Advice on an archer character

[Malak]

So I've played only Skyrim so far and probably going to give Obl a go. I prefer archery with conjuring as a backup. Hate melee, but with no Fus-Do-Rah(sp?) it may get tricky. Do you think Bosmer is the best race for this? Should I choose custom skills since I see that the normal archer class seems heavy on melee also. I was thinking for a birthsign, instead of choosing something to help archery, to instead pick something to help with conjuring or melee. What do you think?

[CullinB]

Wood elf birthsign Thief is standard style.
As for Birtg sign you may choose Atronach for Protection from Magic.

In vanilla TES4 Melee guy can't touch you while you running backward.
if you have enough Speed and Athletic.

Helpfull skills are Illusion and Alchemy.
Bow user needs Agility and sometimes luck.

[Brandybuck]

Archers know melee, because melee is much better at close range. Archery is best with sneak shots. You get a sneak bonus and lots of damage. But straight up face-to-face damage dealing is best left to melee. Not just in Oblivion, in Skyrim too.

[ManualMakron]

Bosmer is the best choice for an archer character. Highest starting marksman skill. You should rely on poisons along with enchanted bows are arrows sneak attacks. Maxing your agility early is also a good point along with speed.

[Malak]

Originally posted by Brandybuck:

Archers know melee, because melee is much better at close range. Archery is best with sneak shots. You get a sneak bonus and lots of damage. But straight up face-to-face damage dealing is best left to melee. Not just in Oblivion, in Skyrim too.

In Skyrim, I fire arrows when they are 4 feet away. LOL

[The Dude]

Any race and birthsign can train marksman up to 100 so... play what you want.

[ed]

Originally posted by The Dude:

Any race and birthsign can train marksman up to 100 so... play what you want.

This. Racial skill bonuses honestly only matter in maybe the first hour, if that long. They might as well not be there, lol. People only fixate on them because they ARE there, but ultimately they're meaningless. Play a character whose appearance you like, because you're going to be staring at them long past the point where you remember what skill levels you started the game with.

Oblivion archery outside of sneak shots is kind of terrible though, there's no zooming in or slowing down time like in Skyrim so have fun trying to hit anything once it becomes aware of you. Also, arrows aren't weightless. You will definitely need either melee or high conjuration (don't make it a major skill, so you can max it faster without hurting yourself).

If you intend to use magic seriously at all, you should take a birthsign that will give you some amount of bonus magic points. Otherwise you're capped by Intelligence x2 or whatever it is exactly, I don't remember.

[ntl69]

Archery in Oblivion is very underpowered. I played an archer character, got archery to 100, alchemy to 100, and some enemies were still pincushions. I'd play an archer but only as part of efficient levelling, where you are spending some levels solely increasing agility and one or two other attributes. But as a pure archer oblivion is weak. skyrim on the other hand is a great place to be an archer, and become overpowered at that.

[Malak]

I choose the Mage birthsign to aid Conjuring. This game does seem harder than Skyrim. If nothing else it will help me appreciate Skyrim more. lol

[CullinB]

What Race?

[Brandybuck]

Originally posted by tat-n:

What Race?

Whichever one you want.

[CullinB]

Sorry i just ask which Malak selects.
I have played this over 1000 hours, i don't care any race or any style for me.

[Malak]

Bosmer

[CullinB]

Thanks have fun

[Malak]

Finally found a dwarven bow within a gate, so making progress. :-D