Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Soulmancer

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  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    As an Imperial Legate, you sought nothing more than glory, but your poor arm strength lead to mediocre use of traditional weaponry. Then, you met the world of magic. Evoking weapons out of thin air that bore all the strength of their predecessors, but were weightless. This strength lead you to a thirst for more. Upon your travels for the Legion, you met a wizard, exiled for lunacy daedra worship and dark magics, who reminisced of the joys of seeing your enemies fighting their fallen comrades, then consuming their corpse to sate your own carnal appetite. This dark deal enticed you, and naturally, you accepted the dealings with him, and learned a dark new power.

    During a small scuffle with some Stormcloak rebels, seeing your comrade fall, you used your newfound powers and raised his corpse, but doing so terrified the rest of your squad leaving them vulnerable, and the Stormcloaks swiftly killed the remainder of them. You, however, weren’t so unfortunate, and you wiped them out. As it turned out though, the soldier with the least battle experience fled for his life when he saw the corpse of his brother raised anew. He reported this traumatic experience to General Tullius. Which then lead to your trial. Punished for “Crimes against Humanity” you were sentenced to death. You were sent to Darkwater Crossing to be loaded onto a cart and brought to the Imperial City in Cyrodiil for your execution alongside the likes of the revolutionary and bringer of war, Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak. All went as planned. Until Helgen. A dragon struck the newly appointed execution site and you were once again released upon the world.

    After some aimless wandering, you stumbled upon a necromancer cursing at the sky. He spoke in crazed mumbles.

    “My brother… Cairn… Ideal Masters…” Laying upon him your own brand of justice, you put him out of his misery and explored the small cave he was in. Finding a small note with various scribbles on it, you learned of a “Necromancer’s Sovngarde” that was called the Soul Cairn. Now wearing the same armor you were to be executed in, you have two missions. One: To reach the Soul Cairn, and the ultimate enlightenment of necromancy. And two: To sow the seeds of chaos and destroy your condemners.


    Warning: This build heavily uses the Dawnguard DLC!


                                                                 - This build stemmed from a character I loved very much before I quit playing video games sometime in February. At the time, Dawnguard wasn’t released for the PS3 community and my character was nothing more than a necromancer with a big axe and snazzy clothing. However, upon returning to the game last month and stumbling upon this site, I was greeted with The Necro-Knight by The Nexus, and was inspired to create something that utilized the awesome new spells of the Dawnguard DLC, Conjure Boneman/Mistman/Wrathman who are archers, mages and heavy warriors respectively. You get these spells in the Soul Cairn, and despite being necromantic spells, don't require the corpses usually needed. Thus the "Soul" part of the name.

    Race: Any, I chose Imperial for RP purposes though.

    Stat Spread: 3:2:1 M/H/S

    Equipment: Imperial - Helm (Closed (If you don't know where to find one, check the wiki)) Cuirass, Gauntlets and Boots. Necromancer Amulet and Ring of Namira, Konahrik once acquired, Aetherial Crown used for utility, not appearance.

    Standing Stones: Ritual Stone, Steed Stone, Load the Ritual Stone onto the Aetherial Crown, and any time you take it off and put it back on, the greater power that the stone gives you is reusable. This may be considered an exploit, and as such, unfair to some, but I believe it adds a lot to gameplay.

    Major Skills: Conjuration, Two-handed, Block, Enchanting

    Minor Skills: Archery, Alteration, Smithing Heavy Armor

    Level 50 Character Perk Spread

    Enchantments: In all honesty, you can choose whatever you like, as long as it's not on wasted skills. My enchantments are as follows: (I'm a few levels above 50, so I took the Extra Enchantment perk)

    Helm of the Exiled: Fortify Conjuration, Fortify Magicka

    Cuirass of the Soulmancer: Fortify Conj. and Magicka regen, Fortify healing rate

    Gauntlets of the Ephemeral Axe: Fortify Two-Handed, Fortify Heavy Armor

    Boots of the Betrayed: Resist Shock, Fortify Stamina

    Jewelry is already enchanted.

    Essential Quests: Stormcloak side of Civil War questline, Dawnguard (Either side,) Blood on the Ice, The Taste of Death, Escape from Cidnha Mine (and its prerequisite)

    Potential Quests: If you'd like your character to have more daedric influence, there are two options:

    - The Black Star

    - Discerning the Transmundane

    I purposely avoided all the weapons and armor quests for RP reasons, and there are no necromancy based staves, so those were dead to me as well.

    - Dragonborn DLC, because someone challenging your power is a death wish

    - Dark Brotherhood, don't even worry about stealth, kill everything. (I just remembered the ultimate contract. Works well with the RP)


    Gameplay: In the early stages, the Soulmancer plays a lot like a battlemage with a side of necromancy, but once you get the three Soul Cairn summons, the real value of the build shines through. I love the steed stone with this build for the main reason being you're completely weightless. Both of your weapons are conjured and don't weigh anything. 

    Imperial armor is about on par with iron armor and since you're probably going into late game, a smithing skill of around 55~ is required to get your armor to legendary, and also the only reason I took the Steel Smithing perk. I'd recommend creating some smithing gear to get your armor higher, but the Alteration school will alleviate some of the need for a high rating.

    Illusion? Nope, I threw it out because it became more of a chore than a help when it came to buffing my thralls. I could see a traditional necromancer needing that so enemies don't shift aggro to you, but seeing as how I have a big, ephemeral axe, I saw no shortage of corpses for enslavement. Seeing my thralls disintegrate before my eyes, I only thought: "You're fired! NEXT!"

    Restoration? Nah, You're psychotic and evil. Potions do just fine. Pre-made that is. You're more likely to eat Jarrin root than brew a proper healing potion.

    Roleplay: You're evil... Like seriously evil. You see nothing wrong with murdering someone and consuming their corpse. You have no friends, no love and no trust, everyone is hiding something. They're probably all conspiring with the Empire for your downfall. Insanity finds comfort in insanity, and as such, the societal outcasts like the Khajiit and Forsworn: Allies. But what about the imperials that are taking that rebel in rags to his death? Kill them. Kill them all. Have them kill each other. And then eat them. What about the bounty? Draw it out and become public enemy #1 or accept your punishment and take pride in the fact your revenge has progressed one more step and stop and no ends to fulfill it. The Rebellion, you're best ally. Help them. Destroy the Empire and destroy those poor souls that crossed you.

    Rules:
    - No killing outcasts unless they act as the aggressor

    - Once all three Soul Cairn summons are acquired, no more reincarnation spells

    - Don't kill Stormcloaks

    - No lock picking or Pick Pocketing. Your unsteady hands will have you feeling up a jarl or even breaking the Skeleton Key.

    - No physical weapons

    Ability:

     Betrayal of comrades: They betrayed you once. Now, not even in their own death is refuge an option. You raise the dead of the battlefield and call forth a storm from Oblivion itself. No one escapes. To add insult to their blistering injury, consume the imperials.

    Requirements: Storm Call, Ritual Stone

    Konahrik:

    The ultimate in conjuration. A dragon priest. wearing the trophies of your triumph over the lichs, your strength has earned their respect and now they offer their help to you. In times of great difficulty, thy will repel those that mean harm to you, and grant healing unto you. In the worst of times, they'll even send one of their own into the fray in your stead. 


    End Notes: As my first build, any constructive criticism is welcomed. The original draft of this was "eaten" by Ning, so there may be some discrepancies from this one and the original, but I believe the same ideas I originally presented have been preserved and you can still get the same enjoyment out of this build that I have with about 120~ hours playing it, across two characters!

    Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    very well done but whats with the scary stories picture its totally weird and un-immersive

    I suppose that was an accident so its fine just change it

    also your tags are wrong they need to be like this>  Character Build Necromancer

    regardless great build. shaves close to the necro-knight but similar builds can have different playstyles

  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    Err, when I went to bed last night, that was actually a decent picture haha, didn't realize it changed to that lame splash. Fixed though.

    And yea, like I said, I was inspired by the Necro-Knight pretty heavily, it was a great build, but then I got to thinking about how I could make it something more of my own. 

    Thanks though!

  • Member
    September 5, 2013
    Your special moves aren't really special. Any character with the ring of Namira can east a corpse, and any character wearing Konahriik can benefit from its effects. I suggest changing them to be more special, or getting rid of them.
  • Member
    September 5, 2013
    Actually your tag should be "Character Build Necromancer". Include the quotation marks.
  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    Yea, thank you, I wasn't sure how to do it properly!

  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    I agree with Samjt about the special moves. However, I LOVE how you explained the use of Konahrik, maybe move that from a special to just the reason behind the use of the mask?

    Other than that, I love the build!

    The quote about the death of your thralls fits with this build so well, I could just take this character build, and make a character in a story based around that attitude

  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    Yea, I was tossing around ideas of what I could do with the moves since I saw that reply. I liked the Lich Awakened so much, that I couldn't think of getting rid of it. The Feast can go though. I think I'll have to take your suggestion and change Konharik to a explanation. 

    And glad you liked it! Once I posted it, as Volkan mentioned, I was kinda worried it was too similar to Necro-Knight, but I believe the use of the Soul Cairn and the RP to it can set it apart on its path :)

  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    Ummmm.... What the hell happened to all the text I had...? Well shit... I'll have to dig up that google docs piece I had and revise it a bit... Sorry guys

  • Member
    September 5, 2013

    Ahhhh, well damn. Thanks for the heads up, I'll be sure to do that once I patch up the rough cut I have.