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Introduction
 I'm Redguard
level 14 right now and serving as the Fighters Guild Guildmaster.
Combat is incredibly easy for me as Redguard - now let me explain
why.
If you're interested in a combat class, Redguards are very helpful
early in the game to keep you competitive. They have the biggest
single-weapon specializiation of any race which gives you a great
boost and aid in Long Blade which is my preferred weapon type. All
their other skills are appropriate but marginal.
With a combat class, you will level your weapon proficiency quickly
anyway (I'm maxed) due to all your fighting, so if you want substantial
gains in other areas than a starting weapon helper go for Imperial,
Nord, or Orc. Imperials get a large Speechcraft and Mercantile boost,
and those two do not level so easily. However, their natural abilities
are lacking. In that sense, Redguards have natural disease resistances
AND Adrenaline Rush ability which I find to be better than the other
combat races. Nords are naturally built for combat as well, but
their starting gains lean more towards a general weapon proficiency
and you won't get a great boost in any one field to help you early
in the game. Orcs are the opposite of the Nord theory; they have
about 4 attributes and each is very pumped, leading to a nice specialization
but not allowing you to cross-train your character without wasting
all those specific points in what you're obviously "meant"
to use as an Orc. Orcs also have low Personality which means you're
going to need a good Speechcraft skill to counteract it and get
people to like you, or you'll be paying for it for the whole game.
However, Orcs have VERY good magic resistance and I'd call them
my second choice for a combat race (starting at 50 Willpower and
having a natural 25% resist magicka ability).
In short, for combat races, Redguard = very good all-around, Orc
= very good specialized Axe and Berserk barbarian, Nord = strong
all-around weapon specialist, and Imperial = good all-around class
but no good benefits in abilities or starting bonuses relating to
Combat.
Starting
Attributes
As
for starting attributes, as a combat race let me break it down.
You NEED to have Strength as one of your favorite skills (controls
max carrying capacity, starting health, and damage partly?), for
with all the toe-to-toe fighting you'll do you need Light or Heavy
armor, and armor is a pretty hefty item set. For your other skill
it's more open, but I recommend Agility or Endurance - Agility controlling
your chances of hitting (equivalent of Dexterity in DII) and Endurance
controlling health and fatigue. I chose Strength and Agility for
my character, because Endurance and Personality can be fixed up
with your Sign - but more on that later. Your Major skills as a
combat race should be the following: 1 Weapon type (make a decision
early on what you want and stick with it), Block (if applicable),
Light or Heavy armor (I highly recommend Light [glass]), and for
the last 2 you have a chance to shore up the deficiencies in your
character - I'd pick between Armorer (!), Athletics, Acrobatics,
Speechcraft, Mercantile, Sneak, and Security depending on what you
want. Minor skills should be anything out of the above list you
didn't already put into Major and want.
(Note: I feel picking one weapon type only is very important because
a high weapon proficiency makes combat much easier. Picking 2 or
3 weapon types for skills wastes points you could use on other important
attributes. A general weapon type that has both one and two-handed
weapons is best so that you can use a shield with it. Think carefully
before you choose a weapon type; most short of the Blades [long
and short] are very good with only one type of attack - chop, swing,
or thrust - and not good with the others.)
Stealth
vs. Combat
Interested
in stealth? Well, much of my advice is the same in general, but
the races and attributes will change.
The Elven or Dwemer (or Dunmer, I forget) races are best for Stealth.
The Wood Elf, if I remember correctly, has a big starting bonus
to Sneak and Marksman and can fit into most overhead storage bins,
so he's a good "fit" to be a sneaking type of character.
Sneak and Security will obviously be your two biggest attributes
to consider, bar none, when choosing a Stealth-oriented character.
However, if you'd like to take a different path and consider a more
mobile and combat-stealth hybrid, I might consider the Khajjit race.
Their Acrobatics (I think) starts at +15, which allows them to be
very mobile and get into high places. That is a skill also useful
for a thief - but more on that later. I would narrow the choice
for a thief or assassin down into a few races - the Wood Elf (good
starting boosts), the Dark Elf, and the Khajjit.
As a thief or assassin, I wouldn't be confident in the toe-to-toe
combat abilties of a stunted Elf. Therefore I recommend Marksman
and Speed as the preferred method of combat - fire arrows, run as
fast as you can, repeat. So Strength and Speed or Agility as your
second attribute are key. You don't HAVE to have Strength in the
picture for a stealth or magic user, but it helps when you're carrying
back a 50,000 gold item that weighs more than you do. If you don't
have Strength as a choice, automatically limit yourself to Light
armor (recommended). Your Major skills should follow in the same
vein - one weapon proficiency, preferably Marksman, one Armor class
(Light), Sneak, Security, and an attribute of your choice (I might
go for Acrobatics). Minor skills should be combat or magic-centric
skills you'd like to have on the side as backup or Stealth skills
you haven't tagged yet - for instance, Armorer, Block, Athletics,
Enchanting, Mercantile, Speechcraft.
Magicka
I'm
not going to go into Magicka users because there's too much to cover
and I don't know enough about them.
In other words, I don't touch magicka with a ten-foot pole... (Well,
only when I'm ramming the pole up some orc's ass that's firing fireballs
at me from across a room or a Dremora punk trying to take me out
;)) However, my general recommendations still apply with race changes:
This time, look into Dark Elf, High Elf, and Breton (sp?). Major
attribute distribution should be based on one main armor choice,
but this time more than one college of magicka because magicka users
deal with a great variety of spells on the fly and need cross-training.
Minor skills would shore up all the magicka and stealth/combat skills
discussed previously (Security, Stealth, Mercantile, Speechcraft,
Enchanting) that weren't on the Major list.
Attributes
Cont.
Let
me go into what some of these Attributes do, since you shouldn't
take what I say exactly but should find what works for you based
on your own personality and understanding the important skills in
Morrowind.
Skills: Strength is maximum carrying capacity and starting health,
Agility is chance to hit, Endurance is maximum fatigue and health
gain per level, Intelligence is maximum Magicka, Willpower is resistance
to Magicka and partly maximum fatigue (calculated on some formula
I don't know), Speed is overall movement speed, Personality is general
disposition of characters towards you, and Luck AFAIK gives you
slightly better chances of everything (as in successful hit, bribe,
block, anything you do) with a higher stat. Attributes are much
the same... Weapon attributes control your proficiency with any
specific weapon, armor attributes control your proficiency with
types of armor (for example, if my character picked up light Glass
armor and it's AC 10 since I have no experience in it it would probably
only add 2 armor to my overall count instead of 10 or more), Block
controls chance to block, Sneak is chances of successfully sneaking
while holding the Sneak button down, Security is proficiency with
using lockpicks and probes to disarm and open doors/chests, Speechcraft
controls chances of successfully bribing, intimidating or etc. to
gain standing with a NPC, Mercantile controls chances of having
an offer you make on items accepted (you ALWAYS get screwed on selling
items even if your standing is 100/100 with a seller, so this is
important for cash in the game - use Speechcraft to get your standing
to 100 and then sell items at higher prices - both your standing
and your mercantile skill affect if an offer will be accepted or
not!), Athletics controls running and swimming proficiency (I think
that means speed AND less fatigue drain), Acrobatics controls jump
height, Enchanting controls the ability to enchant your own items
(although this can be done by certain merchants so it's not necessary,
but costly if you pay someone else to do it), Armorer is important
because it allows you to repair your own items out in the field
using Repair drongs and Armorer's hammers, and the other stuff I
won't get into - Magicka is too detailed.
Signs
I
almost forgot the Signs - a very important component of a character.
Your Sign should reflect your playing style to a degree, but there
are some signs that are certainly better than others. For combat
races, you'll need look no further than The Atronach and The Lady.
The Atronach has a natural 50% resist Magicka so half the shots
fired at you are blocked as far as I've heard. However, it stunts
your Magicka recharge so mages might want to think about something
else. The Lady is my personal favorite Sign, as it gives a +25 permanent
boost to Endurance and Personality, which helps to cover one weakness
of the combat races (Personality) and enforce a strength as well
(Endurance). If you're playing as a Stealth race, I might recommend
any one of the following: The Shadow, The Steed, or The Lover. The
Shadow gives a once-a-day skill of becoming invisible or nearly
so I guess, but if you're already a Stealth character you shouldn't
need it. The Steed is like The Lady, giving a permanent boost to
Speed which is essential to keep out of harm's way, and The Lover
gives a permanent boost to Agility along with a once-a-day skill
that paralyzes an enemy. What could be better for running away?
The only Signs I haven't covered are the ones I consider to be useless
by comparison - however, an honorable mention is The Tower. It has
2 different detect skills and an Open skill - but nothing you shouldn't
already be able to do as a Thief.
Gameplay
Tips
I think
that covers everything in character creation, so let's move beyond
that.
Good starting stats are only the beginning - you need to be an effective
player to take full advantage of a good character. Don't go on the
main quest too quickly - you should explore, learn the towns, and
join an Imperial Guild or House. The Guilds are as follows - Fighters,
Mages, Thieves, and "Assassins" (I won't say the name,
you have to go find it because it's a secret ;)). You can work for
any and gain experience, money, standing, and Guild benefits as
you progress. VERY important; in fact, your job when you first start
the main quest is to join a guild and establish an identity. I'm
not kidding on this one - I'm only on the 3rd job on the main quest
on game day 42 because I spent all my time with the Fighters Guild
houses. Different Guild houses have different leaders and different
jobs, along with other equipment in their chests and services. Great
Houses also need the occasional dirty work done, and you can side
with House Hlaalu, House Redoran, or House Telvanni - and I'm probably
forgetting others. You also need very good items, and depending
on what type of character you are you'll need to look for them because
they're not easily bought. For a combat character, look through
Dwemer and Daedric ruins for items and slaughter anything in your
way to find the good armor and weapons (I'm talking the 10,000+
gold stuff). For a Thief, you can enter the ruins also but it's
less likely the items will apply to you. Check around Guild houses,
Great Houses (Hlaalu, Telvanni, Redoran, etc.), and manor houses
for artifacts and items more suited to you. Obviously, you'll be
doing more stealing to get your stuff. Mages - I have no idea. It's
a toss-up as to where you can find good robes and spells.
Wrapup
That's about all I can think to say about getting the game started
on the right foot. If you need further help, look at the pre-made
classes during character generation and see if you can get ideas
about what the character would be about. Good luck.
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