The Broken One
A Character Build for TES5 : Skyrim
A former warrior wounded in her mind and body, the Broken One is a lone traveler trying to knit back her life in the ruthless world of Skyrim. Her only tool left is her healing magic and conjuration skill she use to bring forth a mortal bound bow straight out from Oblivion.
A beggar living at the hedge of society, she will have to use every available scraps to survive : hunting, gathering crops and plant in the Wild, scavenging, looting and sometimes straight out robing other’s material possesions when stuck in the City.
Will she succed in finding herself at peace ? Maybe… but most important, will she be able to get up again each time she fall out of the right path ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To start by giving you a clear picture, this build is a mix between of a pilgrim and a monk with bound bow trow into the mix as our main damage dealer. Nothing revolutionnary, there is plenty of very good bound bow build on this site already… my humble addition to the list is that I tried to add some self limited RP mechanics, some borrowed here and there to some great build such as the Hedge Mage or the Hermit and a little bit of my own personal selective looting to create less of a power house and more of a fragile yet still enduring character to appreciate Skyrim in a less flashy and heroic way.
Backstory :
A word of advise before starting. The backstory I crafted is quite a grim one and some of the image I choose to illustrate it are, if not unnecessary gore or shocking, of a certain degree of graphic violence that might be unsettling.
Also, If this story is using some elements such as substance abuse, torture, gratitious violance in general and against women in particular, I’d like to clarify that in my mind this is NOT COOL. I will even emphatise this point by definitly say that IT IS BAD.
Now that we are all clear on this one we can continue with the Story (but if it is the kind of thing that bore you to no end please feel free to skip it)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She was a Thalmor Justiciar, one of the enforcer of the Dominion Law in Skyrim, the elite guard of the Embassy and it’s main weapon against the worshipers of Talos and the supporters of the Stormcloak. Back in the days she had no doubt, no hesitation to pursue the enemy that she was pledged to bring to yield. That was, before this fatefull moment.
The mission was simple. In the Rift a small group of mild supporters of the upstart Ulfric Stormcloak were hiding in a cave like the vermin they were. Nothing a small band of disciplined justiciars couldn’t handle for sure. But terrified peasants in the dark they were not, but more of a bunch of bandits three time the Thalmor number, ambushed, ready to fell on them.
It is when the rocks started to fall that she knew something was terribly wrong. They were caught into the trap almost instantly, only the mage leading the expedition from the back avoided the predicament it’s soldiers were buried in. Seeing the odds were not in his favour, he run, alone.
Dazed and overhelmed by the sheer number of raiders, the justiciars fall to the last, all but one. Her. That twisted luck was more a curse than a mercy. The leader of the highwaymen kept her as a trophy for all to witness. The first days of captivity were the worst, the humiliations of her body and soul slave to the whims of the wicked imagination of her captor. He defile her, making her suffer the worst he could conjure, but she endured believing that the Thalmor will come to act retribution.
Then the days became weeks, then it was the worst. When the bandit chief got tired of it’s petty cruelity, he gave her to his men to advertise. It was no different, just on a larger scale. They start giving her skooma so that she stay put. It had the benefit of dulling the pain of the world around her but builded up a strong adiction. She start beging, dealing what was left of herself for the barest necessities. She was disgusted of herself, and still nothing else came to relief her from misery.
When the weeks became month, it definitely was the worst. The men were bored of their games with her, they let her rot in a corner, barely feeding her, trowing a bucket of water from time to time when the stink was too much. She was not moving anymore, suffering hard from withdrawal now that they deny her of the drug, it would have been wasted on her. She wanted to fight, she wanted to tore them apart, she was praying every divinities, aedras or daedras to hear her plight. But she knew it was useless. No one would come for her, no men or gods, no one carred and so didn’t she. She was utterly broken.
It could have been like this until the End of Time. But Time had other plans. The group of wretched thieves wanted more in life than raiding villages and convoy. And their chief wanted recognition, to be someone. Their alliegence to Ulfric side was just a cowardly way to secure a strong patronage, but they start thinking it could be a opportunity to join something bigger, and more rewarding. When the snow started to melt, they left their cave to rally the Stormcloak force at Darkwater Crossing.
What could have been a smart move end up in an Imperial ambush. The gang run for all, each man to it’s own now. Most didn’t make it, except the chief, the lucky bastard stalling the time of his fated demise. They’d bring her as a token of good will to show to Ulfric, but in the confusion, they let go of her shacle. Picked up afterward by the imperials they shiped her to Helgen to sort her out. She saw her kind there, talking with some officer but they didn’t notice her, or didn’t mind that one of them was led to the block.
She was resigned, at last she will have peace, except if Destiny wished otherwise….
In the confusion of the event that happended that infamous day she escaped death once more. When the light shown bright again on her face she was someone else. Who else ? She don’t have a clue yet. She was alone, broken, almost naked. Her former life had definitely died that day, now was the time to start again and look for another.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Race : Altmer (female)
It is both a RP choice and a game trick in order to be able to easly conjure the bound bow at Lvl 1, but it is easy to tweak the RP to fit any race and any gender as you wish, it will only asked a little more work to get the requierement to cast the spell.
Breton is a good alternative with the increased skill in conjuration and the acces to the Familiar spell, Wood elves too with Animal Alliegence and the boost in Archery but any race can do if you craft a good story around it.
A small note for apparence. To fit the backstory and reflect the abuse she suffered I picked a good looking random face and apply some scars and a blind eye. I also add some crude warpaint to show some kind of branding from her captor.
Stone : The Atronach
For the +50 in Magika which with highborn get us at 200pts. It is enough to cast most of the spells we need.
Stat repartition : 0/10/0
In a build which has close to 0 AR except a weak flesh spell at the start of combat, every point in Health count. It will act as armor and represent all the hardship she has been through. Stamina is irrelevant since we are not going to carry much and won’t make power attack.
Skills :
The perk repartition is at lvl30 which I feel is the right level cap where this build is complete, but you can go further if you wish (more of it at the end of the build)
LVL 30
Archery :
It is no surprise our most important skill. Almost our only source of damage every perks on the left side of tree is to be taken, especially the increase in damage and the stager effect as soon as it is available. We can not aford the enemy the luxury of staying close and alive too long. I did’nt perk Steady Hand because of my low Stamina and did’nt perk Ranger either because it meant wasting two perks in Hunter’s Discipline and Critical Shot.
You can train the skill fairly naturally, especially since the base damage of the bound bow will earn XP more quickly, but I used Faendal to piggyback me straight to 50 to start having fun earlier.
Alchemy :
Alchemy will be used in three separate situation :
One, to heal ourselves in combat with the bound bow. We can’t switch for restoration spell during a fight because it will dispell the bow and we don’t have the Magicka to sumoun it again. I seldom used poison outside of a paralyse if I was in a pinch but it is up to you if you want to add them more regularly to your arsenal ; I just found that the damage of the bound bow was more than enough.
Two, to increase our stealth with invisibility and Fortify stealth potion. This one is more tricky since we are not going to be stealthy that offen. But since there will be situation where you may want to be more subtle or avoid detection from too powerfull enemies... these brew will come in handy then.
Three, make money with merchant ! We will need money, lot of it to cover the expanse of training restoration and conjuration. Sure you can pickpocket back some of it but that won’t do for long and is not very moral for some of the trainer like Rudil and Danica who are some holy men and women that we consider with respect. Also our looting policy will decrease the amount of gold we can win from regular sales of crap to blacksmith so selling potion of resist fire or frost in bulk was a good alternative.
I selected only the perks that will increase general magnitude of potion along with physician and benefactor.
Restoration :
Novice to Adept, Regenaration and Respite. With that you should be able to heal yourselves after the fight quite efficiently and cast some turn undead spell against mid level draugh which is also a plus. Ward are more tricky because you have a low Magicka pool and the Atronach Stone does already a good job against mage by herself but can be used from time to time especially against bows.
Conjuration :
Only perks needed is Novice and Mystic binding to give more power to the bow. I didn’t perk beyond mystic because I didn’t need soul capture to fill gems for enchanting and the banish spell look kind of meh if it is only usefull to get rid from time to time of a sumond atronach. Also runing Draugh are harder to hit it so there is that. Apprentice and Adept can be add after Lvl30 if you can afford it or if you get your hand on better conjuration tomes.
Alteration :
Only Novice Alteration to be able to cast Oakflesh and Bound bow at the same time. The multipicator of mage armor look silly with such a low level spell and the rest is not usefull for us. If you bring the build beyon Lvl30, maybe investing in Apprentice and Adept for a better use of Detect Life and telekinesis can be a good idea if you can afford it.
Sneak :
First level in stealth and that all. Beyond level 30 you can maybe go grab backstab and deadly aim if you want. The potion are alredy here to help hiding when you truly need it so no need to invest too much here, plus I always though that the 5% per level after the first where not always worth it.
Pickpocket :
What the F** is it doing here ? You’re lost buddy, looking for mom and dad ? Not a huge part of the build mechanics but a important part of the RP Pickpocket is here to represent the Paria side of the broken one as a beggar.
It will be usefull in town especially to get some money out of the high an mighty to pay for training, ingredients and food. It can also get ourselves some money back from trainers if need to. I trained it in Windhelm with the beggars and RP it as a training game. It’s a win/win in the end since the more I can learn, the more money she will have in the end.
I picked four ranks in Light Fingers, Night Thief and my all time favorite Extra Pocket… the +100 cary is glorious for this character and the idea is so simple I just love it.
Equipement :
Novice Hood, +30 Magicka to reach 230 Magika
Novice Robe, +50% Magicka regeneration, to cancel the Atronach stone effect
Footwraps, cause you’ve got no money for fancy shoes.
This is our standard dress up straight out from Helgen and that we will keep all along the playthrough. Only exception are the Robes that can be switched to a School specialty one as long as it stay of Novice level (mine are for Restoration).
I felt it gave the character a monk/bump look while being just what we need for the mechanics of the build to work smoothly. Other than that nothin else is mandatory.
Additional equipement such as ring and amulet are up to your liking. I kept Kyne’s Token because it help Archery and was a fond memory of the quest, and used a stolen enchanted ring of Lockpicking. I also wear scaled bracers with a enchant of Alchmy looted in dungeon which looked discrite and nice with the general outfit.
I kept Valdr‘s lucky dagger and Froki’s bow with 50 iron arrow as emergency weapons to have a reminder of my previous encounters.
Predator’s Grace can be used at later game instead of Footwraps to be a little bit more efficient in stealth. You can add Bloodthorn to the mix to help charge Froki’s bow and have a spare dagger.
The idea is to gather equipement that are not just tools for a task but also has spiritual memento of your past actions, good or bad. You can also keep some trinket of past quest such as skooma from Redwater or the broken sword from Angarvunde fake treasure.
Spell List :
The main idea is to only use found book spell to learn new one, not because we are a grumpy old man, just because we are a penyless bump too shady and dirty to be even considered or to consider herself worthy of the mighty mage attention.
Hence the number of spell we can be sure to acquire is limited and most are of low level. It gave me a feel of a reasonable or a more down to earth use of magic that I feel fit the humble spirit of the character. What follow is the list of the spell we will use and where and how to get them :
Restoration :
Close Wound, Great Barrier and Turn Undead, among other spell tomes are given as a reward for the quest Pilgrimage for Alessandra in Riften’s Hall of the dead. The quest is a very good one for this build because it involve a lot of walking and has spiritual vibe to boot. Beware it is also a bugged quest that won’t drop any reward if your skill level is below 40 in Restoration. According to UESP the unofficial patch is supposed to have solved that but will only drop one random spell tome of the list instead but I cannot confirm since I play on Xbox 360 with only the last official patch.
Alteration :
Oakflesh can be found in Shroud Hearth Barrow but I found mine on the dead body of a mage of Fort Amol, lucky me !
Detect Life is the reward for the quest Infiltration at Treva’s Watch , a good place where you will found two other spells in this list.
Telekinesis is in the cell you are trown at Redwater Den and can be use to escape the place for a good RP moment I will explain later.
Conjuration :
Bound Bow can be found in fort Amol prison inside a bucket and is the number one spell to get on our list in order to start quicking ass. Beware that storming the place at lvl1 straight out of Helgen with only a flamme spell was for me quite challenging. I get away by trowing a fury spell on one of the mage and finishing of the survivor of the confrontation that followed but is was quite a pintch. A stop at the Atronach stone is greatly advised to make thing easier.
Bound sword can be acquired later on at Treva’s Watch and will serve as a plan B if you find yourself too low on magicka.
Conjure familiar is a good spell if you have the chance to find it as random loot or start with it as a Breton but is more a bonus that a must have.
Conjure flame familiar is a nice little thing but it means perking apprentice conjuration AND fighting a dragon priest so I skiped it, but it is still a relevant option if you want more firering power.
Illusion :
You start with Fury if you choose Altmer. We will seldom use it outside of the first level to make diversion during low level uncounter. After that and since we will invest no perks to increase the level cap it became useless.
Courage can help train Illusion for leveling at later level and is a nice boost for a follower or your dog if you take one. It can be found at the top of the dungeon at Treva’s Watch, but mine droped in the pocket of a dead mage.
Other than that I skiped entirely Destruction because there was nothing better than my trusty bound bow. I didn’t list the conjuration spell from the soul cairn either because I didn’t make the Dawnguard main quest and it didn’t fit for me with the character either. But fill free to learn any random spell you find as loot if you think you can handle it with your limited magick pool.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gameplay :
In combat start by sneaking and cast Oakflesh and Bound bow before engaging, then kill everyone, first with a few sneaky shots and then in plain shight once the main menace are down or your cover is blown. If it is getting too though… run.
If you are unsure of your environment cast detec life with caution, just a small burst. Since we don’t have perked Adept Alteration or silent casting it will quickly drain our magika and may even blow our cover if the enemy is closer than expected.
From time to time you can use some of the scrolls that you will surely find during your journey. I found in my more recent builds that scrolls are hugely underated, mostly because of their rarity and awkward casting, but for character not entirely dedicated to the higher sphere of magic they are surprisenly usefull some times. For the Broken One it is also a way to cast spell she has not learn, especially atronach to summon to her help.
Roleplay :
The heart of this build, there is a few rules you that are to be followed to get in the skin of the character :
1°) You shall don’t deal with magic (too much)!
You are no mage, you are a dirty broken soul. The mighty mage and their mighty patron, Jarl or otherwise are not from your world anymore. You used to work for them sure and look where it get you ! As a whole you avoid any place of power and stay on the outskirt of civilisation and down at the lowest level of cities, in consequence you seldom met mage and even more you don’t deal with them. The only spell you will learn are the one you will find yourself during your journey and you won’t seek any item of sorcery from it’s usual dealer. Going to the academy is also out of the question.
2°) You shall walk (a lot) !
Yes Skyrim is beautifull so bask in it’s glory. Every corner of the land is for you a opportunity to find something to eat, plants to turn into potion, people to help, quest to fulfill, etc… Don’t miss all that by brainlessly fast travel here from place to place. The Hermit path is a awesome idea to make no fast travel fun and rewarding !
For this build I did’nt so much set a path of my onwn but try to live more by it’s principle. Unfortunatly I am not such a patient man and in the end I used a little bit of fast travel here and there but only when I wanted to come back to a quest giver to get the reward. A good exemple is Kyne’s trials, a awesome quest often neglected in my previous playthrought for its miserable reward but a great way for a mid level character to travel around Skyrim and test its mettle. What I have done during this quest is that I only used fast travel to get reasonlably close to the first target (Helgen for example to start with the spirit of the wolf) and then did all three spirit without it. Then at the end of the first trial I fast travel back at Froki’s place. In short, skip the boring part but keep the fun of the challenge.
3°) You shall be quiet (in town) !
If in the wild the calm and serenity of the nature help you focus and let you use your spell freely, the atmosphere of the towns are not the same. The amount of people, the noise, the stink are seriously messing with your fragile mind and drive you on the hedge. In town you can’t use your spells or only sparsely. It is both for your peace of mind and also to stay discrete and don’t catch other attention. The town is also your worst enemy, there the people are sometimes rude or unfriendly. All the wealth that some other show shamelessly is also a temptation hard to repress. You must control yourselve to not start clearing everyone pockets, broke into house or just steal whatever you desire. Keep you dagger close and yourself closer to the walls. Avoid conflict as much as you can to avoid you to snap, but sometimes it won’t be possible and you will have to flee the town for a while.
4°) You shall be poor (or spend your money) !
No money in the grave. You dond’t need much to live so don’t take too much. First loot smartly. On bodies only take small object (rings, jewels, lockpick, sometimes daggers) and gold, no armor or weapon except if they are magical. It help you clear more dungeons before you get overweighted and you have to go sell your crap. It is also good roleplay : armor and weapons of your fallen foes are likely to be dented or damaged by the fight and are not as good to sold, but magical equipement are worth the cost of repair for the blacksmith because he can always make something back due to the rarity of the item.
Second you should try to avoid having too much money on your person, it will only get you in trouble and you will not know what to do with it anyway. Spend it at the alchmist shop for rare ingredient or get a training for one of your skill.
5°) You shall be no hero (or not a big one) !
Maybe the most important one. You are no mighty hero. You are just a poor traveler with problem of your own and no room for grand epic quest of world saving proportion. You are nothing special (at least in your mind) and have no incline to right all the wrong in the world. The basic application is that you will only involve yourself in small factionless quest. Helping people help yourselves and it is the little things that you do for the true people of Skyrim that make you feel better. Clearing cave and bandit den is also part of the adventure and should procure more than enough excitement to your life.
So no Mage Guild, no Companions, no Thief Guild or Dark brotherhood, zero involvement with this silly Civil War and most of all no more Dragons. The big black one in Helgen was more than enough for a lifetime, let some other fool deal with it.
Quest guide :
Here is a list of some of the quest I suggest for this character according to the RP
Kyne’s Trials. It’s like a boy scout degree. Lot of walking, lot of hunting, nice reward at the end and plenty of time in the Wild. What’s not to like ?
Agent of Mara (Riften). A long quest that make you travel all around Skyrim, nice reward, very quiet and spiritual vibe that bring peace of mind.
Pilgrimage (Riften). A long journey to bring peace between a sour daughter and her departed father, also you get the best restoration books for free !
Agent of Dibella (Markath). It started on a dare with your drink budy Degaine and end up kind of a redemption quest after you felt guilty for your thievering ways. Geting in the temple to steal the statue is just answering to one of your bad pulsion and you can redeemed yourself in a way that also make you learn how to shoot bad guys in the nuts.
Redwater Den. Not a quest per say but a nice moment of RP for me. It is then that I introduced back my character to her old demon, skooma. You will have to use your spells and potion to escape the vampire, but once you get out back in the main room, you just snap and start killing everything on sight with your trusty dagger in a bloody bad trip.
The Blessing of Nature (Whiterun). Not only is it the only way to get a descent trainer in Restoration without having to involve itself in a faction, it is also a good lesson about life and a quite challenging quest for mid-level character.
The Forsworn Conspiracy (Markath). Once again bad luck find another way to put you in chains. You are confronted with misery and violence once again when your naive investigation turn into a total desaster. Which path will you choose to get out of jail ? Bloody revenge on Madanach or escaping with the other convicts even if it means unleashing some of the worst criminal in the Reach, or maybe both ? The reward doesn’t matter that much even if the suit of Forsworn armor is more usefull than the Silver-blood’s ring.
Delivery (Darkwater Crossing). A short and easy quest that has the advantage of both getting in touch with the people of Darkwater Crossing and also visiting for the first time Windhelm and your pickpoket mentor.
Kill the Bandit Leader (Darkwater Crossing). A very important one from a backstory point of view. It is the occasion to track down your former captor and get sweet, bitter sweet revenge on him. Bonus point if it fell on the bandit of Lost Knife Hideout. Shooting him from above the arena and getting down for the final shot felt awsome.
Extracting a Argonian (Darkwater Crossing). Now that you have befriend the small comunity it felt right to go looking for poor Derkeethus and briging him back to his friends.
Special Delivery for Sylgja (Shor’s Stone). A nice excuse to go visiting Darkwater crossing.
Mine or Yours (Shor’s Stone). I always hated spiders.
The Straw that Broke (Ivarstead). First quest done right out of Helgen on my way to the bound bow. Prety straight forward, just tell him the truth about his sister so he can start to move one.This quest really moved me, the simillarity between Nafri and your own hardship make it a touching story if not a well rewarding one.
Grin and Bear It (Ivarstead), to be done at late level to get a better enchanted weapon. You take a liking to the comunity of Ivarstead and since killing bear is part of your everyday life in the wild… I advise to keep the weapon as a memento (also mine has a powerfull fire enchant so that was nice).
Lifting the Shroud (Ivarstead). Optional but will be needed if you want to be sure to have Oakflesh.
Dungeon Delving for Runil (Falkreath). It was natural for me to help the old man before asking for conjuration lesson.
Kill the Bandit Leader for the Jarl (Falkreath). An obligatory step if you ever want to settle in your hown house. The reason why you accept to deal with the Jarl is because he’s the only one that actually asked you, most certainly on the advise of his steward Nenya, a fellow Altmer that may have recognize your past self.
Dungeon Delving for Noster (Solitude). Help a penyless budy get back some of his past glory and learn to be more sneaky. This one is a no brainer.
Some Light Theft for Stands in Shadows (Windhelm). It’s about stealing skooma and getting a point in sneak. Totaly fit your least rightous side and you can pickpoket back the skooma once you’ve been rewarded.
Crossroad :
As explained earlier I didn’t play this build beyond level 30ish, mostly because I had perked every skill that felt necessary and had done most of the quest listed below and had my fun with that.
But nothing keep you from doing otherwise…
So I listed below some possible development of this character as some of the way it can evolve to higher level while still being coherent with the RP :
The Wild road :
After roaming around the wilderness of Skyrim for maybe too long, the Broken One get rid of the last dregs of her elf culture to fully embrace the wild nature of the land.
Start perking one hand for dual wielding bound swords and light armor with windwalker as a target, in the meantime join the Compagnon and show the world these scars only made you stronger. Start putting every level in Stamina to compensate the previous massive dedication to Health and make power attacks.
The Scoundrel road :
In Riften she almost get caught while « realising some property ». But instead of trowing her into jail, someone make her an offer she could not refuse. In the thief guild she found a harbour from poverty and a place to sold all these ill acquired goods. But most of all, she discoverd people that accept her, all of her at last.
Join the Thief guild and expand your perks in Sneak and Pickpocket. The Summerset Shadows quest get you some sweet justice on some of the least appreciated people of your race and a nice suit of armor that will help your skills in combat. Place a few points in Stamina until you reach 200 in order to carry a little more and run longer and then go back to Health for protection.
The Quite road :
In the face of Mara the Divine, she found peace of mind. Answering her call she decide to settle herself and stop wandering, finding at last someone to share happiness again.
The rom/com ending. Buy Lakeview manor and build a small house there. Find a husband among the various men you helped in your adventure and start living a humble life with your beloved one. It won’t bring you that far above level 30 but it’s a cute ending through.
The Dark road :
Not every fight is meant to be won, and the fight of the Broken One against her own darkness has come to a end. And she lost it. Confronted to the sheer crualty of life, she choose to stop hiding cowardly in the shadows but rather to strike from them.
The kind of bad ending. Build up your illusion to manipulate people and your conjuration toward necromancy or turning your alchemical talents to more venimous use. Start increasing your magicka again to allow you the use of more powerfull spells and drop most of your rules.
The story of Aventus Aretino will act as a epiphany and you will join the rank of the Dark Brotherhood and become a fearfull Nightblade. Also get rid of the scrars and marking of your former life at the Face Scultor and maybe become a creature of the Night.
Final words :
This is my first real articulated build and I may have spend too much time presenting something that is certainly not that special at all, but never the less a great thank you to those who bothered themselves to read it until the end.
The Broken One
A Character Build for TES5 : Skyrim
A former warrior wounded in her mind and body, the Broken One is a lone traveler trying to knit back her life in the ruthless world of Skyrim. Her only tool left is her healing magic and conjuration skill she use to bring forth a mortal bound bow straight out from Oblivion.
A beggar living at the hedge of society, she will have to use every available scraps to survive : hunting, gathering crops and plant in the Wild, scavenging, looting and sometimes straight out robing other’s material possesions when stuck in the City.
Will she succed in finding herself at peace ? Maybe… but most important, will she be able to get up again each time she fall out of the right path ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To start by giving you a clear picture, this build is a mix between of a pilgrim and a monk with bound bow trow into the mix as our main damage dealer. Nothing revolutionnary, there is plenty of very good bound bow build on this site already… my humble addition to the list is that I tried to add some self limited RP mechanics, some borrowed here and there to some great build such as the Hedge Mage or the Hermit and a little bit of my own personal selective looting to create less of a power house and more of a fragile yet still enduring character to appreciate Skyrim in a less flashy and heroic way.
Backstory :
A word of advise before starting. The backstory I crafted is quite a grim one and some of the image I choose to illustrate it are, if not unnecessary gore or shocking, of a certain degree of graphic violence that might be unsettling.
Also, If this story is using some elements such as substance abuse, torture, gratitious violance in general and against women in particular, I’d like to clarify that in my mind this is NOT COOL. I will even emphatise this point by definitly say that IT IS BAD.
Now that we are all clear on this one we can continue with the Story (but if it is the kind of thing that bore you to no end please feel free to skip it)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She was a Thalmor Justiciar, one of the enforcer of the Dominion Law in Skyrim, the elite guard of the Embassy and it’s main weapon against the worshipers of Talos and the supporters of the Stormcloak. Back in the days she had no doubt, no hesitation to pursue the enemy that she was pledged to bring to yield. That was, before this fatefull moment.
The mission was simple. In the Rift a small group of mild supporters of the upstart Ulfric Stormcloak were hiding in a cave like the vermin they were. Nothing a small band of disciplined justiciars couldn’t handle for sure. But terrified peasants in the dark they were not, but more of a bunch of bandits three time the Thalmor number, ambushed, ready to fell on them.
It is when the rocks started to fall that she knew something was terribly wrong. They were caught into the trap almost instantly, only the mage leading the expedition from the back avoided the predicament it’s soldiers were buried in. Seeing the odds were not in his favour, he run, alone.
Dazed and overhelmed by the sheer number of raiders, the justiciars fall to the last, all but one. Her. That twisted luck was more a curse than a mercy. The leader of the highwaymen kept her as a trophy for all to witness. The first days of captivity were the worst, the humiliations of her body and soul slave to the whims of the wicked imagination of her captor. He defile her, making her suffer the worst he could conjure, but she endured believing that the Thalmor will come to act retribution.
Then the days became weeks, then it was the worst. When the bandit chief got tired of it’s petty cruelity, he gave her to his men to advertise. It was no different, just on a larger scale. They start giving her skooma so that she stay put. It had the benefit of dulling the pain of the world around her but builded up a strong adiction. She start beging, dealing what was left of herself for the barest necessities. She was disgusted of herself, and still nothing else came to relief her from misery.
When the weeks became month, it definitely was the worst. The men were bored of their games with her, they let her rot in a corner, barely feeding her, trowing a bucket of water from time to time when the stink was too much. She was not moving anymore, suffering hard from withdrawal now that they deny her of the drug, it would have been wasted on her. She wanted to fight, she wanted to tore them apart, she was praying every divinities, aedras or daedras to hear her plight. But she knew it was useless. No one would come for her, no men or gods, no one carred and so didn’t she. She was utterly broken.
It could have been like this until the End of Time. But Time had other plans. The group of wretched thieves wanted more in life than raiding villages and convoy. And their chief wanted recognition, to be someone. Their alliegence to Ulfric side was just a cowardly way to secure a strong patronage, but they start thinking it could be a opportunity to join something bigger, and more rewarding. When the snow started to melt, they left their cave to rally the Stormcloak force at Darkwater Crossing.
What could have been a smart move end up in an Imperial ambush. The gang run for all, each man to it’s own now. Most didn’t make it, except the chief, the lucky bastard stalling the time of his fated demise. They’d bring her as a token of good will to show to Ulfric, but in the confusion, they let go of her shacle. Picked up afterward by the imperials they shiped her to Helgen to sort her out. She saw her kind there, talking with some officer but they didn’t notice her, or didn’t mind that one of them was led to the block.
She was resigned, at last she will have peace, except if Destiny wished otherwise….
In the confusion of the event that happended that infamous day she escaped death once more. When the light shown bright again on her face she was someone else. Who else ? She don’t have a clue yet. She was alone, broken, almost naked. Her former life had definitely died that day, now was the time to start again and look for another.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Race : Altmer (female)
It is both a RP choice and a game trick in order to be able to easly conjure the bound bow at Lvl 1, but it is easy to tweak the RP to fit any race and any gender as you wish, it will only asked a little more work to get the requierement to cast the spell.
Breton is a good alternative with the increased skill in conjuration and the acces to the Familiar spell, Wood elves too with Animal Alliegence and the boost in Archery but any race can do if you craft a good story around it.
A small note for apparence. To fit the backstory and reflect the abuse she suffered I picked a good looking random face and apply some scars and a blind eye. I also add some crude warpaint to show some kind of branding from her captor.
Stone : The Atronach
For the +50 in Magika which with highborn get us at 200pts. It is enough to cast most of the spells we need.
Stat repartition : 0/10/0
In a build which has close to 0 AR except a weak flesh spell at the start of combat, every point in Health count. It will act as armor and represent all the hardship she has been through. Stamina is irrelevant since we are not going to carry much and won’t make power attack.
Skills :
The perk repartition is at lvl30 which I feel is the right level cap where this build is complete, but you can go further if you wish (more of it at the end of the build)
LVL 30
Archery :
It is no surprise our most important skill. Almost our only source of damage every perks on the left side of tree is to be taken, especially the increase in damage and the stager effect as soon as it is available. We can not aford the enemy the luxury of staying close and alive too long. I did’nt perk Steady Hand because of my low Stamina and did’nt perk Ranger either because it meant wasting two perks in Hunter’s Discipline and Critical Shot.
You can train the skill fairly naturally, especially since the base damage of the bound bow will earn XP more quickly, but I used Faendal to piggyback me straight to 50 to start having fun earlier.
Alchemy :
Alchemy will be used in three separate situation :
One, to heal ourselves in combat with the bound bow. We can’t switch for restoration spell during a fight because it will dispell the bow and we don’t have the Magicka to sumoun it again. I seldom used poison outside of a paralyse if I was in a pinch but it is up to you if you want to add them more regularly to your arsenal ; I just found that the damage of the bound bow was more than enough.
Two, to increase our stealth with invisibility and Fortify stealth potion. This one is more tricky since we are not going to be stealthy that offen. But since there will be situation where you may want to be more subtle or avoid detection from too powerfull enemies... these brew will come in handy then.
Three, make money with merchant ! We will need money, lot of it to cover the expanse of training restoration and conjuration. Sure you can pickpocket back some of it but that won’t do for long and is not very moral for some of the trainer like Rudil and Danica who are some holy men and women that we consider with respect. Also our looting policy will decrease the amount of gold we can win from regular sales of crap to blacksmith so selling potion of resist fire or frost in bulk was a good alternative.
I selected only the perks that will increase general magnitude of potion along with physician and benefactor.
Restoration :
Novice to Adept, Regenaration and Respite. With that you should be able to heal yourselves after the fight quite efficiently and cast some turn undead spell against mid level draugh which is also a plus. Ward are more tricky because you have a low Magicka pool and the Atronach Stone does already a good job against mage by herself but can be used from time to time especially against bows.
Conjuration :
Only perks needed is Novice and Mystic binding to give more power to the bow. I didn’t perk beyond mystic because I didn’t need soul capture to fill gems for enchanting and the banish spell look kind of meh if it is only usefull to get rid from time to time of a sumond atronach. Also runing Draugh are harder to hit it so there is that. Apprentice and Adept can be add after Lvl30 if you can afford it or if you get your hand on better conjuration tomes.
Alteration :
Only Novice Alteration to be able to cast Oakflesh and Bound bow at the same time. The multipicator of mage armor look silly with such a low level spell and the rest is not usefull for us. If you bring the build beyon Lvl30, maybe investing in Apprentice and Adept for a better use of Detect Life and telekinesis can be a good idea if you can afford it.
Sneak :
First level in stealth and that all. Beyond level 30 you can maybe go grab backstab and deadly aim if you want. The potion are alredy here to help hiding when you truly need it so no need to invest too much here, plus I always though that the 5% per level after the first where not always worth it.
Pickpocket :
What the F** is it doing here ? You’re lost buddy, looking for mom and dad ? Not a huge part of the build mechanics but a important part of the RP Pickpocket is here to represent the Paria side of the broken one as a beggar.
It will be usefull in town especially to get some money out of the high an mighty to pay for training, ingredients and food. It can also get ourselves some money back from trainers if need to. I trained it in Windhelm with the beggars and RP it as a training game. It’s a win/win in the end since the more I can learn, the more money she will have in the end.
I picked four ranks in Light Fingers, Night Thief and my all time favorite Extra Pocket… the +100 cary is glorious for this character and the idea is so simple I just love it.
Equipement :
Novice Hood, +30 Magicka to reach 230 Magika
Novice Robe, +50% Magicka regeneration, to cancel the Atronach stone effect
Footwraps, cause you’ve got no money for fancy shoes.
This is our standard dress up straight out from Helgen and that we will keep all along the playthrough. Only exception are the Robes that can be switched to a School specialty one as long as it stay of Novice level (mine are for Restoration).
I felt it gave the character a monk/bump look while being just what we need for the mechanics of the build to work smoothly. Other than that nothin else is mandatory.
Additional equipement such as ring and amulet are up to your liking. I kept Kyne’s Token because it help Archery and was a fond memory of the quest, and used a stolen enchanted ring of Lockpicking. I also wear scaled bracers with a enchant of Alchmy looted in dungeon which looked discrite and nice with the general outfit.
I kept Valdr‘s lucky dagger and Froki’s bow with 50 iron arrow as emergency weapons to have a reminder of my previous encounters.
Predator’s Grace can be used at later game instead of Footwraps to be a little bit more efficient in stealth. You can add Bloodthorn to the mix to help charge Froki’s bow and have a spare dagger.
The idea is to gather equipement that are not just tools for a task but also has spiritual memento of your past actions, good or bad. You can also keep some trinket of past quest such as skooma from Redwater or the broken sword from Angarvunde fake treasure.
Spell List :
The main idea is to only use found book spell to learn new one, not because we are a grumpy old man, just because we are a penyless bump too shady and dirty to be even considered or to consider herself worthy of the mighty mage attention.
Hence the number of spell we can be sure to acquire is limited and most are of low level. It gave me a feel of a reasonable or a more down to earth use of magic that I feel fit the humble spirit of the character. What follow is the list of the spell we will use and where and how to get them :
Restoration :
Close Wound, Great Barrier and Turn Undead, among other spell tomes are given as a reward for the quest Pilgrimage for Alessandra in Riften’s Hall of the dead. The quest is a very good one for this build because it involve a lot of walking and has spiritual vibe to boot. Beware it is also a bugged quest that won’t drop any reward if your skill level is below 40 in Restoration. According to UESP the unofficial patch is supposed to have solved that but will only drop one random spell tome of the list instead but I cannot confirm since I play on Xbox 360 with only the last official patch.
Alteration :
Oakflesh can be found in Shroud Hearth Barrow but I found mine on the dead body of a mage of Fort Amol, lucky me !
Detect Life is the reward for the quest Infiltration at Treva’s Watch , a good place where you will found two other spells in this list.
Telekinesis is in the cell you are trown at Redwater Den and can be use to escape the place for a good RP moment I will explain later.
Conjuration :
Bound Bow can be found in fort Amol prison inside a bucket and is the number one spell to get on our list in order to start quicking ass. Beware that storming the place at lvl1 straight out of Helgen with only a flamme spell was for me quite challenging. I get away by trowing a fury spell on one of the mage and finishing of the survivor of the confrontation that followed but is was quite a pintch. A stop at the Atronach stone is greatly advised to make thing easier.
Bound sword can be acquired later on at Treva’s Watch and will serve as a plan B if you find yourself too low on magicka.
Conjure familiar is a good spell if you have the chance to find it as random loot or start with it as a Breton but is more a bonus that a must have.
Conjure flame familiar is a nice little thing but it means perking apprentice conjuration AND fighting a dragon priest so I skiped it, but it is still a relevant option if you want more firering power.
Illusion :
You start with Fury if you choose Altmer. We will seldom use it outside of the first level to make diversion during low level uncounter. After that and since we will invest no perks to increase the level cap it became useless.
Courage can help train Illusion for leveling at later level and is a nice boost for a follower or your dog if you take one. It can be found at the top of the dungeon at Treva’s Watch, but mine droped in the pocket of a dead mage.
Other than that I skiped entirely Destruction because there was nothing better than my trusty bound bow. I didn’t list the conjuration spell from the soul cairn either because I didn’t make the Dawnguard main quest and it didn’t fit for me with the character either. But fill free to learn any random spell you find as loot if you think you can handle it with your limited magick pool.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gameplay :
In combat start by sneaking and cast Oakflesh and Bound bow before engaging, then kill everyone, first with a few sneaky shots and then in plain shight once the main menace are down or your cover is blown. If it is getting too though… run.
If you are unsure of your environment cast detec life with caution, just a small burst. Since we don’t have perked Adept Alteration or silent casting it will quickly drain our magika and may even blow our cover if the enemy is closer than expected.
From time to time you can use some of the scrolls that you will surely find during your journey. I found in my more recent builds that scrolls are hugely underated, mostly because of their rarity and awkward casting, but for character not entirely dedicated to the higher sphere of magic they are surprisenly usefull some times. For the Broken One it is also a way to cast spell she has not learn, especially atronach to summon to her help.
Roleplay :
The heart of this build, there is a few rules you that are to be followed to get in the skin of the character :
1°) You shall don’t deal with magic (too much)!
You are no mage, you are a dirty broken soul. The mighty mage and their mighty patron, Jarl or otherwise are not from your world anymore. You used to work for them sure and look where it get you ! As a whole you avoid any place of power and stay on the outskirt of civilisation and down at the lowest level of cities, in consequence you seldom met mage and even more you don’t deal with them. The only spell you will learn are the one you will find yourself during your journey and you won’t seek any item of sorcery from it’s usual dealer. Going to the academy is also out of the question.
2°) You shall walk (a lot) !
Yes Skyrim is beautifull so bask in it’s glory. Every corner of the land is for you a opportunity to find something to eat, plants to turn into potion, people to help, quest to fulfill, etc… Don’t miss all that by brainlessly fast travel here from place to place. The Hermit path is a awesome idea to make no fast travel fun and rewarding !
For this build I did’nt so much set a path of my onwn but try to live more by it’s principle. Unfortunatly I am not such a patient man and in the end I used a little bit of fast travel here and there but only when I wanted to come back to a quest giver to get the reward. A good exemple is Kyne’s trials, a awesome quest often neglected in my previous playthrought for its miserable reward but a great way for a mid level character to travel around Skyrim and test its mettle. What I have done during this quest is that I only used fast travel to get reasonlably close to the first target (Helgen for example to start with the spirit of the wolf) and then did all three spirit without it. Then at the end of the first trial I fast travel back at Froki’s place. In short, skip the boring part but keep the fun of the challenge.
3°) You shall be quiet (in town) !
If in the wild the calm and serenity of the nature help you focus and let you use your spell freely, the atmosphere of the towns are not the same. The amount of people, the noise, the stink are seriously messing with your fragile mind and drive you on the hedge. In town you can’t use your spells or only sparsely. It is both for your peace of mind and also to stay discrete and don’t catch other attention. The town is also your worst enemy, there the people are sometimes rude or unfriendly. All the wealth that some other show shamelessly is also a temptation hard to repress. You must control yourselve to not start clearing everyone pockets, broke into house or just steal whatever you desire. Keep you dagger close and yourself closer to the walls. Avoid conflict as much as you can to avoid you to snap, but sometimes it won’t be possible and you will have to flee the town for a while.
4°) You shall be poor (or spend your money) !
No money in the grave. You dond’t need much to live so don’t take too much. First loot smartly. On bodies only take small object (rings, jewels, lockpick, sometimes daggers) and gold, no armor or weapon except if they are magical. It help you clear more dungeons before you get overweighted and you have to go sell your crap. It is also good roleplay : armor and weapons of your fallen foes are likely to be dented or damaged by the fight and are not as good to sold, but magical equipement are worth the cost of repair for the blacksmith because he can always make something back due to the rarity of the item.
Second you should try to avoid having too much money on your person, it will only get you in trouble and you will not know what to do with it anyway. Spend it at the alchmist shop for rare ingredient or get a training for one of your skill.
5°) You shall be no hero (or not a big one) !
Maybe the most important one. You are no mighty hero. You are just a poor traveler with problem of your own and no room for grand epic quest of world saving proportion. You are nothing special (at least in your mind) and have no incline to right all the wrong in the world. The basic application is that you will only involve yourself in small factionless quest. Helping people help yourselves and it is the little things that you do for the true people of Skyrim that make you feel better. Clearing cave and bandit den is also part of the adventure and should procure more than enough excitement to your life.
So no Mage Guild, no Companions, no Thief Guild or Dark brotherhood, zero involvement with this silly Civil War and most of all no more Dragons. The big black one in Helgen was more than enough for a lifetime, let some other fool deal with it.
Quest guide :
Here is a list of some of the quest I suggest for this character according to the RP
Kyne’s Trials. It’s like a boy scout degree. Lot of walking, lot of hunting, nice reward at the end and plenty of time in the Wild. What’s not to like ?
Agent of Mara (Riften). A long quest that make you travel all around Skyrim, nice reward, very quiet and spiritual vibe that bring peace of mind.
Pilgrimage (Riften). A long journey to bring peace between a sour daughter and her departed father, also you get the best restoration books for free !
Agent of Dibella (Markath). It started on a dare with your drink budy Degaine and end up kind of a redemption quest after you felt guilty for your thievering ways. Geting in the temple to steal the statue is just answering to one of your bad pulsion and you can redeemed yourself in a way that also make you learn how to shoot bad guys in the nuts.
Redwater Den. Not a quest per say but a nice moment of RP for me. It is then that I introduced back my character to her old demon, skooma. You will have to use your spells and potion to escape the vampire, but once you get out back in the main room, you just snap and start killing everything on sight with your trusty dagger in a bloody bad trip.
The Blessing of Nature (Whiterun). Not only is it the only way to get a descent trainer in Restoration without having to involve itself in a faction, it is also a good lesson about life and a quite challenging quest for mid-level character.
The Forsworn Conspiracy (Markath). Once again bad luck find another way to put you in chains. You are confronted with misery and violence once again when your naive investigation turn into a total desaster. Which path will you choose to get out of jail ? Bloody revenge on Madanach or escaping with the other convicts even if it means unleashing some of the worst criminal in the Reach, or maybe both ? The reward doesn’t matter that much even if the suit of Forsworn armor is more usefull than the Silver-blood’s ring.
Delivery (Darkwater Crossing). A short and easy quest that has the advantage of both getting in touch with the people of Darkwater Crossing and also visiting for the first time Windhelm and your pickpoket mentor.
Kill the Bandit Leader (Darkwater Crossing). A very important one from a backstory point of view. It is the occasion to track down your former captor and get sweet, bitter sweet revenge on him. Bonus point if it fell on the bandit of Lost Knife Hideout. Shooting him from above the arena and getting down for the final shot felt awsome.
Extracting a Argonian (Darkwater Crossing). Now that you have befriend the small comunity it felt right to go looking for poor Derkeethus and briging him back to his friends.
Special Delivery for Sylgja (Shor’s Stone). A nice excuse to go visiting Darkwater crossing.
Mine or Yours (Shor’s Stone). I always hated spiders.
The Straw that Broke (Ivarstead). First quest done right out of Helgen on my way to the bound bow. Prety straight forward, just tell him the truth about his sister so he can start to move one.This quest really moved me, the simillarity between Nafri and your own hardship make it a touching story if not a well rewarding one.
Grin and Bear It (Ivarstead), to be done at late level to get a better enchanted weapon. You take a liking to the comunity of Ivarstead and since killing bear is part of your everyday life in the wild… I advise to keep the weapon as a memento (also mine has a powerfull fire enchant so that was nice).
Lifting the Shroud (Ivarstead). Optional but will be needed if you want to be sure to have Oakflesh.
Dungeon Delving for Runil (Falkreath). It was natural for me to help the old man before asking for conjuration lesson.
Kill the Bandit Leader for the Jarl (Falkreath). An obligatory step if you ever want to settle in your hown house. The reason why you accept to deal with the Jarl is because he’s the only one that actually asked you, most certainly on the advise of his steward Nenya, a fellow Altmer that may have recognize your past self.
Dungeon Delving for Noster (Solitude). Help a penyless budy get back some of his past glory and learn to be more sneaky. This one is a no brainer.
Some Light Theft for Stands in Shadows (Windhelm). It’s about stealing skooma and getting a point in sneak. Totaly fit your least rightous side and you can pickpoket back the skooma once you’ve been rewarded.
Crossroad :
As explained earlier I didn’t play this build beyond level 30ish, mostly because I had perked every skill that felt necessary and had done most of the quest listed below and had my fun with that.
But nothing keep you from doing otherwise…
So I listed below some possible development of this character as some of the way it can evolve to higher level while still being coherent with the RP :
The Wild road :
After roaming around the wilderness of Skyrim for maybe too long, the Broken One get rid of the last dregs of her elf culture to fully embrace the wild nature of the land.
Start perking one hand for dual wielding bound swords and light armor with windwalker as a target, in the meantime join the Compagnon and show the world these scars only made you stronger. Start putting every level in Stamina to compensate the previous massive dedication to Health and make power attacks.
The Scoundrel road :
In Riften she almost get caught while « realising some property ». But instead of trowing her into jail, someone make her an offer she could not refuse. In the thief guild she found a harbour from poverty and a place to sold all these ill acquired goods. But most of all, she discoverd people that accept her, all of her at last.
Join the Thief guild and expand your perks in Sneak and Pickpocket. The Summerset Shadows quest get you some sweet justice on some of the least appreciated people of your race and a nice suit of armor that will help your skills in combat. Place a few points in Stamina until you reach 200 in order to carry a little more and run longer and then go back to Health for protection.
The Quite road :
In the face of Mara the Divine, she found peace of mind. Answering her call she decide to settle herself and stop wandering, finding at last someone to share happiness again.
The rom/com ending. Buy Lakeview manor and build a small house there. Find a husband among the various men you helped in your adventure and start living a humble life with your beloved one. It won’t bring you that far above level 30 but it’s a cute ending through.
The Dark road :
Not every fight is meant to be won, and the fight of the Broken One against her own darkness has come to a end. And she lost it. Confronted to the sheer crualty of life, she choose to stop hiding cowardly in the shadows but rather to strike from them.
The kind of bad ending. Build up your illusion to manipulate people and your conjuration toward necromancy or turning your alchemical talents to more venimous use. Start increasing your magicka again to allow you the use of more powerfull spells and drop most of your rules.
The story of Aventus Aretino will act as a epiphany and you will join the rank of the Dark Brotherhood and become a fearfull Nightblade. Also get rid of the scrars and marking of your former life at the Face Scultor and maybe become a creature of the Night.
Final words :
This is my first real articulated build and I may have spend too much time presenting something that is certainly not that special at all, but never the less a great thank you to those who bothered themselves to read it until the end.
