SureAI

Ok Gents...first off I want to say how much I am enjoying the new game.

On that note...I notice that you do not select a class to start. Personally I always build a mage character so being forced to do melee causes me some concern. I've been building up my INT and WIS in preparation for the time where I get to select a class and as a result my melee skills are lacking.

Will I get the opportunity to reassign my skills later on in the game? I know this is a bit of a spoiler but I would be able to play the game better without having to worry about my char build. Thanks!

There are no classes, only birthsigns which roughly correspond to classes.
If you are tough enough to kill a young black bear, you can go to to the Sanctum and learn some spells.

At the Sactum you will get a star sign that has some -for most players negligible- influence.
There are no classes in Nehrim.
You can not reassign attributes or skills short of using the console.

As written in the leveling system/attributes thread: The balancing of Nehrim is definitely different, there is no need to optimize you char like in Oblivion. But you can do it, if you must.

Ok so I just might as well go ahead and use my skill points for Melee because I'll be doing that for a while until I get to a place where I can learn spells.

I guess I'll just start over then

You can make it early to the Sanctum and save your skill points for when you arrive there. Just avoid the most difficult encounter until Gildan. There, the priest can teach you some basic attack spells (like Firebite). It then becomes much easier to fight wolf or bandits. And it's even better with additionnal spells and some Destruction training in the Sanctum (from what I've experienced).

We will never possibily say enough how great is the work accomplished by SureAI. It's a bit soon to judge but it seems sooooooo much promising than Oblivion. And perhaps even the best RPG experience since The Witcher.

I have a little concern about armors though. So far the only ones widely available are leather (light) and runes (heavy, based on the vanilla orcish armor). Oddly, they have the same defense value (while both light and heavy armor rating start at 25)... What is the point of wearing encumbering heavy armors if they are not more efficient than light ones?
I also found boots of the "Master of Destruction" set, and they still have this same rating of 1. I admit I would like to have some information about the basic common types of light and heavy armors found in Nehrim.

Following up on the vein of character creation, I was wondering if someone could touch upon the leveling system. It's been a while since I played Oblivion and even though they are different, it might be similar. I noticed when I gained a level I had bonus points for something like willpower and acrobatics..I'm assuming because they are the ruling attributes of those skills or whatever. What's the maximum bonus one can get, 3? How many levels in skills (like restoration and such) do you need to gain in order to gain a bonus on willpower, for instance? I'm one of those OCD peeps that needs to find the optimal way of leveling a character, IF there is one.

The maximum bonus is +5.
If you train 10 skills with the attribut Willpower, you will get +5 Willpower.

Awesome, thanks Darkblade .

Skills bought from trainers do not count towards your level up. Just thought I'd throw that in as I saw another post where someone thought they would.

I have found sneak and marksman to be a mage's best friend early on. I levelled up my sneak as fast as I could early on. I hit them with one arrow. Usually early on they now see you. then blast em with spells. once I levelled past 7 I went around fold valley using destruction on low level monsters to level up my destruction. I wish I had gone to the sanctum earlier than I did. they had better spells than I had found yet.