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Contest Build: The Daedra Seducer

Tags: #Vampire  #Summoner  #Character Build Mage  #Character Build Illusionist  #Character Build Vampire  #Rank:Mythic  #Contest Silver  #Hall of Fame Build  #Race:Altmer  #Contest1  #Enchanter  #Daedra  #Dawn  #Mythic  #Seducer 
  • Tim
    Member
    July 15, 2013

    *If you don’t want to hear the music, scroll down to the embedded video at the bottom and click pause

     

     

     

     

    “Never accept a freely given gift from a summoned dremora”

    -A Tragedy in Black

     

    Cyrodiil, 3E 433

    Psylia could hardly contain her excitement, she would finally show that bastard Harrow what she was truly worth. Perhaps it was simply giving the new girl a hard time, or maybe as a Dunmer he resented all high elves. Even if it was simple malevolence, the warden of the Mehrunes Dagon’s shrine would soon learn not to lord his authority over his initiates. This will have him shaking in his boots!

    It all started when curiosity got the better of her during a visit from the Master’s daughter, Ruma. The Camoran woman had been pouring over dusty tomes late into the night and fell asleep at the desk. Psylia had carefully approached when nobody was watching and taken a peek at what Ruma was working on. It was a translation of an ancient page from some obscure magical language. Much to her delight it detailed a ritual for summoning a Daedra, specifically, one that specialized in luring men to their doom. She hastily copied down the translation and left before being noticed.

    Today she had finally gathered all the required supplies and set up a summoning circle in a secluded spot within the Lake Arrius caverns. The final stage was to cast the spell. It took all of her energy, but Psylia was able to pull it off due to the purity of her Altmer blood and a few magical trinkets she had discovered in her travels.

    The invasion starts today! she thought. There was a flash of blue light and then a monstrous winged Daedra emerged, then instantly morphed into a stunningly beautiful woman. Psylia was momentarily awestruck but she soon regained her composure and spoke in the most authoritative tone that the young high elf could muster.

    “Daedra! I summoned you to this realm and you must do as I command!”

    The creature’s wings folded and her visage shifted to a new form, taking on the guise of a beautiful human woman.

    She smirked but sweetly replied, “Of course mistress, I live to serve. What is your bidding?”

    Psylia was overjoyed. It worked! That snivelling warden won’t know what hit him, she thought, grinning.

    “Follow me, we have work to do!”

    The daedra held up a hand and Psylia paused, curious about what it wanted to say. The creature simply said “Catch!” and tossed a small gemstone through the air. Psylia instinctively grabbed the item from the air. The second her hand closed around the object, the monster lunged forward on leathery wings and tore open the throat of the young Mythic Dawn initiate. As blood gushed from her neck, the last thing Psylia would ever hear was laughter...

     

    Overview: Hi everyone, I hope you all enjoy my submission to the first character building contest ever! So the basic idea of this flips around being a Vampire Lord. The winged monster is your true form and your human, elf or beast race body is a magical disguise that allows you to blend into society. Lesser daedra have always intrigued me and I wanted to explore this Daggerfall enemy. This concept is going for a sort of succubus vibe, a devilish woman who lures men in with her beauty and then strikes. I also wanted to try being a (mostly) pure mage, something I hadn’t done in a while. Furthermore, to challenge myself I decided to put the difficulty up to Legendary. I will admit, there are some pretty overpowered tricks that I applied, but bear in mind that this was my first foray into Legendary mode. I had a blast learning all of the magic schools and being able to pull out many different effects on a whim. And I died... a lot. So without further ado, here is the build!

     

    Roleplay: You are a Daedra Seducer who was brought to Nirn during the Oblivion Crisis. When Martin Septim became the avatar of Akatosh and defeated Mehrunes Dagon, he sealed this plane off from the realms of Oblivion. Whether summoned individually or part of the invading forces, you have become trapped on the mortal plane. Most daedra were hunted and killed, but the shrewd illusionists and shapeshifters were able to slip into Tamriel’s society undetected. While some daedra would wish to return home, the Daedra Seducer relishes the opportunity to bend mortal wills and earn influence within their society. In the Deadlands you were rigidly bound to a single caste but in the realms of mortals you have the ability to constantly increase your power and authority. Mortal lives mean nothing to you, but subtlety is your best ally, so don’t go around murdering everyone. Trick mortals into following you with unswerving loyalty and use them to protect you, as being separated from your home plane for many years has taken its toll on your body. Let mortal men beware, behind the kind and beautiful mask of illusion lies a true monster.

    “Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by a pretty face.” -Kematu

     

    Skills: 20|40|60

     

    1. Illusion: The premise of the build revolves around this skill as your mortal form is magical trickery. This is your primary skill and really comes in handy on the harder difficulties, turning enemies against each other or scaring them off to buy yourself space. At higher levels you can use it to disappear completely which is quite helpful for getting the drop on enemies or hiding when in a tight spot. Aspect of Terror perk will supercharge your flame spells when added to Augmented Flames, giving you lots of stopping power on higher difficulties. Quiet Casting allows you to lurk in the shadows while minions and summoned creatures draw the enemy fire.

     

    1. Conjuration: As a daedra, your connection to the planes of Oblivion is very strong. This will be your second most important skill. The focus is on summoning allies, particularly on atronachs and later, dremora lords. Bound weapons are useful for soul trapping, and will do even more damage when you get sneak attack perks and use potent enchanted items to boost the corresponding skill. Apply found poisons to them for some extra power. Using the glitch listed below to get Summon Gargoyle in human form is a lot of fun, especially when combined with the Amulet of the Gargoyle.

     

    1. Alteration: This is a zero armor rating build that relies solely on flesh spells for physical defense. Get to the Mage Armor perks as quickly as possible because that is the only thing protecting you from non-magical attacks. Though your follower will be tanking you can’t always avoid getting hit. Later on Paralysis is a godsend against tough opponents like giants and Detect Life is useful when you’re ninja-ing about.

     

    1. Enchanting: Having magic items is incredibly helpful on higher difficulties. Use them to aid in mitigating the sun’s effects and increase your magicka pool. I kept some item sets that improve one-handed and archery for use with bound weapons. This also will increase the power of sneak attacks. A great trick for getting some emergency magicka is to hotkey or d-pad map a magicka boosting item and quickly add and remove the item. This trick saved my ass countless times when coupled with Fast Healing. Augmented Flames and Aspect of Terror stack with Flame Enchanter, so keep a weapon of your choosing with a flame enchantment for those tight spots when you’re low on magicka.

     

    1. Destruction: The focus is on flame spells as this is the most destructive type of spell and you hail from the Deadlands, a realm of fire and lava. As mentioned, Aspect of Terror will stack with Augmented Flames to keep even lower level spells fairly effective throughout. Impact is very helpful for keeping enemies at bay and buy you time to cast a new spell or escape if necessary.

     

    1. Restoration: This skill is a great help for mitigating the sun’s effects. Respite returns your stamina to you and Recovery helps to ensure a steady magicka pool. The famous Necromage perk will generally improve your potency which is particularly helpful for raising the level cap on Illusion spells.

     

    1. Sneak: Only three perks are taken here so that you can gain massive benefits from sneak attacking and take full advantage of your vampiric stealth boost. Once Illusion is sufficiently high you can cast the Invisibility spell and crouch in the midst of combat to gain a sneak attack. Ingesting vampire dust is also a great way to achieve on-the-fly sneak attacks. As mentioned, combining enchanted items that boost the corresponding weapon skill will add more strength to your sneak attacks despite lack of combat training.



    Gameplay: You are basically a walking swiss army knife of spells, cycle through them using whatever you see fit for a given situation. If one approach doesn’t work, try a different spell combo. That said you will almost always want to make sure you activate an Alteration fles spell for protection. Your strongest magical focus should be on Illusion as this is what the roleplay revolves around. The one aspect that deviates from magic is stealth. Use a found poison on a bound sword with the Shrouded Hand Wraps and add an enchanted ring necklace combo to boost One-Handed for maximum damage at epic level. Your follower and summoned creature can be excellent distractions allowing you to go for the sneak attack. It can also be great to unload a cascade of fire magic or spawn a conjured ally from a hidden position once Quiet Casting is acquired. Use Whirlwind Sprint to move about silently and control your position on the battlefield. Vampire Lord form is of course, highly powerful and since it is your true form for this roleplay, don’t be shy on the shapeshifting when you are outside of civilized areas and all witnesses can be slaughtered.

     

    Race: Altmer is the obvious choice given their magicka boost. The Highborn racial power is quite helpful in any situation and will grant a steady stream of magicka when out during daylight hours. One cool trick I liked was using Highborn right before transforming into a vampire lord. They also get Fury as a starting spell which allows you to dive right into Illusion.

    Nord and Imperial have excellent illusion based special powers, which can buy you room to transform into your true form or escape. The Breton racial ability will impede summoning but is still quite useful to a pure mage, so weight that choice if this is your preferred race. Dark Elves have some useful skill boosts and a racial ability that befits a creature from the Deadlands, so they are also a strong candidate

    One minor but somewhat relevant issue is that some races get a dirty face when feeding is neglected. This is purely cosmetic, but since the roleplay calls for an attractive woman I found it off-putting. High elves don’t have this problem, which is another reason I preferred Altmer.

     

    Stats: 1|1|0 Stamina is not included because you will always have a thrall (follower) to carry your gear and you need lots of magicka to wield your vast arsenal of spells. Health was very important for me on Legendary, so even though magicka is crucial, I kept them both about the same.

     

    Equipment: Until you reach 100 in Enchanting, focus on magic enhancing gear however you see fit. While creating this build I stumbled upon something very interesting: the Amulet of the Gargoyle is enchantable! This is a very useful find because not only does it maintain the base effect of summoning two gargoyles, but also whatever you enchant it with applies to Vampire Lord form. This exploit makes using that form much more viable in the daylight as you can improve your magicka regeneration. Check out the link in the Tips & Tricks section to use Summon Gargoyle in human form. I switched some of the gear out like the gloves and circlet/hood depending on the situation. This was my endgame gear:

     

    Seducer’s Circlet

    Fortify Magicka + Fortify Magicka Regeneration

     

    Amulet of the Seducer

    (Enchanted Gargoyle Amulet)

    Fortify Magicka + Resist Fire

     

    Tavern Clothes

    Fortify Magicka Regen + Fortify Health

     

    Mythic Dawn Gloves

    Fortify Magicka + Fortify Stealth

     

    Boots

    Fortify Stealth + Resist Fire

    2nd pair with Fortify Stealth + Fortify One-handed

    for use with Bound Sword Sneak Attacks



    Ring of the Erudite

     

    Shrouded Hand Wraps

    For use with Bound Sword Sneak Attacks

     

    Shrouded Hood

    When stealth is needed

     

    Followers: The Daedra Seducer is capable of bending mortal wills to her own. I generally went for men to add to the RP of using the illusion of being an attractive woman who entrances males. Your follower will protect you with his life and give you time to cast various spells to steer the flow of combat. You can participate directly or use illusions and conjurations and sit back. The versatility of being a pure mage makes for a lot of variety

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    The Seducer ensnares a hapless warrior by dominating his mind

     

    Standing Stone: I have fun with the Serpent Stone, as snakes parallel the predatory nature of the Daedra Seducer. Other strong contenders are the Lord and Lady, both of which aid survivability. The Shadow is fun but becomes less useful once the Invisibility spell is unlocked. The Atronach can be tempting but I avoided it due to its negative effect on summoning.

     

    Key Shouts: The focus is on Illusion and shapeshifting oriented shouts. Dismay, Animal Allegiance, Become Ethereal, Whirlwind Sprint, Slow Time, Soul Tear, Bend Will, Kyne’s Peace

     

    Vampirism: While the Daedra Seducer isn’t supposed to be of vampiric blood, it is the mechanic I used to emulate shapeshifting into a winged beast. The Seducer is separated from her home plane and is weakened by years of living in an environment that is unnatural to a daedra. This explains the weakness to sunlight and vulnerability to fire.

     

    Quests:

    Daedric Quests are a natural fit for this character as the Daedra Seducers are aligned with several different Daedra, particularly Azura, Meridia, Nocturnal, Sanguine, Sheogorath, and Mehrunes Dagon. While many of the Daedric artifacts fall outside the Seducer’s skill set, they can be given to your follower.

    The Volkihar Side of Dawnguard is a no-brainer as this build revolves around changing to and from Vampire Lord form.

    The College of Winterhold will help you acquire the necessary spells and magical training. The Seducer’s goal is to gain power in Tamriel, so the College is a natural choice as magic is a great tool for acquiring influence. This will also give access to the Atronach Forge, a great way to make equipment for followers, spell tomes, staves and can even be used to bring forth hostile Dremora who can be raised using the Dead Thrall spell (only up to level 46)

    The Dark Brotherhood is a good choice because all Daedra were derived from Padomaic influence, so serving Padomay, also known as Sithis, is a natural choice. The Seducer revels in spilling mortal blood and contracts are a great way to earn money for purchasing spell tomes. It’s good to join as soon as possible to get the free robes and some armor for your follower if they use light armor (mine was Faendal)

    The Thieves Guild makes a lot of sense for a Daedra Seducer as a master of disguise. Furthermore, having underworld connections is an excellent way to expand your influence in Tamriel. Though the Seducer would normally just kill the owner she enjoys the challenge of using only cunning to acquire wealth and power. Nocturnal is one of the Daedra Lords that Dark Seducers serve.

    Civil War is useful for destabilizing the powers that be and thereby expand her own power. To accomplish this, the Seducer will support the Stormcloaks. Who knows when an alliance with an army of angry Nords will come in handy?

    Daggerfall’s Description: These are scantily-clad, feminine Daedra that may sprout green membranous wings. They are about equivalent in power to the Dremora, and are, like them, divided into many castes. They are powerful spell casters and can only be harmed by mithril or better weapons. Seducers are found in service of many Daedra Princes, notably Azura, Meridia, Nocturnal, Sanguine, Sheogorath, and even Mehrunes Dagon.



    Tips & Tricks:

    One nice trick is to kill Nirya at the College of Winterhold to acquire an Expert Robe of Destruction. Once you obtain Quiet Casting and Aspect of Terror, it’s easy to use fire spells to kill her while she sleeps. You will have to pay a fine to Tolfdir, but it is well worth the expense. You can also get an Apprentice Robe of Restoration and Apprentice Hood by starting the Molag Bal quest. These items were easy to get came in handy before I got to 100 Enchanting and could make my own.

    Lesser Ward can block any level of dragon breath. Use this spell or Spellbreaker to help you survive dragon encounters, especially the fire-breathing ones.

    If you’re quick and make good use of followers and the Fury spell, you can snatch Bolar’s Oathblade from Bloated Man’s Grotto at very low levels. Take the right path to gain access to the blade quickly, hopping up on the rocks can help to avoid some creatures. The Fear effect on this sword can come in handy in a tight spot.

    Check out the Skill Levelling Guide by Twisted Orthrus for some handy tips that increase your magic skills quickly

    Be sure to check out Brynjolf’s posting about using Vampiric Grip, Summon Gargoyle, etc. in human form, this was a fun trick that made my playthrough more entertaining

     

    Also check out my other builds:

    The Nord Warmage

    The Knight

    The Battlelord of Ebonarm

     

    I’d like to thank the judges and the other competitors for all of the work they’ve put into this. Regardless of who wins, we all got to have fun playing a ton of Skyrim =D

     

     

  • Member
    July 15, 2013

    Has this been posted before?  I had a serious case of Deja Vu while reading this...

    Anyhoo,

    Could probably change this characters name to Overpowered McGee.  Seems like a build that would be super fun for a while but I'd probably get bored really quick as there doesn't seem like there would be any real challenge once this build gets going.  Are there certain enemies that gave you problems?  We all know that double dremora lords is the Panacea for all ails and fully perked out Illusion is basically an auto-win for most situations. I think everyone has played a character like this at some point, if for no other reason than to run around feeling like a god (which is fitting for this character's story).

    I do have to give you props for the idea of murdering Nirya, I honestly have never thought of doing that yet it makes so much sense...she's annoying as all hell and those are some epic robes for a new character starting out! 

  • Tim
    Member
    July 15, 2013

    As far as I know it hasn't been posted before, I searched the blog and couldn't find anything.

    I guess double Dremora Lords is kinda pushing it, I just wanted to have the Oblivion invasion vibe. If you're feeling too OP, go pick fights with fire breathing dragons at stage 4 vampirism during the daytime. As I said, if one approach isn't working for you try another, and that can also go for feeling too powerful, try using only bound swords for a while for instance. It's designed for Legendary so I pulled out all the stops, I suppose I wouldn't recommend this playstyle for every build, but it is sometimes fun to feel like a god.

    Maybe I should've started out by saying "this one goes out to all the noobs" =p

  • July 15, 2013

    I too received the feeling of déjà vu....strange....

  • July 15, 2013
    I wanted to make a character build just like this, and you executed it far greater than I would have. +1
  • Member
    July 15, 2013

    There's a build from a little over the year ago titled the Succubus. That may be what's causing the déjà vu...

    But I swear at one point there was a build that revolved around seducing... 

    Edit: I just checked my history for other occurrences of me visiting the Succubus page, Chrome insists I've only been there three times, all today. I think we are all just crazy... 

  • ICE
    Member
    July 15, 2013

    Im going to play this now +1

  • Tim
    Member
    July 15, 2013

    Thanks for the like! Also thanks for your thread on using VL powers in human form, it made this playthrough much more interesting, especially with the Amulet of the Gargoyle trick I discovered

  • July 15, 2013
    To be honest, the gameplay seems like it might border on being a little too standard Mage for me, BUT, with that said... the roleplay is just fucking stellar. I really like the idea of using Vampire Lord form to roleplay something else entirely. So simple an idea yet so easy to overlook. A Daedric beast masquerading as a seductive beeyotch is a great concept and I can't help but chuckle at how many of us went the two form route, myself included. Great minds, if I may be so cocky! Tim, you instantly shot into contention as a favorite build-maker of mine with your Knight and didn't disappoint with this one either. Yet another build I could see taking the win here. Though, I must say, I'd never ever balance a character around the joke that is the Legendary difficulty, and this one might have ended up a little more streamlined and thus less full-blown Mage-esque were it played on a more reasonable setting. Minor qualm though! Kudos to you for yet more stiff competition for me!
  • Tim
    Member
    July 15, 2013

    That does look quite a bit like mine, maybe you're right. Could chrome have possibly erased a previous visit for some reason?