do you prefer a mixed class play-style? or a pure class play style?

[Psiberzerker]

I do both, or all of the above, I have so many builds. From an Orkish "Steel Pure" to a Bash&Burn Shield Mage, to a Bound Bow, and Targe of the Blooded Mystic Archer, to a Greatsword Bandit/Assassin. (And many more...)

 

[Delusional]

With these type of games, I usually have one character which is master of everything, master jack of all trades. Usually the first play-through, and I will master everything and use all types of weapons/items - generally this character is to get a sense of the game, complete all quests, etc.
Then, once I tire of that character, I move on to the class specific characters, which I really love. I really enjoy putting limits on myself, like limiting which weapons your character specializes in, is trained with and uses. In my opinion, this is the route to go if you want a really immersive experience. You feel like an everyday, average joe, instead of god-mode run around with dual daedric swords totalling to 400+ damage and an armor rating of 667.

 

[Psiberzerker]

With these type of games, I usually have one character which is master of everything, master jack of all trades. Usually the first play-through, and I will master everything and use all types of weapons/items - generally this character is to get a sense of the game, complete all quests, etc.
Then, once I tire of that character, I move on to the class specific characters, which I really love. I really enjoy putting limits on myself, like limiting which weapons your character specializes in, is trained with and uses. In my opinion, this is the route to go if you want a really immersive experience. You feel like an everyday, average joe, instead of god-mode run around with dual daedric swords totalling to 400+ damage and an armor rating of 667.

The neighbor of the beast? LOL, not the way I play, but you're entitled to it. I'm more the one that starts out focusing on one, or two skills, then use everything I learned from each to craft a near limitless array of worldbeating combo builds.

 

[Skulli]

People don't realize that in the novels, before Conan became King, he was a mighty general.

Before that he was a pirate.

Before that he was some barbarian mercenary, and before that he was a cat-burglar.

His mountain climbing skills as a youth allowed him to gain entry into wealthy people's "unscalable" sheer towers to steal gems and anything that paid the rent, whoring and liquor bills.

I try to also make my Dragonborn evolve, thus my best Paladin has sneaking and archery skills from those first several levels out of Helgen.

Hybrid for me please!

 

[dragontology]

I'm primarily a bow sniper (archery + sneak = you die) but I also do one handed and destruction (only fire). So hybrid.

 

[Agentoringe]

I personally tend to a "purist" gameplay style, even to an extreme...like the "nord hero" that is ONLY allowed to use ancient nord weapons and armor and a steel shield, no magic. Or a pure Mage, not necessarily all schools but only specific ones and spells from each:

Elemental Mage: use ONLY a single element and spells that attribute it. (I.E. Ice Mage uses frostbite/ice spike/ice storm/frost cloak/wall of frost/icy spear/blizzard/conjure frost atronach). And no other magic school, depend on evasion and potions to survive. The frost Mage specifically is probably one of the hardest characters I've ever played, simply because 70% of skyrim is nord w a 50% frost resist, vampires are 80% nord meaning most of what you will face will have 80% resistance, dragons are mostly resistant to frost, all the undead you face are resistant, it's just plain hard to do lol

Another one that's pretty difficult is a necromage. You will use conjuration/restoration/alteration/illusion and an exception for 2 destruction spells, but only specific spells from each.

Conjuration is allowed resurrection spells, and to summon undead (bone man/mist man/wrath man/durnehviir/arvak) no followers because you prefer the company of undead illusion only allows for fear spells, restoration only allows for "turn undead" spells and necromantic healing spells, alteration is allowed for Mage armor, detect life/undead and specifically the paralyze spell, gotta keep those bodies as pristine as possible and destruction spells allowed are shock element spells under expert level, because electricity is the safest way to eliminate someone without causing alot of tissue damage, gotta keep them bodies in top shape! lol you can use poisons as well, but limited specifically to daggers for weapons because you only want to apply the poison, not carve em up lol

My favorite pure Mage to play is a priest, no offensive spells (including Summons) at all and no weapons. You depend completely on a follower devoted to your cause! Using restoration, alteration, illusion, conjuration...

Resto for heals, turn undead, wards...alteration for paralyze, Mage armor, detect spells, illusion for calm, courage, fear, invis/muffle. Conjuration for expel daedra and soul trap, because your the priest bringing those souls salvation by using thier corrupted essence for a pure cause lol obviously smithing because your follower is gonna need good gear lol it's a very tough "pure" build. Also a chaos priest version that uses frenzy spells, lots of sneak and deception allowing everyone else to unravel themselves and tear each other apart.

Archer: your bow is your best friend, no melee weapons allowed and no magic, slow poisons+ lots of running

Über assasin: you only use knives...not daggers...knives...the dinner utensil. 1 base damage no smithing available for it and skills don't increase the damage. Your dependent on stealth and poisons I do realize most undead are immune to poison, as well as vampires immune to poison damage, but there are frenzy poisons...lol daggers are permitted for dealing with undead but only steel daggers.

I enjoy face smashing and tanking stuff alot, but giving yourself a handicap and or limiting yourself to a pure play style really let's you enjoy the game lol

 

[Agentoringe]

*edit* I retract my statement about daggers on the assassin, only knives are allowed because you can enchant them. But only paralyze enchants, no damaging enchants except for vs undead. Also miraaks staff and the poison rune are allowed bc its poison dmg But keep a second set of knives with turn undead/fire damage on them lol

 

[Agentoringe]

A conjuror is a fun one too, only allowed to kill stuff using summons. No followers allowed because you summon your help, resto is ok bc you will HAVE to heal yourself haha but that's it. A neat thing about conjurors, if you use the command daedra spell on something summoned by someone else, it doesn't take a summon slot, also, the ash guardian from dragon born doesn't take up a summon slot so you can have it in addition to your conjured creatures, plus one commanded if an enemy summons something lol

 

[Joker]

Yeah, Agentoringe, that is extreme, and maybe even crazy.....

I do like the train of thought though. Be true to only one thing. That would be a difficult RP, especially at lower levels, at least to me.

 

[Joker]

I do have a question though, about the Conjuration Mage. According to your post above, nothing but one school/skill.

Wouldn't you at least train with the bow & sword until you got those spells?

 

[Joker]

I am asking because I would think you would at least train with the weapon, so you had some skill with it before conjuring one. Yes, this is your style of play, but I am just asking in case I decide to try this, and I am basically asking how you would go about this.

 

[Agentoringe]

Oh got ya, yeah, I don't use conjured weapons, any of my Mage builds are exactly that, a mage, they do not use weapons, conjured or crafted...if it means the difference in replaying an hour because of a death vs picking up a weapon to kill a dude at sliver of health, il be replaying lol I train my conjuration, true to form, with soul trap...you can cast and recast on a dead body to level it, humans work the best, and yes even though dual summoning the swords gives more xp all around and will help you skill level faster, no weapons on mah mages lol so of it takes longer to stick to the RP then so be it lol

 

[Agentoringe]

The most difficult to RP early is the priest...it seems like you run out of mana in just a few casts. BUT it also has one of the fastest leveling potentials because it pulls from 4 schools of magic, Necro being the first bc it uses all 5. Of course there are several RP restrictions in the open here as well, like priest can't be anything other than a mortal, no vampires, no werewolves, if contracted or forced upon them they seek the most immediate way of ridding themselves of it and REFUSE to use it to thier advantage. Chaos version is vampire friendly but no to werewolves bc it's brute force vs cunning/guile. Necro is allowed vampires bc what would be cooler than raising the dead? Being one! lol

there's also amazing thrall tricks involved w the necros, like this, a follower will replace its current equipment with what you give it based on its "build" or if it's better quality than what they currently wear, after they replace that armor its considered the "default" armor when with the player and spawning into a new area. Meaning that you can enchant some awesome gear and great armor, slap it to a follower, then cart em off to the shrine of boethia (because with the enchants you will give them there's no way in heck you can kill them on your own if you piss em off lol) kill them, then Dead thrall them...and holy crap do you have awesomeness especially with 2 followers killed and resurrected I know I say no followers for the necromage, and to that end, the RP involved is based around the potential he/she sees for the strength of them AFTER they die and are enthralled so give all this cool stuff to them, pretend to need help getting somewhere, then ZANG-ZADAM...BA zombie >

 

[Seanu Reaves]

. Of course there are several RP restrictions in the open here as well, like priest can't be anything other than a mortal, no vampires, no werewolves,

There goes my Priest of Hircine build

 

[Agentoringe]

There goes my Priest of Hircine build

Ha! Naw man, do it! You can rock that of you want, the RP is ultimately up to the player...although I would say rock the cursed ring of hircine for him/her...because a priest would want the gift of thier diety to wash over them when the daedric lord thought it was needed... not being selfish ad taking it on themselves to decide how thier lords gift is used, let hircine guide your animal side and kill everything in sight for his glory when he gives it to you haha

 

[Twiffle]

Agentoringe, i think you need a hobby, preferably out of the house, like grave robbing maybe,

 

[sticky runes]

My oldest characters were a mix of everything, that was me trying to find my feet in Skyrim and figuring what does what and how everything works.

With every character I've created since then, I've been focusing on specific skills. This one is going to be a mage who focuses mostly on destruction and conjuration. This one is going to be an assassin who focuses on sneak and archery. this one is going to be a purely two handed weapon user who uses no magic whatsoever. It's more enjoyable to play as a restricted character, but it would have been weird trying to do that when I first started the game. now that I'm more experienced, I like to come up with major "likes and dislikes" for my characters. It gives them a bit more uniqueness when I play as them as well, instead of having a character who dabbles in everything!

 

[CosmicExplorer]

I want to make a pure Mage so bad. No weapons only spells. But I've tried this and I can only do it on the lower difficulties. For example. You are low level and aren't using any grinding to get your skills up, just normal game play going from one location to another. When I play this way, on a harder difficulty,killing dragons is a very difficult thing I do. So my question is, starting from level 1 and up, what's the easiest way to play a Mage wothoit grinding skill points while still havin fun? Should I invest points early on into conjuration, destruction, both? Basically I'm fine with everything except dragons. They murder me. I mean at higher levels sure its easier, so if anyone has any advice id appreciate it.

 

[Agentoringe]

I want to make a pure Mage so bad. No weapons only spells. But I've tried this and I can only do it on the lower difficulties. For example. You are low level and aren't using any grinding to get your skills up, just normal game play going from one location to another. When I play this way, on a harder difficulty,killing dragons is a very difficult thing I do. So my question is, starting from level 1 and up, what's the easiest way to play a Mage wothoit grinding skill points while still havin fun? Should I invest points early on into conjuration, destruction, both? Basically I'm fine with everything except dragons. They murder me. I mean at higher levels sure its easier, so if anyone has any advice id appreciate it.

Well the easiest way to deal w dragons, without skill grinding is to have a follower and summon somethig like a flame atronach, mobile, launches ranges attacks, and most of all replaceable...distracting the dragon away from you is the best way to deal w them early on. conjure flame atronach is best way to go early on cause lots of followers die lol and while it's paying attention to the atronach put as much distance as you can between you and the dragon while pelting them w spells lol

 

[Agentoringe]

And even then using the rune spells will level your destruction skill much faster than other spells til you get to skill 50 and can afford multiple casts of fireball lol

ALSO spells gain you skill xp based on different things, most things its based off of the BASE cost of the spell when you cast it, all the destro spells are, but like fire rune, that spell grants the xp when it hits a valid target, meaning if a group walks across it, it counts the base xp for each enemy effected by it... spells like rally/detect life, are similar because it's based on how many people are effected when it grants the xp but in a non combative manner lol...rally has a limit of effecting up to 5 ppl, but the master spell call to arms can effect any number of people in range, which is the case w most master level spells.