Acrobat (Oblivion)


 * "The kind of person that uses agility and endurance to their advantage. Unafraid of jumping long distances."

An Acrobat is the type of character that uses agility and endurance to their advantage. Possessing highly honed skills in agility and balance, they are especially adept at scaling walls, running, jumping and tumbling. Due primarily to their stealthy characteristics, Acrobats retain a high ability to score critical hits when in combat. They also possess an uncanny ability to leap great distances and climb more quickly and confidently than the average thief. Acrobats are one of the fleetest characters in any game.

Because of their nimble agility, acrobats are difficult to hit or strike in combat, and can be dangerous adversaries. To retain their nimbleness and swiftness of foot, acrobats typically use light armor and rarely carry shields. Acrobats are typically adept at using such weapons as daggers, short swords, broadswords, tantos and short bows.

Specialization

 * Stealth

Favored Attributes

 * Agility
 * Endurance

Major Skills

 * Acrobatics
 * Security
 * Sneak
 * Marksman
 * Block
 * Blade
 * Speechcraft

Description and Use
Acrobats are traditionally entertainers, aiming to amaze audiences with displays of great gymnastic skills. But such skills make them great cat-burglars and second-story men, able to gain entrance to any building without attracting notice, and to effectively discourage pursuit if noticed. Leaping, rolling and dodging, their art is to leave less-agile, less-swift pursuers behind. In terms of adventuring, their agility make Acrobats great tomb raiders.

An acrobat is a stealth-oriented and very agile class. Their basic combat strategy is to initiate attack with a stealth hit, then outmaneuver their adversaries, and block/dodge any incoming blows.

Acrobatics is of course the principal skill of the Acrobat. Lacking any skill in the wearing of armor, which slows them down too much, or knowledge of Alteration to give the ability cast shield, the Acrobat needs to be able to dodge any incoming attacks. Acrobatics also allows for the Acrobat to reach hard-to-reach places, a useful ability in conjunction with Marksman.

Acrobats also make great assassins due to their skills with blade, marksman, sneak and security.

Security and Sneak are the skills of a Thief, but, as mentioned above, many Acrobats use their skills in a life of crime.

Any entertainer needs a knowledge of the likes and dislikes of their audience, a skill that also comes in handy in conversation. Because of this, many Acrobats are very skilled in Speechcraft.

Blade and Block are the close-combat skills of the Acrobat, skill in each is useful if performing juggling acts involving knives and the like. When in combat, an Acrobat may prefer to use a dagger or shortsword, as they allow for very quick and agile strikes, and can also be used to block faster than a shield, claymore or longsword. As mentioned above, the Acrobat usually lacks any protection, so must block or dodge any damage. An Acrobat also tends not to commit to slower power attacks, but rather fast strikes that can more easily be changed into a parrying move.

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls: Arena
 * The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
 * The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
 * The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
 * An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire