Oblivion Remaster: The Ultimate Character Creation Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction: Crafting Your Legend in Cyrodiil

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remains a cornerstone of the open-world RPG genre. Its immersive world, sprawling quests, and compelling narrative have captivated players for years. One of the most fundamental and engaging aspects of Oblivion is the character creation system. The ability to mold your own hero, to define their strengths, weaknesses, and appearance, is what truly kickstarts the adventure. This guide will serve as your ultimate companion in this critical process, helping you craft a character that is not only powerful but also perfectly tailored to your preferred playstyle.

Even if a definitive “Oblivion Remaster” isn’t yet a reality, the enthusiasm for the game remains. It’s a game where you can become anything from a stealthy master thief to a fire-slinging battlemage. The possibilities are vast, and your choices during character creation lay the groundwork for everything that follows. This guide is geared towards providing you with the knowledge to embark on the right path within the world of Oblivion.

The character creation menu is your canvas, and every decision you make paints a picture of who your character will be. This guide will walk you through every facet of this process, from selecting the perfect race to fine-tuning your appearance. Consider this your roadmap to crafting a truly unforgettable hero, one that will leave their mark on Cyrodiil, both in the current game and in any future enhanced version.

Understanding the Building Blocks

Before you can begin, it is essential to understand what your choices affect. Character creation in Oblivion offers a range of options that determine your attributes, skills, class and appearance. Each has a direct impact on your gameplay.

The character creation process starts with choices that determine the base statistics of your character. The following are the primary elements:

Races: Selecting your race is the first step to shaping your character. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.
Attributes: Seven core stats determine your capabilities.
Skills: You have a range of skills to develop, from combat to magic.
Class: You can pick pre-made classes or create your own.
Appearance: You can customize your character’s face, hair, and body.

When starting character creation, you must envision the kind of hero you want.

Playstyle: Do you prefer to rush into combat, utilize stealth, or embrace magic?
Goals: Do you aim for a specific outcome, like becoming the Arch-Mage or the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood?
Roleplaying: Does your character have an origin story or personality you want to reflect in their choices?

Anticipating how your character will progress in the game is key.

Here is a list of the character attributes and how they affect your character:

Strength: Governs how much you can carry and the damage you deal in melee combat. It also helps you increase skills such as blade, blunt, and hand to hand.
Intelligence: Determines your magicka pool (the resource for casting spells) and governs how fast your skills increase.
Willpower: Influences magicka regeneration and your resistance to magic effects. It also influences the speed at which certain skills advance.
Agility: Affects your ability to dodge attacks and influences your ability with ranged weapons and light armor.
Speed: Impacts your movement speed.
Endurance: Affects your health and stamina.
Personality: Your character’s social skills will be influenced by this stat.
Luck: A unique attribute, luck influences nearly every aspect of your character’s experience.

Choosing Your Heritage: The Races of Tamriel

In Oblivion, your racial choice is more than just aesthetics; it’s the foundation upon which you build your entire character. Each race in Tamriel offers unique bonuses, special abilities, and starting skill proficiencies that shape your early game experience and influence your long-term development. Let’s delve into each race and discover their strengths:

High Elf (Altmer): Altmer are renowned for their proficiency in magic. With a starting bonus to Intelligence and Willpower, they excel as mages, offering increased magicka and regeneration. Their Highborn ability further boosts magicka regeneration.
Wood Elf (Bosmer): Bosmer are masters of archery and stealth. Their agility and skills such as marksman allow them to easily play the archer class. They are resistant to poison and can command animals.
Dark Elf (Dunmer): Dunmer are versatile fighters and mages. They possess a bonus to Intelligence, Willpower, and Speed. They also have resistance to fire and can use a variety of builds with ease.
Breton: Bretons have a natural affinity for magic, with bonuses to Intelligence and Willpower and spell resistance.
Imperial: Known for their diplomatic skills and martial prowess, Imperials have bonuses to Strength and Personality. They are the best race for any build that requires good social skills.
Nord: Nords are tough warriors with high Strength and Endurance. They have resistance to frost and can excel in melee combat.
Orc (Orsimer): Orcs are formidable combatants with bonuses to Strength, Endurance, and Armorer. Their Berserk ability temporarily increases damage and reduces damage taken.
Argonian: Argonians are amphibious, immune to disease, and have bonuses to agility and other skills. They are often the perfect choice for any character who needs to survive underwater.
Khajiit: Khajiit excel in stealth and acrobatics with bonuses to Agility and Speed. They are known for their night vision.
Redguard: Redguards are skilled swordsmen with bonuses to Strength and Endurance. They have resistance to disease and can rapidly regenerate stamina.

When considering your race, think about what kind of gameplay appeals to you. Do you want to play a mage, warrior, or thief? Every race is suited to a particular class. Choosing your race is the first step in creating your perfect character.

Building Your Core: Attribute Allocation Strategies

After selecting your race, you’ll distribute your starting attributes. This is a critical step as it determines your character’s base stats, which influence their effectiveness in combat, magic, and other skills.

Strength: A higher Strength allows you to carry more items, which is critical, and deal more damage.
Intelligence: Important for mages and spellcasters, as it directly influences your magicka pool, allowing you to cast more spells.
Willpower: Determines your magicka regeneration rate and resistance to magic.
Agility: Affects your ability to dodge attacks, which is crucial.
Speed: The speed at which you move.
Endurance: Determines your health and stamina, both of which are fundamental to your character’s survivability.
Personality: Has a significant impact on your ability to persuade others.
Luck: Is a subtle, yet important attribute.

There are a few strategies to consider when deciding how to allocate your attributes.

Focusing on a specific playstyle The most common approach is to optimize attributes for a particular playstyle. For example, a warrior would prioritize Strength and Endurance, while a mage would focus on Intelligence and Willpower.
Balancing attributes for versatility You might also consider balancing your attributes to create a versatile character. This could be done by distributing points to attributes like Strength, Endurance, and Intelligence.
Attribute and skill synergy Consider how attributes affect your skills. For example, if you’re focused on using Blade and Blunt weapons, prioritize Strength, as it will increase your damage output.

Consider how the chosen attributes interact. The chosen attributes will set the stage for your character’s evolution.

Honing Your Skills: Mastering the Arts of Cyrodiil

Next, it’s time to select your skills. Skills are the building blocks of your character’s abilities, and mastering them will lead to greater success. There are skills in various categories:

Combat Skills: These skills encompass the art of martial combat.
Stealth Skills: These skills enable you to move around unseen and steal from your enemies.
Magic Skills: These skills are for any character with the ability to cast spells.
Other Skills: These include abilities.

Your major skills affect how quickly you level up, so choose them carefully.

Here are examples of skill synergies and build optimizations.

The Battlemage They would focus on skills such as Blade, Destruction, and Heavy Armor. This build combines melee combat with powerful spells.
The Stealth Archer The Stealth Archer builds use skills like Marksman, Sneak, and Light Armor to deal high damage from a distance.
The Pure Mage The Mage would focus on skills such as Destruction, Alteration, and Mysticism.

Choosing Your Path: Class Selection

In Oblivion, you can either pick a pre-made class or create your own.

You can choose from a variety of pre-made classes, each with a unique set of major skills.

Warrior: Excels in combat with skills like Blade, Blunt, and Heavy Armor.
Mage: Master of magic, with skills like Destruction, Conjuration, and Mysticism.
Thief: Skilled in stealth and subterfuge, using skills like Sneak and Security.
Crusader: A balanced combatant with skills from both warrior and mage classes.
Spellsword: A mix of combat and magic skills.
Archer: Specializes in ranged combat.
Acrobat: Acrobatics are their bread and butter.
Assassin: They prefer to dispatch enemies from the shadows.
Battlemage: A hybrid fighter, blending melee combat with magic.
Monk: Focus on hand-to-hand combat.
Nightblade: A master of stealth and magic.
Sorcerer: A specialist in conjuration and other schools of magic.

When choosing a class, consider your playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses.

When choosing your class, consider the skills that you want your character to master. The selected class will determine your playstyle.

Forging Your Own Destiny: Crafting Custom Classes

Custom classes give you the most control. You can tailor the character creation to your preferred playstyle.

Selecting Your Major Skills: Choosing your major skills is key.
Balancing skill selection for level-ups. Prioritize skills that complement each other and your preferred style of play.
Creating an effective and enjoyable character: The ultimate goal is to create a character you enjoy playing.

Customizing Your Appearance: A Visual Masterpiece

Oblivion offers a range of options to craft your character’s look. You can adjust facial features, hair, tattoos, and body type.

Facial features: You can sculpt your character’s face to look as you want.
Hair: Hairstyle is a key part of visual definition.
Tattoos/War Paint: You can create an appearance that helps set your character apart.

Considerations for a future Oblivion “Remaster” might include an expansion of the character customization options. This could mean even more detailed facial features, advanced hair options, new tattoos, and more body customization choices.

Conclusion: Embarking on Your Oblivion Journey

You now have the tools to create your perfect character in Oblivion. Remember that this is your journey, so be prepared to experiment with different builds and classes. Your character’s choices will affect how the story unfolds.

A well-crafted character will enhance your overall gameplay experience. The better you prepare, the better your experience will be.

Ultimately, creating a character is about crafting a story. Have fun with the process and watch your character evolve into a legend.

If you would like to share your character builds, post them in the comments!