Vigilant Vunhilde
This is the first installment in what will be a twenty-one part series. I have been working on this project for literally three years. The goal is to create twenty-one different builds for the twenty-one classes from the Elder Scrolls (TES) series. Albino put together a similar project that served as an inspiration, but I fleshed each class out into a full on character and have been tinkering with these builds over the course of three different consoles (PS3, PS4 and XB1) and finally on PC. I have an extensive mod list that can be viewed here. Most of these builds have been directly inspired by other builds on the Tamriel Vault, and those builds will be cited below as well.
I followed a number of self-imposed rules and restrictions when making these builds. Each has exactly six skills. Five of the six must come from the pool of skills used by the class in past TES games, allowing each character one additional free skill. I used information from Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion to determine the skill pool for each class. Each build must have at least three skills in their specialization (Magic, Combat or Stealth). Over all twenty-one builds, I incorporated every gender, race, skill, weapon class and faction at least once, if not more. The result is a literal cast of characters spanning every aspect of TES V: Skyrim. The first build I will present is my Crusader - Vunhilde, Vigilant of Stendarr.
Vunhilde was raised by her father on a small farm in the Rift. Her mother died in childbirth, so Vunhilde spent every single day tending the crops and livestock with her father. One night, she and her father heard a commotion and stepped outside to investigate. What they uncovered was absolutely terrifying - a wild melee between a group of vampires and two werewolves. Stunned, the two simple farmers watched a swirl of claws, teeth, blades and spells. A stray ice spike, launched in the chaos of the fight, found itself embedded in the chest of Vunhilde’s father. Too shocked to scream, Vunhilde watched her father crumple to the ground and immediately ran away to the nearest city. Once she got to Riften, she explained what occurred to the guards, and they reluctantly let her into the city with the expectation of her staying in the orphanage. Always one to defy what was expected of her, Vunhilde instead went straight to the Temple of Mara, wherein she found a welcoming priestess. She spent the rest of the night in tears, explaining what happened at length. The priestess told Vunhilde she could stay at the Temple and study the art of healing as long as she helped out with the chores. Now an orphan, Vunhilde spent the next 5 years studying healing magic and potions in the Temple. However, she still carried a burning rage at the abominable monsters that murdered her father. One day, as the rage became unbearable, Vunhilde explained to the priestess that she must avenge her father’s death by taking the fight to these monsters herself, and set out to join the one group she knew could help her in this mission - the Vigilants of Stendarr.
Vunhilde protects herself from the hordes of evil with wards and mage armor.
Age: 22 Gender: Female Race: Nord Class: Crusader Specialization: Combat (3 of 6 skills) Attributes: Personality, Willpower
Spouse: none Follower: Golldir, Erandur, Celann Deity: Stendarr Home: Adalvald's Retreat Alignment: Lawful Good
Factions: Vigilants of Stendarr, Dawnguard Magicka/Health/Stamina: 2 / 3 / 1 Standing Stone: The Mage, then the Lord
Major Skills
Restoration: Vunhilde is a master of the art of Restoration, using it both to heal her allies and smite her enemies. This is her main perk tree, and she uses a combination of healing, turn undead, sun damage and ward spells. Vigilant allows her to close the ground on vampires and necromancers rather quickly, and is also a nice nod to her namesake. False Light allows her to turn her healing prowess into a death sentence for undead, daedra worshippers, vampires and other evil doers. It can be combined with countless spells and abilities to make short work of her foes (for example, Wild Healing [from the Apocalypse mod] becomes even stronger as it has a chance to now randomly harm enemies instead of healing them). Gods and Mortals is the perfect thematic perk for Vunhilde. Stendarr’s blessing adds the Crusader's Shield effect, which makes blocking absorb stamina and stagger the attacker, allowing her to hold her ground with ease (28 perks).
Restoration Mastery (2/2)
Descending Light
Edgewalker
Hallowed Burial (2/2)
Spirit Tutors
Vigilant - The first ward you cast in combat costs no Magicka to maintain.
Exorcist
False Light - While in combat, you may cast targeted healing spells and effects on enemies to inflict damage equal to 75% of the heal amount.
Respite
Antimagic Field
Overflowing Cup
Pilgrim
Warrior's Flame
Crusader's Fire
Forbidden Sanctuary
Lightwielder
Sacred Flame
Under My Wings
Wheel of Life
Battle Cleric
In Thy Name
Sacred Guardian
Enduring Ideal
Eternal Flame
Gods and Mortals - Shrine blessings last 50% longer, and the blessings of the Divines (Akatosh, Arkay, Dibella, Julianos, Kynareth, Mara, Stendarr, Talos, Zenithar) confer powerful additional effects.
Apotheosis
One-Handed: Vunhilde’s melee offense comes from her trusty mace, a signature weapon of the Vigilants of Stendarr. Smite is perfectly thematic, even granting an extra bonus to damage against the undead. Rise Kinsmen allows Vunhilde to passively boost her allies with a simple power attack. Skull Crack works wonders against necromancers and other evil spellcasters as Vunhilde can negate their offense with a simple swing of her weapon (12 perks).
One-Handed Mastery (2/2)
Disciplined Fighter
Denting Blows (3/3)
Smite (2/2) - Power attacks with a mace deliver a critical strike that deals three/six times critical damage (four/eight times against the undead). Targets can only be struck by Smite once every 30 seconds.
Rise Kinsmen - Forwards power attacks with a mace inspire nearby allies, granting them 20% extra attack damage for 15 seconds. This effect stacks.
Toll the Bell
Meteor Storm
Skull Crack - Attacks with maces interrupt spellcasting. Does not work on massive targets.
Block: The token skill of Stendarr, Vunhilde uses her mace in an effort to mitigate incoming damage as best as she can. Timed Block is a staple of Ordinator and presents a whole new way to engage in melee combat. Power Bash allows her to disrupt an enemy’s attacks and Mocking Blow will prove extremely valuable in any fights against other melee opponents (7 perks).
Block Mastery (2/2)
Timed Block (2/2) - Assume a defensive position for 1 second after raising your shield or weapon, blocking 30% more damage and staggering attackers in melee range. (If you do not block an attack during this time, you cannot attempt another Timed Block for 2 seconds/1 second.)
Power Bash - Able to do a power bash by holding down Attack while blocking.
Skull Rattler
Mocking Blow - Power bashing with a weapon infuriates living targets for 30 seconds. They won't flee from combat but can't regenerate Stamina, lose 15 points of Stamina per second and you take no damage from their attacks during a Timed Block.
Minor Skills
Alchemy: Vunhilde is an adept alchemist who focuses solely on crafting strong healing potions. Physician allows her to create even stronger brews. Green Thumb lets her harvest more ingredients on her travels, and Pure Mixture ensures her health potions are pure no matter what ingredients are used in the process (7 perks).
Alchemy Mastery (2/2)
Physician - You may choose a type of beneficial potion: Health, Magicka or Stamina. Potions you mix that restore or fortify the chosen attribute are 50% stronger. Choose Health.
Advanced Lab
Experimenter
Green Thumb - Twice as many ingredients are gathered from most harvestable objects.
Pure Mixture - All negative effects are removed from created potions, and all positive effects are removed from created poisons.
Alteration: Since Vunhilde dons the standard Vigilant outfit of robes with heavy armor boots and gauntlets, none of the Mage Armor perks work here. Instead, Wild Shrines will allow her to boost her Restoration, Alteration and Illusion spells. Alter Self: Resistances gives Vunhilde an added resistance to some of the more vile things she can encounter in the wild by boosting her resistance to Poison and Disease. Lastly, Spellblade allows Vunhilde to follow up on a spell with an even stronger flurry of strikes from her mace (5 perks).
Alteration Mastery (2/2)
Wild Shrines - Five shrines dedicated to nature's mysteries can be found in Skyrim. Each shrine grants a permanent bonus to one school of magic, making all spells from that school 15% more powerful or last 30% longer.
Alter Self: Resistances - You may choose two resistances to increase by 25%.
Spellblade - Whenever you cast a spell with one hand, you deal 20% more attack damage for 4 seconds.
Smithing: By no means a master smith, Vunhilde simply tempers her weapons and armor and knows how to craft a variety of boots and gauntlets in the Nordic tradition (3 perks).
Smithing Mastery (2/2)
Meric Smithing (1/2) (choose Dwarven)
Arcane Blacksmith - You can improve enchanted weapons and armor.
Expert Smithing (1/2) (choose Hard Steel [Scaled/Plate/Nordic])
This totals 62 perks, so the build will be complete at Level 63.
The Crusader's starting kit, as seen in Morrowind.
Arsenal and Armory
Vunhilde's weapon of choice is a mace. She prefers the noble, dignified look of Steel, Elven and Glass, and would absolutely never use a Daedric or Dragonbone weapon. While she has no particular skill in Enchanting, feel free to apply enchantments such as Banish, Turn Undead, Sun Damage or Soul Trap to your weapon. Be sure to only use your Soul Trap mace on truly vile enemies!. She also has an unenchanted mace to combine with Elemental Fury. A simple Steel Mace of Dawn will last for the bulk of your game.
Some potential names for her weapons are Old Justice, Interrogator, Banisher (credit to Albino), Purifier (credit to Albino), Mace of Stendarr, Mace of Vigilance, Mace of the Steadfast and Mace of Mercy.
Vunhilde's garb of choice is the outfit of the Vigil of Stendarr: magic robes of Restoration combined with heavy armor boots and gauntlets, greaves or bracers. A devout worshipper of the God of Righteous Might and Merciful Forbearance, she always wears his amulet as well. I personally love the combination of the Vigilant Tunic and Hood from Warmonger Armory with the boots and gauntlets from one of the new Vigil Enforcer sets in the Creation Club.
Vunhilde is torn on how to proceed with Alduin. She recognizes him as an agent of the Gods and would welcome the Aedra's judgement upon what she sees as an evil world. As a result, the main quest is optional and whether she will use shouts is entirely up to you, as this build does not depend on them. If you decide to go forward with the main quest, she would use the following shouts: Animal Allegiance, Become Ethereal, Elemental Fury, Lifestream, Unrelenting Force and Warcry. Her racial ability is the Avatar, which she learns by rediscovering Skyrim's past and clearing eight dungeons. Key powers and abilities include Sailor's Repose and Sinderion's Serendipity, as well as Sacred Resolve and Channel Divinity, which are given to devotees of Stendarr under the brand new Wintersun - Faiths of Skyrim mod. Sacred Resolve allows Vunhilde to take X% less attack damage from daedra and undead (based on favor with Stendarr), while Channel Divinity let her, when meditating, spend 10% favor to gain X% improved attack, defense and healing (based on favor with Stendarr) for 5 minutes or 3 battles.
Vunhilde ensures to follow Stendarr's tenets: “Clear dungeons of evil. Slay daedra and the undead. Complete side quests for the people of Skyrim. Never openly break the laws of Skyrim. Never summon the undead.”
Special Attacks
Note: the first two special attacks include a Shout, but can easily be used without including them.
Sphere of Justice: Stendarr's Aura + Circle of Strength or Circle of Protection + Lifestream. This technique creates a field of divine energy around Vunhilde and her follower, smiting all evil that enters it and healing her allies.
Stendarr's Mercy: Avatar + Ocato's Recital or Mage Armor + Smite + Elemental Fury. Fueled by vengeance, Vunhilde's rage at the forces of evil can be explosive at times.
Judgement of the Steadfast: Strongest Healing Spell + False Light. When Vunhilde is desperate, it seems as if Stendarr himself empowers her, allowing her healing magic to punish the abominations that try to do her harm.
Quests
Main Quest (optional), Dawnguard, Lost to the Ages, The Black Star, Boethiah's Calling, Discerning the Transmundane, Ill Met by Moonlight, The Cursed Tribe, Pieces of the Past, The Whispering Door, The Break of Dawn, The House of Horrors, The Taste of Death, The Only Cure, A Night to Remember, The Mind of Madness and Waking Nightmare
Please follow's Albino's incredible roleplay section for the instructions on how to go about doing these Daedric quests.
Vunhilde sprints into battle!
Gameplay
Vunhilde is primarily a healer, so your follower should never be without a full health bar. Between Ordinator and Apocalypse, Restoration can provide enough offense in addition to potent healing that there may be long periods where she doesn't even swing her mace. She's a true support character, which makes for some interesting battles if her opponents overwhelm her follower. Her primary focus is the destruction of all Daedric artifacts, Daedra worshippers, vampires, werewolves and the undead. Consequently, the main quest is optional as Vunhilde is hesitant to engage with Alduin, who may be the First Son of Akatosh, an Aedra. Her mission is solely to rid Skyrim of any trace of malevolent evil. The Dawnguard and Daedric quests provide her with the venue for vengeance.
Golldir is a great follower as he is also a Nord and despises Necromancy and the like. Use Tailor's Measure or another follower mod to deck him out in Vigilant of Stendarr gear, and be sure to give him a mace and amulet. Celann from the Dawnguard and Erandur are both great options as well. Celann is a good peer who approaches monster-hunting in a rather different style, while Erandur serves as a wise old mentor from which Vunhilde could learn a ton.
Still young, she's driven to learn more about the ways of the Vigil, and frequently carries some of her favorite texts - Physicalities of Werewolves, The Book of Daedra, Varieties of Daedra, and Immortal Blood; and recipes for potions of Cure Disease or Resist Poison.
Simply put, Vunhilde seeks to rid Skyrim of all Daedric influence. She is driven to recover all Daedric artifacts and dispose of them in the Aetherium Forge. To begin her Vigil, Keeper Carcette has also tasked her to track down a deceased Vigilant located at Mara’s Eye Den (this makes a great first quest).
Another option for Vunhilde is to work with the Keeper of the Vigil herself - Keeper Carcette. Using Relationship Dialogue Overhaul, you can get Carcette as a follower. Add on something like the Timing Is Everything mod, and you will have an Expert Restoration trainer by your side for the first 24 or 39 levels. You can argue that Carcette would love to pass her knowledge onto a younger Vigilant, and that she would train her students in the art of Restoration magic free of charge. Be sure to empty her inventory and dismiss Carcette before level 25 (or whenever you have Dawnguard starting, which is level 10 in Vanilla) as her death is scripted and she will vanish from your side at that time.
Since my move to PC, I've added the Keeper Carcette Survives mod in order to keep her around after the Dawnguard quest begins.
For those that consider the above paragraph a bit too "gamey", just try to stockpile as much gold as you can before Level 10 so you can get all the training you can before the Dawnguard quest begins.
Alternate Start: I am going to be including this in all my builds, but, if it isn't obvious enough, use the must-have Alternate Start - Live Another Life mod to begin Vunhilde's time as a Vigilant of Stendarr.
Necessary Mods: Ordinator, Imperious, Andromeda, Apocalypse, Thunderchild (for the Lifestream shout) and the brand new Wintersun - all by EnaiSiaion.
Inspirations: Albino's Vigilant of Stendarr & TeaMistress' Claire Delacourt - both of these builds were huge inspirations and I loved the way they presented the character. Vunhilde is a hybrid of these ideas with simply a heavier focus on healing. Art is from TES: Legends and taken from The Elder Scrolls Wiki.
Update: I have found a new and more succint approach to crafting these builds after extensive play-testing, and am going to be going through each of them to revise and update based on where they are at right now. Wintersun is going to be a big part of a few of these builds as well. The main focus is trimming down the number of perks and skills as I was having characters who were a bit too overpowered due to all the extra perk mods. Ordinator is balanced for vanilla perk points, so getting these mods down to 60 or so perks instead of 90 is the new goal. Hope you enjoy this build if you haven't read it already!
Update: As mentioned, I have finally moved onto a PC of my own and am getting these builds up and running. It has been a ton of work but since Vunhilde was the first one I've posted, I figured it would be cool for her to be the first one I play. I will be adding more and more screenshots as time goes on and I completely a full play through with her!
Vigilant Vunhilde
This is the first installment in what will be a twenty-one part series. I have been working on this project for literally three years. The goal is to create twenty-one different builds for the twenty-one classes from the Elder Scrolls (TES) series. Albino put together a similar project that served as an inspiration, but I fleshed each class out into a full on character and have been tinkering with these builds over the course of three different consoles (PS3, PS4 and XB1) and finally on PC. I have an extensive mod list that can be viewed here. Most of these builds have been directly inspired by other builds on the Tamriel Vault, and those builds will be cited below as well.
I followed a number of self-imposed rules and restrictions when making these builds. Each has exactly six skills. Five of the six must come from the pool of skills used by the class in past TES games, allowing each character one additional free skill. I used information from Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion to determine the skill pool for each class. Each build must have at least three skills in their specialization (Magic, Combat or Stealth). Over all twenty-one builds, I incorporated every gender, race, skill, weapon class and faction at least once, if not more. The result is a literal cast of characters spanning every aspect of TES V: Skyrim. The first build I will present is my Crusader - Vunhilde, Vigilant of Stendarr.
Vunhilde was raised by her father on a small farm in the Rift. Her mother died in childbirth, so Vunhilde spent every single day tending the crops and livestock with her father. One night, she and her father heard a commotion and stepped outside to investigate. What they uncovered was absolutely terrifying - a wild melee between a group of vampires and two werewolves. Stunned, the two simple farmers watched a swirl of claws, teeth, blades and spells. A stray ice spike, launched in the chaos of the fight, found itself embedded in the chest of Vunhilde’s father. Too shocked to scream, Vunhilde watched her father crumple to the ground and immediately ran away to the nearest city. Once she got to Riften, she explained what occurred to the guards, and they reluctantly let her into the city with the expectation of her staying in the orphanage. Always one to defy what was expected of her, Vunhilde instead went straight to the Temple of Mara, wherein she found a welcoming priestess. She spent the rest of the night in tears, explaining what happened at length. The priestess told Vunhilde she could stay at the Temple and study the art of healing as long as she helped out with the chores. Now an orphan, Vunhilde spent the next 5 years studying healing magic and potions in the Temple. However, she still carried a burning rage at the abominable monsters that murdered her father. One day, as the rage became unbearable, Vunhilde explained to the priestess that she must avenge her father’s death by taking the fight to these monsters herself, and set out to join the one group she knew could help her in this mission - the Vigilants of Stendarr.
Vunhilde protects herself from the hordes of evil with wards and mage armor.
Age: 22 Gender: Female Race: Nord Class: Crusader Specialization: Combat (3 of 6 skills) Attributes: Personality, Willpower
Spouse: none Follower: Golldir, Erandur, Celann Deity: Stendarr Home: Adalvald's Retreat Alignment: Lawful Good
Factions: Vigilants of Stendarr, Dawnguard Magicka/Health/Stamina: 2 / 3 / 1 Standing Stone: The Mage, then the Lord
Major Skills
Restoration: Vunhilde is a master of the art of Restoration, using it both to heal her allies and smite her enemies. This is her main perk tree, and she uses a combination of healing, turn undead, sun damage and ward spells. Vigilant allows her to close the ground on vampires and necromancers rather quickly, and is also a nice nod to her namesake. False Light allows her to turn her healing prowess into a death sentence for undead, daedra worshippers, vampires and other evil doers. It can be combined with countless spells and abilities to make short work of her foes (for example, Wild Healing [from the Apocalypse mod] becomes even stronger as it has a chance to now randomly harm enemies instead of healing them). Gods and Mortals is the perfect thematic perk for Vunhilde. Stendarr’s blessing adds the Crusader's Shield effect, which makes blocking absorb stamina and stagger the attacker, allowing her to hold her ground with ease (28 perks).
Restoration Mastery (2/2)
Descending Light
Edgewalker
Hallowed Burial (2/2)
Spirit Tutors
Vigilant - The first ward you cast in combat costs no Magicka to maintain.
Exorcist
False Light - While in combat, you may cast targeted healing spells and effects on enemies to inflict damage equal to 75% of the heal amount.
Respite
Antimagic Field
Overflowing Cup
Pilgrim
Warrior's Flame
Crusader's Fire
Forbidden Sanctuary
Lightwielder
Sacred Flame
Under My Wings
Wheel of Life
Battle Cleric
In Thy Name
Sacred Guardian
Enduring Ideal
Eternal Flame
Gods and Mortals - Shrine blessings last 50% longer, and the blessings of the Divines (Akatosh, Arkay, Dibella, Julianos, Kynareth, Mara, Stendarr, Talos, Zenithar) confer powerful additional effects.
Apotheosis
One-Handed: Vunhilde’s melee offense comes from her trusty mace, a signature weapon of the Vigilants of Stendarr. Smite is perfectly thematic, even granting an extra bonus to damage against the undead. Rise Kinsmen allows Vunhilde to passively boost her allies with a simple power attack. Skull Crack works wonders against necromancers and other evil spellcasters as Vunhilde can negate their offense with a simple swing of her weapon (12 perks).
One-Handed Mastery (2/2)
Disciplined Fighter
Denting Blows (3/3)
Smite (2/2) - Power attacks with a mace deliver a critical strike that deals three/six times critical damage (four/eight times against the undead). Targets can only be struck by Smite once every 30 seconds.
Rise Kinsmen - Forwards power attacks with a mace inspire nearby allies, granting them 20% extra attack damage for 15 seconds. This effect stacks.
Toll the Bell
Meteor Storm
Skull Crack - Attacks with maces interrupt spellcasting. Does not work on massive targets.
Block: The token skill of Stendarr, Vunhilde uses her mace in an effort to mitigate incoming damage as best as she can. Timed Block is a staple of Ordinator and presents a whole new way to engage in melee combat. Power Bash allows her to disrupt an enemy’s attacks and Mocking Blow will prove extremely valuable in any fights against other melee opponents (7 perks).
Block Mastery (2/2)
Timed Block (2/2) - Assume a defensive position for 1 second after raising your shield or weapon, blocking 30% more damage and staggering attackers in melee range. (If you do not block an attack during this time, you cannot attempt another Timed Block for 2 seconds/1 second.)
Power Bash - Able to do a power bash by holding down Attack while blocking.
Skull Rattler
Mocking Blow - Power bashing with a weapon infuriates living targets for 30 seconds. They won't flee from combat but can't regenerate Stamina, lose 15 points of Stamina per second and you take no damage from their attacks during a Timed Block.
Minor Skills
Alchemy: Vunhilde is an adept alchemist who focuses solely on crafting strong healing potions. Physician allows her to create even stronger brews. Green Thumb lets her harvest more ingredients on her travels, and Pure Mixture ensures her health potions are pure no matter what ingredients are used in the process (7 perks).
Alchemy Mastery (2/2)
Physician - You may choose a type of beneficial potion: Health, Magicka or Stamina. Potions you mix that restore or fortify the chosen attribute are 50% stronger. Choose Health.
Advanced Lab
Experimenter
Green Thumb - Twice as many ingredients are gathered from most harvestable objects.
Pure Mixture - All negative effects are removed from created potions, and all positive effects are removed from created poisons.
Alteration: Since Vunhilde dons the standard Vigilant outfit of robes with heavy armor boots and gauntlets, none of the Mage Armor perks work here. Instead, Wild Shrines will allow her to boost her Restoration, Alteration and Illusion spells. Alter Self: Resistances gives Vunhilde an added resistance to some of the more vile things she can encounter in the wild by boosting her resistance to Poison and Disease. Lastly, Spellblade allows Vunhilde to follow up on a spell with an even stronger flurry of strikes from her mace (5 perks).
Alteration Mastery (2/2)
Wild Shrines - Five shrines dedicated to nature's mysteries can be found in Skyrim. Each shrine grants a permanent bonus to one school of magic, making all spells from that school 15% more powerful or last 30% longer.
Alter Self: Resistances - You may choose two resistances to increase by 25%.
Spellblade - Whenever you cast a spell with one hand, you deal 20% more attack damage for 4 seconds.
Smithing: By no means a master smith, Vunhilde simply tempers her weapons and armor and knows how to craft a variety of boots and gauntlets in the Nordic tradition (3 perks).
Smithing Mastery (2/2)
Meric Smithing (1/2) (choose Dwarven)
Arcane Blacksmith - You can improve enchanted weapons and armor.
Expert Smithing (1/2) (choose Hard Steel [Scaled/Plate/Nordic])
This totals 62 perks, so the build will be complete at Level 63.
The Crusader's starting kit, as seen in Morrowind.
Arsenal and Armory
Vunhilde's weapon of choice is a mace. She prefers the noble, dignified look of Steel, Elven and Glass, and would absolutely never use a Daedric or Dragonbone weapon. While she has no particular skill in Enchanting, feel free to apply enchantments such as Banish, Turn Undead, Sun Damage or Soul Trap to your weapon. Be sure to only use your Soul Trap mace on truly vile enemies!. She also has an unenchanted mace to combine with Elemental Fury. A simple Steel Mace of Dawn will last for the bulk of your game.
Some potential names for her weapons are Old Justice, Interrogator, Banisher (credit to Albino), Purifier (credit to Albino), Mace of Stendarr, Mace of Vigilance, Mace of the Steadfast and Mace of Mercy.
Vunhilde's garb of choice is the outfit of the Vigil of Stendarr: magic robes of Restoration combined with heavy armor boots and gauntlets, greaves or bracers. A devout worshipper of the God of Righteous Might and Merciful Forbearance, she always wears his amulet as well. I personally love the combination of the Vigilant Tunic and Hood from Warmonger Armory with the boots and gauntlets from one of the new Vigil Enforcer sets in the Creation Club.
Vunhilde is torn on how to proceed with Alduin. She recognizes him as an agent of the Gods and would welcome the Aedra's judgement upon what she sees as an evil world. As a result, the main quest is optional and whether she will use shouts is entirely up to you, as this build does not depend on them. If you decide to go forward with the main quest, she would use the following shouts: Animal Allegiance, Become Ethereal, Elemental Fury, Lifestream, Unrelenting Force and Warcry. Her racial ability is the Avatar, which she learns by rediscovering Skyrim's past and clearing eight dungeons. Key powers and abilities include Sailor's Repose and Sinderion's Serendipity, as well as Sacred Resolve and Channel Divinity, which are given to devotees of Stendarr under the brand new Wintersun - Faiths of Skyrim mod. Sacred Resolve allows Vunhilde to take X% less attack damage from daedra and undead (based on favor with Stendarr), while Channel Divinity let her, when meditating, spend 10% favor to gain X% improved attack, defense and healing (based on favor with Stendarr) for 5 minutes or 3 battles.
Vunhilde ensures to follow Stendarr's tenets: “Clear dungeons of evil. Slay daedra and the undead. Complete side quests for the people of Skyrim. Never openly break the laws of Skyrim. Never summon the undead.”
Special Attacks
Note: the first two special attacks include a Shout, but can easily be used without including them.
Sphere of Justice: Stendarr's Aura + Circle of Strength or Circle of Protection + Lifestream. This technique creates a field of divine energy around Vunhilde and her follower, smiting all evil that enters it and healing her allies.
Stendarr's Mercy: Avatar + Ocato's Recital or Mage Armor + Smite + Elemental Fury. Fueled by vengeance, Vunhilde's rage at the forces of evil can be explosive at times.
Judgement of the Steadfast: Strongest Healing Spell + False Light. When Vunhilde is desperate, it seems as if Stendarr himself empowers her, allowing her healing magic to punish the abominations that try to do her harm.
Quests
Main Quest (optional), Dawnguard, Lost to the Ages, The Black Star, Boethiah's Calling, Discerning the Transmundane, Ill Met by Moonlight, The Cursed Tribe, Pieces of the Past, The Whispering Door, The Break of Dawn, The House of Horrors, The Taste of Death, The Only Cure, A Night to Remember, The Mind of Madness and Waking Nightmare
Please follow's Albino's incredible roleplay section for the instructions on how to go about doing these Daedric quests.
Vunhilde sprints into battle!
Gameplay
Vunhilde is primarily a healer, so your follower should never be without a full health bar. Between Ordinator and Apocalypse, Restoration can provide enough offense in addition to potent healing that there may be long periods where she doesn't even swing her mace. She's a true support character, which makes for some interesting battles if her opponents overwhelm her follower. Her primary focus is the destruction of all Daedric artifacts, Daedra worshippers, vampires, werewolves and the undead. Consequently, the main quest is optional as Vunhilde is hesitant to engage with Alduin, who may be the First Son of Akatosh, an Aedra. Her mission is solely to rid Skyrim of any trace of malevolent evil. The Dawnguard and Daedric quests provide her with the venue for vengeance.
Golldir is a great follower as he is also a Nord and despises Necromancy and the like. Use Tailor's Measure or another follower mod to deck him out in Vigilant of Stendarr gear, and be sure to give him a mace and amulet. Celann from the Dawnguard and Erandur are both great options as well. Celann is a good peer who approaches monster-hunting in a rather different style, while Erandur serves as a wise old mentor from which Vunhilde could learn a ton.
Still young, she's driven to learn more about the ways of the Vigil, and frequently carries some of her favorite texts - Physicalities of Werewolves, The Book of Daedra, Varieties of Daedra, and Immortal Blood; and recipes for potions of Cure Disease or Resist Poison.
Simply put, Vunhilde seeks to rid Skyrim of all Daedric influence. She is driven to recover all Daedric artifacts and dispose of them in the Aetherium Forge. To begin her Vigil, Keeper Carcette has also tasked her to track down a deceased Vigilant located at Mara’s Eye Den (this makes a great first quest).
Another option for Vunhilde is to work with the Keeper of the Vigil herself - Keeper Carcette. Using Relationship Dialogue Overhaul, you can get Carcette as a follower. Add on something like the Timing Is Everything mod, and you will have an Expert Restoration trainer by your side for the first 24 or 39 levels. You can argue that Carcette would love to pass her knowledge onto a younger Vigilant, and that she would train her students in the art of Restoration magic free of charge. Be sure to empty her inventory and dismiss Carcette before level 25 (or whenever you have Dawnguard starting, which is level 10 in Vanilla) as her death is scripted and she will vanish from your side at that time.
Since my move to PC, I've added the Keeper Carcette Survives mod in order to keep her around after the Dawnguard quest begins.
For those that consider the above paragraph a bit too "gamey", just try to stockpile as much gold as you can before Level 10 so you can get all the training you can before the Dawnguard quest begins.
Alternate Start: I am going to be including this in all my builds, but, if it isn't obvious enough, use the must-have Alternate Start - Live Another Life mod to begin Vunhilde's time as a Vigilant of Stendarr.
Necessary Mods: Ordinator, Imperious, Andromeda, Apocalypse, Thunderchild (for the Lifestream shout) and the brand new Wintersun - all by EnaiSiaion.
Inspirations: Albino's Vigilant of Stendarr & TeaMistress' Claire Delacourt - both of these builds were huge inspirations and I loved the way they presented the character. Vunhilde is a hybrid of these ideas with simply a heavier focus on healing. Art is from TES: Legends and taken from The Elder Scrolls Wiki.
Update: I have found a new and more succint approach to crafting these builds after extensive play-testing, and am going to be going through each of them to revise and update based on where they are at right now. Wintersun is going to be a big part of a few of these builds as well. The main focus is trimming down the number of perks and skills as I was having characters who were a bit too overpowered due to all the extra perk mods. Ordinator is balanced for vanilla perk points, so getting these mods down to 60 or so perks instead of 90 is the new goal. Hope you enjoy this build if you haven't read it already!
Update: As mentioned, I have finally moved onto a PC of my own and am getting these builds up and running. It has been a ton of work but since Vunhilde was the first one I've posted, I figured it would be cool for her to be the first one I play. I will be adding more and more screenshots as time goes on and I completely a full play through with her!
