This is my first build, it's my attempt to recreate the Mord-Sith from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth books/the Legend of the Seeker tv show. I've seen people do mods to make characters look like Mord-Sith but I have yet to see anyone put forth a viable build.
The Mord-Sith
The Mord-Sith are a feared group of all women warriors. Mord-Sith are experts at fighting mages, they have the ability to absorb and redirect a mage's power. The kindest of girls are chosen to become to become a Mord-Sith since they have the furthest to fall. A Mord-Sith's training consists of the same torture that she will later wield to bend victims to her will. She is tortured until she is free of compassion and self motivation. A Mord Sith's only weapon is her Agiel, a magical rod that causes constant pain to anyone who touches it. Mord-Sith use Agiels to fight, but primarily to torture and break captives and enemies, turning them into devoted pets. The Mord-Sith also have the Breath of Life, an ability they use to revive victims so they can undergo more torture. The Mord-Sith are clad in skin-tight leather suits at all times. They usually wear brown leather, but when they are training a pet, suspect trouble, or are in battle, they wear red leather to hide the blood of their victims.
Race: Female Breton Vampire
Major Skills: Illusion, One-Handed, Light Armor
Minor Skills: Restoration, Speech, Smithing
Stone: Atronach
Gear: Full Dark Brotherhood Set or Red Vampire Armor, Mehrunes' Razor, Daedric Dagger.
Shouts: Marked For Death, Elemental Fury, Slow Time, Aura Whisper,
Key Spells: Fear and Calm families, Healing
Essential Quests: Dark Brotherhood, Pieces of the Past, Thieves Gild, Vampire.
The Build
The Mord-Sith is a blast to play. In practice she is a quick and nimble spell sword who has enough flexibility to handle a variety of situations. Breton is the obvious choice for race, their built in magic resistance works practicality in the canon. Most of the time you'll have your agiel (dagger) equipped in your right hand and a fear or calm spell in your left. Combat is a mix of illusion spells, shouts, and dagger attacks with the occasional healing spell or potion to help you out of a tight spot. The light armor and high attack speed of the dagger means you can move around very quickly while fighting. Speed and flexibly are the two key things to remember while playing a Mord-Sith.
As for equipment the full Dark Brotherhood armor set is our logical choice since it is a somewhat red leather armor that fits the grim theme of our character. Plus the armor bonus for wearing the full set is handy and stacks quite nicely with the light armor perks. If you wanted to pick up enchanting and perk your armor for one hand damage/illusion cost/and magic resist red vampire armor is the logic choice. Your main dagger is going to be Mehrunes' Razor (thanks to Mason for the tip here) which gives you a 3% chance to instantly kill anything. I also have a late game special ability that uses elemental fury and a pair of Daedric Daggers. The Atronach stone is the logical choice canon wise with the magic absorption, and that extra magika is nice early on so you can spend more of your points on health.
I focused mostly on trying to make the dagger a viable choice as a weapon to represent the Mord-Sith's agiel. So I took a lot of One-Handed and Light Armor perks to make it workable. Illusion spells in particular the fear and calm ones best represent the Mord-Sith's ability to torture and control her victims. A bit of Restoration is nice to have and I put two points into Smithing so I coud upgrade the Dark Brotherhood armor and eventually Mehrunes' Razor. On the shouts front Marked For Death is your friend, your very very best friend. It helps balance out the low damage you're going to do from your dagger, if you use it at a low level the recharge is very quick on it. Elemental Fury is also your other best friend, dual-wielded daggers with 3 levels of EF can do some serious damage. I also recommend Slow Time and Aura Whisper for various special circumstances. I went vampire because it compliments the build really well, though you could do just fine without it if that was your choice.
160 Magicka | 250 Health | 140 Stamina
One-Handed: 3/5 Armsman, Fighting Stance,
Light Armor: Agile Defender: 3/5, Custom Fit
Speech: 1/5 Haggling
Illusion: Novice - Apprentice, Hypnotic Gaze, Aspect of Terror, Animage, Kindred Mage
Restoration: Novice - Apprentice, Regeneration, Recovery 1/2
Leveling the first few levels is going to be a bit tough. You're going to be hacking and slashing a lot with a crappy dagger and probably casting a few destruction spells to help out. However once you get your Dark Brotherhood armor and can cast decent Illusion spells for cheap you'll be golden. If you want to get into the Mord-Sith style as quickly as possible you can power level Illusion by casting Courage on friendly NPCs and picking poor Eorlund Greymane's pocket over and over to help build your Smithing level and make yourself a decent dagger.
250 Magicka | 400 Health | 200 Stamina
I left a little flexibility here since I think there are enough perks to spare. You can go the enchanting or alchemy routes if you want but I chose to forgo them on my build for RP reasons. If you do go enchanting I highly recommend on handed damage/magic resistance/illusion to fit the theme. You could also beef up the Speech skill a little bit, it's just a matter of personal preference really. I recommend against going the stealth route since I don't think it fits the flavor of this build.
One-Handed: 5/5 Armsman, Fighting Stance, Savage Strike, Critical Charge, Parlyizing Strike, 2/2 Dual Flurry, Dual Savagery
Light Armor: Agile Defender: 5/5, Custom Fit, Matching Set, Unhindered, Wind Walker, Deft Movement
Speech: 1/5 Haggling, Allure
Illusion: Novice - Master, Hypnotic Gaze, Aspect of Terror, Animage, Kindred Mage, Rage, Master of the Mind, Illusion Dual Casting
Restoration: Novice - Adept, Regeneration, Recovery 2/2, Respite, Necromage, Avoid Death,
Smithing: Steal, Arcane
Special Abilities
Broken Spirit: Marked for Death + Calm
A Mord-Sith breaks her victim to accept their inevitable doom. This ability is loads of fun to use since your victim just stands there quietly while their health slowly ticks away. Come in close with a few dagger attacks to finally put them out of their misery.
Dual Agiels: Elemental Fury + twin Daedric Daggers
A truly skilled Mord-Sith can wield two agiels to inflict maximum pain.
Mord-Sith Reflexes: Slow Time and/or Supernatural Reflexes
Trained all their lives to kill Mord-Sith can move with blinding speed.
A Room Full of Victims: Aura Whisper and/or Detect All Creatures
A Mord-Sith can sense the slightest weakness in a person.
Breath of Life: Avoid Death
A Mord-Sith can use her Breath of Life to cheat death.
RP Notes
-If you really want to roleplay as a true Mord-Sith you shouldn't finish the Dark Brotherhood quests. You should just get in to get the armor and Marked for Death shout and leave. You're loyal to the empire after all.
-You have no problem murdering people to accomplish your goals, especially when those people are Stormcloack rebels.
-Some people think being a vampire goes against the MS on a role-play front and I can't disagree with that so vampirism is purely optional.
Thans for checking out this build, I'm looking forward to getting some feedback on it in the comments.
This is my first build, it's my attempt to recreate the Mord-Sith from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth books/the Legend of the Seeker tv show. I've seen people do mods to make characters look like Mord-Sith but I have yet to see anyone put forth a viable build.
The Mord-Sith
The Mord-Sith are a feared group of all women warriors. Mord-Sith are experts at fighting mages, they have the ability to absorb and redirect a mage's power. The kindest of girls are chosen to become to become a Mord-Sith since they have the furthest to fall. A Mord-Sith's training consists of the same torture that she will later wield to bend victims to her will. She is tortured until she is free of compassion and self motivation. A Mord Sith's only weapon is her Agiel, a magical rod that causes constant pain to anyone who touches it. Mord-Sith use Agiels to fight, but primarily to torture and break captives and enemies, turning them into devoted pets. The Mord-Sith also have the Breath of Life, an ability they use to revive victims so they can undergo more torture. The Mord-Sith are clad in skin-tight leather suits at all times. They usually wear brown leather, but when they are training a pet, suspect trouble, or are in battle, they wear red leather to hide the blood of their victims.
Race: Female Breton Vampire
Major Skills: Illusion, One-Handed, Light Armor
Minor Skills: Restoration, Speech, Smithing
Stone: Atronach
Gear: Full Dark Brotherhood Set or Red Vampire Armor, Mehrunes' Razor, Daedric Dagger.
Shouts: Marked For Death, Elemental Fury, Slow Time, Aura Whisper,
Key Spells: Fear and Calm families, Healing
Essential Quests: Dark Brotherhood, Pieces of the Past, Thieves Gild, Vampire.
The Build
The Mord-Sith is a blast to play. In practice she is a quick and nimble spell sword who has enough flexibility to handle a variety of situations. Breton is the obvious choice for race, their built in magic resistance works practicality in the canon. Most of the time you'll have your agiel (dagger) equipped in your right hand and a fear or calm spell in your left. Combat is a mix of illusion spells, shouts, and dagger attacks with the occasional healing spell or potion to help you out of a tight spot. The light armor and high attack speed of the dagger means you can move around very quickly while fighting. Speed and flexibly are the two key things to remember while playing a Mord-Sith.
As for equipment the full Dark Brotherhood armor set is our logical choice since it is a somewhat red leather armor that fits the grim theme of our character. Plus the armor bonus for wearing the full set is handy and stacks quite nicely with the light armor perks. If you wanted to pick up enchanting and perk your armor for one hand damage/illusion cost/and magic resist red vampire armor is the logic choice. Your main dagger is going to be Mehrunes' Razor (thanks to Mason for the tip here) which gives you a 3% chance to instantly kill anything. I also have a late game special ability that uses elemental fury and a pair of Daedric Daggers. The Atronach stone is the logical choice canon wise with the magic absorption, and that extra magika is nice early on so you can spend more of your points on health.
I focused mostly on trying to make the dagger a viable choice as a weapon to represent the Mord-Sith's agiel. So I took a lot of One-Handed and Light Armor perks to make it workable. Illusion spells in particular the fear and calm ones best represent the Mord-Sith's ability to torture and control her victims. A bit of Restoration is nice to have and I put two points into Smithing so I coud upgrade the Dark Brotherhood armor and eventually Mehrunes' Razor. On the shouts front Marked For Death is your friend, your very very best friend. It helps balance out the low damage you're going to do from your dagger, if you use it at a low level the recharge is very quick on it. Elemental Fury is also your other best friend, dual-wielded daggers with 3 levels of EF can do some serious damage. I also recommend Slow Time and Aura Whisper for various special circumstances. I went vampire because it compliments the build really well, though you could do just fine without it if that was your choice.
160 Magicka | 250 Health | 140 Stamina
One-Handed: 3/5 Armsman, Fighting Stance,
Light Armor: Agile Defender: 3/5, Custom Fit
Speech: 1/5 Haggling
Illusion: Novice - Apprentice, Hypnotic Gaze, Aspect of Terror, Animage, Kindred Mage
Restoration: Novice - Apprentice, Regeneration, Recovery 1/2
Leveling the first few levels is going to be a bit tough. You're going to be hacking and slashing a lot with a crappy dagger and probably casting a few destruction spells to help out. However once you get your Dark Brotherhood armor and can cast decent Illusion spells for cheap you'll be golden. If you want to get into the Mord-Sith style as quickly as possible you can power level Illusion by casting Courage on friendly NPCs and picking poor Eorlund Greymane's pocket over and over to help build your Smithing level and make yourself a decent dagger.
250 Magicka | 400 Health | 200 Stamina
I left a little flexibility here since I think there are enough perks to spare. You can go the enchanting or alchemy routes if you want but I chose to forgo them on my build for RP reasons. If you do go enchanting I highly recommend on handed damage/magic resistance/illusion to fit the theme. You could also beef up the Speech skill a little bit, it's just a matter of personal preference really. I recommend against going the stealth route since I don't think it fits the flavor of this build.
One-Handed: 5/5 Armsman, Fighting Stance, Savage Strike, Critical Charge, Parlyizing Strike, 2/2 Dual Flurry, Dual Savagery
Light Armor: Agile Defender: 5/5, Custom Fit, Matching Set, Unhindered, Wind Walker, Deft Movement
Speech: 1/5 Haggling, Allure
Illusion: Novice - Master, Hypnotic Gaze, Aspect of Terror, Animage, Kindred Mage, Rage, Master of the Mind, Illusion Dual Casting
Restoration: Novice - Adept, Regeneration, Recovery 2/2, Respite, Necromage, Avoid Death,
Smithing: Steal, Arcane
Special Abilities
Broken Spirit: Marked for Death + Calm
A Mord-Sith breaks her victim to accept their inevitable doom. This ability is loads of fun to use since your victim just stands there quietly while their health slowly ticks away. Come in close with a few dagger attacks to finally put them out of their misery.
Dual Agiels: Elemental Fury + twin Daedric Daggers
A truly skilled Mord-Sith can wield two agiels to inflict maximum pain.
Mord-Sith Reflexes: Slow Time and/or Supernatural Reflexes
Trained all their lives to kill Mord-Sith can move with blinding speed.
A Room Full of Victims: Aura Whisper and/or Detect All Creatures
A Mord-Sith can sense the slightest weakness in a person.
Breath of Life: Avoid Death
A Mord-Sith can use her Breath of Life to cheat death.
RP Notes
-If you really want to roleplay as a true Mord-Sith you shouldn't finish the Dark Brotherhood quests. You should just get in to get the armor and Marked for Death shout and leave. You're loyal to the empire after all.
-You have no problem murdering people to accomplish your goals, especially when those people are Stormcloack rebels.
-Some people think being a vampire goes against the MS on a role-play front and I can't disagree with that so vampirism is purely optional.
Thans for checking out this build, I'm looking forward to getting some feedback on it in the comments.
