Ah yes, but with the horse not being able to jump, i will have to dismount to explore those hard-to-get places. Thus, a horse might slow me down. To be honest, im probably hoping for a more Ranger-like character. Or maybe a crusader/ranger of the sort. Mainly because i like kicking ass like the crusader does, but i also like losing myself totally for hours just exploring and looking at everything from all the small things on the floor to the stars in the sky.

What i don't really dig too much is Stealth, Marksmanship and Destruction. I like to get stuck right in there. No pansying about.

I will probably create a custom class as a result, something like this:

- Star Sign: The Steed

- Blade
- Block
- Athletics
- Light Armour
- Alteration
- Speechcraft
- Mercantile

- Major Attributes: Strength, Endurance.

With this i should be able to explore and crusade at a fairly good pace, while still having skills that allow me to be very independent.

I thought the horses could jump. In the 360 article I read they were saying how they tried to jump a gorge with their horse, but it was tired from running and ended up drowning in the river below instead of making it.

I'm not sure about it. I heard so many things and read so many previews that my mind's gonna explode.

But Derf, your char looks more like a Blade (the organization) than an Imperial Crusader man...fast, versatile, deadly and streetwise: an Imperial spy, a Blade. Kinda like Caius Cosades, but without the Skooma habit.

(yeah yeah; I know it's supposedly part of his cover to be a skooma dopehead...but I still think he's just an old doper!)

In that case, i guess it must be more along the lines of: Imperial Ranger.

Now that just sounds like a title for a TV show

Xena: Warrior Princess
Derf: Imperial Ranger (and part-time warrior princess)

rofl! how dare you!!! Xena is my bitch!

Whatever, anythin beats "The Crack Junk" anyway.

I've ALWAYS loved the idea of Rangers, ever since Baldurs Gate II. They kinda reflected most my own personality, but i couldn't help but notice how useless they actually were in the game world.

I played in Morrowind as an Imperial Crusader, because in essence, i felt very much at home with the idea of exploring the lands at pure random, killing any evil i encountered and liberating their treasures for my own purposes. The problem was that (aesthetically) i didn't really like lumbering around in heavy-armour and wielding a two-handed sword all the time.

Maybe i'm more worried about the "image" thing, but i do tend to worry alot about power-gaming (adopting in sacrificial manner, statistically advantageous equipments and stats).

So i guess my ideal Oblivion character would be somewhere in-between. I love the Ranger in that he is versatile yet independent, but i don't like too much of that tree-hugging fetish that they all suffer from. On the other side, i like the Crusader - sworn to do good and nothing but through gloryful conquest.

Obviously, this is The Imperial Ranger. (Ox, refrain!)

Considering what we know of the stats and skills of Oblivion characters, is it even possible to create such a fusion of character, while remaining safely in power-gaming territory?

Likely Choice:

Class: Imperial Ranger
Name: Arlas
Race: Imperial
Combat Type: Combat
Weapon Type: 2 Handed Sword
Birthsign: The Steed
Attributes: Strength, Endurance
Skills: Blade, Block, Light Armor, Speechcraft, Athletics, Alteration, Marksman