Forums » Elder Scrolls

Character Perfection...

    • 739 posts
    May 2, 2015 1:58 PM EDT

    We've all played a ton of different characters since we first picked up our copies of Skyrim and began busily picking apart the game and enjoying its skill system, spells and abilities...

    But I believe for many of us there's always going to be that 'special' one...

    ...a character that just seems to meet all of your subconscious role playing demands perfectly...

    ...resulting in a unique playthrough that you just can't seem to put down for a second.

    Anyone spy the Targe of the Blooded....?

    For me it's the whole 'Death Knight' experience! I like my Paladins and I like my Clerics.....but nothing grabs me by the balls harder than a fiendish Blackguard!

    Heavy, evil armor! Necromancy! Poisons! Selfish and soulless!

    ....bliss!

    When you join the blogs CB group with all its preasure to try and create something 'new', sometimes it's very easy to forget about the character type that you actually love playing the most...

    ...so discuss!!

    Tell us about that character you just seem to 'default' to when you let fate take control of the joystick...

    • 367 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:03 PM EDT

    Oh hell thats easy. A male Argonian named Sotek. (Nope I'm not jesting). He's the one character I use for my screenshots and who my story's' based upon. He's got the outfits for my screen shots, done the quests upto where my character in the story has. I've been using him fortwo years now, he's the one. Hell he even has the same enchants.

    • 485 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:11 PM EDT

    I always tend to veer towards mages or assassins (or a combo of the two if possible) with a neutral evil alignment. 

    • 1217 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:13 PM EDT

    I think the character that I've gotten the most done that I wanted to, that felt the most alive has actually been the Wise Princess. Everything she has wanted to accomplish has been well within her means, besides being wonderfully characterful and nuanced in playstyle.

    would choose Alazir, or maybe the Fog, but I get hung up on one thing with evil characters in Skyrim: essential NPCs. It's a little smoother for Alazir, who plays it off as a noble aristocrat, but the Fog is my "kill everything" playthrough, and he can't get anywhere near that goal. They just really spoil some of the fun of being the wicked badass I want to portray. Even the Castigator would be in the running if he could just take out the Thieves Guild.

    • 268 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:16 PM EDT
    Heavy, evil armour? Check. Necromancy? Check. Poisons? Check. Selfish and soulless? Check!

    You're going to love mine and CND's upcoming build Mason! :D

    The archetype I always resort to is an archer necromancer. The two skills just click for me. Sniping dudes from afar then raising them from afar while you sit back completely incognito, able to watch your minions decimate your foes without the stress of being in combat. It's why I loved the Cryptstalker, and played through several variants of it several times. What's great about the Archery and Conjuration combo is that pretty much any other skills can be added to the mix and it will still work. Likewise, it can still function excellently on its own. Sneak is sort of a must, though it can be possible without if you manage to use your environment and stay real far away.

    Funnily enough, I've never made an archer necromancer build for the blog. Partly because I lack the ideas to make one unique (there's only so many twists you can out on it) and partly because I couldn't dare tarnish my image of it. Posting an archer necromancer would sort of be my peak, and I couldn't really play much after it without defaulting to that archetype.
    • 739 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:18 PM EDT

    Skyrim (along with the rest of the ES titles) are a bit 'difficult' like that....

    On the one hand they provide (especially Skyrim) the ability to create almost exactly the kind of character you enjoy the most in terms of skills and equipment....but then your RP can get all busted by the neutral feeling of the world spoiling your rampage.

    • 1217 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:20 PM EDT

    Aye, I have loved the equipment and skill selection of Skyrim. Even in vanilla you can get some visually stunning characters.

    • 485 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:21 PM EDT

    Archer and necromancer, eh? You must be a huge fan of the night reaver build. 

    • 295 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:21 PM EDT

    The White Knight. A holy archer with Heavy Armor, Block, Archery, Restoration, and One-handed. Mr. Goody goody, himself. I have been playing this build since October 4 last year. No desire to stop him now. I have played evil builds to, but I've always been fascinated by the Paladin. 

    • 739 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:25 PM EDT

    Yeah Archery/Conjuration is a very powerful mix, and you're right you can't really spoil that recipe by adding other skills....it can only get stronger. Sounds good!

    Cryptstalker is definitely a classic!

    I think it's a shame that we don't always feel like we can post what we enjoy the most (in CB), the group is almost a victim of its own success I guess...

    ...maybe this kind of thing could work in a future event though. 'Events' were always meant to allow people to express themselves without the normal constraints of the group...

    • 268 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:29 PM EDT
    Yup, easily my favourite of yours!
    • 739 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:33 PM EDT

    I always marvel at people who can play the same character for so long, I definitely have serious issues in that department...lol.

    Pallies and Crusaders are definitely good times though!

  • May 2, 2015 2:35 PM EDT

    A fallen hero, always. The consummate anti-hero who does all the wrong things for all the right reasons, the type of vigilante who would fall into urban legend, preferably involving heavy doses of Alchemy, Archery, and at least 2-3 magic schools. I tend to be really drawn to Neutral/Evil alignments and while I've had fun with all my characters in one way or another, I've never really posted my "perfect" character. He's still sitting somewhere in the depths of my hard drive, a laptop ago. Maybe I'll look for him tonight.

    My first character in Skyrim perked about 10 skills, but the mains were Archery, Alteration, Alchemy, Restoration, Conjuration, Illusion, and it's still my favourite build.

    • 739 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:43 PM EDT

    Nice!!

    Yeah, I'm Batman too... :-)

    I can never seem to immerse myself in 'pure' or 1d characters....they always have to have an edge for me to remain interested, especially if that edge is a little on the naughty side.

    • 485 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:43 PM EDT

    Now that looks bad ass.

    • 485 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:44 PM EDT

    One moral alignment I have difficulty getting behind are the squeaky clean good characters. Even the greatest and most noble of us all have to have our short comings. I guess with that it can be said I've never been a big fan of clerics priests, and paladin type characters. 

    • 739 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:49 PM EDT

    For pallies I'm defnitely with you...

    ...but I love Clerics after playing Icewind Dale/Neverwinter series...

    They can be any alignment and an evil Cleric is a ton of fun!

    • 485 posts
    May 2, 2015 2:51 PM EDT

    Evil clerics rock

    • 13 posts
    May 2, 2015 3:05 PM EDT

    Rouges, thieves, duelists, and assassins. I like the idea of a dirty fighter, someone who is prepared to do anything to succeed. My favorite character was an Imperial named Antonius who ended up leading and restoring both the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood (earning him the title, The Under Lord, for all his work in Skyrim's "underworld"). Sneak and One-Handed tend to be in a lot of my characters. However, every single character I make uses Alchemy, something about it intrigues me.

    I also really enjoy making average joe or under-dog characters that end up being heroes (or anti-heroes most of the time) I enjoy watching them progress honing their skills until they are without equal.

    • 1483 posts
    May 2, 2015 4:08 PM EDT

    Mine is a stealthy mage thief, who focuses on avoiding enemies rather than killing them. He usually uses some non-obvious magic schools like Alteration and uses Alchemy as a support skill. Personality-wise he's usually good-natured, but does not shy away from shady jobs.

    • 95 posts
    May 2, 2015 4:13 PM EDT

    This is a tough one to explain and will contain a spoiler sadly as it pertains to the Character Build I will be posting soon.

    I would have to say Archenian, a male Orc clad in Enchanted Ebony Armor wielding an Enchanted Honed Ancient Nord Greatsword and an Enchanted Silver Greatsword. I use him for a huge amount of testing, quests, "Time Trials" I set for myself and ultimately, he is the one character I used during my own "Sacking of the Vigilant's" before I got Dawnguard and the "Sacking of the Aldmeri Dominion." 

    Mason: The Armor and Stone are heavily based off of your build: The Obsidian Sentinel (Which drew my inspiration along with the character Darth Nihilus to create what I like to call "A Wound in the Arcane")

    This Orc is not a smith and though he can put 2 enchants on one item, enchanting is not his reliant skill, nor is the full aggressiveness of Two-Handed. His reliant skill is the combination Alchemy and Necromage.

    SPOILER: He will be utilizing Alchemy in almost every spell he casts and they will cost him life force as well as magicka. He relies on dealing with his enemies in "Bursts" of power once per day.

    I will reveal only one more thing: Though he will be a Vampire with DOUBLE Weakness to Sunlight at Stage 4, he will ALSO be weakened by the Soul Cairn AND the Necromancer's Amulet.

    • 133 posts
    May 2, 2015 4:40 PM EDT
    My 'default' character has to be my bosmer archer, warrior. Light armour, one handed, block, alchemy, tiny bit of sneak and of course archery. Level 45.

    I'm kinda in a nord, Viking, warrior at the moment. I guess I never played it as much as I should have. At the moment I'm running with two handed, heavy armour, smithing, block, one handed (back up weapon) and tiny little bit of archery just to soften up some harder enemies until I CRUSH THEM! But I'll suspect I'll ditch the bow when I'm a higher level. Level 10. At the moment.

    After I'm done with him I'd like to start a Viking barbarian guy that I mentioned earlier so I'll be sifting through the character build archives for some Ideas.
    • 133 posts
    May 2, 2015 4:42 PM EDT
    I've done that in the past, may have to try it again some time.
    • 133 posts
    May 2, 2015 4:44 PM EDT
    Agreed! Complex characters are always more fun.
    • 773 posts
    May 2, 2015 4:58 PM EDT

    Interesting topic

    I think I'd say that I'm still trying to find that 'special' character. It's probably why I keep restarting, and why - no matter how many times I start to think I'm done with Skyrim - I keep coming back for more.

    My first 'default' character, and one I completed a play through with, was a Bosmer pure Mage. Since then I've dabbled in so, so many. 

    But, as for 'the one', I'm still trawling the Character Build Group...