Thrall Thread : Living with the dead

[Golgo_SPB]

Yeah I agree it can get damn annoying listening to them and babysitting them, but I still love em since I don't have to worry about them dying. they're fun to experiment with them as well

The only non moaning thrall that's pretty good that I found was Wyndelius Gatharian and he's got a perma body from what I notice.

 

[Adam Warlock]

I`ve always said that Dead Thralls aren`t for everybody because of the high maintenance involved.
The moaning doesn`t bother me as much as it used to (except for male Altmers which are the worst).
What can I say ? I just enjoy watching other characters fight for me.
Definitely a love `em or hate `em kind of thing.

 

[perkecet]

ahh, you'll come around.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Well, the Orc Hunters I found did indeed vanish the first time I left their cell.

In other news , when I fast traveled to Ivarstead a hostile Thalmor Soldier in full Glass Armor and Glass Sword attacked me !
Obviously a respawned enemy seeking revenge from the ether.
I ran into the village to get some help from the guards but the Thalmor encountered 4 citizens instead.
The rampaging Altmer killed Jofthor , Klimmeck, and Fastred before he could be put down !
Only Boti was able to walk away alive.
The Guards finally came up after it was over asking " What happened here ?" . Lazy bums were probably off on a mead break.
Klimmeck and Jofthor have vanished but it seems Fastred has a permanent corpse.
Now what can I do with the body of a young beautiful girl who can`t fight ?
I asked Arondil for suggestions but all he said was " Uhh "

 

[Adam Warlock]

Re : MOANS

vocal clips of moans vary with race and gender.
I`ve nicknamed a few of them

The Dentist`s Office - sounds like trying to say "Ahh" with a hand thrust down your throat
The Zombie- props to George Romero for the classic moan
Oh , My Back ! - in pain
I`m Gonna Hurl ! - Orchendor and some Afflicted . very appropriate considering their vomit attacks
What Are You Wearing ? - the heavy breathing Khajiits do
Cave Bear Being Anally Raped By A Horker - Male Altmers

 

[Rakmon]

After reading through this entire topic twice, I can easily say how much I want to get my Conjuration up to 90 so I can get Dead Thrall. I've been wanting to see how well Ulfric Stormcloak or the Stormcloaks that use 2H weapons work in combat for ages now, as I've seen 7 Whiterun Guards kill an Ancient Dragon using only their plastic Imperial Swords, I can't imagine the capabilites of a Stormcloak two-hander once I enchant his crappy gear with some resistance and a Daedric Warhammer. Also since Ulfric can Fus Ro Dah people, that would be quite interesting.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Since he levels with the player , Ulfric needs to be acquired before level 40 and after that he must remain continously thralled because any attempt to thrall him level 41 and up will fail.
This applies to any NPC who cap is over level 40 except Vampires up to 50 if you have the Necromage perk.

 

[Rakmon]

I see, thanks for the info. Now to just power-level every single magic skill so hard it doesn't even unbalance my charcter...
Or mainly just Illusion and Conjuration since I'm using those as my main two skills, whatever.

 

[Golgo_SPB]

so just some minor info that might be valuable to some:
I thralled Vald the guy guarding Mercer's home. He's weak, I believe he's just lvl 1. For someone that the thieves guild made sound tough he was super weak. He had two pieces of hide armor when I got him, but if you take his armor off and go to different zone he will have a different type of light armor on. For me when I zoned him he had fur armor. Also it's probably a good idea to not bring low health thralls into mercer's mansion because of traps that still keep going no matter what.

For the thieves guild quest Blindsighted you can't bring thralls into Irknghand, probably only when the quest is active, also the last zone of Irknghand doesn't allow any thralls/zombies/etc... there were some dead bandits, all bandits no marauders or anything higher and they were dead already so the probably didn't have lots of health, so I just used them as thralls... brought some weapons for em such, they died alot against the falmer.

I also got the thieves guild glitch where the Under New Management quest doesn't start and there's no way I can initiate it. Thought for sure Bethesda would fix it by now, guess not. I don't mind that much except for that I wanted to do the Summerset Shadows quest. Once the quest is initiated unique NPCs that are much like Thieves guild members, but they're all altmer, will spawn in Uttering Hills Cave. Their armor can't be taken off but they looked interesting. So any necromancers that haven't got this glitch like I did should test them out!

Sorry didn't get much thralling done, haven't been feeling too well. Aicantar's body disappeared when I left it in the worker house and Asta still randomly pops up alive next to me after a few fast travels.

UPDATE: So I did the minor quest find the skooma dealer for Riften and there is two NPCs that are named you get from it. Sarthis Idren and Orini Dral, both dark elf males and they're bandit types. First Orini, he was clad in light armor and it was only 3 pieces. Leather Armor and Bracers then some hide boots, I'd imagine his armor is leveled or just produced by some random generator. Just the typical bandit type, he got beheaded by the bandit marauder that was the boss of the dungeon that was involved with the quest.

Sarthis on the other hand is clad in heavy armor, usually steel. I've fought him with my other characters before and he was usually in full steel armor, but of course with my luck this version didn't have gaunts or helm. Nothing too different with his skill set that the usual bandit chief doesn't have. The only truly unique thing about him is that a Werewolf breathing voice clip accompanies him for some reason, probably some weird ass glitch. The breathing accompanies him when he was alive and as a thrall. He still moans like normal though... just with an area effect werewolf breathing voice clip attached to him, so it's extra annoying to have him around!

 

[Adam Warlock]

Damned dragons !

Went to Orc stronghold Narzulbur to get some Ebony and an Ancient Dragon attacked and killed all the top-siders there.
Only Borgakh`s tribe has any remaining Orcs who are not miners.
Couldn`t keep the Chief or the blacksmith around long but Bolar and Yatul appear to have permanent corpses.
Yatul is a strange one. You can see she is wearing Forsworn gauntlets but they don`t appear in her inventory. I suppose it`s because of this that she will NOT respawn any additional armor other than what she died with. I`ve lost track of her boots somehow and she will have to be a barefoot warrior if I`m ever going to use her. With her cap at lvl 6 , she probably won`t see action.
Bolar has mage squishiness but does use staffs well. You can add some stats to her outfit but as a level 10 NPC she will still die a lot.

In the future , I will be careful not to visit Borgakh until just after killing a dragon somewhere else.
Hopefully , I can keep Larak and the few remaining top-side Orcs alive this way.(Bagrak`s already dead at the hand of one of those respawning Thalmor Soldiers)

 

[Golgo_SPB]

So for some reason I found Hroggar of Morthal dead... well I actually found his war axe floating in the air actually... not sure where his body went but I thralled the axe and went into the inn and he appeared next to me, naked... I didn't test him out or anything, just a civilian type so I didn't expect anything out of him.

After throwing his corpse into my Abandoned Shack I thought I might as well start the Laid to Rest quest and I thralled Laelette the Vampire, UESP lists her level as radiant 1-48, guess I got a weak version only took me a second to finish her off. Boy is she cute though, too bad she ain't strong enough for me to want her to have around.

*SPOILER* I did the Olava's token side quest, which was a reward from the DB. So I can find the Assassin of Old. It was at Hag's End and his corpse can only appear when you started the Olava's token quest. He's dead nord labeled as Dark Brotherhood Assassin and he has a full set of Ancient Shrouded Armor, since he was a corpse I believe he's permanent meaning I can make copies of this unique armor set over and over. Make some mad money! But I really don't need gold right now lol.

So I ended up doing the Forsworn Conspiracy quest today. Named NPC thralls:
Dryston - I actually didn't thrall him since I couldn't kill him without making trouble, but I'm pretty sure you can thrall him. He wears two pieces of leather armor and carries a dagger with him. He's breton as well and a warrior type.
Nana Ildene - She's a Breton and will use the spells fireball and a flesh spell then a one-handed weapon in the other hand. She only wears two pieces of unenchanted clothing and according to the UESP she has two perks Augmented Flames (rank 1) and Recovery (rank 1). I didn't test her out for too long and her corpse disappeared after a day or two. She had potential though.
Donnel - Basically a very weaker version of Nana, but his race is Elder. His spells from what I noticed was a flesh spell and flames, he will also use a one-handed weapon in his other hand.
Betrid Silver-Blood - Didn't actually get to thrall her since Nana used a raise zombie spell on her.
Nepos the Nose - Much like Nana but he has a flames spell instead and his race is elder. Basically a much stronger version of Donnel.
Uaile - a female Breton, I didn't get to test her out much. I know she is similar to Nana and Nepos, flesh spell, one-handed weapon, and probably some destruction spell. she didn't use a destruction spell when I fought her but I know she has one. I felt she had some decent potential like Nana and Nepos.
Tynan and Morven - just some weak Breton males, the both died really easily. No spells that I know of, just one-handed. I forgot which one but one got raised zombie by Uaile so I didn't get to thrall one of them.
I also thralled Grisvar the Unlucky from the No one Escapes Cidhna Mine quest. Just some weak guy in rags. I didn't get to thrall Thonar Silver-Blood either since one of those escaped forsworn fellows zombified him.
I thralled Eltrys as well, he's probably a perma since he's a corpse.

Basically all the bodies disappeared in a day or two, except for Dryston since I didn't get to kill him, I still have Grisvar though. Wish I could trade him in for Uaile or Nana, maybe even Nepos. Those three seemed like they would have some potential to be some decent thralls, not great but decent.

I also did the Revealing the Unseen mages' quest. Gavros Plinius resists Dead Thrall. Synod Researchers don't have any spells or their maqicka levels are probably too low for them to use their spells if they had any. They do use one-handed weapons with shield and a bow when from afar. I just tested them with falmer gear since that's what I had access to at the time.

Then I thralled Paratus Decimius after the quest was complete. He seems like the only worthy named NPC to thrall, that doesn't level with you, that only appears in the College questline. Other than The Caller of course. I believe he's a shock mage and the UESP lists that he has perks Augmented Shock (rank 2), Destruction Dual Casting, Magic Resist (rank 1), Recovery (rank 1), and Regeneration. So far he has used Lightning Bolt, flesh spell, and Lightning Cloak. When he was alive he had fast healing and summon flame atronach but I haven't tested him that long to see if he uses them while he's a thrall.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Important Info re: Thrall`s enchanted gear

1. As I have suspected , effective armor enchants for thralls turn out to be limited to the same ones that work for followers.
Add health , stamina , or magicka as appropriate in available slots.
Add magic/elemental damage resistance wherever you can.
Except for Muffle, Fortify Unarmed , and Waterbreathing , nothing else apparently benefits your thrall.
So don`t waste time , soul gems , or fortify enchanting potions on Regen% , Fortify 1h/2h/archery, reduce magicka costs, etc

Typical warrior enchants (provided slot is available) :
Helmet - Waterbreathing(use petty soul gem!)
Armor - Health/Stamina
Boots - Muffle/Stamina/Resist Fire, Frost, or Shock
Gauntlets- Unarmed

Almost all Mages will be limited to the Boot enchants but if they use gloves/gauntlets/helm/hood you can add Magicka there.

This significantly increases the value of a shield if your thrall uses one since you can add both Health and/or Resist Magic on the same item.

As to whether exchanging the thrall`s own respawned but improved apparel works , I still don`t know for sure but I suspect that all the regen% or values like that are set at death or otherwise capped. So getting your mage thrall to respawn better % robes probably makes no diff

2. I have found at least 2 on-line sites that state that each time your Thrall dies or is deactivated , you must take away and give back their improved enchanted gear before raising them again.
If you don`t do this, the added enchantments will not actually be working although the gear will be shown as equipped.
Now all my thralls-in-waiting are lying around naked by appearance , but ready for quick revival and a cell change to be fully operational.
I`ve got them all lined up in my base courtyards like sunbathers at the beach

 

[Golgo_SPB]

lame! I suspected that thralls are subjugated to the follower only enchants as well. I read HERE that followers can't drown so the Waterbreathing enchant doesn't do much at all. Well that sucks, I was gonna test out if Fortify Destruction gear would give thralls unlimited charges for enchanted weapons like they do for me. Guess I'll have to rethink my enchants for thrall gear. Thanks for the info Mr. Warlock.

 

[Adam Warlock]

I was refitting some thralls and needed a little ebony to upgrade a couple of daedric swords.
Popped over to Shor`s Stone to get some from the Redbelly Mine.
While I was bartering with the blacksmith , an Ancient Dragon attacked the village !
The scaly monster 1st strafed and killed 2 Guards , then landed-bit-and-shook the remaining one.
Then it took off again and began attacking me.
The dragon blasted the smithy`s porch with fire.
Luckily I had Resistance but Filnjar was not so lucky.

Level 8 , Filnjar has only 113 health starting out but you can add health to his apron and shield.
Tested him out at a Bandit camp with appropriate improved gear and as such he`s about ordinary bandit level. nothing special
Surprizing good at 1h and block , he suffers greatly from lack of armor so archers or more than one opponent at a time kill him quickly

 

[Golgo_SPB]

Not much of an exciting update but I'll keep adding info for fellow necromancers.

So Paratus still retains his summon flame atronach spell and fast healing, he also has a ward. He hasn't used the shield or dagger I gave him yet, maybe I should test him with staffs.

Some minor notes: In the quest Unfathomable Depths the named corpses in Avanchnzel can't be thralled. The most peculiar thing is that nothing comes up when you try to thrall them, no this npc resisted dead thrall or this npc is too powerful... it just didn't work! The three named corpses are Breya, Drennen, and Watches-The-Roots.

I thralled Atar, he's a nord silver-blood mercenary in Sanuarach Mine. Despite looking like a Bandit chief in his full steel plate armor, sometimes he won't have his helm, he's is a one-handed warrior type... so Heavy Armor and One-Handed are his primary skills, great a thrall that has skills that matches his armor and weapon choices! He's not that bad actually, sadly I didn't get to keep him. I think finishing the minor quest makes him disappear eventually... Anytime I fast traveled with him he would disappear, but I still had him if I didn't. I did the temple of Dibella quest at the same time so I just rode Shadowmere to Broken Tower Redoubt since it was close and I get to keep Atar for a little longer.

I tested him with forsworn weapons since he loves blocking and I just wanted him to kill! He did well against melee type forsworn ravagers, but once he got mage type ravagers with frost spells he was demolished. But anyways once I got to the final zone of Broken Tower Redoubt and finally got the girl for the Dibella quest Atar would disappear once we leave the dungeon, dead or thralled he would be gone! So I'm not sure if completing the minor quest or having the dibella quest active does this or what but he had some decent potential I guess, but that's all theory now that I don't have him.

Got another named NPC onto my thralled list, his name is Captain Valmir in front of Forelhost; He's a High Elf and depending on what side you choose in the civil war will dictate what armor he will have on, he will either have Imperial Officer Armor or Stormcloak Officer Armor. If you haven't chosen a side yet he will have different armor at the start and at the end of his quest he gave you. For me he Stormcloak Officer Armor when I met him and at the end of his quest he had Imperial Officer Armor, this is because I didn't choose a side yet. He is low level and I think he does one-handed weapon and spell, didn't test him thoroughly, supposedly he is Thalmor Warrior class so I believe he prefers light armor.

Also I consider Forelhost Not a Thrall Friendly Dungeon, it's full of numerous traps and to get to the final zone you have to go through a water tunnel and none of my thralls followed so I had to leave them in the second zone and start all the way at the beginning to get them again when I finished the quest.

 

[perkecet]

i couldn't get paratus to use a staff of the storm atronach.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Must report that my previous assumption that Rigel Strong-Arm has a permanent corpse needs amending.
She has begun to respawn and appear at fast-travel or where she is stored at CTK similar to the manner of the Thalmor Soldiers
Storing her special gear in a safe container is recommended.
Upside is that she spawns new inventory including 254 gold septims and enchanted weapon

 

[Adam Warlock]

Thralls aren`t so dumb after all .
After putting Rigel back to bed , a dragon attacked the keep courtyard as I was exiting the door .
One of the Nilheim Bandit bodies was right there so I thralled him for help.
He pulled out his ebony sword and promptly ran through the door and into the inside of the keep !
Before I could even utter a WTF, he came back out and attacked the dragon with a Staff of Chain Lightning that he had looted from a storage dresser.
Apparently he had decided that the enchanted Orcish bow I had given him wasn`t good enough for the job.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Aerin was killed on the last Blades mission.
I was a little surprized that Mjoll simply walked away.
I thralled him but didn`t expect much from a level 6 in fancy clothes.
He disappeared rather quickly so is probably back in Riften`s Hall of the Dead

 

[Golgo_SPB]

Rigel and Asta were perma before all the patches if I remember correctly from my first short lived necromancer that I made... Now Asta will always pop up every now and then when I fast travel.