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Character Build: The Imperial Ambassador

Tags: #Character Build Illusionist  #Character Build Battlemage  #Character Build Agent  #Race:Imperial  #Rank:Recognized 
  • Member
    June 9, 2014

    A knock at the door. The untimely arrival of the Imperial Ambassador's company was unappreciated by even the wallowing Ambassador himself, who had constructed a fort of paperwork and text atop his desk. The unresponsiveness was retaliated by a firmer knock at the door, to which he begrudgingly answered.

    There they stood, towering above the small Imperial man, three Altmer attired completely in typical Thalmor Robes. A chill ran down the spine of the Imperial Ambassador, as he gulped and uttered "Y-Yes?" to which the most formally dressed Thalmor replied "It appears that we may have some underlying... issues, to attend to regarding your ill-speaking of the Thalmor." The Imperial Ambassador gulped, and stretched his fingers outward as the Thalmor reached for their weaponry. In a burst of blue light, the hostile Thalmor were pacified, returned to their usual, but still unpleasant, selves. "Wha-what was it we were doing here?" The formally dressed Altmer spoke again, almost as if the events that had just unfolded never occurred, and the Imperial Ambassador smirked as he withdrew his hand to his pocket.

    Basics
    This build is based around creating an Imperial counterpart to Elenwen, the Thalmor Ambassador to Skyrim. Although his tricks of the tongue might not be purely down to his speech, but also his varying skills. This is another in my series of Noble Builds in which I create heavily roleplay-based characters that also have a unique battle technique.

    Race: Imperial, simply because this build revolves around the Empire and certain skills are more easily assignable to Imperials than some of the other races.

    Gender: Of your choice of course, but purely for ease the screenshots in this build are taken from my own personal playthrough so they will be inherently male.

    Stone: The Lord Stone proved incredibly useful in the battle situations faced in this build.

    Stat Ratio: Per every 5 levels, Magicka/Health/Stamina should be distributed as such: 2/2/1

    Major Skills: Illusion, Block, Speech, Heavy Armor
    Minor Skills: Alteration, Enchanting, Smithing

    Shouts: Unrelenting Force, Whirlwind Sprint, Slow Time.

     

    Backstory

     "They could've dumped me anywhere, Akavir for all I care, but I'm stuck here, in this frozen empty wasteland. Great."

    The Imperial Ambassador always seems to be caught in between arguments between the high profile members of the Imperial Legion in Skyrim. His work often leads him to visit and assist Imperials all across Skyrim, roaming the land and looking for Imperials that he can come to the aid of. His job is to be the poster boy for the Empire in Skyrim, and he ensures that he helps where he can.

    Just as the Ambassador was settling into his new role, he found the start of the Skyrim Civil War. To which he was conscripted as a member of the Imperial Legion and was assigned to be an adviser and guard to the many Legates across the country and General Tullius himself, he is also skilled in basic spying as he is able to pry his way out of sticky situations. Legates often see him as an opportunity for use as a distraction, although Tullius values his word and his ability was shown after he was able to escape Helgen after assisting in overseeing the failed execution of Stormcloak Soldiers.

    Now, as the war continues onward, the Ambassador's conscription continues onward, and he has to balance his duties of helping Imperials with the War efforts and not to mention ensuring that the Imperial population is saved from the new threat on the scene, Dragons.

    Main Skills & Perks

    The primary focus on the battle side of this build is a Battlemage cross using Illusion magic and Block skills. This creates an effective near-pacifist build. Illusion magic can be used to create, well, an "illusion" that the character is actually using diplomatic skills in order to change people's opinions and acts on the roleplay side of the build. Below is a perk spread of perks that you should strive to achieve by Level 65, or as I like to call it, the Endgame Level.

     

    The Skills appointed in Illusion help with casting the Spell List (See Below) and to create an effective control over battle when in battle. Your primary battles and hostilities will take place during the Civil War Questline, where your character has been drafted to support the Imperials alongside their duties as Ambassador to Skyrim. The perks invested in Block will also assist you in battle, which serve primarily as your main defense alongside those you invest in Heavy Armor.In order for your armor to be effective, you will require both Smithing & Enchanting to craft it to the best of your ability. Speech serves primarily as a roleplay skill but will also help you to dive in and out of situations in the various quests and questlines you perform.

    Roleplay

    The primary focus of this entire build is built on how you roleplay the character in their surroundings, personally, I found that I often placed my character higher than many of the other residents of Skyrim, although I found it lore-friendly to accredit and assist any Imperial Citizens that you may meet along the way.

    It really depends on how you desire to play the Ambassador, I am providing you with several ideas of how to do this below, although this build acts as guidelines so feel free to take some creative license and develop it in your own style.

    Ways of roleplaying this build:

    • The Diplomat, the primary force behind this build and will be suited more to those who want to use the battle techniques correctly within their roleplay, this way involves being focused on tasks rather than astute details, and completing quests presented to the character is the most important aspect.
    • The Enquirer, a more interesting style in which you focus on the Imperial Citizens in Skyrim and completing the smaller quests that they give out. Imperial Citizens include Imperials themselves, which you should find to become your main priority, and those living in Imperial holds, which if you should continue the Civil War questline you will find there becomes more of.
    • The Tenure, my personal favourite way of playing this build, as you act as an almost lazy and irritable ambassador who finds dismay in having to complete any tasks due to the complexity of the job that they have been given. This is only for the brave minded, as it can be difficult to keep up roleplay particularly in battle, but it might be a new experience and an alternative way of playing the build for those who have completed one of the other roleplay versions of this build.

    In totality, there are some things which stretch across all 3 methods of roleplaying. Firstly, I personally found the disused Thalmor Embassy next to Castle Dour acts perfectly as a place in which to co-ordinate your work. If you have access to console commands, you might want to set some of the items in there to your possession. And also, do not forget that no matter how you play the build, Skyrim is an open world experience and this build utilizes this, as you should travel around and assist citizens of the Empire across the vast landscape. In terms of religious values, Talos is of course out of the question in public view, and your own personal backstory that you give to the build might influence your decision on whether or not and which Divines your character worships. You may also choose to invest in stores and be enterprising in what you do, as only to increase the Empire's influence within Skyrim.

    When creating your own backstory, consider the age of the character you have made. My own character was middle-aged and had previously worked in other countries representing the Empire, whilst yours may be fresh out of the Imperial City and dumped in Skyrim with little experience. Whatever you decide as a precursor to the events of TES: V for your character, keep in mind all of these factors which might change how they act professionally and when not in work.

    Gameplay

     

    The general gameplay of this build is focused around the shield and magic combination that is created by the perks you invest in. Thus your Battle Style should be reminiscent of this. The first thing you will need to do is employ a primary follower that you are comfortable with, as you should eventually complete all of the Thane quests within each hold, the Housecarls prove as invaluable bodyguards to the Ambassador. They can be used effectively as meat shields in battle, whilst you are able to use spells like Frenzy & Pacify (See spells list below) in order to change the influence of each hostile enemy, whether it be pacifying them or making them hostile against their own allies.

    When fighting a singular unit enemy, ensure that you attempt to pacify or leave your follower to deal with them as you will not be able to turn them hostile against anything, and similarly with larger group battles like the Civil War Assaults on the Forts, you should choose mainly to use Frenzy spells to turn enemies hostile against each other. You should also use Rally-style spells to boost your followers abilities in these situations. Alteration may also assist in creating more defense for yourself.

    An important aspect of battle with this character, I certainly found, was to find higher ground than multiple enemies so you are able to dictate their actions against one each other. An optional skill that you may choose to take up after Level 65 is Sneak so you can co-ordinate better your attacks, this will also require the Quiet Casting perk.

    Spell List

    • Clairvoyance (Illusion)
    • Courage (Illusion)
    • Fury (Illusion)
    • Calm (Illusion)
    • Fear (Illusion)
    • Muffle (Illusion)
    • Frenzy (Illusion)
    • Rally (Illusion)
    • Pacify (Illusion)
    • Rout (Illusion)
    • Call to Arms (Illusion)
    • Harmony (Illusion)
    • Hysteria (Illusion)
    • Mayhem (Illusion)
    • Equilibrium (Alteration)
    • All Mage Armor Spells (Alteration)
    • Detect Life (Alteration)
    • Paralyse (Alteration)
    • Mass Paralysis (Alteration)

    Equipment List

    Formal Clothing/Travelling Attire

    Fine Raiment - Will have to be either acquired through console commands or through looting them quickly off of Potema's remains. At the time I played this build, it was unpatched however I am aware it appears to be patched. As an alternative, I suggest using Noble Clothes if you are unable to obtain these Raiment, although several glitches are available on the internet.

    Fine Boots - Can be bought from Radiant Raiment.

    Gloves - Can be bought from Radiant Raiment.

    Earlygame Armor

    Imperial Armor - All can be obtained from joining the Imperial Legion and selecting the "Heavy Armor" option when at the Blacksmith obtaining your armor.

    Imperial Officer Helmet - Can be found in the Ratway Warrens, Fort Greenwall and several other fortifications that the Imperials control.

    Lategame Armor

    Imperial Helmet (Closed) - Found at a Shrine of Talos near Autumnwatch Tower in the Rift, and also in the East Empire Company Warehouse.

    Ebony Armor - Can be crafted using Smithing skill by lategame point or found at this time.

    Steel Plate Gauntlets & Boots - Can be looted from Uthgerd the Unbroken's body if killed, even at Earlygame points.

    Quest List

    Civil War Questline

    Main Questline (At least until completion of Dragon Rising)

    Bard's College

    All required Thane quests in order to become a Thane

    Destroy the Dark Brotherhood

    Any Imperial Citizens you find requiring assistance in side quests in Imperial holds

    Any other quests you deem relevant to this particular character

    Final Thoughts

    Well, I have to say it's been a long time since I first came up with the idea and completed my playthrough of this particular build, and now I hope you see as much as I do the potential for roleplaying and gameplay that this build actually creates.

    On my own playthrough, I encountered problems at first with getting used to the unique style of fighting, however advancing through the game does assist in this as you are able to defend yourself as well as control the battlefield with Illusion. All in all, I hope you choose to play this build, because it created some really interesting roleplay and gameplay for me personally, and maybe it will do the same for you.

     

     

  • Member
    June 9, 2014

    Looks like a great little simple build. Nothing too fancy, just good ol' roleplay. Your tags were wrong, but I fixed them for you. They should typed as, for example, "Character Build Agent", with quotations around all the words.

    1+ from me

  • June 9, 2014
    I like it, very simple but still quite fun with lots of interesting little Roleplay elements. I'd reccomend listing a few Imperial citizens to help because honestly it's hard to tell sometimes at least for me. Anyway +1 from me.
  • Member
    June 9, 2014

    I'll have to find a way to get that fine raiment. It looks really nice for a noble type character. I like playing as a member of the nobility in games, so I'll probably try and give this build a play at some point.

  • Member
    June 9, 2014

    Great build, I love it when builds use illusion in roleplay like this build does.

    +1 From me

  • Member
    June 10, 2014

    Thanks, great to hear that. This is my first build since the tag system was introduced so I wasn't so sure how it worked yet, thank you for outlining this. HOOORAY!

  • Member
    June 11, 2014

    Just generally any imperials, the Destroy the Dark Brotherhood quest is fairly important and interesting to do as it puts you canonically in the Emperor's favour. HOORAY!

  • Member
    July 19, 2014
    It sucks that the console glitch to get the rainment was patched, they look cool