The Whispering Door?

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folgore

New Member
So the Whispering Door is turning the Jarl's son against him. My goodie, goodie Dragonborn wants to stop this spirit and protect the Jarl. What do I do? I got the key but now it wants me to take an accursed sword...if the book is to be believed. Will taking the sword help the Jarl? Will it doom my Dragonborn? Is there any way to confront the spirit? I'm surprised the PC is not given the option of talking to the Jarl or his wizard about the Whispering door.

Also, a question about the various skill trees. My Breton is a mage. I took her to Winterhold to train. I've focused on the Destruction and on the other magic trees. Also began with Alchemy and Smithing. Anything else I should focus on? Any way to jack up the Smithing? I spend a lot of time upgrading weapons prior to selling them and it just barely the smithing scale.
 

alceryes

Member
First question - Actually, taking the sword does help the Jarl and his son. Although there's no direct reference, I believe the boy's mood changes for the better after the sword's retrieval. Taking the sword fully completes the quest so you don't have to go around killing 'friendlies' unless you want to enhance the sword's power. Usually, my character just gets the sword and sells it.

Second question - Destruction is one of the ways to go for a mage that won't be swinging weapons. Be careful spreading your perks out too thin though. It's advisable to focus on only 3 or 4 skill trees (for perk spending) for the first 25-30 levels to make sure you stay powerful enough to face the enemies that level with you.
If you want to play a true mage don't do any smithing, just focus on the alteration skill and use the flesh spells instead of wearing armor.
Here's just one example of a good mage build. I'm assuming you aren't using any mods that makes being a mage easier --

Breton
Start with Lord stone. Switch to Atronach later in the game.
Magicka every level (unless you're gonna be an equilibrium mage)
Primary skill focus - destruction, conjuration
Secondary skill focus - restoration, alteration, illusion, enchanting
At least start the College of Winterhold questline ASAP. You get a good staff, can easily 5-finger some archmage robes, and gain access to a bunch of spells. When playing a mage it's also great to get quests like 'agent of mara' and 'a scroll for anska' done early as they can be helpful.
Early on you will be running away (or swinging a sword) a LOT. It doesn't mean that your character is a failure. Unfortunately, melee is more powerful than magic in Skyrim. If built right, mages come into their own is the late 20's and are usually great fun to play.
 

folgore

New Member
First question - Actually, taking the sword does help the Jarl and his son. Although there's no direct reference, I believe the boy's mood changes for the better after the sword's retrieval. Taking the sword fully completes the quest so you don't have to go around killing 'friendlies' unless you want to enhance the sword's power. Usually, my character just gets the sword and sells it.

Second question - Destruction is one of the ways to go for a mage that won't be swinging weapons. Be careful spreading your perks out too thin though. It's advisable to focus on only 3 or 4 skill trees (for perk spending) for the first 25-30 levels to make sure you stay powerful enough to face the enemies that level with you.
If you want to play a true mage don't do any smithing, just focus on the alteration skill and use the flesh spells instead of wearing armor.
Here's just one example of a good mage build. I'm assuming you aren't using any mods that makes being a mage easier --

Breton
Start with Lord stone. Switch to Atronach later in the game.
Magicka every level (unless you're gonna be an equilibrium mage)
Primary skill focus - destruction, conjuration
Secondary skill focus - restoration, alteration, illusion, enchanting
At least start the College of Winterhold questline ASAP. You get a good staff, can easily 5-finger some archmage robes, and gain access to a bunch of spells. When playing a mage it's also great to get quests like 'agent of mara' and 'a scroll for anska' done early as they can be helpful.
Early on you will be running away (or swinging a sword) a LOT. It doesn't mean that your character is a failure. Unfortunately, melee is more powerful than magic in Skyrim. If built right, mages come into their own is the late 20's and are usually great fun to play.

Thanks for all the info! In my abortive trial run, I was a mostly warrior Nord. This time, my PC is a Breton Mage and I did head to Winterhold almost immediately. (Would a mostly warrior or rogue PC in Skyrim even bother with the College? )

I'd say two third of the levels I've taken have gone toward mage skills, specifically Destruction. However, my PC has been active in smithing with an eye toward improving arcane weapons. Also, some focus on Alchemy, sneaking (to be able to get quick kills to fill the soul gems), and enchanting.

Now when it comes to gear, in addition to mage robes and hoods, I've been using enchanted gauntlets and footwear. (Does that detract from the mage craft in any way?)

I'm so used to the DA games where you had up to three companions whose leveling you managed so you could always have a balance between magic and swords and arrows. Having only one non-fully-controlled NPC companion seemed strange to me. I partially compensated by downloading companion mods. I use Arissa as my rogue/warrior. (I also have Sofia but use her strictly as a pack mule. If I took her to fights, she would get most of the kills and also do friendly kills that would make things ugly....) Having Arissa at least allowed my PC to recruit Maryon, the elven mage student. Just curious, how often do most Skyrim players change companions?
 

alceryes

Member
If you use armor then you won't be able to take advantage of the 'mage armor' perk in the alteration tree as that only works when not wearing any armor. Then you also have the aforementioned 'spreading perks too thin'.
My current character is a jack-of-all trades 58th level Ranger who has completed all major quest lines except for Dragonborn.
I don't use followers or pets in any of my playthroughs - I prefer being a lone wolf.
 

folgore

New Member
If you use armor then you won't be able to take advantage of the 'mage armor' perk in the alteration tree as that only works when not wearing any armor. Then you also have the aforementioned 'spreading perks too thin'.
My current character is a jack-of-all trades 58th level Ranger who has completed all major quest lines except for Dragonborn.
I don't use followers or pets in any of my playthroughs - I prefer being a lone wolf.

So ideally in combat, a mage has low grade boots and nothing on their hands? Currently use that first alteration protection - stoneflesh. So that wouldn't work if I'm wearing gauntlets or armored boots of any kind? Including those that are enchanted?
 

alceryes

Member
So ideally in combat, a mage has low grade boots and nothing on their hands? Currently use that first alteration protection - stoneflesh. So that wouldn't work if I'm wearing gauntlets or armored boots of any kind? Including those that are enchanted?

Not boots that provide an armor rating, just the clothing-kind shoes or boots.
If they provide any kind of armor rating then they are considered armor and will nullify the mage armor perk. Yeah, stoneflesh is good. Once you get more powerful 'flesh' spells and get the stability and mage armor perks your armor rating will be high enough to take a few hits here and there. You can also enchant all your pieces of clothing.
 

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