'''Criar o seu personagem''' é a primeira decisão que você deve fazer ao jogar Skyrim. Mesmo que você seja apresentado a uma grande gama de variedades de opções para alterar a aparência do seu personagem, a única decisão que afeta o seu modo de jogar é a sua '''[[Skyrim:Races|raça]]''' escolhida. As capacidades do seu personagem são mais fortemente afetadas por como você escolhe jogar o jogo (e pelas as suas escolhas feitas quando estiver [[Skyrim:Leveling|subindo de nível]]) do que pela sua inicial criação do personagem.

Os fatores que você deve decidir são:

* Sua '''[[Skyrim:Races|Raça]]'''

:'''[[Skyrim:Dunmer|Dunmer]]:''' Os Elfos Negros recebem diversos aumentos mágicos, incluindo +10 em [[Skyrim:Destruction|Destruição]], e possuem 50% de [[Skyrim:Resist_Fire|Resistência ao Fogo]] inata, garantindo um ótimo ponto de partida para conquistar todas as resistências máximas. Personagens que desejam jogar como [[Skyrim:Vampire|vampiros]] podem achar essa resistência a fogo como algo útil em combater a fraqueza natural dos vampiros ao fogo.

:'''[[Skyrim:Imperial|Imperiais]]:''' Imperiais ganham um aumento em diversas habilidades de combate que se encaixaram com lutadores de espada-e-escudo ou guerreiros arcanos. Interessantemente, eles não ganham um bônus em Lábia apesar de suas descrições no jogo.

:'''[[Skyrim:Nord|Nord]]:''' Natives of Skyrim, they are acclimated to the harsh climate. Skyrim's natives are a good choice for a warrior build, especially for those who want to use two-handed weapons. Just like the Dunmer's fire resistance, their innate 50% [[Skyrim:Resist_Frost|Resist Frost]] is valuable at every stage of the game.

:'''[[Skyrim:Orc|Orc]]:''' Another solid pick for a melee character, they're well-suited to "tanking" in a sword-and-shield role wearing heavy armor. They start off with a good skill package and the extremely useful [[Skyrim:Berserker_Rage|Berserker Rage]] ability, but completely lack any kind of innate resistances.

*When initially choosing a race, think about what type of class or classes you want to emulate foremost. If, for example, you want to steal and sneak attack your enemies without being detected, you should consider Khajiit for their initial stealth bonus and [[Skyrim:Night_Eye (power)|night vision]] powers. Or you could choose to be an Argonian, for their initial ability to pick locks better than any other race. Alternatively, if you would prefer to fight your enemies head on, a Nord, Orc, or Redguard may be preferable, due to their initial boosts to combat stats and natural resistances. Likewise, mage classes would find being a Breton or Altmer to be most beneficial, given their innate magical bonuses. If you want to be an archer or other marksman, you should choose the [[Skyrim:Bosmer|Bosmer]].

*Note also that race affects many other small factors in dialogue throughout the game.

Many aspects of your character's appearance can be customized, although they do not affect skills in any way as they are purely cosmetic:

* Weight: increasing the weight slider increases your character's muscles

Aside from the initial character creation, the only way to change your appearance is by becoming a [[Skyrim:Vampire|vampire]] (automatic) or completing the quest [[Skyrim:Surgery|Surgery]] (only available after the [[Skyrim:Dawnguard|Dawnguard add-on]] is installed). The quest cannot be completed by vampires, and neither race nor gender can be changed.

Skyrim does not have classes. Race and sex selection are the only pregame choices of the player that affect gameplay. As previous installments of The Elder Scrolls have used classes as sets of skills, that term is somewhat still in use for a set of favored skills. When choosing a race, you're also choosing a set of skills that your character has initial bonuses to, and most likely, you're choosing this race because you've already chosen what play style you're going for. Skills go with these play styles, they are 'chosen' by simply using them, which is how they level up. Stats and perks conversely are chosen each time you level up. You can hurt yourself only by leveling up the wrong combinations of skills, gaining too high a level for your power too quickly.

It should also be noted that, by the end of the game, each character given the same skill levels will have similar proficiency with gameplay. Some race-related abilities (such as frost resistance or extra health/magicka) could aid in certain situations, but given enchanting and skill perks that remove negative associations with the skill (such as Heavy Armor's [[Skyrim:Conditioning|Conditioning]]), by end-game situations many races can be played similarly.

* [[Lore:Astronomy|Birthsigns]] do not exist in Skyrim; instead, the player may choose to pick one of several [[Skyrim:Standing Stones|Standing Stones]], which can be changed at any point during the game.

* Unlike in [[Oblivion:Oblivion|Oblivion]] and [[Morrowind:Morrowind|Morrowind]], you will not get a second chance to edit your character at the end of the tutorial, though the [[Skyrim:Dawnguard|Dawnguard]] add-on adds a [[Skyrim:Surgery|quest]] which allows you to change your appearance.