Ok, I played Morrowind for the entire year that I was deployed to Iraq last time.
I played over 1000 hours on that game and I still loved it. One thing that I did not
like was that I was capable at level one of beating the entire game. This was
done by enchanting, levitating, bartering for free money, and the corprus disease.
Oblivion appears to have fixed that. Also, Morrowind was almost TOO much
reliant on character skill and not really so much on player skill. Oblivion seems
to have shifted that balance some as well, which sounds good. I would like
your comments on this.
However, I believe that you could still have an
"invincible" lvl 1 char. Here is how: If a person took Speed as a favored attribute,
and the Steed as a sign, as well as picked a race with a speed bonus, he could
just kite enemies with ranged attacks via marksman skill. The +30 (or so) to
speed should keep you from getting caught, and
as long as you have arrows and have enough FPS experience to HIT your
target, then your shots WILL do some damage, and EVENTUALLY anyone
should die because I unlike Morrowind, skills affect DAMAGE and not your
hit chance. A hit is now a hit, and only damage is a variable, so as long as you
keep shooting and hitting, you should be able to kill anything that cant catch you
or paralyze you. Does this sound possible??

Cadaver

I dont really think so. I cant explain it but something just dont sound right there (?)
Anyway, it would take too long

EDIT: It is impossible to beat the game at level-1 bec you will eventually level up when you kill bosses and stuff

Ok... This is new. Why do you level when killing bosses? I am of course assuming that Marksman, Athletics and probably Acrobatics are not major skills, so why should you level up? I dont actually own the game. My wife mailed it to me but I am in Iraq so I dont of course have it yet. This theory is based on the info I have. Did TESIV change something? Are you awarded levels for beating a "boss." THIS does not seem right, but I wouldnt know. Any other input??

I have heard trolls regenerate so of course they would probably be impossable unless you could do enough damage to overcome their regeneration, but other than that, wouldnt it work? And of course it would take forever, lol. The question remains, is it possible?

Cadaver

I believe it's possible, I actually find the game much easier at lvl 1 than at lvl 20. Since everything is leveled I don't know what could stop you from beating it without sleeping a single time, after all it's mostly skills that matters.

This should be easiest with a fighter/marksman since mages will not be able to cast the higher leveled spells because of the low intelligence at lvl 1.

Then nothing is certain, I don't know if the last "boss" is leveled or not or if some more important enemies are either, but for the rest of the game it should be easely beaten at lvl 1.

Unfortunetly you have to be at least level two to start one of the quests in the game, so no, you can't beat it at level one. Level two should be possible as almost every enemy in the game is leveled to your character, so no Lichs until about lvl 20, trust me.

Yeah...I had forgotten about the level 2 quest. I was level 10 when I did that, so I didn't notice. It's one of the necessary parts, so Zelda is correct. It is definitely possible, though, unless there are some more quests like that later on. Keep us updated if you can. Interesting idea.

No what he is tlaking about (I think) is that you would get exp for the skills you use to kill the bosses. But yeah if you keep them as non important skills then I guess that would be possible, hard becasue you'd still be level on and everyone else wil be level 300 (yes exageration), but yeah, it might be possible

I meant you would have to sleep at least once while progressing and you would level-up because of resting wheter you want it or not. But I think I was wrong, you would prevent that by taking all the magic skills as your majors and not using them. ( sry )

Nice discussion, the consensus seems that at least after level 2 it is in theory possible. Perhaps after a few months of playing I will try it and update you guys on if it works and whether it is enjoyable or merely frustrating...

Thanks guys!!

What follows is not intended to be a spoiler, but does mention some game mechanics as I have observed them. Dont read on if you dont want to know.

~~~~~

I have encountered the quest requiring level 2 and another requiring level 10 to start. I dont think these are on the main plotline - so they may not be required (depending on your meaning when you say 'beat').

As far as I can tell almost all* content is levelled. (I have only played one character to level 7 and a second to level 13 - but the level 13 guy has gone over some ground the same as the level 7 and all the creatures were different when his level was different). (However the level restricted quests may contain non-levelled opponents or minimum level opponents).

*I do still encounter the occasional wimpy little rat - but I have yet to encounter something that is patently too high for me to take on and have a chance of beating.

I should mention that I have encountered some very fast critters and kiting may not be possible on them. (Depends on just how fast you can be - and how NPC speed is being handled by the game - there is a reference in another thread here to a horse appearing to have variable speed (when unmounted), which may mean the game handles NPC speed in less predictable ways).

You'll have plenty of challenges to face for another 1000 hours :)

Gray

I have a couple cents for this.

I'm level 12, and my character is faster than a paint horse. My character is pure stealth with very little offensive ability, though he can still kcik an boat or two, it's difficult. I've played like 10 dungeons so far without killing anybody, but of course by now I've beaten two quests that I don't want to spoil that gave me considerable stealth bonuses. I'm vertially unseeable unless I'm oike a foot right in front of them or the place is very well lit. Whenever I get spotted, I just get up and run from room to room, grabbing compassion. No one can catch me at all. I leave the dungeon, grab my enchanted bow and pick them off afterwards, and if I saw a boss who probably had some cool drops I go back in and kill him, but for the most part I can do any dungeon with very little fighting. Actually, as long as I'm far enough away for dumber monsters like corpses and skeletons, I can sit there shooting arrows until they die, and they can't see me, even as they're getting shot.


EDIT: I should also add speed is my main means of combat. When I'm fighting I can use my acrobatics perk to dodge almost every single blow, or if it feels to eratic I can just dodge on my own by pulling away, that's how fast I am. I watch their swings and come in at the right moment.

Even if you were level two, you wouldn't be able to do the mission that requires you to be level five, so it wouldn't be possible to do everything in the game.

So what does it say if your level isnt high enough to accept a quest?

"you need more experiance to talk to me!"

?? something like that?? Also, I know it will be a LONG time before I try to do this game at the level posible, assuming I try it at all... There is going to be SO MUCH TO DO... I cant wait..

Cadaver

You can probably beat Oblivion at level one if you jsut avoid sleeping. However, this doesn't mean you can't master skills. It's easy if you're a mage because you can raise your magic skills with ease.

In your Journal it will say "(You must be level *enter number here* to start this quest.