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Character Build: The False Dragonborn

Tags: #Golden Fool  #Race:Nord  #Character Build Warrior  #Character Build No Crafting  #Rank:Exemplar 
  • Member
    August 21, 2015

    The False Dragonborn

    With every Legend

    There are those who admire it

    Then there are those who wish to become it

    I am one such person

    The Build

    Race: Nord, what better race than Nord to fool Skyrim with? Vampire Lord: to get mist form and since Breaker has informed me that once you bug the power you can cure yourself, staying a vampire is optional.

    Stats: Magicka 0/ Health 1/ Stamina 1, this should be you stat placements until you reach 200 stamina, once you reach this point start putting everything in health. Cause lets face it the armour this character wears isn't going to protect you against much, so the more health you have the better.

    Major Skills:

    One Handed: Your main form of damage output, while you may deal some damage with your imitation shouts most of it will be coming from your sword.

    Block: While you we will be perking Heavy Armor, lets be honest with ourselves the False Dragonborn's shield is really the only thing keeping him alive in battle.

    Minor Skills:

    Speech: Any competent fraud needs a silver tongue to convince people he is what he claims to be and the reduction to prices comes in handy when stocking up on potions.

    Vampirism: Taken solely to attain Mist Form for use as an imitation of Become Ethereal, there isn't really much to say about this tree.

    Light & Heavy Armor: Even though most of our defense comes from Blocking or avoiding attacks, the perks into juggernaut and the 1 into agile defender will be nice for the occasion that you are hit.

    Equipment: 

    You may question why I have two helmets listed here, but that is because we shall be using a glitch shown in Halifax's Namira's Basilisk which I shall explain later. As for jewelry pick anything that either boosts One Handed or Block or that increases Health or Health Regen. I used an Amulet of Stendarr that I looted off the corpse of a Vigilant until I found a necklace that boosted my health.

    Combat

    Prior to obtaining your "shouts" combat for the False Dragonborn acts out much like that of any other warrior. Due to having a low armour rating most of your defense will either come from your shield or how good you are at avoiding your opponent's attacks. More often than not I opted to just weather any attacks that I could see coming, just to follow them up with a shield bash and then some strikes of my own. 

    Since the False Dragonborn lacks any healing spells or the knowledge of how to make potions, he is reliant on any potions that he can either find or buy, to heal his injuries during battle. Whenever I stopped by the local Alchemist to buy some healing potions and restore stamina potions, I would also pick up any potions of fortify one handed or block that they had; for use when facing higher level opponents.

    "Shouts"

    These false shouts need to be as flashy as possible to emphasis your power as the Dragonborn, so things like detect life as a substitute for aura whisper don't fit as they don't have a visual effect to others. The first five listed here are just those that I could think of and that I felt comfortable using with the character, as such if you should think of any other shouts that can be imitated feel free to use them. And don't forget to comment about them below and if I feel they fit I may just add them onto the list.

    Hidden throughout the various tales of Dovahkiin past are accounts of the powers that they held. While wandering the province moving from one job to another I have heard my fair share of such tales and have set my sights upon unlocking their power. Storytellers would have you believe that only the Dovahkiin can wield the power of the Voice, and yet the Greybeards study it atop the Throat of the World; so surely with a little effort I can at least imitate their power.

    Unrelenting Force = Auriel's Shield

    While exploring the Vale I witnessed a Falmer send his opponent flying into the air; at first I thought it might have been a power similar to the Voice right out of the tales, but after watching the creature for some time I came to realise that the source of the power was the ancient shield it carried. Perhaps if I could get a hold of the shield I could gain access to this power.

    Simple enough, every five successful blocks is one charge and each charge is equivalent to one word of Unrelenting Force. As our main "Shout" Auriel's Shield should be picked up as soon as possible and ideally should be our first offence shout to be acquired.

    By taking the perks Power Bash and Deadly Bash we gain the ability to deal some initial damage with each use of Auriel's Shield. The blast from the shield is mainly used to thin the ranks of our opponents either by flinging them off ledges or pushing back more troublesome foes to give us a chance to deal with their allies while they make their way back towards us.

    Dismay = Battle Cry

    As a child I heard one story which described how the Dragonborn was able to cause his foes to flee with a few words. This is a trivial matter for any true Nord, with a little showmanship I should be able to pass my battle cry off as this shout.

    A simple enough replica that we have from day one and better than it's shout counterpart, Battle Cry effects every living opponent around you instead of just those in front of you as well as any level. Unlike Dismay Battle Cry is once per day which means when it is used can have either devastating effects for the player or their opponents.

    I used Battle Cry mainly when I was facing either a group or single tough opponent; such as Bandit Chiefs, once my opponent had crouched down I would then  proceed to attack until either the effect wore off or they were dead; whichever came first. It can also be used to give yourself the chance to flee if you need it, but I preferred to use Mist Form for this as it was not limited to once per day.

    Ice Form = Mora's Grasp

    While travelling Solstheim I stumbled upon one of the rumoured black books that are scattered across the island. Within I found the promise of a power similar to that of the Dragons, now all I needs do is find it.

    Since Mora's Grasp simple stops your target in in the middle of whatever it was doing and it also prevents any damage befalling the target for its duration, we shall be using it as a way to remove a stronger opponent from combat so that we can either deal with their weaker allies, or to allow our health and stamina to recover while we wait for the effect to end.

     

    Fire Breath = Visage of Mzund

    While exploring a Dwarven ruin I found what at first glance appears to be just another dwarven helmet, but when worn allows the use of an attack similar to a dragons fiery breath. I should be able to pass this off with relative ease thanks to the helm's unassuming appearance.

    To acquire the Breath of Mzund without wearing the helmet we first need to follow these steps:

    - Equip both the Visage and the Power
    - Put both the Power and the Visage in you favourites menu
    - Open your favourites menu and unequip both the Visage and the power
    - Without leaving the menu reequip the Breath of Mzund

    And there you have it use of the power without the helmet. Now before we continue a little warning: you will need to repeat these steps whenever you switch to another power. To avoid having to do this in the middle of battle I restricted my own use of it to the beginning of a fight as a way to weaken a foe/s before they managed to reach me.

    Become Ethereal = Mist Form

    The Ancient tales tell of the Dragonborn being able to turn his body into mist to avoid harm, perhaps I'll be able to find a similar technique among the Volkihar. Yesterday I witnessed one of my fellows turning himself into a cloud of black mist to avoid a Dawnguard bolt, now I just need to get him to teach me, and with my silver tongue how hard could that be?

    To be able to use Mist Form in human form we will be using the glitch which is demonstrated here. Mist Form much like Become Ethereal prevents all damage and allows for infinite sprinting for the duration of the effect. Unlike Become Ethereal however Mist Form activates instantly and has no cooldown; instead having a cost of 50 magicka. When cast your weapons will be automatically sheathed, but this can be avoided by casting as you jump or are falling, And you are also unable to interact with anything or switch cameras for the effects duration.

    The False Dragonborn uses Mist Form to avoid attacks like those of a Dragon's breath or to close in on archers and mages without having to worry about taking any damage from their arrows or spells. Mist form is also used when his health drops down too low and he needs to place some distance between himself and his opponent/s to give himself a chance to recover or retreat.

    Mind Control Spider Scroll = Bend Will

    I have heard that the Voice can be used to bend both animals and man to the will of the user, perhaps these odd scrolls could be used to imitate this?

    This one is simple enough, cast a scroll in the direction of the foe you want to gain as an ally and the spider does the rest. This effect only last 30 seconds, but you can have six spiders out at once, that means up to six new allies. 

    Suggested by Raidriar.

    Roleplay/Quests

    The False Dragonborn uses his silver tongue and showmanship to pass off his abilities as the fabled power of the Dragonborn; the Thu'um. When he comes across a word wall while in the company of a follower or any other NPC he will make a show of "gaining" what knowledge the wall holds, but should he find one on his own he shall continue on making note of it's location for the next time he passes through with a companion.

    The Main Questline should be completed up until The Way of the Voice, the False Dragonborn believes that he can fool anyone into believing that he is the real thing so it is only natural that he would approach the Greybeards at some point during his time in Skyrim. The thing is since he has no real shouts he can't complete their test, so he is turned away as a fraud, but seeing as the Greybeards never leave their mountain top he is free to tell whatever tale he wants.

    Other quests to look into include the Dawnguard Main Questline on the Volkihar side to gain access to Mist Form and Auriel's Shield. And Black Book: The Hidden Twilight to gain Mora's Grasp.

    Closing Notes

    Ok first I'll be thanking anyone that gave advise or just talked things out with me in the Workshop (that should allow me to avoid mentioning Dragonborn in one of these ). I would especially like to thank Breaker for the font of information on Mist Form that he was kind enough to provide; so I will Thanks for that Breaker.

    Likes: (Ning) 48 + Displayed

  • Member
    August 21, 2015

    Clever "copy cat" shouts. I can absolutely see a Nord glory seeker taking legends of the Dragonborn and using them to get fame and fortune.

  • Member
    August 21, 2015
    Great build! I loved the concept, and the execution is brill. The one thing I feel that could make this better would be to try and find more false shouts. I reckon there's a few more out there that could be emulated somehow, since most of these are once a day or take a while to charge up (fifteen blocked attacks with the Aetherial Shield is quite a lot). +1
  • Member
    August 21, 2015

    Thanks Raidriar, with the looking for more false shouts, Elysium (and one other maybe Tim) suggested using spectral assassin/arniel's shade/karstaag as Call of Valor, so that's another possibility but I didn't think the college and brotherhood would be suited to what is at its core a warrior so I left it out. Other than that I was looking at combining effects to get a single "shout", but I never did get very far with that line of thought.

    As for Auriel's Shield, much like unrelenting force you don't always need all three words/charges more often than not the stagger from one charge is enough.

  • Member
    August 21, 2015

    Thanks Boro :D

  • Member
    August 21, 2015
    Very fun concept here, just wanted to drop some "possible" false shouts. Summon Werebear: Animal Allegiance Root of Power: Dragon Aspect (this helps reduce cost for a couple of your false shouts) Advanced Quick Reflexes: Slow Time (Use a fortify alteration duration pot before Quick Reflexes activates for a longer duration) Magicka Poison Arrows: Dragonrend (dragons have a 150 point magicka pool that their breath draws from. When depleted the AI forces them to land)
  • Member
    August 21, 2015
    Summon Wearbear wouldn't work, since you need a shout to unlock it.
  • Member
    August 21, 2015
    Ah, my apologies, I forgot about that. Sorry, for me the whole Dragonborn DLC was kinda a blur as far as learning shouts. It was kinda like "hey, I gives you shout. you can use it for this plot advancing part but the cool down on it is so negligible you won't want to use it later."
  • Member
    August 21, 2015

    Yeah that was also the reason I didn't use north wind to imitate a frost based shout. Unfortunately Root of Power falls to the same requirement. And using Magicka poison arrows isn't quite flashy or unique enough to be used to fool people, since really any random guy could conceivably pull it off.

    I actually like the Advanced Quick Reflexes, I'll test it out and possibly add it in 

  • Member
    August 21, 2015

    A build in which disabling shouts, is subbed for by collection and combinations of a couple artifacts and spells. Very clever! Interesting concept based on how most people heavily rely on shouts. The idea of it is perfectly suitable for someone like you. Bravo!