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Character Build: The Bosmer

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Thief  #Character Build Elementalist  #Rank:Recognized  #Rogue  #Dual-wield 
  • Member
    September 1, 2013

     

     

    The Bosmer

     

    You were born to a small, unknown and unimportant family of Bosmer in a wagon traveling the roads of Skyrim. Your family are known bards in Skyrim, being the talk of anyone who has went to any inn during the time your family spent there. After years of simply traveling and slowly raising money, you hear talk of possibly settling down. But you don’t want to. You like life on the road. The mischief. The fun. You argue and complain, but being young, no less than a very early teen, your complaints are ignored. So you do the one thing you have left to do. You pickpocket your father's key and attempt to open his chest of gold, but alas, he really had changed the lock since last time you had attempted this, so you pick the lock instead. You take as much gold as you can carry in your small pockets, you take in your heavy backpack food, drink, a sleeping roll and a flute, and you hope to eventually come across a lute and drum. You hit the road and lumber away. Early on in life on the road you stumble across a saber cat and are nearly killed, were it not for a lone hunting bow next to the hunter the saber cat just mauled. You pluck an arrow from the quiver and as it lunges you draw back the string and with your tiny little arms you fire the bow, and with either pure dumb luck or incredible skill, you nonetheless strike the cat spot on in its eye. It howls and gallops away.  

     

    It reaches one in the morning and you munch on a sweetroll, illegally swig some mead and “hit the hay.” The next morning, once you’ve awoken, you find yourself in a cave, surrounded by bandits. They roughly pull you to your feet, shove a lute in your hands and tell you to start playing. Obviously you’re scared. But you play anyway. They realize you’re so good that they let you go, and give you a lute they had lying around. You continue on and eventually come to Whiterun, weary, hungry and thirsty. With your last strength you play a song for a free room at the inn, and fall asleep easily. The next morning you become friends with the innkeeper, Hulda. You share some laughs and also steal her gold and pick her pocket. You leave the inn and check out the town. Not the best town, you think, you liked Riften better. It fit you more. Plus it was the home of the Thieves Guild. Ah! The Thieves Guild! You had always wanted to join them! So you buy some supplies, sell off some family heirlooms, say goodbye to Hulda, play one last song, get some gold, and hit the road. You come across Riverwood after a hike, and get a free room after a song at the inn. The next day you head off on the way to Riften, with a gift from people at the stores who took pity on you.

     

    You come across a traveling Khajiit caravan, and you grab a drum from their wagon, an action they did not appreciate, and then run away. After a long week of traveling you reach Riften. It looks just as you remember it.

     

    Dark, dank, disgusting, decrepit, and delightful. It was a bit different from when you first went there. Mainly the fact that the guards were chasing and killing a thief. The guards won.

     

    You walk over to the body, and a couple feet away lies a steel dagger. You snatch it up and walk away. You grab a room at the inn, and in the morning head to the Ratway, with your new dagger. Inside were a couple rats, of course, as well as two bandits. You were sneaky enough and they don’t hear you. You draw your bow, and in one shot snipe one of them square in the neck. The other draws his sword. You sheathe your bow, and bring up your hands. Then the Ratway is lit up with a spark of blue light. You kinda just happened to know a little bit of magic called Sparks. Thanks, traveling Bard-Mage you once met.

     

    The bandit sizzles and crumples to the floor. You continue through the Ratway and enter the Flagon. They all turn their heads. They ask you who you are and why you are there in many different ways. You declare you’re there to join the Guild. They laugh and you blush. They ask you to beat it, and reluctantly you do.

     

    Years pass, you living as a bard in Riften, and eventually, as you get to the age of around twenty, you become an adventurer, and head out into the wilds to fight bandits, get loot, score women, and over the years you have gained more spells and better knowledge of warfare.

     

    And oh yeah, over the years you developed an extreme amount of hormones. Particularly the ones focused on women. You love women.

     

    For many years you travel across all of Tamriel, scoring girls, killing bandits, getting loot, stealing gold and seeing the sights. In Hammerfell you gained quite a bounty. The Alik’r really don’t like you. In the Summerset Isles you didn’t make a name for yourself, but everybody who you stole from has sworn to kill the man who stole from them. 

     

    In Valenwood you actually are kinda liked. As with Elseweyr. But you never touched Black Marsh. The people in Morrowind also hate you. As for Cyrodil, no one knows you, but you did ransack it a bit. You also met a woman. An exquisite woman, named Vivian. She was a healer. You liked her quite a bit more than any of your previous lady friends, but she didn’t exactly like you. You met when you stole her crown of nobility.

     

    After a year or two you and Vivian actually hook up. But then you get a message from a Jarl in Skyrim, Jarl of Whiterun, who is calling you to cash in a debt you owed when you persuaded your way out of jail. You reluctantly leave your girlfriend for Skyrim.

     

    At the border you run into a band of Legionnaire’s, and subsequently pick their pockets. They catch you and haul you in on the prisoner wagon to Helgen, along with their prisoners from their recent ambush. Including, oddly enough, the Stormcloak leader, Ulfric.

     

    You try to persuade your way off the wagon, saying you didn’t deserve death. But the grudge holding crownies refuse to testify and it seems you’re going to be executed with the rest. When all hope seems lost, and you’re on the block, a strange noise echoes in the mountains . . .

     

     

    Enter The Bosmer

     

    The Bosmer is a character build who dabbles in the arts of alchemy as a pastime and hobby. And for that little extra bit of income or the random free room for the night here and there he uses his skills as a bard. But The Bosmer is not just a man of simple, passive trades. By night he is a lying, mischief-causing, stealing prankster with a knack for pickpocketing, lockpicking, and practically all types of thievery or questionably legal activity. And by day he is a handsome, adventuring archer with a silver tongue, reasonable magical capabilities and great skill in dual swordplay. But his weakness lies in his hormones. If, whilst fighting a group of bandits and his eyes come across a pretty female perhaps wearing scantily clothes, his focus shall waver. His lustful eyes will stray and his aim will suffer. But his agility, his magic and his sleight of hand will turn out to be what saves his criminal hide in the end.      

     

    Race               

    Bosmer, for the Archery and Alchemy bonus

    Gender               

    Male,  (if roleplaying, something I would suggest doing) otherwise gender is optional

     

    Main Skill Trees

    Archery: When the enemy is at range and has perhaps not detected you yet, a bow comes in handy.

    Destruction: When the enemy has bypassed all your attempts at killing them, when they are too close, and your bow is no longer an option, dual-casting spells is a powerful fallback.

    One Handed: When your magicka has been depleted, and the enemy still lives and is continuing his onslaught, then dual blades can be a life saver.


    Minor Skill Trees

    Speechcraft: When a merchant is being absurd, and when there's a gorgeous woman around, a silver tongue will prove its worth.  

    Pickpocket: When your eye is attracted to a fat pocket, or your ear perks to a jingling sound, a little sleight-of-hand will fill up your coffers.  

    Lockpicking:  When you lack the key to a locked chest, and your curiosity must be satisfied, a pick and an attention to detail goes a long way. 

    Alchemy: When boredom knocks on the door and not many solutions presents themselves, alchemy is a great pastime and hobby to have. 

    Light Armor: When all else fails, a little armor and a lot of speed goes a long way.

     

    This build relies on roleplay. It is playable without roleplaying, but a few defining features will be unavailable. One such feature is that anytime you get a quest from a female NPC, you should instantly make it your active quest and finish it as quickly as you can. Every time you have even the chance to pickpocket or steal, you should take it.

     

    The Bosmer has no quarrels with lying or cheating, and therefore any non-console command exploits should be used, but not to an insane extent. The Bosmer also found a love of alcohol at rather early age, and as such has ever since kept at least one bottle with him at all times. He is good at sweet-talking and persuasion.

    Alchemy is simply a useful hobby, and a skill that shouldn’t really be high, (at level forty it should be around twenty/thirty whereas other minor skills should be your level if not higher, with the major skills being around the sixty/eighty range.)

     

    Necessary Non-Guild Quests:

    All viable female-given quests

    Main Questline, mainly for shouts and Dragonbane, but also for roleplaying purposes; he would love all the attention of being Dragonborn! 

    All Daedric Quests

    Degaine in Markarth’s Misc Quest, he would’ve done the same thing Degain did

    The Forsworn Conspiracy. Saving Margret is a must; it’s something he would do.

    No one Escapes Cidhna Mine, the option of whether you side with the Forsworn or not being up to you

    Any Gold Giving Misc Quests

     

    Necessary Guild Quests:

    Thieves Guild, up to the achievement you get once you restore the Guild

    College of Winterhold

    The Companions guild is optional, just cure your lycanthropy

     

    The Civil War shouldn’t be done, he wouldn’t care

    You should also NOT marry. The Bosmer isn't a one lady guy.

     

    Early Equipment:

    Light Armor Set (Fur to Glass) 

    Robes of Destruction

    Any sort of ring with a magicka/destruction/sneak/one handed/archery enchant

    Same with the necklace

    Dual-wield Elven swords

    Any sort of Bow

    End Game Equipment:

    Nightingale Set

    Archmage Robes

    Any sort of ring with a magicka/destruction/sneak/one handed/archery enchant

    Same with the necklace

    Dragonbane and Nightingale Blade

    Nightingale Bow

    Unique Powers

    Dangerous Reflexes

    Wall of Storms + Slow Time

    Arcane Bomb

    Lightning Storm + Dismay

    A Thousand Bolts

    Dual Sparks/Chain Lightning + Marked for Death

    Blades of Fury

    Elemental Fury + Duel Wield double power attacks

    Shock and Awe

    Lightning Cloak + Dismay + Nightingale Strife

    Gameplay:

    As a magic using, duel-wielding Bosmer archer with a knack for sweet-talking, theft and games, you naturally will have the mind of a child, and thus, not much patience. So if you stumble upon anything curious, or find a bandit camp, you would naturally have to take a look.   If encountering enemies at a distance, your bow would be the go-to. You sneak skill wouldn't really come into play hear, because as The Bosmer has little patience, sneaking would take too long. But if the sneak was fun then using it would be allowed. (I.e: if you are in a sneaky position where you can shoot, hit, sneak behind a corner and hear the famous "must've been my imagination")

    Once you are detected you can get as many shots off as you can, (if you're a high level and lazy with this build just use your archery perks and run around with a drawn bow and just keep shooting, it actually works, trust me) then switch to dual sparks or, assuming you're at a higher level, chain lightning, and just start blasting the heck out of your enemies. If they get to close, pull out Dragonbane and the Nightingale blade, or any other weapons you have, as long as they are quick, powerful and you have two. If you are dangerously low on health, run (The Bosmer doesn't have any honor, so running isn't dishonorable) or alternatively use the Shock and Awe power.

      Low Level

    At Helgen you should choose Ralof or Hadvar completely at random. Once out you should split off from your companion, head by the Guardian Stones and grab either the Mage or Thief stone, depending on what part of the skill tree you want to focus on in the beginning. Mage is good, because Destruction gets much harder to use later in the game. Once you get to Riverwood, sell your junk off, get the Golden Claw quest, and help out Faendal. Once  you do, make him your companion and use the train and trade the gold back exploit as much as you can, getting archery and levels up quick. Every four level ups, two should go into Magick and one in stamina, then one in health. 

    Keep him with you until you max his training out or you find no more use of him and your archery levels up on it's own. Head to Riften as soon as possible, hopefully avoiding most Bandits and combat in the early levels. Get in the Thieves Guild and gain the favor of Mjoll. Keep doing odd jobs and a few quests in the main and Thieves guild lines  as well as fight some bandits until you're level thirteen/fifteen, then do Mjoll's quest and have her as a follower. 

    You should go get in the College now. At this point you should be around level seventeen. Once you get in the college help out and do the quests up until you have to get the staff, then finish off the Thieves Guild quest and do some Companions things if you want. Then you should be around level thirty. 

    Higher Level 

    Archery is now nearly impossible to fail with, and you can basically kill anyone, so at this time, at level thirty you should start initiating the rest of the Main questline and finishing it. By this point Archery should be almost 100, too, so you should focus a bit more on Destruction. 

     

    Mods that work well with this build:

    SkyRe:  I shouldn't have to explain this. 

    Character Creation Overhaul – Races – Classes - Skills: It's a good compromise to SkyRe.

    A Hypothetical Treachery – Destruction Remastered: Also a good substitute for Skyre.

    Remasters the destruction tree, allowing you to become a wizard with a specialty in one of the three element (you should focus on Shock)

    De Rerum Dirennis – Alchemy Remastered: If you don' want SkyRe.

    Any sort of Companion mod, The Bosmer loves people.

    Dovahkiin Relaxes Too:  Because everyone needs to crash.

    Disguise your Crimes

    Armor Disguises

    Wear Robes over Armor: Very useful so you can wear the Archmage robes over the Nightingale armor.

    Bosmer Armor Packs: A good alternative if you don’t like the Nightingale for whatever reason

    Playable Flute Lute and Drum: Essential for the bard roleplay

    Shenk Thievery Overhaul: Makes the thievery part more worthwhile

    The Daggers of Asganoth: An alternative weapons solution to Dragonbane and the Nightingale Blade

    Larceny – Pickpocketing Remastered: Alternative to SkyRe. Makes Pickpocketing tree better

    Bandolier – Bags and Pouches: Cause why not? It looks cool, and it’s useful!

    Midas Magic: Makes the destruction tree more fun.

    Magic Duel: Magic is more fun now!

    Player Statue: After defeating the first dragon, you can now pay a sculptor to make a statue of you! Cause The Bosmer totally would!

     

    Comments, constructive criticism, feedback, cake and lurve all appreciated!

    Remember, my first build!  

  • Member
    September 1, 2013
    Title should be Chracter Build: The Elven Oddity
  • Member
    September 1, 2013

    Fix'd.

  • Member
    September 2, 2013

    Perhaps a few pictures to break up the wall of text but I like the backstory it is a bit long though. You already know you need a gameplay section. Still+1 from me.

  • September 2, 2013

    Now "corpsify" is going to become a verb. Your fault.

  • Member
    September 2, 2013

    Lol. :P

  • Member
    January 11, 2014

    I don't really like archery builds, but out of all the builds in deathmatch, I think this one deserves to live the most. +1 from me.

  • Member
    January 11, 2014

    Wait, Deathmatch? Does that mean if I lose my build is deleted? :P

  • January 11, 2014

    Yes.