Hello guys. This build was born out of my will to test some skills of the game that I did not use on my previous playthroughs, especially the ones considered to be useless by some. At the same time, I wanted to experiment with underpowered characters that could keep the feeling of the beginning of the game, where a lot of enemies pose you a real threat. Also, there were a lot of other minor things that seemed fun to try, such as mixing armor types, no abusive crafting, etc. I started playing it expecting a major failure, and I had the impression I was right for the first levels until I've adjusted the way I used to play to make this work. Fortunately I was wrong...
This is a build for experienced players who are willing to trade some of the "MOAR POWA" aspects for a bit of roleplay, meant to be played on Master (Patch 1.9 wasn't out when I played it, see more about it in the conclusions)
The Commoner
"I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took and arrow in the knee"
This is not funny people. Seriously. Skyrim is a dangerous place where common people who try to shake up their lives by exploring the land can and most probably will end up taking debilitating or deadly wounds. Contrary to what the games leads us to believe, not everyone can take a dragon bite to the chest while swinging a hammer that weights a ton and get away with it, unharmed.
You are one of those average joes, just another folk in a thousand. Until the events at Helgen, you thought your life would resume to your boring job, paying taxes and dying from bone break fever. Perhaps ten people would show up to your burial. You may have wanted more than that from time to time, but never went for it. Until you were dragged by it...
After closely escaping death and finding out about being the only hope against dragons, you decide to turn your back to your former life and find out what else Skyrim have to offer. Without proper training and talent to be a warrior, you'll have to rely on your survival instinct and smart usage of resources to keep yourself in one piece.
The Build
Perk Spread lvl30 (Currently tested)
Perk Spread lvl40 (Goal)
Race: Any race is fit for this builds. The UESP wiki points out that female Breton, Kahjiit and male Bosmer are slightly smaller than the other races, and I did notice an smaller scale in my character (a female Khajiit). It's easier to get into the build when your character looks like a 12 year old kid.
Magicka/Health/Stamina: Go for 0/2/3 in the beginning, and 0/1/1 when you feel that health is dangerously low (around lvl 15~20). We won't be using magic since it is not commonly known for most of the population. You also need the extra stamina to carry equipments that will save you in from difficult situations.
Major Skills:
Sneak: 3/5 Stealth, Muffled Movement, Backstab, Deadly Aim.
Lockpicking: Novice/Apprentice/Adept Locks, Golden Touch, Treasure Hunter
Pickpocket: Light Fingers 2/5, Night Thief, Poisoned, Cutpurse, Misdirection
Alchemy: Alchemist 4/5, Physician, Poisoner
You are an amateur adventurer, not a trained soldier. Sneaking is crucial if you want to avoid putting your life at risk. Lockpicking with treasure hunter will help you get equipment with better enchants more often. Pickpocketing is mainly used for misdirection, to make human enemies less dangerous. Poisoned is also used to cripple stronger enemies before you get to fight them. Alchemy is a knowledge that I believe most common people would have in Skyrim, to treat wounds and cure diseases, or maybe even as a profession.
Minor Skills:
Archery: Overdraw 1/5, Eagle Eye, Power Shot, Quick Shot
Block: Shield Wall 2/5, Quick Reflexes, Power Bash, Deady Bash, Disarming Bash
One handed: Armsmen 2/5. Fighting Stance
Speech: Haggling 1/5, Allure, Merchant
Like mentioned before, you are not trained for combat, and will only be able to defend yourself in case you are detected. Archery is used mostly for sneak attacks, and damaging slow opponents, so steady hands is not taken. Block is mainly for disarming, leveling your enemies to your low one handed skill. Speech is your capacity of bartering with merchants, so we will take a few perks in that too.
"Unperked" Skills: Light/Heavy Armor, Restoration, Destruction, Smithing...
Like I said in the intro, I wanted to try mixing armor types for the looks. I did not spend a single perk on then for two reasons: spending perks on both or either would feel like wasting, and being fully effective is not the idea. You can use any magic that fits your pool (which will be 100 unless you use potions or enchanted items), since everyone seems to know how to heal themselves and light a fire. Smithing is basically for making maintenance of your equipment, and will help to slightly boost their effectiveness.
Stone: Thief stone/Warrior stone at the beginning. Thief because most of the mains skills are under that. Warrior because combative skills will only receive few perks, so their effectiveness will rely on the skill level bonus.
Later on, Shadow stone will help you in emergency escapes, and is probably the most indicated for this build. Lord stone is not recommended, since this can break the "weakling" feel of the build, but you might use it if you're having a hard time, since it will boost your armor 50% to 30% from the normal ratio.
Equipment:
Armor: Light chest piece, Heavy everything else
Weapons: Bow/Crossbow, Dagger + Shield and One handed sword, staves/scrolls
Since we didn't take any perk in the armors, you can use whatever equipment you see fit. Unperked armor skills are a major step back in this build, specially because it doesn't use Alteration to compliment it, but it is also very liberating, since you can use the best enchanted piece you find and it will only differ in one or two points from the best equipment available. Wearing a full heavy armor would be hard if one was not used to it, so I went with light chest for roleplay and additional mobility
For melee, you will either use a light shield and dagger, or a one handed sword without a shield. This is pretty much for roleplay, since it might be kind of hard to hold those thing up in a fight if you never trained for it. I allow myself to use heavy shield and dagger in harder fights, like a sense of survival would allow the character to struggle with it. Bow and Crossbow are very self explanatory, and staves and scrolls can also be used in emergencies, since they can be used effectively by pretty much anyone.
A very useful staff is the Sanguine Rose. Its quest have the feel of the build and gives you a powerful summon for emergencies.
Shouts: suit yourself. As you will read below, part of the fun in this build is finding how important it is to be a Dragonborn in Skyrim and how the game will make you powerful even if you don't focus in combat.
Playstyle and Roleplaying
Your main goal as an amateur adventurer is to find rare artifacts and breathtaking landscapes. You will be putting yourself in danger on purpose if you think it can be a good adventure and as long as you're sure you'll make it out alive, like killing the skeletons in Whiterun's Dead Hall or cleaning mines of spiders. Basically, try to achieve your goals avoiding combat at all costs, fighting only for self defense or if it is really needed.
The only way you'll get in a large scale journey is if you find your deep in it too late. This is applicable to things such as the main quest, the DLCs and the thieves guild, since a commoner wouldn't think things would get as complicated as they do. Companions for instance is clearly related to combat from the beginning, something this kind of character would rather avoid. The same goes for the Civil War.
You use ranged attacks to start fights, take out weak targets and deal damage will they are not in arms range. When they get to you, switch to shield and dagger and take your time. Better be a tired adventurer than a dead one. Time the enemies attacks and evade them, or raise your shield if you think it will be a sure hit. You will create openings for your hits bashing and blocking the enemy blows. This will give enough time to hit them around five times while circling then. With a high enough Stamina pool, you may end a fight quickly. Use the sword if you think you're good enough at dodging and want to leash out more damage, specially if you have Fortify One Handed items, which don't affect daggers. If you're confident enough in your sneaking abilities, pickpocket enemy bandits of their belongings and weapons, and replace them with poisons (quick note here: if you have more then five, add them one at a time, or they will count as a single one and waste a lot of poisons)
If you read the build this far and took a look to the perk spread, you must be thinking "This guys is either nuts or lying. No way I'm beating Alduin with 1/5 Overdraw and 2/5 Armsman". In this kind of situation, where you're heading to an all out fight, hire mercenaries. They are prepared to these situations and can tank big enemies or help fight off large numbers. You can also buy the dog in Markath or find Meeko, rising your numbers.
You must be tired of reading this by now, but I have to say it again: You are not a warrior. You are not prepared to face your enemies heads on, both physically and psychologically. If you manage to play with those kind of things in mind, you'll be able to have fun.
Conclusion
I gladly found that my crazy ideas about under powering this character gave a new depth to the game. I ended up valuing the enchanted items I found much more, since they turn to be way more useful when they are not just another thing I can sell for money. I guess I was lucky with the items I've found, but I've never been so happy to find a muffled boot, or valued my equipment so much as when I found that I could combine a boot and shield for 90% fire resistance and tank a fire breath for Jenassa, but still be killed if the dragon wanted to take me for his lunch. I also gladly switched my Orcish Gauntlets for a Scaled Bracer because it gave me a 25% boost to one hand damage, something I couldn't care less when I was able to have four pieces of equipment with 40% boost each plus another enchanment.
This is also true for the shouts and other powers available, since a Frost Breath is now more effective than giving two swings of a sword or double casting destruction magic. Because of that, this was the first time I really valued being the Dragonborn since my first playthrough. Shouts were some of the few things that made me different from Lars Battle-Born or Ysolda, and my only advantage over Mercer Frey. When I walked into towns, I didn't feel like a weapon of mass destruction that could take the city guard single handedly while shouting just to see them fly. I felt more like another jerk in an armor who luckily, or even unluckily, found itself to have dragon blood in its veins. Heck, I'm not even into roleplaying such things, but I found myself sleeping at inns at night and desperately seeking places to rest if I was in the wild, sleeping at least 6 hours a day.
I also felt that fights were more dramatic instead of just another obstacle between me and the end of the quest. In level 30 I still had to choose between fighting a bear, trying to run from it, or even use Kyne's Peace, which I never did when I could kill it with two or three blows. Skyrim finally became a really dangerous place, with true threats, and the game became a lot more about surviving than Hack and Slashing.
About the difficulty, I have played most of it in Master, since Patch 1.9 wasn't available. I tried changing it to Legendary, but I found the game became kind of boring and frustrating: I had to hit enemies a lot more than I was willing to, and was killed in a few blows of the weakest of them. I find it very fun if it is against a Scourge Draugr or Death Overlord, but not as fun if against a simple Draugr. Playing in Legendary might be possible with a few adaptations and adding some perks, so anyone who tries it out, please let me know of the results.
Well, I think this covers everything. I believe it is complete enough to post, but I'll probably remember something and add another thing or two in the next days. I hate the speech about "My first build and I don't speak english", as it sounds as an excuse for lazy builds. Unfortunately this is true, so please point out any points I might have missed in the build and grammar/typing errors you find! Help with tags is also appreciated, since I couldn't take a look on how it works yet.
Hello guys. This build was born out of my will to test some skills of the game that I did not use on my previous playthroughs, especially the ones considered to be useless by some. At the same time, I wanted to experiment with underpowered characters that could keep the feeling of the beginning of the game, where a lot of enemies pose you a real threat. Also, there were a lot of other minor things that seemed fun to try, such as mixing armor types, no abusive crafting, etc. I started playing it expecting a major failure, and I had the impression I was right for the first levels until I've adjusted the way I used to play to make this work. Fortunately I was wrong...
This is a build for experienced players who are willing to trade some of the "MOAR POWA" aspects for a bit of roleplay, meant to be played on Master (Patch 1.9 wasn't out when I played it, see more about it in the conclusions)
The Commoner
"I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took and arrow in the knee"
This is not funny people. Seriously. Skyrim is a dangerous place where common people who try to shake up their lives by exploring the land can and most probably will end up taking debilitating or deadly wounds. Contrary to what the games leads us to believe, not everyone can take a dragon bite to the chest while swinging a hammer that weights a ton and get away with it, unharmed.
You are one of those average joes, just another folk in a thousand. Until the events at Helgen, you thought your life would resume to your boring job, paying taxes and dying from bone break fever. Perhaps ten people would show up to your burial. You may have wanted more than that from time to time, but never went for it. Until you were dragged by it...
After closely escaping death and finding out about being the only hope against dragons, you decide to turn your back to your former life and find out what else Skyrim have to offer. Without proper training and talent to be a warrior, you'll have to rely on your survival instinct and smart usage of resources to keep yourself in one piece.
The Build
Perk Spread lvl30 (Currently tested)
Perk Spread lvl40 (Goal)
Race: Any race is fit for this builds. The UESP wiki points out that female Breton, Kahjiit and male Bosmer are slightly smaller than the other races, and I did notice an smaller scale in my character (a female Khajiit). It's easier to get into the build when your character looks like a 12 year old kid.
Magicka/Health/Stamina: Go for 0/2/3 in the beginning, and 0/1/1 when you feel that health is dangerously low (around lvl 15~20). We won't be using magic since it is not commonly known for most of the population. You also need the extra stamina to carry equipments that will save you in from difficult situations.
Major Skills:
Sneak: 3/5 Stealth, Muffled Movement, Backstab, Deadly Aim.
Lockpicking: Novice/Apprentice/Adept Locks, Golden Touch, Treasure Hunter
Pickpocket: Light Fingers 2/5, Night Thief, Poisoned, Cutpurse, Misdirection
Alchemy: Alchemist 4/5, Physician, Poisoner
You are an amateur adventurer, not a trained soldier. Sneaking is crucial if you want to avoid putting your life at risk. Lockpicking with treasure hunter will help you get equipment with better enchants more often. Pickpocketing is mainly used for misdirection, to make human enemies less dangerous. Poisoned is also used to cripple stronger enemies before you get to fight them. Alchemy is a knowledge that I believe most common people would have in Skyrim, to treat wounds and cure diseases, or maybe even as a profession.
Minor Skills:
Archery: Overdraw 1/5, Eagle Eye, Power Shot, Quick Shot
Block: Shield Wall 2/5, Quick Reflexes, Power Bash, Deady Bash, Disarming Bash
One handed: Armsmen 2/5. Fighting Stance
Speech: Haggling 1/5, Allure, Merchant
Like mentioned before, you are not trained for combat, and will only be able to defend yourself in case you are detected. Archery is used mostly for sneak attacks, and damaging slow opponents, so steady hands is not taken. Block is mainly for disarming, leveling your enemies to your low one handed skill. Speech is your capacity of bartering with merchants, so we will take a few perks in that too.
"Unperked" Skills: Light/Heavy Armor, Restoration, Destruction, Smithing...
Like I said in the intro, I wanted to try mixing armor types for the looks. I did not spend a single perk on then for two reasons: spending perks on both or either would feel like wasting, and being fully effective is not the idea. You can use any magic that fits your pool (which will be 100 unless you use potions or enchanted items), since everyone seems to know how to heal themselves and light a fire. Smithing is basically for making maintenance of your equipment, and will help to slightly boost their effectiveness.
Stone: Thief stone/Warrior stone at the beginning. Thief because most of the mains skills are under that. Warrior because combative skills will only receive few perks, so their effectiveness will rely on the skill level bonus.
Later on, Shadow stone will help you in emergency escapes, and is probably the most indicated for this build. Lord stone is not recommended, since this can break the "weakling" feel of the build, but you might use it if you're having a hard time, since it will boost your armor 50% to 30% from the normal ratio.
Equipment:
Armor: Light chest piece, Heavy everything else
Weapons: Bow/Crossbow, Dagger + Shield and One handed sword, staves/scrolls
Since we didn't take any perk in the armors, you can use whatever equipment you see fit. Unperked armor skills are a major step back in this build, specially because it doesn't use Alteration to compliment it, but it is also very liberating, since you can use the best enchanted piece you find and it will only differ in one or two points from the best equipment available. Wearing a full heavy armor would be hard if one was not used to it, so I went with light chest for roleplay and additional mobility
For melee, you will either use a light shield and dagger, or a one handed sword without a shield. This is pretty much for roleplay, since it might be kind of hard to hold those thing up in a fight if you never trained for it. I allow myself to use heavy shield and dagger in harder fights, like a sense of survival would allow the character to struggle with it. Bow and Crossbow are very self explanatory, and staves and scrolls can also be used in emergencies, since they can be used effectively by pretty much anyone.
A very useful staff is the Sanguine Rose. Its quest have the feel of the build and gives you a powerful summon for emergencies.
Shouts: suit yourself. As you will read below, part of the fun in this build is finding how important it is to be a Dragonborn in Skyrim and how the game will make you powerful even if you don't focus in combat.
Playstyle and Roleplaying
Your main goal as an amateur adventurer is to find rare artifacts and breathtaking landscapes. You will be putting yourself in danger on purpose if you think it can be a good adventure and as long as you're sure you'll make it out alive, like killing the skeletons in Whiterun's Dead Hall or cleaning mines of spiders. Basically, try to achieve your goals avoiding combat at all costs, fighting only for self defense or if it is really needed.
The only way you'll get in a large scale journey is if you find your deep in it too late. This is applicable to things such as the main quest, the DLCs and the thieves guild, since a commoner wouldn't think things would get as complicated as they do. Companions for instance is clearly related to combat from the beginning, something this kind of character would rather avoid. The same goes for the Civil War.
You use ranged attacks to start fights, take out weak targets and deal damage will they are not in arms range. When they get to you, switch to shield and dagger and take your time. Better be a tired adventurer than a dead one. Time the enemies attacks and evade them, or raise your shield if you think it will be a sure hit. You will create openings for your hits bashing and blocking the enemy blows. This will give enough time to hit them around five times while circling then. With a high enough Stamina pool, you may end a fight quickly. Use the sword if you think you're good enough at dodging and want to leash out more damage, specially if you have Fortify One Handed items, which don't affect daggers. If you're confident enough in your sneaking abilities, pickpocket enemy bandits of their belongings and weapons, and replace them with poisons (quick note here: if you have more then five, add them one at a time, or they will count as a single one and waste a lot of poisons)
If you read the build this far and took a look to the perk spread, you must be thinking "This guys is either nuts or lying. No way I'm beating Alduin with 1/5 Overdraw and 2/5 Armsman". In this kind of situation, where you're heading to an all out fight, hire mercenaries. They are prepared to these situations and can tank big enemies or help fight off large numbers. You can also buy the dog in Markath or find Meeko, rising your numbers.
You must be tired of reading this by now, but I have to say it again: You are not a warrior. You are not prepared to face your enemies heads on, both physically and psychologically. If you manage to play with those kind of things in mind, you'll be able to have fun.
Conclusion
I gladly found that my crazy ideas about under powering this character gave a new depth to the game. I ended up valuing the enchanted items I found much more, since they turn to be way more useful when they are not just another thing I can sell for money. I guess I was lucky with the items I've found, but I've never been so happy to find a muffled boot, or valued my equipment so much as when I found that I could combine a boot and shield for 90% fire resistance and tank a fire breath for Jenassa, but still be killed if the dragon wanted to take me for his lunch. I also gladly switched my Orcish Gauntlets for a Scaled Bracer because it gave me a 25% boost to one hand damage, something I couldn't care less when I was able to have four pieces of equipment with 40% boost each plus another enchanment.
This is also true for the shouts and other powers available, since a Frost Breath is now more effective than giving two swings of a sword or double casting destruction magic. Because of that, this was the first time I really valued being the Dragonborn since my first playthrough. Shouts were some of the few things that made me different from Lars Battle-Born or Ysolda, and my only advantage over Mercer Frey. When I walked into towns, I didn't feel like a weapon of mass destruction that could take the city guard single handedly while shouting just to see them fly. I felt more like another jerk in an armor who luckily, or even unluckily, found itself to have dragon blood in its veins. Heck, I'm not even into roleplaying such things, but I found myself sleeping at inns at night and desperately seeking places to rest if I was in the wild, sleeping at least 6 hours a day.
I also felt that fights were more dramatic instead of just another obstacle between me and the end of the quest. In level 30 I still had to choose between fighting a bear, trying to run from it, or even use Kyne's Peace, which I never did when I could kill it with two or three blows. Skyrim finally became a really dangerous place, with true threats, and the game became a lot more about surviving than Hack and Slashing.
About the difficulty, I have played most of it in Master, since Patch 1.9 wasn't available. I tried changing it to Legendary, but I found the game became kind of boring and frustrating: I had to hit enemies a lot more than I was willing to, and was killed in a few blows of the weakest of them. I find it very fun if it is against a Scourge Draugr or Death Overlord, but not as fun if against a simple Draugr. Playing in Legendary might be possible with a few adaptations and adding some perks, so anyone who tries it out, please let me know of the results.
Well, I think this covers everything. I believe it is complete enough to post, but I'll probably remember something and add another thing or two in the next days. I hate the speech about "My first build and I don't speak english", as it sounds as an excuse for lazy builds. Unfortunately this is true, so please point out any points I might have missed in the build and grammar/typing errors you find! Help with tags is also appreciated, since I couldn't take a look on how it works yet.
Will add that when I correct some other terrible grammar mistakes I made.
