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Nocte Aeterna

Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film
I've been playing Skyrim for a couple of years now, but no matter what kind of character I attempt to play, I have a tendency to get bored with them very quickly. Now, I know that this problem occurs with a lot of people, but I really don't know where to go next. I've played most builds already, including several from Skyrim Blog. I'm desperately looking to finally create some characters with actual build development on it. Whatever I try, I usually end up scrapping.

I'm really at a loss of what to do next. None of the builds I've seen or tried really tickle my fancy. So, I'm turning to you guys. What sort of builds have you played and enjoyed? I'm looking for both suggestions and personal interests.
 

AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I don't know if you have already, but if you haven't try creating a serious backstory and set of morals and rules for the character to follow. The build becomes less important and the character becomes a person rather than a collection of gear and skills.

For example, I had a character that I RPed as being a thief, kicked out of the Guild for refusing to loot a burial urn in crypts and then making a move on Vex in the Flagon after a few too many ales. This gives me a reason to play a thief character who works as a hunter, avoiding major cities (particularly Riften) where Guild members might want to stick the boot in and avoiding trouble altogether for a little while.

If you're playing on PC, mods will inevitably help with this 10000%
 

Seanu Reaves

The Shogun of Gaming
Same. I usually end up with one character I just force myself to take far. I am not one for mages so what was going to be a 2-handed build with light armor turned into a sneak archer who also uses a 2 handed sword.

I gotta say it is a really balanced build that is really fun and turned out to be epic to play.

One off the wall build I wanted to try was the swashbuckler. Basically no armor but a shield and sword. I was thinking specifically Targe of the Bloodied and Windshear. Basically you armor up with Alteration and for range use illusion. IDK I prefer little to no armor for characters so I thought it kinda mixed well.
 

khazan99

Semi-professional cabbage collector
....

One off the wall build I wanted to try was the swashbuckler. Basically no armor but a shield and sword. I was thinking specifically Targe of the Bloodied and Windshear. Basically you armor up with Alteration and for range use illusion. IDK I prefer little to no armor for characters so I thought it kinda mixed well.


I saw a build like that once on the skyrim blog site and tried it; no armor, he wore Alik'r garb, and left hand was empty to cast Alteration and Restoration (-Flesh spells and healing respectively). It was a really fun and challenging build, I'd highly recommend giving it a try.
 

Nocte Aeterna

Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film
Thanks for the input, guys. I've been looking at Skyrim Blog more closely, and I'm thinking of attempting to create my own build using ideas from there and my own storyline ideas.
 

berzum

Why is the alto wine always gone?
im in the process of making a new build, the psychic. not revealing the full build but i will drop a hint, one of the main attacks will be telekinesis. Now it will be a mage but i will not use destruction, maybe a cloak spell if really desperate. but when i figure it out I will tell you how it turned out, after all nothing better than killing an enemy by throwing a sword that was on the wall at it hehe
 

Snake Tortoise

Here's For Your Trouble
Typically my builds have been warriors without much to discuss. My third character, and first game on master, was an archer-conjuror which was really fun to play. I relied heavily on atronachs as first and getting the dremora spell was awesome, but eventually when archery, smithing and enchanting started coming together there was no need to bother summoning anything, so I never got to 100 conjuration.

My first dagger assassin game didn't use illusion, so when I did a later build as a dagger assassin-illusionist I was bowled over by how well they complemented each other. Any time I was detected illusion would save me, and it was great hitting the point where I could run around constantly muffled and invisible. Extremely powerful build but it had the excitement that if I took any hits I could have been one shot killed because my defence was pretty bad

I'm doing my first legendary game at the moment. A conjuration/one handed Breton with the eventual goal of two summoned creatures, a powerful follower, max magic resistance and the ability to tank tons of damage if the enemy turns on me. It's very tough at the moment. My character will take a long time to reach his potential because I'm planning on having perks in: one handed; conjuration; block; light armour; smithing; enchanting; alchemy; restoration and speech. I'm most likely going to have to make some skills legendary for it. Legendary is a humbling experience to say the least. Without my follower and flame atronach the only things I can handle by myself are the most basic draugr and bandits, wolves, skeevers and... well that's probably it. Without my meat shields I wouldn't be a match for a restless draugr
 

Twiffle

Well-Known Member
In the past i have done literally dozens of builds, and played countless characters mostly very enjoyable, and some not so, i have even made strange builds like a mage orc and a wood elf warrior 2h. In the last 6 months or so i have looked into and studied alchemy and again done some great playthroughs and characters, However, just recently i saw a build by a member named fudgemuppet called the Shadowfoot, a style i really wasn't familiar with but dabbled with in the past, so with a few tweaks of my own choosing i decided to build my own version of this,, and to be honest i am having probably the best fun ive had since i bought the game on release day.

So here is my version of fudgemuppet build shadowfoot.

Female Dark elf name Belvanni.

Majoring in Sneak, left side only, pickpocket, alchemy and Illusion taking all the perks,

NO enchanting or smithing and No perks in either archery, one handed or any armour type.

However all my buffs come from Alchemy, including my protection also.

The only weapons i have are bought or found and currently i have a glass dagger, dwarven bow of flames and staff of lightening. Also no perks in destruction either. The alchemy though buffs my (now silent) staff from 25 points of damage to 44 points and marksman does serious buffs to both dagger and bow.

Am i underpower, you bet your bum hole i am, can i get one shotted, yes in an instance, do i have to manage my magicka, potions, health and stamina, yes constantly. Am i enjoying myself, , jeez i wish i had done this build in the past, i am currently level 32 and i havnt been to Whiterun, Markarth, Morthal, Dawnstar or Falkreath yet, but im having the best fun since i bought the game,, i can see this character becoming my all time fav and probably highest levelled build to,


well thats my 2 bobs worth.
 

Nocte Aeterna

Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film
I actually ended up creating a paladin-esque physical wall character, with most perks going into One-Handed, Block, Conjuration, Restoration, and Alteration. I also chose Heavy Armor because I haven't used it in a while.

I decided to put off doing the main questline for a bit; ergo, I'm in Dustman's Cairn right now with Farkas. So far, this build is treating me very well, and the relatively new play style is pretty entertaining. Conjuring Atronachs allows for a viable distance attack, since this build does not use typical distance skills like Archery or Destruction. Plus, it keeps enemies at bay long enough for me to cast a Flesh spell.

In short: Shield + Flesh spell + Heavy Armor = absolute tank, even at a low level like mine currently (7).

This technique will become obsolete at later levels due to the armor cap, so I'll probably wane off a little on Alteration and switch it over to a utility role in the future. Maybe I'll take up Transmute Ore or Paralysis (since the Paralyzing Strike perk for One-Handed is a huge pain to get right on the PS3).

But keep the ideas flowing, guys. One character isn't always enough.
 

LuChao

The Martial artist
allow me to entertain a thought for u My most favorite build that I had the most fun with was Midnight my Khajiit merchant because I very rarely ever use the enchanting and smithing alchemy when I play and this build forces me to use them he would use Heavy armor 2 handed greatswords and archery for gear archery for hunting to make stuff and it focuses more on making and improving gear for money instead of clearing missions and going through guilds it was a lot of fun for me because it was very different then everyone of my other builds and I might make suggestion of Permadeath play it makes u think about how u will attack bandit camps u can't go in hack and slash u really have to plan it out these are what I do anyway I use permadeath and no fast travel all the time so I'm forced to travel by foot and have found many things missed by fast traveling
 

Rimfaxe96

Well-Known Member
I wonder if anyone has ever tried a pacifist build. You know, the type that can barely hold a knife correctly and just runs into a dungeon and then out again with the goodies she was told to get.
Wouldn't work in all dungeons and quests and op of that that build must be annoying as hell. I doubt anyone will try it seriously. ;)
 

Perkless in Skyrim

Bad to the Dragonbone.
I find that I don't make builds. I make CHARACTERS. Granted, most of them are psychotic nutjobs that love to sneak, steal and kill but the way they go about it varies by their personalities.

I've had an Alchemist that didn't ever attack. He had to rely on followers and conjured atronachs. No Destruction either.

I've had an Orc modeled after Kurgen, the arch villain of the movie Highlander. Used a greatsword with Soul Trap and screamed "There can be only one!" whenever he beheaded someone.

A Breton Thief/Assassin with a passion for collecting that became a vampire on purpose.

A Khajiit "pure" Thief. As little combat as possible. Had to avoid going into any hold where Khajiit caravans visit except Riften.


The point, which AS88 already touched on, is to have a story and maybe even some debilitating quirks. You're not playing a Paladin. You're So And So of the Hexagonal Table (or whatever) that seeks out undead and destroys them where s/he can. S/he just happens to do so using the skills you outlined. Maybe s/he could do the evil Daedric quests and upon attaining the item, throw it in a deep pool of water somewhere, effectively "destroying" it. And buys Moon Sugar even though it's technically illegal because of an addiction to Elsweyr Fondue.
 

Twiffle

Well-Known Member
I wonder if anyone has ever tried a pacifist build. You know, the type that can barely hold a knife correctly and just runs into a dungeon and then out again with the goodies she was told to get.
Wouldn't work in all dungeons and quests and op of that that build must be annoying as hell. I doubt anyone will try it seriously. ;)


 

Snake Tortoise

Here's For Your Trouble
I wonder if anyone has ever tried a pacifist build. You know, the type that can barely hold a knife correctly and just runs into a dungeon and then out again with the goodies she was told to get.
Wouldn't work in all dungeons and quests and op of that that build must be annoying as hell. I doubt anyone will try it seriously. ;)



That looks like a lot of fun, I'm going to have to try that in the future! I remember one time at a low level I was at the end of the white phial dungeon and couldn't take the boss, so decided to run in and steal the phial. It was such a rush getting a chase I thought it would be awesome to build a non combatant character.

I imagine argonians would be great for some of the sticky situations you'd find yourself in- histskin is an incredible power. Redguards' adrenal rush could be good for the running away bits
 

Snake Tortoise

Here's For Your Trouble
A question about pacifist builds

What could be a worthwhile objective in a game where you aren't killing anything? In a normal game you have the main questline and various others, like the College and DB. But what can a non combatant aim for? Collecting all dragon masks isn't possible. Discovering every word of power doesn't seem possible (how could you get to the area you need to fly the dragon to without first killing some dragons?). Even the Thieves' Guild can't be completed because you'd have to kill *spoiler* first.

Ah... the stones of Barenziah. That may be possible.

Anything else?
 

Nocte Aeterna

Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film
Well, you could always have a follower do the killing for you, if your character's morality allows it. Other than that, you better hope for some freakish coincidences when facing dragons in the wilderness. Like having a bunch of overpowered NPCs nearby.
 

Snake Tortoise

Here's For Your Trouble
I'm not one for role playing and don't often set myself rules, but I couldn't just have a follower do the killing for me. I've played up to about level 12 and it's been a fun way to test the limits of what you can get away with using a bit of illusion, restoration, sneaking and running, but I need something to focus on to keep my interest. The stones idea could be fun. Anything else?
 
I thiink my next character is going to be a Ranger style. I know it's not necessarily creative, but with restrictions it could be interesting. To me a true Ranger he would have the following restrictions.

Leather armor only
Bows and one handed weapons only
Smithing only allowed on bows and leather armor
No enchanting
Alchemy

I will also give him conjuration for spell usage as it seems to fit a Ranger style.

Just a thought
 

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