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Character Perfection...

    • 490 posts
    May 2, 2015 5:01 PM EDT
    Love this discussion. I have always toyed with what a "Oprah's Favorite Things" build would look like for me and I am always hard to pin something down. It is as if my "favorite" archetype is whatever makes me happiest at the moment.

    I DO find, in almost every TES game I have experienced, I come back to a spellsword/battlemage or however one would label it. I am obsessed with everything magic and always love delving deep into all the schools (RIP Mysticism) with at least one character that I tend to spend much, MUCH more time with gameplay and role play. It always ends up with the lovely gigantic spellbook, a sword, and my wits to tackle everything the game throws at me. Oblivion had the better overall approach for me, as I much enjoyed wielding a gigantic two handed Claymore while still being able to cast spells wearing enchanted clothing/robes.

    As a funny side note, I always have had a tradition of playing a heavy armored berserker Orc with a warhammer and then a sneak assassin archery Wood Elf for all TES games I have played. Not sure why. After this ritual, I usually go through millions of other character concepts and land on my unarmored spellsword of some very close variation based on game mechanics.
  • May 2, 2015 5:05 PM EDT

    For me! The Dark Elf Spellsword type just grabs me everytime. I cant resist the look this charactor has, but please dont get me wrong I hate, loath, and dispise the "Stunmer". Skyrim has been no different for me my first playthrough was a Dunmer spellsword and afterwards I relied on everyone elses work for my entertainment, however I am working at present to give something back.

    • 68 posts
    May 2, 2015 5:31 PM EDT
    Everyone is posting builds they rp with, but my 2 favorite builds are the 2 I don't rp with. Back when I first got Skyrim I wanted to do everything possible in the game and thus my first build was the second most time I spent in game. That was my orc pure warrior, got him to 81 just to fully perk the warrior tree. Then came the DLCs and the ability to go legendary. I started from scratch with a female Nord just to perk everything. I'm currently at 92 with her and at the point where I rely heavily on skill trainers for leveling. I've taken her up against the toughest opponents the game has to offer, including the Frost Giant King at Karstagg. She is by far my favorite build and when testing new builds gets me in a rut I return to her for inspiration.
    • 1217 posts
    May 2, 2015 5:43 PM EDT

    I'm much the opposite. My first character, an Argonian named Tlanqual was played similarly, where I tried to do as much as possible. Right now he's literally standing in front of Endon to complete the quest that will restore the Thieves Guild, and he'll have done all the major questlines. But along the way I found the Blog and saw that for me, at least, doing everything with one character had dulled the experience of discovery for later characters. That original character had just kind of done stuff without deriving any kind of significance from it, and then when I went back and made my thief, or my mage, there was less to look forward to because so much had already been done. That's why when the next TES game comes out, I'll be sticking strictly to what's appropriate to that character

    • 622 posts
    May 2, 2015 5:54 PM EDT

    The evil and cruel assassin. The sneaky, stealthy, kicks-babies-and-eats-them, dagger-wielding, neck-snapping kind.

    Argonian for extra points 

    • 490 posts
    May 2, 2015 5:56 PM EDT
    "Evil ... cruel ... kicks-babies-and-eats-them ..."

    My mommy said I can't hang out with you anymore...
    • 68 posts
    May 2, 2015 5:57 PM EDT
    Well the thrill of discovery is nice. I don't know to me it just doesn't feel like I've accomplished anything unless I play at least 1 build where I can say I truly beat the game. I mean with the radiant quest that keep spawning Skyrim goes on forever so you can't ever finish the game, but when I have that 1 build that has collected all unique items, ran every non radiant quest and some radiant quests, learned all spells and shouts, and defeated all unique encounters. Then I can say I beat Skyrim not I beat the main story, but I beat the game. Guess I'm just an old school gamer like that lol.
    • 1217 posts
    May 2, 2015 6:04 PM EDT

    Well, in a lot of ways agree with that. I mean, I haven't wanted to play any other game except Skyrim the way I described, and I'm sure that once I've played through several archetypes and major quest lines in the nest TES game, I'll start up a character who really "beats" the game. This time, I'll just be saving that character for last, instead of playing him first.

    • 68 posts
    May 2, 2015 6:13 PM EDT
    Lol it's just hard for me to be that paitent. Plus it actually helps me with rp because I can look back and say I know this quest line will work with this build or I have to do this line to get this power or equipment I want to use. After my Orc build in the Vanilla game I started with rp on a Khajjit assassin that was so skillful I could have an enemy so close I could literally breath on them and they wouldn't be alerted. It was all because after my Orc I knew exactly what to run and perk for my Khajjit to work.
    • 38 posts
    May 2, 2015 6:34 PM EDT
    I've always gone back to a no crafting "treasure hunter" type character, seems in playthroughs that I craft the strongest, best enchanted weapons and armor I have no need to take time to pick every lock and search every cave looking for better stuff, I take time with my character, still a lot of quest I've never done and places I haven't explored, I just now today I did the Deathbrand side quest , thinking about playing a pirate now.
    • 95 posts
    May 2, 2015 6:40 PM EDT

    Well, now to post my second Character that keeps me going and was the first Skyrim.

    Race: Argonian Vampire

    Stone: Lady

    One-Handed (Dual-Axes for DoT, Dwarven), Heavy Armor (Managed to find a full set of Dwarven. Then I took the Visage of Mhzund and Ebony Mail.), Alchemy (Poisons only that deal DoT.), Restoration (Necromage to enhance my speed.)

    This was my first character. A High-Speed, Dual-Axe weilding, Poison Coating, Argonian Vampire. His main source of damage was the constant DoT and constant Bleeding stacks when using Elemental Fury. Though I seriously ended up lacking Stamina when using this in the daytime, Elemental Fury and Dual Flurry made the Twin Axes more than enough to devastate even the Ebony Warrior. I used the Ring of Namira as well as a necklace I randomly found that helped with Health Regeneration during the daytime especially. I tried to follow the game "RIFT" and create sort of a Reaver type class which relied on making my opponents suffer and slowly die. It ended up being faster than many of my other characters. Alchemy was a huge challenge until Hearthfire came and I really needed to conserve his powers:

    HIS ONLY SPECIAL ABILITY:

    Black-Engine: Ebony Mail+Elemental Fury+Histskin+Dual Flurry+DoT Poison+Concentrated Poison+Breath of Nchuak+Necromage.

    And now for Oblivion

    Race: High Elf

    Sign: Atronach

    Skills: Block, Heavy Armor, Mysticism, Armorer, Alteration, Destruction, Restoration.

    Other Skills: Illusion, Conjuration, Light Armor.

    This Character had one thing at hand: Duplication glitch and Strong Potion of Spell Absorption.

    When I made this character's spells and enchanted his gear, I made sure that his spells had a large "Telekinesis" effect. Once I consumed three potions, then cast the spell, I was able to cast the spells as much as I wanted without truly loosing much magicka to none at all, due to the fact that the spell was "absorbed" but still dealt damage. My post about "Atronach Casting" has more on that.

    So, he was a High Elf, Atronach Shield-Battlemage. He wore a full set of enchanted Bound Armor that had Shield, 10pts, so once the 120 health for each piece went down, I still had 50 AR. I also used Ring of Transmtation, Necromancer's Amulet and another ring that had Spell Absorb + Fortify Magicka (Sorcerer's Ring).

    Thats it!

    • 68 posts
    May 2, 2015 6:44 PM EDT
    I know that feeling. When I first got the Bloodskal Blade I toyed with the idea of a bandit berserker that wields the blade.
    • 1467 posts
    May 2, 2015 7:56 PM EDT

    Bound Weapons honestly, doesn't matter what weapon it is but I always find myself coming back to them... Overall though I think characters that use Conjuration are what I keep coming back to.

    • 189 posts
    May 2, 2015 8:10 PM EDT

    Blackguard, eh? Time to repost your first build? 

    For me, my favorite playstyle has always been heavy armor + sneak. Illusion for Muffle and Invisibility (maybe Quiet Casting while I'm at it) and throw in some Destruction magic buffed by Alchemy for those times when I don't feel like sneaking. Also make him a werewolf because those are always fun. I've actually got a concept in the works that pretty much ticks all the boxes for me ... Haven't gotten around to playing it yet though.

    • 627 posts
    May 2, 2015 8:45 PM EDT

    I would have to say a Mage; which is strange considering I've only ever played the one in Skyrim and it took me (how long has it been out?) to get around to it. The versatility they have and the fact you're forced to utilize it thanks to how easy it is for you to die from a couple of attacks.

    • 189 posts
    May 2, 2015 8:55 PM EDT

    I have always toyed with what a "Oprah's Favorite Things" build would look like for me and I am always hard to pin something down. It is as if my "favorite" archetype is whatever makes me happiest at the moment.

    Same here. It also doesn't help that every time I try to make a list of my favorite play styles, I end up with things that contradict each other. Sometimes that can make for an interesting build, if done well. But I haven't been able to find the right way to make it work for me, short of just making a utilitarian, which ironically, in sheer principal alone, would go against my idea of an ideal build.

    My process has generally been to take 2-3 things that I really love and find a way to make them support each other, creating something great than the sum of its parts. I don't really think too hard about roleplay when conceptualizing my characters, but rather, I usually just let it come naturally as I play the build. This kind of results in my characters being a bit washed out, morally, but I've always cared more for gameplay than roleplay so it's not a huge deal to me.

    This thread has me reconsidering the idea of trying to put it all together into a single build. The thing is, it probably wouldn't be worth posting, because it'd essentially just be a hodgepodge of all the best bits of my previous builds.

    • 485 posts
    May 2, 2015 9:24 PM EDT
    Evil and kicks babies? I think I just found my new best friend.
    • 457 posts
    May 2, 2015 9:43 PM EDT
    Don't quite know what the deal is, but my default is usually a kind-hearted rogue. Dunmer. Usually modeled after the ronin. I tend to go light or no armor, one-handed, archery, stealth, and a bit of restoration for an overall guerrilla melee feel.

    The build is comfy, I know I'll enjoy it, it lets me feel like a decent enough guy while allowing me to still be somewhat shady, and it's what I always seem to naturally revert to when I take on an Elder Scrolls game that I'm unfamiliar with.
    • 89 posts
    May 2, 2015 10:10 PM EDT

    This is actually a great topic, because it's what I'm currently trying to find, someone who can remain friendly to his roleplay while still doing most everything in the game, to try and "beat" it. I'm very attracted to a Nord rogue idea, a man with honor but also a distinct desire for power. He doesn't kill or do things without reason, but if you can give him some gold reasons, he's your man. I'm really just trying to figure out how exactly to play him. In terms of skills, certainly a mix of the tree archetypes, but I'd like to work a way to where I can use every skill with at least some degree of effectiveness, even if just situationally, but playing on console you don't have many hot keys so you don't want to spread too far out. By the same token, I lose a lot of mods, like Frostfall, Realistic Needs and Diseases, and SkyRe that I would love to use to help me roleplay. The struggle is real (well actually it's fantasy, but whatever).

    • 622 posts
    May 2, 2015 10:28 PM EDT

    • 490 posts
    May 2, 2015 10:50 PM EDT
    Yeah haha. I think I had a memorable/favorite moment with every skill at some point, my Oprah would also be a whole mess of skills!
    • 201 posts
    May 2, 2015 10:51 PM EDT
    Haha me too
    • 8 posts
    May 2, 2015 11:00 PM EDT
    Ranger! My Orsimer ranger "reluctant messiah" was my favourite play through. My next build was a Vigilant of Stendarr, but eventually I felt that urge to just wander the lands.
    • 485 posts
    May 2, 2015 11:17 PM EDT

    If i plan to cut someone, you'll be the first to know...

    • 168 posts
    May 2, 2015 11:36 PM EDT

    Twohanded weapon coupled with elemental Destruction magic, a battlemage basically, except more specialized in terms of what magic is used. Add in Block and Enchanting, whatever armor I feel like wearing, and that's basically it. A warrior-elementalist type class, no stealth no thievery not evil or allied with daedra. I tend to switch between battleaxe and greatsword, and frost or shock magic , for my main character at least.

    I have made a LOT of my own other characters whose builds were basically: weapon of choice + certain magic type, although I don't make builds on the site for them, because they're fairly simple, yet loads of fun for me. Sure there's the evil characters, the pure mages, the pure warriors, rogues, assassins, and hybrids of all sorts, but I just keep going back to the same thing!