Can You Change Your Race in Skyrim and How to Do It?

valentina kraljik game horizonByValentina Kraljik Published on
Can You Change Your Race in Skyrim and How to Do It
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Choosing your race is the first and one of the most important choices you will have to make when starting a fresh new playthrough of Skyrim. Luckily, there is a variety of races you can choose each one is different in several aspects such as appearance, bonuses, abilities, and lore. Races affect how well you will manage with specific skills and abilities, so it’s important to make the right decision at the beginning. If you plan on playing a magic-oriented character, choosing the Orc race is not a good idea. If however, you find yourself regretting your choice of race down the road, you must be wondering, how to change your race in Skyrim and is it even possible. 

You can change your race in Skyrim by using console commands setplayerrace, showracemenu, and setrace. While they ultimately do the same thing, change your race and visual appearance, there is a major difference between the three commands. If you attempt to change your race via showracemenu or setplayerrace command your attributes and skills will be reset. However, this can be avoided by using setrace command. 

Now that you know that there is a way to change your race in Skyrim, and quite easily if I may add, it’s time to analyze all the details. If you want to look different without it affecting your abilities and powers, stay with us and keep reading!

Does race matter in Skyrim? 

Race is one of the most vital components when it comes to character building in Skyrim and it’s the first choice you make toward creating the ultimate Dragonborn. There are 10 races to choose from, each race excels at specific skills and has certain attributes enhanced. Each race comes with its own greater and lesser powers or some kind of constant effect.

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For example, Argonians, a reptilian race native to Black Marsh are 100% immune to diseases and can breathe underwater. Argonians are also sensitive to cold and will get cold 25% faster than other races. Wood Elves or Bosmers are an elven race hailing from the forests of Valenwood, they get bonus points in archery, alchemy, light armor, lockpicking, pickpocketing, and sneak skills which makes them excellent natural archers and thieves. Wood Elves are perfect for stealth-oriented characters due to their small size and natural affinities for all stealth-related skills.

As you can see, not all races are fit for all playstyles and it’s important to keep this in mind while planning your character. 

Is there a way to change your race in Skyrim?

There is a way to change your race in Skyrim but it involves console commands, three of them to be more precise. While the game has introduced a way to change your visual appearance by using services provided by Face Sculptors, this is not related to your race.

Race is a fixed characteristic and changing it mid-game means you need to use certain “advanced” solutions to do it. You can change your race with setplayerrace, showracemenu, and setrace commands, and in the rest of this post, we’re going to explain all of them

Changing your race with showracemenu command 

This command allows you to change your race by opening the same menu that you’ve seen at the beginning of the game in Helgen. This command will allow you to change your complete visual appearance and name as well but it comes with a catastrophic side effect.

It will reset your attributes and skills completely which means that you will technically start from zero. If you’re at the beginning of the game, this doesn’t have much impact on your progress, however, it’s not recommended to use this command if you’re at a higher level. To change your race by using showracemenu command follow these steps:

  1. open the console by pressing “~”
  2. type showracemenu and press enter
  3. if the command has been executed correctly a menu for changing your race and appearance should appear
  4. after you’re done changing your race and appearance, press “r” and name your character
  5. This will result in all your skills and attributes being reset to their starting values. Your hands will be bound like they were at the start of the game but this can easily be fixed by unsheathing your weapon/magic. 

While this command allows you to change how you want to look at the same time, it comes with a major downside. 

showracemenu command
Showracemenu can sometimes crash your game, always quicksave before using console commands

Changing your race with setplayerrace and setrace commands 

These two commands essentially work the same except for the fact that using setplayerrace will reset your skills and attributes just like showracemenu command. And, there’s another catch. By using setplayerrace and setrace commands your visual appearance will change and it will take on the physical attributes of your targeted race without changing your skin tone.

darkelf imperial skintone
Dark Elf male with an Imperial skin tone

This results in odd-looking characters. As you can see from the screenshots below, after using the commands I’ve managed to change my race from Imperial to Dark Elf, to Orc, and to Khajiit while still retaining the skin tone of an Imperial man. This resulted in my character having the skin tone of Imperials and the facial structure of Orcs, Dark Elves, and Khajiits. 

setplayerrace command
Abominations created through the use of setplayerrace and setrace commands

To change your race via setplayerrace and setrace commands follow these steps: 

  1. open the console by pressing “~”
  2. type setrace <raceID>, race ID of every individual race (and other unplayable races) can be found by typing help race 0 
  3. For example, to change my race into a Khajiit I will type: setrace khajiitrace or setplayerrace khajiitrace
  4. press enter 
  5. If everything was done right, your character should, ahem, look weird but it should have all the specifics of your targeted race such as racial bonuses, weakness, and other things associated with it. 

You can turn yourself into a vampire as well by using these commands, for example typing setplayerrace woodelfracevampire will turn you into a Wood Elf vampire. Your character will look more or less the same with the addition of glowing eyes. 

wood elf vampire
You can change your race and turn yourself into a vampire at the same time as each playable race has the vampiric version

If you plan on changing your race into one of the unplayable races, such as dragons, giants, mammoths, etc. keep in mind that you can do that. For example, typing setplayerrace dragonrace will turn you into a dragon but make your game unplayable. Your camera will be messed up and you will not be able to do anything. 

RELATED:

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unplayable races
You can use console commands to turn yourself in one of the unplayable races as well, but the game will be unplayable

And that’s about it, as you can see you can change your race, but most commands come with a downside or attributes and abilities being reset. To avoid that, it’s best to stick with setrace command. If you’re interested in more console-related guides take a look at our posts dedicated to enchanting with commands and resetting NPCs with commands. 

valentina kraljik game horizon

Valentina Kraljik is a writer and editor at Game Horizon with a deep love for everything related to video games. With a degree in Information Sciences, she brings a well-informed and unique perspective to her work. Valentina's writing is known for covering a wide range of video game genres, but she truly shines in her expertise in open-world RPGs. From offbeat euro-jank games like "Gothic" to critically acclaimed titles like "The Witcher," Valentina is well-versed in this exciting genre. Her passion for imaginative storytelling is reflected in the topics she writes about, with favorites like "Disco Elysium," "Elder Scrolls: Morrowind," "World of Warcraft," and "Mass Effect" influencing her tastes in games. Even though nothing beats a good high-fantasy setting, she often wanders into the realm of first-person shooters, occasionally even hitting the target. With a commitment to objectivity and insightful analysis, Valentina strives to bring a fresh perspective to the subjects she covers, even when exploring genres that may be unfamiliar to her. Her blend of academic rigor and creative flair sets her apart in the world of media writing.

Starfield Beats Skyrim’s “Concurrent Players Record,” but the Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

valentina kraljik game horizonByValentina Kraljik Published on
Starfield surpasses Skyrims concurrent player count
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Bethesda’s most recent launch of Starfield promised to be the largest in the company’s history, just like the massive game itself. Even though the developers were criticized for some exploration aspects of the game, to put it plainly, lack of things to do on some planets and lack of diversity on the planets in general, the launch did manage to surpass another legendary game from Bethesda’s repertoire, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 

Skyrim turns 12 years old in just a few short months, and around 12 years ago, it registered the peak concurrent players count of 287,411, according to SteamDB. Starfield managed to surpass that number a few times now, as 13 hours ago, the game registered a peak concurrent player count of 330,723 players in the game. 

Starfield playercount

Although the peak seems humble when compared to some other games, it’s important to note that Steam is not the only platform on which the game was released on. Due to lucrative deals, many players instead opted out to try out the game on Microsoft’s Game Pass, so what we’re seeing on Steam is a far cry from the real number of players. 

Starfield also hadn’t managed to dethrone Bethesda’s other giant, Fallout 4. At one point 8 years ago, the game registered an all-time peak of 472,962 concurrent players, as the interest in the game was enormous.

Starfield’s number look humble, at least on Steam, but it’s important to take into account that the franchise is also rather new, and players really don’t know what to expect considering an overwhelming amount of both positive reviews and criticism of some of the game aspect’s that were supposedly overhyped. 

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In any case, we don’t expect Starfield to fall off the radar anytime soon. The developers have announced the release of modding tools, scheduled to launch sometime in 2024. Even in the absence of official modding tools, its modding community is thriving, with thousands of mods already uploaded and ready to improve the game in several aspects that the players found lacking.

One thing that ensures the longevity of most Bethesda games is its modding fanbase, and we have no doubt that Starfield will see some drastic unofficial upgrades in the next several months and, due to them, perhaps even dethrone Fallout 4. 

valentina kraljik game horizon

Valentina Kraljik is a writer and editor at Game Horizon with a deep love for everything related to video games. With a degree in Information Sciences, she brings a well-informed and unique perspective to her work. Valentina's writing is known for covering a wide range of video game genres, but she truly shines in her expertise in open-world RPGs. From offbeat euro-jank games like "Gothic" to critically acclaimed titles like "The Witcher," Valentina is well-versed in this exciting genre. Her passion for imaginative storytelling is reflected in the topics she writes about, with favorites like "Disco Elysium," "Elder Scrolls: Morrowind," "World of Warcraft," and "Mass Effect" influencing her tastes in games. Even though nothing beats a good high-fantasy setting, she often wanders into the realm of first-person shooters, occasionally even hitting the target. With a commitment to objectivity and insightful analysis, Valentina strives to bring a fresh perspective to the subjects she covers, even when exploring genres that may be unfamiliar to her. Her blend of academic rigor and creative flair sets her apart in the world of media writing.

The Elder Scrolls VI Is Still 5+ Years Away & Might Not Be Available on PlayStation, Says Microsoft’s Mike Spencer

valentina kraljik game horizonByValentina Kraljik Published on
The Elder Scrolls VI Is Still 5 Years Away Might Not Be Available on PlayStation Says Microsofots Mike Spencer
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It’s been 11 and a half years since The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released, and despite the game being re-released numerous times and content being added both officially and through the modding community, fans are eagerly awaiting tidbits of news regarding the so-far unnamed sixth installment in the franchise.

Bad news came last week when during the Activision Blizzard FTC Trial, Microsoft’s Mike Spencer announced that the game might still be 5+ years away. 

In December of last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its intention to block Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a deal worth $68.7 billion. Recently, a federal court in California issued a temporary restraining order, as requested by the FTC, which effectively halts the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal for the time being.

Last week, the FTC was seeking a preliminary injunction against Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. If successful, it would prevent the completion of the acquisition while the FTC conducts its review of the transaction’s compliance with U.S. antitrust laws.

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The granting of a preliminary injunction would have a significant impact on Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s plans, potentially even jeopardizing the deal. The acquisition was initially expected to close by July 18, 2023. If the injunction is imposed, the parties would either have to renegotiate or face the possibility of the deal falling through.

An evidentiary hearing between Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, and the FTC is scheduled for August 2, which is after the upcoming deadline in July.

During the hearing, Mike Spencer mentioned the probable Elder Scrolls VI release window 

“It’s many years away, but it’s a game we have announced we would begin working on. “I think we’ve been a little unclear on what platforms it will launch on, given how far out the game is. It’s difficult for us right now to nail down exactly what platforms that game will launch on.”

IGN

“As I said with Elder Scrolls 6, it’s so far out it’s hard to understand what the platforms will even be at this point. It’s the same team that’s finishing Starfield, which comes out this September. So we’re talking about it being likely five-plus years away.”

Spencer’s words did little to quell the worry that Bethesda’s most famous franchise won’t be available on Play Station, and the fans that once welcomed healthy competition in the form of PS exclusives are now calling for fairer release practices. 

In any case, considering everything we’ve heard, there’s going to be quite some time before we hear & see anything solid related to Elder Scrolls VI. 

Bethesda is usually delaying its flagship IP as long as possible to ensure the best experience possible for fans, and considering the probable scope of the game and technologies involved in making it; it’s not surprising that the game is taking so long. 

valentina kraljik game horizon

Valentina Kraljik is a writer and editor at Game Horizon with a deep love for everything related to video games. With a degree in Information Sciences, she brings a well-informed and unique perspective to her work. Valentina's writing is known for covering a wide range of video game genres, but she truly shines in her expertise in open-world RPGs. From offbeat euro-jank games like "Gothic" to critically acclaimed titles like "The Witcher," Valentina is well-versed in this exciting genre. Her passion for imaginative storytelling is reflected in the topics she writes about, with favorites like "Disco Elysium," "Elder Scrolls: Morrowind," "World of Warcraft," and "Mass Effect" influencing her tastes in games. Even though nothing beats a good high-fantasy setting, she often wanders into the realm of first-person shooters, occasionally even hitting the target. With a commitment to objectivity and insightful analysis, Valentina strives to bring a fresh perspective to the subjects she covers, even when exploring genres that may be unfamiliar to her. Her blend of academic rigor and creative flair sets her apart in the world of media writing.

How Do You Use the Investor Perk in Skyrim?

valentina kraljik game horizonByValentina Kraljik Published on
how to use investor perk in Skyrim
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A significant part of Skyrim’s gameplay revolves around its economy, and economy, in turn, is mostly influenced by your speech skill that can, when raised enough, help you accumulate quite the wealth. One of the most important speechcraft perks you can acquire is the so-called “Investor” perk, but some players have trouble utilizing this perk to the fullest due to the various bugs. So, we created this guide to explain how to use the “Investor” perk effectively in Skyrim. 

Investor perk will allow you to invest 500 gold in merchants to raise their overall gold available for bartering by 500 gold. All you need to do is navigate to the “I want to invest in your business” option while you are navigating through the dialogue options. However, You should consider that some merchants are affected by a bug that allows you to invest in their store for an infinite amount of times without ever remembering that you already invested in them. Their overall gold, however, will never increase. 

Now that we’ve covered how to use the investor perks, it’s time to analyze it in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in how to unlock the perk and how to utilize it the best, stay with us and keep reading!

What speech level do you need to be to unlock Investor perk? 

Generally, you will level speech every time you trade with the merchants or interact with other NPCs via special dialogue options such as bribe, threaten, etc., and it shouldn’t be too hard to max out speech in the mid-game, as there are various effective guides on how to do it. But luckily for you, you don’t have to be a master level in speech to unlock the Investor Perk. You just need to spend a lot of points in the skill tree and be fairly proficient at it. 

investor perk skyrim

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You can unlock the Investor perk as soon as you hit level 70 in speech, and if you’ve previously unlocked the “Merchant” perk, that allows you to sell any type of item to any kind of merchant. This is among the most useful perks in the tree, so generally, everybody who decides to orient their character to, well, the speech will strive to get this perk as soon as possible. It makes flipping goods faster than usual, but it also causes your “go-to” merchants to be drained of funds relatively quickly, and this is where the Investor perk comes on. 

What does Investor perk do & how to use it? 

Investor perk allows you to invest 500 gold in merchants that can be found all over Skyrim. The perk is not limited to a type of merchant since you can invest in alchemists, smiths, or general merchants. It really doesn’t matter as long as the merchant in question is not affected by a bug. You can find a list of all investable merchants here, but keep in mind that the bugs that affect various merchants can be fixed with the Unofficial Skyrim Patch at any given time.

As soon as you activate the perk, the first time you wander into a shop and activate the dialogue with the merchant, you will get the following choice “I would like to invest in your business.” As soon as you click on that line, the money will be subtracted from your inventory immediately, and the merchant’s gold will be raised by that amount (500 gold). 

It’s a pretty useful perk to have, but most people are just not willing to invest in it early on in the game. Luckily the legendary skills allow you to acquire all perks eventually if you’re persistent enough and willing to grind. 

You can invest only once in any given merchant.

Bugs that affect the Investor perk 

Most of the players get confused by the perk since the option to invest is not present for at least 1/3 of the game’s merchants, and it’s mostly due to random bugs affecting them. So if the option to invest is missing, there is a really large chance that the merchant in question is simply “un-investable” due to a bug and not by design. You can resolve most of those issues by using various unofficial patches. 

Some bugs are more bizarre in nature, like the one affecting Angeline Morrard in Angeline’s Aromatics. This apothecary will allow you to invest in its store endlessly; as long as you have the funds, the merchant seemingly forgets about it, but, there’s a catch, her base gold will never rise. It will always stay at the pre-investment levels, which results in all your investments being lost forever.

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It’s probably best to avoid investing in Angeline if you don’t plan on installing the Unofficial Patch. 

Ghorza gra-Bagol, an orc smith that can be found near Understone Keep, has the option to invest in her, but the only dialogue option is to refuse the investment making it impossible to raise her standard gold by 500. 

You can install Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch to fix this bug, or you can simply “dispose” of Ghorza and wait for her apprentice, Tacitus Sallustius, to take over the store. In this case, you should be able to invest in the store without any issues. 

What is the difference between the Investor perk and Master Trader perk? 

Both the Investor perk and Master Trader perk allow you to raise the standard gold of merchants in Skyrim by 500 and 1000 gold, respectively, but there are some differences between the two perks. Namely, the Master Trader perk is significantly harder to acquire because it requires you to be level 100 in speech and it requires you to have almost all other prior perks activated. 

master trader perk skyrim

Master Trader perk will also add 1000 gold to all merchants, but it doesn’t require you to invest your own gold in traders. The game does it automatically, meaning it doesn’t cost you anything. It’s a useful perk to have, and it will allow you to accumulate wealth rapidly, but it might take some time for you to get there, and most players don’t want to prioritize speech in early or mid-game.

And by the time you are ready to invest all those points in speech, you might already be rich beyond your wildest dreams, so the perk might appear to be useless. 

valentina kraljik game horizon

Valentina Kraljik is a writer and editor at Game Horizon with a deep love for everything related to video games. With a degree in Information Sciences, she brings a well-informed and unique perspective to her work. Valentina's writing is known for covering a wide range of video game genres, but she truly shines in her expertise in open-world RPGs. From offbeat euro-jank games like "Gothic" to critically acclaimed titles like "The Witcher," Valentina is well-versed in this exciting genre. Her passion for imaginative storytelling is reflected in the topics she writes about, with favorites like "Disco Elysium," "Elder Scrolls: Morrowind," "World of Warcraft," and "Mass Effect" influencing her tastes in games. Even though nothing beats a good high-fantasy setting, she often wanders into the realm of first-person shooters, occasionally even hitting the target. With a commitment to objectivity and insightful analysis, Valentina strives to bring a fresh perspective to the subjects she covers, even when exploring genres that may be unfamiliar to her. Her blend of academic rigor and creative flair sets her apart in the world of media writing.