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Character Build: The Dwarven Thrall

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Juggernaut  #Character Build Warrior  #Rank:Recognized 
  • Member
    September 15, 2013

              As a child, you were always subject to an odd fascination with the Dwemer; their technology, their vast cities, and their incredible, mind-boggling automatons. This fascination, though closer to obsession at this point, lead you to seek out all the knowledge you could scrounge up about them, but the child in you still refused to completely give in to this odd behavior. There were still burning questions you had, though: How they lived, how they disappeared, even how they thought. At a tender age, your thirst for answers finally overtook your will, you left home and set off for Skyrim, where the dwemer marvel Blackreach was located. Your journey was flawless, that is, until the damned Imperials unjustly arrested you.

              Lined up for the execution block, and the time is soon for your mind to be severed from body. As you feel the wind slicing against your face, something miraculous happens; the world stops. Everything in your immediate vicinity has been eerily frozen in a light blue hue. Then he comes to you, the translucent visage of a dwarf in the not-so-living flesh. He speaks to you in a hoarse and concise voice:

              “So, brother, your spirit has finally awoken? Although, it seems like it’ll be put back to rest soon enough.”

              “*chuckles* yes, it has indeed. It’s a pity I was forced into the body of a fool, his capacity for thinking has been so utterly clouded by my souls presence that he’s nothing more than a shell.” Your mouth moves, and a voice lets out, but this voice was not yours, it’s one much like that of the dwarf before you.

              “Well, it doesn't seem like you’ll be forced to coexist with this being much longer. The fool seems to be in the middle of an execution befitting a skeever.”

              With those words, the dwarf vanished. And as he did, the flow of time was restored and the Headsman’s Axe was swiftly swung. Your eyes automatically clamped shut, but the end never came. You once again open your eyes, but to see a gruesome scene. The city has been ignited, there are burnt corpses and injured civilians, but the intolerable ringing inhibits any logical thought to occur. Your feet take you, but you have no knowledge as to where. You’re no longer a person, but a mere puppet to be shaken at the whim of the master that tugs and clips at your strings.

              After your escape from the keep, you find your small victory short-lived. The voice that came from your mouth during the off-putting conversation with the dwarf earlier on comes back:

              “You may not be as useless as I presumed. Now, to my point; you are my slave. You will not have a will of your own, and you will do what I please, when I please it.” Despite your inner refusal, your mouth opens and a vague but undeniable “yes” escapes. It is now time to deal with your inner demon.

    The Dwarven Thrall



    Hey guys!

    This build was the product of an epiphany I had. I've yet to RP anything that happens to be remotely dwarven, so I went into a brainstorm; and I found this amazing RP structure. Which was in fact, something that was originally going to be solely for me, but I found it so immensely fun, that I had to share it. I’ll get to that later though! For the game play portion, there are three paths you can take. I've played one of them for upwards of 45 hours, the second for around 25~ and the third rounds off the cycle with 20 hours.

    NOTE: Neither of the DLCs are necessarily required for 2 of the 3 builds, but they both enhance the play greatly.


    Each path has it’s own restriction in terms of combat, but all of these paths are prohibited from using magic. There is also no restriction on race, play what you feel like playing. Jewelry for every path is restricted to anything golden.


    Path of the Enthralled Centurion:

    You are a centurion, the ultimate in Dwarven animunculi. Your raw strength and heavy defense makes you an incredible force to be reckoned with. Let your foes melt in the steam of your oppression, and seek to destroy.

    Combat Restriction: Two-Handed only.

    Shouts: Elemental Fury, Unrelenting Force

    Major Skills: Two-handed, Heavy Armor, Block

    Minor Skills: Smithing,

    Stone: Lord

    Gear:

    Visage of Mzund (if you have Dragonborn) and all Dwarven armor 

    Dwarven Warhammer


    Special Power: Hatred of Mzund

    Your steam has reached its limit; as you enter a state of overheating, your weapon has reacted and  now swipes, slashes, and smashes at a much more significant speed, all the while you are melting skin from bone with the rest of the excess power.

    Requirements: Elemental Fury + Visage of Mzund

    Level 25 Perks


    Path of the Enthralled Sphere:

    Agile and powerful, your intense focus render all the enemies around you to be slower. You seek to use this speed as a fight or flight mechanism and as such, turn even the most dire of situations in your favor with your selective combat style.

    Combat Restriction: One Handed and Archery only.

    Shouts: Slow Time, Become Ethereal

    Major Skills: One Handed, Archery, Block

    Minor Skills: Smithing, Heavy Armor, 

    Stone: Steed

    Gear:

    All Dwarven

    Dwarven Sword and Dwarven Shield (Aetherial, if you have Dawnguard) and Dwarven Bow (Black Bow of Fate, if you have Dragonborn) with Dwarven Arrows.


    Special Power: Spherical Phocus

    A state of incredible decisiveness surfaces on you. The foes around you have rendered them at a halted speed giving you the precious moments you need to decide the crucial question at hand: “Do I fight, or do I fly?” If the former is your answer, get ready to run to the biggest threat and render him useless, and kill the rest of your foes.. If the latter was your choice, then enter an Ethereal state and jump from the nearest precipice, cliff, or balcony.

    Requirements: Slow Time + Aetherial Shield OR Become Ethereal

    Level 25 Perks


    Path of the Enthralled Ballista: 

    The resistance of a Centurion coupled with the range of a Sphere, your refined dose of death destroys all, and your bolts spare nothing with the explosions of their fiery wrath. What you lack in mobility, you make up for with refusing to fall before your enemy.

    This build is Dawnguard Centric!!

    Combat Restriction: Crossbows only.

    Shouts: Marked for Death, Whirlwind Sprint

    Major Skills: Archery, Heavy Armor

    Minor Skill: Smithing

    Stone: Lady

    Gear:

    All Dwarven

    Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow with Exploding Dwarven Bolts of Fire


    Special Power: Ballistic Power

    Choose the one whose appearance inspires the most animosity from you. Use your frightful appearance and shout his morale to pieces. Then, use a steam-powered dash to place you face to face with him. Smash his temple with your metallic weaponry and end his suffering with a couple of well-placed bolts.

    Requirements: Marked for Death + Whirlwind Sprint + (Enhanced) Dwarven Crossbow

    Level 25 Perks

    NOTE: If you have Dragonborn, I highly recommend getting one of the Steadfast Automatons from Kagrumez, it adds a lot to the fact that you're a slave, like them.

    So, those were our paths, now it’s time for the fun part: The RP.


    You’re personality is your own, but at the same time, it isn’t. The dwarven intruder can control you, and it takes a large amount of power to resist him. You are to do everything the dwarf asks you (EVERY Dwarven quest available) and the only way to do unrelated Main or Faction quests are by acquiring dragon souls and overpowering him for a short time (the only time this can be ignored is up until your fight with the first dragon.) Your character is your own, you can design that backstory, but you should meld it with the backstory I have in place to fully feel immersed in this character. The thought of only being able to do quests YOU want to do after temporarily beating the entity within is incredibly frustrating as well as incredibly immersive at the same time.

    The only thing you absolutely cannot over power is his “Absolute Will” which impedes any attempt at moving from Dwarven items once their acquisition has been accomplished. This “Will” also completely negates any desire you may have for magic, or magic related. You must absorb a greater soul (drop it) if you want to pray at a shrine,  a common soul if you would like to do a side quest, or a lesser soul if you want to do a misc. objective. All of these must be bought or found, mind you.

    A way to spice this up, is by acting as 2 different personas, which is where I found such an immense pleasure in this build. This Dwarven intruder turned out to be too incredibly intellectual for me, and my Centurion's feeble mind eventually melted, and his soul was broken (DiD playthrough)

     

    Ending Notes:

    So, I hope you guys enjoy this nearly as much as I enjoyed it, this was the most fun I've ever had RPing, and I hope you guys can take advantage of the parameters I've established here. The only thing I'm less than proud of is the pictures... I could not find any for the life of me, I was seriously hounding Google images and couldn't find sh*t. There was also another build on here that had some rough similarities with the backstory, but I believe I've done more than enough to set it apart!

     

    Thanks for reading guys and gals!

     

  • Member
    September 25, 2013

    After looking at the paths and fighting some dwarven automatons, I realized that to be more closely depicting a certain archetype, that the weapon did matter, so I changed the Centurion to a warhammer, which is actually what I used in my playthrough, and the sphere to a Sword. If this sounds peculiar to anyone, let me know!

  • Member
    September 26, 2013

    Not bad... Il like.

    Suggestion - have a look in the Skyrim Art Group. If you really get stuck the have a request thread there. GL.

  • Member
    January 11, 2014
    This is definitely a novel take on a Dwemer-related character. I'm a fan of builds that have "companions" - possessing or ancestral spirits, etc. I'm also a fan of builds with multiple paths. What I think I'd like to see is a bit more description of differing gameplay styles for each of the paths. Are there more combat tactics, even if they aren't special moves? Were there different focus quests for each variation? You've got my like, in any case!
  • Member
    January 11, 2014
    Okay... I might try it out because it sounds fun. But so far I'm liking it.
  • Member
    March 27, 2016
    Possession is a fun roleplay idea, I did a possesed character on my own who was a Nord fighter, possessed by the ghost of a skooma addicted kajit begger he had killed before being caught by the imperials red-handed, and carted off to Hellgon. He lost more of himself each time he rested, or waited.
  • March 28, 2016

    Yes well you could use shock magic as dwemer spiders use it.