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WIP Build: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Famine (On Hold)

Tags: #character build  #Skyrim  #WIP 
  • February 13, 2017

    WIP Character Build:

    The Third Horseman of the Apocalypse: Famine

    (Modded Build)

     

     

     Concept:

     "Consume, consume... And yet, you're all still starving because hunger doesn't just come from the body, it also comes from the soul."

     

    Famine, third of the Apocalyptic Horsemen, roams Tamriel on his black horse, consuming the essence of every living creature they cross paths with. In their unsatiable hunger, they drain the life from everything they touch, leaving behind hollow and starved corpses in their wake. Their greed knows no bounds; be it hoarding material possessions or capturing souls to harvest, Famine is a true nightmare to cross paths with.

     

     

    Build:

     The third installment to my Apocalyptic Horsemen series (Pestilence here //War here). 

    Note: To play this build you will need Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim and Ordinator - Perks of SkyrimYou will also need The Four Horses of Apocalypse for your mount. Technically also playable in vanilla, but these mods are absolutely perfect for this build. (See Optional Mods section for more recommendations)

    Race: Vampire Bosmer.

    (With Imperious installed, they have the ability to feed on corpses of fallen enemies, absorbing a percentage of their attributes.)

    Sign: The Atronarch. Spell Absorption represents their hunger for magicka.

    Shout: I don't use shouts, but Marked for Death and Drain Vitality offer themselves nicely. 

    Stats: 2/2/1 (M/H/S).

    Major Skills: Conjuration, Illusion, Sneak, Pickpocket.

    Minor SkillsLight armor, One Handed, Speech, Enchanting.

    EquipmentRags, mage hood and gauntlets/boots of your choice (though in the beginning you will want something that offers better protection). Miraak's robes (magicka absorption) if you want something unique. Ring of Namira is an obvious must, as is the The Black Star. 

    Weapons: Famine's weapons consume from the enemy. Mace of Molag Ball is perfect, as it drains magicka, stamina, and devours a soul. Skull of Corruption is a must as well, due to it's dream absorption abilities. Blade of Woe and Harkons sword are likewise good options. Alternativeyl, enchant your own.

    Follower: This build will be easier with a follower at the beginning. Afterwards, none. Also, you aren’t a Horseman of the Apocalypse without your horse. Traditionally, Famine's horse is black. Shadowmere and Arvak are great.

    QuestsWaking Nightmare, Taste of Death, The Black Star, Black Book quests (possibly).

     

    Major Skill Perks (Possible Ordinator Perks):

     

    0 - Sneak Mastery (2) - Sneaking is 15/30% more effective. Sneak success depends on visibility (movement and light level), sound (movement and armor weight), skill level and distance.
    20 - Sneak Attack - Sneak attacks with one-handed weapons deal 100% more damage. Sneak attacks with any other weapon or fists deal 25% more damage.
    30 - Demolition Job - All Destruction spells and scrolls are 1% more powerful per level of Sneak if the target is not detecting the caster (2% for rune spells).
    30 - Fog of War - Sneaking is 15% more effective against targets that are in combat with you, or 30% if they are in combat with someone else.
    30 - Spot Detection - Grants the "Spot Detection" power. At will, outlines all humanoids within 150 feet that are detecting you with a green glow. Lasts 30 seconds.
    40 - Assassin's Blade - Sneak attacks with daggers deal 1% more damage per level of Sneak.
    40 - Infiltrator - Your footsteps and equipped armor make 75% less noise when sneaking.
    50 - Backstab (2) - You deal 25/50% more damage and critical damage with daggers when striking a target from behind.
    50 - Light Foot - You won't trigger pressure plates.
    50 - Right Behind You - You are adept at hiding in your target's blind spot. Sneaking is 15% more effective within 30 feet and 30% more effective within 15 feet.
    70 - Clean Escape - When you stand still for 8 seconds while sneaking, enemies within 150 feet no longer search for you.
    80 - Behind Enemy Lines - Sneaking is 15% more effective for each enemy within 100 feet that is not detecting you.
    80 - Problem Solver - Sneak attacks deal 10% more damage for each 200 points of Health the target has, up to 50% more damage.
    90 - Shadow Warrior - Entering sneak mode in combat grants 2 seconds of invisibility, briefly leaving combat and forcing distant opponents to search for you. This effect has an 8 second cooldown.

    Conjuration


    0 - Conjuration Mastery (2) - Cast Conjuration spells for 35/50% less Magicka, and Conjuration spells last 0.5/1% longer per level of Conjuration.
    20 - Mystic Binding - Bound Weapon spells now summon Mystic Weapons which deal more damage.
    30 - Soul Raider - Bound weapons cast Soul Trap on targets for 5 seconds. After trapping 250 souls, all bound weapon perks last twice as long.
    50 - Void Burn - Bound weapons brand victims with unholy energy for 5 seconds, halting Magicka and Stamina regeneration while draining 15 points per second. When both are depleted, the energy starts devouring their flesh, dealing 15 points of magic damage per second.

    0 - Alteration Mastery (2) - Cast Alteration spells for 35/50% less Magicka, and Alteration spells last 0.5/1% longer per level of Alteration.
    20 - Mage Armor (3) - Protection spells like Stoneflesh are 100/150/200% stronger if not wearing armor.
    30 - Geomancer - If wearing robes and no light or heavy armor, you take 30% less damage from attacks while charging or concentrating on a spell.
    30 - Philosopher's Stone - Once a day, generates gold equal to four times your Alteration skill level..
    40 - Distorted Shape - When you gain an armor spell in combat (or enter combat with an active armor spell), you become intangible and unable to be affected by spells or attacks for 10 seconds or until you perform an offensive or defensive action.
    40 - Spellblade - Whenever you cast a spell with one hand, you deal 20% more attack damage for 4 seconds.
    50 - Command Lock - Once every 6 ingame hours, you can weaken an Expert or lower lock, reducing its difficulty to zero.
    50 - Intuitive Magic (2) - Novice/ and apprentice spells of any school cost 100% less Magicka to cast.
    60 - Alter Self: Attributes - You may choose an attribute (Health, Magicka, Stamina) to increase by 50 points.
    60 - Welloc's Dormant Arcana - Choose a spell type (Armor, Cloak, Conjure Daedra, Conjure Undead, Invisibility) and 3 magic effects (Fortify, Regenerate, Waterwalking, ...). The chosen magic effects will activate when you are affected by the chosen spell type.
    70 - Energy Roil - Whenever you cast a spell with one hand, reduces the armor of nearby enemies within 10 feet by 150 points for 4 seconds.
    70 - The Monarch - You cannot regenerate Magicka and lose 10 points of Magicka per second but absorb 25 points of Magicka per second from living creatures within 20 feet, whether friend or foe.
    80 - Aurification - Once every 12 ingame hours, activate a paralyzed target below half Health to transmute its body into gold worth 100 times its level, killing the target. Has a 50% chance of creating gold ore. No effect on essential targets.

     

    Pickpocket


    0 - Pickpocket Mastery (2) - Adds 20/40% to your pickpocket chance and increases carry weight by 50/100 points.
    20 - Blood Money - You find 10-100 more gold when looting humanoid corpses you have slain in an especially violent fashion (with an attack that dealt at least 100 more damage than their remaining Health or a killmove).
    20 - Trained Rabbit - Grants the "Trained Rabbit" power. At will, silently sends out a trained rabbit to lead you to the nearest loose valuable item (armor, weapon, key, book, soul gem, ingredient). It then returns to you.
    30 - Cutpurse - Adds 25% to your chance to pickpocket gold, keys and jewelry.
    30 - Thief's Eye - When you enter a major city, illuminates a random citizen on the streets for 300 seconds. If you interact with the target during this time, they will carry valuable items (based on your Pickpocket skill). This can only occur once every 12-60 ingame hours.
    40 - On the Run - After you successfully pickpocket someone, sneaking is 200% more effective and movement speed is increased by 25% for 10 seconds.
    50 - Lawless World - Petty crimes are slowly forgotten, allowing your bounties for non-violent crimes to decay at a rate of 50% of your Pickpocket skill level each day.
    50 - Thief's Luck - You may choose an item type (gold, jewelry, books, ingredients, potions, ingots, scrolls). Those illuminated by Thief's Eye are three times more likely to carry items of your chosen type over other types.
    60 - Stalk the Prey - Preparing to pickpocket (sneaking behind a victim with the pickpocket message displayed) for at least 10 seconds adds 20% to your chance to pickpocket any item.
    70 - Trickster - Can pickpocket equipped weapons. If the target is sleeping, can pickpocket any equipped item.
    80 - Crime Wave - Shortly after you pickpocket or speak with the target illuminated by Thief's Eye, a new victim is illuminated, up to 4 times in a row.

     

    Illusion

    0 - Illusion Mastery (2) - Illusion spells cost 35/50% less Magicka, Illusion spells last 0.5/1% longer per level of Illusion, and mind affecting Illusion spells (Calm, Fear, Frenzy, Rally) are 0.1/0.2 points stronger per level of Illusion.
    20 - Dream Thief - Activate sleeping victims to steal their dream, increasing the effectiveness of your Illusion spells by 50% for 3600 seconds. Chance to fail and alert the victim, based on Illusion skill.
    20 - Illusion Dual Casting - Dual casting an Illusion spell empowers it, increasing effectiveness and cost.
    30 - Imposing Presence - You radiate an aura of mystical charisma that touches all within 40 feet. Any Illusion spell you cast on those affected is 25% more powerful and lasts 30% longer.
    40 - Quiet Before the Storm (2) - All spells you cast from any school of magic/, as well as all shouts, are silent to others.
    40 - Wilting - Those affected by a Calm spell or effect within the radius of Imposing Presence lose 200 points of armor and 50% magic resistance.
    60 - Pandemonium - Those affected by a Frenzy spell or effect within the radius of Imposing Presence gain 50% extra attack damage.
    70 - Shadow Refuge - While affected by an invisibility spell or effect, you take 35% less damage from attacks and sneaking is 15% better.
    80 - Soulcrusher - Feast upon the minds of those affected by a Fear spell or effect within the radius of Imposing Presence, absorbing 25 points of Magicka per second.
    90 - Heavy Weighs the Tapestry - Activate any humanoid (only) under the effect of a Frenzy spell to incapacitate the target with magical exhaustion for 30 seconds and drain 500 points of Magicka and Stamina. This effect has a 180 second cooldown and can only affect one target at a time.
    90 - Nightfall - Those affected by a Frenzy spell or effect within the radius of Imposing Presence are consumed by battle hunger when there are no other enemies remaining, taking 40 points of damage per second.

    0 - One-Handed Mastery (2) - One-handed weapons do 25/50% more damage./, and critical strikes with one-handed weapons do 2% more critical damage per level of One-Handed.
    20 - Disciplined Fighter - Reduces the Stamina cost of power attacks with one-handed weapons by 15 points.
    30 - Bite Marks (3) - Unblocked attacks with daggers deal an additional 1/2/3 point/s of bleed damage per second for 30/45/60 seconds to living targets. This effect stacks.
    30 - Denting Blows (3) - Attacks with maces reduce the armor rating of armored enemies by 50/75/100 points for 15 seconds.

     

    Spells of the Third Horseman

    Vanilla

    Fury // Frenzy (Rune)

    In their starved state, those affected by Famine's presence devolve into animal states, turning on each other. Fury is one of Famine's two primary starting spells.

     

    Apocalypse:

     

    Pale Shadow

    Target enemy is attacked by its own image for 13 seconds. It deals the same damage but has 1 health. 

    Famine's aura causes foes to hallucinate due to ravenous hunger. The second starting spell of the Third Horseman of the Apocalypse, Pale Shadow is a very useful, especially when cast into the fray, when everyone is occupied by Frenzy.

     

    Evil Twin

    Concentrate to manifest illusions of nearby enemies.

    Due to extreme hunger in the Third Horseman's presence, Famine's victims often hallucinate, causing them to perceive threats that aren't there.

     

    Soul Cloak Soul Trap (vanilla) 

    Cloak that soul traps nearby enemies

    Famine's hunger knows no bounds - they consume even the very souls of those they cross paths with. 

     

    Sacrosanct?

    Blood Knight + Drain (Lethal Feeding) + Vampiric Drain (vanilla)

    Able to feed on staggered victimes in combat // Completely drain the blood of a victim, killing them after feeding

    The Third Horseman consumes all they can, including human blood. In their hunger, they are known to feed on their enemy.

     

    Gameplay and Roleplay (Brainstorm)

    The Third Horseman of the Apocalypse is a frail and half-starved vampire with an eternal hunger that cannot be satiated. Though not physically strong, they are still incredibly dangerous, relying on magic and stealth to consume the life from those around them. Furthermore, their hunger is not limited to food and absorbing the life essence of their opponents - Famine's hunger extends to greed, as well. As such, the Third Apocalyptic Horseman is a crazed thief and pickpocket, obsessed with hoarding any and all items of value.

    Famine devours everything in their path due to their unquenchable hunger. Their primary goal therefore, is to consume and hoard: be it eating any and all food they find, harvesting the souls and dreams of his enemies, feeding on the citizens of Tamriel as a Vampire or even pickpocketting the wealthy.

    The Third Horseman is cunning and sneaky, but no less dangerous than his brethren - go forth in Tamriel and consume and hoard as you please. 

     

    Combat Style (Brainstorm)

    As Famine, you radiate an aura of extreme hunger, causing enemies to go into a frenzy, fighting amongst each other in their starved state. Once weakened, the Third Horseman themselves joins the fray and drains the attributes of those left alive, consuming their life-essence.

    Levels 1 - 15 (approx.)

    During the first phase of the build, Famine will desperately need a follower and will need to kite their opponents during combat situations. Towards level 15 however, they should be slowly becoming stronger enough to be able to fend for themselves.

    Launch a Fury and Soul Trap spell into the fray, allowing the enemies to finish themselves off without you while you sneak back and cause hallucinations brough upon by hunger (casting Pale Shadow at the crowd). The opponents who fall during battle will have their souls harvested for your consumption.

    Once available, upgrade your arsenal to Frenzy and Soul Cloak. Apocalyptic Horseman will cloak themselves in a soul trap, devouring the souls of any who perish. While the foes are occupied amongst each other, the Third Horseman will concentrate their power and cause the starving enemies to begin hallucinating with the Evil Twin spell. Once the battle has ended, Famine will walk amongst the dead and feed from the corpses, gaining strength via their racial ability (if Imperious was installed) or with Navira's Ring.

     

    Brainstorming: 

    • 1. Famine is hard to emulate in Skyrim, but I recently rewatched the Supernatural episodes with the Horsemen and Famine explains that "hunger isn't just physical, it's spiritual/emotional as well". With that in mind - this build will rely heavily on Soul Trap, devouring as many souls as possible while roaming Tamriel.
    • 2. Ring of Namira for vanilla - feeding on corpses seems very appropriate. With Imperious installed, you can also absorb attributes by feeding on corpses.
    • 3. Feeding as a vampire. With Sacrosanct installed, combat feeding and sneak feeding is an option
    • 4. I thought about using Frost Spells to slow down NPCs to mimic starving to death and moving slowly. Still looking into spells added by mods such as Apocalypse
    • 5. Imperious - Races of Skyrim will probably be an essential mod, for Bosmer powers (feed on corpses). Sacrosanct - Vampires of Skyrimwill maybe play a big roll too (Hunger for blood). Other mod ideas: Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim, Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim  Grimoire - Spell Package.

    • 6. Strongly considering Bosmer. Imperious gives them the racial ability to feed on corpses and gain their attributes.
    • 7. Conjuration: Soul Trap = Hunger for Souls. One Handed: Apocalyptic Horseman. Speech: Greed = Hunger for gold and items?
    • 8. Actually, Ordinator may become mandatory for this build. Many illusion perks that fit nicely.
    • Implemented my ideas above. Apocalypse and Ordinator are the main mods for this build now, granting several spells and perks that make this playthrough more interesting.
    • Decided to make Famine less combat-oriented and much more sneak/pickpocket oriented.

     

    This is all I have for now, but will be working on this on and off when I have time. Paging user The Thief, for more ideas!

     

  • Member
    February 13, 2017

    You might grab the Mace of Molag Bal and the Blackstar early, then use them in tandem to constantly keep the mace fueled for your soul-feeding aspect. That playstyle would also be great to support for staves.

     

    Could also use Frenzy from Illusion in order to simulate stirring the hunger in others and forcing them to attack and try to feed on one another.

     

    This is also a nice premise to start a blood magic build. Devouring yourself and all.

  • February 13, 2017

    Ooh, good idea! Black Star fits perfectly. I've never imagined the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to use staves, but now that you mention it, that works too!

    I did think about Illusion as a major skill - there's another Horsemen build in the archives that used the same idea if I'm not mistaken. But my main issue is I was kind of saving Fear spells for the Second Horseman: War. Bloodlust and chaos on the battlefield would definitely be more in his domain.

    I find Blood Magic builds really interesting (and have even looked at a few blood magic mods), but I'll stick to Horsemen for now. 

    Thanks for your ideas!

     

     

     

  • Member
    February 13, 2017

    I would go with Bosmer especially since you are using Imperious. Shouts I would add Soul Tear and if you want you could use Peryites Blessing - A Special Shout. Some skills you could use would be Conjuration for soul trapping and even Necromancy, you starve them and then reuse them, Illusion since starvation affects the mind and you can use the Invisibility spell or Alteration for Telekinesis, both of those ideas came from Supernatural, Speech could be another one because in he is shown as caring scales and proclaiming that the cost of wheat has increased thus leading to fewer people eating, or even Registration and use Poison Rune and other poison spells. 

  • February 13, 2017

    Thanks for the recommendations! Peryites Shout would be perfect for my first build! I like the Speech idea as well - for the reasons you stated but also Hunger for Money/Items = Greed? So something along those lines. 

    I'm actually trying to avoid poison spells in the other Horsemen builds, since that's a major part of Pestilence's build. But I may have to use them

  • Member
    February 13, 2017

    On the subject of staves, you may like trying out the Staff of Magnus. It drains magicka from an opponent first, then sucks their health. The Skull of Corruption (which eats dreams. Eh? EHHHHHH?) is also a pretty good AoE staff when properly empowered. Using both of those will give you some pretty solid anti-mage/anti-group ranged options, and they can be fueled up by souls fed into the Blackstar by the Mace of Molag Bal...And all that recharging will skyrocket your enchanting skill.

     

    The more I look at the Mace of Molag Bal, I like it for this build. With every swing, it starves the enemy of more Magicka and Stamina. You could really go deep into that and invest in, say, adept-level Frost or Shock Destruction spells, so you can starve your enemies of their resources with Cloaks of Frost or Lightning and leave them unable to cast against you or power attack.

     

    If you're still wanting hold to the vampire side of things, I'd recommend running every Blood of the Ancients quest you find. Each one lengthens the effect of the Blood Chalice, which lets your Drain Life spell also suck magicka and stamina from enemies.

     

    Pestilence said:

    I find Blood Magic builds really interesting (and have even looked at a few blood magic mods), but I'll stick to Horsemen for now. 

     

    I didn't mean Blood Magic in terms of an actual roleplay component, but rather using the spell Equilibrium to devour health in order to restore magicka, which I felt might fit with the theme of famine. I actually had fun using this in conjunction with Drain Life and the Ring of Namira before.

     

    If you want to have your own character's ability to restore health/magicka/stamina somewhat limited, I would recommend grabbing the Amulet of the Necromancer and the Atronach Stone. You'll have -50% Magicka Regen, -75% Health/Stamina Regen, +100 magicka, and a 50% chance to absorb magic thrown at you, which could be seen as another example of your build's all-consuming hunger. With the Breton race, you'd also have 100% spell absorption with their daily power. 

    I may have gotten a little too interested in this concept and thrown together a vanilla build version for my own amusement: https://skyrimcalculator.com/454681
  • February 14, 2017

    Mercurias said:

     you may like trying out the Staff of Magnus. It drains magicka from an opponent first, then sucks their health. The Skull of Corruption (which eats dreams. Eh? EHHHHHH?) is also a pretty good AoE staff when properly empowered (...) and they can be fueled up by souls fed into the Blackstar by the Mace of Molag Bal...And all that recharging will skyrocket your enchanting skill.

    The more I look at the Mace of Molag Bal, I like it for this build. With every swing, it starves the enemy of more Magicka and Stamina. 

    Duuuuude. Love those ideas for the weapon, those are great picks! I'm particularly loving the idea of consuming dreams - I never really used Skull of Corruption, but for thisbuild it could be perfect.Yes Molag Bal drains both Magicka/Stamina AND captures souls, so it's a perfect weapon as well.

     

    Mercurias said:

    If you're still wanting hold to the vampire side of things, I'd recommend running every Blood of the Ancients quest you find. Each one lengthens the effect of the Blood Chalice, which lets your Drain Life spell also suck magicka and stamina from enemies.

    I like this idea too - though I'm trying not to make this build too focussed on Vampire aspects. 

    Mercurias said:

    using the spell Equilibrium to devour health in order to restore magicka, which I felt might fit with the theme of famine. I actually had fun using this in conjunction with Drain Life and the Ring of Namira before.

    Interesting! I'll definitely take a look at that - I'm still debating how much of a mage/spellsword this build will be. 

    Mercurias said:

    I would recommend grabbing the Amulet of the Necromancer and the Atronach Stone. You'll have -50% Magicka Regen, -75% Health/Stamina Regen, +100 magicka, and a 50% chance to absorb magic thrown at you, which could be seen as another example of your build's all-consuming hunger. With the Breton race, you'd also have 100% spell absorption with their daily power. 

    Nice, I like the idea of Atronarch Stone and spell absorption. As for race, I'm pretty set as Bosmer due to the Imperious mod giving them the racial ability to eat corpses.

     

    Thanks for the suggestions, this is fantastic!

  • Member
    February 15, 2017

    I can help you on War, though I did it using vanilla Skyrim on my 360. The main skills I invested in were Illusion, for fear and frenzy spells, Two-Handed, I used an ebony greatsword because in some pics of War he had a greatsword, and Destruction I went with flames since flames have fear in them and you can use Flame Cloak for protection and Fireball/Firebolt for long distance and fire is associated with Ares which is the God of War in Greek Mythology, and Minor skills were Heavy Armor, because I was in the center of combat all the time so HA provide great protection, Block was mainly used for blocking with my greatsword, and Smithing/Enchanting is pretty self-explanatory. The race I went with was Dunmer, for the fire resistance and I thought it fit the best, and the standing stone was the Lord stone. 

  • February 15, 2017

    The Thief said:

    I can help you on War (...)

    I'm working on war right now, actually! Same - I think frenzy and fear spells are essential for this build. Two-handed greatsword sounds great, as the bible passage about War does say he wields a greatsword.

     

    The Thief said:

    Destruction I went with flames since flames have fear in them and you can use Flame Cloak for protection

    I did not think of this, I like it! Especially the protection part. This build will be based on Ordinator, and there are some very good Heavy Armor perks that I'd love to use. Since we'll be in the middle of battle often, flame cloak is a great idea.

    The Thief said:

    Race I went with was Dunmer.... standing stone was the Lord Stone

    I think I'm gonna go with Orsimer here. I don't typically enjoy playing them, but their racial power in vanilla and Imperious is perfect for a berserker. 

     

    Edit: Oh and for weapon, I think Bloodskaal blade is a pretty sweet-looking sword to have

     

  • Member
    February 15, 2017

    Pestilence said:

    The Thief said:

    I can help you on War (...)

    I'm working on war right now, actually! Same - I think frenzy and fear spells are essential for this build. Two-handed greatsword sounds great, as the bible passage about War does say he wields a greatsword.

     

    The Thief said:

    Destruction I went with flames since flames have fear in them and you can use Flame Cloak for protection

    I did not think of this, I like it! Especially the protection part. This build will be based on Ordinator, and there are some very good Heavy Armor perks that I'd love to use. Since we'll be in the middle of battle often, flame cloak is a great idea.

    The Thief said:

    Race I went with was Dunmer.... standing stone was the Lord Stone

    I think I'm gonna go with Orsimer here. I don't typically enjoy playing them, but their racial power in vanilla and Imperious is perfect for a berserker. 

     

    Yeah their racial power in Imperious is good and does fit the build nicely, and I am glad you liked my ideas :)