Ok we are getting really close
And I still have absolutly no idea what skills I will be using.
These are my personal choices to select from (in descending order of preference);
Hand to hand, acrobatics, athletics, sneak, security, Block(if it works with H2H), Marksman, Speechcraft, Mercantile. And as you see 9 so have to kill 2

Have we got a definative answer (ie from dev)
whether Block ("Parry melee attacks with shields and weapons. Successful blocks reduce damage") and Hand to Hand ("Attack without weapons to damage and fatigue opponents).
will work together?

Has anyone ever actually had Speechcraft as a skill and is it worth while. With the new RAI being such an amazing thing I can image that there is the possiblity of lots of interactions on varying levels with charecters. Any word on possible perks for this skill.
I guess the same question could be asked for Mercantile, though I have heard one perk is the ability to own shops.

I consider Acrobatics and Athletics manditory for the way I play. I want to go faster and jump higher.
Both of these are speed governed.

Security and Sneak are two musts for my style of play and I know about some of the benifits of them.
I wonder if Hand to hand has a special sneak attack?

Is there a point to trying to have your main skills to include a range of governing attributes?

I admit every time I read about how the skill points are distributed to raise the attributes my head swims abit. Raise you primary skills 10points is 1point to attribute or something.

And in that vain if you don't have a offensive in your primary you don't get the "perks", but it still raises just the same but slower. So I am thinking that if say Short Blade isn't something you really care about the perks in but still use it is something that will go up quick as you will be using it all the time.
Now Marksman is a skill I think the perks are going to be way cool in so I guess if I had to have an offensive skill that would be it.

Thoughts please

One thing to remember....

Somewhere down the line, you'll master EVERYTHING, and have ALL the perks in the end.....

it's simply which perk you'll get first....

Block and hand-to-hand: Yes, you can block without a weapon or shield equipped, but it won't reduce the damage you take. However, anything ELSE that happens when you block (recoil, counter-attack skill perks, etc.) will still occur.

If you can equip a shield and still use hand-to-hand, I'll be modding in several shields that just look like bracers.



No, whether your skill is one of your Majors or not won't prevent you from getting the perks.




In short, no. You'll want to USE skills with a range of governing attributes so you can get multipliers when you level up, but they don't need to be your majors.



I, personally, would drop Speechcraft and Mercantile. Having those start at lower levels and raising more slowly will probably have the smallest overall effect on your playing. I tend to rely more on combat skills, and then let my money do the talking.

Well actually that was morrowind style, Oblivion is very different. I agree with you completely on everything but dropping speechcraft and mercentile, in oblivion those look like two incredibly important skills, granted I won't be using them, but for a beginner especially just as imperial is great for beginners, so will social skills.

I haven't heard that a perk for mercentile allows you to own shops, and I've read every single interview. However, one perk for mercentile does allow you to invest in shops. When you get to the upper levels in morrowind you often find all your items sell for something that by far exceeds the money merchants have at any given time. Investing in those shops gives you personally nothing, it's not a stock market, it increases the merchant's purse, basically, so at any given time that merchent's amount of money on hand will be high, which is an investment since you'll probably have a lot of very expensive items later on.

Most experienced players can just kill and steal and rape dungeons, though it will be hard as hell for them it would still be possible. Stealing or murdering a town citizen is WAY more difficult now. The guards are even tougher than morrowind, the people always run and get one if they catch you, suspicious NPCs will watch you to make sure you don't steal anything, it's just harder. Beginner players with mercentile as a major skill could get way more buck for the bang, since it will be harder for them to accumulate rare items and to steal they'll come by money much easier with a higher mercentile skill.

Speechcraft is another one, probably more useful. With a high speechcraft level you can get information for quests easier, and in general the game is easier to follow. if you're cutty you don't need it, but the more help from NPCs the better for uncutty people.

Good points, DoomedOne.

A question, Discobiscut: What race will you be playing? You can use the racial bonuses to make up for two of your skills being minor.

If you're playing a wood elf, you could drop Marksman and Sneak.
Khajiit? Hand to hand and Sneak or Acrobatics
Redgard? Block and Athletics
Imperial? Mercantile and Speechcraft

Etc.

That's true

You CAN block with H2H. But it doesn't reduce damage. It justs makes them recoil. Therefore allowing you to do a power attack. Therefore, potentially, winning the fight.

I dont see the point of security when you have alteration which allows yo to open locked doors and do more.

My main skill will probably be acrobatics just like morrowind I spent more time in the air jumping constantly than I did on the ground.
Here are my 7 skills

1: Acrobatics
2:Blade
3:Markman
4:Blunt Weapon (Nothing Funnyer Than hitting someone in the head with a hammer)
5:Stealth
6:Heavy Armor
7:Regeneration

Let the good times commence Mass murdering sprees here I come

All interesting points
Very glad to hear about H2H and block working together. So the only way to reduce damage is my armour and maybe if there are perks to H2H we don't know about like deflect.

Not sure what you mean about "no point to security with alteration". Have we heard about any of the perks for Security?

Deathbane27 can you explain why race would effect your major skill choice? I was thinking a Brenton or Imperial

So skills now:
H2H
Block
Acrobatics
Alteration
Sneak
Speachcraft
Mercantile

Not sure how easy this is going to be to play though
But I will try mostly non-offensive gameplay

That's been my plan from the start. I mean, if you break it down, alteration is way more valuable. It will do other stuff besides open locks, such as water breathing and walking, whereas security can only open locks (as far as I know).

Each race gets skill bonuses. You can see each one's here:

http://www.oblivionmods.info/

Basically, if you pick an Imperial, it's less important to have Mercantile and Speechcraft be major skills since you get an automatic +10 boost to them.

Oh, also, you get to pick an archetype specialization. Basically to get +10 to all 7 skills in either Combat, Magic, or Stealth. So basically if you pick Stealth as your specialization, you'll get a +10 to everything on your list except hand-to-hand and block.

So if you picked an Imperial with Stealth as a specialization, and left Mercantile and Speechcraft as minors, you'd end up with: 25 in Mercantile, Speechcraft, and Block, 30 Hand-to-Hand, and 35 in your other majors. Compare that with 5 or 10 in all your other minors.

Thanks for that Deathbane much clearer.
Your options of going imperial and stealth to start is great
Will give good starting scores
But won't minor skills raise really slowly, the racial bonus is only for the begining stats right?
Race doesn't have any factor after about 5 lvls when your stats will be raised by your actions and therefore will kinda level off

I've gotta say thank goodness for the difficulty slider, I'd never have any fun if it was a challenge all the time. The powerful mintour is fun occationally, but I don't want ever task to be a struggle no matter how powerful your skills become.