Morrowind:Breton

A regular Breton male

Passionate and eccentric, poetic and flamboyant, intelligent and willful, the Bretons feel an inborn, instinctive bond with the mercurial forces of magic and the supernatural. Many great sorcerers have come out of their home province of High Rock, and in addition to their quick and perceptive grasp of spellcraft, enchantment, and alchemy, even the humblest of Bretons can boast a high resistance to destructive and dominating magical energies.

Bretons are the descendants of the Aldmer and humans of High Rock that intermingled during the Merethic Era, and are now the inhabitants of the province. They are united in culture and language, even though they are divided politically, for High Rock is a fractious region. Bretons make up the peasantry, soldiery, and magical elite of the feudal kingdoms that compete for power. Many are capable mages with innate resistance to magicka. They are known for a proficiency in abstract thinking and unique customs. Bretons appear, by and large, much like other pale-skinned humans. They are usually slight of build and not as muscular as Nords or Redguards. The great diversity in their appearance is to be expected from their politically fractured society, though their clothes, accents, customs and names are fairly uniform.

For more information, see the main lore article.

Base Attributes

Attribute	M	F
Strength	40	30
Intelligence	50	50
Willpower	50	50
Agility	30	30
Speed	30	40
Endurance	30	30
Personality	40	40
Luck	40	40

Skill Bonuses

Skill	Bonus
Conjuration	+10
Mysticism	+10
Restoration	+10
Alchemy	+5
Alteration	+5
Illusion	+5

Abilities

• Resist Magicka —
   Resist Magicka 50 pts on Self
• Magicka Bonus —
   Fortify Maximum Magicka 0.5×INT (50% more Magicka)

Powers

• Dragon Skin —
   Shield 50 pts for 60 secs on Self

Ideal Character

Bretons are good magical characters, more interested in using magic for their own personal use than hurting others. Their bonuses are entirely in the school of magic, which gives them 50% more Magicka (Fortify Maximum Magicka 0.5x INT). Choosing a magicka enhancing sign for a further Magicka boost can prove useful when relying on magic to deal with enemies.

The 50% Resist Magicka bonus can make many negative effects seem much more manageable. The significant boost towards 100% Resistance to Magicka can be helpful in regards to wearing the Boots of Blinding Speed without penalty or shrugging off annoying Bonewalker attacks. On the other hand, there are relatively few enemies that use extremely dangerous Magicka spells, and Resist Magicka does not affect fire, frost, or shock spells.

The Dragon Skin ability is useful early in the game and can be used to power through enemies that would otherwise be next to impossible to defeat. However, stronger shield spells with a comparable effect can be used with higher levels of Alteration. Regardless, it is a highly valuable addition to any character's arsenal.

Bretons have limited offensive skill bonuses, though they can make up the difference through natural skill-raising. In the early stages of the game, it may be beneficial to use a non-magical method of damage, while using magic to self-buff or debuff enemies. Conjuration can also be used for the purpose of summoning creatures to fight enemies. The Mysticism school has access to Absorb Health, a extremely potent albeit expensive spell.

A Breton Battlemage using "The Atronach" Birthsign is a classic archetype; the resulting character will be practically immune to spellcasters, while also netting an additional 250 magicka at 100 Intelligence. Since a Battlemage uses melee weapons as their primary form of damage output, the lack of magicka regeneration won't be missed, while at level 1, the player will be able to cast almost every single spell in the game with the schools of Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration, and Illusion being particularly useful.

Notes

• A list of all the Bretons in Morrowind can be found here.