New character

[Cherry]

Hi all

I want to start a new Argonian character, but I'm currently undecided about the skills I'm going to use. I know I'll definately use Illusion, Alteration and Destruction, but otherwise it's completely open.

What do you think would be an interesting skillset to complement the above three? RP, backstory suggestions? What would you do with this character? Looking forward to your input.

 

[AS88]

Hey

How about an all-offence Nightblade/Spellsword? You could start with by surveying a room from afar with Detect Life, then use Sneak to get into a position to use Illusion to Fury or Calm targets. You could use a Dagger or Sword for sneak attacks, sometimes using poisons, then use Destruction (possibly Shock to fit the Argonian feel) and your Sword to go into Spellsword mode.

http://skyrimcalculator.com/351561

That could be your finished product at level 30.

The build sounds overpowered as a sneaky mage, but you could balance it by not taking Quiet Casting from Illusion, only taking one rank in Stealth, not taking Assassin's Blade. You could also use poisons but not perk the tree, so as not to have super-powerful effects. Your only means of healing could be unperked Restoration spells, unperked potions that you make (or find), or using the Histskin ability.

In terms of RP, you could have your character be an An-Xileel agent, infiltrating Skyrim to find out more about the Thalmor, Dunmer and Civil War situations. You could infiltrate the Thieves Guild as a casual member to find out gossip and learn about the more influential families and as an opportunity to get paid to travel. You could rescue Avulstein Grey-Mane to get a look at the Thalmor, you could even search for information about the Dark Brotherhood and any remaining Shadowscales. You'd have to get your hands on an invisibility potion or two to get around Windhelm, though

 

[Twiffle]

Hi all

I want to start a new Argonian character, but I'm currently undecided about the skills I'm going to use. I know I'll definately use Illusion, Alteration and Destruction, but otherwise it's completely open.

What do you think would be an interesting skillset to complement the above three? RP, backstory suggestions? What would you do with this character? Looking forward to your input.

When it comes to back stories im useless so that part i will skip. However there is one build you could try which uses those schools, and i have played it before, i haven't a name for the build but the main tools of offense is a staff, you don't use destruction spells just staffs, but put perks into the destruction tree as these also affect staffs, illusion is great to sort a room out with either rage or calm spells then finish off with staff and a sword, only wear clothes use alteration for protection physical and magic and gives lots of mobility, sneak is an option for yourself to choose but i would take quiet casting, i also included alchemy for buffs but no other crafting, i takes some time and patience and you will be squishy at the start, but around level 30ish you will be really strong but not invincible.

 

[Snake-Brother282]

My current Argonian (Swims-Black-Waters) is a member of a specialized class of An-Xileel Field agent called a HistMouth. Like As88 suggests he is in skyrim to gather information about all parties involved, and he manages to get access to people in positions of power by posing as the dragonborn. He has been trained by the Hist in the dragon language from a young age, and has been trained by An-Xileel warriors his whole life. Swims-black-waters always goes once a month to meet up with his An-Xileel contacts in either Windhelm or Riften. (To report)
So far I've enjoyed this build, it allows me to pursue virtually any quest line in the name of gathering intelligence, I also like that it justifies slowing down and talking to all the NPCs. Also I think it might be interesting to add a bit where part of his mission is to find and kill the real dragon-born. Still working on his skills and detailed backstory though.

 

[Cherry]

Thanks for all the suggestions this far. Although I'll probably pass on the AS88 build, simply because the character I'm currently playing is a throat slitter TG and DB member. I don't want to redo those missions quite yet . Also, I've played Nightblades before, and thought of them as the most owerpowered class in Skyrim, although with those balancing suggestions it wouldn't be that bad.

Perhaps I should've stressed that point in my first post, but whatever.
I've thought of this character a little more, and want him to more of a spellcaster than anything else. Not really a pure mage, since those tend to get boring faster than other classes.

 

[Gigapact]

Hi all

I want to start a new Argonian character, but I'm currently undecided about the skills I'm going to use. I know I'll definately use Illusion, Alteration and Destruction, but otherwise it's completely open.

What do you think would be an interesting skillset to complement the above three? RP, backstory suggestions? What would you do with this character? Looking forward to your input.

If you're really into illusion, I personally would invest in some sneak as well. Through the illusion tree, you can get the perk "quiet casting." As the name implies, you can cast all spells without your enemies hearing it. This is now where sneak can come into play. Hide in a corner, cast frenzy or whatever, and watch everyone kill each other until only one enemy is left standing. Then, you can finish them off with your destruction magic. Very entertaining. Illusion can also be helpful when you're getting your ass handed to you, as you can try to calm them the hell down. So IMO, I would get some sneak in there.

Also with magic, enchanting is always a good idea, I go this route as well. That way you can decrease the cost of dustruction spells or whatever it may be, as well as fortify magicka, etc. Always helpful.

Are you going to be wearing clothes or armor? If clothes, definitely alteration as you said. Try to get all the mage armor perks. If you're going to actually wear armor, then IMO the only cool thing for me is paralysis from alteration.... so really that's up to you whether you want to waste perks in that tree.

If you're going to wear real armor, then I suggest finding your own or smithing it, that way you can create enchantments that suit your character's magic. Because DB or TG armor isn't going to help you there too much. I think Nightingale armor has something for illusion, but that's it.

Have you considered going vampire? If you do, this will help your magic greatly for these reasons: Illusion spells are 25% stronger and sneak is 25% better. Then, when being a vampire, you can get the "Necromage" perk, which allows all spells to be stronger and last longer for undead. Since you will be a vampire, you are considered among the undead. Very helpful. Downside to vampirism is the no magicka/health/stamina regeneration during the day, but there's plenty of ways to get around it. Still annoying though.

Back story? That all depends, but it's nice to be creative. Do you want a darker character that has a plopsty past? Or do you want one that's come from a good home and just wants to find himself? Or perhaps you want a narcissist that is only concerned with gaining power? So many options.

 

[Cherry]

Hi all

I want to start a new Argonian character, but I'm currently undecided about the skills I'm going to use. I know I'll definately use Illusion, Alteration and Destruction, but otherwise it's completely open.

What do you think would be an interesting skillset to complement the above three? RP, backstory suggestions? What would you do with this character? Looking forward to your input.

If you're really into illusion, I personally would invest in some sneak as well. Through the illusion tree, you can get the perk "quiet casting." As the name implies, you can cast all spells without your enemies hearing it. This is now where sneak can come into play. Hide in a corner, cast frenzy or whatever, and watch everyone kill each other until only one enemy is left standing. Then, you can finish them off with your destruction magic. Very entertaining. Illusion can also be helpful when you're getting your ass handed to you, as you can try to calm them the hell down. So IMO, I would get some sneak in there.

Also with magic, enchanting is always a good idea, I go this route as well. That way you can decrease the cost of dustruction spells or whatever it may be, as well as fortify magicka, etc. Always helpful.

Are you going to be wearing clothes or armor? If clothes, definitely alteration as you said. Try to get all the mage armor perks. If you're going to actually wear armor, then IMO the only cool thing for me is paralysis from alteration.... so really that's up to you whether you want to waste perks in that tree.

If you're going to wear real armor, then I suggest finding your own or smithing it, that way you can create enchantments that suit your character's magic. Because DB or TG armor isn't going to help you there too much. I think Nightingale armor has something for illusion, but that's it.

Have you considered going vampire? If you do, this will help your magic greatly for these reasons: Illusion spells are 25% stronger and sneak is 25% better. Then, when being a vampire, you can get the "Necromage" perk, which allows all spells to be stronger and last longer for undead. Since you will be a vampire, you are considered among the undead. Very helpful. Downside to vampirism is the no magicka/health/stamina regeneration during the day, but there's plenty of ways to get around it. Still annoying though.

Back story? That all depends, but it's nice to be creative. Do you want a darker character that has a pl***ty past? Or do you want one that's come from a good home and just wants to find himself? Or perhaps you want a narcissist that is only concerned with gaining power? So many options.

Well, this was a long post... I have a few comments.

Firstly, yes I know how Illusion works, I've used it before . I was already thinking about a sneaky mage with Enchanting, and like 1-3 sneak perks. I'm not going to go full sneak-mode all the time however, since it gets kind of overpowered.

Secondly, I'm most likely going to go unarmored. I also have another Argonian build planned, who would go Light Armor / Two-handed and some magic, but that's a different story altogether. I'm probably not going to use smithing at all.

Third, Vampirism is out of the picture for me. I still revere the Hist, and I fear vampirism would cut me off. Besides, I play on PC and have the Unofficial Skyrim Patch which fixes the Necromage bug.

Lastly, you've all given me nice ideas. I'm most likely going to go almost-pure mage after all, and leave weaponry to my other characters. Thanks for the input, but feel free to continue the discussion. I'm not starting the character right this second.

 

[DrunkenMage]

In terms of RP, you could have your character be an An-Xileel agent, infiltrating Skyrim to find out more about the Thalmor, Dunmer and Civil War situations.

The Argonian Government is xenophobic I believe and exterminated all those considered tainted by Imperialism. Being exposed to Imperial rule, or have had family who lived under Imperial rule/outsider influence.

So that could always conflict with it. Then again I suppose you could have it your character ends up finding that out when say an Argonian Assassin of the Dark Brotherhood tries to kill you. That could tie in well, find out you've been used and now discarded. Turns Imperial favored... cause I said so. Cause I act as a recruitment officer now.

 

[AS88]

In terms of RP, you could have your character be an An-Xileel agent, infiltrating Skyrim to find out more about the Thalmor, Dunmer and Civil War situations.

The Argonian Government is xenophobic I believe and exterminated all those considered tainted by Imperialism. Being exposed to Imperial rule, or have had family who lived under Imperial rule/outsider influence.

So that could always conflict with it. Then again I suppose you could have it your character ends up finding that out when say an Argonian Assassin of the Dark Brotherhood tries to kill you. That could tie in well, find out you've been used and now discarded. Turns Imperial favored... cause I said so. Cause I act as a recruitment officer now.

Could be some ultra-patriotic Argonian banished from the Black Marsh for talking to people they shouldn't have, then head to Skyrim to dig up some dirt themselves, then?

 

[DrunkenMage]

Could be some ultra-patriotic Argonian banished from the Black Marsh for talking to people they shouldn't have, then head to Skyrim to dig up some dirt themselves, then?

They have enough dirt in their province. Why would they go to another province and dig?

 

[AS88]

Could be some ultra-patriotic Argonian banished from the Black Marsh for talking to people they shouldn't have, then head to Skyrim to dig up some dirt themselves, then?

They have enough dirt in their province. Why would they go to another province and dig?

Scenery.

And becozz deathshshsh to ze huumanzzzz

 

[DrunkenMage]

Scenery.

And becozz deathshshsh to ze huumanzzzz

"If you look to my left, you will see the great rock of..." perfectly cut square in the ground "Some bastard stole our boulder!"

 

[Cherry]

In case anyone's interested, I've decided on two new characters.

The first one will be an Argonian dragonborn. Major Skills will be One-handed (dual-wield), Smithing, Light Armor and Enchanting (maybe). Minor skills Restoration and maybe like 3-4 sneak perks. Other random perk-points might be distributed to Lockpicking, Speech, whatever. He will use shouts heavily in combat (I have mods to make this more fun/viable at higher difficulties). End game gear would be Dragonscale Armor, with an assortment of Dragonbone weapons and Akaviri Katanas.

As RP, I thought he would discover that he's Dragonborn and head for High Hrothgar. After studying with the Greybeards for some time, he will embark on his personal quest to become as dragon-like as possible, by absorbing souls and learning as many words of power as possible. I decided on melee weapons + shouts for combat because what does a dovah use? Powerful physical attacks and shouts.

The second will be an Argonian mage. Major skills are Destruction, Alteration and Enchanting. Minor skills are Illusion, Conjuration (I will only take Novice-Expert for perks to limit it's power) and Restoration.

For RP, I'm thinking of a sort of Neutral Good nice guy. A mid-ranking member of the College, traveling Skyrim and helping people to improve how Skyrim's general populace views both wizards and Argonians.

If anyone reads this post, what do you think?

 

[Twiffle]

Yep, both sound good to me, , but in the first dont waste perks in lockpicking as anyone can pick even master locks, otherwise both sound good

 

[Cherry]

Yep, both sound good to me, , but in the first dont waste perks in lockpicking as anyone can pick even master locks, otherwise both sound good

I know this, but I still like putting perks into Lockpicking, and that character will probably have some leftover points, so...

EDIT: Actually, I've started this character now, and played for some time, and decided for another ues for the spare perk points: Alteration.

I won't be needing the flesh spells once I get smithed-up Dragonscale Armor, but passive 30% magic resistance and spell absorbion is what I'm really after.

 

[khazan99]

EDIT: Actually, I've started this character now, and played for some time, and decided for another ues for the spare perk points: Alteration.

I won't be needing the flesh spells once I get smithed-up Dragonscale Armor, but passive 30% magic resistance and spell absorbion is what I'm really after.

I tried an Argonian once but he died after a disagreement with a Sabrecat (and this thread makes me want to create another, actually...), and I liked Alteration for a way to emulate the toughness of his scaly hide. Not exactly Lore-friendly maybe, but I liked the little boost it gave to his Light Armor.

Have fun with your character!

 

[Cherry]

EDIT: Actually, I've started this character now, and played for some time, and decided for another ues for the spare perk points: Alteration.

I won't be needing the flesh spells once I get smithed-up Dragonscale Armor, but passive 30% magic resistance and spell absorbion is what I'm really after.

I tried an Argonian once but he died after a disagreement with a Sabrecat (and this thread makes me want to create another, actually...), and I liked Alteration for a way to emulate the toughness of his scaly hide. Not exactly Lore-friendly maybe, but I liked the little boost it gave to his Light Armor.

Have fun with your character!

I will, thanks!

And you should certainly roll an Argonian. They're super awesome, lore and appearance-wise. Plus Histskin is amazing.
This character was fighting a dragon, up close and personal at level 8 on Expert difficulty. Activate Histskin, hammer the dragon with your sword n' axe, and it was over quickly. Histskin kept me alive during my suicidal attack.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

While the suggestions are wonderful, this brings me back to my issue with RPing a beast race. They simply are not welcome anywhere (although Argo's are tolerated in Riften, perhaps even welcome if you take in to account Kareva (sic), etc...), but I just have trouble coming up with a valid reason why one would be allowed in most other cities: example: In Solitude they're considered thieves; in Windhelm they are basically slaves; and on and on and on.

Is any of that going in to your RP? Maybe I'm just RPing too seriously.

 

[khazan99]

While the suggestions are wonderful, this brings me back to my issue with RPing a beast race. They simply are not welcome anywhere (although Argo's are tolerated in Riften, perhaps even welcome if you take in to account Kareva (sic), etc...), but I just have trouble coming up with a valid reason why one would be allowed in most other cities: example: In Solitude they're considered thieves; in Windhelm they are basically slaves; and on and on and on.

Is any of that going in to your RP? Maybe I'm just RPing too seriously.

No, you're spot-on, it's certainly a valid point. As an aside, it does show yet again how Bethesda skimped a bit on the development when they neglected to include some of these things in the actual mechanics of gameplay.

I suppose I might have an Argonian either live exclusively in the wilderness (we've posted about the Alchemist Shack, for example, in other threads as a viable place to set up an RP home) and travel to Riften to buy/sell/craft as needed. Or perhaps around Lake Illinata, a big, deep, fairly temperate body of water that might be as close to his homeland as he could find in Skyrim. Another option might be to have him come and go by way of the river outside of Windhelm, visiting the contingent of Argonians that live along the docks.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

While the suggestions are wonderful, this brings me back to my issue with RPing a beast race. They simply are not welcome anywhere (although Argo's are tolerated in Riften, perhaps even welcome if you take in to account Kareva (sic), etc...), but I just have trouble coming up with a valid reason why one would be allowed in most other cities: example: In Solitude they're considered thieves; in Windhelm they are basically slaves; and on and on and on.

Is any of that going in to your RP? Maybe I'm just RPing too seriously.

No, you're spot-on, it's certainly a valid point. As an aside, it does show yet again how Bethesda skimped a bit on the development when they neglected to include some of these things in the actual mechanics of gameplay.

I suppose I might have an Argonian either live exclusively in the wilderness (we've posted about the Alchemist Shack, for example, in other threads as a viable place to set up an RP home) and travel to Riften to buy/sell/craft as needed. Or perhaps around Lake Illinata, a big, deep, fairly temperate body of water that might be as close to his homeland as he could find in Skyrim. Another option might be to have him come and go by way of the river outside of Windhelm, visiting the contingent of Argonians that live along the docks.

I would choose Anis' cabin rather than the alchemist's shack - it has an enchanter as well and is on the lake already. Makes sense.