Races

There are ten main races to be found in Cyrodiil, some fairly standard human-esque races, some more traditional fantasy archetypes, and some that are a bit more outlandish. Your choice of race doesn't affect what you can choose to do in the game, but each race does have a few particular strengths, so if you know what kind of character you want to play in the game, such as by focusing on spellcasting or fighting with melee weapons, then you can give yourself a head start by picking a race with complementary skills and ability scores. But, again, your choice of race doesn’t close off any paths to you, so if you want to make a Breton but focus on your heavy armor and sword skills, you'll be free to do so; you'll just start a bit behind (skill-wise) Redguard character with the same focus.

Argonian

The reptilian Argonians have an odd collection of skill bonuses, making them a bizarre jack-of-all-trades trades race. Their primary attributes are Agility and Speed, which make them decent thief/stealth characters, but apart from that they're somewhat undistinguished unless you intend to select the race for role-playing purposes.

Skill Bonuses

• Alchemy +5
• Athletics +10
• Blade +5
• Hand To Hand +5
• Illusion +5
• Mysticism +5
• Security +10

Special Abilities

• Resist Disease (magnitude 75, permanent)
• Immune to Poison (magnitude 100, permanent)
• Water Breathing (permanent)

Breton

Oh so pretty...and oh so crazy.

The Bretonian race is well known as having spawned numerous famous spellcasters, and indeed most of their skills rotate around the magical arts. Breton mages aren't of the fire-and-brimstone type, though, preferring to use subtler magical energies to effect their ultimate goals. As such, the fan-favorite Destruction skill is a no-show in their bonuses, but you'll be able to use all sorts of other spells as you like, with some large bonuses to them to boot. Without being able to emphasize Destruction, though, you'll be a little bit behind offensively when compared to a Dark Elf or High Elf mage. Defensively, however, your ability to Resist Magicka will make most spellcasting enemies a piece of cake for Breton mages.

Skill Bonuses

• Alchemy +5
• Alteration +5
• Conjuration +10
• Illusion +5
• Mysticism +10
• Restoration +10

Special Abilities

• Fortified Majicka (magnitude 50, permanent)
• Resist Magicka (magnitude 50, permanent)
• Shield (temporary physical damage barrier, once/day)

Dark Elf

Dark Elf is an excellent race for players that want to make a character that emphasizes a mix of spellcasting and combat. Most of their bonuses are for combat-oriented skills, including a good variety of weapon skills, with Destruction magic getting a large bonus for when you want to take your opponents down at range. While not as physically powerful as a Nord or a Redguard, the balance between strength and magical abilities makes for a well-rounded combat character. And the Resist Fire ability is a big help against the many fire-wielding enemies in the game.

Skill Bonuses

• Athletics +5
• Blade +10
• Blunt +5
• Destruction +10
• Light Armor +5
• Marksman +5
• Mysticism +5

Special Abilities

• Ancestor Guardian (Summon Ghost once per day for 60 seconds)
• Resist Fire (magnitude 75, permanent)

High Elf

The High Elf is arguably the best pure spellcasting race, especially if you're of an offensive bent. With all of the skill bonuses save for Alchemy being focused on spellcasting skills, you're going to have a broad array of magicks boosted, including Destruction for pure offensive combat. Especially noteworthy are the special abilities on offer here; with Fortified Magicka, you'll be able to spend a lot more time casting spells as opposed to taking on enemies in combat. If you can match yourself up with an appropriate birthsign, you can become an extremely specialized mage character, which can be interesting if you have no interest in stealth or combat gameplay.

Skill Bonuses

• Alchemy +5
• Alteration +10
• Conjuration +5
• Destruction +10
• Illusion +5
• Mysticism +10

Special Abilities

• Fortified Majicka (magnitude 100, permanent)
• Resist Disease (magnitude 75, permanent)
• Weakness to Fire, Frost, and Shock (magnitude 25, permanent)

Imperial

Imperials are fairly run-of-the-mill humans, without any particularly exceptional skill bonuses or special abilities. They're the most personable of all the races, though, typically well-liked by everyone, with the gift of a golden tongue. Although talking your way through the entire game would be a difficult task, to say the least, an Imperial character is probably your best bet if you're attempting to play a character that can Persuade his or her way past characters that are reluctant to help you. You'll probably have the ability to avoid a lot of sticky situations, or just make your trip a bit easier, with an Imperial character that focuses on Speechcraft to help out in conversations. Since you can supplement that with their built-in Voice of the Emperor ability to Charm characters once per day, which can be further supplemented by Charm spells if need be, there should be few critical characters in the game that you can't charm off their feet. This is a more subtle skill than being able to crack everyone's head with an axe, but is still valuable nonetheless.

Skill Bonuses

• Blade +5
• Blunt +5
• Hand To Hand +5
• Heavy Armor +5
• Mercantile +10
• Speechcraft +10

Special Abilities

• Star of the West (Absorb Fatigue, magnitude 100, once per day)
• Voice of the Emperor (Charm, magnitude 30, once per day)