Archer?

[Pesmerga]

I'm looking to create an archer-esque character, a woodelf perhaps, that is competant in bows as well as blades. What I'm asking is... are these even viable? Most of the time, combat is reduced to melee fighting, and this angers me greatly, and I'm wondering if it's possible to setup a build where I would use my dagger purely for the whole sneaking around bit, stabbing people who get too close, while utilizing bows for all other combat?

Thanks.

 

[CookieCuttah]

Yes, but you will have to rely on alchemy to get that first arrow in. Then either you can do another sneak attack or begin to back peddle. It's important that your speed is high for this.

 

[Direwolf]

I'm exactly that: an archer by profession and I sometimes carry a blade as a backup. You have to develop some ways of fighting that are much different from the blade guys.

First: you need to be good at sneaking. That 3x or 6x bonus becomes invaluable with a sneak attack. Alchemy can help by poisoning your arrows, but don't rely on it.

Second: Focus on being light and fast. The more speed and agility you have they better you'll be able to keep distance between yourself and you enemies.

Third: Arrows, arrows, arrows. You want to be carrying a LOT of arrows because you never know when you'll need them. I'm at Level 11 and keep at least a 100 on me at all times when I can. Keep a good amount of Silver arrows around too, because you'll need them to hurt ghosts.

 

[Dekstar]

Yup I'm one of them but a Khajit, for the extra speed.

Tip is don't opt for an armour type if you can. Keep them in the minor skills section. That way you can focus on a magic-based major like restoration. You WILL need it if you're an archer. If something gets too close you're buggered if you haven't got any potions and can't cast magic properly.

 

[CookieCuttah]

Personally I use my bow to deliver a powerful poison/paralysis and then hack them to death with my sword. That or I attack from behind with my sword. I am kind of a black guard, sneaky, but still a warrior.

 

[jimbo118]

i was a wood elf and i pwnt with a bow but it did become a bit of a nightmare in dungeons etc with the tight quarters

 

[Laivasse]

I'm a sneaky argonian and try to do most of my damage with the bow. Get your Sneak up high enough and they wont even see you until you've got like 3 shots in - often enough to kill. Alternatively if your Marksmanship is high enough they might get briefly paralysed = same result.

Be prepared for a challenge and to have to be patient though. A friend made some musclehead redguard and was able wade through shit 10x faster than I was, right from the off.

 

[Jintor]

If your're really good at stealth then you can get off multiple sneak attacks. I got in 5 on a marauderer warlord once because everytime the arrow hit him i was nowhere in sight.

And definantly remember to carry arrows. You need loads and loads and loads and loads, what with all the ghosts and the loss of arrows and whatnot.

 

[Pesmerga]

Da heck, how the hell do they not see you? When I shoot anything, mobs from 50 feet away hear it and swarm my ass. Then again, I was level 1.

 

[Que-Ever]

You should get good acrobatics, too- that awy, you can jump somewhere the baddies can't reach and just keep shooting them.

 

[Pesmerga]

So I'm thinking...

Acrobatics
Marksmanship
Sneak
Alchemy
Restoration
Blade(???)
... Don't even know

Help!

 

[sinkoman]

Depends how you plan on leveling your character i'd say.

If you just want to make a well leveled archer (like, is pretty good at everything, all abilities are equal), then when you start the game, make sure that the skills you WON'T be using are your majors, and the none of the ones you use allot (sneak), are MAJORS.

I'd say raise alchemy purely by training and experience. Wasteful to use Level Up points on it, so easy to raise by yourself.

And if any magic, perhaps only restoration, as alchemy can handle all your magical damage. Stocking up on ingredients with that can Paralyze would be a good idea too. You could poison your first arrow, then while they are paralized, just let them all fly.

 

[Que-Ever]

What? why would you make the skills you use the most minors?

 

[sinkoman]

What? why would you make the skills you use the most minors?

So it's easier to level all of your skills up evenly, without hitting the ceiling.

IIRC you level up after you've leveled up five majors (repeats included). If you make the ones you use every second majors, then you'll level up in a jiffy with only +2 or +3 per point.

If you level by using unused skills, then you level a tad slower, but end up with some +5 per point attributes.

 

[Pesmerga]

So really my talent selection is totally useless. As is my combat/magic/stealth selection. The only thing that really matters is birthsign and race

 

[Jintor]

Nonononon.... see, monsters level up with you, right? So your talent section is useful, but you're better off raising it as a minor skill - that way you won't have, say, 70 alchemy and 70 sneak but have 40 blades or marksman and have Dremora Lords spawning. Or Bandits with Daedric Armour.

 

[Teta_Bonita]

I'm looking to create an archer-esque character, a woodelf perhaps, that is competant in bows as well as blades. What I'm asking is... are these even viable? Most of the time, combat is reduced to melee fighting, and this angers me greatly, and I'm wondering if it's possible to setup a build where I would use my dagger purely for the whole sneaking around bit, stabbing people who get too close, while utilizing bows for all other combat?

Thanks.

I have a character exactly like that. So yes, it's possible.

 

[ktimekiller]

Nonononon.... see, monsters level up with you, right? So your talent section is useful, but you're better off raising it as a minor skill - that way you won't have, say, 70 alchemy and 70 sneak but have 40 blades or marksman and have Dremora Lords spawning. Or Bandits with Daedric Armour.

happened to me, i couldnt kill a single thing

 

[Steven]

A male Nord would be best for a blade bow crossbread.

 

[Direwolf]

Which is exactly what I am.

 

[Pesmerga]

So... I choose random majors? Like Heavy Armor and Blunt and Hand to Hand? Things I'll never use? But then... I'll never level up

 

[Cormeh]

Pes, it's all down to how you play the game. In any given quest, there will always be different ways to beat it.

Going by your first post, choose Marksman and Blade as major skills, be a race, birthsign and class that leans towards bonuses for your chosen character and just go for it. Oblivion excels when you're not perfect for absolutely everything in the game.

 

[Pesmerga]

Okie.

 

[Cormeh]

Oh, best of luck!

Persistence is the key, stick at it lad.

 

[VirusType2]

Originally Posted by Que-Ever
What? why would you make the skills you use the most minors?

So it's easier to level all of your skills up evenly, without hitting the ceiling.

IIRC you level up after you've leveled up five majors (repeats included). If you make the ones you use every second majors, then you'll level up in a jiffy with only +2 or +3 per point.

If you level by using unused skills, then you level a tad slower, but end up with some +5 per point attributes.

First let me say that I tried many many things in Morrowind, and I noticed that unarmored and hand to hand combat leveled much faster than the others since I picked them as majors. They reached 100 skill at around level 20 something and I was like - OK, now what - learn a new weapon and armor type? So I will be using these skills for another 200 levels (or whatever) and I can't get any better? So I re-created a new character that used unarmored and hand-to-hand as minor skills, so they would level at a slower pace, and thus I would be more well rounded, and won't max out these skills so much faster than the rest. But it didn't work well at all, because I couldn't fight well AT ALL, and it took forever to level up.


Anyway, back to oblivion:
OK I checked my stats right now, and at level 27 my character is in the 90's with blade and heavy armor. My other majors are at 54-80. So I will be a master of blade and heavy armor first. I don't see this as being bad anymore though. Since there are a few less skills to worry about in Oblivion, it just works out much better. I will be as good as you can get at blades and armor - what's not to like? So again, I don't see anything bad about picking majors that you will use the most.

I picked majors that I will be using the most, they level up faster, and receive a starting bonus of points. When you reach master in one or 2 of these talent which I would just guess you would be like level 35+ character, then your minor skills - if you use them alot, should be expert by now.


I don't see any good coming out of picking things you won't hardly use for your majors unless you do the "stay level 1 for a longggggg time trick"

Also, you need some type of offense and defense to be able to fight, so you will want to Practice those. Certainly you can't get very far in the game by sneaking, acrobatics, and creating potions alone. You need to be able to kill and stay alive.


I picked the thief birthsign that boosts 3 of my stats by 10. I will reach 100 (max) on all my stats faster because of this, then I can put points on something else that is also important.


The theif birthsign also boosts luck by 10, and picked luck as my choice as favorite attribute, with the long haul in mind. Favored attribute adds another +5, and keep in mind that you can never receive a bonus (x2, x3, x4, or x5) for luck. If you want to improve your luck you have to put 1 point at a time in it when you level up.

So I automatically have +15 luck from the beginning of the game, which means - Once all my other stats are maxed, and I only have 3 or less skills that aren't maxed, for example, my lowest stats currently: personality is 30, and speed is 60, and luck is 65. So when all my favorite stats like Strength , intelligence, wisdom, and endurance are maxed at 100, then every time I level up, then I can put a point a couple points on personality and speed and that restriction of only 1 point per level to luck. (since I have nothing else to put it on besides luck anymore)


I hope this is helpful. It is basically me suggesting a path to take when creating your character, but I remember starting a new character over like 20 times in Morrowind, because they weren't leveling up the way I wanted, or I picked a major skill that I wasn't even using enough to make it worth it, or something like that.


I used this previous knowledge with Morrowind to create my Oblivion character correctly this time, I believe - and even if not, I think it is harmful to the entertainment of the game to keep starting over too much. You get entirely bored of the beginning and eventually just quit playing. I'm just going to roll this character, right now I am absolutely destroying everything. I hear every 5th level (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc.), monsters get tougher (could be a rumor), so if you are level 4 going on five, don't sleep untill you have skilled up a major stat 10 more times, that way, when you sleep, you can sleep twice, and you will level up twice, making sure the monsters at level 5 don't whup your ass, because you will go from level 4 to level 6.

If this is too technical, just don't worry about it. have fun.


EDIT:

I forgot to explain how I feel about putting the skills you wont use much as your major skills you get x5 to skills. Yes x5 bonuses are great, and I have gotten them on occasion, and you might get stats higher at lower levels, but by not having it asigned to a major skill, I would think you would be harder to go from novice to journeyman to expert to master, because major skills advance faster. Correct me if I'm wrong here, it's purely a guess.

But, I don't have any problem getting my stats up tbh. By putting things I will use the most as my major skills, my best stats are in their 80's, 90's, and 100 already, at level 27, with mostly x2 bonuses, and I am a journeyman or expert and nearly a master in 2 of them. And the skills that I totally suck ass at with this character? Like speechcraft, mystisism, conjuration? I don't care very much about those anyway, I'll do those with the mage character I make, and will ignore things like heavy armor when leveling the mage.

 

[Jintor]

The main point is that monsters level up with you dependant on your major skills. So basically you want combat skills as major ones because that way you can kill the monsters that level up with you.

You don't want something that levels up in massive bursts (say... alchemy?) that is non-combat because then you can get smashed.

I must admit this got a whole lot easier with these enchanted weapons, though.

 

[VirusType2]

The main point is that monsters level up with you dependant on your major skills. So basically you want combat skills as major ones because that way you can kill the monsters that level up with you.

You don't want something that levels up in massive bursts (say... alchemy?) that is non-combat because then you can get smashed.

I must admit this got a whole lot easier with these enchanted weapons, though.

I still have to finish at least 1 mage quest - maybe more -before I can get anything enchanted I guess. I'm not really interested in being forced to do a particular quest. I'd prefer that I got to choose something else. i don't know what the fahq to do. lol I refuse to cheat though, at least not unless I get really pissed. Truth is - i haven't really tried to figure it out yet.

 

[Jintor]

The sigil stones work for enchanting >> Quite well actually.

 

[sinkoman]

The sigil stones work for enchanting >> Quite well actually.

Problem is though, you always run the risk of enchanting an item while it's low level, and you end up throwing it out.

Getting them isn't worth the output if you ask me. They look nice in homes though

 

[Jintor]

Not to me. With oldblivion they appear as solid spheres (big, solid spheres). I mean, I love oldblivion, but it total screws up spell effects - fighting mythic dawn ends up with bright spheres across the screen.

I hope they find a fix soon. But Oldblivion is whey good.