Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-12349921-20130716003640/@comment-10207438-20130806184123

Starting stats in skyrim mean nothing.

greater powers usually become useless by level 20(or earlier if you have a ton of shouts), what you want to look for if you're trying to find the best race for a certain path is the passives.

Orcs have No passive, but their Greater power is the only one that would actually see MORE use the higher level you are; however it only works with melee damage, so with a spell casting character it is ineffective.

Altmer start with more magicka, so they can use the starting spells longer than any other race, they can also use stronger spells at least five levels before any other race. and their greater power(which will most likely stop being used at low-mid level) helps regenerate magicka, so they can use their magic attacks soon after they use up all their magicka.

in other words: Orcs would be good warriors with a little magic tossed in, Altmer are more versitile when using both magic and weapons, especially early game.