"We ARE friends, but I'm a sellsword. I sell my sword. I don't lend it out to friends as a favor."
Knights and Lords may fight for honor and duty, but the common sellsword fights for coin alone. You weren't born to wealthy Cyrodilic nobles, instead you found yourself raised among the smallfolk in a less than pleasant environment. You've never learned how to till a field, forge steel, keep an inn, or prepare a feast. Your only profitable skills are swordplay and murder, and you're damn good at them.
Banditry often comes with a short life expectancy, so instead you work within the law to ply your trade.Typical clientele include: armies looking to bolster their ranks, wealthy folk with a surplus of dirty work, and townships looking to rid themselves of bandits.
Vital Statistics:
Race: Imperial (appearance, skill bonuses, voice of the emperor)
Stats: 0-2-1
Stone: Lord
Shouts: Marked for Death, Elemental Fury
Major Skills:
One Handed- Main weapon is a one handed sword
Light Armor- Heavy armor is for knights with squires and steeds
Minor Skills:
Block- Used every now and then, quick reflexes is one of the best perks in the game.
Speech- You may not be eloquent, but negotiation is important
Gear:
Skyforge Steel Sword- perfect example of simple yet deadly
Leather Armor Set- early game
Scaled Armor Set- late game
Torch- used in dark areas, can set enemies ablaze with bash
Enchanted Ring- fortify one handed
Enchanted Necklace- fortify one handed
Perks:
Roleplay:
The sellsword fits impeccably into the feel of Skyrim. First of all, he's low enough on the social totem pole to be tossed into an imperial prisoner convoy without anyone really taking notice. Also, when he finally gets his hands on a weapon, he is able to kill skillfully and without hesitation. Over his years of traveling and camping, he's taken it upon himself to learn a basic healing spell for licking wounds, and a basic flame spell to light camp fires.
Skyrim is also full of surprisingly wealthy NPCs just waiting to give you sellsword work. Whether it's a blacksmith paying you to clear Frostbite Spiders out of a mine, or a Jarl who posts a bounty on some bandits in his hold.
Sellswords aren't well known for saving or investing their gold, in fact most of their coin was probably spent eating, drinking, and whoring. Since there's not much of an "eating drinking and whoring" mechanic in Skyrim, I ended up spending my piles of coin on skill training and healing potions.
This build takes heavy inspiration from the character Bronn from Game of Thrones (ASoIaF), a rather opportunistic sellsword who ends up getting knighted for his cunning and skill. Similarly, a great goal for the sellsword of Skyrim is to become a Thane of every hold in the province.
Lastly, don't be afraid to use a follower. Sellswords weren't necessarily lone wolves, in fact many of them would travel in small groups.
Gameplay:
The sellsword is a nimble fighter who knows just where to land his blows to weaken enemy combatants. His light armor forces him to rely on avoiding enemy attacks, while weakening his opponent with well placed hits. This video pretty much sums up the sellsword's combat technique:
Notice how the sellsword in the video simply lets his heavily armored foe tire himself out. He is essentially letting his enemy become weakened, and then pounces at the perfect opportunity. That is the key to the sellsword's combat. Using the powerful Marked for Death shout on strong enemies will simulate this, and allow you to skillfully dispatch impaired foes. You can also use certain poisons, purchased from alchemy shops, to inflict a crippling effect.
He's a typical light armor warrior who sometimes needs to get creative. Making clever use of traps inside dungeons is extremely rewarding. At one point I was overwhelmed by a wave of Draugr, so I ran back to a swinging spike door trap, and managed to kill most of them with it. He must use the speed of the light armor to his advantage, and dodge enemy power attacks instead of blocking them.
His main source of healing will be health potions that he purchases with his earnings. Collecting bounties and completing radiant quests will keep his coin purse well lined, so use that surplus coin to buy out all of the healing potions from the local apothecaries.
Basically, you're in for a challenge, so be quick on your feet, make good use of a follower, and spend your gold on lots of health potions.
Why Play a Sellsword?
Playing as a sellsword provides an immersive and interesting roleplay experience. More importantly though, it's as if Skyrim is begging you to play as one. Not only does it provide you with a great sellsword opening, but it's also ripe with random villagers just begging to add to your roleplay. Most NPCs have something violent for you to do, and nearly all of them pay well for it.
Overall, the gear and skills for this build are secondary, the most important thing is the roleplay. In other words, using a shield or leveling smithing will not ruin your experience. The gear and stats laid out above are what I used, and what I found to be the most fun.
My other builds:
Oblivion Walker
Priestess
"We ARE friends, but I'm a sellsword. I sell my sword. I don't lend it out to friends as a favor."
Knights and Lords may fight for honor and duty, but the common sellsword fights for coin alone. You weren't born to wealthy Cyrodilic nobles, instead you found yourself raised among the smallfolk in a less than pleasant environment. You've never learned how to till a field, forge steel, keep an inn, or prepare a feast. Your only profitable skills are swordplay and murder, and you're damn good at them.
Banditry often comes with a short life expectancy, so instead you work within the law to ply your trade.Typical clientele include: armies looking to bolster their ranks, wealthy folk with a surplus of dirty work, and townships looking to rid themselves of bandits.
Vital Statistics:
Race: Imperial (appearance, skill bonuses, voice of the emperor)
Stats: 0-2-1
Stone: Lord
Shouts: Marked for Death, Elemental Fury
Major Skills:
One Handed- Main weapon is a one handed sword
Light Armor- Heavy armor is for knights with squires and steeds
Minor Skills:
Block- Used every now and then, quick reflexes is one of the best perks in the game.
Speech- You may not be eloquent, but negotiation is important
Gear:
Skyforge Steel Sword- perfect example of simple yet deadly
Leather Armor Set- early game
Scaled Armor Set- late game
Torch- used in dark areas, can set enemies ablaze with bash
Enchanted Ring- fortify one handed
Enchanted Necklace- fortify one handed
Perks:
Roleplay:
The sellsword fits impeccably into the feel of Skyrim. First of all, he's low enough on the social totem pole to be tossed into an imperial prisoner convoy without anyone really taking notice. Also, when he finally gets his hands on a weapon, he is able to kill skillfully and without hesitation. Over his years of traveling and camping, he's taken it upon himself to learn a basic healing spell for licking wounds, and a basic flame spell to light camp fires.
Skyrim is also full of surprisingly wealthy NPCs just waiting to give you sellsword work. Whether it's a blacksmith paying you to clear Frostbite Spiders out of a mine, or a Jarl who posts a bounty on some bandits in his hold.
Sellswords aren't well known for saving or investing their gold, in fact most of their coin was probably spent eating, drinking, and whoring. Since there's not much of an "eating drinking and whoring" mechanic in Skyrim, I ended up spending my piles of coin on skill training and healing potions.
This build takes heavy inspiration from the character Bronn from Game of Thrones (ASoIaF), a rather opportunistic sellsword who ends up getting knighted for his cunning and skill. Similarly, a great goal for the sellsword of Skyrim is to become a Thane of every hold in the province.
Lastly, don't be afraid to use a follower. Sellswords weren't necessarily lone wolves, in fact many of them would travel in small groups.
Gameplay:
The sellsword is a nimble fighter who knows just where to land his blows to weaken enemy combatants. His light armor forces him to rely on avoiding enemy attacks, while weakening his opponent with well placed hits. This video pretty much sums up the sellsword's combat technique:
Notice how the sellsword in the video simply lets his heavily armored foe tire himself out. He is essentially letting his enemy become weakened, and then pounces at the perfect opportunity. That is the key to the sellsword's combat. Using the powerful Marked for Death shout on strong enemies will simulate this, and allow you to skillfully dispatch impaired foes. You can also use certain poisons, purchased from alchemy shops, to inflict a crippling effect.
He's a typical light armor warrior who sometimes needs to get creative. Making clever use of traps inside dungeons is extremely rewarding. At one point I was overwhelmed by a wave of Draugr, so I ran back to a swinging spike door trap, and managed to kill most of them with it. He must use the speed of the light armor to his advantage, and dodge enemy power attacks instead of blocking them.
His main source of healing will be health potions that he purchases with his earnings. Collecting bounties and completing radiant quests will keep his coin purse well lined, so use that surplus coin to buy out all of the healing potions from the local apothecaries.
Basically, you're in for a challenge, so be quick on your feet, make good use of a follower, and spend your gold on lots of health potions.
Why Play a Sellsword?
Playing as a sellsword provides an immersive and interesting roleplay experience. More importantly though, it's as if Skyrim is begging you to play as one. Not only does it provide you with a great sellsword opening, but it's also ripe with random villagers just begging to add to your roleplay. Most NPCs have something violent for you to do, and nearly all of them pay well for it.
Overall, the gear and skills for this build are secondary, the most important thing is the roleplay. In other words, using a shield or leveling smithing will not ruin your experience. The gear and stats laid out above are what I used, and what I found to be the most fun.
My other builds:
Oblivion Walker
Priestess
