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Character Build: Doomguide

Tags: #Character Build Necromancer  #Character Build Battlemage  #Rank:Recognized 
  • May 14, 2012

    “What say you to the charges of necromancy?” the high priest of Arkay’s voice rang out through the chapel.

    “Guilty, High Priest Ralic,” Kelemvor answered, his body prostrated upon the ground with his hands bound.  “But it was not intentional.  I did not mean to call them back from the bliss of death.  They simply came!”

    “And that fact alone spares you from execution.  Count yourself lucky.  I hereby sentence you to banishment from our ranks.  Guards take him to the side entrance and keep him there, until I come there.”

    A look of hopelessness passed over Kelemvor’s face as he was led away.  Ralic turned away from the young man and stared up at the shrine of Arkay.

    “I hope there is some reason for all of this…”

    * * *

    Kelemvor stood stock still between the two guards, facing the door that led out the side entrance of the temple of Arkay.  Thoughts of life outside the temple’s sheltered walls and thoughts of life without the Order swam through his mind, until a noise behind him announced Ralic’s arrival.

    “Guards you may go.  I will see him out,” Ralic said with a voice full of grief.

    The guards shared a look, but said not a word as the exited the foyer.

    “That was an impressive show back in the chapel,” Ralic said to the young man.

    “You said to make it convincing,” Kelemvor replied.

    “Where will you go?” Ralic asked.

    “To a place as cold as the death we worship.”

    “Remember that Arkay is not only about death, but life as well,” Ralic reciprocated as he removed the bindings from Kelemvor’s wrists.

    “Of course, father…”

    Tears welled up in Ralic’s eyes as his son addressed him informally.

    “Well then, from this day forward I declare you Kelemvor, forsaken of the Order of Arkay.  Though the church forsakes you, may Arkay continue to guide you.

    Kelemvor turned his back on the high priest.  “Good bye, father.”

    Doomguide

    This build was inspired by various sources.  I wanted to create a build that payed homage to the god of death, Kelemvor and his death priests from D&D 3.x.  And since Arkay is easily the TES version of Kelemvor this build is almost 100% viable even by sticking to lore.  Also, thanks to Ponty and Mason.  Ponty’s excellent Paladin build, combined with the frost abilities of Mason’s Volkihar build helped me come up with a great skill set for this build.  Thanks guys!  Okay, enough with the Public Service Announcements, on with the build!

    The Doomguide is a former priest of Arkay, though he still pays worship to the god.  He still guides the dead to the afterlife as a priest would, but he may also call them back to aide him in the destruction of enemies of life and peaceful death.  This very fact would make him an enemy of the church if it were not for the visions that plagued him upon receipt of the powers.  Arkay came to him in dreams and told him of a higher purpose in Skyrim, and that he would allow the use of the dead to aide him in his quest.  Something that most of the church still refuses to believe.

    He has restorative and destructive spells bestowed upon him by the God of Death and Life, which allow him to heal allies and freeze enemies.  The Doomguide is also trained extensively in the art of blunt weapons and blocking, in order to fend off attacks.

    Race: Imperial

    Standing Stone:  Lady for leveling, Lord for defense or Ritual for further use of animate dead.

    Major Skills

    One-handed:  Nothing clouts undead back to abyss better than a sturdy mace.

    Heavy Armor: Nothing protects the body better than a sturdy set of armor made from dwarven metal..

    Conjuration: The God of Death and Life has granted the Doomguide the ability to summon any undead creature he finds himself powerful enough to control.

    Destruction: Death comes from destruction.  The Doomguide has the ability to cast the cold spells of death.

    Minor Skills

    Restoration: Death is just another part of life.  Without the ability to save life, one cannot truly appreciate the balance that death offers.

    Smithing and Enchanting: The Doomguide has the knowledge and means to forge and fortify his own arms and armor.

    Combat

    Shouts:  All of the usual shouts like Become Ethereal and Slow Time would, of course, work incredibly well with this build.  But sticking to a theme I opted for Marked for Death.  It is great for armor negation and added DPS (note:  Requires access to DB sanctuary, so you do have to join or kill all of them.  Killing them fits the build better).

    Spells:  Any frost spells fits this build perfectly.  Since you only take Destruction up to Adept, you would want cost reduction armor enchantments to use higher level spells.  Additionally as an RP aspect, I only use Frostbolt against Dragons.  Use of other Fire spells against Frost resistant creature is out of RP, but may be understandably necessary.  You will want basic healing spells fits well in this build, and despite being a Death Priest, use of Turn Undead is not out of the question as you are a priest never-the-less.  And ward spells serve as your shield against enemy casters.

    Initiate combat with Marked for Death then combine frost spells and mace attacks against your melee and ranged opponents.  For mages, I suggest the classic combination of ward spell in one hand and frost spell in the other.  Slowing mages with frost is an effective way to keep them from kiting.

    Level 25 Build

    One-handed:  Armsman 2/5, Fighting Stance, Bone Breaker 2/3

    Heavy Armor: Juggernaut 2/5, Fists of Steel, Well Fitted

    Smithing: Steel, Dwarven

    Conjuration: Novice, Apprentice

    Destruction: Novice, Apprentice, Dual Casting, Augmented Frost 1/2

    Restoration: Novice, Apprentice, Regeneraton, Respite

    Enchanting: Enchanter 3/5

    Level 55 Build

    One-handed: Armsman 5/5, Bone Breaker 3/3, Savage Strike

    Heavy Armor: Juggernaut 5/5, Cushioned, Tower of Strength, Matching Set, Conditioning, Reflect Blows

    Conjuration: Adept, Necromancy, Dark Souls, Twin Souls

    Destruction: Impact, Adept, Augmented Frost 2/2, Deep Freeze

    Restoration: Respite, Adept, Ward Absorb

    Enchanting: Enchanter 5/5, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Enchantment

    Speech:  Haggling 1/5

    Additional Perks: Ancient Knowlege, Agent of Mara (get married before taking this, it ties in nicely), Sailor's Repose.

  • May 14, 2012

    Maybe you have overextended your skills - nine skills is too much, though I do understand all of then are necessary for the role play. to save perks, I advise you not to take ebony. Take smithing only to dwarven - gold is a very good colour for a God's champion, and though black maybe suits better a Champion of a death God, you will spare two perks in it. Getting the Ancient Knowledge perk in Unfanthomable Depths will increase dwarven armor in 25% making it as good as ebony, and it will also makes a lovely set with Spellbreaker, the best shield you can get in the game.

  • May 14, 2012

    Funny thing was I had considered Dwarven for this build! Definitely have to bump it back down now!  Additionally, Speech is nothing but flavor for this build, so it can be scrapped if need be.  And, I am a big fan of only putting points into your main skills: Armsman, Enchanter and Juggernaut whenever you can't get a more impacting perk.  Juggernaut is pretty much a necessity but you can shave off 8 points just by holding back on the other two.  Thanks for the input and expect an update either today or tomorrow!

  • May 14, 2012

    I love the theme with using one of the divines and the hole skill build is just great i hoping to try this out 

  • May 14, 2012

    Thanks for the compliment, mate!  I really like Ponty's paladin, but I just wanted to make one and make it my own, and so this guy was born.

  • May 14, 2012

    Thanks, Julianos!  I must admit I've been brooding over a new build to try out for the last couple of days.  I was working on the Dragon Ravager but it wasn't going as well as I would have liked, so, I decided to try and switch it up a bit.

  • May 14, 2012

    Updated: Added quest perks and changed smithing/armor layout to only get Dwarven instead of Ebony.

  • May 15, 2012

    Updated with Level Builds!  Give me some feedback or ideas to make it better!!!

  • Member
    June 19, 2012

    Love the concept here - I like the idea of necromancy, but often can't bring myself to play a 'dark' character.  This is sort of a middle-ground cleric; very cool. 

  • June 19, 2012

    Thanks, sir!  I'm in the same boat.  When I play an evil-ish character it is usually a sneaky assassin.