Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Woodlander

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Scout  #Character Build Werewolf  #Race:Bosmer  #Rank:Legendary 
  • Member
    December 9, 2013

    I personally have always been a fan of anything that involves the outdoors. I tend to stay inside in the winter though and play Skyrim! Scroll to the bottom to turn off the woodland music if you don't like it just added it to the build because it sounded cool while reading it. Sorry for posting this build so close to my last build, but this guy is actually a revamped build I did a play through with a few months back and is quite possibly the most fun I have had to date even over my newer builds, this is probably because the build relates to my actual life. I wanted to kind of bring myself into the world of Skyrim and have some fun with it. The result was,

    "The Joy is great of him who strays in shady woods on summer days, with eyes alert and muscles steady, his long-bow strung, his arrows ready."

    Determined to escape the civil life of Skyrim you abandoned your family, friends, and warm shelter to seek out your true calling to become the ultimate survivalist. The everyday life of Skyrim has grown overwhelming to you over the years with so many laws to follow, working everyday just to keep up with your bills, and trying to keep everyone else happy. The population is expolding and becoming to much for you to handle, its almost impossible to walk outside of your door now without being over whelmed by a crowd. You are not a man that is fond of crowds especially ones infested with rude, disrespectful people.

    It is time to make yourself happy and do what you have always wanted to do, leave the hustle and bustle of a commoner's life and set out on your own adventure, make your own rules, and live entirely off the land. You have become a skilled hunter, using the skin and fur of your kills to obtain shelter, armor, and food.

    Nature provides you with everything you need to sustain a healthier life than those of the city, they eat their food not knowing where it came from, what is in it, or who has touched it. With natures gifts you can create your own foods and drinks as you become a skilled alchemist able to create potions beyond any man's comprehension. With your bow and your dagger you have became an unstoppable force of nature.

    The Build

    Race: Bosmer Werewolf (Wood Elf) I choose this race for Command Animal.

    Stone: The Thief Stone early on then The Lady Stone

    Major Skills: Archery, One Handed, Light Armor

    Minor Skills: Block, Sneak, Alchemy

    Weapons: Assorted bows and daggers. Zephyr, Bow of the Hunt, Glass Bow of the Stag Prince, Blade of Woe, Mehrunes' Razor, Valdr's Lucky Dagger, Nettlebane, and any enchanted Elven or Glass Dagger. Stag Prince and Blade of Woe ended up being my main weapons.

    Equipment: Savior's Hide, Stormcloak Officer HelmetForsworn Gauntlets and Forsworn Boots. Fur or Leather look good to. (Optional Stormcloak Officer Armor set), Hircine's Ring and enchanted ring of choice,Kyne's Token, or enchanted necklace of choice.. Assorted shields Auriel's Shield, Shield of Solitude, and Targe of the Blooded.

    Shouts: Animal Allegiance, Bend Will, Call Dragon, Clear Skies, Kyne's Peace, Slow Time, Throw Voice.

    Passive Effects: Agent of Mara, Ancient Knowledge, Sinderion's Serendipity

    Blessing:  Blessing of Auriel

    Overview

    I love the thought of living off the land with nothing to worry about except your own survival. Running around hunting food and ingredients for your alchemy use is just so fun.

    The Woodlander is overflowing with knowledge of the wilderness, from basic survival skills to the most complex of alchemy recipes to keep himself alive in the wild. Living together with nature for so long has also given you the honor of beast-mastery, animals of every kind have become familiar with you and your scent and have become somewhat of a family to you, they provide you with food, shelter, weapons and armor. With this alliance you are able to call upon your animal friends in your time of need and without hesitation they spring into action and defend you with their lives.

    Living amongst the wolves and learning their way of life has slowly evolved you into one of their own. As your temper flares in a heated battle you lose control of your human emotions and transform into a powerful werewolf devastating all who cross your path.

    Physically you are muscular and strong from the years of hard work living off the land, but yet you wear light armor made from the hides and fur of your trophies to remain agile and silent as you move throughout the woods in search of another meal.

    The reason I stayed with a bow and dagger is because they are simple weapons that are easy to make in the wild. Becoming a master with these two weapons is a deadly combination.

    Level 50 Perk Placement

    "Go afield with a good attitude, with respect for the forest and fields in which you walk. Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience. It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person."

    Stat Placement: Magicka 0 – Health 2 – Stamina 1

    To survive in the wild you have to be able to hunt for food at a distance. After years of practice with a bow you have become unmatched in the art of archery. Using your speed and your expert knowledge of alchemy to create deadly poisons you are able to take out an enemy without a single head turning.

    Being able to block an incoming attack was first priority when you set out to live in the wild. You knew without a shield you would be bear food in a matter of minutes. Using the hide from rabbits you have slain for food and collected over time and wood you have crafted shields worthy enough to save you from enemy attacks. You also obtain a shield called Auriel's Shield from a legendary forest you had heard rumors about containing a worthy foe carrying this very shield, you must defeat this foe and loot the shield from it's body.

    Years of hunting for food as turned you into an undetectable machine able to sneak up to and past anything you please. This also has made your attacks much more powerful with both your bow and your dagger due to the fact you can sneak up on an enemy and kill them before they have the chance to put up their defenses.

    When things get confined and you are unable to use your bow you switch to your dagger and shield combo. Bash the enemy and paralyze them with a swift swing of your dagger rendering them defenseless.

    Alchemy has become an everyday thing to you. Each day you collect your needed ingredients and create potions to heal and poisons to kill.

    Wearing your light armor over time has allowed you to learn its properties in and out. You have learned how to obtain maximum defense with even the thinnest of fur and leather. You have became a fast moving agile killing machine able to avoid attacks with your lightning speed.

    Game Play

    "Walk softly and carry a bent stick."

    You are a loner that wanted to escape the civil life so conversations in cities are a bare minimum. Usually you will only be in cities to use a convenient alchemy lab. Since most of your equipment will be found out and about money is not really important to you, but if the need comes you can also use the cities to buy and sell what you need if needed. You are not an evil or a criminal by any means, you are actually a very nice person and try to help who you can if the opportunity presents itself.

    You have no companions other than your hunting dog Sceolang from Dawnguard. This will go along with the nature them of the build but they really do make great companions. Along with your dog companion you will also have a horse as your fellow huntsman. On your way to kill the Ice Wrath at the beginning of the stormcloak civil war mission directly north of Windhelm after you pass Snow Veil Sanctum there is a uninhabited hunters camp with a white and black horse that is free for your taking. Use Faendal as a companion, and have him train you in archery. Since he’s your companion, you can pay him for the training and just take back all the money from his inventory without penalty then after you have leveled split ways with him. You can also do this with the Companions once the Companions' quest line is complete.

    You join up with the Dawnguard only because of your pure hate for vampires. Vampires feed on the wild animals of which you depend on to survive each day in the wild. It has become hard for you to find even a small rabbit to cook for a meal each day. You become determines to wipe out the entire vampire population.

    As far as adventuring goes you will explore every dungeon and cave you encounter to either inhabit it or rid it of it's inhabitants if they are of an evil nature or hostile toward you. All game animals are there for you to use for your own resources, kill them whenever you need a meal or more supplies to make shelter, food, or weapons out of.

    I ended up making my home the laboratory in Blackreach. It fits the role play amazingly and I just filled it up with ingredients and pelts.

    Essential Quests: Hunter and Hunted(Valdr's Lucky Dagger), Lost to the Ages(Zephyr), Companions, Dawnguard, Dragonborn, Stormcloaks, Ill Met by Moonlight(Savior's Hide and Hircine's Ring) both the ring and hide can be obtained by helping Sinding kill the hunters, leaving the grotto to receive the ring, then going back inside the grotto, killing Sinding, skinning him and receiving the Savior's Hide, The Blessings of Nature(Nettlebane), Composure, Speed, And Precision, Rare Gifts, Ysolda's Shipment, and the Main Storyline.

    "Cheerily blow the bugle horn in the cool green woods of morn; loose the hounds and let them go, wax the cord and bend the bow."

    Battle Tactics

    Most of the time you can take out the average enemy by sneak attacking them with your bow coated with your preferred poison. If the enemy is facing you shoot a decoy arrow, and your targets will look at where the arrow hit (like a wall or the ground). Then, as your enemies turn their backs, you can sneak-shot them for the x3 extra damage.

    If you see you are coming up on a higher level enemy the best tactic I have found since in most cases you will not be able to one shot them is to poison your arrow with weakness to poison and when the enemy charges toward you switch to your shield and dagger, poison your dagger with your strongest poison and start swinging. If the enemy becomes over powering you always have your disarming bash perk or as your blood begins to boil you can transform into the ultimate killing machine and destroy anything in your path.

    You also have the option of using your shouts to your advantage call upon and animal ally in your time of need or cast Slow Time and use your superhuman like agility to swing your dagger so fast that time itself seems to slow down. If a hostile animal becomes to much just use Kyne's Peace to calm the foe and strike it down while it is defenseless. Throw Voice can also help you out of a hard battle just cast it and watch enemies search for the new target as you sneak shot them from behind.

    Use your master alchemy skills to make potions to fortify your light armor, one handed, and archery skills. Use it also to create deadly poisons that are capable of paralyzing the strongest of foes. My preferred poisons are the paralysis poison, slow, damage health, weakness to poison, frenzy for when I stumble upon multiple foes just shoot the strongest enemy and watch from the shadows as he destroys his allies.

    In Conclusion

    As stated at the beginning this is probably the most fun I have had in Syrim to date even surpassing my more recent builds in overall satisfaction. The build relates to me in real life as I am a entomologist and an outdoor enthusiast. It was a blast using nature to sustain my character and not relying on a lot of leveling or money. I actually have more game play time in this character than I do in any of my other builds, atm I am at 98 hours of game play and still loving it. I have lots more to do so time for me to get back to playing The Woodlander, thank you all for reading my build and as always criticism is welcomed with open arms as I will always take it constructively and try to make my build the best as I can with the help that I receive. Also on a side note before it gets mentioned, I know of the glitches with the werewolf and alchemy loop. I prefer not to use glitches so this is up to you I am not even gonna mention how these can be done or what they are. I love the Glass Bow of the Stag Prince, it is an amazing addition to the role play part of the build because it actually keeps count of how many animals you have killed kind of like scratching an X on your old rifle. Just view the bow in your inventory and it shows how many animals you have killed.

    Also be sure to check out my other builds in my profile http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/profile/ParoXitiC


  • Member
    December 9, 2013

    Quite a nice build you got here! +1

  • Member
    December 9, 2013

    Always enjoy a good Bosmer build-I run mods, but adapting this to the ones I use will really make it enjoyable! +1

  • Member
    December 9, 2013

    Why thank you. It was and still is a blast to play. Thank you for the +1!

  • Member
    December 9, 2013
    Really enjoyed this build, it reminds me of a wood elf version of that redhead with the companions (yes, I know I should know her name. Maybe its alea?) Anyways, its full of tons of RP potential :) might try it out
  • Member
    December 9, 2013

    Glad you enjoyed the build. You got the companion name close, her name is Aela . Thank you for the +1!

  • Member
    December 10, 2013

    Hope you enjoy the build. Would like to see some screen shots with your mods if possible. Thank you for the +1!

  • December 10, 2013
    I abandon my family , friends and warm shelter to go hunting/fishing all the time, +1 a build I can relate with , I might have to give my guy an unperked crappy enchantment on the dagger though so I can name it survival knife.
  • December 10, 2013
    How did you get the glass bow of Hircine without pickpocketing?
  • December 10, 2013
    I might choose to play this as a khajiit or nord... As much as I like bosmer... They just look god awful in this game