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Character Build: The House Redoran Champion

Tags: #Character Build Crusader  #Race:Dunmer  #Rank:Recognized  #Champion  #House  #Redoran 
  • Member
    June 26, 2013

    "The honorable warriors of the Great House Redoran are the hereditary defenders of the Morrowind. To be a noble of House Redoran is more than being a great warrior. One must follow the triune virtues of duty, gravity, and piety." - The True Noble's Code, by Serjo Athyn Sarethi

    Your History:

    As a young Dunmer, you watched Red Mountain's fires and spewed ash show when Lord Nerevar Incarnate, the Nerevarine and Hortator of House Redoran, battled Dagoth Ur in the belly of the mountain. It would not be the last time. You saw as the gates of Oblivion were torn open across Vvardenfell, and you watched as the spawn of Mehrunes Dagon, the most profane Daedra of the house of troubles, razed your home of Ald'Ruhn to the ground. As the Cyrodilic Empire withdrew their legions of men from Morrowind, House Redoran was left to stand alone against the unchecked hordes of Mehrunes Dagon's Dremora. Your first taste of the fury of battle was had against these monsters, and as House Redoran gained victory against the Daedra and drove them from the land, you ascended the ranks of the Great House. You would become a trusted confidant, counsilman, and guardian of the Archmaster himself.

    You watched from Blacklight, the newly founded council seat of your house, when the Ministry of Truth fell, crushed Vivec, and loosed the fury of the Red Mountain upon your people. You were helpless to save them. If your faith in the Tribunal hadn't already been shattered by the fulfillment of Azura's prophecy, you realized then how utterly the gods had abandoned the Dunmer. When the Argonians invaded, you led several crusades that freed Mournhold and the surrounding lands from the scaled clutches of Black Marsh. You authored a policy of no quarter against the Argonians, whom you had seen slaughter countless innocents across every settlement they had invaded. No lizards that you and those under your command encountered lived to describe the merciless tide of your onslaught as you liberated your homeland.

    Following the conclusion of the invasion of Black Marsh, at nearly 300 years old, still young for a mer but weary of watching the suffering of your people, you leave Blacklight and your post in the Great House Redoran for the harsh winters of Skyrim. As you make your way through the craggy landscape of the unfamiliar birthplace of men, you encounter the likes of Ulfric Stormcloak, and you are wrongfully imprisoned by the Imperial armies of General Tullius. His ordering your execution does nothing but solidify your hatred for the Empire that had withdrawn from Morrowind and left so many to suffer the hordes of Oblivion so many years ago. You will later go on to earn the respect and trust of the Nords who distrust and despise all Dunmeri people, as well as forge an alliance with the future High King of Skyrim that you hope will benefit the newly immigrated Dunmer for years to come. You are the champion of House Redoran, and hero of Skyrim. This is your story.

    Race: Dunmer (This is essential) 

    Standing Stone: The Lady or The Lord

    Major Skills: One/Two Handed (pick one), Destruction, Heavy Armor

    Minor Skills: Block, Restoration, Smithing/Enchanting, Archery

    Stat Placement: Magicka (20), Health (40), Stamina (40)

    Shouts: Disarm, Elemental Fury, Cyclone

    Equipment: Bonemold > Dwemer > Ebony Armor, Dawnbreaker or the Ebony Blade depending on skill choices

    Essential Quests: The Companions, College of Winterhold, Destroy the Dark Brotherhood, Liberation of Skyrim, At the Summit of Apocrypha, March of the Dead > Served Cold (DB)

    The Build:

    I modeled this build after the crusader class in Morrowind, as former Archmaster of House Redoran, Bolvyn Venim, had this class in said game. You are a traditional Dunmer warrior, skilled in the arts of the sword and bow, as well as offensive and healing magicka. I recommend picking either destruction or archery, as two ranged offensive skills can be a bit redundant in the endgame scenario. In my case, I chose destruction. Your interest in magicka is simply in how much it can benefit you in combat. You aren't some Telvanni sorcerer or temple scholar with his nose buried in tomes or wasting your time researching the disappearance of the Dwemer. You go about combat honorably, with no underhanded sneaking, illusion, or conjuration magic involved. You are no Morag Tong or Dark Brotherhood assassin, and you will always look into the eyes of your foe as you pierce his heart and burn his flesh.

    You fervently follow the three virtues of your Great House: duty, gravity, and piety. You follow the tried and ancient Dunmeri ways of ancestor and Daedric worship, and staunchly respect and revere the "good daedra", Azura, Mephala, and Boethiah. Whenever you come across anyone in genuine need of a warrior's aid, you will offer it gladly, but you will never betray your honor or the honor of your people. You are fiercely devoted to the Dunmer and to Morrowind itself, and will never turn a blind eye to their suffering or hardship.

     

    The Roleplay:

    Your attitude towards the Stormcloak Rebellion is both indifferent and passionate in the sense that you despise the Empire, yet care little for the conflict between the Talos revering Nords and the Altmeri supremacists of the Thalmor and the Aldmeri Dominion. You view the Thalmor as a minor and insignificant threat, little different than the power hungry Telvanni sorcerers of your homeland. You support Ulfric on the simple notion that the Great House Redoran has always fought fiercely against all foreign intervention in Dunmeri lands, and that the conquering Empire was so quick to abandon your people in the wake of the Oblivion Crisis. You are also of a mind that an alliance forged between your people and the Nords will lead to a more powerful Dunmeri nation - the likes of which has never been seen in the four eras of recorded Tamrielic history.

    You abhor thieves, assassins, and necromancers. You will stop at nothing to destroy warlocks, evil daedra, vampires, and any other undead or unnatural beings that stand in your way. The Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood are your enemies, and should you ever deal with them, it will either be with a blade or on the most distrustful of terms. Due to your past, you despise the entire Argonian race, and would soon see every last living Argonian either enslaved or dead. Your years of experience in the hardships of war and the ash-laden lands of Morrowind have rendered you bitter, but not cold. You will always lend aid to those in need, as stated previously, but won't abide cowardice of any kind.

    During the Companions questline, you will always be wary of the lycanthropic powers of the Circle. You are of a mind with Kodlak, and believe that the Companions would be better off without the beast blood curse granted by Hircine. Though you take on the curse yourself in order to ascend into the Circle, you will never feed on the flesh of another sentient. While Kodlak craves the revery and companionship of Sovngarde, you desire to see the exalted landscape and silver cities of Moonshadow, Azura's plane of Oblivion. The hunting grounds of Hircine appeal to neither of you. If you were ever to aid Kodlak in finding his cure, you would surely take part in purging the beast blood from your veins as well. You may join the College of Winterhold in order to further your understanding of combat and restorative magicks, but you are not a mage in any sense of the word, and hence will never lead the guild as Archmage.

    You may choose to roleplay as the legendary Dragonborn, or you may not. I leave that decision to you. If you do choose to master the way of the voice and become the prophetic hero, you will certainly have to wrest the Redoran settlement of Raven Rock free from the clutches of Miraak.

    Essential Perks:

    The Redoran Way:

    My math may be a bit sketchy as far as the perk spreads presented are concerned, but think of it more as a guideline in skill focus. You're going to emphasize melee combat over Destruction, which is there mainly to augment your prowess as a warrior. Restoration is essential, and you're going to rely heavily on healing magicka and undead-slaying mayhem over any dependence on potions. When you've exhausted your limited magicka reserves, switch out your left hand to a sword-and-board approach and bring the ancient fury of House Redoran to your enemies. 

    This is a fun and versatile build to experiment with in both early and higher levels, and you're always prepared to go toe to toe with both magicka and blade wielding foes. Your restoration abilities, especially after the Dawnguard expansion is added, make raids on vampire lairs and draugr infested ruins exceedingly fun to do. Add Meridia's sword, Dawnbreaker, to the mix, and you have one hell of a crusading dunmer to play with. Just try to remember that you aren't a mage, you're just a very sophisticated knight. Your destruction and restoration skills are there only to aid you when you very much need a little elemental damage dealing or healing on the side.

     

  • Member
    June 26, 2013

    Edited with a few of your suggestions. I chose not to mess with the perk spread I worked with, mainly because it took me so long to do with my limited skizzles in MS Paint, but I diluted the paragraphs with a few more images and added a few details here and there. I understand that my math regarding the perk spread was off by a level or two, but exactness wasn't really my intention in the first place, just giving the reader a general idea of what their OC's skill foci are going to be.

    The particular spell choices or smithing perks aren't really all that important from my perspective, just given the context clues that I give the reader regarding the build's intentions when it comes to magicka and what kind of armor/weaponry they'll be using.

    My main focus with this build was giving whoever happened by it a chance to explore a really fun new way to play through Skyrim with the perspective of a lore-accurate Dunmer immigrant. Please feel free to comment further on the changes I made or what you think of the backstory I presented. Thanks for the input!

     

  • Member
    June 27, 2013

    I really like the lore and the roleplay in this build especially, and would consider playing it, but it's got a few mistakes....

    Why only take 2 ranks in Block? Take 3 or 4 and make it worthwhile, otherwise save them or stick it onto something else (when does anyone actually remember to block when playing a melee build? I know I don't!)

    Same thing with the other perks with only 2 ranks in them.

    I think the progression of the armor sets is a little un-build like, for example why go Dwemer? He's a Dark Elf, keep it race based, since the lore and roleplay is so heavily based on Dunmer. The Bonemold, however, started off well.

    'One Handed - Two Handed pick one' That's an awful thing to say....you can't tack on bits of dialogue in the build that optionally changes the whole game dynamic and gameplay.

    Because you've said 'PICK ONE' but haven't added any perks for Two Handed.

    You might as well of said 'Take Paralyzing Strike but be a Necromancer Monk' - It just doesn't work or fit.

    It's a nice build, don't get me wrong, it just needs cleaning up.

    I'll give you one of my 'Encouraging Newbie Likes' as I call them. Keep it up, you can only get better my friend.

  • AJ
    Member
    June 27, 2013

    *Slow clap*

  • Member
    June 27, 2013

    The thing with the Bonemold > Dwemer > Ebony progression is that it IS actually race based. Playing Morrowind tells you that the majority (not all, obviously) of raw ebony ore in the Empire is imported from Vvardenfell and is created by the volcanic nature of Red Mountain. It's an igneous armor (hehe, haha). The Dunmer also have a HUGE connection to the Dwemer in their history (the conflict between Lord Nerevar and Kagrenac was what caused the very genesis of the Dunmer and the disappearance of all but one of the Dwemer). In any case, House Redoran in Morrowind has a lot of Redoran nobles featured in Dwemer and Ebony armor, and I figured that it would suit the build better to feature a progression in gear, rather than make a Bonemold set, which is basically just lighter steel, and be forced to stick with it throughout the entire game (although that's definitely an option!)

    I'm not sure where the thing with Block is coming from, because I did have 5/5 invested in the Shield Wall perk when it came down to level 50. Your strategy might not include blocking when you're facing down a few lower level bandits, but blocking a few incoming blows from a Centurion or a Giant (with a high enough perk focus) can actually turn the tide of the battle.

    As far as one handed vs. two handed, Ben C. also commented that I was watering down my build too much by giving the reader too many choices. I've already edited a great deal of the wishy washy nature of my creation out of the article, but I'll definitely take that into consideration and feature that in my next edit.

    Thanks for the n00bie like! I'll definitely be taking your input into consideration when I get around to the next major edit.

  • Member
    November 25, 2013

    I was looking around for Dunmer lore that would help me explore the worldview of a dark elf and House Redoran caught my eye with its samurai ethos. This lead me to this build which has everything I wanted to find in terms of a roleplay character and a great primer for someone who has up until now not really cared for Dunmer as a race.

    Having said that, I agree with some of Nelaf's criticisms above to some degree. You have some good pictures, it's well written with a really strong sense of who the character is, but I feel the technicalities of the build are somewhat lacking. It would have been nice to see a bit more about combat and tactics, despite this being a fairly straightforward fighter.

    Despite this, I am going to base my next playthrough on this build as I discover first hand what it means to be a dark elf in modern Tamriel.

  • November 25, 2013
    Chitin armor is also linked to Dunmer in lore, so you might want to add that into progression. Also, it seems that you would be able to get dwarves armor far before bone mold unless you went strait to Soltheim. Still, +1. Keep it up, you definitely have potential.
  • C2
    Member
    November 26, 2013

    Sometimes it's nice to take a step back and play a simple, lore-accurate character. This guy is a blast from the past, and a welcome sight in a community of players accustomed to flash and flare. Your presentation was nice: simple text and flavorful pictures.

    That being said, I would have preferred to see the build focus on Bonemold Armor. With all five ranks of Juggernaut, and Smithing investment, Bonemold will come close to the armor cap without having to upgrade to Dwarven, let alone Ebony. You also include Enchanting and Two handed among your skills, but it is not on your perk spread, nor is it mentioned elsewhere in the build. Listing these as options, then not exploring those options, detracts from your presentation, in my opinion. All things considered, I really like this build. Good job. +1

  • Member
    November 26, 2013
    Although Dwarven Armor works for the build, you can get Improved Bonemold Armor which is actually a little stronger than Dwarven Armor. Also, great build! I have loved the Dunmer since the first day I played Morrowind. Easy +1
  • Member
    November 26, 2013
    To craft/improve Heavy Chitin Armor, you'd have to go up the Light Armor side of the Smithing Tree. Also, Bonemold Armor can be crafted by Lvl 2 if your first perk is Steel Smithing and you collect a lot of Bone Meal in Bleak Falls Barrow. It's probably easier to obtain much earlier than Dwarven Armor.