Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Jaqspur

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Nightblade  #Character Build Alchemist  #Race:Bosmer  #Rank:Bloodworks 
  • Member
    October 29, 2016

     

     

     

    There. There it was again. A light rattling through the leaves, like a whisper, barely noticeable. The Altmer soldier clutched his sword tighter, looked around but there was no one in sight. With his other hand he ordered his two comrades to tread carefully. The path they were treading on was barely illuminated as the large treetops blocked out most of the sun light. Carefully they moved forward through the thicket, unsuspectingly being watched by preying Bosmer eyes. She was hiding only a few feet away from the Altmer yet she was invisible to them. As the Altmer continued to move forward she grabbed a small bottle from her back pocket and carefully dipped her arrows into the liquid. Quickly she stowed the bottle away and with one continuous move she charged the bow and fired at the Altmer standing at a distance to the other two. Noiseless he went down while his comrades marched on. The second Thalmor went down just seconds after the first one. At the moment the leader turned around a silhouette appeared in front of him, slowly revealing her face in the weakening afternoon sun, as if her spell had worn off.

    ‘If I were you I wouldn’t move a muscle’, the Bosmer told the Altmer leader. ‘Why are you following me?’ Her bow pointed at his throat.

    ‘You…you’re Glaenriel Greenleaf. The traitor.’ With his free hand he grabbed a letter from his back pocket and handed it over to the Wood Elf.

    ‘Oh, now I see. So now they call me a traitor.’

    Glaenriel replied slightly amused. ‘I think more of myself as a rebel and freedom fighter for the Bosmer.’

    ‘My men…. Are they dead?’ the Altmer asked her, clearly in shock.

    ‘Oh no. Let’s say they’ll wake up in a few seconds. Now listen closely, if you keep following me I’ll kill you, but for now, I’ll let you live.'

     

     

     

    There’s not much known about the Jaqspur of Valenwood, but essentially, they are rangers, highly skilled in archery and sneaking. This build is based on my character ‘Glaenriel Greenleaf, the Exiled Jaqspur’, of which a profile showcasing her backstory can be found here.

    When I developed my character I envisioned a light-armored and agile Bosmer highly skilled in sneaking and archery with the ability to adapt its appearance to the forest and become almost invisible, just like a chameleon. In addition to archery and sneaking, the Jaqspur uses a selection of self-crafted, deadly poisons with the purpose to neutralize her enemies fast and silently.

     

      

    ‘Jaqspur are Bosmer who operate in Valenwood as scouts, hunters and messengers. They are part of the hunting group and specialized in long distance shooting.’

     

      

    Race: Bosmer

    Stone: Thief -> Lover -> Atronach: Mages are the Jaqspur’s worst enemy and the Atronach stone will give her more Magicka and increased spell absorption. Grab the Atronach Stone after you get a Ring of Replenishing to counter the decreased Magicka regeneration.

    Stat spread: 1-2-2 (Magicka-Health-Stamina)

    Major Skills: Archery, Alchemy, Illusion, Sneak

    Minor Skills: Restoration, Light-Armor, Smithing

    Essential DLCs: Dawnguard, Dragonborn

    Spells: Invisibility, Healing, Fast Healing, Healing Hands

    Worshiped Deities: Auri-El/Akatosh, Mara, Stendarr, Arkay

    Abilities and active effects:

    - Command Animal
    - Agent of Mara
    - Sinderion’s Serendipity

    Shouts: Animal Allegiance, Whirlwind Sprint

    Equipment: Linwe’s Hood, Boots and Gauntlets, Dragonscale Armor

    Modded Equipment: Bosmer Shoulder Cape (Bosmer Armor Pack)

    Weapons: Ancient Nord Bow/Zephyr/Auriel’s Bow/ Dragonbone Bow

    Jewelry: Ring of Replenishing, Amulet of Akatosh/Mara/Arkay

     

    Perk Placement Level 50:

     

     

     

     

    The Jaqspur is a fast-paced, deadly archer hailing from Valenwood mixed with alchemy and magic. Due to her backstory, she has sworn to only use her alchemy skills to mix poisons and not for healing, but yet she is an excellent healer with restoration magic, for both herself and her allies. The only other magic school she uses is illusion magic. With illusion magic and especially the invisibility spell I wanted to reflect her ability to turn invisible. The Jaqspur doesn’t use this ability excessively but rather only to escape from enemy sight and only in forests, where she can literally ‘melt’ with the forest.

     

     

    As mentioned before, alchemy is used to craft deadly poisons with the purpose to neutralize a target. And here comes the “Purity”-perk from the alchemy skill tree in handy. “Damage Magicka” poisons are used to render mages useless while fast melee enemies are slowed down with “Slow” poisons. It is highly recommended to get alchemy up to a high level as fast as possible to be able to craft these strong potions. Using skill trainers is highly recommended from a roleplay and backstory perspective.

     

     

     Elden Root Curse(Slow + Damage Health):

    Deathbell + Impstool + Large Antlers

     

     

     

     

     Warlocks Demise (Damage Magicka Regeneration + Damage Magicka):

    Hanging Moss + Glow Dust

     

      

     

     

     Dragon’s Claw (Weakness To Poison + Weakness To Fire):

    Deathbell + Ice Wraith Teeth + Bleeding Crown

     

     

     

     

     Vines Grip (Slow + Damage Health + Ravage Stamina):

    Bone Meal + Deathbell + Riverbetty

     

     

     

    Equipment

     

    The Jaqspur’s equipment is made of self-crafted weapons and light armor. First she starts with an Ancient Nord Bow, found as early as Bleak Falls Barrow, and a set of leather or fur armor. After learning from the Nord blacksmiths, she is able to craft her own weapons and armor from dragon bones and scales, the best and strongest material found in Skyrim. To make the bow even stronger I enchanted a Dragonbow with ‘fire damage’ and even without putting perks in enchanting it does enough damage against enemies that have a weakness to fire.

     

    'The Jaqspur's armor made of Dragonscales gives her good protection but yet enough mobility for her much needed agility.'

     

    To make some gold early on, the Jaqspur joins the Thieves Guild. Her natural talent for lockpicking and pickpocketing makes it easy to complete Brynjolf’s test. The money from the guild’s side quests can then be spend on alchemy and smithing trainers. Eventually the side quests will lead to armor parts which are needed to complete the Jaqspur’s ranger look, and of course I’m talking about Linwe’s armor, my favorite armor in the game. Linwe’s boots, gauntlets and hood combined with the Dragonscale armor looks pretty cool and exactly how I would imagine a Bosmer ranger. Besides the look, functionality is important as well and Linwe’s armor packs some good enchantments (fortifying sneak, one-handed and archery) for the Jaqspur. Before being able to smith Dragonscale armor, you can wear Linwe’s full armor set.

    Her racial ability 'Command Animal' allows her to tame wild animals and command them to fight at her side. She can literally turn the wild forest against her enemies

     

     

    Here I have listed some of the essential quests for the Jaqspur (in no particular order):

    - Main quest
    - The Book of love (Riften)
    - Spread the love (Riften)
    - Bards College (Solitude)
    - Few And Far Between (Riften)
    - Repairing The Phial (Windhelm)
    - The White Phial
    - Song Of The Alchemists (Lami in Morthal)
    - Find The Ring Of Pure Mixtures (Dawnstar)
    - Missing In Action (Whiterun)
    - Promises To Keep (Thieves Guild)
    - A Return To Your Roots (Blackreach)
    - In My Time Of Need (Help Saadia)
    - Help Noster Eagle-Eye (Solitude)
    - Dawnguard
    - Thieves Guild

     

     

     

    Honoring the divines

     

    Let’s move on to the roleplay section which is quite cool. As I mentioned in her profile (and by now you should have read it) the Jaqspur stopped honoring Y’ffre (and the Green Pact) and focused on Auri-El, Mara, Arkay and Stendarr. She has incorporated their characteristics into her own way of life and she strives to be as loving as Mara, not consume fallen enemies but grant proper burial rites in the honor of Arkay and be as merciful and just as Stendarr.

    Wherever the Jaqspur comes to a shrine of one of her deities, she places items in their honor and gets their blessing.

     

     

    Auri-El/Akatosh: Amethyst and gold ingot

     

     

     

     

     

    Mara: Wheat and silver ingot

     

     

     

     

     

    Arkay: Deathbell and silver ingot

     

     

     

     

    Stendarr: any tusk and quicksilver ingot

     

     

     

    There are some quests that help roleplaying the worship of these deities, in particular, ‘The Book of love’. The Jaqspur has to help lovers to find their significant other in order to become an ‘Agent of Mara’, which adds an additional 15% of magic resistance.

     

     

    A Valenwood alchemist in Skyrim

     

    Back in Valenwood, the Jaqspur was a talented alchemist and was able to grow, as the first alchemist ever in Valenwood, Skyrim-native plants, such as Deathbell and Nightshade, in a tropical climate. Now that she’s in Skyrim she has a lot of new plants to discover and use in her concoctions. A good place to visit when arriving in Whiterun is the alchemy shop ‘Arcadia’s Cauldron’. There the Jaqspur can not only purchase ingredients but learn how to use native plants in new potions as well. Furthermore there’s a book called ‘Herbalist’s Guide to Skyrim’ in Arcadia’s private study which grants the Jaqspur knowledge of the local flora. Wherever the Jaqspur comes near an alchemy lab, she will mix some potions to increase her skill or ask alchemy teachers for their knowledge.

     

    'Handwritten notes by Glaenriel during her research' 

     

    One quest I listed before has some benefits for the Jaqspur and her alchemical studies. Completing ‘A return to your roots’ gives the Jaqspur a nice ability: Sinderion’s Serendipity. The learned knowledge gives her a 25% chance to mix a second identical potion while using the skill, which is very useful, especially with rare ingredients. The quest is found in the ancient underground city of Blackreach, and the wonderful sight is already worth a visit.

     

    Dawnguard

     

    Not long after escaping Helgen, the Jaqspur is approached by a member of the Dawnguard, an ancient vampire hunter order. She joins the Dawnguard to support them with her skills in alchemy an archery. As the vampire hunters are in need of potions the Jaqspur can mix and sell a variety of useful concoctions to its members, some are listed below:

     

     - Cure Disease (Vampire Dust + Mudcrab Chitin)
     - Invisibility (vampire Dust + Nirnroot)
     - Fortify Heavy Armor (White Cap + Thistle Branch)
     - Fortify Light Armor (Luna Moth Wing + Skeever Tail)
     - Fortify One-Handed (Bear Claws + Canis Root)
     - Fortify Two-Handed (Dragon’s Tongue + Fly Amanitia)
     - Fortify Block + Resist Magic (Bleeding Crown + Tundra Cotton)

     Of course there are endless combinations of these effects possible and these are just the most important that warriors of the Dawnguard could use against vampires.

     

    Last words

     

    That's my build 'The Jaqspur' based on my character Glaenriel Greenleaf. I hope you enjoyed reading it because I definitely enjoyed writing, creating and playing the character. The build took me a bit longer than I thought, but only because I didn't even touch anything Skyrim-related for about two months. Anyway, thank you, dear reader, for reading it and please leave a comment or feedback.

     

    *Disclaimer* All credits for the used art goes to their respective creator. The screenshots were taken by myself. 

     

     

  • Member
    October 29, 2016

    Damn it, I missed another build being posted... Lis, pressure the admins to implement that feature! :D

  • Member
    October 29, 2016

    Apart from the poison recipes, it's like I didn't even have to read the build to know what it is about. Great job on this and again, great job on the rp profile. Our characters need to team up! Wildfoot tanks, the Jaqspur provides support fire. Bosmer need to stick together!

  • Member
    October 29, 2016

    Noodles said:

    Apart from the poison recipes, it's like I didn't even have to read the build to know what it is about. Great job on this and again, great job on the rp profile. Our characters need to team up! Wildfoot tanks, the Jaqspur provides support fire. Bosmer need to stick together!

     

    Thanks Noodles, I appreciate it :D FOR VALENWOOD!

  • Member
    October 30, 2016

    I thought Bos week was over? Really good to see this, Sparks. Lovely presentation for a lovely lass :)

  • Member
    October 30, 2016

    Phil said:

    I thought Bos week was over? Really good to see this, Sparks. Lovely presentation for a lovely lass :)

     

    Thanks Phil :) Bosmer week is all year long, hehe