'm finding I'll spend the rest of the game levelling up crafting, because that's where end game power will come from.

And I find the roll quite useful myself. Importantly, it's on the way to the silent running perk. I can roll faster than a jog speed with fully muffled boots, so no one spots me. It's quite handy for getting away from combat and repositioning.

And for just levelling sneak by rolling everywhere in towns. Have the stamina to roll for ages, and it's faster than a jog. Reminds me a lot of The Witcher 2 rolls in that it speeds up your character (but not as fast as sprint).

[Village idiot]

I'm not sure if there is a way to respec in game, but you can use the console to manually remove and add perks if you're on the PC (I accidently put a point in enchanting rather than alchemy and didn't even realise it until 10 levels later. So I just removed it with the console and added it to where I actually wanted it to go).

How do you do this? I made some mistakes early on that i wish i could change.

[Marius]

1. Record the names of the perk you want to remove, and the perk you want to add
2. Close the skill screen.
3. Type ` to open console.
4. Type in for each of those perks '/help "perk name" 4' - without the ' or " marks, and replacing perk name for the perk name, including all punctuation and spaces.
5. Record the perk numbers it gives you.
6. Type '/player.removeperk "perk number of the perk you don't want"' without ' or " marks.
7. Type '/player.addperk "perk number of the perk you want"' without the ' or " marks.
8. Open skill screen to check.

If the perks are multi-level perks (3/5 and so on) you'll need to remove them one by one. /help perk number lists the numbers in order of 5 down to 1.

[Marius]

Tested that method I listed there in game again - sometimes you'll need to put the perk name in quotation marks (""), especially for a perk with two words.