Oblivion:Wood Elf

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Illustration of a typical Bosmer male
Illustration of a typical Bosmer male
The clanfolk of the Western Valenwood forests, also known as "Bosmer." Wood Elves are nimble and quick, making them good scouts and thieves, and there are no finer archers in all of Tamriel. Their ability to command simple creatures is well-known.
—Race menu description
Andragil, a Wood Elf NPC which may be encountered in gameplay
Andragil, a Wood Elf NPC which may be encountered in gameplay

The Bosmer are the Elven clan-folk of Valenwood, a forested province in southwestern Tamriel.

The nimble Bosmer are strongly suited for a thief character, an alchemist, a woodsman, bandit or something to that effect. They are less talented at magic than about half of the races in Tamriel, but the magic they do know integrates well with what they do. They are great users of Alchemy and Alteration which helps them with the gameplay strategy of "carefully teasing their rewards" out of the world. However, they don't bother much with Destruction, Conjuration, or Restoration, which discourages Battlemage-type classes.

In combat, Bosmer are heavily focused on archery, in which they are generally understood to be the single best among the Tamriel races. They start out with a high bonus in Marksman and are well-suited to use it, since they have very high Agility and Speed attributes. They are excellent at stealth, so they are great at getting sneak attack bonuses. They don't use melee weapons that much, as they have low strength, making them better as archers and thieves, rather than warriors or close-range assassins. They typically use light armor. The +5 Light Armor bonus helps sway players to stick with light armor for Wood Elves, as well as their ten-point penalty to Strength, which translates into 50 less Encumbrance.

Their greater power will prove very handy at lower levels but will eventually become less useful as the player levels up.

Bosmer are one of the better choices for an alchemist, since poisons created with Alchemy benefit their archery, and they have a significant alchemy boost. Grahtwood Bosmer make good Scouts and Acrobats, if born under the Warrior-sign.

Enemy Bosmer will generally be encountered as Bandit Bowmen, clad in light armor and archery equipment. Among the vampires, the Acrobats, Archers, and Thieves are Bosmer.

A list of all the Bosmer in Cyrodiil can be found here.

For more information, see the main lore article.

Origins[edit]

In Oblivion Remastered, the stats that were assigned by the player character's gender in the original game can now be freely chosen by selecting an Origin for a character, which is presented as the location from within their race's province that they hail from.

  • Grahtwood - You spent your childhood in Grahtwood, near the region devastated by Molag Bal. The foul energies still linger there, and your resilience grew amidst the danger.
  • Reaper's March - The border region that saw you grow is plagued by anger and resentment after centuries of war. You quickly learned how to soothe people and avoid unnecessary conflicts.

Attributes[edit]

The Wood Elf race has these values for attributes. Individual NPCs and player characters can have different values.

Green indicates higher than other races, Red indicates lower.
Attribute Grahtwood Origin (Remastered)
Male (Original)
Reaper's March Origin (Remastered)
Female (Original)
Strength
30 (-10)
Intelligence
40
Willpower
30 (-10)
Agility
50 (+10)
Speed
50 (+10)
Endurance
40
30 (-10)
Personality
30 (-10)
40
Luck
50

Skill Bonuses[edit]

The Wood Elf race has these skill bonuses. Individual NPCs and player characters can have different skill values.

Skill Modifier
Alchemy Alchemy +10
Marksman Marksman +10
Sneak Sneak +10
Acrobatics Acrobatics +5
Alteration Alteration +5
Light Armor Light Armor +5

Traits[edit]

The Wood Elf race has these constant effect abilities by default.

Name Effect
Beast Tongue
(FormID 00047AE9)
Command Command Creature up to level 5 (20 points) for 60 seconds on Target (once per day)
Wood Elf Disease Resistance
(FormID 00047AE8)
Resist Disease Resist Disease 75% on Self (constant)

NPC Reactions[edit]

These affect the base disposition of NPCs towards you depending on your relative races.

Race Modifier
Wood Elf +5

Race-specific Dialogue[edit]

Greetings
"What do you want, treehugger?" (if disposition is between 20 and 30)
"Greetings, Bosmer." (if disposition is 30+)
"Greetings, (brother/sister) Bosmer." (if disposition is 30+ and the target NPC is also a Bosmer)
Friendly greetings (if disposition is 70+)
"If there is anything I can do, I am humbly at your service."
"I have a feeling that you and I are about to become very close."
"Greetings and salutations."
"This is a wondrous encounter. Welcome."
"I'm so happy to see you, I could burst!"
Neutral Greetings (if disposition is between 30 and 70)
"Interesting, go on."
"From where do you hail?"
"I don't know if I can help you, but I'll try."
"Do you want something from me?"
Brusque Greetings (if disposition is below 30)
"I don't like you much."
"Can't you find someone else to bother?"
"Can't you see I wish to be left alone!"
"You annoy even me."
"I really don't want you around me."
In combat
"You're outmatched, Elf!" (if the combatant is not an elf)
"Puny Elf! I'll pick my teeth with your spine!" (if the target NPC is an Orc)
"You're a traitor to your own race!" (if the combatant is a fellow elf)
"You Elves are all the same! All flash and no fury!" (if the combatant is not an elf)