It's a great build, and you've definitely put a ton of thought into it. I just have a few questions:
1. You have the use of potions and poisons in here quite a bit, but don't use Alchemy as a skill, instead going with Restoration on a 2h build. Wouldn't it make more sense to drop Restoration and put in alchemy? Obviously, you wouldn't be able to get Necromage, but can the build function without Vampirism?
2. You grab the Mage Armor perks, but aren't they negated by the Fine Armguards? Fine Armguards are classed as Light Armor. I can see the game-mechanics reason for taking Mage Armor, of course, and the emulation of Kenshin for the Armguards, but I think the two are mutually exclusive because of the Light Armor classification. Am I missing something, though?
3. One of the key reasons Albino's Ruroni build works is the fact that you can move well while attacking with a one-handed weapon. But you can't do that with a two-handed weapon. The Ebony Blade moves about as fast as a one-handed weapon, but can you still move while swinging it, like a one-handed weapon?
4. As an aside, which race did you end up going with?
There are also RP considerations that might be interesting (I'm not criticizing your build, these other possibilities occurred and I figured I'd share them, for anyone else looking at the build---if I've offended you, I apologize!):
1. Age: Unlike the Japanese Civil War in the anime, which occurred ten years or so before the "present day," the Great War ended in 4E 176 or so, so 25ish years prior. For a human, that's a long time, so even a young Hitokiri who was in his teens during the Great War would now be in 40s, at least. This opens up several possibilities. First, he could have been a veteran of the Redguard's fight against the Dominion after the war instead of the Great War himself, thus subtracting about 5 years from his age, and he might even have been a reason the Redguards won, when the Empire lost. This also helps open the possibility that as a (probably) Redguard embittered by the Empire's decision to let Hamerfell go, he might side with the Stormcloaks.
Second, if he's aging, he might have sought out Vampirism, either now or sometime between the war (Great War or Redguard war) and the present, as a way to preserve his youth to keep in top fighting form. Or he might have even contracted it during the earlier fighting.
Third, this could be the Hitokiri's first war. He could start out as the idealistic warrior trying to help the people, the way Kenshin was when he ran away from his Master to fight in the Japanese civil war, but ended up corrupted here in Skyrim. That also leads to him possibly supporting either side, right from the start. As before, Redguards don't much like the Empire at the moment, so a hotheaded young Redguard training when the Stormcloak Rebellion breaks out might sympathize with them (And Kenshin was, technically, fighting on the side of the rebels in his war. He also might support the Empire, especially if he grew up outside Hammerfell, or if he's a Breton or Imperial instead of a Redguard). Either way, like Kenshin, this swordsman in Skyrim gets lost, ending up as the Hitokiri. I'm just a sucker for roles where the character develops as I play I guess.
There's also the Udo Jin-e route: Start on one side (in an earlier war), and switch once his bloodlust gets the better of him and he starts killing people he shouldn't have. Justifies working for the Imperials before and the Stormcloaks now.
That's all. Thanks for writing such a great build!
It's a great build, and you've definitely put a ton of thought into it. I just have a few questions:
1. You have the use of potions and poisons in here quite a bit, but don't use Alchemy as a skill, instead going with Restoration on a 2h build. Wouldn't it make more sense to drop Restoration and put in alchemy? Obviously, you wouldn't be able to get Necromage, but can the build function without Vampirism?
2. You grab the Mage Armor perks, but aren't they negated by the Fine Armguards? Fine Armguards are classed as Light Armor. I can see the game-mechanics reason for taking Mage Armor, of course, and the emulation of Kenshin for the Armguards, but I think the two are mutually exclusive because of the Light Armor classification. Am I missing something, though?
3. One of the key reasons Albino's Ruroni build works is the fact that you can move well while attacking with a one-handed weapon. But you can't do that with a two-handed weapon. The Ebony Blade moves about as fast as a one-handed weapon, but can you still move while swinging it, like a one-handed weapon?
4. As an aside, which race did you end up going with?
There are also RP considerations that might be interesting (I'm not criticizing your build, these other possibilities occurred and I figured I'd share them, for anyone else looking at the build---if I've offended you, I apologize!):
1. Age: Unlike the Japanese Civil War in the anime, which occurred ten years or so before the "present day," the Great War ended in 4E 176 or so, so 25ish years prior. For a human, that's a long time, so even a young Hitokiri who was in his teens during the Great War would now be in 40s, at least. This opens up several possibilities. First, he could have been a veteran of the Redguard's fight against the Dominion after the war instead of the Great War himself, thus subtracting about 5 years from his age, and he might even have been a reason the Redguards won, when the Empire lost. This also helps open the possibility that as a (probably) Redguard embittered by the Empire's decision to let Hamerfell go, he might side with the Stormcloaks.
Second, if he's aging, he might have sought out Vampirism, either now or sometime between the war (Great War or Redguard war) and the present, as a way to preserve his youth to keep in top fighting form. Or he might have even contracted it during the earlier fighting.
Third, this could be the Hitokiri's first war. He could start out as the idealistic warrior trying to help the people, the way Kenshin was when he ran away from his Master to fight in the Japanese civil war, but ended up corrupted here in Skyrim. That also leads to him possibly supporting either side, right from the start. As before, Redguards don't much like the Empire at the moment, so a hotheaded young Redguard training when the Stormcloak Rebellion breaks out might sympathize with them (And Kenshin was, technically, fighting on the side of the rebels in his war. He also might support the Empire, especially if he grew up outside Hammerfell, or if he's a Breton or Imperial instead of a Redguard). Either way, like Kenshin, this swordsman in Skyrim gets lost, ending up as the Hitokiri. I'm just a sucker for roles where the character develops as I play I guess.
There's also the Udo Jin-e route: Start on one side (in an earlier war), and switch once his bloodlust gets the better of him and he starts killing people he shouldn't have. Justifies working for the Imperials before and the Stormcloaks now.
That's all. Thanks for writing such a great build!
