The Baandari Bruiser (WiP!)

Overview:

“Scoundrel, ruffian, criminal they call him! But one can hardly blame them; this is true, after all! And this one’ll be damned if it doesn’t make good coin and good times! Very little cannot be solved with violence, after all. But he is no mere brute, no sir, for he knows how to hide and pilfer too. And one cannot be a true Baandari without some form of honor. Of course, there’s also that little, coin-shaped gift one has…”

The Baandari Bruiser began with the card of the same name from TES: Legends. A fierce Khajiit, with a fierce club in his hands, ready for whatever illicit business in the night! From that, I began to conceptualize a version of the Rogue archetype for Ordinator. First, One-Handed was needed for the Rogue’s Parry perk, which gives an incentive for the “lone weapon” playstyle. But then I saw the perks for the Cursed Septim in Pickpocket, how it increases damage against those unlucky enough to have it, and the real fun began forming in my head.

He is, as the Rogues of games past, a mix of open combat and larcenous stealth. The Bruiser prefers reverse-pickpocketing the cursed septim before quickly dispatching the victim with his mace (alas, no clubs in Skyrim). Other Pickpocket perks add more gold to victims and the power to Frenzy foes with the coin. Sneak obviously complements Pickpocket well, and the Tripwire perks really seal up the package.

Required Mods:

Ordinator. I don’t know how I Skyrim’d without it. So many perks!

Race:

"How can one be a trader, let alone a Baandari, without fur and tail? One cannot concieve."

Khajiit. They get a lot of perk skills that we’ll be using, plus conceptually the Bruiser was based around the cat-folk.

Appearance:

The original artwork features a scruffy, tawny male, though you could opt for a different appearance if you so chose. I would keep him as a guy, though that’s just me.

Standing Stones:

The Thief (low levels): Everything but One-Handed gets leveled faster with this stone.

The Tower (endgame option 1): Useful for some less than legal activities, with the power to auo-unlock most locks once a day. Handy!

The Shadow (endgame option 2): Invisibility is great for any character, but the Bruiser will benefit a lot from it. Sneak up to a boss, plant the Septim, then whack or Frenzy at will!

Equipment:

Head Slot: None The original artwork didn't have anything on the head, and frankly this guy won't use the added protection.

Body Slot: Clothes (green variant) Yep, no body armor! The original art has the Bruiser wearing a tunic, so I wanted to carry that over to here. Plus it adds challenge! Feel free to use a Belted Tunic or another clothing item if you so wish.

Body Slot Alt: Thieves Guild Armor For times when you need a bit more protection, this offers a nice rougish look. And a good enchantment.

Hand and Feet Slots: Thieves Guild Just enough protection while still keeping the aesthetic. And the enchantments are great! Use leather while leveling.

Hand and Feet Slots Alt: Scaled In case you don't want to dabble with the Thieves Guild, or don't want/need the enchantments.

Right Hand: Stalhrim Mace It has just the right amount of crudeness to it to evoke a club, but it's still a viable late-game weapon! Use Steel Mace while leveling.

Right Hand Alt: Mace of Molag Bal If you don't mind doing a bit of evil Daedra work, this mace fits the Bruiser quite nicely.

Left Hand: None The art has the Bruiser wielding only the club, and the Rogue's Parry perk makes this actually viable. Therefore, nothing in the left hand.

Followers:

Generally speaking, followers will get in the Bruiser's way. However, if needed, the ideal follower is either someone to act as your enforcer, tanking hits while you plant tripwires or the coin, or ranged attackers, seeing how the Bruiser lacks either bow or magic. I went with Borgakh the Steel-Heart, an Orc lass (who I ended up marrying) who is equipped with steel armor and an Orcish blade. However, many followers can either tank, attack at range, or both, so really, use whoever fits (and doesn't care about your murderous ways, of course!).

Skills and Perks:

TBA

Abilities:

TBA

Backstory:

TBA

Roleplay:

"The question remains, of course. What path will one's life take?"

These are just three ways to roleplay the Bruiser. Feel free to invent your own!

Radiant Path: Champion of Beggars "Steal from the rich, give to the poor, and live by the rules of the Baandari." This path would empathize turning the Bruiser's criminality to helping out beggars and the like. If you do decide to try to steal from people, make sure they're well off, and always donate to beggars, temples (for though the Nords do not follow ja'Kha'jay, their faith is still good), and merchants (as a Baandari, you respect merchants). And always follow the Baandari code.

Neutral Path: Rajhin's Shadow "Do what one must to amass wealth, for it pleases Baan Dar."  This path focuses on greed. You won't screw friends over, but apart from that anyone is fair game for robbery. Of particular interest are the random road encounters; nothing embodies this path quite like pickpocketing or murdering unlucky folks. And you can get good money from it, especially if you sign up with the Guild. This is the path I took during playtesting.

Stygian Path: Merciless Highwayman TBA

Closing Notes:

TBA

Update: Will commence playtesting! Removed the Survival Mode requirement, due to using Oldrim for my tests.

I do have a few quick mod recommendations if you wanted to give this character a boost (I'll stick with ones that are at least available on XBOX so you've got that target hitting powers). 

Imperious - Races of Skyrim sadly doesn't add much to Khajiit that would be useful here. Lots of speed and unarmed based perks, though the leap might be pretty good.

Aurora - Standing Stones of Skyrim however, is something I'd definitely recommend. The Tower is really interesting because it gives you the ability to pick most weaker locks at will whenever, and changes the once a day power to high-level locks (so I'm assuming Novice and Apprentice are free). More importantly, it gives you a power that allows you to essentially trap them like Mora's Grasp? I think that's the one, but you know, they can't move or attack but you can't hurt them sort of deal.

Weapons of the Third Era should give Clubs...I'm 99% sure the PC version does but not entirely sure about the Xbox One version because the author doesn't directly say it. But yeah, should work fine with Ordinator and everything, just adds weapons called clubs that are really Maces (in terms of mechanics).

The build itself is looking pretty awesome, love the idea of playing around with Cursed Septim especially once your getting into physical combat like this build seems to be. Love it, seems really cool and can't wait for more :)

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Dragonborn1721]Mega-Dragonborn-of-Doom (1921)[/url] said:[/b]

I do have a few quick mod recommendations if you wanted to give this character a boost (I'll stick with ones that are at least available on XBOX so you've got that target hitting powers). 

Imperious - Races of Skyrim sadly doesn't add much to Khajiit that would be useful here. Lots of speed and unarmed based perks, though the leap might be pretty good.

Aurora - Standing Stones of Skyrim however, is something I'd definitely recommend. The Tower is really interesting because it gives you the ability to pick most weaker locks at will whenever, and changes the once a day power to high-level locks (so I'm assuming Novice and Apprentice are free). More importantly, it gives you a power that allows you to essentially trap them like Mora's Grasp? I think that's the one, but you know, they can't move or attack but you can't hurt them sort of deal.

Weapons of the Third Era should give Clubs...I'm 99% sure the PC version does but not entirely sure about the Xbox One version because the author doesn't directly say it. But yeah, should work fine with Ordinator and everything, just adds weapons called clubs that are really Maces (in terms of mechanics).

The build itself is looking pretty awesome, love the idea of playing around with Cursed Septim especially once your getting into physical combat like this build seems to be. Love it, seems really cool and can't wait for more :)

[/blockquote]

Hmm... Y'know what, I'm gonna just say that the only required mod is Ordinator, just to not have to go on an epic Nexus journey for every build. Still, thanks Deebs! The Cursed Septim looks really fun, and I'm incorporating it into the Bruiser's backstory, so that should be fun. This guy ought to be kind of a challenge to play right; we'll see how it goes.

Hmm... Y'know what, I'm gonna just say that the only required mod is Ordinator, just to not have to go on an epic Nexus journey for every build. Still, thanks Deebs! The Cursed Septim looks really fun, and I'm incorporating it into the Bruiser's backstory, so that should be fun. This guy ought to be kind of a challenge to play right; we'll see how it goes.

Makes sense :D Yeah, honestly I've never played around with Pickpocketing in Ordinator, but just looking at some of the late-game perks there makes me really want to try it. I mean Mutiny? That's kind of awesome, plus there's (obviously) a tonne of Synergy with the various Lockpicking and Sneak perks that could make a really fun build. Dynamic Entry + Cursed Septim looks kind of awesome, racking up huge amounts of damage relatively easily.

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Delidas]Delidas[/url] said:[/b]

Let me know how this guy fares in survival. I don't have Ordinator (PS4 peasant), but I'm pretty taken with the concept here. I created a khajiit character, saved in Helgen, with the perfect look for this type of build a while back. It just took me forever to settle on who he was going to be, so I never got around to playing him. I'm liking the sound of this build, though. The cat might see some action, yet.

I'm a big fan of rogue builds. People tend to lump them in with thieves and assassins (which are often conflated themselves), but I like to see them as having a unique flavor, if you will. You play like a common thief, but fight like a skirmisher. It just has a good feel to it, despite evading strict typification.

I'll be following this as it progresses.   

[/blockquote]

I actually dropped Survival, on account of doing the playthrough on PC Oldrim. From a gameplay standpoint, it'll probably be difficult to replicate without Ordinator, but the roleplay and maybe even backstory could be applicable. Thanks for the input!

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Tysoyaha]Tysoyaha[/url] said:[/b] I love the concept. Seems to me like the kind of brute who would knock a victim out to steal from them during a fight though. Maybe a knockdown/ragdoll mechanic to take advantage of the 100% pickpocket success exploit? It's not really treated like pickpocketing (more like looting) so it won't level the skill...but by that same token, it might give you a way to place the coin on enemies you wouldn't otherwise be able to. Does anyone know if the glitch works on like Draugr and stuff? Anyway, I love what you have so far. Always fun to see a more brutish rogue in our sea of assassins. Lol.[/blockquote]

Hoho, nice idea! Perhaps I'll pick up Alchemy for Paralysis poisons; though I doubt I'll perk it too much, it's so thematically fitting to start against a tough foe with a poisoned mace, then slipping him the Septim. Also, while I doubt I'll really abuse the Alchemy system, it's easy to see the Bruiser peddling poisons and skooma on the side for quick coin. Thanks for sparking this, Tyso!