Let's Play: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition: Right Now

Okay, Morrowind. I’m still fairly new to this game, but I’ve played a ton of Oblivion and pretty much get how The Elder Scrolls system works. If you literally know nothing about the series, it’s an RPG all about choice. You can build your character’s strength and weaknesses basically from the ground up, and after a quick tutorial, you’re given a world to explore at your own pace. There’s enough structure to avoid getting lost, as you’ll almost never find yourself without a quest, but you can ignore them and wander around if you want. The story can seem a bit shallow on the surface, but if you dig by reading books or asking a lot of questions, you’ll find an insane amount of depth and history to what’s going on around you.

I used a fair amount of mods with Oblivion, but besides the expansions I haven’t added anything to change the original Morrowind in any way, partially because I’m not sure what needs fixing and partially because it’s pretty normal for me to accept a less than perfect experience for no real reason. Let’s just say it’s authentic this way. Before we get started, some basics on the math behind everything in the game. Our character is built on Attributes, which are used to determine our Derived Attributes and govern the different Skills. You can ask for any more specific information about anything.

Attributes: These all affect how we perform at various activities, and are increased by using the different Skills they govern. If damaged, they can only be restored with potions, spells, or scrolls.

Agility – Chance to hit enemies and dodge their attacks; use Acrobatics, Block, Security, Sneak.
Endurance – Helps with the Derived Attributes Health and Fatigue.
Intelligence – Determines amount of Magicka.
Personality – How much people like us, and how well we can deal with them.
Speed – Determines how quickly we move.
Strength – How much damage we do, helps with Health, Fatigue, and Encumbrance.
Willpower – Determines our ability to cast all spells and resist some, and helps our Fatigue.
Luck – Affects our chance to successfully do anything that can be screwed up, no effect on loot.

Derived Attributes: These are the main stats we’ll keep track of during the game, with their totals based on our Attributes. Fatigue can be restored by waiting, and along with Health and Magicka can be restored by resting in a bed or anywhere away from towns. They can all be restored by potions, spells, or scrolls.

Health (To not die) – Initially: (End+Str)/2; Upon level up: +End/10
Magicka (For casting spells) – Int
Fatigue (Drains when running and performing strenuous actions, when low most activities are more difficult) – Agi+End+Str+Wil
Encumbrance (Max weight you can carry) – Str*5

Skills: Listed by the Attribute that governs them.

Agi – Governs Block, Light Armor, Marksman, and Sneak.
End – Governs Heavy Armor, Medium Armor, and Spear.
Int – Governs Alchemy, Conjuration, Enchant, and Security.
Per – Governs Illusion, Mercantile, and Speechcraft.
Spe – Governs Athletics, Hand-to-hand, Short Blade, and Unarmored.
Str – Governs Acrobatics, Armorer, Axe, Blunt Weapon, and Long Blade.
Wil – Governs Alteration, Destruction, Mysticism, and Restoration.
Luck - Governs nothing.

Besides the obvious ones:
Acr – Ability to jump high and fall without taking damage.
Alc – Mixing our own potions with magic ingredients.
Alt – Various spells, usually improving our ability to move around the world.
Ath – Speed moving through the world.
Arm – Repairing armor and weapons.
Con – Spells to summon creatures and equipment temporarily.
Des – Offensive spells, including elemental attacks and Attribute damage.
Enc – Creating and recharging magic items.
Ill – Spells including affecting the mind and body of others and protecting ourself
Mys – Variety of magic like absorbing Attributes, teleporting, and trapping souls for enchantments.
Res – Spells to cure and resist bad effects, and fortify or restore stats.
Sec – Picking locks.

This character will be our collective creation. Here is what I need your input on, just make a post with your choice in each category.

Name:

Race: Listed with recommended Specialization. Second line is starting Attributes which are listed for males. Starting Luck is always 40. Third line is Skill bonuses. Fourth line is resistances: Fire, Frost, Poison, Shock, Magicka (generic), and Disease. 100 would mean immunity to that effect. Fifth line is special powers/spells/abilities. Powers are once a day, spells use up Magicka.

Altmer (High Elf) – Magic
Agi 40, End 40, Int 50, Per 40, Spe 30, Str 30, Wil 40
Alc, Des, Enc +10; Alt, Con, Ill +5
Dis +75; Fro, Sho -25; Fir, Mag -50
150% more Magicka

Argonian (Lizard) – Any
Agi 50, End 30, Int 40, Per 30, Spe 50, Str 40, Wil 30
Ath +15; Alc, Ill, Med, Mys, Spr, Una +5
Poi +100; Dis +75
Spell for two minutes of water breathing

Bosmer (Wood Elf) – Stealth
Agi 50, End 30, Int 40, Per 40, Spe 50, Str 30, Wil 30
Mar +15; Lig, Sne +10; Acr, Alc +5
Dis +75
Power to command a normal creature up to level 5 for 10 minutes

Breton (Human) – Magic
Agi 30, End 30, Int 50, Per 40, Spe 30, Str 40, Wil 50
Con, Mys, Res +10; Alc, Alt, Ill +5;
Mag +50
Power to improve Armor rating 50 points for one minute

Dunmer (Dark Elf) - Any
Agi 40, End 40, Int 40, Per 30, Spe 50, Str 40, Wil 30
Des, Sho +10; Ath, Lig, Lon, Mar, Mys +5
Fir +75
Power to improve chance of Dodging 50 points for one minute

Imperial (Human) – Stealth
Agi 30, End 40, Int 40, Per 50, Spe 40, Str 40, Wil 30
Lon, Mer, Spe +10; Blu, Han, Lig +5
None
Powers to absorb 200 points of target’s Fatigue and improve target’s Disposition 25-50 points for 15 seconds

Khajiit (Cat) – Stealth
Agi 50, End 30, Int 40, Per 40, Spe 40, Str 40, Wil 30
Acr +15; Ath, Han, Lig, Sec, Sho, Sne +5;
None
Power to demoralize target for 30 seconds and spell to see in the dark 50 points better for 30 seconds

Nord (Human) – Combat
Agi 30, End 50, Int 30, Per 30, Spe 40, Str 50, Wil 40
Axe, Blu, Med +10; Hea, Lon, Spr +5
Fro +100; Sho +50
Powers to do 25 points of frost damage and improve Armor rating 30 points for one minute

Orc – Combat
Agi 35, End 50, Int 30, Per 30, Spe 30, Str 45, Wil 50
Arm, Blo, Hea, Med +10; Axe +5
Mag +25
Power to raise Health 20 pts, Fatigue 200 pts, Attack 100 pts and lower Agi 100 pts for one minute

Redguard (Human) – Combat
Agi 40, End 50, Int 30, Per 30, Spe 40, Str 50, Wil 30
Lon +15; Ath, Axe, Blu, Hea, Med, Sho +5
Poi, Dis +75
Power to raise Agi, End, Spe, Str 50 points and Health 25 points for one minute

Gender: This will make a slight difference in a few quests and also affect Attributes. The list is the change for females of each race.

Agi - Argonian -10
End - Khajiit +10; Altmer, Dunmer, Nord -10
Int - Argonian, Orc +10
Per - Dunmer, Redguard +10; Orc -5
Spe - Altmer, Breton +10; Argonian, Imperial -10
Str - Breton, Khajiit, Redguard -10
Wil - Argonian, Imperial, Nord +10; Orc -5

Birthsign: We get one, and it’s basically another source of special bonuses like the racial ones.

Apprentice – Mag -50; 150% more Magicka
Atronach – 200% more Magicka and 50% chance of absorbing spells and converting them to Magicka, but it doesn’t restore during rest
Lady – End, Per +25
Lord – Fir -100; Spell to restore Health 2 points per second for 30 seconds
Lover – Agi +25; Power to paralyze target for one minute and lower our max Fatigue 200 points
Mage – 50% more Magicka
Ritual – Power to restore 100 Health and spells to turn undead for 30 seconds
Serpent – Spell to poison target 3 points but decrease our max Health by 1 for 30 seconds
Shadow – Power to make us invisible for one minute
Steed – Spe +25
Thief – Dodge chance +10
Tower – Power to open a lock up to level 50 and spell to detect animals, enchantments, and keys up to 200 feet away for one minute
Warrior – Attack +10

Class: This will take a bit of time to figure out. There’s three ways to determine Class: Make our own by choosing a Specialization, Favored Attributes, and Major and Minor Skills; pick a pre-made class from a list; or take a multiple-choice quiz and the game will select a pre-made one based on our answers. The latter two are easier, the first allows for more customization. Make a choice of method and Specialization and we’ll go from there. This is the stuff that’s important to the class.

Specialization: Combat, Magic, or Stealth. The specialization we choose will give us a 5 point bonus in each of the Skills it covers and also allow them to increase with 80% of the standard experience.

Combat – Arm, Ath, Axe, Blo, Blu, Hea, Lon, Med, Spr +5
Magic – Alc, Alt, Con, Des, Enc, Ill, Mys, Res, Una +5
Stealth – Acr, Han, Lig, Mar, Mer, Sec, Sho, Sne, Spe +5

Favored Attributes: We get a +10 bonus in two of the eight Attributes.

Major/Minor Skills: 5 of each. All Skills start at 5 before any bonuses and require 125% of standard experience to increase except for these. Your five Minor Skills start at 15, and your five Major Skills start at 30 and require only 75% of standard experience to increase.

I hope all this info isn't overwhelming. Race, Gender, and Birthsign should all play into the kind of Class we want. To sum up: pick a Name, Race, Gender, Birthsign, Class Specialization, and method for picking the rest of the Class. Then we’ll hammer out the class and the character’s goals. Then we can actually get started!

I have a pretty simple philosophy I like to follow with videogames.

If given an option to play as a lizard man, I will play as a lizard man.

So, be an Argonian.

The other stuff doesn't concern me overly much.

Be an alchemist. Abuse intelligence potions.

Excellent. I'm actually playing through this now, so this should be fun.

I suggest a magician. So;

Altmer
Male
Tower (Always play as that, makes low Security less of a bother)
Magic
Those questions would be impossible to get a straight answer on. So, I'd say pick a class. Fair amount of choice without being completely overwhelming.

I've noticed that Argonian's look less horrific then every other race.

So be one of them.

These two guys covered my vote before I even got here. So, yeah.

Also: Born under the shadow so we get invisibility. Just like this text!

When I first played that and found that there were 3 different human type races, I knew I had under estimated the gameplay of the game and I was fucked. No way I was going to understand it.

Dunmer male. Shadow birthsign. Specializing in Stealth.

Favored Attributes: Strength & Agility.

Major skills: Long Blade, Light Armor, Security, Alchemy & Sneak.

Minor skills:, Restoration, Enchant, Mysticism, Acrobatics & Athletics.

While we wait for more input, here's the intro video that someone put on Youtube. It gives a taste of the main storyline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5I9e...eature=related

But will your LP be as awesome as the 7-minute speedrun? Only time will tell.

PS: Lizardman.

You must be a lizard!

I don't care about the other stuff, aside from the fact that you shouldn't pick Atronach as your birth sign, because... well, because.

Also, call yourself Nerevar. Just to confuse everybody.

I'm going to put in a request for "Breton" just because, and a pure magic build, just because I've never had anything but pain trying to get pure magic-users off the ground in elder scrolls games and I want to share the love.

I say a Lizardman is cool by me, except brace for some hardcore discrimination. Luckily that means you don't have to worry about personality. Not like you ever have to buy anything anyway!

The Sign should be the tower, because there are a million fun little boxes and rooms to get into and this makes it alot easier to, say, steal a set of glass armor at the mountain gate.

The only downside is you can't wear boots or most helmets I think. We'll manage!

Yeah, Argonians and Khajiits can't wear boots or helmets. Apparently it's because of the strange shape of their heads and feet.

Also, pretty much any race guarantees you discrimination. For the beginning, at least.

Okay, looks like we're going to be a Magic-specializing Argonian named Nerevar. I hope you guys don't mine if I make it a female for the bonuses in Int and Wil, which are important for spellcasters. I'll break the tie on Birthsign by picking the Tower, and method by picking from a list. Here are the choices of Magic-based classes:

Battlemage
Attributes: Int, Str
Major Skills: Alt, Axe, Con, Des, Hea
Minor Skills: Alc, Enc, Lon, Mar, Mys

Healer
Attributes: Per, Wil
Major Skills: Alt, Han, Mys, Res, Spe
Minor Skills: Alc, Blu, Ill, Lig, Una

Mage
Attributes: Int, Wil
Major Skills: Alt, Ill, Des, Mys, Res
Minor Skills: Alc, Con, Enc, Sho, Una

Nightblade
Attributes: Wil, Spe
Major Skills: Alt, Ill, Mys, Sho, Sne
Minor Skills: Des, Lig, Mar, Sec, Una

Sorcerer
Attributes: End, Int
Major Skills: Alt, Con, Des, Enc, Mys
Minor Skills: Ill, Hea, Mar, Med, Sho

Spellsword
Attributes: End, Wil
Major Skills: Alt, Blo, Des, Lon, Res
Minor Skills: Alc, Axe, Blu, Enc, Med

Witchhunter
Attributes: Agi, Int
Major Skills: Alc, Con, Enc, Lig, Mar
Minor Skills: Blo, Blu, Mys, Sne, Una

Healer, Mage, Nightblade, and Witchhunter have Unarmored as a Minor Skill, which would be useful with the inability to wear helmets and boots as an Argonian. Battlemage, Nightblade, and Witchhunter's Favored Attributes are both at least 40 with a female Argonian.

I would recommend either Nightblade or Witchhunter, whichever skill set seems more interesting to you, although you can vote for any class you want.

and the race for longest let's play ever is joined!

Spellsword!

Oh come on, make a custom class.

Make this the longest LP before you even start playing.

OK, how about, if anyone has an idea for a custom class, they can post it, but pre-made selections are also acceptable.

I'm gonna vote for witchhunter since alchemy will definitely come in handy. I would also like to say I would be tickled if you did the pilgrimmage stuff. I was never able to because my weak ass guy would get eaten my monsters pretty often.

Also, are we playing the PC version or the Xbox version? Because you don't want to have to micromanage a spellcaster on a console...

You do not want to be switching between melee and magic. I'd say Nightblade. While sticking to Destruction magic as much as possible.

I'll be interested to see you take on Sneak. I never really got the hang of that, even if I was playing as a stealth character.

PC version.

I loved playing stealth characters, although it's a wash once you can make a set of clothes with 100% chameleon. Also, I think spells don't get the bonus damage from sneaking though.

Come on folks, I need a little more input than this. Another question, which Main Quest would you like me to tackle? I figure the Let’s Play will end upon completing the quest we choose, unless something pretty compelling makes it seem worth continuing. Note that I probably won’t travel to the main location for either expansion until I get up to a decent level in the normal game.

Morrowind – Dagoth Ur, ruler of House Dagoth and betrayer of the Tribunal, is rising once again, and you are somehow connected to him by fate. This is what I’m working on with my existing character but I don’t mind going after it again.
Tribunal – Attacks by the Dark Brotherhood draw you to Mournhold, Morrowind’s capital, where something big is happening. This technically takes place after Morrowind’s plot, but is playable without actually seeing that through first.
Bloodmoon – You travel to the island of Solstheim to deal with werewolves and other threats tied to a Daedra Lord. Unlike Tribunal, this is unconnected to Morrowind’s story and will make sense without having played it first.

Werewolves are scary! You better kill them!

Orc Mage with the Shadow birthsign killing the werewolves using the power of the prismatic ray....

Bloodmoon is the only one I never finished, so I am alright with that.
Also Nightblade, I guess.

Witch Hunter sounds cooler. Burn the witch!

Can you become a werewolf in this?

A lizardman werewolf?