So yesterday I was playing Oblivion, and I realized I had probably put 15-20 hours into the game, yet I was still level 3. That struck me as rather funny, considering I know other people that are in the high 20's level-wise, yet I know they haven't put 75-100 hours into the game.
So, I started digging around on the Interweb, trying to figure out just how the level system works, since the game didn't discuss the issue at all during character-creation, and I didn't play Morrowind enough to figure out how that system worked, either.
Leveling is based on your seven major attributes, which are automatically picked for you if you choose a pre-made class. I had chosen Archer, but I only ever used 3 of my 7 major attributes, which was making level progression painfully slow. I never use Armorer, Blade, Blunt or Hand-to-Hand so they were effectively preventing me from leveling without spending a ridiculous amount of time on Sneak and Marksman. I don't get hit very often since I can do 3x damage with archery by sneaking, so even Light Armor wasn't going to help me much unless I purposely allowed myself to get hit, which destroys the suspension of disbelief in my opinion.
Since I had pretty much FUBAR'ed my character and would never be able to progress without spending a ridiculous amount of time on Sneak and Marksman, I decided to change my class. After putting so many hours into the character already (especially into alchemy), I decided to change his class "on the fly" to replace the unused attributes with some that might actually see some use.
I tried using ShowClassMenu from the console prompt, but it reset all of my skills, which was totally unacceptable. I already had alchemy up to 76 and can see all four item attributes, so having it reset to 25 and redoing hours of alchemy work all over again was definitely not an option. So, I went back to the Webtron and did some additional searching, where I found this mod...
http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2072Of course, when I downloaded the mod last night, it didn't have the pretty pictures, so I had to find the teeny-tiny little amulet on my own with only the poorly-written instructions that were bundled with the mod to help me. The mod creates an amulet that you can equip to change your race, class, and birthsign. When you change your class with it, though, it keeps your skills at their existing levels. It wipes any progression you've made through your current skill level and character level, but that's not a huge issue. I made a custom class focused on stealth that I called "Arrow Mage" and went with the following attributes...
Marksman
Sneak
Security
Light Armor
Restoration
Destruction
Alchemy
Since my alchemy skill is already up to 78 or so, I won't have to worry about that artificially inflating my level and screwing up my character.
All in all, I think this will let me get some levels under my belt much more quickly than I have over the past week, so I can start getting better equipment. Otherwise, I'd be a master at alchemy and still using novice equipment, or an expert at archery and still using a steel bow. Lame!
-b0b
(...wishes the game would've describe the leveling system during initial class selection.)
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Morrowind: Oblivion (Read 21733 times)
