My customised Morrowind character

[Hayashi]

Any constructive comments appreciated.

Borrowing a term from Baldur's Gate II, I've decided to make a custom character for MW. I'll call it a Kensai, but it's supposed to be a trained mercenary who uses magic to supplement his sword skills. Here are his proposed stats:

Race - Redguard

Favoured attributes - strength, willpower

Major skills:

* Heavy armour
* Block
* Alteration
* Mysticism
* Speechcraft

Minor skills:

* Long blade
* Alchemy
* Armourer
* Short blade
* Enchant

So, what do you think?

[Sever]

Block and mysticism are surprise choices for a major skill. Block is something of an unbalanced skill and, even at high levels, isn't effective enough to justify it as a major. The most useful of the mysticism spells can be cast effeciently at minor level (20 onwards) and, again, aren't used often enough to justify a major placing. Conversely, Block and mysticism (for the very same reasons) are excellent choices if, like me, you sabotage your skill selections in order to slow the rate of character advancement.

Not having an offensive skill as a major will make it difficult early on, but if you're comfy with that, that's fine.

With long blade selected, you'll probably not be needing short blade at all. The only exception being to utilize short blades as a light weight support weapon to quickly deliver magickal effects (paralyse, soul trap etc.) to a target whilst in combat. Even the best short blades in the game fall way short of long blades in terms of damage.

Armour, alteration, speechcraft, alchemy, armourer and enchant are all wise choices in the places you've assigned them. Were it i, i'd be selecting medium armour for a kensai for reasons both aesthetic and practical. Orcish armour (medium) looks great for the "samurai" type warrior, is readily available at a reasonably early stage of the game and provides comparatively excellent protection. Comparative in terms of weight and cost relative to armour skill level.

Of course, as i'd tell anyone, any combination of race, birthsign, stats and skills can excell as any type of character. If you're happy with what you've got, so am i. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Hayashi]

Thanks for your reply. I actually bought the Game of the Year edition late last year, and only just installed to play.

What do you mean when you say Block is unbalanced? It's not very effective & even as a major skill doesn't improve quickly enough?

I'm actually trying to make an all-rounder. The background behind the character is that as a mercenary he's fought on a number of battles/campaigns for various factions in the Morrowind universe. Other times he's had to fend for himself, and does odd jobs for people who need a "hired sword". Along the way he's picked up a number of skills, hence the mish-mash.

With your sage advise, I may drop Short Blade and pick up Security in its stead (mainly for the lockpicking but also to detrap). Alternatively, medium armour as a minor skill? I've read that with the appropriate mysticism spells, one can open locks & detrap, is this true?

BTW, are there any patches I need? I've installed both Tribunal & Bloodmoon as well. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Radek]

Beware of traps:
(1) Armorer and Medium Armor do not have their master trainers in Morrowind. In both cases, it's a bug in the game. Either fix the bugs by means of the game editor or have a mod with master trainers of these skills.
(2) The master trainer of Speechcraft trains only members of the Mages Guild. If you don't want to be a mage then you will need a mod with a master trainer in Speechcraft.
(3) The master trainer of Security trains only members of the Thieves Guild. The same as above.
(4) Heavy Armor is really heavy in Morrowind. If you plan using Daedric Armor then you will need a pretty good constant effect boost of STR. No such item exist in the game, you will need several custom enchanted items and lose several "enchantement slots" this way.
IMO, the best armor in Morrowind is the Light Armor. You will use the glass armor in the end. The glass armor is more than enough effective, moreover, there is a very nice artifact in Tel Fyr. And you can secure a full set of the armor! Save the game before your first entering Ghostgate. Check the armorer inside. You will usually see that it offers almost full set of glass but something is missing. If it happens then restart and try again. It's only the matter of patience: in the end, the armorer will offer a full set, including a tower shield. That's what you want to achieve, return later, with enough money The armorer will still have the full set.

[Sever]

Radek has a valid point about the trainers, but if you're new to the game, it'll be a long while before you find them unless you spoil yourself. And if you're a roleplayer (as opposed to a powergamer) you'll not be needing master trainers at all. Most skills achieve a very acceptable efficiency/power/success ratio at a level of 60-70. Some skills as low as 40. Master trainers can only help you above skill levels of 75...

If you are new to the game, then i'd highly recommend checking out this thread. It contains many pearls of wisdom from many experienced Morrowinders.

About the glass armour, if you want to walk around a fantasy world of swords and magick looking like a fluorescent green space hedgehog, then by all means, choose light armour. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Edit: Can anyone tell me where i stuffed up the HTML for the link?
Edit2: Nevermind, must've hit the spacebar...

[ 04-10-2007, 12:00 PM: Message edited by: Sever ]

[Sever]

In short, the block skill is only used in conjunction with a shield, has a very average rate of success at high levels and is a slow skill to advance. In Oblivion, blocking is controlled by the player manually, can be done by a weapon and is very effective. In Morrowind, you're better off working towards a high AGI attribute and dodging..

The official patches included with Tribunal and Bloodmoon are the only ones i ever used and, after a dozen characters over several years with 100 active mods, turned out to be the only patches i ever needed.

[Radek]

I am training only at master trainers. Not because I hurry with having 100 for skills but because I know that when I need skill training then I get the training there. They won't tell me that they cannot train me further because they reached their limits.

Therefore, the advantage of master trainers consists in their seriousness. They can help you at any level. Well, they can train you to 100 but training to 100 seldom makes sense.

[Hayashi]

Thanks for the tips, there's much to chew about. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm not a power gamer, but I'm looking to set up a character with no serious weaknesses that I'll regret later on.

So you're saying Block is more trouble than it's worth?

[Radek]

It's not a trouble. Nevertheless, don't expect that you will block any blow aimed at you. You will not, even at block 100, you will not.

As far as weakness is concerned, there is only one possible source of it: the "powers" which give you a supposed andvantage but "there is a price ...". Well, the price often voids the advantage and leaves you with a permanent weakness.
At any rate, choice of skills does not make any weakness. You can have more or less problems in the beginning of the game, that's all. Later on, you will fill the most gaping "holes" using the trainers and your problems get solved.

Therefore, select your starting bonuses so that you have as small problems in the beginning of the game as possible.
- Avoid "powers" with disadvantages, better are no powers than powers which make you weak or vulnerable.
- Attribute bonuses: I suggest SPD and END or LUC. SPD will speed you a bit so that you won't get crazy with your movement speed outright. END will give you a few HP and Fatigue points. LUC is recommended because you cannot get more than one point of LUC when you level up.
- Skills: It depends. If you want to play "a natural game" without control of leveling up then select skills which you will use most. Favorite armor, favorite weapon(s), Restoration (you will heal yourself often), Mercantile (you will sell and buy often). Destruction (if you are about to blast fireballs around yourself). Speechcraft is a good skill - if you are about to bribe trainers and traders or if you are about to taunt innocent bystanders and kill them (you will have to do it a few times! - but only few times). The skill is almost useless otherwise. Another good skill is Armorer - but you will need Armorer 70 or so. Nobody in the game (unless you fix the buggy master trainer) will train you to such skill levels.