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Event Build: Who is Cicero?

Tags: #Character Build Thief  #Character Build Rogue  #Character Build Assassin  #Race:Imperial  #Event:FollowMeFollowYou 
  • June 30, 2017

    "There must be some kind of way outta here..."

    I was given a contract to kill the Jester.  I couldn't do it.  I'm not sure why.  It wasn't pity.  It wasn't fear.  It was... I don't know.  A gut reaction.  So I left the Chevdinhal Sanctuary, abandoning the new role I would have taken as Keeper.  After years of wandering, I arrived in Skyrim and joined the Dark Brotherhood there.  Now I have a new family, led by Astrid.  Astrid does not believe in the Night Mother, which means I am free of the Night Mother's demands.  I met the family.  Festus is a grumpy old man, and so is Astrid's husband, but the rest are very nice and supportive.  They have accepted me.  Nazir even provided me with some contracts.  However, I don't know my way around Skyrim yet.  Before I can build my reputation, I must first know where I am going.

    "Said the Joker to the Thief..."

    I returned to the Sanctuary just in time for some kind of meeting.  There was a small man there, dressed in a jester's costume.  Imagine my surprise when Festus, and then Astrid called him Cicero!  That's my name!  I suppose the name is common enough for us both to have the same name but... he looks like me.  Except for the funny clothes, his hair is the same.  His eyes the same.  His nose, the same.  And he came from Cyrodill. The same as me.  What is going on?  Is he an assassin too?  Is he somehow my long lost twin?  Do I have a twin?  I spoke to him briefly... it was unnerving.  He speaks in the third person.  Cicero this, Cicero that.  He is the keeper.  The Night Mother's Keeper.  He cleans her.  He oils her.  He takes care of her.  I was supposed to be Keeper once. 

    "There's too much confusion..."

    It was dark.  I heard the echoing laughter of Cicero.  The sound was coming from me.  I looked about but could see nothing.  I felt around for a door but there was none.  I tried to remain calm, but a hysterical giggle escaped my lips.  Suddenly, it was light.  It took a moment but my eyes adjusted.  Standing before me was... me.  Dressed in assassin's armor, it was my face, my hair, and when he spoke... my voice.

    "Hello Cicero."

    I laughed.  A high pitched, insane, echoing laugh.  "Cicero!  Yes!  Cicero is me!"

    A wicked smirk crossed his face as he drew his ebony dagger.  "No, I'm Cicero.  And there can only be one."

    I awoke short of breath.  The dream shook me.  I knew what I had to do, however.  I had to kill Cicero. 

     

     

    The Build: Combat Assassin

    When I first learned of this contest, I thought of Cicero.  Who is more insane in Skyrim than Cicero?  (Maybe the Waabajack quest giver...) And what would Cicero think if he met himself?  Oh, insanity abounds!  The thing is, if you read Cicero's journals, he didn't start out insane.  In fact, he didn't become insane until he killed the Jester and became the Keeper.  So this story takes place in between the time Cicero gets his last contract to kill the Jester and modern Skyrim.  Cicero essentially "splits" into two different people.  One is Cicero the Assassin, the other is Cicero the Jester.

    Race: Imperial

    Skills: Sneak, One-handed, Archery and Light Armor

    Stats:  2 Health, 1 stamina 

    Standing Stone: Thief (early), Shadow (later)

    Questlines: Thieves Guild (until Twilight Sepulcher) and Dark Brotherhood (complete)

     

     

    The Unofficial Skyrim Patch: Because, well, necessary.

    Ordinator- Perks of Skyrim:  I'm still new to the world of modding, mostly because I am originally an XBOX360 player that has recently turned to a PC player.  With my limited experience, I have to say, I think Ordinator is one of the best mods out there.  There is so much choice and you can develop your character any way you want to.  In my modder's log, I chronicle Cicero's journey through madness and Ordinator's perks.

    Alternate start-Live Another Life: I didn't want to have to deal with dragons and I wanted to get the character into the Assassin's guild as soon as possible.  This starts out the character with full leather armor, an ebony dagger, and 10 healing potions.  You also start just inside the guildhall, and your first conversation with Astrid provides you with the assassin's armor.

     

     

    At level 26 we have:       Magicka: 100                      Health: 270                         Stamina:  180

    Sneak 85, One-handed 65, Light Armor 64, Archery 26

     

    Light Armor:

    Light Armor Mastery: 2/2 (LA is 40% more effective.)

    Light Armor Fit: 1/1 (25% more LA rating if wearing all LA)

    These are basic vanilla type perks

     

    One-handed:

    One-handed Mastery: 2/2  (50% more damage; critical strikes do 2% per level of one-handed damage)

    Bite Marks: 2/3 (Unblocked attacks deal additional 2pts bleed damage per sec for 45 secs.  Effects stack.)

    Ravage: 2/2 (Dual wielding attacks are 35% faster.)

    Savage: 1/2 (Attacks with daggers deal 25% more damage if rapidly hit the target 3 or more times.  Resets when 2 secs pass between hits)

    Twin Fangs: 1/1 (Forwards power attacks impale the target dealing double Bite Marks damage where or not the attack is blocked.)

    Man O' War: 1/1 (Dual wielding in combat builds up a rage with each attack gaining 1% extra damage and 1% extra speed for 20 secs.  This effect stacks.)

    Swaying Cobra: 1/1 (Sideways power attacks with a dagger drain 150 points of Magicka and Stamina.)

     In combat, I don't really notice the extra speed (Ravage/Man O' War) or extra damage (Savage/Man O' War) as I'm not good at judging those sorts of things. (A more experienced gamer than I would probably notice.  I did notice that I tend to kill things quickly.) I don't think I've actually employed Swaying Cobra so it was sort of a waste.  What I DO notice, however, is Bite Marks.  At this second level, you can basically hit the target a couple of times then watch as his/her health drains as if poisoned.  It's really cool.

     

    Sneak:

    Sneak Mastery: 2/2  (30% more effective)

    Sneak Attack: 1/1  (Backstab damage: 6x damage/12x with assassin's gloves - what he wears. Sneak attacks with bows x2.5 damage.)

    Fog of War: 1/1 (Sneaking is 15% more effective against targets in combat with you or 30% more effective against those in combat with others.)

    Assassin's Blade: 1/1 (Sneak attack with daggers deal 1% more damage per level of Sneak.)

    Infiltrator: 1/1 (Footsteps & equipped armor make 75% less noise when sneaking.)

    Right Behind You: 1/1 (15% more effective sneaking within 30 ft/30% more effective within 15ft)

    Backstab: 2/2 (50% more damage attacking from behind the target @ full health; x8 critical damage)

    Disengage: 1/1 (Once per day, all enemies within 100ft who are attacking/searching for you instantly stop and resume normal activities.)

    Smoke Curtain: 1/1 (Grants the "Smoke Curtain" power. Once a day, creates a 35 foot cloud for 120 seconds that blinds those in the cloud, preventing them from seeing sneaking targets. Sneak attacks against them deal 50% more damage)

    Behind Enemy Lines:  1/1 (Sneaking is 15% more effective for each enemy within 100ft that is not detecting you.)

    Most of these are just improving your sneak and there's no concrete way of measuring that.  I am not caught very often, if that is any indication.  Sneak Attacks do (x22.2) damage with double backstab (assassin's) gloves.  Using Smoke Curtain bumps the sneak attack damage to (x33.3) damage at level 26.  I am not sure what the second perk in Backstab is doing for me since I was doing the same level of damage (22/33) before and after I took the perk.

    Favorite perk: Smoke Curtain.  Nothing like causing a distraction and murdering everyone while being practically invisible.  This is an awesome perk.  I would play an assassin again just to get this perk.  It's only once per day (pity) and it's used like a power, but you can essentially assassinate any number of targets in your 35 ft radius (targets don't flee) in those two minutes.

    Least Favorite Perk: Swaying Cobra.  I haven't really used it.  Not sure what I was thinking when I took it.  Could be useful, but not for me.

     

     

    Starting Equipment: As mentioned above, I started with leather armor, ebony dagger, and 10 healing potions.

    Throughout most of the playthrough, I used the assassin guild armor, an ebony dagger, various off-handed daggers, charmed necklace (+15 to carry weight), and a ring of lockpicking.

    Ending Equipment:  Cicero's Jester costume, Blade of Woe (RH), Mehrune's Razor (LH), Charmed Necklace, Skeleton Key and Ring of Lockpicking or Nightweaver.  The Blade of Woe has such a lousy amount of charge, I typically use the Ebony dagger instead.  Other interesting bits of gear picked up along the way: Valdr's Lucky Dagger, Chillrend, Nightingale blade, Nightingale bow, Windshear.

     

     

    Alignment: Neutral (starting) gradually becoming chaotic neutral/evil.  He does what he wants, when he wants just because he can.

    Money:  Sell everything except your guild gear or a few more useful bits of stuff: ring of lockpicking, charmed necklace, etc. Save nothing for later or for followers. See ending gear for kept things.

    Questlines:  In the beginning, the Thieves guild questline was interesting.  He didn't complete it because he won't uphold his pledge to Nocturnal.  I only did the main Thieves Guild questline (through killing Mercer Frey) and I didn't do any "extra jobs" for the Guild. Then I completed the Dark Brotherhood questline through refurnishing the guildhall.  Between the two questlines, I got to level 26.

    Behavior: He sneaks everywhere.  Sneaks up on the guards, people on the roads, in combat - just about everywhere.  He uses his daggers as much as he can.  I did very little with archery, even though it is a skill he can use. (No perks, ending skill level 26.) Basically, if he absolutely can't sneak up on them and assassinate his target, he will use the bow as last resort.

    Combat:  Sneak! Sneak! Sneak!  Get behind your target then power attack and hope for a kill shot.  Very rarely do you not kill with the first strike.  If they somehow see you, then you are in for some combat.  Swing wildly with your daggers.  Connect.  Watch them bleed.  It doesn't take long.  Actually, something I never noticed until I came across the Cicero the Jester fight is that he is not a 2-weapon specialist.  He is a dagger fighter, yes, but only in the main hand.  This is often how I played anyway, being more of a one-handed person myself.  Cicero rarely cleared out dungeons. He's a stand and fight only as a last resort kind of killer.  Whenever I had a dungeon to do, I took Marcurio with me, except for the Theives Guild questlines.  'Speaking with Silence' (Snow Veil Sanctum) I snuck up and backstabbed all the drauger.  Mercer Frey too, not that it did me any good, it just felt good. ;)  'Blindsighted' (Irkngthand) was hard even with Karliah and Brynjolf. I took Marcurio with me to clear out the bandits, but of course he can't follow inside.  Used lots of healing potions getting past the dwemer creatures. I couldn't go toe to toe with the falmer, so I just snuck past them. This character has its limitations.  If you can't sneak somehow, you are in trouble.  Used the bow rarely.  It was necessary in Broken Oar Grotto and my archery went up several times in that dungeon.  Guzzle healing potions as needed.

    Training:  I put a lot of money into training.  Sneak: 3 levels, One-handed: 13 levels, Light Armor: 10 levels.  Nothing else to do with the gold.

    Ending Skills: (Major)  one-handed 65, Archery 26, Light Armor 64, Sneak 85.  (Minor/non-perked) Restoration (force of habit) 27, Lockpicking (46), Alchemy (40).  He only makes three types of potions: Paralysis/Damage Health, Invisibility, and Healing/Fortify Health.  There are a few fights I wouldn't have gotten through without a paralysis potion.  He also bought some paralysis and invisibility potions.  This is always an option if you don't want to brew.

     

    Cicero has a level cap of 50 so I could keep playing, but I elected not to.  Once the Theives Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines are complete, there isn't much more that would interest Cicero in Skyrim.

     

    Credits: I would love to give credit to the original authors but I couldn't find names associated with the drawings.  If anyone knows of them, let me know and I will credit them appropriately.  All drawings belong to the original artists!  I used them to make the perk spread. :)

  • June 30, 2017

    I'm loving the build Jynna, congratulations on posting your first build. I'm a little lost on what else to say since, you know, generally speaking I've said most of what I wanted to say on your WiP but it is really great to see this fully put together and in the CB Group. You had a really interesting run with Cicero that's been an absolute blast to see so far. Hmm, yeah, that's all really I suppose.

    Oh right, I had an idea that I was going to mention earlier but then got kind of side-tracked. Anyway, what do you think of the idea of trying to fit in a few of the Modder's Log in-character entry parts to the build to kind of, add that little bit more of a connection between the two and make the whole build feel a bit...Hmm, can't think of the word right now, but I guess characterized would work...maybe. It's just an idea I wanted to put forward (and I know that the opening is either an entry or a modified one...or something that I'm pretty sure I read in an entry) anyway, yeah. 

  • Member
    June 30, 2017

    congrats on a first build! great concept with split personality. the only critique would be finding a way to get some more art/screenshots...but I get certain platform limitations...

    Nice job!

  • June 30, 2017

    Dragonborn1921 said:

    I'm loving the build Jynna, congratulations on posting your first build. I'm a little lost on what else to say since, you know, generally speaking I've said most of what I wanted to say on your WiP but it is really great to see this fully put together and in the CB Group. You had a really interesting run with Cicero that's been an absolute blast to see so far. Hmm, yeah, that's all really I suppose.

    Oh right, I had an idea that I was going to mention earlier but then got kind of side-tracked. Anyway, what do you think of the idea of trying to fit in a few of the Modder's Log in-character entry parts to the build to kind of, add that little bit more of a connection between the two and make the whole build feel a bit...Hmm, can't think of the word right now, but I guess characterized would work...maybe. It's just an idea I wanted to put forward (and I know that the opening is either an entry or a modified one...or something that I'm pretty sure I read in an entry) anyway, yeah. 

    Thanks Dragonborn!  I did edit the entry so it has some of the choice bits from my Modder's Log.  I think this flows much better.  It's not re-written, so you've read it before, but I wasn't really sure what to do with the entry to the build.  I could keep adding more but I don't want to overwhelm the reader of the build.  If you think it needs more crazy Cicero, let me know, I've certainly got some!

  • June 30, 2017

    Mottyskills said:

    congrats on a first build! great concept with split personality. the only critique would be finding a way to get some more art/screenshots...but I get certain platform limitations...

    Nice job!

    Thank you, MottySkills!  There is a lot of good artwork out there on Cicero and I certainly could have used more.  Also, I have screenshots, but most of them are used in my modder's log.  I didn't know if any of them would be appropriate for the build. I may still add some more. :)

     

     

     

  • Member
    June 30, 2017

    Oh cool - I'll check out the log!

  • Member
    June 30, 2017

    The thing is, if you read Cicero's journals, he didn't start out insane.  In fact, he didn't become insane until he killed the Jester and became the Keeper.

    Well that's proper TES mental. Cicero becomes mad when he kills the jester, and in turn gets killed by the new Cicero... Mantling madness! Do the journal's reveal the jester's name? Was it Cicero by any chance? Tamriel has a dark history where harlequin's are concerned, so I won't read too deeply into it, but man is it a cool thought! A Cicero is henceforth a permanent fixture of the Dark Brotherhood, always slain and replaced by another Cicero.

    Ha! Anyway, yeah this is cool :)

  • July 5, 2017

    Really well done Jynna, I'm so glad you got this done, now I'm off to finish reading your log and see how Cicero's story ends!

  • July 5, 2017

    Really well done Jynna, I'm so glad you got this done, now I'm off to finish reading your log and see how Cicero's story ends!

  • Member
    July 5, 2017

    I had forgotten you were tackling a Cicero build for this event as well. Glad I stumbled on it, though. 

    My experience with the One-handed dagger perks falls pretty much along the lines you did. I wasn't interested in performing any kind of power attack other than standing or forward (anything else with a dagger is (a) tricky to pull off, and (b) a bit out of character for a dagger anyhow. 

    But Bite Marks and Twin Fangs... that slow and steady bleed damage was pretty darned cool :D

    Again, great build!

    Now to finish reading All Along the Watchtower! I've been on the road for the last four days, and have missed the closing posts on both yours and your husband's logs. Must rectify this ;D