Class – Backstory – Race - Gender
This is another deep immersion role playing build, firmly rooted in Tamriel history and traditions, exploring an underdeveloped aspect of TES lore – the dunmer daedra worship religion. This is not a necromancer or a mage character – this is a man of profound faith and conviction who devoted his life to the service of his dark Gods. The character is designed to be believable as a member of the class he belongs, so the game will be very hard to play sometimes, because physical prowess and high melee damage Won’t Be One Of His Features – I’ve played him to level 56, blogged on this play through (see ‘The Dark Path – The Story of a Dunmer’) and I can say sincerely the game never got easy or boring. The Dark Prophet is a Dunmer anointed by their Daedra Gods Azura, Boethiah and Mephala to fulfill their designs on the destiny of their Chosen people. He has a high magic damage, but he will be limited to the use of maximized fire spells (though he is not a fire mage), and to the summoning of creatures from Oblivion (necromancy is a taboo), which are a gift from his Gods. He can handle a knife too, and has a pretty decent sneak skill, but he is not an assassin, and though he will kill all who oppose him, he won’t kill for fun or profit. He will have a hard time when confronting melee warriors, or dragons directly, because he doesn’t have the mastery over any weapon but his dagger, and he has not a deep knowledge on armors and alteration defense spells, so his armor class will be always low, preventing him of engaging directly in melee combat.
The race for this build is Dunmer only. Any gender will do, because Daedra look down equally on every mortal, regardless of sex. His/her back story is up to you, but for me he/she was a dunmer refugee living in Windhelm who saw his/her mother slaughtered by a nord mob in a racial riot, and her body disposed without the proper funeral rites. That was the trigger to his/her hate of nords and the reason to seek refuge in the faith of his/her ancestors. From now on I will stop writing his/her – this is just weird.
Skills
In order to role-play you will need perks only on the 6 skills listed below. If you want to take another skill, I would recommend Restoration, looking for the recovery perk, but it is not really necessary and it will even harm character development a little.
Speech –It’s essential to the class, because, frankly who has ever heard of a speechless prophet? Those people babble and babble all the time, trying to convince you to do this or warning you against that - their tongue is their main weapon. You will take all perks in this one and you will need to pay trainers to raise this skill, as it’s very difficult to reach high levels in speech only selling stuff. But don’t worry about the money – speech will make you rich, and open a series of easier ways to accomplish your goals, by winning speech challenges.
Sneak – You will need this skill maximized to make the best use of your ability with the dagger. Aim first for assassin’s blade perk on the right branch. Then you may go through the entire left branch up to the shadow warrior perk. Your development should be easy on this skill, as you will be using it all the time, to avoid detection and to backstab your enemies. And when you have to backstab a pagan remember - a man of true faith will never shrink from doing the dirty work.
Destruction – Specialize only on the fire branch, as you are a dunmer – a race forged on the Red Mountain’s fire. You will have a source of great magical damage, but be careful – some dragons and NPC’s are fire resistant. On the good side, many monsters and all kinds of undead are particularly weak to fire damage. Take all the half costs perks, as destruction spells are very expensive in terms of magicka. Take also dual cast and impact, for those difficult moments when you may need some extra power.
Illusion – I would recommend taking the two branches to the right side up to master of mind perk as soon as possible. Don’t take dual casting, or the half cost perks. You will need this skill maximized for RP reasons – you are a prophet and you need to mesmerize, ensnare and encourage your people. But you’ll notice it also pays to max illusion for survival reasons – you can use illusion spells to remain invisible, to cast silent spells and to make your enemies flee in terror or fight each other to death.
Conjuration - All the perks in the left branch – the Oblivion branch – of the skill tree must be taken, as soon as it opens to you, up to twin souls. This has also a double utility for you. For the role playing purposes, because the summoning of the lesser daedra is a blessing given to you by your Dark Gods, to help you to spread their words. For survival, because the summoning of a pair of atronachs or dremora lords will be a big help when you are fighting powerful warriors and mages. Do not take dual cast or the half cost perks, as they are not very helpful in this skill.
One-Handed – Take only the perks armsman 3/5 and fighting stance. This should be enough to increase your backstabbing damage and to allow for a strong backstab power attack.
Attributes:
The rule to distribute attribute points is: 1x health; 2x magic, every three levels. No stamina increase.
Equipment:
Armor: Use only Thieves’ Guild and Dark Brotherhood armor, to increase your sneak and backstabbing. If you want, you can use items to increase magicka recovery or lower the costs of destruction spells, but you will not be a master enchanter or a master smith, so the armor won’t help that much really. You will be quite vulnerable both to physical and magical damage, and should avoid close combat. Attack from the back or use conjuration if you have to fight a powerful boss.
Weapon: Only the dagger in the right hand, used mainly to backstab – I used Mehrunes Razor, because being a blade blessed by a Dark God, it suits better the character (the blade of woe is better but you will receive it too late in the game to be useful, and I prefer the Razor anyway). You can try bashing, or using the dagger in close combat if you want, but it will not be very effective and you’ll die a lot, unless you have a much better coordination than I have. Always use a spell on the left hand (conjuration or destruction, or illusion, as you deem appropriate to the moment).
Stone / Shout / Blessing:
The stone would be, in the beginning, The Mage Stone, and later, The Serpent to have a paralyzing poisonous help for your backstab attack, when you are killing a boss. No shouts for this character – he’s not a superstitious nord to believe in this ridicule Dragonborn legend. The blessing would be from the Daedra God Nocturnal (10% increase in sneak), as well as the greater power gained in the Thieves’ Guild quest line
Play through:
The build is open to both genders, but is restricted to a lawful/evil or lawful/neutral alignment. You must harm nords on every occasion and should look for every opportunity to serve your dark masters. You should not take the Main Quest, as you know that dragon thing is just another superstition of the ignorant nords, nor take the Companions quest line. You may take the College of Winterhold quest line up to the end, if you want, but I took it only until finishing the Under Sarthal quest. You should take the Forbidden Legends quest, for the amulet, and all the Daedric quests you find in your way immediately - don’t let your masters waiting. Your main quest will be the Civil War quest line, on the side of Empire, and after finshing that, you may finish the Dark Brotherhood quest line to kill the Emperor. The Thieves’ Guild quest line is also highly advisable.
Special Move:
The Wage of the Sinner – An active move that involves a backstabbing power attack, made under an invisibility spell, with the help of the Brotherhood’s shrouded gloves (double backstabbing damage) and the Serpent Stone (paralyze target for 5 secs). If your target resists the first strike, and it’s very rare, you will have 5 secs more to strike him repeatedly with the Razor, or hit him with a destruction spell, until he dies. It may be performed once a day, and it will kill even the most powerful opponent.
Stats for levels 25 and 50: They are coming soon
Class – Backstory – Race - Gender
This is another deep immersion role playing build, firmly rooted in Tamriel history and traditions, exploring an underdeveloped aspect of TES lore – the dunmer daedra worship religion. This is not a necromancer or a mage character – this is a man of profound faith and conviction who devoted his life to the service of his dark Gods. The character is designed to be believable as a member of the class he belongs, so the game will be very hard to play sometimes, because physical prowess and high melee damage Won’t Be One Of His Features – I’ve played him to level 56, blogged on this play through (see ‘The Dark Path – The Story of a Dunmer’) and I can say sincerely the game never got easy or boring. The Dark Prophet is a Dunmer anointed by their Daedra Gods Azura, Boethiah and Mephala to fulfill their designs on the destiny of their Chosen people. He has a high magic damage, but he will be limited to the use of maximized fire spells (though he is not a fire mage), and to the summoning of creatures from Oblivion (necromancy is a taboo), which are a gift from his Gods. He can handle a knife too, and has a pretty decent sneak skill, but he is not an assassin, and though he will kill all who oppose him, he won’t kill for fun or profit. He will have a hard time when confronting melee warriors, or dragons directly, because he doesn’t have the mastery over any weapon but his dagger, and he has not a deep knowledge on armors and alteration defense spells, so his armor class will be always low, preventing him of engaging directly in melee combat.
The race for this build is Dunmer only. Any gender will do, because Daedra look down equally on every mortal, regardless of sex. His/her back story is up to you, but for me he/she was a dunmer refugee living in Windhelm who saw his/her mother slaughtered by a nord mob in a racial riot, and her body disposed without the proper funeral rites. That was the trigger to his/her hate of nords and the reason to seek refuge in the faith of his/her ancestors. From now on I will stop writing his/her – this is just weird.
Skills
In order to role-play you will need perks only on the 6 skills listed below. If you want to take another skill, I would recommend Restoration, looking for the recovery perk, but it is not really necessary and it will even harm character development a little.
Speech –It’s essential to the class, because, frankly who has ever heard of a speechless prophet? Those people babble and babble all the time, trying to convince you to do this or warning you against that - their tongue is their main weapon. You will take all perks in this one and you will need to pay trainers to raise this skill, as it’s very difficult to reach high levels in speech only selling stuff. But don’t worry about the money – speech will make you rich, and open a series of easier ways to accomplish your goals, by winning speech challenges.
Sneak – You will need this skill maximized to make the best use of your ability with the dagger. Aim first for assassin’s blade perk on the right branch. Then you may go through the entire left branch up to the shadow warrior perk. Your development should be easy on this skill, as you will be using it all the time, to avoid detection and to backstab your enemies. And when you have to backstab a pagan remember - a man of true faith will never shrink from doing the dirty work.
Destruction – Specialize only on the fire branch, as you are a dunmer – a race forged on the Red Mountain’s fire. You will have a source of great magical damage, but be careful – some dragons and NPC’s are fire resistant. On the good side, many monsters and all kinds of undead are particularly weak to fire damage. Take all the half costs perks, as destruction spells are very expensive in terms of magicka. Take also dual cast and impact, for those difficult moments when you may need some extra power.
Illusion – I would recommend taking the two branches to the right side up to master of mind perk as soon as possible. Don’t take dual casting, or the half cost perks. You will need this skill maximized for RP reasons – you are a prophet and you need to mesmerize, ensnare and encourage your people. But you’ll notice it also pays to max illusion for survival reasons – you can use illusion spells to remain invisible, to cast silent spells and to make your enemies flee in terror or fight each other to death.
Conjuration - All the perks in the left branch – the Oblivion branch – of the skill tree must be taken, as soon as it opens to you, up to twin souls. This has also a double utility for you. For the role playing purposes, because the summoning of the lesser daedra is a blessing given to you by your Dark Gods, to help you to spread their words. For survival, because the summoning of a pair of atronachs or dremora lords will be a big help when you are fighting powerful warriors and mages. Do not take dual cast or the half cost perks, as they are not very helpful in this skill.
One-Handed – Take only the perks armsman 3/5 and fighting stance. This should be enough to increase your backstabbing damage and to allow for a strong backstab power attack.
Attributes:
The rule to distribute attribute points is: 1x health; 2x magic, every three levels. No stamina increase.
Equipment:
Armor: Use only Thieves’ Guild and Dark Brotherhood armor, to increase your sneak and backstabbing. If you want, you can use items to increase magicka recovery or lower the costs of destruction spells, but you will not be a master enchanter or a master smith, so the armor won’t help that much really. You will be quite vulnerable both to physical and magical damage, and should avoid close combat. Attack from the back or use conjuration if you have to fight a powerful boss.
Weapon: Only the dagger in the right hand, used mainly to backstab – I used Mehrunes Razor, because being a blade blessed by a Dark God, it suits better the character (the blade of woe is better but you will receive it too late in the game to be useful, and I prefer the Razor anyway). You can try bashing, or using the dagger in close combat if you want, but it will not be very effective and you’ll die a lot, unless you have a much better coordination than I have. Always use a spell on the left hand (conjuration or destruction, or illusion, as you deem appropriate to the moment).
Stone / Shout / Blessing:
The stone would be, in the beginning, The Mage Stone, and later, The Serpent to have a paralyzing poisonous help for your backstab attack, when you are killing a boss. No shouts for this character – he’s not a superstitious nord to believe in this ridicule Dragonborn legend. The blessing would be from the Daedra God Nocturnal (10% increase in sneak), as well as the greater power gained in the Thieves’ Guild quest line
Play through:
The build is open to both genders, but is restricted to a lawful/evil or lawful/neutral alignment. You must harm nords on every occasion and should look for every opportunity to serve your dark masters. You should not take the Main Quest, as you know that dragon thing is just another superstition of the ignorant nords, nor take the Companions quest line. You may take the College of Winterhold quest line up to the end, if you want, but I took it only until finishing the Under Sarthal quest. You should take the Forbidden Legends quest, for the amulet, and all the Daedric quests you find in your way immediately - don’t let your masters waiting. Your main quest will be the Civil War quest line, on the side of Empire, and after finshing that, you may finish the Dark Brotherhood quest line to kill the Emperor. The Thieves’ Guild quest line is also highly advisable.
Special Move: The Wage of the Sinner – An active move that involves a backstabbing power attack, made under an invisibility spell, with the help of the Brotherhood’s shrouded gloves (double backstabbing damage) and the Serpent Stone (paralyze target for 5 secs). If your target resists the first strike, and it’s very rare, you will have 5 secs more to strike him repeatedly with the Razor, or hit him with a destruction spell, until he dies. It may be performed once a day, and it will kill even the most powerful opponent.
Stats for levels 25 and 50: They are coming soon
