A little mood music for the illinest, chillinest, killingest folk on the blog ;D
It is true; Rajhin paid a price for stealing that treacherous ring, but please do not misunderstand This one—Rajhin would steal it all over again! Slipping it off the daedric prince, Mafala’s, hand was a brazen feat worthy of This one’s talents. Besides, it is called The Ring of Khajiit, no? And who is more Khajiit than Rajhin? Certainly not Mafala.
No, it is not the stealing, but the WEARING of the ring that killed Rajhin. In time, This one relied more on the ring than Rajhin. It was THEN that the ring abandoned This one. Surrounded by enemies and with nowhere to turn, Rajhin had forgotten everything—had forgotten the gifts of Azurah: speed of body and mind, power in beauty and deception... and the might of the claw—This one had forgotten how to be Rajhin. THAT is what killed Rajhin!
Death is This one’s prison now, but Rajhin is glad of it! Merchants of Nirni, hold fast to your purses! People of Tamriel, bar your doors! She-creatures of Skyrim, rejoice… and lock your hearts! For death is merely a prison—and the prison has not yet been devised that can hold Rajhin, Footpad, Thief God of the Khajiit!
Background and Lore
In over three years of playing Skyrim the furthest I ever got playing a Khajiit was around 5 levels. I suppose it’s a failure in the way I’m wired—I’m just not a cat person. But that all changed when I perused the Lore List of deities and stumbled across the thief god Rajhin. Sadly, there is frustratingly little lore about him, but the little there is epic! His over-reliance on a ring of power that eventually betrays him, and his resulting tragic downfall; Stealing the Ring of Khajiit from the hand of Mephala; and even more amazing, stealing a tattoo (yes, a tattoo) from the neck of Empress Kintyra! Really, it’s no wonder Khajiiti culture loves telling stories about this guy… he’s the Khajiit’s Khajiit!
At first I was tempted to craft this build in a way that mirrors the powers of the Ring of Khajiit… a healthy mixture of heavy Illusion, slyness in Stealth, and Stamina for super speed. But the more I thought of it, the more it felt like Rajhin would simply be repeating past mistakes that would lead to yet another tragic downfall (it is, after all, the Ring of Khajiit, not the Ring for Khajiit). Instead, I wanted him to perform the ultimate jailbreak—busting out of Death. And if he was going to go to all the trouble of cheating death, I wanted him to return a sadder, but wiser cat.
In the end, I opted for Restoration as his means of cheating death, kept Stealth because he is freaking RAJHIN, and dumped stat points into Health because after breaking out of the halls of death, he is in no hurry to return. The result was a back-to-his-roots Rajhin with a half and half blend of pure non-confrontational thievery and in-your-face unarmed adventuring to keep gameplay varied. Now you have a wiser, self-reliant thief who has something to prove, and who always has a plan B—it’s been an absolute kick in the pants to play!
The Basics
Race
- Khajiit—You'd have to be either high or highly perked in persuasion to try to justify any other race for this build
- but if your dislike of Khajiits is so intense that you're willing to spit in the face of RP, I suppose the closest you'd get are Argonian, Bosmer, or even Imperial (you racist, you xD)
Stone
- Mage—thief skills level so quickly... Mage will help Restoration and Enchanting keep up.
- Shadow or Serpent—once I was finished worrying about leveling, I tried both of these stones. Either offers a nice once-a-day power: feel like bringing the pain? Go serpent. Prefer to avoid trouble? Take the Shadow.
- Lord—if playing an unarmed and unarmored (mostly) character is giving you the vapors, The Lord Stone's protective juju may be just the thing for you. On Adept, I felt it was unnecessary, but at higher difficulties this may be the way to go.
Stats
- 0 magicka/1 health/0 stamina—that's right… you’re dumping it all into health. Aside from heavy gauntlets, you'll be sporting no armor, so having the extra health will keep you from having to bust out of Death's gates again ;D
Skills
Sneak
Why does This one steal? Well... gold is nice. Fame is nice also, and the she-creatures like a Khajiit with both, no? But these are not reasons. Perhaps Brynjolf, the hairless, says it best—it is in the blood!
Rajhin steals because Rajhin is a thief.
I just don't see how you can play the Khajiiti Thief God, and not plan on using Sneak as a skill. Since Rajhin is literally a god among thieves I perked him all the way in Stealth, then continued up the left side of the tree, stopping at Silence. I find that Shadow Warrior starts to get a bit OP, and disappearing in a cloud of smoke seems a bit out of character anyhow. I do, however, play on Adept, so those wishing to tackle higher levels may find Shadow Warrior a useful perk after all.
Because Rajhin is a thief god already, I wanted him super stealthy up-front, so I took a page out of team Radriar-Never-Dying's playbook for the Berne Clan and power-leveled this skill by wailing on poor Hadvar in Helgen. I used this method to get me to the Silent Roll perk, and in a bit under 20 minutes I was at level 10 or so before leaving Helgen. Dirty? Naw.. it's just the kind of back-door thinking Rajhin might use! xD
Pickpocket
By this time I think most people know how I feel about this tree when it comes to training and leveling a character... It's AWESOME!!! Buying training then stealing your gold back is glorious! Because I wanted Rajhin to be a master of escape, I refused to quicksave before picking a pocket ("Yes, take This one to jail... Rajhin will be out in no time with This one's stolen possessions!) I did, however, make an exception with trainers—I don't like things to get in the way of training xD
This skill is also sooooo practical for an unarmed adventurer—steal a mark's mace, dagger and bow, and they quickly discover that they brought fists to a gauntleted claw fight. Oops! It also makes for some entertaining gameplay: there's nothing quite like trying to steal a Bandit Marauder's gear only to get caught... crud! Game ON!!!
I know I say this every time I use Pickpocket, but it bears repeating: if you really want the lowdown on how to push this skill to its limits, Ben C has written the quintessential guide… The Glory of Pickpocketing
Restoration
I originally perked this school for RP reasons only: Rajhin breaks free of Death's chains by figuring out how to restore himself to life (he IS a god, after all). However, the upside to this decision quickly became apparent: Restoration while adventuring in undead tombs is devastating! And the best part? You can take on the bad boys (Overlords, Deathlords, Master Vampires, etc) right from the get-go! Here's the low-down for those who don't know already:
The Turn Lesser Undead spell (TLU) is insanely OP in undead dungeons. Yes, it turns lesser undead, but the real take-away here is the stagger effect... TLU staggers all undead enemies whether they resist the Turn effect or not. Got a Deathlord bearing down on you? Give him a quick timeout with TLU, pop him once or twice with the ol' claws (three times if you're feeling saucy), then rinse and repeat... or just use that stagger to get the heck out of Dodge. You can add a single shout of Unrelenting force to the equation just to mix it up, or simply blast him with Marked for Death (MfD) and finish it fairly quickly. Love me that Turn Lesser Undead!
Hold it now, hold it now, hold it now... HIT IT!
Heavy Armor
You only need two perks here, but that last one is important. Fists of Steel gives your unarmed damage a much needed boost. I joined the Companions long enough to train Heavy Armor with Farkas, picked the man's pockets clean, then walked out of Jorrvaskr's doors... never to return. There's a powerful smell of dog in that place!
Enchanting
Fire-and-forget crafting gives you some pretty crucial passive buffs, and you aren't constantly dealing with acid reflux from swilling potions all day. An enchanted longbow is also a crazy-useful tool for dealing with dragons before you nab the Dragonrend shout. Don't bother with the "stronger" bows... your damage is coming from enchantments, and that longbow lets you pile them on more quickly :D
Speech
I took this tree mainly for the Bribery and Persuasion perks. They are not merely useful for avoiding unpleasantness... they are fantastic speech levelers when joined with Pickpocket—bribing or persuading guards to turn the other way levels your Speech crazy-quick.
I also took the Allure perk for RP reasons. What can I say? My version of Rajhin is a bit of a ladies cat ;D
"What has two thumbs and is about to get the Lithe one's address?... This one!"
Gear
Head—Mourner's Hat. It's dark (for night work) and lies close to the head... don't know why more thieves aren't wearing it. In earlier levels, I enchanted it with Fortify Restoration and would occasionally re-enchant a new one to bam that buff up a bam. End game version was Fortify Restoration + Fortify Magicka Regeneration.
Body—Mourner's Clothes. It's also dark, loose fitting enough to allow for movement but not all flow-y like robes. And it doesn't draw much attention to itself. Early enchants and upgrades are the same as the hat. So also are the endgame enchants.
Neck—Amulet of Talos. The reduction in shout cool-down combined with that of The Blessing of Talos makes a huge difference. I also kept at least one of each of the aedric amulets I came across... as a fellow god, they're a nice reminder of who and what you are. Dibella's amulet is a particularly useful one to have on hand when it comes time to do some serious persuading (Faralda, I'm looking at you... "Listen, beautiful, dagger-eared one... we both know Rajhin BELONGS here, yes? Perhaps This one could visit you inside some time. Why, thank you... This one will follow the beautiful one through the gates.")
Hands—Ebony Gauntlets. Also dark, has a high armor rating, and thus makes for some good pugilism when combined with the Fists of Steel perk. Fortify them with unarmed in the early game, and upgrade them occasionally. Late game, I opted for Fortify Unarmed + Fortify Magicka
Finger—Ring of the Beast. "Now hold on, ShinJin." I hear you saying, "You don't even own the dlc! How are you rolling with the Ring of the Beast?" Well, I do own a PC, so I made my own version of it... +30 to Fortify Unarmed, and +30 to Fortify Health. It was as close as I could get, but it works... and it's awesome! ;D
Feet—Black Boots. I threw a Resist Fire (or Frost) enchant on these early on, then in the late game Resist Fire + Resist Frost. It came in pretty handy for dragon encounters, and those blasted mages.
Perks
Roleplay
I don't quite know what's wrong with me, but while I really enjoy playing a pure, non-confrontational thief, sometimes I like getting into a bit of trouble so that I can punch stuff in the face. I never resorted to violence when taking on heists or fishing jobs in town that went awry: let the faceless ones drag you to jail—then break out and grab all your stolen gear (if you can break your way free of death, getting out of a run-down hold dungeon should be a cakewalk).
Now you may be thinking, "That's all well and good, ShinJin, but when do I get to actually punch stuff?" I saved all my pugilistic love for adventuring... forts, caves, dungeons, ruins, and etc. If I got tired of picking pockets or burglarizing homes, I would run off to the nearest of these locations to do a bit of looting (and to get my fight on ;D)
Some odd RP things that just sort of organically happened:
- I don't quite know how it started, but I felt that Rajhin was a highly confident, suave, smooth-talking cat in general, but especially so with the ladies. So, I perked Allure, and also returned the Sybil in order to get the Agent of Dibella power... This one became a lady-killer, (metaphorically for the women of the towns, and literally for bandits and she-baddies that would try to take Rajhin down).
- I also started collecting aedric amulets (so make sure to eat your Aedra Flakes and collect all nine!) While I mainly stuck with the Talos Amulet while adventuring (occasionally Akatosh or Mara if I felt like mixing it up), I found the Amulets of Dibella and Zenithar to be particularly useful in town. Before you are tempted to think that Rajhin has gone all religious and crusade-y, you should know that most of these were stolen xD
- I don't really remember when, but I started Bromjunaar Sanctuary as my own personal Thieve's Den... ain't nobody following this cat to his hidden hoards. And since there are some empty spaces for masks just looking for a home... time to do some collecting!
Sparky, sparky boom man WILL. Give. Mask. To. This one!
Gameplay
I left Helgen, sold some stuff in Riverwood, then got my tail to Whiterun ASAP, stopping briefly to take a few swipes at a rogue giant to impress the painted she-creature with the bow... This one handles himself well. From there I joined the companions, trained my Heavy Armor to get the Fists of Steel perk, and robbed poor Farkas blind.
In between training sessions, I took a quick jaunt to Riften to introduce myself to the Thieves Guild, and thus began my training/in-town thievery/Thieves Guild quests cycle: (a) train a level, (b) burglarize the homes of the townsfolk by night, or (c) take on TG quests. Do B or C till I reached my next level, then train again.
For my remaining training sessions, I stopped in Windhelm next and did the same thing with Sadri for Speech till I got the Bribery perk, then went to Winterhold to see Collette... rinse and repeat. You could go on to train Enchanting this way, but I rather enjoy enchanting gear and selling it, so I just did it the old-fashioned way.
Combat
"If the milky needle-slinger's groin is so important to him, why does he not protect it?"
Strategy is your greatest weapon for a build like this, so I let circumstances determine how I handled the enemies I encountered. My guiding star, however, was to reduce them to fighting knuckles vs claws: any enemies whose weapons could be pickpocketed were! Or if I was dealing with single, lesser threats, I would triple-word blast them with Disarm so that they were stuck fighting on my terms... Rajhin does not lose brawls.
Bosses and mobs would get the full Marked for Death shout, and I'd position myself to paint as many as I could with it. Stick and move—get a couple shots in and reposition, use terrain to your advantage, and all the while your enemies are getting weaker. If the shout cool-down has run out, a single word of Unrelenting Force gets you punching more and repositioning less.
Give top priority to taking down mages—those fetchers really throw an onion in the ointment (especially shock mages). I didn't find archers too much of a problem; you're moving and changing direction so frequently in combat that they really can't get a bead on you unless they are super close, and if that's the case... take 'em out!
Dragons—flying dragons are a hassle! In the very early game keep pelting away with your bow. Once you get MfD it gets super-simple: mark 'em and watch your arrows progressively do stronger damage to that health bar. When you've got them to ground, rush in with Close Wounds in one hand, and wail away with the other. The Dragonrend shout gets this happening even quicker ;D
A word about your greatest friend... the stagger effect:
Nothing is more effective in an unarmed fight than putting enemies on their heels for a bit while you have free time to deliver extra punches. Always keep this in mind during combat.
- Against the undead, you should be laying the TLU spell on pretty thick... it's almost unfair ;D
- A single shout of Unrelenting Force buys you more punches, and the cool-down cost is pretty low.
- The full shout is an excellent way to finish single foes (so long as there's an obstacle for them to fly into so that you don't have to waste valuable time running them down)
- If you happen to be fortunate enough to encounter enemies outside, a single shout of Clear Skies staggers everyone around you... and the cool-down is low enough that it is practically spam-able. I had this shout at the ready anytime I was traveling!
About Kill-cams:
Unarmed kill-cams are the stuff, and I always looked forward to the next one. If you're like me, then you will have to make certain that you have no shield or spell equipped when you fight, otherwise... no kill-cam. If, on the other hand, you find kill-cams a distraction that interrupts the flow of your gameplay, you can ensure that you never have to deal with them again simply by always having a spell equipped (Close Wounds is a great one).
But seriously... why would anyone deny themselves the pleasure of those kill-cams! xD
Some Recommended Quests
Main Quest
A chance to pull off the ultimate heist... steal an Elder Scroll! Besides, This god does not appreciate having his world eaten.
Thieves Guild
The Thief God isn't necessarily interested in running the guild, but it does provide him some wonderful opportunities to do what he loves most... steal stuff!
The Dark Brotherhood
The choice was made for This one early in the playthrough. Some fool put a hit out on me. The newly restored Rajhin doesn't put up with crap like that any longer. Since I wanted the MfD shout anyhow, I figured this was a great way to get it.
College of Winterhold
At first I just wanted in so I could train my Restoration up a bit, but the quests were so challenging and fun for this particular build that I just kept going.
The Book of Love
Rajhin loves love, no? And Agent of Mara's resist effect is just plain useful... win/win!
The Heart of Dibella
Rajhin is no stranger to the love of beauty either, and Agent of Dibella's extra damage to members of the fairer sex comes in handy when they are trying to shove a mace down your throat ;D
Frostflow Abyss
While doing some adventuring you stumble across the rather tragic story of a family's demise. The simple act of fulfilling Habd's last wishes earns you a 10% bonus to healing spells, and fits in ever so nicely with the RP's Restoration theme.
"The violet-eyed darkling's suggestion intrigues This one—'The greatest crime spree Skyrim's ever known!'
Yes. Rajhin likes the sound of that..."
Featured Art
Khajiit Like to Sneak!—awesome portrait... the second I saw this I thought, "Rajhin!"
Скриншот дня—wish I knew what the heck that meant... and that I had a setup to take screenshots like this. I've never seen a thief so at peace with himself and the world.
The Ring of Khajiit—part of Mason's fantastic Famed Artifacts of Tamriel collection. If you haven't checked these out, you really ought to give them a look... amazing!
This is horrible, but I can not find a link for the image of the Khajiit with the quill and book, nor the portrait at the end... anyone who can hook my up with a link for these images will get a special mention here for bailing out this forgetful slacker ;D
Special Thanks To the CB hosts who put on the Deities Event, and who even offered This slacker an extension to get his build in after deadline... it was much appreciated, but little deserved. Now I can finally go back and start reading some of these awesome builds! xD
A little mood music for the illinest, chillinest, killingest folk on the blog ;D
It is true; Rajhin paid a price for stealing that treacherous ring, but please do not misunderstand This one—Rajhin would steal it all over again! Slipping it off the daedric prince, Mafala’s, hand was a brazen feat worthy of This one’s talents. Besides, it is called The Ring of Khajiit, no? And who is more Khajiit than Rajhin? Certainly not Mafala.
No, it is not the stealing, but the WEARING of the ring that killed Rajhin. In time, This one relied more on the ring than Rajhin. It was THEN that the ring abandoned This one. Surrounded by enemies and with nowhere to turn, Rajhin had forgotten everything—had forgotten the gifts of Azurah: speed of body and mind, power in beauty and deception... and the might of the claw—This one had forgotten how to be Rajhin. THAT is what killed Rajhin!
Death is This one’s prison now, but Rajhin is glad of it! Merchants of Nirni, hold fast to your purses! People of Tamriel, bar your doors! She-creatures of Skyrim, rejoice… and lock your hearts! For death is merely a prison—and the prison has not yet been devised that can hold Rajhin, Footpad, Thief God of the Khajiit!
Background and Lore
In over three years of playing Skyrim the furthest I ever got playing a Khajiit was around 5 levels. I suppose it’s a failure in the way I’m wired—I’m just not a cat person. But that all changed when I perused the Lore List of deities and stumbled across the thief god Rajhin. Sadly, there is frustratingly little lore about him, but the little there is epic! His over-reliance on a ring of power that eventually betrays him, and his resulting tragic downfall; Stealing the Ring of Khajiit from the hand of Mephala; and even more amazing, stealing a tattoo (yes, a tattoo) from the neck of Empress Kintyra! Really, it’s no wonder Khajiiti culture loves telling stories about this guy… he’s the Khajiit’s Khajiit!
At first I was tempted to craft this build in a way that mirrors the powers of the Ring of Khajiit… a healthy mixture of heavy Illusion, slyness in Stealth, and Stamina for super speed. But the more I thought of it, the more it felt like Rajhin would simply be repeating past mistakes that would lead to yet another tragic downfall (it is, after all, the Ring of Khajiit, not the Ring for Khajiit). Instead, I wanted him to perform the ultimate jailbreak—busting out of Death. And if he was going to go to all the trouble of cheating death, I wanted him to return a sadder, but wiser cat.
In the end, I opted for Restoration as his means of cheating death, kept Stealth because he is freaking RAJHIN, and dumped stat points into Health because after breaking out of the halls of death, he is in no hurry to return. The result was a back-to-his-roots Rajhin with a half and half blend of pure non-confrontational thievery and in-your-face unarmed adventuring to keep gameplay varied. Now you have a wiser, self-reliant thief who has something to prove, and who always has a plan B—it’s been an absolute kick in the pants to play!
The Basics
Race
- Khajiit—You'd have to be either high or highly perked in persuasion to try to justify any other race for this build
- but if your dislike of Khajiits is so intense that you're willing to spit in the face of RP, I suppose the closest you'd get are Argonian, Bosmer, or even Imperial (you racist, you xD)
Stone
- Mage—thief skills level so quickly... Mage will help Restoration and Enchanting keep up.
- Shadow or Serpent—once I was finished worrying about leveling, I tried both of these stones. Either offers a nice once-a-day power: feel like bringing the pain? Go serpent. Prefer to avoid trouble? Take the Shadow.
- Lord—if playing an unarmed and unarmored (mostly) character is giving you the vapors, The Lord Stone's protective juju may be just the thing for you. On Adept, I felt it was unnecessary, but at higher difficulties this may be the way to go.
Stats
- 0 magicka/1 health/0 stamina—that's right… you’re dumping it all into health. Aside from heavy gauntlets, you'll be sporting no armor, so having the extra health will keep you from having to bust out of Death's gates again ;D
Skills
Sneak
Why does This one steal? Well... gold is nice. Fame is nice also, and the she-creatures like a Khajiit with both, no? But these are not reasons. Perhaps Brynjolf, the hairless, says it best—it is in the blood!
Rajhin steals because Rajhin is a thief.
I just don't see how you can play the Khajiiti Thief God, and not plan on using Sneak as a skill. Since Rajhin is literally a god among thieves I perked him all the way in Stealth, then continued up the left side of the tree, stopping at Silence. I find that Shadow Warrior starts to get a bit OP, and disappearing in a cloud of smoke seems a bit out of character anyhow. I do, however, play on Adept, so those wishing to tackle higher levels may find Shadow Warrior a useful perk after all.
Because Rajhin is a thief god already, I wanted him super stealthy up-front, so I took a page out of team Radriar-Never-Dying's playbook for the Berne Clan and power-leveled this skill by wailing on poor Hadvar in Helgen. I used this method to get me to the Silent Roll perk, and in a bit under 20 minutes I was at level 10 or so before leaving Helgen. Dirty? Naw.. it's just the kind of back-door thinking Rajhin might use! xD
Pickpocket
By this time I think most people know how I feel about this tree when it comes to training and leveling a character... It's AWESOME!!! Buying training then stealing your gold back is glorious! Because I wanted Rajhin to be a master of escape, I refused to quicksave before picking a pocket ("Yes, take This one to jail... Rajhin will be out in no time with This one's stolen possessions!) I did, however, make an exception with trainers—I don't like things to get in the way of training xD
This skill is also sooooo practical for an unarmed adventurer—steal a mark's mace, dagger and bow, and they quickly discover that they brought fists to a gauntleted claw fight. Oops! It also makes for some entertaining gameplay: there's nothing quite like trying to steal a Bandit Marauder's gear only to get caught... crud! Game ON!!!
I know I say this every time I use Pickpocket, but it bears repeating: if you really want the lowdown on how to push this skill to its limits, Ben C has written the quintessential guide… The Glory of Pickpocketing
Restoration
I originally perked this school for RP reasons only: Rajhin breaks free of Death's chains by figuring out how to restore himself to life (he IS a god, after all). However, the upside to this decision quickly became apparent: Restoration while adventuring in undead tombs is devastating! And the best part? You can take on the bad boys (Overlords, Deathlords, Master Vampires, etc) right from the get-go! Here's the low-down for those who don't know already:
The Turn Lesser Undead spell (TLU) is insanely OP in undead dungeons. Yes, it turns lesser undead, but the real take-away here is the stagger effect... TLU staggers all undead enemies whether they resist the Turn effect or not. Got a Deathlord bearing down on you? Give him a quick timeout with TLU, pop him once or twice with the ol' claws (three times if you're feeling saucy), then rinse and repeat... or just use that stagger to get the heck out of Dodge. You can add a single shout of Unrelenting force to the equation just to mix it up, or simply blast him with Marked for Death (MfD) and finish it fairly quickly. Love me that Turn Lesser Undead!
Hold it now, hold it now, hold it now... HIT IT!
Heavy Armor
You only need two perks here, but that last one is important. Fists of Steel gives your unarmed damage a much needed boost. I joined the Companions long enough to train Heavy Armor with Farkas, picked the man's pockets clean, then walked out of Jorrvaskr's doors... never to return. There's a powerful smell of dog in that place!
Enchanting
Fire-and-forget crafting gives you some pretty crucial passive buffs, and you aren't constantly dealing with acid reflux from swilling potions all day. An enchanted longbow is also a crazy-useful tool for dealing with dragons before you nab the Dragonrend shout. Don't bother with the "stronger" bows... your damage is coming from enchantments, and that longbow lets you pile them on more quickly :D
Speech
I took this tree mainly for the Bribery and Persuasion perks. They are not merely useful for avoiding unpleasantness... they are fantastic speech levelers when joined with Pickpocket—bribing or persuading guards to turn the other way levels your Speech crazy-quick.
I also took the Allure perk for RP reasons. What can I say? My version of Rajhin is a bit of a ladies cat ;D
"What has two thumbs and is about to get the Lithe one's address?... This one!"
Gear
Head—Mourner's Hat. It's dark (for night work) and lies close to the head... don't know why more thieves aren't wearing it. In earlier levels, I enchanted it with Fortify Restoration and would occasionally re-enchant a new one to bam that buff up a bam. End game version was Fortify Restoration + Fortify Magicka Regeneration.
Body—Mourner's Clothes. It's also dark, loose fitting enough to allow for movement but not all flow-y like robes. And it doesn't draw much attention to itself. Early enchants and upgrades are the same as the hat. So also are the endgame enchants.
Neck—Amulet of Talos. The reduction in shout cool-down combined with that of The Blessing of Talos makes a huge difference. I also kept at least one of each of the aedric amulets I came across... as a fellow god, they're a nice reminder of who and what you are. Dibella's amulet is a particularly useful one to have on hand when it comes time to do some serious persuading (Faralda, I'm looking at you... "Listen, beautiful, dagger-eared one... we both know Rajhin BELONGS here, yes? Perhaps This one could visit you inside some time. Why, thank you... This one will follow the beautiful one through the gates.")
Hands—Ebony Gauntlets. Also dark, has a high armor rating, and thus makes for some good pugilism when combined with the Fists of Steel perk. Fortify them with unarmed in the early game, and upgrade them occasionally. Late game, I opted for Fortify Unarmed + Fortify Magicka
Finger—Ring of the Beast. "Now hold on, ShinJin." I hear you saying, "You don't even own the dlc! How are you rolling with the Ring of the Beast?" Well, I do own a PC, so I made my own version of it... +30 to Fortify Unarmed, and +30 to Fortify Health. It was as close as I could get, but it works... and it's awesome! ;D
Feet—Black Boots. I threw a Resist Fire (or Frost) enchant on these early on, then in the late game Resist Fire + Resist Frost. It came in pretty handy for dragon encounters, and those blasted mages.
Perks
Roleplay
I don't quite know what's wrong with me, but while I really enjoy playing a pure, non-confrontational thief, sometimes I like getting into a bit of trouble so that I can punch stuff in the face. I never resorted to violence when taking on heists or fishing jobs in town that went awry: let the faceless ones drag you to jail—then break out and grab all your stolen gear (if you can break your way free of death, getting out of a run-down hold dungeon should be a cakewalk).
Now you may be thinking, "That's all well and good, ShinJin, but when do I get to actually punch stuff?" I saved all my pugilistic love for adventuring... forts, caves, dungeons, ruins, and etc. If I got tired of picking pockets or burglarizing homes, I would run off to the nearest of these locations to do a bit of looting (and to get my fight on ;D)
Some odd RP things that just sort of organically happened:
- I don't quite know how it started, but I felt that Rajhin was a highly confident, suave, smooth-talking cat in general, but especially so with the ladies. So, I perked Allure, and also returned the Sybil in order to get the Agent of Dibella power... This one became a lady-killer, (metaphorically for the women of the towns, and literally for bandits and she-baddies that would try to take Rajhin down).
- I also started collecting aedric amulets (so make sure to eat your Aedra Flakes and collect all nine!) While I mainly stuck with the Talos Amulet while adventuring (occasionally Akatosh or Mara if I felt like mixing it up), I found the Amulets of Dibella and Zenithar to be particularly useful in town. Before you are tempted to think that Rajhin has gone all religious and crusade-y, you should know that most of these were stolen xD
- I don't really remember when, but I started Bromjunaar Sanctuary as my own personal Thieve's Den... ain't nobody following this cat to his hidden hoards. And since there are some empty spaces for masks just looking for a home... time to do some collecting!
Sparky, sparky boom man WILL. Give. Mask. To. This one!
Gameplay
I left Helgen, sold some stuff in Riverwood, then got my tail to Whiterun ASAP, stopping briefly to take a few swipes at a rogue giant to impress the painted she-creature with the bow... This one handles himself well. From there I joined the companions, trained my Heavy Armor to get the Fists of Steel perk, and robbed poor Farkas blind.
In between training sessions, I took a quick jaunt to Riften to introduce myself to the Thieves Guild, and thus began my training/in-town thievery/Thieves Guild quests cycle: (a) train a level, (b) burglarize the homes of the townsfolk by night, or (c) take on TG quests. Do B or C till I reached my next level, then train again.
For my remaining training sessions, I stopped in Windhelm next and did the same thing with Sadri for Speech till I got the Bribery perk, then went to Winterhold to see Collette... rinse and repeat. You could go on to train Enchanting this way, but I rather enjoy enchanting gear and selling it, so I just did it the old-fashioned way.
Combat
"If the milky needle-slinger's groin is so important to him, why does he not protect it?"
Strategy is your greatest weapon for a build like this, so I let circumstances determine how I handled the enemies I encountered. My guiding star, however, was to reduce them to fighting knuckles vs claws: any enemies whose weapons could be pickpocketed were! Or if I was dealing with single, lesser threats, I would triple-word blast them with Disarm so that they were stuck fighting on my terms... Rajhin does not lose brawls.
Bosses and mobs would get the full Marked for Death shout, and I'd position myself to paint as many as I could with it. Stick and move—get a couple shots in and reposition, use terrain to your advantage, and all the while your enemies are getting weaker. If the shout cool-down has run out, a single word of Unrelenting Force gets you punching more and repositioning less.
Give top priority to taking down mages—those fetchers really throw an onion in the ointment (especially shock mages). I didn't find archers too much of a problem; you're moving and changing direction so frequently in combat that they really can't get a bead on you unless they are super close, and if that's the case... take 'em out!
Dragons—flying dragons are a hassle! In the very early game keep pelting away with your bow. Once you get MfD it gets super-simple: mark 'em and watch your arrows progressively do stronger damage to that health bar. When you've got them to ground, rush in with Close Wounds in one hand, and wail away with the other. The Dragonrend shout gets this happening even quicker ;D
A word about your greatest friend... the stagger effect:
Nothing is more effective in an unarmed fight than putting enemies on their heels for a bit while you have free time to deliver extra punches. Always keep this in mind during combat.
- Against the undead, you should be laying the TLU spell on pretty thick... it's almost unfair ;D
- A single shout of Unrelenting Force buys you more punches, and the cool-down cost is pretty low.
- The full shout is an excellent way to finish single foes (so long as there's an obstacle for them to fly into so that you don't have to waste valuable time running them down)
- If you happen to be fortunate enough to encounter enemies outside, a single shout of Clear Skies staggers everyone around you... and the cool-down is low enough that it is practically spam-able. I had this shout at the ready anytime I was traveling!
About Kill-cams:
Unarmed kill-cams are the stuff, and I always looked forward to the next one. If you're like me, then you will have to make certain that you have no shield or spell equipped when you fight, otherwise... no kill-cam. If, on the other hand, you find kill-cams a distraction that interrupts the flow of your gameplay, you can ensure that you never have to deal with them again simply by always having a spell equipped (Close Wounds is a great one).
But seriously... why would anyone deny themselves the pleasure of those kill-cams! xD
Some Recommended Quests
Main Quest
A chance to pull off the ultimate heist... steal an Elder Scroll! Besides, This god does not appreciate having his world eaten.
Thieves Guild
The Thief God isn't necessarily interested in running the guild, but it does provide him some wonderful opportunities to do what he loves most... steal stuff!
The Dark Brotherhood
The choice was made for This one early in the playthrough. Some fool put a hit out on me. The newly restored Rajhin doesn't put up with crap like that any longer. Since I wanted the MfD shout anyhow, I figured this was a great way to get it.
College of Winterhold
At first I just wanted in so I could train my Restoration up a bit, but the quests were so challenging and fun for this particular build that I just kept going.
The Book of Love
Rajhin loves love, no? And Agent of Mara's resist effect is just plain useful... win/win!
The Heart of Dibella
Rajhin is no stranger to the love of beauty either, and Agent of Dibella's extra damage to members of the fairer sex comes in handy when they are trying to shove a mace down your throat ;D
Frostflow Abyss
While doing some adventuring you stumble across the rather tragic story of a family's demise. The simple act of fulfilling Habd's last wishes earns you a 10% bonus to healing spells, and fits in ever so nicely with the RP's Restoration theme.
"The violet-eyed darkling's suggestion intrigues This one—'The greatest crime spree Skyrim's ever known!'
Yes. Rajhin likes the sound of that..."
Featured Art
Khajiit Like to Sneak!—awesome portrait... the second I saw this I thought, "Rajhin!"
Скриншот дня—wish I knew what the heck that meant... and that I had a setup to take screenshots like this. I've never seen a thief so at peace with himself and the world.
The Ring of Khajiit—part of Mason's fantastic Famed Artifacts of Tamriel collection. If you haven't checked these out, you really ought to give them a look... amazing!
This is horrible, but I can not find a link for the image of the Khajiit with the quill and book, nor the portrait at the end... anyone who can hook my up with a link for these images will get a special mention here for bailing out this forgetful slacker ;D
Special Thanks To the CB hosts who put on the Deities Event, and who even offered This slacker an extension to get his build in after deadline... it was much appreciated, but little deserved. Now I can finally go back and start reading some of these awesome builds! xD
