UESP Forums

Hey all,

I wanted to start off by saying that UESP has been an excellent resource for helping me in my adventures. I heartily thank all who have contributed to this amazing repository of knowledge.

=================================

I am trying to plan out a character for a +5/+5/+1 efficient leveling strategy to Oblivion (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Efficient_Leveling). I have done extensive research on the topic but I need some of your help/opinions on the matter.

My reason for adopting this strategy is because of the difficulties I ran into at later levels when I did my first play through. I did not like the fact that I had to continuously decrease the difficulty slider as I progressed throughout the game, and I searched for the the reason why until I found out about Oblivion's "leveling problem".

I would like to create a combat-based High Elf character (odd race choice I know). My reason for choosing High Elves is simply a personal one. I've always been fond of them in all types of fantasy lore, and that extends to the Elder Scrolls world. This is my only decision that is non-negotiable.

I am trying to decide which skills are best to be my major and minor skills. According to the efficient leveling page, it's best to choose one major skill from each attribute. It also recommends that I choose major skills that are not going to be used as my preferred skills. This approach will help control the leveling progress and avoid "over-leveling".

FYI, I have access to all DLCs except the Fighter's Stronghold. I use the Unofficial Patch as well.

NOTE: Despite my adoption of this min/maxing strategy, I do not care about reaching the highest level absolutely possible. I only wish to have a powerful character relative to the enemies I will fight.

=================================

Expected Playing Style/Goals:

*Blade will be my close-combat skill (exclusively)
*Heavy Armor my preferred protection
*Spells will only have a support roll (healing and some destruction-based damage), at least initially
*I enjoy the lockpicking and speechcraft mini-games
*I would like to eventually become a master marksman, alchemist, and mercantilist, but these are not early priorities


So far, my planned character is as follows:

Race/Gender: High Elf (Altmer) / Male
Birthsign: The Thief
Specialization: Combat
Attributes: Endurance, Luck
Major Skills: Alchemy (INT), Alteration (WIL), Illusion (PER), Marksman (AGI), Athletics (SPD), Hand to Hand (STR), Armorer (END)

I have read that Speed and Endurance are two attributes which I should focus on maxing out early... Speed because athletics levels up uncontrollably early on, and Endurance because this leads to the most HP that one can obtain.

I expect to prioritize the attributes as follows: Endurance, Speed, Strength, Intelligence, Agility, Willpower, Personality (with Luck raised continuously each level)

=================================

Questions/Concerns:

1. As a fighting character with low initial Strength, I am concerned that I will run into problems with fighting monsters and encumbrance since I will not be able to use any combat abilities for the first few levels. Can I afford to hold off on increasing luck in maybe the first 5-10 levels so as to increase my Strength alongside my Speed and Endurance? Or will this cause problems for me later on?

I think I can avoid fighting entirely early on (if need be) by starting quests where I have Essential NPCs escorting me without completing them, and then just finishing other quests that are best done during the lower levels while I train skills for Speed and Endurance. However, according to the Character Planner, I will not be done with Speed and Endurance until Level 13, so that would be quite a few levels without ever swinging a sword.

2. Do you think my Birthsign and Specialization choices are in line with the goals for my character and the +5/+5/+1 strategy? If not, what would you recommend and why?

3. Do you agree with my choices for major skills? If not, what would you recommend and why?

^this^



wow, just ... wow ...

excellent write up and logic behind it that I'd be hard-pressed to dispute or refute

good job!

Thank you very much for that extensive analysis PrinceJonathan.

I wanted the Thief sign for that extra bit of luck. That way I would have 15 levels of flexibility in case I wanted to do a +5/+5/+5 early on (to bolster attributes like Strength for example). However, 5 levels of flexibility early on should suffice, especially if I have the extra 10 Strength/Endurance to boot. (EDIT: according to the Planner, my max level would be 46 with all these recommendations, meaning that I would need to upgrade luck from level 1 to reach 100 by 46)

Is Alchemy very difficult to level? I figured it was difficult, and I've read it can be extremely useful, which is why I wanted it to be a major skill. I would still have control over when I train it, but it would be easier to level and be more useful earlier on. Or do I want to be completely unrestricted as far as when I can use alchemy? Mysticism was my original choice as well until I thought of this.

My first choice for Speed was Light Armor but I edited it after posting the OP. My rationale behind this was that with Athletics being a specialized skill and a major skill, I could max it out to 100 very quickly while only having to train Endurance skills before Athletics by blocking mud crabs/rats with my hands wearing heavy armor (to simultaneously train Block+Heavy Armor). I would never have to worry about Athletics after maxing it because, well, it would be maxed

That would mean not doing a single thing except training until I maxed out Athletics of course (at level 8 ), but I thought that it might be quicker to do it that way in the long run (though I'm not sure how long it would take even with the specialize/major bonuses). Do you still recommend against using Athletics? Would reaching 100 be far harder than I am expecting? (EDIT: just looked this up, reaching 100 would take over 30 hours of swimming. Looks like Light Armor it is!)

I was also thinking that since I would be using all three Endurance skills extensively in a perfect world, maybe it would be best to avoid making any Endurance skill a major one? That would leave me free to just use them as I please. What are the pros and cons of that route? If it does have some merit, what would be another good major skill to choose?

Very helpful. Thanks again

Do you all have any recommendations as far as the best time/level to do the Shivering Isles quest line?

I've never been there actually, and I was always fond of Sheogorath's daedric shrine quest, but if it's best saved for when you character is a much higher level, I don't mind waiting until then.

EDIT: And what about the main quest line where you save the world? Is that best saved for later or best done early on?

Thanks again in advance. Everyone has been tremendously kind and helpful here

I am playing such a character now, although I have found no use for 5+5+1 because Luck is pretty useless in real game life. I found this out by playing a Thief Birthsign for many games and then switching to Mage and Atronach. I prefer extra magic to make game life safer. If you are trying for 100s across the board in Attibutes, that is a different story, Jack up the Luck.

My character:
Female High Elf Atronach. Combat School with Endurance and Strength.

Benefit of Atronach for efficient leveling = no worries about Willpower +5 so you can boost Endurance, Strength, and Intelligence +5 every level very easily.

Pros-Atronach gives a fighter a big pocket full of magic for trouble situations. But since the magic goes out without refreshing, it is best to fight most of the time with a blade.

Cons- If you like to get beat up and cast restoration spells to heal yourself, you need to replenish the magic just as much as if you were a spell caster.


Main quest line == start at level 17 when you can get transcendant sigil stones and there are still Flame Atros and Clannfear running around to give you good poison ingredients. Things get tougher in a few levels. If you start earlier you will have to keep the quest going to level 17 if you want the best sigil stones.



*Blade will be my close-combat skill (exclusively)
-- Get Honorblade ASAP (lvl 1) using poison if you don't want to get the weak fireball spell from the mages guild. Use this for emergencies, and use a silver dagger (durable) for building skill.

*Heavy Armor my preferred protection
--Good choice, Blackwood armor is best early on (lighter and better than Umbra/Orc). A full set is the Trolls of Forsaken mine quest.

*Spells will only have a support roll (healing and some destruction-based damage), at least initially
--Support spells still need power/cheap cost gained by building up their respective skill or customizing them via Arcane University-mages guild membership.

*I enjoy the lockpicking and speechcraft mini-games
--I do too, but they suck when you have to pick a lock (stick a tumbler pin) 50 times for one skill point or spin the dial randomly 50 times for a skill point late in the game (or when you are half asleep).

*I would like to eventually become a master marksman, alchemist, and mercantilist, but these are not early priorities
--Alchemist is fast and easy (and useful), Marksman needs bought lessons at high levels, Merchantile is easy to build by selling potions from Alchemy --unless you are using an un-modded PC.



This is my favorite Maj. skill set -- only Alteration and Sneak are is used in gameplay to any extent.

--Block (wear heavy armor and buy armorer lessons almost every level until armorer skill is at 75) Make a custom drain armorer on self spell 100% for 1 second to save money.
--Hand to hand (fast and fun to train up against ghosts at Benirus manor or deadra in Oblivion.)
--Alteration -This is needed @25 for feather, shield, and unlock spells.
--Mystecism -This is needed @25 for soul trap, but nothing else.
--Illusion (easy to build by button tapping), not needed for anything.
--Light Armor (easy to build w/ rats)
--Sneak (easy to build, easy to control) This is a game-play style choice. You can also work with Security (tedious) and Marksman (mostly by buying lessons).


Neither Speed or Athletics are needed for survival, IMO, so they can wait until late in the game to build them. You can more or less ignor Athletics and make all of your Speed points with Acrobatics and Light Armor quite easily. However, you can swim around looking for Nirnroots or run around looking for Ayleid ruins in some early levels (1-10) for +5 speed if you don't want to waste the easy points.


Good luck with it.