Characters that didn't work out for you :(

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sticky runes

Well-Known Member
Have you ever had any ideas for starting a new character that you thought would turn out really well, you planned out what you were going to do and what quests to focus on and put a lot of thought into his or her personality, then when it came to playing, it just didn't work out like you'd hoped? Or maybe playing it just wasn't as fun as you thought it would be?

My Nordic ruins explorer has been kind of lame. After playing as two Dwemer researchers which turned out to be some of the most fun I've ever had in Skyrim, I thought a Nordic researcher would be easy and enjoyable, but some how it just hasn't gripped me like the Dwemer researchers did.

I also once tried playing as an evil sorceress who joined the Dark Brotherhood. That wasn't much fun. Sorry Festus, but chucking fireballs out of the shadows makes assassination attempts a lot messier than they need to be.
 

Gregor Moon Fang

Champion of Azura
That's how it's been outside of like 5 characters for me but the most glaring mistake was my Stormcloak character Kynara War-Searcher. I figured that I would see the game from the POV of the Stormcloaks but by the time I finished the battle in Whiterun I couldn't continue the storyline for morality sake.
 

sticky runes

Well-Known Member
That's how it's been outside of like 5 characters for me but the most glaring mistake was my Stormcloak character Kynara War-Searcher. I figured that I would see the game from the POV of the Stormcloaks but by the time I finished the battle in Whiterun I couldn't continue the storyline for morality sake.
The trouble I have with betraying Balgruuf is that he constantly heaps me with prizes during the early stages of the main storyline. "Thanks for helping my subjects, here's a suit of armour. Thanks for helping my wizard, here's another peace of armour and the right to purchase property in my city. Thanks for killing the dragon, here's a weapon from my armory and also the title of Thane and one of my warriors to serve as your personal attendant." I wish he didn't automatically make us thane of Whiterun, and just said "If you would like to become thane, there will always be a place for you in my court if you want it." That way I don't have to feel like such a dickhead, because in turning down the offer to become thane I haven't really cemented a friendship with the jarl and so would have less of an issue with choosing rebellion.
 
I have described my Town Drunk character before. To be brief, it was not a success!
 
The trouble I have with betraying Balgruuf is that he constantly heaps me with prizes during the early stages of the main storyline. "Thanks for helping my subjects, here's a suit of armour. Thanks for helping my wizard, here's another peace of armour and the right to purchase property in my city. Thanks for killing the dragon, here's a weapon from my armory and also the title of Thane and one of my warriors to serve as your personal attendant." I wish he didn't automatically make us thane of Whiterun, and just said "If you would like to become thane, there will always be a place for you in my court if you want it." That way I don't have to feel like such a dickhead, because in turning down the offer to become thane I haven't really cemented a friendship with the jarl and so would have less of an issue with choosing rebellion.

I know just what you mean. But isn't it possible, if you want to avoid that, to join the Stormcloaks before ever even going to Whiterun? Sure, you have to go a bit far out of your way, but it ought to be doable. This way you could take Whiterun for the Stormcloaks without feeling like an asshole. I haven't tried this or heard of anyone else doing it, but since Farengar is still there after the Stormcloaks take the city (so he can still offer you the Dragonstone quest), I assume the main storyline should be able to continue as normal even without Balgruuf as jarl.
 

sticky runes

Well-Known Member
The trouble I have with betraying Balgruuf is that he constantly heaps me with prizes during the early stages of the main storyline. "Thanks for helping my subjects, here's a suit of armour. Thanks for helping my wizard, here's another peace of armour and the right to purchase property in my city. Thanks for killing the dragon, here's a weapon from my armory and also the title of Thane and one of my warriors to serve as your personal attendant." I wish he didn't automatically make us thane of Whiterun, and just said "If you would like to become thane, there will always be a place for you in my court if you want it." That way I don't have to feel like such a dickhead, because in turning down the offer to become thane I haven't really cemented a friendship with the jarl and so would have less of an issue with choosing rebellion.

I know just what you mean. But isn't it possible, if you want to avoid that, to join the Stormcloaks before ever even going to Whiterun? Sure, you have to go a bit far out of your way, but it ought to be doable. This way you could take Whiterun for the Stormcloaks without feeling like an asshole. I haven't tried this or heard of anyone else doing it, but since Farengar is still there after the Stormcloaks take the city (so he can still offer you the Dragonstone quest), I assume the main storyline should be able to continue as normal even without Balgruuf as jarl.
I'll give it a go. I assume that if you do go straight to Ulfric, he'll send you to Balgruuf to find out where he stands on the war, and Balgruuf will refuse to give his answer until you deal with the dragon issue, in which he will end up heaping you with prizes before you attack his city.
 
I'll give it a go. I assume that if you do go straight to Ulfric, he'll send you to Balgruuf to find out where he stands on the war, and Balgruuf will refuse to give his answer until you deal with the dragon issue, in which he will end up heaping you with prizes before you attack his city.

Yeah, now that you mention that, I think you're right. I'd forgotten about that.

I really don't understand why they made it that way. It's not so rigid with any of the other jarls, only Balgruuf.
 

sticky runes

Well-Known Member
Yes, you HAVE TO sort out the dragon problem (Bleakfalls Barrow/Dragon Rising) for Balgruuf in order to advance the war story line to the Battle for Whiterun.

The quest for trapping Odahviing (The Fallen) is when the alternative jarl Vignar Grey-Mane will assist you, and you'll also need to regain your thanehood after Balgruuf is exiled.
 
I have so many of these that I can't remember them all. There were a few noteworthy ones, though.
  • My very first ever Skyrim character was one of these, in a way. I can't remember what it was, but I came up with a backstory that I ended up completely ignoring, because BRAND NEW GAME MUST DO EVERYTHING! I eventually abandoned her, but the backstory was a lost cause by then.

  • I once tried to build an argonian assassin wannabe, visiting Skyrim because he had heard it was the last place left with a Dark Brotherhood presence. He had a peculiar quirk, though - he refused to carry any weapons of his own, and would only kill people with their own weapons. I did have a justification for this, but I can't remember what it was. When he wanted to kill somebody, he'd quietly slip their blade off them, kill them with it, before dropping the blade again. I ran into some problems right away, though.

    First, before he could do any killing at all, I had to grind the hell out of the pickpocketing skill to make it work. It simply wouldn't work until I could get the perk that allowed him to pickpocket equipped items. Which meant that when it actually came time to do the fighting, he was woefully underpowered because all of his levels had come from, and perks had gone into, non-combat skills.

    Secondly, not all adversaries in Skyrim actually carry weapons, or at least not the kind that would allow you to pickpocket them for yourself. A cave bear quickly schooled him in this little fact.

  • In a similar vein, I tried to build a khajiit who refused to kill at all, yet she hoped to become an assassin. She got around her unusual flavour of pacifism by encouraging her foes to kill each other, using spells.

    This is all fine, of course, until there's only one enemy left standing. Or if your target is alone. Then, to quote an ancient piece of khajiit wisdom, you're completely and utterly boned.

  • Not long after Skyrim launched, I read an account of someone's attempt to play a 'normal character' (Nordrick's adventures - you've probably read them before), and a couple of years later I had the idea of trying it myself. No fighting, making money through honest labour, running away from fights, all that.

    She ended up as the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, though, so it didn't really work out. I got really bored, really quickly.

  • Oh, and she wasn't really a 'failure' exactly, but she didn't go in the direction I planned to take her in - I tried the idea of having a Redguard warrior visiting from Hammerfell, like as a dignitary trying to help the Stormcloaks win their war against the Empire. She was a one-handed, shieldless warrior that used mage armour instead of actual armour, mainly so she could use the Alik'r clothes. As she was specifically there just to help with the war, before ultimately going home, I thought the racism wouldn't be so much of a problem for her - she could just grin her teeth and be diplomatic. But I forgot how much I hated the Stormcloaks, plus I really couldn't be bothered to do the entire civil war questline again, as I'd been through it quite recently with another character.

    So I had her abandon them to their fate because 'she' grew tired with awful they were, and she deserted from Hammerfell to become a mercenary. She roamed around taking jobs for money, which isn't really the lofty political mission she was supposed to be on, and always fought Alik'r warriors whenever she found them. So they couldn't grass her up.
There were others, but I'm having trouble remembering the specifics. I have an altoholic problem.
 
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Hlíf 'Ulfr

Nothing but a lyre
Staff member
Mine is less of a build or a character that didn't work out and more so a willful character who took over and told me, no I don't want to do that. We are doing this instead and having no real desire to argue I complied. I'm generally good at sticking to a premise, probably because they are largely rp based and often have a certain "we'll see where this character takes me" kinda feel. So when I came back to the game after some time away I told myself it was time to branch out and work on builds I had yet to invest in.

"No more sneak archers for me," I told myself with conviction, "It is time for me to finally make a pure mage."

So I set about formulating my character, with the idea of a pure mage and also the desire to rp her as a character here on the forums. Cosset Beaulieu was the outcome of that. She was a pretty standard mage with a not so standard paranoid personality disorder, a desire to study and record the anomalies and monsters of Skyrim, and a lot of other quirks and backstory bits and bobs. She didn't trust anyone and she didn't particularly like anyone either. Easy stuff.

"Wow, this is fun." I thought I crisped up another faceless bandit, "Why did I not do this sooner?"

I had no trouble following this premise but it certainly took over the other aspects. I had also intended on FINALLY completing the civil war from the imperial side of things. I usually don't engage in the civil war unless my character would have reason and I have only started the main questline and spawned dragons on 2-3 occasions. The imperials always rubbed me the wrong way and I thought to myself that the Stormcloaks would probably be easier to reform and shape for many reasons I won't get into.

So off we went, to see what the Imperials had to offer. Things were going just about as well as they could until the exact moment that Cosset had that blasted crown in her hands. Suddenly the character spidey senses kicked in. Cossets paranoia reared its head as well as her researcher's heart. She couldn't turn in this artifact for them to use selfishly in this conflict she had no real investment in. Cosset also the type to simply do as she thought best and rejects any limits on her freedom, the weight of being bound to the imperials suddenly sinking in lead her to take off.

The imperials never got their crown, neither did the storm cloaks and I never got to finish the Imperial questline. Cossets character, however, was upheld and I like to think that she still carries it around with her. Strapped to her trusty pony Nettle as she travels across Skyrim.
 

imaginepageant

Slytherin Alumni
After playing as two Dwemer researchers which turned out to be some of the most fun I've ever had in Skyrim

Any tips for a Dwemer researcher build? I've always wanted to do a game that focused on Dwemer ruins and artifacts but never got around to it. I'd like to hear what made yours so much fun!

One of my most fun builds was also one that ultimately failed: my pacifist. He was doing so well killing literally nothing until that quest where Mercer Frey is your companion, and I learned that followers' kills count as your kills. I didn't notice my kills stat had gone up until I'd already saved over all the pre-Mercer saves, so I couldn't roll back to my clean record. I was heartbroken!
 

sticky runes

Well-Known Member
After playing as two Dwemer researchers which turned out to be some of the most fun I've ever had in Skyrim

Any tips for a Dwemer researcher build? I've always wanted to do a game that focused on Dwemer ruins and artifacts but never got around to it. I'd like to hear what made yours so much fun!

I've done two different ones.

The first was a warrior build who would only ever use weapons and armour of dwarven fashion. He was an orc who didn't care much for the way of life in the stronghold, hunting animals and digging for dull orichalchum ore, and became fascinated with the lustrous metal and stonework he saw in dwemer ruins. He grew up in Dushikh Yal, close to Reachwind Eyrie, which became his personal hideout where he would tinker with the artifacts he found scattered around the place. He eventually became friends with Calcelmo in Markarth and would consult him for advice and information on Dwemer ruins and culture.

The second was a mage who modeled himself after Calcelmo as a scholar on the Dwemer. He would wear robes and hoods or circlets to enhance his magic, but would wear enchanted dwemer gauntlets and boots. He took Vorstag (who has past experience exploring Dwemer ruins) as a bodyguard and hired Marcurio as a steward to look after Lakeview Manor and catalogue all his artifacts. the house was established as my own personal Dwemer museum, with an armory containing manikins and racks holding only Dwarven weapons and armour and a trophy room with centurion and dwemer spider statues on display. After clearing a dwemer dungeon, I would actually make space in my inventory and re-enter the dungeon to collect all the pieces if scrap metal I had left behind and scatter them around my house to make it look like we had been busy studying them.
 

sticky runes

Well-Known Member
I've decided I want to restart my latest character, a mage smith. Difficult things to combine, but my problem is that I focused too much on being a wizard and hardly done any smithing. So when I restart I want to focus on being a smith first and a mage second. I'll stay close to the towns at the beginning and keep doing boring stuff until i get my smithing skill up to level 60 and unlock the Arcane Smith perk. Once I've done that, I'll sink my teeth into adventuring and be able to temper any weapons and armour I find with enchantments on them.
 

JimJam

New Member
I had 2 characters who didn't work out.

. One time I decided to go with an imperial conjuration warrior. This playthrough was short lived because as a conjurer, I got the urge to become a full mage, but I preferred close combat, and imperials are pretty useless anyway so I got bored just after the tutorial.

. My other time was my orc warrior. This lasted decently long, up until level 23. It was fun as a new race I had never tried out, so I was having a blast. But I got bored of heavy armor, sword and shield, because that was the style I always chose and I was too far in to change tactics so I scrapped that.
In fact I decided to start a new file of an argonian sneak. I started a thread called "Argonian Roleplay" asking for advice if anyone wants to contribute.
 

sticky runes

Well-Known Member
I had 2 characters who didn't work out.

. One time I decided to go with an imperial conjuration warrior. This playthrough was short lived because as a conjurer, I got the urge to become a full mage, but I preferred close combat, and imperials are pretty useless anyway so I got bored just after the tutorial.

. My other time was my orc warrior. This lasted decently long, up until level 23. It was fun as a new race I had never tried out, so I was having a blast. But I got bored of heavy armor, sword and shield, because that was the style I always chose and I was too far in to change tactics so I scrapped that.
In fact I decided to start a new file of an argonian sneak. I started a thread called "Argonian Roleplay" asking for advice if anyone wants to contribute.

For Conjuration, I think you're better off playing as a Breton. They have the Familiar spell right from the start. This spell can be bought in Riverwood, but as a Breton you can use it during the escape from Helgen. I also like to combine Conjuration with archery, so I'll summon a creature then get my bow out and shoot the enemy while they are distracted. I particularly enjoy using a follower and having the Familiar back him or her up, so while the enemy is fighting my follower and being bitten in the ass by my familiar, I can shoot the enemy with arrows.

You can also use illusion spells to scare the enemy away and have your conjurations hunt them down, or cast fury spells to turn enemies against each other and throw conjurations into the mix. Either way, I think Conjuration works best at long range so you can enjoy the chaos from a safe distance.

Of course, being creative in combat does require a bit of patience, as you'll often need to switch spells/weapons during combat, which might be off-putting if you like to just fight without bringing up menus all the time.
 

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