Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Sword-Singer

  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    Well for the gear alone, he has to. :p But yeah, I would think even disregarding the Redguard Hood, a Sword-singer would want to destroy the Dark Brotherhood. Sword-singers are about honor and righteousness. They don't kill in cold blood, and would frown on those who do. The DB are chaotic and they pose a direct threat to innocent lives. I don't know whether he'd go out of his way to track down and defeat the DB, we don't really know enough about the walkabout to say, but given the chance I don't think he would hesitate to do so.

    The one issue with destroying the DB is that it requires you to kill Grelod. I discussed this with Vaz and maybe Matt as well, and there were a couple of ways we talked about for approaching that. Both would require a bit of roleplaying. Since I suggested joining the Companions, you can kill Grelod as a werewolf and roleplay that it was out of your control, a consequence of your first transformation. Out of shame/guilt, you would never transform again and cure yourself ASAP.

    The other option would be to have a follower kill her and just, for roleplaying sake, pretend it wasn't on your own command. You could also probably do the same with a scroll of Frenzy or something, and just roleplay that Grelod attacked you in a psychotic rage, and you had to kill her to protect the children. Just a few options to justify what would otherwise be well out of character.

    I guess you could also just kill her and say it was for the greater good to defeat the DB, but "the greater good" does't really seem like the type of tenet that would appear in the Book of Circles based on what we know about it.

  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    Matt covered this one perfectly. If you don't really care about the extra movement speed/Stamina, you could definitely spend those two perks elsewhere. Alternatively, you could use the Diadem of the Savant to activate Custom Fit so it's not a "wasted" perk. If you do choose to reallocate those perks, there are plenty of options within the other skill trees still to invest in. Elven Smithing would definitely be a good candidate to bolster the Ancient Falmer armor. You could also pick up the fifth Shield Wall perk.

    I never had too much trouble with defense, but like Matt said, blocking and bashing (as well as movement and timing) are all essential in combat. Giving the build a low AR made those tactical elements all the more important. I picked up a ring of Fortify Block pretty early on, which definitely helped. And as I suggested in the write-up, training Block with Njada Stonearm will keep up your defenses even with just a blade to block with.

  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    Psh, there is no "Grelod: at all, she is just a husk, a vessel for Molag-Bal to further his corruption of the human realm! I didn't kill her, I *freed* her! And defeated Molag-Bal in the process. But for a Daedric Prince, he didn't have much health. 

  • Member
    August 4, 2013
    So does anyone know if the ordinary alik'r hood matches one of the guard armors incase I get bored of the look?
  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    Try Falkreath and Dawnstar.

  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    Nope, the Redguard Hood is the only one. Others appear with huge clipping issues.

  • Member
    August 4, 2013
    I don't have dawnguard. any tips in armor for the ansei part of the build?
  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    I tried it with Dawnstar, Winterhold, and Stormcloak, but the colors were never close enough, which led to noticeable clipping at times. There may technically be clipping with the Solitude Guard Armor/Redguard Hood combo, but the colors and mesh are so identical that you can't actually tell whether it's clipping or not, even zoomed in all the way. It's actually uncanny how well they match.

  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    He could be extra manly, and swap out the armor for the Hammerfell Garb! :D

  • Member
    August 4, 2013

    Asgard suggested Glass Armor. That was one of the three finalists for me, so that's probably your best bet. The glass helm is visually similar to the helmet we see on Frandar Hunding, and asgard also noted a cool connection between the crystal trimming on the glass set, and the Yokudan crystals. This also opens up the ability to expand a bit more into the Light Armor tree — I'd pick up Wind Walker for instance, since it will be active with four pieces of light armor. Alternatively, if you don't like the look of the Glass helm, the Novice Hood works decently with Glass. There's a pic of that combo here, via NOACC.

    And since you also can't use the Vampire Gauntlets without Dawnguard, I suggest using the Shrouded Gloves instead.