The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Character Build-up & Development Guide

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| [CBDG01]                            BASICS                               |
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After playing TES3: Morrowind for a long time and basically sitting in 
front of Oblivion since it came out, i noticed how many people seem to 
confuse game lore character ideas with actually good character builds. 
Something like: A good fighter has all weapon skills, weapon specialisation 
and The Warrior Birth sign. Or: Bretons are ideal mages but bad fighters
and thieves. All wrong except the part about ideal mages. 

Lets take a quick look at the Attributes before we go in-depth. Starting 
Attributes have scores between 30 and 50 (exception: female Orc 25 
Personality), depending on your Race and Sex. You can modify them slightly 
with Birth signs and the choice of favoured attributes. The maximum score 
in-game is capped at 100, so while high starting scores will get you to 
the maximum faster, they don't modify the cap. The Attributes are:  

Strength (STR)
Related skills: Blade, Blunt, Hand To Hand
Determines: How much you carry, Fatigue score, melee damage

Intelligence (INT)
Related skills: Alchemy, Conjuration, Mysticism
Determines: Magicka, spell effectiveness

Willpower (WIL)
Related skills: Alteration, Destruction, Restoration
Determines: Fatigue score, resistance to Magicka, Magicka regeneration

Agility (AGI)
Related skills: Security, Stealth, Marksman
Determines: Bow damage, Fatigue score

Speed (SPD) 
Related skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Light Armour
Determines: Movement speed

Endurance (END)
Related skills: Armourer, Block, Heavy Armour
Determines: Fatigue score, Health gain on level up

Personality (PER)
Related Skills: Illusion, Mercantile, Speechcraft
Determines: NPC reactions

Luck (LCK)
Related Skills: None
Determines: how lucky you are 

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| Directly derived from attributes are the following     | 
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Health
The amount of damage you take before dying. Starts with 2x Endurance, add
10% Endurance per level up.  

Magicka
Power to cast spells. 2x Intelligence + Race/Birth sign Bonuses. 
Regenerates constantly over time, regeneration speed is tied to Willpower. 

Fatigue
Jumping and Power attacks (and other things like blocking & bow at low 
levels) use Fatigue. The Formula is STR + END + AGL + WIL. Regenerates 
constantly over time. 

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| Resistances & Weaknesses |
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They are not displayed on the attribute screen, you have to access them 
via the magic tab. 

Resistance 
You can have resistance versus certain types of damage or effects. 
Magnitude 50 resistance to fire = only half (50%) fire damage from spells 
and attacks. Types: Fire, Frost, Shock, Magic (except elemental), Poison 
and Disease

Weakness 
The opposite of resistance. Magnitude 50 weakness = 50% more fire damage

Immunity
If you reach 100 % resistance, you are immune to that type of damage or 
effect. You won't gain health for more than 100% resistance.