The Elder Scrolls: It's the IX Divines, you milk-drinkers

[Anxe]

I'm a packrat when it comes to crafting materials (even AFTER I maxed out Smithing and had no reason to continue hording ingots, I still stashed enough in my house to outfit the entire Imperial legion three or four times over...when the next war breaks out I will be ready!), but otherwise late game I usually only grab weapons if they're enchanted, and armor only if it's light weight (so Justiciar patrols tend to get stripped while bandits might get their pockets rifled through).

The big problem I run into is that there's nowhere to spend my hard-earned Septims. I paid off Deep-In-His-Cups mostly because I could, I eventually ran out of houses to buy...even after leveling Speech to max that only took about a sixth of my coin. What can I do with all this money? Buy the throne from the Emperor?

I spend my gold on training to level up faster. Gotta get all the perks!

[Dhavaer]

I start picking up things that are either useful or have greater than 10x value, and go up from there.

[DigoDragon]

and at 100 Alteration skill has a spell that lets you teleport anywhere in the world at a rather massive cost of magicka.

But by then you should be bathing in Magika replenishment potions just by what you collect adventuring. :3

The '10x weight' rule would mean you do take wine, and most beer. Personally, I don't pick up anything worth less than about 7-8x weight even at level 1. By level 20, I'm still picking up at 10x weight (or alchemical/crafting value), but I hope to reach a point where I can sort through and drop it later when I find something better.

After about level 50, my Khajiit only looted gems and apples.

Carriages are a wonderful timesaver, but only from the Big Five walled cities. There's no carriage at Winterhold.

I think there's a mod that adds carriages to the little holds, like Winterhold.

[NineThePuma]

I spend my gold on training to level up faster. Gotta get all the perks!

This is genius and I feel dumb now.

[Avilan the Grey]

I think I have decided what my next character will be:

Female Battlemage, heavy armor, 2-handed weapon. What race though?

[Calemyr]

I think I have decided what my next character will be:

Female Battlemage, heavy armor, 2-handed weapon. What race though?

High Elf. Former Thalmor. Disgraced by internal politics, her inclusion in the execution was the direct result by rival influence trying to kill her off in a discrediting way. Unable to return to her own people, uncertain if she even would if she could, she decides this whole "attacked by dragons" business is important enough to put her own circumstances aside for a while.

[veti]

I think I have decided what my next character will be:

Female Battlemage, heavy armor, 2-handed weapon. What race though?

Orc. An Orcish archmage is just what that College needs to shake it up a bit. I'd love to hear if the librarian has any different dialogue for you, as well...

[Avilan the Grey]

Orc. An Orcish archmage is just what that College needs to shake it up a bit. I'd love to hear if the librarian has any different dialogue for you, as well...

Orc or Nord, I think. Have to think about it a bit. Both are unlikely as mages, as well.

[Divayth Fyr]

Orc. An Orcish archmage is just what that College needs to shake it up a bit. I'd love to hear if the librarian has any different dialogue for you, as well...

Orc or Nord, I think. Have to think about it a bit. Both are unlikely as mages, as well.

The College already has an Orc and Nord of high rank. A Redguard Archmage would stir things even more ;)

[NineThePuma]

High Elf. Former Thalmor. Disgraced by internal politics, her inclusion in the execution was the direct result by rival influence trying to kill her off in a discrediting way. Unable to return to her own people, uncertain if she even would if she could, she decides this whole "attacked by dragons" business is important enough to put her own circumstances aside for a while.

I really like this idea.

[NeoVid]

So. Total noob to Elder Scrolls here, and just picked up Skyrim thanks to the 80% off sale over the weekend. What should a complete incompetent know when starting out, that isn't covered in the first post's linked guide? I've completed FO3 and NV, so I have some idea how this kind of game works (and how much stuff there is to miss without a guide). I've only played the intro, but there's one thing I learned to expect from Fallout that I'm missing: It appears there's no key for picking up and dragging/carrying objects without putting them in your inventory. How am I supposed to steal stuff if I can't carry it out of line-of-sight first?

[NineThePuma]

Hold "pick up" button.

Combat is dicey at low levels, shield bash people will stun them.

[Leviting]

you can also use a torch as a cheap and relatively crappy shield, but they expire at inconvenient times. In addition, you can bash with your weapon's hilt if you don't like having a shield, and you can punch with your bow for a quick getaway.

[veti]

It appears there's no key for picking up and dragging/carrying objects without putting them in your inventory. How am I supposed to steal stuff if I can't carry it out of line-of-sight first?

In some cases, pressing and holding the 'E' (pick up/activate) key will do that, but it's erratic.

You can do it by putting buckets over the heads of all witnesses present. Search on YouTube for guides on how to do that.

But honestly, there's not a lot of point in stealing stuff. Nobody in towns has much worth stealing, and you generally can't sell it anyway, until you join the Thieves' Guild (at which point, valuable treasures will magically appear in some people's houses purely for you to steal, but only once you've been told to steal it, and you still can't sell it, just turn it in to your puppetmaster for a fixed reward).

Really, it's far easier just to go out and kill bandits and loot their stuff once they're dead. After a few levels of doing that you'll already have more money than you know what to do with, without ever "stealing" a thing.

Edit: on the offchance that you're serious and you really want to know... you need to hide and be unobserved at the moment when you pick something up. Then you'll get away with it, except for the hilariously disproportionate Three Heavily Armed Thugs who will appear some time later to "teach you a lesson" (i.e. kill you stone cold dead).

[Nilehus]

The only things really worth stealing are ingots and alchemy ingredients. A crafted item, even if made with stolen ingredients, doesn't count as stolen. Beyond that, if you're ever bored enough to get all 24 Stones of Barenziah, you will find at least 1,000 gold worth of gems in nearly every single container you loot.

I have a HOUSE filled with gems on one of my saves just from that perk.

[Avilan the Grey]

So. Total noob to Elder Scrolls here, and just picked up Skyrim thanks to the 80% off sale over the weekend. What should a complete incompetent know when starting out, that isn't covered in the first post's linked guide? I've completed FO3 and NV, so I have some idea how this kind of game works (and how much stuff there is to miss without a guide). I've only played the intro, but there's one thing I learned to expect from Fallout that I'm missing: It appears there's no key for picking up and dragging/carrying objects without putting them in your inventory. How am I supposed to steal stuff if I can't carry it out of line-of-sight first?

Here's my collected wisdom:

You can be what you want, but you really shouldn't try to be EVERYTHING. Don't try to be both a mage, a warrior and a thief at once. Two is fine, three is... difficult. Not that you won't survive, unlike some other games a very unoptimized character still can survive, but I feel that stretching your perk points over three simultanious builds, so to speak, is too much.

A good bow is if not a must, something that is REALLY handy. No matter if it's your main weapon (as a long range stealth specialist) or a closeup brawler or a mage, having a good bow and some arrows lets you do the following: Picking off weak enemies from afar, provoke selected enemies from afar and lower the health of stronger enemies before they reach you.

A stealth specialist that also dabbles in Illusion Magic is far superior to a plain stealth specialist. This goes for all builds, basically. Always Minor in something else. A tanky warrior would do well with being skilled in especially Healing Spells, but also being able to summon a diversion or two is a great help. A mage, on the other hand, would do well to be competent with a bow on the side, as discussed above.

If you are going full on melee, Sword-and-board is the easiest in your first playthrough. Dual wield is a No Defense build (you cannot parry if you have two weapons (I know, it doesn't make sense to me either)). A two-handed weapon can be used to block and parry with, but it is slower and far less effective than a shield.

Smithing is a skill you really need. Alcemy? If you feel up to it. Enchanting? If you max it AND Smithing you become a god. But I find it far to dedious and you will end up OP with Smithing alone.

Remember that you can pick up followers very early. Most people forget that (trying not to spoil here) there are two potential followers in the first village after Helgen.

Speaking of that village: DO ALL THE QUESTS THERE. You will come out with FAR better equipment than if you just blow through on your way to somewhere else.

Dragons that don't blip on your radar even when flying straight over you are NOT HOSTILE and NOT EVIL and unless you are being a **** or REALLY looking for a fights, don't provoke them into attacking you.

Don't provoke the Giants. Or the Mammoths. Or the Bears.

Edit: Oh, forgot: Putting points in Lockpick is NOT neccesary, at all. Putting points in Pick Pocket? Only if you intend to go all the way.

...The rest is up to you.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

On Pickpocketing: Practice on bandits. No one cares if they catch you pickpocketing them, just like no one cares if you kill them.

[Triaxx]

Stealth is your friend. No matter what kind of character you're playing, if you can sneak into position, your fights are a lot easier. Did you get the DLC? If so, Crossbows seem designed for heavy armor users. Realistically you'll only get one shot off, but the speed penalty for heavy armor means you'd only get one with a bow, and Crossbows punch through armor.

If not, a Heavy Armor Sword and Board type fighter is absolutely devastating. So is a Light Armor two hander. The latter just has to be ready to dodge attacks rather than block them.

[Sharoth]

I love Skyrim, despite taking a 6 month plus break from it.

[Calemyr]

Some things I can add:

For Mages:

Efficiency over Power: Being a mage in Skyrim is a bit different from being a mage in other games. Individual spells don't get stronger as your skill grows, they become cheaper. More efficient. Of course, since higher tier spells are often outrageously expensive, this means you can use them more easily, and thus do more damage that way. Just keep it in mind, as this approach to magic can be counter intuitive. (Note: you can increase your damage by 50% using elemental specialization perks, and the dragon priest masks in Dragonborn can increase a particular element by another 25%.)

Know Your Elements: The key to being a powerful mage is to understand the elements and the roles they play.
Frost: Damages stamina as well as health and slows the target down for a moment. Very effective against warrior types (who need stamina for power attacks and speed to get close enough to hit you) and fire dragons (who take extra damage from frost), but this is Skyrim - home to the Nords and an awful lot of undead. Frost resistance is quite common, so it's always good to have a backup plan. Frost projectiles are also quite slow, making it hard to hit targets from a distance.

Fire: Besides being the most cost-effective element, it does a small damage-over-time effect rather than hurting stamina or magicka, making it even more efficient. Since most undead and roughly a third of dragons are vulnerable to fire, it's a pretty reliable element, though it can't shut down fighters or mages the way frost and shock can. Since dragons are generally the toughest enemies in the game and two thirds of them are fire, however, it is not the most effective element for dragon hunting.

Shock: Shock is the least efficient element of the three, but makes up for it in several ways. First, it damages magicka, allowing it to shut down mages more effectively (though, honestly, if you can do enough damage to deplete their reserves, they're probably already dead). Second, it's the fastest of the three, making it a more effective ranged weapon than other elements. Finally and most importantly, however, it's pretty much a neutral element. Very little is weak to shock damage, but next to nothing is resistant to it, either. This makes it the most reliable element of the three and useful in almost any situation. It's a particularly effective element against dragons, as dragons are never resistant to it and the projectile speed of shock spells makes it a lot easier to hit them mid-flight.

For Warriors:
Specialization is a Mixed Bag: The specialization perks for swords and axes use a weapon's base damage in their calculations, ignoring any upgrades and perks that increase their damage. As a result, the do a lot less damage than they look like they should. Warhammers and maces, on the other hand, reduce enemy armor rather than increase your damage, nicely avoiding this crippling quirk of calculation and being useful perks. If you like warhammers or maces, of course.

For Rogues:
Don't Worry About Lockpicking: Player skill trumps character skill when it comes to opening locks. By the time you have practiced lockpicking enough to have a high score in it, you'll likely be good enough at the mini game that you won't need any of the skill's benefits. You can pick a master lock at any skill level, for instance, so you're probably just better off saving the game before you try to break the lock, and reload if you break too many picks in the attempt.

A couple handy starting tricks:
One Easy Enchantment: If you have time and patience, there's a handy trick for a new character. When doing the tutorial level (running through Helgen Keep with Ralof or Hadvar) you will be tasked with killing or sneaking past a bear. Quicksave the game at the exit of that cave. Once outside of the cave, go left instead of forward and follow the mountains. It'll take you to a statue (of Talos) with a bunch of dead people around it and a dead elf in black and gold robes. This elf always has a magical item, but it's randomly determined what that item is. If you don't get an item you like, reload your quicksave and run back there and it'll be different. This is an easy way to get a very useful enchantment very early, particularly the "Fortify" enchantments for Smithing, Alchemy, and weapon skills.

Ireleth and the Dragon: Early on in the main quest, you are tasked with helping a dark elf named Ireleth look into reports of a dragon sighting. This is a critical quest in the game. Until you do this quest, there are no dragons in the game. After this quest, dragons become a Thing and will be a permanent thorn in your side. Dragons are quite powerful and (at least until you get a hang of it) very dangerous. After you get a hang of it, they become fairly routine, but still tedious. Dragons can kill NPCs (including merchants and quest givers) and appear most often when you fast travel (thus appearing in towns quite often). They are, however, usually a valuable target for their bones, scales, and soul, as well as various other treasures. Basically, what I'm saying here is that you should be careful when you start Ireleth's quest. Traveling and exploring is a lot easier before the quest, but you'll also likely want to amass as many dragon souls as you can early on.

Free Words: Twice in the game, people will teach you words for a shout, including unlocking it for you (no dragon soul required). You can use this to your advantage. First, learn the first word of the shouts Whirlwind Sprint and Fire Breath on your own (the easiest walls to learn from are the Companions quest in Dustman Cairn and the Dragon Priest Vokkun's lair Volskygge in the north west region of the province) and have a spare soul ready. When the NPC teaches you the next word, use the soul to immediately unlock the new word. Then, instead of unlocking that word for you, they'll teach you the third word instead AND unlock that one. Whirlwind Sprint is a very nice shout to have, and getting it maxxed out early is really nice indeed. Don't bother doing it with Unrelenting Force, as all three words are given to you free - it's a waste of a dragon soul.

[Avilan the Grey]

I love Skyrim, despite taking a 6 month plus break from it.

Indeed. I am watching a Let's Play of it again (blind) and that is what started the itch again.

Edit:
One more tip, spoilered for light story spoiler, but kind of makes things easier in the beginning.

Spoiler: Who To Pick in the Keep

Show

Even if you plan to go with the Stormcloaks, pick the Nord that works for the Empire. The free stuff you get from his family is far better (free smithing material etc) than the stuff the owners of the mill can give you for free.

[Kesnit]

Indeed. I am watching a Let's Play of it again (blind) and that is what started the itch again.

Edit:
One more tip, spoilered for light story spoiler, but kind of makes things easier in the beginning.

Spoiler: Who To Pick in the Keep

Show

Even if you plan to go with the Stormcloaks, pick the Nord that works for the Empire. The free stuff you get from his family is far better (free smithing material etc) than the stuff the owners of the mill can give you for free.

I disagree for one reason. You can get locked out of the blacksmith's house. You can't get locked out of the other house.

(As for the blacksmithing supplies, just steal them. If you turn around and use them, you aren't even carrying stolen goods.)

[veti]

Stealth is your friend. No matter what kind of character you're playing, if you can sneak into position, your fights are a lot easier.

I disagree. The easiest playthrough I ever had was with a Nordic paladin type who disdained to sneak at all. (I think his sneak skill was up to maybe 20 when he was 40th level, and most of that was from skill books.)

Sneaking feels useful and every intuition says it should be useful to anyone, but in fact - not so much. Some enemies, including many bosses, are scripted to see you no matter how sneaky you are. Others just will see you, unless you max out your skill and spend several perks to back it up, because they're as alert as you and the world is just so friggin' bright.

And sneak levels fast, if you use it. Which means you level fast, and the skill that's making you level - is one that will let you down when you most need it. Put that same amount of practice into "hitting things in the face", and you'll be able to cope with anything even if it sees you first.

[NineThePuma]

Heavy Armor is OP

[veti]

Heavy Armor is OP

Nah, I have to disagree with this as well. Heavy armour weighs you down, levels slowly, and the side benefits it gives you (stagger resistance, bonus damage to punching, reduced falling damage) are of marginal utility at best.

Light armour is much lighter, lets you move faster, makes less noise, is more likely (in my experience) to carry useful enchantments, and - and this is the real killer - it protects you just as well as heavy armour. Even at 1st or 2nd level, if you've increased your Light Armour skill by as little as 2 or 3 points, leather armour - which you can make essentially for free at any forge, with no perks required - will protect you better than the Iron (or, if you're really lucky, steel) heavy armour you'll be picking up at that level.

At any given level, with the same number of perks put into it - either one of them will protect you pretty well, but the light armour comes with greater benefits for lower cost (weight).

[NineThePuma]

Nah, I have to disagree with this as well. Heavy armour weighs you down, levels slowly, and the side benefits it gives you (stagger resistance, bonus damage to punching, reduced falling damage) are of marginal utility at best.

Light armour is much lighter, lets you move faster, makes less noise, is more likely (in my experience) to carry useful enchantments, and - and this is the real killer - it protects you just as well as heavy armour. Even at 1st or 2nd level, if you've increased your Light Armour skill by as little as 2 or 3 points, leather armour - which you can make essentially for free at any forge, with no perks required - will protect you better than the Iron (or, if you're really lucky, steel) heavy armour you'll be picking up at that level.

At any given level, with the same number of perks put into it - either one of them will protect you pretty well, but the light armour comes with greater benefits for lower cost (weight).

The higher base Armor Rating at low levels makes it stronger, imo. At the very least, without perk investment, Heavy Armor is going to have anywhere between 20 to 40 points higher at any given time. And the strongest armor (Daedric) with shield out performs the strongest light (Dragonscale) with shield by thirty points. This is not to say that your point of light armor having more utility is wrong, but the significance of being able to throw on a full suit of heavy armor and have as much armor as Light Armor of Equal Level Ish + Match Shield is really hard to dismiss.

Honestly, one of the simplest, most straight forward builds is Cleric. Heavy Armor, One Handed (Grab a mace), and Block as your primary skills with dips into Restoration (Primarily post combat with occasional in combat burst healing), Enchanting, and Smithing (Craft yourself the best stuff you can). Maybe slide some Alteration (With Transmute, it helps with Smithing leveling too) in too for some magical defenses (Atronach perk is great, and while the magic resistance perks are a little investy, they're pretty handy).

[Anxe]

I've found Conjuration to be my most important skill. That Daedric Lord is just too good. Restoration is another must have. I'm unsure if armor is good. There's that perk that doubles the armor spells. I'm not sure if I'd be better off with Robes or the Daedric Armor I'm wearing. I'd bet the armor is better, but who knows?

Also, Illusion is a pain in the butt to level later on. CANNOT AFFECT ANYTHING.

[DomaDoma]

I sympathize a bit with that Redguard in the Cheydinhal(?) branch of the Mages' Guild who says that Conjuration, Soul Trap and Enchantment are kind of on the evil side of the street. Good thing there are Varla Stones in Cyrodiil and you can reasonably avoid casting Soul Trap.

It's all a bit circumstance-dependent, of course. Except for Frenzy. There is no way to cast Frenzy that puts you on the side of the angels.

[veti]

Also, Illusion is a pain in the butt to level later on. CANNOT AFFECT ANYTHING.

I'm not sure what you mean by "later on", but this is just weird. With the investment of a few perks, Illusion scales really powerfully.

Kindred Mage: illusion spell affects humanoids +10 levels higher.
Hypnotic Gaze, Aspect of Terror, Rage: add +8 to +12 to level limits, cumulative with Kindred Mage.

So if you take your base Fury spell, buff it with those two perks, it'll affect anyone up to level 28.

Then factor in dual-casting, which amplifies the limit by a factor of 2.2, after the increases. A dual-cast Fury spell - Novice-level spell, remember - with those perks, affects anyone up to level 61. That means, if you take 'Master of the Mind', it'll affect dragon priests, dwemer centurions... in fact just about anything not individually named, and the huge majority of characters that are.

Frenzy? with the above buffs, affects up to level 79. That's only two short of the level cap.

Quaff a (dirt-cheap) potion, and you can affect absolutely ANYTHING in the game, unless it's individually scripted so as to prevent it.

And then there's Muffle and Invisibility, both of which are pretty useful and not dependent on anyone's level at all.

Edit: as to the morality of Frenzy, I would absolutely defend casting it. On the battlefield? It's just one more way of killing your enemies, I don't see how it's any less humane than burning them with fire, and it's much cheaper to your own side. And they - your own side, I mean - are the ones you, arguably at least, have some sort of moral responsibility towards.

[Leviting]

Honestly, the most powerful build I ever played was a two-sword light armorer with a minor in destruction. At high levels, the two-weapon power attack can one or two shot most things, and if you can't dodge in light armor for some reason, you can switch to a healing spell in your right hand (you want the left handed stab attack). In addition, you can also always circle while throwing fireballs. Don't bother with master level destruction, those things are worthless in any legit fight. For shouts, you want to hit them with a level 1 unrelenting force (or 2, if you time it right), as you can't bash with two weapons and you'll need the stun.