Oblivion:Classes

In Oblivion, a class is a combination of a specialization (Combat, Magic or Stealth), favored attributes, and major skills. Your character's class determines what skills you will be most proficient in, and this in turn affects how you level.

You can:

choose from a set of 21 Standard Classes, or
develop your own Custom Class.

Classes that non-player characters (NPCs) use can be found in the article "NPC Classes".

One extra class on this page is "CharacterGen". This is given to the player right at the start of the game, before the conversation with Baurus during which a class is chosen. This class is basically the warrior class, except with Strength and Intelligence rather than Strength and Endurance. It is shown in the stats page of your journal as "-".

Character Creation Tools can be very helpful in determining which standard class or custom class will work best for your playstyle.

Standard Classes[edit]

The following table shows the seven Major Skills, the Specialization type, and the two Favored Attributes for each of the standard classes in Oblivion. Click on the class name to jump to the summary class description found lower on this page.

Yes	Major skill / favored attribute
Yes	Major skill under specialization

Class	Combat							Magic							Stealth							Favored Attributes
Class	Armorer	Athletics	Blade	Block	Blunt	Hand to Hand	Heavy Armor	Alchemy	Alteration	Conjuration	Destruction	Illusion	Mysticism	Restoration	Acrobatics	Light Armor	Marksman	Mercantile	Security	Sneak	Speechcraft	Agility	Endurance	Intelligence	Personality	Speed	Strength	Willpower
Acrobat			Yes	Yes											Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Agent												Yes			Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes
Archer	Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes										Yes	Yes			Yes		Yes					Yes
Assassin			Yes					Yes							Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes				Yes		Yes
Barbarian	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes										Yes										Yes	Yes
Bard			Yes	Yes				Yes				Yes				Yes		Yes			Yes			Yes	Yes
Battlemage			Yes		Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes											Yes			Yes
Crusader		Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes			Yes													Yes	Yes
Healer								Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes				Yes			Yes				Yes			Yes
Knight			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes					Yes									Yes				Yes		Yes
Mage								Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes										Yes				Yes
Monk		Yes				Yes			Yes						Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes						Yes
Nightblade		Yes	Yes						Yes		Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes										Yes		Yes
Pilgrim	Yes			Yes	Yes											Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes		Yes		Yes
Rogue		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes				Yes				Yes		Yes							Yes	Yes
Scout	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes							Yes	Yes							Yes			Yes
Sorcerer							Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes									Yes	Yes
Spellsword			Yes	Yes			Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes									Yes					Yes
Thief															Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes
Warrior	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes																Yes				Yes
Witchhunter		Yes						Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes				Yes		Yes			Yes		Yes
CharacterGen	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes																	Yes			Yes

Acrobat[edit]

The kind of person that uses agility and endurance to their advantage. Unafraid of jumping long distances.

Specialization:	Stealth
Attributes:	Agility, Endurance
Skills:	Acrobatics Blade Block Marksman Security Sneak Speechcraft

Agent[edit]

Charming when they can be seen, and nearly invisible when in shadow.

Specialization:	Stealth
Attributes:	Agility, Personality
Skills:	Acrobatics Illusion Marksman Mercantile Security Sneak Speechcraft

Archer[edit]

A marksman, adept at combat at great distances. Able to take down most foes before they have a chance to draw sword.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Agility, Strength
Skills:	Armorer Blade Blunt Hand to Hand Light Armor Marksman Sneak

Assassin[edit]

Nimble and quiet, they move in darkness to strike at the unsuspecting. Locks hold no doors shut for them.

Specialization:	Stealth
Attributes:	Intelligence, Speed
Skills:	Acrobatics Alchemy Blade Light Armor Marksman Security Sneak

Barbarian[edit]

Fearsome brutes who inspire fear and dread in the hearts of their enemies. Like a storm, swift and powerful. Finding little use for heavy armor, they rely on smashing their foes into the ground.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Speed, Strength
Skills:	Armorer Athletics Blade Block Blunt Hand to Hand Light Armor

Bard[edit]

Intelligent and personable, they prefer to accomplish tasks with their words first, and sword second.

Specialization:	Stealth
Attributes:	Intelligence, Personality
Skills:	Alchemy Blade Block Illusion Light Armor Mercantile Speechcraft

Battlemage[edit]

Able to resolve most conflicts with either spell or sword. They are a deadly mix of scholar and soldier.

Specialization:	Magic
Attributes:	Intelligence, Strength
Skills:	Alchemy Alteration Blade Blunt Conjuration Destruction Mysticism

Crusader[edit]

A combatant who wields the power of brute strength and medicinal knowledge. Cheating death after every fight, they rely on their keen knowledge of restoration to fight yet again.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Strength, Willpower
Skills:	Athletics Blade Blunt Destruction Hand to Hand Heavy Armor Restoration

Healer[edit]

Fighters of poison and illness. The ancient art of restoration is their ally, and the deadly art of destruction is their weapon.

Specialization:	Magic
Attributes:	Personality, Willpower
Skills:	Alchemy Alteration Destruction Illusion Mercantile Restoration Speechcraft

Knight[edit]

The most noble of all combatants. Strong in body and in character.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Personality, Strength
Skills:	Blade Block Blunt Hand to Hand Heavy Armor Illusion Speechcraft

Mage[edit]

Prefering [sic] to use their extensive knowledge of all things magical, they wield a might more powerful than the sharpest blade.

Specialization:	Magic
Attributes:	Intelligence, Willpower
Skills:	Alchemy Alteration Conjuration Destruction Illusion Mysticism Restoration

Monk[edit]

Quick and cunning with the empty hand, they are strong in spirit. They prefer to solve conflict by arrow or by fist.

Specialization:	Stealth
Attributes:	Agility, Willpower
Skills:	Acrobatics Alteration Athletics Hand to Hand Marksman Security Sneak

Nightblade[edit]

Spell and shadow are their friends. By darkness they move with haste, casting magic to benefit their circumstances.

Specialization:	Magic
Attributes:	Speed, Willpower
Skills:	Acrobatics Alteration Athletics Blade Destruction Light Armor Restoration

Pilgrim[edit]

Hearty folk, well-versed in the tomes of old. They profit in life by bartering in the market, or by persuading the weak-minded.

Specialization:	Stealth
Attributes:	Endurance, Personality
Skills:	Armorer Block Blunt Light Armor Mercantile Security Speechcraft

Rogue[edit]

They use speed in combat rather than brute force. Persuasive in conversation, their tongues are as sharp as blades.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Personality, Speed
Skills:	Alchemy Athletics Blade Block Illusion Light Armor Mercantile

Scout[edit]

Preferring the rolling countryside to the city life, they are gifted with the ability to evade, guard, and protect themselves with great proficiency.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Endurance, Speed
Skills:	Acrobatics Alchemy Armorer Athletics Blade Block Light Armor

Sorcerer[edit]

Besting the most well-equipped fighters, they rely on the spells of the mystic arts. Unique to these mages is the bodily stamina to be armed with the thickest armor.

Specialization:	Magic
Attributes:	Endurance, Intelligence
Skills:	Alchemy Alteration Conjuration Destruction Heavy Armor Mysticism Restoration

Spellsword[edit]

More nimble and athletic than the sorcerer, and better suited for spell-casting than the knight, their attacks are unpredictable. Students of combat and magic.

Specialization:	Magic
Attributes:	Endurance, Willpower
Skills:	Alteration Blade Block Heavy Armor Destruction Illusion Restoration

Thief[edit]

Profiting from the losses of others is their love. Able to be swift in shadow, and crafty in bartering. Locks are enemies, and lock-picks are their swords.

Specialization:	Stealth
Attributes:	Agility, Speed
Skills:	Acrobatics Light Armor Marksman Mercantile Security Sneak Speechcraft

Warrior[edit]

Unafraid of light weaponry, they plow into the fray with little regard for injury. Masters of all melee tools, they put little faith in the magical arts.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Endurance, Strength
Skills:	Armorer Athletics Blade Block Blunt Hand to Hand Heavy Armor

Witchhunter[edit]

Swift on foot, and clever with spells, they use distance as their ally. Slower adversaries are fodder for their arrows.

Specialization:	Magic
Attributes:	Agility, Intelligence
Skills:	Alchemy Athletics Conjuration Destruction Marksman Mysticism Security

Custom Classes[edit]

With a custom class, you can select all of the class-specific details freely. This includes all of the seven major skills affiliated with the class as well as selecting two of the eight attributes for +5 point permanent bonuses. Character Creation provides more information on how to setup a new character, including some specific tips for how to create a custom class.

The default name of the custom class as shown ingame is "Adventurer", but this can be changed to whatever you wish.

For a custom class you need to select the following:

Specialization (Combat, Magic, Stealth) -- +5 to related Skills.
- For Combat : Armorer, Athletics, Blade, Block, Blunt, Hand to Hand and Heavy Armor
- For Magic : Alchemy, Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Mysticism and Restoration
- For Stealth : Acrobatics, Light Armor, Marksman, Mercantile, Security, Sneak and Speechcraft

In addition to these bonuses, all of these skills will increase more quickly than they would otherwise.

Two Favored Attributes-- +5 to these Attributes.
Seven Major Skills -- +20 to these Skills, starting you at Apprentice level, also increase quicker and allow you to level up once you train a combined amount of 10 of these skills. Note that any skills trained above this amount before you've leveled up (e.g. if you've leveled up 12 major skills since your last level up) will carry on to the next level.

Minor skills level up at the normal rate. Specialized skills take 75% as much practice or 'experience' to level up. Major skills that are not specialized take 60% of the normal experience to level up. Skills that are both specialized and major skills take 45% as much experience to level up. A table of these experience requirements is provided at Increasing Skills.

Example: It normally takes 106 successful hits with a sword to raise the Blade skill from rank 35 to rank 36 when Blade is a Minor skill. If Blade is a Specialized (but not Major) skill, it only takes 80 uses to raise from skill rank 35 to 36. If Blade skill is a Major (but not Specialized) skill, it only takes 64 uses to raise from skill rank 35 to 36. And finally, if Blade is both a Major and a Specialized skill, it only takes 48 uses to raise from skill rank 35 to 36.

The internal name of the class is simply "Custom Class", with an editor ID of PlayerCustomClass. In the Construction Set, it is defined as a combat-specialized class, with strength and intelligence as primary attributes and major skills of conjuration, mercantile, light armor, illusion, mysticism, armorer and speechcraft.

Notes[edit]

If you desire a particular image for your custom class, selecting that class before clicking "create custom class" will assign that image to your class. However, note that the image of whatever class you eventually choose does not show up again in the game, even when you check your stats in your journal.
If you go through the tutorial without gaining any experience points, Baurus will default to assume you are an Acrobat. This is most easily done by using the console command tcl.