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There are ten playable races in Skyrim, each of which has its own unique abilities and powers, as well as a +10 bonus to one skill and +5 bonuses to five other skills. Race is the only choice during the character creation process that has an effect on the player's skills and abilities. The races can be organized into three categories:

Man (Human) Mer (Elven) Beast Breton (Manmer)

Imperial (Cyrodiils)

Nord (Atmorans)

Redguard (Yokudans) Altmer (High Elves)

Bosmer (Wood Elves)

Dunmer (Dark Elves)

Orc (Orsimer or Pariah Folk) Argonian (Saxhleel)

Khajiit

Summary [ edit ]

The following table summarizes the differences between the ten playable races. Full details on all racial abilities and powers are provided on the individual race pages.

Notes [ edit ]

The movement speed of each race is dependent on its height. High Elves have the largest speed multiplier due to being the tallest race, with Orcs being second tallest. This was likely done so the same animations (with the same speed) could be used for every character without them appearing to moonwalk. There is a persistent rumor that melee damage is also affected by height, but it seems to be false, based off a misunderstanding of the setscale command. See this post on the Bethesda forums for reference.

There are minor dialogue differences depending on what race you choose. For example, many people in the game will respond positively to you if you are a Nord but negatively if you are a Dunmer.

Although the in-game text says "Khajiit claws do 15 points of damage.", the actual effect magnitude is only 12 points.

Along with information like height or skill bonuses a weight value can be found in the game data. The meaning or impact of that value is unclear. However, it seems to have an impact on how easily a race is ragdolled or moved.

Weight Altmer Argonian Bosmer Breton Dunmer Imperial Khajiit Nord Orc Redguard Female 0.5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Male 0.5 0.5 1 1 1 1 0.5 1 1 1

Non-Playable Races [ edit ]

Other NPC races that exist in the game, but are not available to the player, are:

All other races in the game are considered to be Creatures (every variety of creature has its own race), but are not detailed here because those races are not NPCs.