Forums » Elder Scrolls

Racial Benefits: How would you do it?

    • 207 posts
    August 22, 2015 7:32 AM EDT

    From what I 've read many people don't like the stat bonuses Skyrim gave them because they were negelectable. How would you have prefered it?

    I think giving races a permanent boost isn't the perfect way to handle it. Doesn't lore say that every race can become a master of any skill, it will just take longer?

    I would do it one of this ways or both:

    1. The races get stat boni like in Skyrim. But instead of making them so they can be made equal in the first hours of playing, do it this way:

    Example: High Elf and Orc

    High Elf gets +10 on Illusion. Instead of the High Elf basically jump over the first 10 level ups make it like this: The High Elf needs as much experience from going from 25 to 26 like the Orc from 15 to 16. This way the High Elf would level faster.

    2. They level faster.

    Example: High Elf

    The High Elf levels Illusion, say, 15% faster, his other skills are levled 10% faster (the values could be higher of course).

    (on a side note: I think the guardians stones should give a fortify skill effect, maybe in combination with faster skill increases. While a HIgh Elf should be able to become a warrior as good as an Orc, someone born under the sign of the Warrior should be a better warrior then someone born under the sign of the Thief.)

    So what do you think? How should the Racial Bonuses be handled? What about the other Racial Benefits/Daily Powers? I liked them in  Skyrim.

    • 1467 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:07 AM EDT

    They handled Daily Powers excellently, I think they all made a fair bit of sense and were mostly useful (It's okay Khajiit, you can punch stuff). I mean Berserker Rage, Highborn and Histskin are just ridiculous the rest are great.

    However I think they screwed up big time with just the Skill Boosts, not because I don't like the idea. That's just how Elder Scrolls rolls but the actual skills given weren't always top notch.

    Imperials are my number one complaint. Uhh let's see. Restoration, Block, Destruction, Enchanting, Heavy Armour and One-Handed...Where the fuck is Speech??? The skill that makes the most sense for them to have a +10 in and the one that they were masters of in both Oblivion and Morrowind. But now they give them Restoration as their focus...Ah yes it must fit in with...Uhh, nope not Morrowind or Oblivion, it must have been... Uhh reasons. You know what tops it off, Nords get a +5 to Speech...Nords, those semi-Barbaric Northmen and not the Imperials who are quite honestly built completely off of Trade and Diplomacy, Bretons makes sense but freaking Nords...

    Orcs piss me off a little but not as much. Smithing is a massive thing for the Orcs and it really should be the focus of the Race. Two-Handed is acceptable enough but Smithing just...I mean Smithing is what works best I think for Orcs, it's just weird that it's not a +10.

    The rest work pretty well I think. Definitely fitting in terms of High Elf/Breton. I think what screwed the whole thing up for Bethesda is cutting another bunch of skills from the pool. If every Race got 2 +10's then it would be perfect.

    Bretons: Mysticism and Conjuration

    Altmer: Illusion and Destruction

    Imperials: Speech and Heavy Armour

    Orcs: Smithing and Two-Handed

    Nords: Two-Handed and Light Armour

    Khajiit: Sneak and Unarmed

    Argonians: Lockpicking and Athletics 

    Redguard: One-Handed and Block

    Bosmer: Archery and Alchemy

    Dunmer: Destruction and One-Handed

    Something like that would work better (7 skills each, 21 skills all up) Bring back Unarmed, Athletics and Mysticism to round it out. I just think that Skyrim's skill problem is the reduction of Skill. They really limited themselves in that regard and made it a slightly more complex system but perhaps toning down from Oblivion/Morrowind by discarding/limiting Attributes. 

    • 627 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:18 AM EDT

    I'd argue more for a spears skill instead of athletics, since that had its own set of problems in Oblivion. And the spears still works with argonians, since gorilla warfare and all that, in fact The Armorer's Challenge mentions it.

    • 649 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:22 AM EDT

    I think you meant guerilla warfare. But if Argonians used gorillas for war, they would rule over Tamriel by now

    • 1467 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:23 AM EDT

    SHHHHHHH. I didn't say Spears because it's too great for Bethesda to ever bring back  Athletics isn't the skill everyone uses to say Morrowind was the best game of the series... I could rant for hours about Spears so I didn't include it 

    • 627 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:27 AM EDT

    Yes that would be far more entertaining, maybe we should start a petition to get bethesda to include it, what do you say? 

    • 627 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:32 AM EDT

    Strangely enough the imperial smith mentioned in that books is still alive 300 years later and can be met during morrowind. Are there any other cases of imperials living that long?

    • 207 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:35 AM EDT

    I would say acrobatics instead of athletics. And spears could be incorporated into one/two-handed.

    And please, please, don't make lockpicking one of the focused skills of Argonians. They didn't have it in Morrowind. They had it in oblivion. I don't like it. I don't imagine Argonians as thieves. I imagine them as Guerilla Fighters, as Assassins, as class-Hybrids, but not as thieves. And they are for whom lockpicking is for. They should get a focus on at least one magic skill in my opinion.

    Edit: Do you mean ridiculous like op or like weak? Because i guess you mean op but i am not sure.

    • 627 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:40 AM EDT

    SoulLess, I think you meant Gorilla warfare, the argonains use gorillas to fight 

    Edit: I'd also have to disagree with spears being incorporated into one/two handed, since they would require their own unique animation, unlike the other weapons included in those skills. And as far as I can tell it would be infinitely more difficult to decapitate someone with a spear.

    • 649 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:46 AM EDT

    Well, Altmer have intelligent (supposedly) gorillas on Isles, so we might see them in future maybe.

    • 207 posts
    August 22, 2015 8:49 AM EDT

    I guess it would be also difficult to decapitate someone with a mace. I think the decapitation perks should be axe/sword specialisation perks. And spears could get a unique animation, while still being incorporated into this skill trees.

    • 268 posts
    August 22, 2015 10:21 AM EDT
    Unfortunately the plural for bonus isn't boni... It's bonuses.
    • 28 posts
    August 22, 2015 10:46 AM EDT

    Well, truth is for me most annoying thing is that argonains should have two handed, heavy armour and  iliusion, not light armour, lockpick and pickpocket.

    • 1467 posts
    August 22, 2015 11:38 AM EDT

    Argonians are the jack-of-all-trades even in Morrowind (Hell especially in Morrowind), Lockpicking isn't just for thieves but Assassins as well, picking a lock is easier than breaking a door. It's useful for Soldiers as well, if they ever get captured Lockpicking can help them escape. It has more uses than just robbing poor merchants.

    I think if we did pick Mysticism, Athletics (I'll explain why below) and Unarmed as the extra three (or Spears) then we'd give Argonians the Spear or Unarmed tree as well as Athletics as the major focuses...Works better imo

    As for Acrobatics vs. Athletics, let's put it this way. You can have Athletics be a combination of Running, Jumping and Swimming rather than just Jumping, it fits better with Skyrim (because honestly it's rare that jumping will make things more fun, faster movement speed and underwater ability, much more useful).

    I meant OP.

    • 1467 posts
    August 22, 2015 11:41 AM EDT

    I don't really get that reasoning tbh. I mean Argonians have always kind of been classified as theses Guerrilla Fighters. Two-Handed and Heavy Armour just don't really fit in that well, that and the previous skill bonuses Argonians receive never include either of those.

    Yeah I just don't get the logic behind Two-Handed + Heavy Armour (Illusion makes total sense though, right on you with that.)

    • 28 posts
    August 22, 2015 11:43 AM EDT

    Two-handed - spears, medium armour - heavy armour.

    • 1467 posts
    August 22, 2015 11:47 AM EDT

    Yeah Medium is kind of in the middle, exactly in the middle. Some of it should probably be Light and others Heavy. I'd add that Medium Armour and Unarmored were both skills so Light Armour seems to be the kind of middle ground there.

    As for Spears/Two-Handed, yeah that makes sense. Though in application they're quite different I get what you're going for.

    • 28 posts
    August 22, 2015 11:50 AM EDT

    Alteration replaces unarmoured and for me medium armour became heavy (orcish, bonemold)

    • 207 posts
    August 22, 2015 1:01 PM EDT

    I hope TES6 will have an acrobatics covered climbing system...

    • 28 posts
    August 22, 2015 1:03 PM EDT

    I love how most of discussion is about argonians

    • 207 posts
    August 22, 2015 1:15 PM EDT

    If i would see an argonian beastmaster with his pet gorilla i would run. As fast as i can.

  • August 22, 2015 6:17 PM EDT

    I would have them removed from a series that is supposedly about freedom and instead worked into classes (pre or custom) for players who want to make their own decisions but alas, Bethesda will not heed my wisdom.

    I abhor them (I would like the series more if they were not a thing), I do not see what they add to the games, and I will not consider an argument in their favour.

    • 207 posts
    August 22, 2015 6:29 PM EDT
    There are a lot of things that could be removed in favor of freedom:
    Level Locked Quests
    Quest Locked Items
    Quest Locked Shouts
    Quest Locked Quests
    We could spin this further and say:
    Guards
    Stamina
    Magicka
    Gravity Collision

    Also they don't stay in freedoms way.
    You can make a nord warriors as you can make a khajiit warrior.
    And Not a Single one of my suggestion hinders you from making an khajiit warrior or orcish thief.

    Also they exist to give you a variety. to make a difference beetween playing as a dunmer or an argonian, other than aesthetics.
  • August 22, 2015 6:57 PM EDT

    To clarify myself since I was not asked to, and to do so once:

    I do not like being forced to have powers/abilities I will not use in a game that allows me to not need to utilise them. I would like, at the least if it is not as absurd as suggesting the removal of gravity, to be able to choose what powers/abilities I can have if I wanted to use them. 

    If you consider having that restriction removed comparable to those you listed, you will not find me disturbing your belief.

    • 627 posts
    August 22, 2015 7:10 PM EDT

    But the entire point of giving each race their own unique powers, is to as SoulLess has said "to make a difference beetween playing as a dunmer or an argonian, other than aesthetics."

    With what you're suggesting they might as well just create only one race as that would be the same as being able to pick and choose racial abilities, it makes the variety of having multiple races unnecessary.