Priestess of Mara

I created this build to try my hand at a (nearly) pacifist character. I wanted to use some of the skills that I hadn’t used on previous characters. The Priestess of Mara is, in short, a healer. She relies on a follower, who is most likely her spouse, to kill her enemies. As a priestess she is calm and virtuous, and is disgusted by the undead. She uses the powers of Mara to provide support to her loved one, and sometimes she uses daggers to finish battle quicker.

Race: I used an Imperial for the Restoration bonus but really any of the races would work. I also used a female character because I felt that a woman would fit the build better but a Priest of Mara would work as well.

Stone: The Mage Stone is nice to start with and the Atronach Stone adds a bit of magicka and spell absorption for later on. The slower magicka regeneration is easy to overcome with enchantments.

Stat Distribution: A ratio of 7:3:0 for Magicka:Health:Stamina gives the Priestess lots of casting time and she doesn’t really need a large Health pool because she won’t be taking many hits. At level 51 this ratio gives the Priestess 450 Magicka and 250 Health.

Major Skills:

• Restoration: This is the Priestess’s most important skill. Her follower relies on the Priestess’s healing abilities to stay alive in battle. She also uses sun spells (Dawnguard DLC) to eliminate undead foes. 
• Alteration: The Priestess’s only defense is the Alteration skill. She uses the armor spells and when she becomes proficient she uses paralyze spells if she is overwhelmed.
• Enchanting: The Priestess has the ability to weave souls into weapons and equipment to augment her and her partners effectiveness. 

Minor Skills:

• Alchemy: Potions enhance the Priestess’s healing abilities and also allows her to poison her dagger for those times when her partner cannot fight for her.
• One-Handed: She only carries a dagger and only uses it when her back is up against the wall. I mainly included this for parts of the game when your forced to fight alone.
• Speech: Delivering sermons and talking with worshipers at the temple has given the Priestess a way with words.

Shouts: 

• Unrelenting Force: This shout is used to control large groups of enemies.
• Ice Form: The Priestess also uses the Ice Form shout to keep her and her companion from being overwhelmed.
• Become Ethereal: If an enemy attacks the priestess without paying attention to her follower Become Ethereal is useful to deflect the enemies attention.

Perks: These are the perks that I have at level 51 (50 perks)

• Restoration

          Novice-Master Restoration

          Recovery 2/2

          Necromage

          Regeneration

• Alteration

          Novice/Expert Alteration

          Mage Armor 3/3

          Stability

• Enchanting

          Enchanter 5/5

          Insightful Enchanter

          Corpus Enchanter

          Extra Effect

• Alchemy

          Alchemist 5/5

          Physician

          Benefactor

          Poisoner

          Concentrated Poison

          Green Thumb

• One-Handed

          Armsman 5/5

• Speech

          Haggling 5/5

          Allure

          Merchant

          Investor

          Fence

          Master Trader

Equipment:

Head: Mara’s Diadem (any circlet) 

Fortify Restoration/Fortify Alteration

Body: Mara’s Body (monk robes)

Fortify Restoration/Fortify Alteration

Gloves: Mara’s Fingers (any non-armor cloves)

Fortify Magicka/Fortify One Handed

Feet: Mara’s Toes (any non-armor boots)

Resist Fire/Resist Frost

Amulet: Mara’s Heart

Resist Magic/Fortify Restoration

Ring: Mara’s Blood

Fortify Magicka Regeneration/Fortify Alteration

Daggers: The Priestess has a few different daggers for different enemies.

Vs Undead: Mara’s Righteousness (Ebony Dagger)

Turn Undead/Fire Damage

Vs Mages: Mara’s Vigilance (Glass Dagger)

Absorb Magicka/Damage Magicka

Vs Everyone else: Mara’s Piousness (Daedric Dagger)

Absorb Magicka/Absorb Health

For crowd-control: Mara’s Focus (Elven Dagger)

Paralyze/Banish

Spells:

• Restoration

          Healing, Fast Healing, Close Wounds

          Healing Hands, Heal Other

          Grand Healing

          Turn Lesser Undead, Turn Undead, Turn Greater Undead

          Repel Lesser Undead, Repel Undead

          Circle of Protection

          Sun Fire, Vampire’s Bane

          Stendarr’s Aura

          Bane of the Undead

          Guardian Circle

• Alteration

          Oakflesh, Stoneflesh, Ironflesh, Ebonyflesh

          Paralyze

In Combat: The Priestess of Mara hides behind her follower. She provides healing spells to keep her companion from dying. She starts the battle by casting an armor spell and immediately equipping a heal other spell in her left hand and a self heal in her right hand. She also checks how many enemies she’s facing and if needed uses either Unrelenting Force, Ice Form, or Mara’s Focus to take away any number advantage. Then she keeps her and her companions health from falling too far. If the Priestess herself is not in immediate danger, she will use one of her daggers in her right hand and a heal other spell in her left hand. If she is by herself, she uses a poisoned Dawnbreaker in her right hand and a spell in her left.

Roleplaying: The Priestess of Mara is a righteous character who uses her companions to fight her enemies. She only accepts quests that follow her benevolent nature. She doesn’t do anything that would be considered amoral and she prays at a shrine of Mara every chance she gets. I chose to purchase Honeyside in Riften because it is so close to the Chapel of Mara. She also does not consort with the Daedra with the exception of Meridia because they both despise the undead.

Recommended Quests:

• The College of Winterhold: For access to higher level spells.
• Dawnguard: Because the Priestess hates the undead.
• The Book of Love: As a Priestess of Mara it’s almost required.
• The Heart of Dibella: Why not help other divines?
• The Blessings of Nature: Why not help other divines? 
• Frostflow Abyss: The reward is a permanent 10% boost to healing.
• The Break of Dawn: Also because of the Priestess’s hatred for the undead and Dawnbreaker can be a lifesaver in sticky situations during the main quest (specifically Skuldafn Temple). 

Good build, though it may have been a bad time to upload it. With the upcoming Character Build Purge.

+1 from me though

thank you guys and i didnt know about the... Purge.. lol

Save it and bring it back after the Purge…cause this has potential to be great….. but with The Purge coming up there may not be enough time to get the necessary likes to save it

+1 from me though!

Thanks! I have it saved in word so if it doesn't make it I'll bring it back after a little while.

good deal, I got a couple of my builds in save, i'd probably only bring back one, but still good to have around :)

I really like this build.  In fact, though I have been lurking around the site checking things out the last week or so since I found it, I joined up to make sure I could put a like on here.  It sounds interesting and might even be something I give a try at some point.

You can do the Waking Nightmare quest up in Dawnstar as well. Not only do you get an chance to get rid off an daedric artifact but you also can get a Priest of Mara as a follower as well.