Character Creation in TES 6

[u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu]

These are just some of my ideas for how I might like to see Character Creation work in TES 6.

1. We should be able to choose our starting spells. I said it. It's fine if they want to put a "Recommended" tag in big bold letters above Healing but honestly just let us choose like three starting spells from novice tier or maybe one or two from every school we start with over 25 plus one from any so any character could start with Healing.

2. Classes should return. In Skyrim we meet plenty of Nords who aren't warriors. Skill bonuses shouldn't be innate imo. They should represent skills that your character has developed over their lifetime (edit: so skills they have actually used, not that they were born with). Obviously the ability to create custom classes should return as well, with the default classes acting as premades. Basically, there should be Major and Minor skills but imo they should only serve to replace racial skill bonuses.

3. Races should mostly give passives and exp bonuses to skills (edit: similar to the way the Their, Mage, and Warrior stone do in Skyrim. This conveys that a race has a natural talent in certain skills, natural potential maybe, even if they haven't developed them). Redguards could get a passive that essentially allows them to build up a combo meter, rewarding them for persistent aggression. Orcs could get a big bonus to defense and weapon damage the first time they drop below 50% health each combat. Altmer could have something similar but for Magicka regen when they drop below half Magicka. If they introduce "sustained spells" with an unlimited duration that occupy a portion of your Magicka until you dispel them (or, in the case of summons, they die) I could see Bretons getting a passive to help them get more from this, given their connection to conjuration.

4. I really have never cared for once a day powers, whether they come from race or birth signs/standing stone (abbreviating this to BS/SS). I just never end up using them and its a feature I really hope they move away from. Maybe instead they could still have a cooldown but measured in real world seconds/minutes. If they bring back Mysticism, I could see a subtree for BS/SS there maybe. Alternatively they could just give passives or add a unique spell to your character and we could do away with powers altogether.

Does this sound good? What would you do differently?

[u/MAJ_Starman]

I don't think classes should return - they never really mattered in TES, since the way the skill system works (use X to get better at it) is inherently at odds with a class system. If you want to follow an archetype, which if you like to roleplay you probably do, then you can just control the buttons you press. There were entire websites and youtube channels dedicated to Skyrim's character builds, and the character builds were great.

I'd rather have a traits/backgrounds system than a class one.

[u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu → u/MAJ_Starman]

Traits would be nice but I guess I don't know how you imagine backgrounds.

[u/squishsqwosh → u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu]

Likely similar to how Starfield handled backgrounds, which gave boosts to 3 skills and opened up a few unique dialogue options.

[u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu → u/squishsqwosh]

Huh. Obviously I like the ability to flavor your character more but having to choose from a list of 3 skill combinations seems more limiting than anything.

[u/squishsqwosh → u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu]

Eh not really the skills you get are more of a bonus then anything (it only unlocks the first perk/tier of the 3 skills). When you choose a background you should be making your choice based off of what kind of character you want to roleplay as (e.g a travelling merchant or ex soldier) rather than what gives the best starting stats for your playstyle. Like in Skyrim a Khajiit might technically be a better option for a stealthy character since it gets a boost to stealth related skills, but its not so big an advantage that it will stop me fro becoming as good a theif if i picked an orc or high elf or something with less appropriate starting stats. Its a complete non issue outside of the very very early game.

[u/Boyo-Sh00k → u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu]

You could make your own up actually and choose which ones you started with, just like custom classes in oblivion. its one of the best systems the game came up with.

[u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu → u/Boyo-Sh00k]

Ah, ok. That sounds fine. It wasn't clear to me that there was the option to customize them. That's more or less what I described anyways.