Some time ago I made this topic at Bethsoft and included a rather poor poll. This time I won´t do it so all you have to do is give me a number on how many characters you´ve made in total in Oblivion. And yes, I demand an exact figure! No "more than a hundred, mumble..." b-s here!

Kidding

I really don´t need to tell you how many I´ve made, do I?

Anyways. Give me your two cents Septims!

I’m afraid there’s no way to know the exact number, but I can tell you that I have screenshots or pictures of fourteen characters. The ones I played Dead Is Dead are not all documented except in the DiD threads over at the Beth forum. I’m not inclined to go dig through all of those threads!

If you count games on different platforms for the same character the number would be higher. For example Jerric alone has I believe four Oblivion games (all started from scratch in the prison cell) across the Xbox, PS3, and my laptop. He may have had five at one point. But I just counted him as one character.

Also I didn’t count the characters I have made through the character creation process but not really played much. I wouldn’t count them since they were not intended to have a life independent of their out-of-game stories.

I make characters specifically for testing that I don't intend to play, but sometimes I keep them. That can mean that I start them over at the beginning, so do I count them twice? The first incarnation is usually made by taking an "out of the sewers" save and using the console to change everything, including upping the stats to simulate a late-game character, with some odd combo of skills.

Blossom was one I restarted, and completely inverted. I used a test Orc to check the effect of really low disposition in one quest, felt sorry for the reactions she got, and replayed her to max out Personality and Speechcraft.

I have no record of the really quirky ones that didn't have any appeal to make me keep them, so no count either, but you can be sure there was a male and a female of every playable race, plus Mazken, Aureal, Dremora, Xivilai, and of course Angeline and Diablita were both tested as PC's before they became NPC's. Most of the staff at Gweden have been played before they were hired. I have not played a Minotaur.

My two-handed axe-wielders have been a male Orc and a female Argonian. Archers have been Bosmer and Altmer (the latter refused to use magic.) The Mazken became Listener of the DB. My smallest character, a female Breton, became Arena Grand Champion without using weapons (and really had problems fighting Freija when I tested that quest, as it takes away all spells).

So my answer is "lots", and if you can think of a build I haven't tried, it will be "more than lots".

Short answer: Two (sort of). Acadian, then Buffy.

Long answer: I started Oblivion in the summer of 2007. In typical fashion (for me), I created Acadian as a jack of all trades to evaluate the game and assess whether it was fit for elven consumption. Being a new game, I rebuilt Acadian numerous times as I learned more of the game. Indeed, he played variously as a Nord, Redguard and Breton as he grimly set about both the heroic and disgusting tasks required to explore every aspect of the game from Champion to Madgod to master of guilds and more. When, after more than a year of play and digesting UESP wiki and asking dumb questions on the BethSoft forum, we pretty much learned to optimize what the vanilla game of Oblivion could provide. It became time to transition Buffy the Bowranger from Baldur’s Gate II, and Buffy the Bowazon from Diablo II into Oblivion. Our first attempt or two were failures, so we spent a couple weeks time pondering things. On April 19, 2009, we tried again and successfully birthed Buffy the Bowgirl.

After 500 hours vanilla, we added a few mods, including a light in-game makeover, and continued her game up to 1000 hours. At that point, computer problems forced us to restart her. We took advantage of how much mods had advanced and used the opportunity to give her a pretty extensive makeover in the process, rebirthing her in January 2012. Since then, she has happily played daily to add 1900 additional hours to her previous game’s 1000.

Buffy completely drives the show on when/if we do quests and there are more that she will wrinkle her nose at than accept. This is fine since, thanks to the extensive groundwork slogged through by Acadian, my own curiosity about quests that don't suit her does not influence her choices. She quite simply never ever tires of visiting friends and guildmates all over Tamriel, traveling by horse and clearing dungeons. Fortunately, those things, and the activities that support them, never ‘run out’ in Oblivion. Her's is definitely a life of 'the journey is more important than the destination'.

Lets see, 1 2 3 4....


I don't [censored] know how many characters I made

On the Xbox, I had many. On the PC, only one.

By golly is it hard to get a straight answer out of you guys! King Coin comes somewhat close but in reality it´s only me and Acadian who answered the question with a straight answer!

And yes, I would count any character showing up several times as once, since it´s one "person" it´s about.

Looks like 27. When I am finished playing a character I put all of their saves in a separate folder. That way my list of save games is not a mile long.

That is not counting characters I only made to take screenshots of for fan fiction. Like Acadian, it does not count restarts of the same character using new mods and the like.

What did you expect?

Yeah, I know With so many characters made over the years it must be basically impossible to keep track. Should have made a rule in the OP stating only those who knows the exact number may participate, but I guess that would make for a very lonely thread!

No problem, people! Keep talking about your characters Maybe you´ll even remember someone long lost in history?

Altogether I've created around 20, probably slightly less, but I dropped some of them immediately or very quickly and their names got forgotten. Let's see...

2006

1-a Khajiit whose name is forgotten-my very first character in OB back in 2006, I don't recall his name but I think that I started a new game as soon as he came out of the tutorial dungeon.
2-my second character was also my only CoC. His name was Amadeus Anchev and he was a Breton spellsword. Beside doing the MQ, he also did the DB. I abandoned Oblivion after him for looong time and only returned to it in 2011.

*time passes*

2011

3-Samjell - a Nord warrior, died in Arena.
4-Eldar - a Redguard fighter with whom I intended to do to the FG questline but he was devoured by a pack of mountain lions.
5-Gyevaheera - an Argonian assassin, boring to play, dropped.
6-K'hista - a Khajiit h-t-h fighter, I intended to do the Arena with him but he died during a battle with the Frost Atronach in the Frostfire glade.
7-White Bear & Lavimir Arda - the killer & the paladin, I've been planning for Arda to hunt WB, I even intending modding each other into their own games but I dropped the project because of a lack of time and motivation.
9-Dark Fist / Black Fist, I'm not sure of his name, an Argonian assassin, boring to play, dropped.
10-Irenei the White - one of my most funny characters, he was an Altmer noble, extremely rude and arrogant. With time he found it dishonorably to even visit any towns or chat with lowly people of Cyrodiil so he moved to his Frostcrag spire, where he still lives, reveling in himself and himself only.
11-Falador, a Wood Elf assassin, my longest-lasting character, retired in Crucible somewhere around 170 hours.
12-Raven, a Breton witchhunter, currently active, doing the MG questline most of the time but also a lot of random adventuring. My 2nd longest lasting character, currenly around 120 hours.
13-Sentza, a Redguard fighter, my newest character, only three days old.

There were probably some more that I either dropped or died very quickly, some were just test characters which I don't really count as official ones.

Well, not counting the ones from when I first started playing, which were just classes, I'd have to say dozens, maybe even a hundred.

I should probably take better care of them.

I've got another one brewing now, maybe he'll do better.

Wait, hold on, this is a trick-question, right?

I recently answered this over at Beth, so I can conveniently do a cut 'n' paste.. These are roughly in order, and I'll also try to include dates.


1. Lady Anne -- October 24, 2008 (she lasted 3 hours or so before I started all over with Char #2).

2. character #2 (forgot her name) -- October 24 - ? (She committed suicide after becoming a vampire, and I didn't have the patience to get her cured).

3. Renee Gade -- October or early Nov. of 2008 - Dec. 2008. (got frustrated with the out-of-control leveling, rage/quit RG1's game one day). RG's first incarnation was a Jill-of-all-trades. I was new to the game, so RG was the one who I did a lot of early gaming with.

4. Renee Gade II -- April 2009 'til Spring of 2010 (Dead). RG2 was a mostly-pure fighter. She only used the default healing spell, but no other spells. She did FG and most of Knights of the Nine. She died fighting Umaril the Unfeathered

5. Igodah Go^Pe, Altmer Mage -- Probably May of 2009 to sometime in 2010 (another A-bomb casualty, I RP'd that Igodah died during the final phases of the Main Quest).

6. Dyan phor a'Cauz, Nord Paladin -- May 17, 2010 until Spring or Summer of 2011. (Retired) Dyan did Fighters Guild and Knights of the Nine.

7. Wanda Bone, Redguard Thief -- May of 2010 until ? (game saves accidentally got erased). Wanda spent most of her time in the Imperial City, breaking & entering wherever she could. She was contacted by Thieves Guild but refused to join.

8. Luci Pheria, Dark Elf Witch -- August 5th, 2010 to ? (Got killed by a bandit). Luci was my second questless character.

9. Lou Zehr-- sometime in 2010. Lou was doing TG, but I never saw this through with him

10. The Grey Wizard, Breton Wizard -- September 12, 2010 to summer of 2011. (Retired). TGW became my CoC, and also is Arch Mage in my gameworld.

11. Eradi~Kate, Breton Assassin -- July 3rd, 2011 (inactive)

12. Kahreem of Weet, Redguard Thief -- September 3rd, 2011 (Active)

13. Lady Saga, Wood Elf Ranger (PS3) -- October 19, 2011 (Active, kinda)

14. Ann Thraxx, Imperial Peasant -- February 8, 2012 'til present (Active).

15. Sir Tanley -- October 22, 2012 (game never got started, I created ST and added him in the Hot or Not Contest of 2012, but did no actual gaming)

16. The Terror from the Imperial Sewers (Abwasserkanal Eidesche), Argonian Barbarian -- Spring of 2013 (Active)

17. Joan of Arkay, Breton Crusader -- May 29, 2013 (Active)

18. Lady Saga II (Xbox)

19. Clea Vigge -- Some time in December 21, 2013 (my first PC character). Clea was supposed to be this buxom gal who I would experiment with modwise, and also explore Better Cities. But I only created her, never did any gaming.

20. Snaat Rayag, Dark Elf Merchant -- January 2, 2014 (Active). Snaaty is a skooma salesman. He does no quests, and I rarely visit him these days.

21 Lady Saga III My third PC character, created February 8, 2014, (Active) though I consider LS3 to be a continuation of Lady Saga on PS3 and Xbox -- Lady Saga continues to roam wherever she wants to, all over Cyrodiil. She mainly focuses on Umbacano quests, and a few random mod-added quests as well.

22. Renee Gade III, Imperial Warrior -- March 25, 2014 (Active). RG3 is the daughter of RG2, my PS3 gal who died during KotN. She focuses on the Arena, and various mod-added quests.

23. Sarah Phimm, Breton Servant -- 2015 (story concluded). Sarah was a servant, cook, scullery maid, but then became a vampire. Inspired from the Dark Shadows TV show. I spent a few months making a story about her while learning OB's Construction Set. Sarah eventually got cured of her vampirism, and then returned to her cooking/serving job at Twin Sisters Lodge in Skingrad.

24. Goblin Lady, Imperial Scholar -- 2019 (story concluded). The Goblin Lady had an extensive backstory, and actual story with its own thread. She was a scholar who originally lived in Morrowind, with the unique ability to communicate with goblins. She was actually aligned with most goblins in her gameworld.

25. Balztu Dahwaalz, Orc Warrior. Balztu was supposed to explore Valenwood, but I found VI to be so buggy I couldn't enjoy going there. I'd never, ever played an orc before when I rolled her. Reason I rolled an orc: I'd become bored of rolling all the other races!

So there. 25 in all.

And I very much remember Ann being the incarnation of yourself in Oblivion. I remember it because you didn´t take my advise of naming her Renee Gade III, but rather Ann Thraxx

Wow, I didn't know this.



She came from Baldur's Gate? Cool! .. That game's pretty tough, I gotta say.





I am able to give a straight answer only because I've been writing down character info in a notebook for years. I started this with Dyan, so it's amazing I've remembered all their names over these years, all except Character #2.

I include exact dates in many cases mostly because it's my goal to make a horoscope for each and every character of mine, but I've fallen far behind on this pursuit.



She's not an incarnation of me, but she is the most like me, when it comes to How would Renee react if she lived in Cyrodiil? I'd be fearful of everything and everyone (the way Ann is) and might also go insane, but she's not really an incarnation of me (or vice versa).

I actually will make a character named RG3 one of these days. Since I have a PC now, she'll be on PC. She's going to do my long-abandoned Sewer Patrol idea, and also compete in the Arena.

Awesome rundown, Renee! I remember Sir Tanley. Wasn´t he a participant in the Hot or Not contest?

Yes. He was going to be my 4th or 5th male overall in the game, and all I knew about him was that he would be a Crusader for class. He would be a teetotaling hall-pass monitor sort of character, who always chose right from wrong. The typical Hollywood knight. But I don't know.. I just never got into his head.

I suppose I could try again, but I have too many other extant games going on. I'll wait till I get my ES games running on PC, perhaps.

I'd guess about 900 to 1000.

Many of these got no farther than the sewer exit. In fact I've made a few characters just to go through the tutorial dungeon and nothing more. What can I say, I like Oblivion's tutorial dungeon.

From what I can remember, so do I!

Renee, what a nice stroll down Renee Lane! I do recall that it has to be a rainy night for you to create a new character. Perhaps the fact that you are in MD and I am in NV helps account for my low character count? Nah, I'm just mono-game-ous.

Wyrd, 900-1000?!? I can imagine a touch or two of frustration there since I know how much time and effort you put into creating each one, complete with story, unique mod list and custom home. I think you are right though; if they don't really speak to you by the time you finish the tutorial, they probably won't.

Remember how long it took for Aravi to take off?

But she's a cat and you know how long they can take to adopt you. At least that's my story. . . .

I love Oblivion's Tutorial dungeon too. When I figured out that you can save your game at the sewer exit, and start all of your new characters from that point, I did that for a while. Then I went back to going through the tutorial with all my characters, just because I like the dungeon. To me, it was a nice way to get to know a character. Like Acadian said, usually by the end I had a good feel for who they were and what they were like.

Pseron: That almost sounds like a Dark Secret, the way you've admitted that! For the record, I enjoy the Tutorial, too. It's epic and over-the-top, but it's also fun.

Acadian: Thank you. It was a pleasure strolling down Buffy Boulevard and Acadian Avenue as well.



Ha ha. You get rain in Las Vegas though, right? But it's probably not too often, huh? If I lived out there, I'd only create like one or 2 every year.

Actually, when I first created Lady Anne (and char. #2) it wasn't raining that night. I'm pretty sure it was raining, a nice soft spring rain, when I created RG2. That's where the habit started. And when I lived in Portland, Oregon years ago, I've got lots of fond memories of playing Tomb Raider games while it's drizzly outside. It drizzles a lot out there, too.

I´m not so sure about that. True, I kept on going with Lothran and I was happy with him but he actually didn´t really speak to me until that day in Bruma when he told me his name. Sometimes the best connections are made a long way down the road, so be careful ditching someone early on

@Renee -

I´m glad to see at least a few people liking the Oblivion Tutorial, so many bash it so hard over at Bethsoft and I think it´s a little bit unfair. It´s very well-done imveho

If we want Mirocu to start a new character, I think we'll have to break into his house and delete his save files, along with any backups. After all, he can't play Oblivion without a character...

Why do you all want ME to start a new character?? Go bug Acadian or something!

It. Will. Not. Happen!

Couldn't make Acadian start a new character, not after the fantastic Buffy the Bowgirl series.

But since you don't do anything like that, you're a much better target.

And Acadian has had more than one character. You haven't.

So get started

There. You just made me quote myself. Twice!

End of discussion

Probably about a dozen or so, but really there were only two that I stuck with. The first was a wood elf in light armour who went around punching everything (look, it just happened), who I did the main quests, Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles with. As my character couldn't sneak for love nor money and I wanted to try the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves' Guild, I then made a stealth-oriented dark elf and did those questlines. After that, I kind of lost interest in Oblivion and went on to other games.

this made me laugh for some reason.



This. I also feel that if Acadian modified his approach to the game that it would unbalance it, somehow. No, Acadian needs to stick to his usual blueprints.

Aww, thanks for the kind words about Buffy. I love you all for them!

mirocu - You're not allowed to take away Buffy's penpal! It's bad enough that you feel the need to play other games. Certainly for you though, Oblivion = Lothran.

Yeah, I think I´m as much associated with him as you are with Buffy I should be anyway. I´ve never had a wish to create another character and I wish this witch hunt on me would stop before I get pucking fissed.

Post Deleted

Seriously, stop it.

They're only bugging you because you're feeding them.

I´m not. They´re bringing it up whatever I mention about the game.

This has gone on long enough. One more jump on me making another character and I´ll have this f***ing thread locked.

Hey, Mirocu, I find a really interesting way to try and open world RPG like Oblivion or Fallout 3 is to try it with multiple characters to get the best perspective on it all.

Closed, per request of the thread's originator.

Edit: OP reports he has worked out any misunderstandings via PM while the thread was closed and now wishes it reopened. The trouble with written word is that interpreting meaning and intent can sometimes be subjective due to the lack of tone/body language cues that we would have if talking face to face. Since we’re all friends here, assuming the best of other members and reading their words carefully can be helpful.

This is a fun thread and I’m pleased to reopen it.

Thanks, Acadian

Yeah lets just look forward, shall we? I´d love to continue talking about characters and what goes on in everyone´s mind when making them. So anyone who wants to chime in, please do!

I have not read all of this thread but I can see that there have been some issues. Whatever, evidently it's reopened and I hope everyone's friends again.

For me, I am now interacting with my second character in Cyrodiil, albeit a reluctant one - (she would rather be someplace else).
Personally I never thought that I would ever have more than one, so Eilidh is a pleasant surprise.

I do not lightly "create" characters in games as I think that once you bring them to life you owe them something until they end, but that's just me.
If you have one or many it should not matter, you get out what you put in and that's all.

Maybe you have multiple characters to explore different facets and dynamics. All good.
Maybe you have one, or a few, that you nurture and develop organically. Equally awesome.

Whatever works, works.
And that's it.

No worries, we've got that behind us.



This is awesome. I've always wanted to see what would happen if some of the 'married folk' decided to start dating, or go all the way and re-marry somebody else. :wink:

Well it's early days for marriage, but I am having a good time getting to know her, so who can say?
Princess Grumpy could fill the hole left by You-Know-Who...

[edit] Niamh's story ended because it ended. She exists only in memory as an individual who once lived in Cyrodiil, for a time. Her impact on other inhabitants may continue, as tangentially Eilidh might notice, but she will not.
I will not lie, intellectually I found it "difficult" when she died as it was not what I expected, genuinely. But no one lasts forever; not me, not her, not anyone.
She is gone and the time for looking back at her is over. Now someone new has arrived in my imagination and in the gameworld. Will they fill that gap? Time will tell, but I am pretty positive they will; Eilidh is a spoiled Princess, but she is also a hardened and feisty warrior.
I have a feeling that she is going to to be a lot of fun.

Quite how, remains to be seen...

Princess Grumpy

So, your second Oblivion character. This was quite surprising I have to say, but not unwelcome I look forward to what she will do in Cyrodiil and I hope for my sake you decide to also make some shorter slam-bam thank you ma´m posts too

Chuckle.
See the edited post for further elaboration.

Yeah, you may well get your wish, M. But who knows...?!

Good closing on Niamh there. You put it quite well; no one lives forever. Strangely enough though I feel like I needed to say goodbye to her while I could and now it´s too late... Oh well


I hope I do. I like a good story don´t get me wrong, but I find it easier to keep track of a character through shorter updates
Needless to say though, I don´t wanna be the guy who holds back your creativity or anything. Maybe Grumpy (I´m gonna call her that now! ) deserves her own fanfic thread like Niamh?

Btw, how in god´s name did you come up with her full name?

We'll see, she is a different kettle of fish to Niamh; a different character entirely, so it's more than possible that updates could be briefer. She has baggage, but not in the same way - then again...
Time will tell
She will absolutely have her own fanfic thread yes indeed; Eilidh daughter of Mac Auley is a character whom I have every confidence in.

As for her name?
Well, at the risk of being a bit crass, that's her name. It genuinely is who she is: she is a Princess from across the Ocean. Daughter of a king. This is what her name reflects - (there's an upcoming update about this).
I think the two of us are going to have some interesting times...

I´m somewhat expecting an update from Callidus by now...!

Heh, if I dropped in here to update everytime I start a new character we'd be on page 13 by now

I think my current total of characters made is somewere between insane and ridiculous

One of these days we'll have to do an archeological dig through all the CU and Today threads to get an accurate answer of of CT's characters.

glargg probably has more characters in total, but most of these are inactive. CT's were mostly all active, at least.