Your character
Races and weapon bonuses
Which races hit harder with which weapons, driven by your stats, plus the built-in resistances.
By default six races get a combat bonus for particular weapons. The bonus is worked out from your stats, not your level, and it is added to your hit chance and your damage when you attack with a weapon in hand. See Combat basics and Which rules apply.
| Race | Gets a bonus with |
|---|---|
| Wood Elf | Bows, and short blades |
| Dark Elf | Long blades and short blades |
| Redguard | Long blades, blunt weapons, axes and bows |
| Nord | Axes, blunt weapons, and fists |
| Khajiit | Short blades and fists |
| Argonian | Short blades |
| Breton, High Elf | None |
The exact formula for every race and weapon is in the race database. A race gets nothing with a weapon not listed for it.
Wood Elf archers
With a bow a Wood Elf adds Agility ÷ 10 + Speed ÷ 25 + Luck ÷ 25 to hit and Strength ÷ 25 + Agility ÷ 25 to damage, rounded down. It stacks with the Expertise In Missile Weapon advantage, which is worked out from stats the same way. See Archery.
Attributes still matter
Every attack also compares your Agility, Speed and Luck with the target’s. Agility counts for the most, a quarter point of hit chance per point of difference. Archers and blade users want high Agility.
Built-in resistances and bonuses
The game’s race table gives Bretons resistance to magic, Nords resistance to frost and High Elves immunity to paralysis. Argonians never drown (an option on by default, fixed online), and a Khajiit counts as having 30 more Climbing skill when a climb is worked out. Each race also has a lifespan that decides how many deaths an Enduring character survives; see Death and lineage. All eight races are in the race database; any other racial trait is not in those tables.
Category: Your character