Character Creation: role-playing

I want to detail, for whatever it may be worth, my own philosophy of character development in Oblivion. I have as my starting point my desire to roleplay. Oblivion provides so many and varied experiences that it is inconceivable to me that I should attempt to "beat" the game. With this in mind, I endeavor with each character to identify who the character is and how this 'person' will live.

For example, Braelon Goldenthorn is a Bosmer who does not seek to complete quests (though he has done a few and will likely do a few more) or even to be a member of any faction. Rather he desires to live a simple life wandering the hills of Western Cyrodiil, scarcely entering a city, but hunting, sleeping at camps, defeating bandits, and having Shetcombe farm as a base of operations (read: place to leave his alchemical ingredients and gear).

He is very much a Scout-type character. However, I created him with the Assassin class. This leads me to two more points. First, I like the idea of using the standard classes because it helps to maintain the definition of reality that has been defined as Cyrodiil/Tamriel/Nirn/etc. I would certainly create a custom class to fit a particular need, but only if no existing class is at all suitable.

Second, my desire in the case of Braelon was to make the most of his racial enhancements by choosing a class that had primary skills in common with the Bosmer racial bonuses. In addition, for this character, I wanted high levels of Marksman, Alchemy, Speed, Athletics, Acrobatics, as well as Illusion (for animal control) and Armorer (to avoid frequent visits to cities). The Assassin class provides a focus on most of these in addition to coinciding the Bosmer abilities.

This raises a role-playing question, but one I am satisfied to explain by disassociating the class name, Assassin, from its abilities. The Assassin skills actually fit well with the character vocation I had in mind, which is nothing at all like an Assassin. So, in a small way, I am already customizing a class by somewhat redifining only the assumed purpose of an existing class. But, in this case for reasons I will further detail under a different heading, I decided to go with a standard class rather than creating a custom class that had Armorer, for example, as a primary skill.

In summary:

• My goal is to role-play.


• I accept the existing classes as an important component of the definition of the 'reality' that is Cyrodiil while remaining open to explore the flexibility available within the provided system.


• I do not intend to disregard class names as having definitive purpose for the character, rather I acknowledge that the primary skills associated with a particular class might be defined with an entirely different vocation.