Tips for good/decent starting class?

[LunarisRuin]

I've play Morrowind before, but haven't gotten too far into it. I dig the game a lot, as I have all The Elder Scrolls games, or the "main" ones anyway, Arena to Skyrim.

I feel I have most of the things down in Morrowind other than Enchanting, and perhaps the Spellmaker.. and the location of anything not within or around Balmora.. lol

But I would like a good class to start my first actual, for cereal playthrough and not get pooped on too hard.

Can any one just give me a good custom class to play with? It can be anything, mage, warrior, thief, I myself was trying to think of a Thief/Mage hybrid but would that be too hard?

..Also, I'm not looking to be "perfect" in leveling and get +5 in my favored stats and whatnot, min/maxing in a soloplayer game is absolutely stupid. At least to me. I just wanna play and have fun. :D

[Hjelpmooglene]

It's better to make a custom class than to choose from the premade ones. Weapon skill + Offensive magic, you can use whatever you want since the majority of skills are viable. However I'd reccomend at least having your main weapon skill/offensive magic skill as a major skill to help increase your chances of hitting an enemy. Enchanting, alchemy, and armorer skills would also be another thing I'd look into. You will benefit a lot from having those skills. Lockpicking or having the spells that unlock items would also be a safe bet to have. Lot's of good items are hidden away in locked chests and doors. Other than that, you can use pretty much whatever you would like in the game. The DLC by they way is a much higher level than the main game and can be slightly more challenging.

[_-*-_ Taste Vengeance!]

And dont forget to keep JUMPING :)

[Nadlug]

Originally posted by _-*-_Taste Vengeance!:

And dont forget to keep JUMPING :)

Hah no kidding.

I dont even want/need to max out or even raise my acrobatics skill on my caracter, I just do it anyway because of the years in the past where i did has turned it into an obsessive compulsive tick that manifests itself in nearly every game.
*Hops away*
*thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. thump*

[Nirvash]

I always make sure Luck is a a favored attribute, since it effects everything and it takes a long time to max it, if you are aiming to do so. I also usually choose Endurance, since the health you gain from it is NOT retroactive, and so it's ideal to get it to 100 as fast as possible.

As for jumping, there's also an easy little farming method you can use. Go to Balmora or anywhere that has the mud houses. On the side of many of these mud houses is a staircase. Go to the bottom of one of these and face sideways. So, if you're normally looking directly at the staircase, turn 90 degrees left or right. Then hold the directional button that will take you up the stairs, while tapping the jump button as fast as you possibly can. For every time you hear the landing sound, that's progress. Once you reach the top, you simply hold the other direction to go back down, and repeat, without touching your mouse. I did this alot when I wanted Strength for my next level up.

And while it's a bit cheesey, I also use a little money farm in the early levels. Get to level 5-6ish, and place a Mark in Balmora or whatever your base of operations is. Then begin following the Dark Brotherhood quest a little bit. After a certain point in the quest, they will stop attacking you, but you can also find an area where about a dozen of them always spawn. Depending on their weapons, the money you get will vary, but in low levels and the carry weight you have, you can get 20k-50k per run. If you go in at higher levels like 15-20, they start carrying Jinkblades, which are worth alot of money for very little weight, but they'll also most likely kill you since they swarm you with constant paralyzation. Early levels they only carry poison daggers.

So, fill up your carry weight with all the armor you can from them, then Recall back to your Mark. From there, use your quickest method to get to Caldera, and find the Smith. Have him repair everything in your inventory, and then go DIRECTLY next door, to the Manor. Once inside, turn left and go up the stairs to find a Scamp. Talk to him and he buys weapons and armor for full value. The reason you wanted to repair the armor is so they would all be stacked, so in later runs, his inventory isn't filled with 30 of the same helmate icon. Boom, a big boost of money that makes the early game a little easier to break through.

[Dexter]

Create a custom class.

When selecting your skills for a custom class make sure the weapon or spells you plan to use the most are a major or minor skill so you have some accuracy with them.

Take advantage of racial bonuses.

Here are some examples.

Redguards receive a racial bonus of +15 for Long Blade, so as a major skill you will start out with 45 skill. Nord receives +10 to both axe and blunt, so they will start out with +40 skill in both. Imperials receive a +10 bonus to Long Blade for +40 skill as a major.

Choosing Combat as your specialization will grant an additional bonus to those skills.

I suggest choosing Agility as one of your prefered attributes because agility increases your accuracy and evasion. Then choose either Strength for damage and carry weight, Endurance for health, or Luck to improve all skills a little as +10 is the biggest boost you can receive for Luck.

The Lover Birthsign is a good choice for the 25 agility bonus, which helps your accuracy and evasion. It is the best choice for a beginner imo.

If you focus on obtaining the Fists of Randagulf before level 3, you can easily aquire them and increase your Strength and Agility by 20, which will increase your damage, carry weight, accuracy, and evasion. You can find them in Illunibi, which is just North of Gnaar Mok. More enemies spawn in Illunibi after level 3.

The Ring of the Wind is a good item to target early on as it adds Agility +30. That is a huge boost to accuracy and evasion. Be aware that the enemies there are difficult to beat at a low level, although it is possible to defeat them using Spear.

Spear is an excellent defensive weapon. You should try to keep it leveled. It will help you to increase your Endurance at level up. The Illkurok spear is amazing because of its accuracy bonus.

Moving backwards while attacking with spear is pretty lethal because of its reach.

Here is a list of items to focus on obtaining early on in the game to help you in your adventures.

Redas Robe of Deeds, Feather +50. Redas Ancestral Tomb, South of Molag Mar.

Ring of Phynastar. Found in Senim Ancestral Tomb SE of Dagon Fel.

Boots of Blinding Speed. Obtained from a quest on the road North of Caldera. Escort Pemenie to Gnaar Mok. Use the Ring of Phynastar to help reduce the blindness so you can see while wearing them.

Illkurok, a dwarven spear with accuracy +10. Found in Nchurdamz NW of Molag Mar.

Use the Mark spell or an enchanted item in Caldera within barter distance of the merchant Creeper.

Buy the Amulet of Recall from one of the shops in Caldera. Use Recall to return to Creeper to sell armor and weapons for max money. It is useful trick when you are overencumbered. I like stuffing my inventory with stolen items right before recalling to Creeper to sell them.

It is one of the better spots early on in the game for Mark imo, until you find the Mudcrab merchant and even then it is best to use command creature on him and move him to somewhere closer.

[Miles Imperialis]

For a beginner playthrough, I would recommend a warrior class of some sort. Focus on a melee playstyle and have your entire character center on that playstyle; do not focus on magic or shealth skills either (unless you make exceptions for certain skills like security).

While creating your character, you should research the different racial bonuses the warrior races get to help refine your playstyle ( as Dexter pointed out above). When choosing your birthsign, choose the one that helps you the most.

I would also research any early game items you can obtain for a nice boost until mid-game or end-game (I would suggest some here but none come to mind at the moment).

While in the Cenus office (the first building you enter), be sure to grab the most expensive items in that room so you can sell the items to the Tradehouse later. You steal them by grabbing them then immediately opening your inventory and placing your stolen goods out of your inventory; once the guard talks to you and you exit the conversation, you can then pick up the goods without the guard attempting to take them back.

[Peaceful Panda]

IMO the single most powerful class is a mage/warrior hybrid. You can do all kinds of amazing things with even a little bit of magic. Play it like a primary melee warrior, then use magic for the utility aspect.

It's really easy to get your melee skills levelled quickly, so focusing on magic second keeps it fresh in the mid/late game as well.

[Emma]

I actually suggest you use a pre-made class first. I suggest something like nightblade if you want a great thief/mage combo. I view custom classes just like mods. you really ought to get a feel for the game before you honestly try to create an effective custom class that works for the playstyle you're going for. You need to be more familiar with how skills are going to level for you the way you want to play and weigh that into your choices. Even if you don't want to level perfectly, you should leave some skills you want to frequently use out of your main skills in your class.It's best to play for a while in pre-made class close to what you want first. then after you get a solid feel for it, go in and make a similar custom class that is tweaked to your preferences.

[Peaceful Panda]

I never used the premade classes. The way character generation is done, selecting a premade class doesn't give you any more guidance than making one yourself. All the skills are easy to understand anyway. Plus there are so many classes, it's hard for a new player to choose. Not to mention many of them are sub-optimal if not outright terrible.

Morrowind is a dive right in kind of game. Just get started and roll with it. No matter what you start with, you will end up with a character that reflects your play style.

[Emma]

The skills in your class are not totally meaningless though. They affect the multiplers you get for increasing attributes at levelup. If you pick the wrong skills, you can cripple your character's development. You could level too fast without building up enough of a multipler if too many skills that increase the multipler are class skills, and therefore contribute to leveling. Even if you try putting off sleeping to raise your level until you get enough of a multipler, you will eventually completely skip a level because you have too much backlogged skill gains.

It's less of an issue with the uncapped skills modification in the Code Patch however. Even less of a concern with the state-based HP mod. Of all possible attributes, Endurance is the worst one to level incorrectly and state-based HP makes that a far less serious issue as you're no longer punished for not making sure to get a x5 Endurance multipler each level.

[Nadlug]

Originally posted by Frozen Nord:

The skills in your class are not totally meaningless though. They affect the multiplers you get for increasing attributes at levelup. If you pick the wrong skills, you can cripple your character's development.

Actually quite the opposite. Most veterin players pick the skills they dont plan on using so they can slow down the pace of their leveling and focus more on skills.

[Emma]

Originally posted by Nadlug:

Originally posted by Frozen Nord:

The skills in your class are not totally meaningless though. They affect the multiplers you get for increasing attributes at levelup. If you pick the wrong skills, you can cripple your character's development.

Actually quite the opposite. Most veterin players pick the skills they dont plan on using so they can slow down the pace of their leveling and focus more on skills.

Um... that was exactly what I said. I even pointed that out earlier. Skills you commonly use shouldn't be in your class so you don't level too quickly. And this post talked about how you level too fast if you pick the wrong skills and pointed out how that was a bad thing.

[Nadlug]

my bad must of mixed the context. It was really late when i posted so i blame fatigue :P

At any rate the choices you make at caracter creation onlly carry signifigance in the early game. Past a point youl have enough money to pay for training in any skill you want to delve into.

[Miles Imperialis]

Originally posted by Nadlug:

my bad must of mixed the context. It was really late when i posted so i blame fatigue :P

At any rate the choices you make at caracter creation onlly carry signifigance in the early game. Past a point youl have enough money to pay for training in any skill you want to delve into.

This ^. You'll probably want to focus later on in your playthrough on gathering as much money as possible in order to train your skills if you wish to do it without glitches or cheats...

[[MOSS]-BurningUp]

Originally posted by Nadlug:

Originally posted by Frozen Nord:

The skills in your class are not totally meaningless though. They affect the multiplers you get for increasing attributes at levelup. If you pick the wrong skills, you can cripple your character's development.

Actually quite the opposite. Most veterin players pick the skills they dont plan on using so they can slow down the pace of their leveling and focus more on skills.

That's actually how I played Oblivion as well although I didn't get far into that game. I'm now going back and playing this and will probably do the same thing. I just didn't know it was a valid strategy in Morrowind like it was in Oblivion.