Adventurers are extraordinary people, driven by a thirst for excitement into a life that others would never dare lead. They are heroes, compelled to explore the dark places of the world and take on the challenges that lesser women and men can’t stand against.

    Class is the primary definition of what your character can do. It’s more than a profession; it’s your character’s calling. Class shapes the way you think about the world and interact with it and your relationship with other people and powers in the multiverse. A warrior, for example, might view the world in pragmatic terms of strategy and maneuvering, and see herself as just a pawn in a much larger game. A crusader, by contrast, might see himself as a willing servant in a god’s unfolding plan or a conflict brewing among various deities. While the warrior has contacts in a mercenary company or army, the crusader might know a number of priests, knights, and devotees who share his faith.

    Your class gives you a variety of special features, such as a warrior’s mastery of weapons and armor, and a mages’s spells. At low levels, your class gives you only two or three features, but as you advance in level you gain more and your existing features often improve. Each class entry in this chapter includes a table summarizing the benefits you gain at every level, and a detailed explanation of each one.

    Adventurers sometimes advance in more than one class. A rogue might switch direction in life and follow the mystical path of the spellsword. A barbarian might discover latent magical ability and dabble in the sorcerer class while continuing to advance as a barbarian. Elves are known to combine martial mastery with magical training and advance as warriors and magse simultaneously. Optional rules for combining classes in this way, called multiclassing, appear in chapter 6 of the Player's Handbook.

    Twelve classes—listed in the classes table—are found in almost every Elder Scrolls game and define the spectrum of typical adventurers.

 

Variant: No Starting Equipment

In the spirit of Elder Scrolls, it is typical that classes may not start with any equipment, septims, or any other physical items. Often, the characters in an adventure that fits the Elder Scrolls tradition start off as a prisoner, an average wanderer, or a ship wrecked traveller.