Newbie looking for some character advice

[Driftwood]

Hi there folks! I'm fairly new to Morrowind (and to Elder Scrolls games in general), and after a couple of hours on a test character just to get a feel for the gameplay, I now think I'm ready to build my first "proper" character that I can do a bit of roleplaying with. I'm hoping you folks might be able to offer suggestions as to how I should build him.

Without giving much away about myself, I love the sea and have experience on boats, so I was thinking of creating a nautical-themed character. When Morrowind begins, it seems like the player is supposed to be a convicted felon who was pardoned and deported to the region... so I'm thinking a nautical character with a criminal past would either be a pirate or a smuggler.

What sorts of starting skills, equipment, etc. would you recommend for roleplaying such a character? And what sorts of activities or quests would you recommend which might fit this character?

I have ideas of my own, but I don't want to make this OP too lengthy so I'll hold off posting them for now until I see what other, more experienced players might suggest. In summary at least, I'd think that a smuggler would be more trade and stealth oriented, while a pirate would be more combat oriented (perhaps with a few theft-related stealth skills). Races I'm not sure of either, and would welcome your suggestions for what you think would best suit a maritime smuggler or a pirate from an in-game lore perspective.

[SeaGtGruff]

If you want to play a nautical character, Morrowind has a number of shipwrecks that you can explore, and most if not all of them require you to swim underwater in order to fully explore them, so you'll probably want to have a good Swimming skill, plus the ability to cast Waterbreathing spells or mix Waterbreathing potions.

An Argonian character might be good for that, but if you don't feel like playing an Argonian then I suppose any race would do.

You could create your own Pirate or Smuggler class, but if you prefer to start with a premade class then maybe Ranger would fit the idea of roaming around on the seas?

[Driftwood]

If you want to play a nautical character, Morrowind has a number of shipwrecks that you can explore, and most if not all of them require you to swim underwater in order to fully explore them, so you'll probably want to have a good Swimming skill, plus the ability to cast Waterbreathing spells or mix Waterbreathing potions.

An Argonian character might be good for that, but if you don't feel like playing an Argonian then I suppose any race would do.

You could create your own Pirate or Smuggler class, but if you prefer to start with a premade class then maybe Ranger would fit the idea of roaming around on the seas?

Thanks for the reply. Yes I did consider Argonian due to the obvious connection between lizards and water, although it is a bit harder for me to get in to non-human characters...
I was intending to do a custom class, as I think that gives me more room to tailor-make a character to the smuggler/pirate background.

For a smuggler I was thinking major skills could be Sneak, Security, Mercantile, Short Blade, and Unarmored. The first two obviously have to do with evading customs patrols and hiding (or stealing) valuable cargo, the mercantile would be for trading the smuggled goods, and the short blade and unarmored would be for fighting rival smugglers or other folks in the seedy parts of whatever port my character was in.

For a pirate I was thinking major skills could be Light Armor, Armorer, Acrobatics, Security, and either Spear, Axe, or Long Blade. The first two would be for the obvious combat a pirate is involved in and the need to repair his weapons at sea, while acrobatics would represent having to climb around the rigging of a ship, security would be for breaking in to stolen cargo chests, and Spear/Axe/Long-Blade would represent use of either a Boarding Pike, Boarding Axe, or Cutlass.

Of course, neither of those combinations really leaves an option for water-breathing magic as you suggest, which I hadn't considered before but now realise would probably be beneficial to a nautical character... Don't the Argonians have some sort of default water-breathing ability? That might be useful if I don't have any primary magic skills to help learn that kind of spell or mix those potions.
I'm also not sure about minor skills for either.

[SeaGtGruff]

Yes, I think Argonians can cast a Water-breathing spell by default, but I'm not sure if they can breathe underwater all the time. I know what you mean about non-human races; I typically play a human or elf race. Swimming might be even more important than water-breathing, though-- or at least more normal or standard for a nautical character. Water-breathing would be more like "icing on the cake," and you can use Alchemy to mix potions for that.