In the original PC version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, character creation determines your race, birthsign, class, specialization, major skills and favored attributes. During the prison introduction, the game watches how you play and suggests a predefined class, but that suggestion is optional: you can accept it, choose another class or build a custom one. After creation, ten total increases across your major skills make you eligible to level, and sleeping in a bed actually grants the level. Your attribute choices and skill increases during each cycle determine the bonuses you receive.
This guide describes the original PC rules documented in the official Oblivion PC manual. Do not apply the figures here automatically to a Remastered release or to a differently versioned support article.
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What you choose during character creation
Name and race
The game first asks for a name and race. The original manual lists ten playable races. Race affects the character you take into the world, so select it before spending time on your class concept rather than treating it as a cosmetic label.
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Your birthsign is another permanent character-defining selection. It is chosen during creation alongside race and class, not earned later through progression.
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The introduction’s class suggestion
Oblivion observes your actions during the opening sequence. The way you fight, use skills and approach situations leads the game to suggest a predefined class. That recommendation is only a proposal. You may accept it, pick a different predefined class or create your own.
The last chance to reconsider
The manual’s opening letter, credited to the Oblivion Team, says: “Don’t worry too much about the choices you’ll make for your race, birthsign, or class the first time through, because before you head out into the wide world we give you a chance to reconsider any choices you’ve made up to that point.” In practice, this is the final character-creation screen in the introduction. You can revisit choices such as your name, hairstyle and major skills before leaving for the wider world. It is a last revision opportunity, not a respec system available later in the game.
How a class is built in original PC Oblivion
The original PC manual describes 21 predefined classes, divided into seven classes for each of three specializations. A class combines a specialization, seven major skills and a +5 bonus to two attributes.
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| Class element | Original PC rule | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Specialization | Combat Arts, Magic Arts or Stealth Arts | Skills in the selected specialization receive +10 and are easier to improve. |
| Major skills | Seven skills, each starting at 25 | They improve more readily and their increases are the ones that fill the level meter. |
| Favored attributes | Two attributes receive +5 | They provide the class’s starting attribute emphasis. |
| Minor skills | The manual says they start at 5 and improve more slowly | They remain usable and can help determine attribute bonuses, but their increases do not fill the level meter. |
Predefined classes
A predefined class supplies all of those choices at once. It is a convenient starting point if its specialization and skill list match how you intend to play. The introductory recommendation can point you toward one, but you are free to select any of the 21 classes instead.
Custom classes
A custom class lets you select the two attribute bonuses, choose seven major skills and give the class a name. The specialization still matters because it determines which skills receive the +10 growth advantage. A custom class is therefore not a separate progression system; it is your own arrangement of the same class components.
How to make the final pre-departure choices
- Choose your name and race.
- Select a birthsign.
- Play through the introduction so the game can observe your actions and offer a class suggestion.
- Accept the suggested class, select a different predefined class or open the custom-class option.
- If you choose custom, set the specialization, seven major skills, two favored attributes and class name.
- Review the character at the final introduction screen, including the name, appearance details and major-skill choices, before leaving.
Once that process is complete, the important selections are locked. The final review should be treated as your last chance to correct a mistake.
What major, minor and miscellaneous skills do
Three ways to raise a skill
The manual gives three routes for skill improvement:
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- Pay for training: an instructor can provide up to five skill points per level.
- Study special books: certain books grant skill knowledge when read.
The skill display
The original skill display separates seven major skills from 14 miscellaneous skills. Minor skills are the non-major skills that still belong to the class system; miscellaneous skills are the other skills shown in the display. The important leveling distinction is not whether a skill is useful in combat or exploration, but whether it is one of your seven major skills.
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- First Person Melee and Magic: An all-new combat and magic system brings first person role-playing to a new level of intensity where you feel every blow.
- Radiant AI: This groundbreaking AI system gives Oblivion's characters full 24/7 schedules and the ability to make their own choices based on the world around them. Non-player characters eat, sleep, and complete goals all on their own.
- New Lands to Explore: In the Shivering Isles expansion, see a world created in Sheogorath's own image, one divided between Mania and Dementia and unlike anything you've experienced in Oblivion.
- Challenging new foes: Battle the denizens of Shivering Isles, a land filled with hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibeous Grummites, and many more.
Why the distinction matters
Every increase in a major skill moves you toward the next level. Increases in minor or miscellaneous skills do not advance that level meter. They are not wasted, however: skills raised since the previous level can contribute to the attribute bonus you select at level-up, regardless of whether those skills are major or minor.
How leveling actually works
Step 1: Accumulate ten major-skill increases
Any combination of increases totaling ten points across your major skills makes the character eligible for a level. You could gain those points in one major skill or spread them among several; the rule counts the total. Bethesda Support summarizes it this way: “Each time you increase any of your Major Skills by a total of 10 (in any combination), you are set to level up your character.” The wording refers to increases, not to reaching a particular displayed skill value.
Step 2: Sleep in a bed
Eligibility does not immediately change your level. You must sleep in a bed. Bethesda Support states: “For your character to actually level up, however, you need to have your character go sleep.” The manual gives the same instruction and notes that more than one level can be taken at once if you continue earning major-skill increases before resting.
Step 3: Claim stacked levels
If you reach another ten-point threshold without sleeping, the unclaimed level is retained. Sleeping later allows the accumulated levels to be awarded together. This means the level meter and your displayed character level can temporarily be out of sync: you can be eligible for one or several levels while still adventuring.
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What happens on the level-up screen
Choose three attributes
Each level-up lets you select three of the game’s eight attributes. The bonus modifier attached to each attribute is based on the relevant skills you improved since the previous level. The game does not decide that modifier solely from the skill’s major or minor status: a minor skill can contribute just as a major skill can if it belongs to that attribute’s group and increased during the cycle.
Endurance and health
Endurance governs Health and affects how much Health is gained when leveling. The manual specifies that Health rises by one-tenth of your Endurance for each level. Because that increase is tied to leveling, your Endurance choices affect future survivability rather than merely changing a temporary value on the character screen.
Luck is different
Luck is one of the eight selectable attributes, but it governs no skills. Consequently, it does not have a set of associated skill increases from which to build an ordinary skill-derived modifier. Decide whether its value is worth selecting on its own terms rather than expecting it to be supported by a skill category.
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Planning a class and an efficient leveling routine
Put frequently used skills in the right category
Major skills grow faster and advance the level meter. Making skills you use constantly into majors gives you quicker access to level-ups, but it also means your character reaches those thresholds sooner. If you want a slower level pace while still using a skill regularly, placing it outside the major list leaves it usable and attribute-relevant without contributing to the ten-point requirement.
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Match the specialization to your intended play
The +10 specialization bonus makes skills in that group easier to improve. Choose Combat Arts, Magic Arts or Stealth Arts according to the actions you expect to perform most often, then select major skills that support that plan. There is no source-supported universally best specialization; the trade-off is growth speed versus which skills drive your level timing.
Use minor skills for attribute development
Because attribute modifiers consider skills raised since the previous level regardless of major or minor status, minor skills can be useful for shaping an attribute bonus without accelerating the level meter. This is a planning tool, not a requirement to avoid major skills: the right choice depends on whether you want rapid level eligibility or more control over when you sleep and claim a level.
Track the current cycle
After sleeping and receiving a level, note which skills you intend to improve before the next sleep. Use normal actions, training and skill books deliberately so that the three attributes you plan to select have relevant skill increases behind them. The game does not require ten increases in one skill, so distribute practice according to the role you want the next level to strengthen.
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Bethesda Support states that race, class, birthsign, major skills, minor skills and specialized attributes cannot be changed after the character has been created. Skills themselves can continue to increase through play, training and books, but that growth does not let you replace the original class framework. If a permanent choice is wrong for your intended character, the reliable correction is to return to the final creation opportunity or start a new character.
Important version discrepancy in published class explanations
The original PC manual is the appropriate reference for the rules in this article. A separate Bethesda Support class explainer gives a different set of figures: five major and five minor skills, a +5 specialization bonus, major skills starting at 30, minor skills at 15 and +10 to two attributes. The retrieved support page does not clearly identify which game version those numbers describe.
Those figures conflict with the original PC manual’s seven major skills, +10 specialization bonus, major skills starting at 25, minor skills starting at 5 and +5 to two attributes. Do not merge the two sets of numbers. For original PC Oblivion, use the manual’s structure; use the support page only with the version it explicitly applies to.
Quick reference for a first character
- Choose race, birthsign and class during the introduction.
- Treat the game’s suggested class as optional.
- Before leaving, review the final name, appearance and skill choices.
- Remember that the original PC class has one specialization, seven major skills and two +5 attribute bonuses.
- Raise skills by using them, paying for up to five training points per level or reading special books.
- Count ten total increases across major skills to become eligible for a level.
- Sleep in a bed to claim the level; unclaimed levels can stack.
- At each level, choose three attributes, using the skills improved since the previous level to guide their modifiers.
- Account for one-tenth of Endurance being added to Health per level.
The Bottom Line
For original PC Oblivion, the decisive rule is simple: your seven major skills control when you become eligible to level, while all relevant skills improved during that cycle help shape the three attribute bonuses you choose. Plan the specialization and major-skill list before leaving the introduction, then sleep when you are ready to turn those ten-point thresholds into actual levels.
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