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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteIn the original PC version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you choose a race, birthsign, and class during the prison introduction. The game watches how you play and proposes a predefined class, but the suggestion is optional: you can accept it, choose another class, or build a custom one. Once ten increases have been earned across your major skills, you become eligible to level; sleeping in a bed actually applies the level-up.
The details below follow the original PC manual and Bethesda’s original-game leveling guidance, not rules from later or remastered editions. The manual describes seven major skills, a specialization bonus of +10, and +5 to two class attributes. A Bethesda class-help page lists different numbers, so that discrepancy is identified rather than silently combined with the original rules.
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What you decide during character creation
Character creation starts with your name and race, then asks you to establish a birthsign and class during the opening sequence. There are ten playable races in the original game. While you progress through the tutorial, the game observes the actions you take and recommends one of its predefined classes.
The recommendation is only a suggestion. You may accept it, select a different predefined class, or create a custom class. The official PC manual says there is also a final opportunity to reconsider choices before leaving the introduction. In the manual’s words, “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.” Treat that as the last pre-departure editing screen, not as a respec system available later in the game.
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- Live Another Life in Another World - Create and play any character you can imagine, from the noble warrior to the sinister assassin to the wizened sorcerer.
- 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.
- Enter a name and choose a race. Your race is one of the character-defining selections.
- Choose a birthsign. This is also locked once creation is complete.
- Play through the tutorial. Your actions are used to suggest a class.
- Review the suggested class. Accept it, choose another predefined class, or select the custom-class option.
- Make final revisions before leaving. The manual describes a last chance to revisit choices such as your name, hairstyle, and major skills.
Bethesda Support confirms that race, class, birthsign, major and minor skills, and specialized attributes cannot be changed after the character has been created. Skills themselves can continue to rise through play. The restriction is documented in Bethesda’s character-change guidance.
How an original Oblivion class is built
For the original PC release, a class combines four elements: one specialization, seven major skills, and bonuses to two attributes. The manual lists 21 predefined classes, divided into seven classes for each of the three specializations.
| Class element | Original PC rule | What it changes in play |
|---|---|---|
| Specialization | Combat Arts, Magic Arts, or Stealth Arts | Skills in the chosen group receive +10 and are easier to improve. |
| Major skills | Seven skills; each starts at 25 | They improve more readily and their increases fill the level meter. |
| Minor skills | The manual describes them as starting at 5 and increasing more slowly | They remain usable and can affect attribute bonuses, but their increases do not fill the level meter. |
| Favored attributes | Two attributes receive +5 | These bonuses shape your starting statistics. |
A custom class lets you name the class and select its specialization, seven major skills, and two attribute bonuses. The practical consequence is a trade-off: putting a frequently used skill among your majors makes it advance faster and helps you reach the next level sooner; putting that same skill among your minors slows its growth but keeps its increases from advancing the level threshold.
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The specialization choices
- Combat Arts: choose this when the skills you expect to use most belong to the combat-oriented group.
- Magic Arts: choose this when spellcasting skills will be your primary tools.
- Stealth Arts: choose this when sneaking, security, marksman-style play, or other stealth-oriented skills will dominate your actions.
The specialization bonus applies to skills in that group, not just to the seven skills you designate as major. A specialized minor skill therefore still benefits from the specialization’s easier growth, while only major-skill increases count toward level eligibility.
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Why some online class explanations disagree
A Bethesda Support article titled “What is the difference between Specialization, Major skills, and Minor skills?” describes five major and five minor skills, +5 for specialization, major skills starting at 30, minor skills starting at 15, and +10 to two attributes. Those figures conflict with the original PC manual’s seven majors, +10 specialization, 25 starting major value, 5 starting minor value, and +5 attribute bonuses. The support article does not clearly state which edition its numbers apply to. For a guide to the original PC game, use the manual’s figures and do not merge the two systems. You can inspect the conflicting support page at Bethesda Support.
Major, minor, and miscellaneous skills
The skill display in the manual separates seven major skills from 14 miscellaneous skills. In ordinary play, skills rise in three ways:
- Use the skill. Repeatedly performing the associated action improves it.
- Pay for training. A trainer can provide up to five skill points per level.
- Read a skill book. Certain special books grant a skill increase when read.
Major skills start higher and improve more quickly than minor skills. More importantly for progression, only major-skill increases advance the level meter. Increases can come from any combination of your seven majors; they do not need to be ten points in one skill. Minor and miscellaneous skills never add to that ten-point level threshold, although improvements in them can still be used when the game calculates attribute bonuses at level-up.
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Bethesda’s original-game help page states: “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 manual describes the same rule. Ten major-skill points make you eligible; they do not immediately raise your level.
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- Accumulate major-skill increases. Count increases across all seven major skills. For example, four points in one major, three in another, and three in a third meet the ten-point requirement.
- Become eligible. The level meter is complete once the combined total reaches ten.
- Find a bed. You must sleep in a bed to claim the level. Bethesda’s explanation is available at How do I level up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?.
- Choose attributes. The level-up screen lets you select three of the eight attributes and applies the relevant bonus modifiers.
If you continue gaining major-skill points without sleeping, eligible levels accumulate. The manual and Bethesda Support both explain that several levels can be claimed during a later sleep, provided you have earned enough major-skill increases for each one.
What does not trigger a level?
Raising a minor or miscellaneous skill alone does not move the level meter. This can surprise players who spend a long time improving alchemy, athletics, acrobatics, or another non-major skill and see no level notification. Those increases are still useful: they can improve your character and contribute to the attribute modifiers shown when you eventually sleep and level.
Attribute bonuses and health at level-up
At each level-up, select three attributes from the game’s eight. The size of each modifier is determined by the skills you improved since the previous level. The calculation does not care whether those skills were major or minor; their status affects level eligibility, not whether they can contribute to an attribute’s modifier.
This creates two separate planning questions. First, which skills should be major so that your character’s level pace matches the way you play? Second, which skills should you improve during the current level if you want stronger modifiers for particular attributes? A minor skill can therefore be deliberately improved for an attribute bonus without pushing you toward the next level.
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Endurance has a special long-term effect. The manual says your Health increases by one-tenth of your Endurance each level. Endurance also governs how much Health rises when leveling, so an Endurance increase early in a character’s career affects subsequent health gains. Luck governs no skills, which means it does not receive a skill-derived modifier in the same way as the other attributes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Planning an efficient leveling approach
There is no universally best class in the rules covered here. The right setup depends on whether you want rapid access to levels, slower level growth while skills develop, or a particular attribute emphasis. Use these decision axes when selecting a predefined or custom class:
| Your priority | Class-building choice | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Level frequently through normal use | Make the skills you use constantly major skills. | They grow faster and their increases reach ten sooner. |
| Keep levels spaced out | Place some heavily used skills among the minors. | Those skills still improve, but their increases do not fill the level meter. |
| Emphasize a combat, magic, or stealth identity | Pick the matching specialization. | Skills in that specialization receive the +10 growth advantage in the original PC rules. |
| Shape starting statistics | Select the two attributes receiving +5. | Your initial attribute spread reflects those favored attributes. |
Example: a fast-leveling combat character
Suppose you make several weapon and armor skills major and use them in nearly every fight. Their faster growth means the ten-point threshold arrives naturally and often. This is convenient if you want frequent access to new level-up attribute choices, but it also means enemies and the wider game will encounter you at a higher character level sooner.
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Example: a controlled-level stealth character
A stealth-focused custom class could keep one or more frequently used stealth skills as minors while choosing other skills as majors. The minor skills continue to improve, and their increases can help produce attribute modifiers, but they do not independently trigger the next level. This gives you more control over when to sleep and claim levels.
Use sleep as a deliberate checkpoint
Because eligible levels stack, you do not have to sleep immediately after every tenth major-skill increase. Sleeping later lets you claim multiple accumulated levels in one visit, while sleeping promptly lets you apply attribute choices more often. Either approach follows the same underlying rule: the level is awarded by sleeping, not by reaching ten points alone.
What can and cannot be changed later
After you finalize the character and leave the introduction, the following are fixed according to Bethesda Support:
- Race
- Class
- Birthsign
- Major skills
- Minor skills
- Specialized attributes
You cannot later convert a major skill into a minor skill, swap your specialization, or redesign the class through an in-game respec. You can still raise skills through use, training, and skill books, and you can continue choosing three attributes whenever you claim a level. If a class plan depends on a different major-skill list, restart before completing creation rather than expecting to repair it later.
Quick reference: the original PC rules
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How many predefined classes are there? | 21, with seven tied to each specialization, according to the original manual. |
| How many major skills does a class have? | Seven in the original PC manual. |
| What raises the level meter? | A combined total of ten increases across any of the seven major skills. |
| Do minor skills count toward that ten? | No, but their increases can contribute to attribute bonuses. |
| How do you actually gain the level? | Sleep in a bed after becoming eligible. |
| Can unclaimed levels stack? | Yes. Multiple eligible levels can be taken during a later sleep. |
| How many attributes do you choose? | Three of the eight attributes at each level-up. |
| How is health increased? | By one-tenth of Endurance per level, under the manual’s rule. |
| Can class-defining choices be changed after creation? | No. Race, class, birthsign, major/minor skills, and specialized attributes are locked. |
Sources and edition note
The original PC figures in this guide come from the Bethesda Softworks Oblivion PC manual. The ten-major-skill threshold, sleep requirement, and level stacking are also documented by Bethesda Support. If you are playing a remastered or otherwise different edition, verify its current manual and support documentation before assuming these original-PC values apply.
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