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Character Build: Soul Weaver

Tags: #Character Build Mage  #Character Build Summoner  #Character Build Bound Weapons  #Race:Breton  #Rank:Recognized 
  • May 9, 2012

    Yeah... so, I used to play this game called DragonFable. It was a pretty childish game in general, but a few of the classes and armors in it were pretty promising, and came with some nice concepts. I intend to transfer some of those concepts into Skyrim in the most lore-friendly way possible. Wish me luck.

    The Soul Weavers were summoners who bound themselves to single atronachs, out of both respect and power lust. This binding is much more powerful than that of a normal summoner's, in that they invoke the powers of said daedra, and can only summon that daedra. How does this aid them, you may ask? Well, this allows the ability to weave with the atronach's element, as well as augment their own spells. More powerful Soul Weavers can even synchronize with their bound atronach, and unleash a powerful destruction spell without being interrupted.

    Tomix, the Soul Weaver

    You as the Dragonborn, turn out to be the last of this sect of summoners. All records of them were destroyed, as well as witnesses to their abilities, and you are the only bit of proof that they ever existed. You are still only a novice, but you intend to grow both in strength and spirit, and show what this lost art can do. Your only hope of ever becoming more adept in magic is the Mage's Guild, and the closest thing you can get is the College of Winterhold in Skyrim. You'd best be on your way, for Skyrim holds more than the key to power.

    Character Setup:

    Race: I highly recommend the Breton race for reasons of both effectiveness, as well as mystical lore and generally (at least for me), more fun RP. High and Dark Elves are worthy choices as well, though I prefer the Bretons.

    Stone: Mage, but at higher levels, there are two paths a Soul Weaver can choose, though a third marks failures. 

    Path A, the Siphon: This path utilizes the Atronach to augment the Soul Weaver's own strength, but loosens their connection with their bound atronach. In RP terms, the Soul Weaver Siphon becomes more like their atronach at the expense of the atronach itself. In terms of effectiveness, it grants an amazing anti-magic effect, but at the same time gives a 50% chance for you to absorb your own summon.

    Path B, the Aetherial: This path utilizes the Lord to become more resistant to the forces of Nirn. The Soul Weaver Aetherial becomes more in tune with magic than their chaotic Siphon counterpart, and also obtains a slight increase in defense against melee from extensive utilization of Alteration. This stone generally lessens the impact of magic and has a slight effect on physical damage, which is quite valuable considering cloth mages are soft capped at 300 armor with the best Flesh spell and max Mage Armor.

    Path C, the Scorned (Challenge Stone): For the Soul Weaver who fails to successfully tame their atronach initally, this path uses the Apprentice, weakening them against all forms of magic. The forces of magic attract to the Soul Weaver Scorned, both in the form of natural Magicka and harmful destruction magic. The stone makes magic twice as deadly while doubling Magicka regen, and thus, makes for a lethal challenge stone against mages.

    Skills:

    Major:

    Conjuration: The Soul Weavers were master conjurers, and as such, this will be both a powerplay and RP skill. Recommended perks include but are not limited to Summoner (1/2), Atromancy, Elemental Potency and Mystic Binding.

    Alteration: You will need to put up your armor, or "Soul Aegis" in big fights. This can also augment our magic resistance, again, RPing like we're becoming "one with our atronach." Do not get Atronach, for (natural) spell absorption was taboo amongst the Soul Weavers (And... it also absorbs our summon spells. I guess that could be RPed as well, in that we sort of "absorb our atronach's power, thus disrespecting it").

    Restoration: Weaving life essence into their own bodies, Soul Weavers were just as good at healing as any other mage. Soul Weavers can also utilize wards as a part of their "Soul Aegis" ability. It's best to get Regeneration, Recovery (2/2) and Respite, and Ward Absorb and maybe even Avoid Death would be good too. Necromage and spell levels are up to you depending on what spells you decide are good enough.

    One-Handed: You will be using Bound Weaponry*, so you should grab some perks here too. As you're unable to improve Bound Weapons beyond Mystic Binding, Enchantments and skills, you'll want as much of this as possible. Perks are up to you, and dual-wield is recommended, fitting in with the original Soul Weaver.

    Minor:

    Destruction: Soul Weavers were specialized mages, only being able to cast one elemental spell. They could invoke their given element into powerful destruction spells, however, prefered the ethereal blade over all else. Soul Weavers never learned how to overcharge spells through dual-casting, So their preference was of the Bound Weapon (Of course, if you want, you could get dual-casting if you aren't against the OP perk, Impact). You should get the augmentations of your specified element, and any casting levels perks you may need until you can completely eliminate casting costs.

    Illusion: The Soulweavers weren't exactly masters of the mind, but they were able to prevent foes from attacking and, in more powerful magi, able to empower their bound atronach with Courage spells. Paramount perks include, but are not limited to, Aspect of Terror (In Flame-based Soulweavers), Animage, Kindred Mage, and Master of the Mind (You can go for either Quiet Casting or Rage depending on your style).

    Light Armor (OPTIONAL): Soul Weavers prefered mobility, and thus, heavy armor isn't our defensive skill choice. This can be replaced with Mage Armor perks for those who really love plain, cloth mages. I personally chose this because Nightingale is the closest thing I could get to Soulweaver, and it looks badass enough for the role. You can get what you want here, so long as it offers enough protection for you. You can get the stamina regen and weightless armor perks as well.

    Smithing: Smithing is just to get some decent weaponry if you really need it, as well as armor. If you feel the need to, by all means, get multiple perks here. I personally prefer to just get Steel and Arcane Blacksmith.

    Enchanting: Adepts in the magical arts, Soul Weavers were funnily enough familiar with souls. Use this to get some spell cost reduction, One-Handed power boosts, and resistances. No matter what kind of Soul Weaver you are, go up the left side for all elemental enchanter perks. These will improve our custom resistances, as well as weapon enchants if we don't use Bound Weaponry. You won't really need custom enchants for skill increases or fortified attributes.

    *If you want to use solid weaponry but want to keep the summoner feel, conjure your Bound Weapon before every fight, but then equip your actual weapons.

    Playstyle/RP:

    Soul Weavers were respectful to souls, however, weren't afraid to kill and enchant. Humanoids' souls were especially respected due to the inhumanity of their usage, so never use Black Souls.

    The college of Winterhold, as well as Thieves guild are good ground. You dislike the generic Nords such as the Stormcloaks and Companions for their distrust in magic, so steer clear of those two. If you fight in the Civil War, choose Imperials.

    Use only spells of the element you pick. Yes, this means that shock and frost Soul Weavers are stuck with Conjure Familiar until Adept and Expert respectively. Don't rule out shock though, as it is the most powerful in general.

    Other than that, have fun with your character. I don't dictate (everything).

    Skills:

    Note: For these skills to make any sense, it is recommended that you watch this video.

    Summon Bound Atronach: Simply summon your buddy to the battlefield.

    Soul Aegis: Summon up a shield with a mage armor spell and hold up a ward, preparing for the worst.

    Soul Pierce: Activate the Slow Time Shout and strike as you please.

    Valor Impact: With one hand, strike with a power attack, then immediately follow up with an increased-speed "one-two" slash. Following up with two regular attacks after a power attack makes an increased slash speed for the two hits after the power attack.

    Retribution: Place a Rune on the ground, then, activating Elemental Fury (Or Slow Time if you have an enchanted weapon), unleash a dual-wield flurry of death.

    Enslave: Cast a Calm spell on your foe, preventing their attacks from reaching you. May be used in conjunction with Paralyze.

    Slash: Whirlwind Sprint up to a far-off enemy and engage in melee combat.

    Soul Slice: (Shock Only) Slash with a shock-powered sword with the Disintegrate perk.

    Soul Burst: Attack with a weapon w/ Damage/Absorb Magicka and one w/ Paralyze.

    Soul Vacuum: Cast Soul Trap on a foe.

    Banishment: (Shock Only)  Use the Shout, "Storm Call."

    Soul Synch: This is our most powerful technique. With your atronach out, cast your respective elemental cloak spell to hopefully dispell it. Use the shout, "Become Ethereal," to remove all chances of distractions, which kind of feels like an invulnerability by fusing with your Atronach. Finally, with no distractions in mind, and your elemental cloak damaging nearby foes, charge up your respective element Master Destruction Spell, and unleash it as you please.

    Show them what you're made of.

    This has been the Soul Weaver, the first of many DragonFable builds. Please tell me what you think down below!

     

  • May 9, 2012

    Hehe! Me and ponty were discussing builds yesterday over PM and i mentioned the use of a cloak/ethereal/master spell combo then! Very effective, and fun!

    Interesting build andrew, i rarely like cross-game/genre builds because i... well i just don't like them. Builds like 'Holmes the Detective' and the like just get right on my nerves...

    I'm really surprised that you didn't go for the atronach stone, this character seems to share such a close bond with atronachs that it seems right that its also his starsign/guardian stone.

  • May 9, 2012

    Excellent concept, Very exclusive in style and full of restrictions, which should result in a character with high role play value and difficult to play against strong melee opponents. I would lose the light armor as it really does not fit a pure mage character, and it gets in the way of the RP experience, and you are taking alteration anyway. I had thought the conjuror vein was exhausted, but you have proved me wrong.You have my like.

  • May 9, 2012

    Thanks, Mason! You and Ponty sure love to think of all of these great combos, so I'm not surprised. 

    I was originally intending to use the Atronach stone, until I remembered it absorbed summon spells too  I justified this decision by making spell absorption taboo, but really, I'm at a loss as to what to do with the stone.

  • Member
    May 9, 2012

    I think they might have actually fixed that, on my Mabrigash I was using the Atronach stone pretty much the whole time and using Flame Atronachs alot and I didn't have any absorbtion issues!

    Great build by the way, I used to play DragonFable myself 6 or 7 years ago. Most of the time 'porting' classes from other games usually doesn't work too well but you really did this one well.

  • May 9, 2012

    Meh, I made Light Armor optional, but it's up to the player anyway. I still like the look of Nightingale and think it makes a great unique spellcaster armor. The chest piece's unique frost resistance enchant is too powerful on the level 26 version to pass up, even if it removes a slot for fortify spell cost.

    Thanks for the like, Ricardo!

  • May 9, 2012

    Really now? That's interesting to note. I'll have to do some testing again just to make sure though.

  • May 9, 2012

    There is a work around andrew...

    The atronach stone only absorbs 'base' atronachs apparently, once the elemental potency perk is taken your atronachs are actually classed as a completely different kind of creature (and again for master/thrall atronachs) and will no longer be absorbed.

    Also from my own testing ive found that atronach absorption is not really a problem. One of three things happen when you call an atronach:-

    1. Your spell works and you get your atronach and lose magicka.

    2. Your spell fails but you get all your magicka back (and a bit more)

    3. Your spell works AND you get all your magicka back!

    When i ran an atronach stone summoner i NEVER ran out of magicka despite the -50 to magicka regen.

    I advise you try it for a level or two, its not like it will effect your build in the long term, you can always switch back to another stone if it doesn't suit your playstyle.

  • May 9, 2012

    yea, I'm with you mason on the cross-games builds, but there was something appealing about this one.

  • May 9, 2012

    Now that garners the need for testing. I'm going to try it out this weekend. For now, I'll keep the build the way it is, since it still works as RP value. If Elemental Potency does make Atronachs as usable as zombies with spell absorption, I'll be thanking both you and Ponty and changing some notes on conjuration and the star sign.