Creating Your Character
Skyrim has always embraced the idea that you should be able to venture out and do things without meticulously number-crunching your character. While this is still very much true, you should at least have a general idea of the type of build you want to make.
Starting a New Game
Upon starting a new game, you will see a popup asking if you would like to skip the normal introduction (courtesy of Optional Quick Start).
As cool as Skyrim’s intro is, we’ve all played through it probably a dozen times at this point, and it’s very long. Selecting this option will start you just before exiting the cave outside of Helgen.
To make up for lost XP and items that you would have acquired during the start, there will be a starter chest just outside where you can select some starting items for your adventure.
Otherwise, you may select no and just continue through the normal Skyrim intro.
Racial Changes
No matter which option you chose above, you are going to have to pick a race and create your character.
Choosing your race is a big part of deciding who you want your character to be. As in classic Skyrim fashion, you can still make do with any race work for whatever build you are wanting to do.
But some races are obviously better geared towards certain builds than others.
If you know you want to go with some type of build, try picking a race that majors or at least minors in some of the skills that you know you want to use.
You would also do well to not underestimate the racial passives. For example, if you think you might want a tanky type of character, an Orc may be a good initial choice with its flat health and health regeneration rate bonuses. You can read more about these below.
Racial Skills and Abilities
In vanilla Skyrim, whichever race you choose has starting skill bonuses and a racial ability. In Winds of the North (thanks to to Aetherius) the starting racial skills have been altered a bit and racial Abilites have also been traded in for racial passives.
| Race | Major Skill | Minor Skills | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argonian | Alchemy | Alteration, Illusion, Hand to Hand, Restoration, Sneak | Poison and Disease Resistance +50%, potions last 50% longer, can breathe underwater. |
| Breton | Alteration | Alchemy, Conjuration, Illusion, Restoration, Speech | Magic Resistance +25%, 10% chance to absorb Magicka from incoming spells. |
| Dark Elf | Destruction | Conjuration, Enchanting, Illusion, One-handed, Sneak | Fire Resistance +50%, spells and enchantments cost 10% less. |
| High Elf | Enchanting | Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Restoration | Magicka +50, Magicka Regeneration +50%. |
| Imperial | Speech | Block, Heavy Armor, One-handed, Restoration, Smithing | Health, Magicka, and Stamina +25, 10% better prices, find extra gold in travels. |
| Khajiit | Hand to Hand | Alchemy, Archery, Light Armor, Security, Sneak | 20% less Stamina for power attacks/drawing bows, 50% less Stamina for sprinting/sneaking, night vision power. |
| Nord | Two-handed | Block, Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Smithing, Speech | Frost Resistance +50%, 25% less damage while power attacking, drawing bows, or casting spells. |
| Orc | Smithing | Alchemy, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handed, Two-handed | Health +50, Health Regeneration +50%. |
| Redguard | Two-handed | Archery, Block, Light Armor, Smithing, Two-handed | Stamina +50, Stamina Regeneration +50%. |
| Wood Elf | Archery | Light Armor, Lockpicking, One-handed, Security, Sneak | 10% faster movement, 50% less fall damage, 25% extra damage with sneak attacks. |
Starting Spells
Some races start with several spells and others start with none at all. The details have been listed in the table below.
While its not imperative to select a race that has a spell you want, it may be something to consider. You can still buy whatever spells you want and/or need in the future.
| Race | Starting Spells |
|---|---|
| Argonian | Poison Spray, Healing |
| Breton | Oakflesh, Healing, Conjure Spectral Wolf |
| Dark Elf | Flames, Frenzy, Bound Dagger |
| High Elf | Sparks, Lesser Ward, Soul Trap |
| Imperial | Calm, Healing |
| Khajiit | NONE |
| Nord | NONE |
| Orc | NONE |
| Redguard | NONE |
| Wood Elf | NONE |