Interesting builds for playthroughs

[WhiskeyWerewolf]

Hello, I'm looking for an interesting way to replay the game. I've completed it several times as warrior and mage characters, but stealth and archery honestly aren't the best in this game. Any suggestions for an interesting build?

[Rithm Fluffderg]

Sounds like you need to do a stealth playthrough because stealth and archery are better than you give it credit for :P

If you're looking for interesting ways though, try a monk/brawler build (use restoration, hand to hand, and no armor, except for the light armor uniform for the Arena) or a Witchhunter build (bow-using mage with the goal of focusing around a Bound Bow spell - also try focusing on spells that hurt the enemy's ability to cast spells)

Another interesting build would be a druid build, but this isn't really possible without mods - such as Druid Mod Reborn which adds a whole questline to the game based around offering alchemical ingredients and animal parts to statues of Hircine and Kynareth in order to gain new powers. It includes the ability to transform into various animals, too.

[The Flying Rodent]

Depends what you mean by 'the best'.

Stealth Archery certainly has its perks: The main one being that one can continually plonk away with 3x sneak-attack damage arrows on a target until they fall over, and never get spotted whilst doing it. They can also zoom in with a bow once they get skilled enough, which can't be done with any other weapon in the game. In addition to that: Poisons can be added to arrows, and Alchemy is a fun and complex skill in itself. You can deal a substantial amount of damage with just one arrow, using a combination of an Enchanted Bow, an Enchanted Arrow, a Poison, and a successful Sneak Attack [3x Physical Damage].

The main downside of stealth archery play I suppose is time. It is more time-consuming to remain stealthed and meticulously brew potions than say, be a warrior and smash stuff with a Two-Handed Sword. Marksman's rate of fire is slower than Blade or Destruction, so it levels a bit slower, and time has to be invested into Alchemy to make it work well. In terms of final damage too, Marksman's DPS on its own is less than Melee or Destruction magic, requiring Enchantments/Poisons to make up the difference between.

But again: The advantage is that you can work undetected, and this can influence the way you approach playing the game.

Whenever I begin ANY Bethesda game, the first character I make is a Stealth Archer [this included Fallout 3: basically started with a rifleman that sneak attack/headshot things]. The playstyle encourages you to pay particular attention to your surroundings for optimal points to shoot from and escape if necessary. This results in innately exploring the world in much more depth, than if you were playing a mage that shot continuous fireballs at anything that moved, or a warrior mindlessly running around mashing attack.

Anyway: Build idea!







Male Bosmer, Thief Sign, Stealth Specialisation, Endurance/Luck.

Major Skills: Marksman [40], Sneak [40], Light Armour [35], Athletics [25], Mercantile [30], Restoration [25], Armorer [25].

Starting Stats: Str 30 Int 40 Will 30 Ag 60 Sp 60 End 45 Per 30 Luck 65.

Minor Skills of note: Acrobatics [15], Alchemy [15], Alteration [10], Conjuration [5], Illusion [5], Mysticism [5]. These skills can all be levelled quickly, hence why they are kept as minors. At some point, it may be useful to use Blade/Blunt/Hand to Hand on weaker enemies, or to finish off wounded enemies, in order to increase the character's strength [even if its not very effective]. Feather spells from Alteration should aid its low encumberance.


In a nutshell: A self-sufficient and Swift Stealth Archer-Mage. Stays at range as much as possible, mainly using a bow. Uses support magic to heal or buff self if necessary, and can repair their own equipment.

With minor skill practice [Jumping for Acrobatics, Protect for Alteration, Converting food into potions for Alchemy, Bound Dagger/Summon Skeleton for Conjuration, Starlight for Illusion, and Minor Detect life for Mysticism], they can add Homemade Potions/Poisons, Summoned Allies, and a wide range of support magic to the mix.

In the end: they would make an ideal Assassin [Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood] with the ability to brew an array of interesting poisons, that can be attached to Bows and shot from the shadows. As well as this, they could hold their own in a face to face fight, using a Summoned Creature to take point, and casting support magic (such as Fortification Buffs, Shield, Detect Life, Silence, Frenzy and Paralysis), all in addition to standard archery.





Maybe something like that?

[EolSunder]

stealth archery is actually very powerful, allowing you to almost endlessly snipe stuff doing critical damage without any chance of dectection once you get good. Early on you can use invisibility to help with stealth sniping, and later you can almost stealth shoot most things without them ever detetecting you. At max stealth you ignore targets armor also, just blasting through any armored up humanoids.

at higher levels in magic/archery/ etc you can have a powerful offensive bow that not only will do major damage when you stealth shoot something, but the bows enchantments will deal extra damage on top of the strong stealth critical hits.

[The Flying Rodent]

In the event that you're not completely sold on the Stealth-Archery concept as a character's mainstay:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=873311868

When I returned to Oblivion, I wanted to make a Max-Difficulty silly character. This is the result. :)



I suppose another relevent question would be: Are you using mods?

[The Flying Rodent]

Something else off the top of my head: The Buddhist Beserker.





Female Orc, Lady Sign, Combat Specialisation, Endurance/Luck.

Major Skills: Acrobatics [25], Athletics [30], Alteration [25], Block [40], Hand to Hand [35], Mercantile [25], Restoration [25].

Starting Stats: Str 45 Int 40 Will 55 Ag 35 Sp 30 End 65 Per 25 Luck 55.

Minor Skills of note: lllusion, Mysticism, maybe Sneak?

Gearless Monk. 130HP to start. Feather/Water Breathing and Walking/Shield Spells + Resist Magic/Fortify/Heal Spells + Manoeuvrability + Punching stuff. Runs around virtually naked. Has the subtlety and personality of a boulder, but who cares. Is reasonable enough at bartering to make coin for spells early on.

Speed's a bit low but should increase pretty quick if the character decides to run/jump a lot. Can later branch out into other forms of support magic for more spells to complement punching people, and maybe Charm to make up for terrible looks.


Could potentially make use of this procedure by the end too!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=888102371

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Maybe some of these mods might help with whatever class you decide on.

Alternative Beginnings: http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/37382/?

Archery Rebalance: http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/23484/?

Better Hand to Hand Combat: http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/3290/?

Magic Skill Perks: http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/43268/?

Supreme Magicka Update: http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/12466/?

[CullinB]

Thank you for the information Magic Skill Perks: http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/43268/
I am just thinking of creating same mod.

[WhiskeyWerewolf]

Thank you all for your great ideas. I decided to go with a Monk build, Breton using Hand-to-Hand, Restoration, Illusion and Alteration. At least now I have a place to go to for some nice builds, and I hope maybe somebody else as well gets an idea from this thread.

[The Flying Rodent]

Something of note with Hand to Hand:

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Hand_to_Hand

Evidently a bit of 'Fortify Fatigue' can be a good thing, something to keep in mind.

Sounds like a good mix, Bretons rock in oblivion. Best of luck :)