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Event Build: Mara's Might

Tags: #Character Build Crusader  #Character Build Healer  #Character Build Mage  #Race:Imperial  #Event Bloodworks  #Ordinator  #ShinJin Build  #Event:2in2 
  • Member
    March 30, 2017

    A little mood music for all you lonely souls

    Want something a little lighter? Here you go, sunshine ;D

     

     

    I am led by the Mother Goddess. Sometimes she guides and sometimes she pushes—but always, she loves.

    There are some who mistake this love for weakness, but that only reveals their lack of understanding. Love is not for the weak: all things naturally want to return to chaos and the void. That is the path of least resistance. It is easy to destroy, to let entropy reign. But to create, to sustain, to restore—this takes effort, strength, and power. This is love! This is Mara, and I am…

    Background

    This is my addition to the Two in Two event wherein only two skills are allowed to be perked. Because no road is worth travelling unless it causes you to break a sweat, I chose Restoration and Speech as my two skills. I can hear you now... "Oh great, ShinJin's gonna saddle us up to a freaking support build." Well, wiseguy, I'll have you know that you are only partially correct in your surmise. This pure Restoration mage deals damage, folks; she supports because she wants to... not because she has to. Theoretically, you could ditch any and all followers as early as level 4 or 5, but I stuck with mine because I enjoyed having someone to talk to ;D

    Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I chose option B, which allows for no other perks to be leveled. Curious to see how that works? Stick around and read on, friends! :D

    Some Light Lore

    I think most people understand that Mara is the goddess of love, and while that may be a bit of an oversimplification, you can make an argument that all other aspects of Mara stem from this one. The danger here is that while Mara may be a peaceful, compassionate entity that loves unconditionally, we might also be tempted to think of her as all-merciful and all-suffering. This, most certainly, is not the case.

    For instance, when Sai absconds from his duties as the equalizing force for luck in Tamriel, Lady Mara chastises him for his actions and pronounces his punishment herself. In another instance, Mara offers the mortal Arkay, just before dying of the plague, a choice between natural death or continuing his studies by filling the role as the god who must keep the balance between life and death by deciding who may enter the world, and who must leave it. Yes, Mara is the goddess of love, but sometimes Mara’s love is a tough love.

    The Maran Knights understood this principle and, in Mara’s name, promoted love and peace in much the same way the .45 Colt single action army revolver received the nickname “the peacemaker”—they simply removed those that encroached upon the peace of others. So while Mara expects all to demonstrate tolerance and love, she has a plan B for when things go sideways.

    Implementation

    It was this tough love I had in mind when creating my Restoration mage. Touched by Mara, led from Cyrodiil to Skyrim, Mara's Might performs the difficult acts of love that are sometimes required in order for love, peace, and healing to truly exist... the sterner side of love. Ultimately the Mother Goddess, like any loving mother, has her arms wide open to love and gather all her children… but she still spanks when she needs to. Mara’s Might is her paddle.

    The Basics

    Race

    Imperial—Frankly, I chose this based purely on mechanics. +10 to Restoration... booyah! Add to this fantastic bonus the Voice of the Emperor power (a free once-a-day calm spell without having to worry about leveling Illusion), and you've got a pretty good reason for hailing from Cyrodiil.

    But there are some decent roleplay reasons to take this race as well. Mara has fairly strong following in Cyrodiil, and Imperials just have that Knights-of-the-Nine vibe for me, so the race naturally felt like a good fit.

    Breton—A solid mechanics-based argument can be made for this race as well. +5 to Restoration and Speech, 25% natural magic resistance, and a 50% absorb magica once-a-day power. If you don't like Imperials, this is a great second choice.

    Stats

    All magicka till you hit 200, then 1 magicka/ 1 Health after that.

    Restoration spells are your only form of offense and defense, so you will want a good deal of juice in the tank for battles. After 200, though, I opted to evenly distribute my stat points between magicka and health for three reasons:

    (a) You're pretty darned squishy with no armor already—100 health really exacerbates this.

    (b) I hate feeling like a never-ending well of magicka when I have a follower. With the stat spread I chose, longer battles forced me to be more deliberate in how I used my spells ("Hmmm, enough for one or two spells. Do I pummel my enemies or hold back and support my follower?").

    (c) The 'Descending Light' and 'Warrior's Flame' perks in the Ordinator Restoration tree go a long way to helping you with your magicka management (more on this in the 'Skills—Restoration' section).

    Stone

    Mage Stone—I stayed with this till about level 10 or 11. Any extra help to level my Restoration was accepted with open arms.

    Lord Stone—By level 10-11 I was starting to feel squishy (curse you, draugr scourge, with your bows of death), so as I made my way for Dimhollow Creek, I swung by the Lord Stone, relieved some bandits of the burden they carried through their choice of violent living, and switched over to the Lord Stone for some extra protection agains melee and magic attacks.

    Ritual Stone—I didn't actually use this stone, but I find the potential here for interesting roleplay options intriguing. I think it could (a) add a slightly darker twist to a champion of Mara build, (b) be a creative way to get a little Conjuration into the build without actually leveling the skill, and (c) make an incredible panic button for when things start to get crazy (The Wolf Queen Awakened quest, I'm looking directly at you).

    Blessing

    Mara—I could just say that you are Mara's might and just leave it at that, but the boost you get for your Restoration spells is pretty sweet.

    Arkay—If you don't really care about the build's RP and are feeling a bit vulnerable, the blessing of Arkay's boost to health is nice.

     

    Major Skill

    Restoration 

     “You consider Restoration a valid school of magic, worthy of study, don’t you? DON’T you?”

    Let’s be honest. As far as magic schools go, Restoration is that friendly guy all the girls adore and hang out with during school, but none of whom are interested in dating come Friday night. Respectable, dependable, reliable… just a solid school. A valid school. But there’s no danger, no mystery, no excitement when you see it—nobody’s afraid of a Restoration mage.

    Restoration’s playstyle further perpetuates this attitude: if you’re a pure Restoration mage, you get relegated to ‘support build’ status (ie follow the high-octane fighters and Destruction mages around with a box of magicka Band-Aids, and wait for the heroes to get hurt). Heck, most of the excitement in playing a pure Resto-mage comes from trying to keep yourself alive long enough for your followers to kill your enemies.

    Yes, you get to "vanquish" the undead, but aside from one Master level spell, essentially all you do in vanilla Skyrim is make the undead run away—now your heroes have to hunt them down. No, for vanquishing undead, give me a pyromancer any day. Dawnguard helps with some additional spells, but heaven help you if you find yourself at odds with the living.

    And do not get me started on the leveling… the snail-in-a-coma leveling.

    So why, then, do I keep coming back to Restoration mages over and over again? For me, I think it’s because their goodness truly comes from within. I love Restoration mages because they restore things; they take an imperfect world and make it right. They’re better than ‘good-aligned.’ They’re great-aligned! ;D

    But I always wished they could be a bit more proactive than waiting for an ally to get conked on the noggin with a mace. Why not give them the opportunity to use their powers to help someone before he or she needs to be healed? Why shouldn’t Resto-mages be just a little bit… dangerous?

    Fortunately the Ordinator Perk Overhaul mod does exactly that, and in a way that feels true to a Resto-mage (Poison runes? C’mon Bethesda… get your head in the game!). Now, I’m not what you would really call an advocate of mods in general, but when I looked over what this overhaul does to the Restoration tree (and Light Armor… hello perked unarmed combat! :D), I knew it was time to let go of my fears and give a mod a spin. I’ve loved every minute of it so far. The long and short of it is this: with Ordinator, there are serious consequences when bad guys start kicking sand in the face of a Restoration mage… finally!

    I'm not going to go through all of the Ordinator perks that make the Restoration school so incredibly awesome now, but I think it is appropriate to go over a few of the game-changers:

    False Light (level 40): Love. This. Perk! When applied to enemies, your healing spells (Healing Hands/Heal Other) dish out damage equal to 75% of the heal rate. Necromantic Healing/Heal Undead works the same way for undead encounters. When you're dropping bandits and draugr with a single shot of Heal Other/Heal Undead, there isn't a whole lot of need to hide behind a follower... let them follow you!

    Some interesting facts about healing spells:

    (a) Healing spells are instantaneous. You don't have to lead a running enemy like you do with most other spells; just make sure they're in the crosshairs and release... zap! Health gone.

    (b) Heal spells have an incredibly long range. I didn't know this. I always thought you had to be pretty close to your target to heal them... not so. Case in point: Valtheim Tower. I entered the tower, climbed the flight of stairs and turned left to look at the bandit with a bow all the way across the gorge, got him in my sights while holding a double shot of Healing Hands, and 2.5 seconds later dropped him right by his chair. It was never this easy when I played other builds and he was ducking and dodging my arrows or Firebolt spells ;D

    Descending Light (level 20): for the first 10 seconds of combat your magicka regenerates crazy fast. It's almost like getting the first 10 seconds for free. This was one of the reasons I eventually decided to throw some points into health.

    Warrior's Flame (level 50): along the same lines, but a bit more unpredictable than Descending Light (but oh-so-nice ;D). Throughout a combat encounter this will randomly restore 20 points of stamina and magicka for 5 seconds for either you, or anyone friendly to you who is within 100 feet of you. OR it will take the same amount away for any enemies it settles on. This cycles through again and again until combat ends. Honestly, while it's certainly nice, I couldn't give a rip about enemies losing stamina and magicka. And stamina boosts to melee followers is certainly a plus, but this perk really shines when you are in an extended battle with just a sliver of magicka left, then suddenly the flame descends upon you and you're back to a quarter tank... thank you, Lady Mara!

    Wheel of Life (level 70): can't praise the creator enough for just how timely and intelligent this perk is. By the time I hit a Restoration level of 70, my enemies really started to pack a wallop. This perk grants you 100 points of health every 30 seconds in combat. For this build that's almost always a full refill on health... every 30 seconds. Suh-weeeet!

    And the bonus to being an offensive/defensive/support pure Resto-mage? Your Restoration skills level a lot faster than when you merely hang back and fix ouchies. Can't say it enough: Ordinator makes Restoration less restrictive, more viable, and waaaaaay more fun! :D

    I'm a Restoration mage, not a healer. Pray the Nine you never force me to show you the difference!

    Minor Skill

    Speech

    There are so many cool things that Ordinator does with the Speech tree... and this build uses almost none of them. I wanted Mara's Might to be all about Restoration, and even my inclusion of Speech perks was either to bolster Restoration by ramping up the leveling process or adding a bit of depth to the build's RP. But while I didn't fully take advantage of some of the great perks this tree offers, I did choose some incredibly helpful ones here are some of them:

    Speech Mastery (both perks can be had at level 20): So come on down to the merchant stalls and stores where there are 10%-20% savings on all merchandise... every day! Get more for selling less, then drop it all into training and amassing more and more sweet perks in Restoration :D

    Salesman (level 40): essentially the Merchant perk in vanilla Skyrim. Sell anything to any vendor or merchant. Gone are the days of wandering around the city looking for someone who'll buy those staves or potions. Instead, just go to the first shop, uload your loot till they hit 0 gold, and then move on to the next vendor.

    Business Relation (level 40): I wasn't even going to mention this, but I'm so pleased with the way it turned out that I had to. Basically, after taking this perk, the next vendor you speak to will offer you 30% off all items... indefinitely. I was going to try this on Collette Maurence in the College of Winterhold so that I could get better deals on spells and robes, but at the last minute decided to speak with one of the extremely pleasant ladies at Radiant Raiment for two especial reasons:

    (a) After over 5 years of dealing with their attitude, it was kind of therapeutic for me knowing that 30% of my gold would stay with me rather than go to them. Petty? Yes, but that doesn't make the healing any less real.

    (b) Obnoxious as they are, those ladies sell some insanely useful gear that makes being a pure Resto-mage much easier. Circlets, rings, necklaces, and robes--I kept buying and trading up every time I got the opportunity

    Speak with Animals (level 50): this was my one indulgence as far as the Speech tree went. This perk allows you to activate one wild animal and get it following (and fighting for) you. This actually turned out a lot more useful than I originally thought it would. Bears are still bad news if they get the drop on you, and pairs of sabre-cats were giving me conniptions.

    Folks, if every follower in Skyrim were like your Wild Companions, the game would be absolutely awesome. Feel like doing some mountain climbing? Bye Bye follower! But your wild companion teleports to your location every 30 seconds or so when you get separated. The low-down: you are never waiting or trying to figure out where your Wild Companion is. Wish I could say that about some of the other followers I've had over the last 5 or so years ;D

    My favorite Wild companion, thus far, has been the Ice Wolf. He's fast, takes off like an arrow when the baddies show up, has super-high health, and packs a mean bite. I haven't had him die on me yet... wish I could have said that about the armored troll I bought to help me fetch Grimsever. There is a downside though: while he appears quite small, his animation takes up a TON of space. If you find yourself in a narrow tunnel with that Ice Wolf between you and where you want to get to... good luck.

    I also found this perk somewhat satisfying on a RP level. A character whose motivations are based so squarely in love that even animals recognize it. It also felt nice not having to kill every animal I ran across.

    Followers

    Followers make this build much more viable in the early levels of gameplay (especially levels 1-4 when you don't have a way of dealing out damage to non-undead enemies), but more importantly followers give you someone to just... be with... a person to heal, work toward a common goal with, and stand by. It just felt right, but make no mistake, having a solid follower can make gameplay considerably more pleasant. Here are the two I rolled with:

    Faendal (level 1-15)

    Out of Helgen, I went straight to Riverwood with Hadvar. From there I helped Faendal in his search for true love and gained myself a very solid follower in the early levels. Aside from his appreciation for Skyrim's wonders, his can-do attitude, and his ability to unlock chests so you won't have to level Lockpicking, Faendal is brutally efficient with a bow in those early levels. In Bleak Falls Barrow before I had the ability to deal damage to the undead, I'd turn or stun enemies with Turn Lesser Undead, and he would absolutely mop them up with that bow of his. It seems kind of odd, but I fitted him up with some vampire armor. It felt like we were infiltrating the vampire lairs we cleaned out, plus I liked the look so much that I just stuck with it. 

    After level 14 Faendal's bow just wasn't making as strong an impact on some of the more difficult enemies, so I took him and an armored troll into Mzinchaleft to recover Grimsever and pick up perhaps one of my favorite followers...

    Mjoll the Lioness (level 15-25)

    I have made my feelings about Mjoll the Lioness as a follower in other builds quite clear, so I won't pad this build any further by rehashing old extollings. I will, however say this:

    The switch to Mjoll provided some tankiness to help take some of the heat off me—gadfrey, that woman can swing a warhammer. But even better, she is one of the few NPC's that can not be killed outside a quest.

    I eventually fitted her up with steel plate armor and gave her an Orcish warhammer of consuming that I had been carrying around for 7 previous levels for that express purpose.

    Gear

    I grabed anything that would decrease my Restoration spell costs, increase my stats or Speech skill, or protect me from spell damage, but for the most part this is what I rolled with:

    Restoration Robes: I started with regular clothes (I couldn't get the Novice Robes in Helgen without adding to my lockpicking skills), but eventually got a hold of some Novice Robes of Restoration, then just kept trading them up when I found better.

    Circlet of Restoration: again find or buy the next step higher whenever possible.

    Ring of Restoration: just like the circlet and robes... trade up, trade up, trade up!

    Neck: I wore an amulet of Mara for RP reasons, but this could easily be switched out for a necklace that decreases Restoration spell costs. When I spoke with vendors, I would switch this out for an Amulet of Zenithor in order to get better deals when working with merchants

    That was really about it. I couldn't find any enchanted gloves that had no AR, and I didn't want to enchant anything for fear of levelling up Enchanting. I was in the same situation with shoes, so those two slots were left empty. If you can find something to fill the void, by all means, use it ;D

    Perks

     

     

     Gameplay and Combat

    Combining the Gameplay and Combat sections may seem rather strange, but for this build the two are so intertwineded that I felt having separate sections would be a bit redundant. So, I've integrated the information in one section

    This was a fairly free and easy playstyle—explore, delve, and purify. Every little thing I did centered around handling the undead and haters. I RP'd that Mara's Might was coming out of Cyrodiil, so I worked my way around the Falkreath clearing out draugr ruins, vampire lairs, and the occassional bandits that were foolhardy enough to mess with one of Mara's chosen. I then, somewhat systematically, moved along the roads throughout Skyrim sanctifying tombs, castles, caves, and ruins. I picked up anything of value in order to sell it and use that gold to become stronger in Restoration.

    Aside from making Skyrim look more like Lady Mara's vision of what it should be, there weren't a whole lot of set objectives. This is not to say that I didn't have some things in mind as I played. Here are some of the main ones I pursued.

    Level 1-5

    Objective: False Light perk (read this as 'ability to throw the smack-down on the unworthy living')

    I followed Hadvar straight out of Helgen, then picked up Faendal as a follower to help me out with living threats. We went back to Embershard Mine and cleared the place out, then walked to Whiterun and took the first carriage to Winterhold.

    Getting into the college without leveling was a bit tricky. I quick-saved before speaking with Faralda, and and after what seemed like 10-15 attempts, she finally asked me to cast the Healing Hands spell on her. I get access to the college without casting a non-Restoration spell, and get the Healing Hands spell for 30 septims—double-sweet!

    After purchasing the Turn Lesser Undead spell, I decided it was time to tackle Bleak Falls Barrow, ramp up my Restoration a bit by turning every undead creature that came our way. By the time I left Bleak Falls Barrow, I was ready to sell my loot and purchase some restoration training which got me to level 4 or 5, and that glorious, game-changing perk, False Light :D

    Combat

    Living Threats

    At this stage you don't have very many tools in the box to inflict damage to living threats. You do, however, have Faendal. For levels 1-5 that is more than enough. This may sound fairly counter-intuitive for a figure who has no way of dealing damage to enemies, but I tended to run ahead of Faendal to initiate combat and draw attention. You may very well be saying, "Why, Shin, you're a madman!", but I had my reasons:

    Faendal is death incarnate with his bow during these levels. With a sword... not so much. I found that by keeping my Healing spell in both hands and drawing enemies towards me, keeping thier backs towards Faendal, he quickly decimated them. If, on the other hand, I tried to keep him in between me and my threats, he'd quickly go into close-quarter mode with the sword, and that tended to draw combat out quite a bit.

    It's way more fun and proactive to draw enemies out, lure them into power attacks and skip away (healing when you need to), than it is to camp out behind Faendal and wait for his health bar to diminish.

    The Undead

    This was also a fun combat style during the early levels. I kept a Heal Other spell in one hand, and Turn Lesser Undead (TLU) in the other. Pounding undead enemies with TLU was a highly effective way to level Restoration, and as many of you know, even high level draugr that resist the Turn effect are still staggered. This kept them away from Faendal and kept him with his bow instead of that blasted dagger (actually, I gave him a sword)

     

    Level 5-11

    Objective: Dimhollow Creek/Necromantic Healing (read this as 'ability to throw the smack-down on the unworthy undead')

    I continued my journey scouring Skyrim and looting my enemies to further my Restoration training and the cause of Mara. Again this was moderately systematic, but occassionally I would take a break in order to pursue a particular quest that came to mind (Book of Love in particular). Again, a heavy emphasis on undead locations, and working the heck out of the TLU spell.

    In no time flat I had the Dawnguard track me down for recruitment, and I was ready to take on Dimhollow Creek and grab the Necromantic Healing spell that would actually allow me to take out undead enemies instead of merely stun or turn them.

    Combat

    Living Threats

    Things get even more fun at this stage when you are able to obtain the False Light perk. Now you have options:

    Jump out and draw enemy fire just as you had before. Or...

    Jump out and take enemies out with your strongest targeted healing spells

    You'll notice that either way, stealth and sniping aren't really options. Considering just how how far a range healing spells have, this may seem kind of odd, but there are two solid reasons for it:

    The False Light perk does not work until an enemy becomes hostile. Stealthily zapping a bandit from half a mile away does nothing but heal him.

    It just really fits the roleplay of an agent of Mara. Killing bandits that don't know you're there felt out of character... it fails to give them an opportunity to do the right thing.

    Now if RP means less to you than whittling down mobs from afar, there is a work-around: send a TLU spell or Vampire's Bane spell thier way first, and watch all those little red dots light up your HUD like a Christmas tree. Congratulations! You've made enemies, and enemies can be killed with your healing spells ;D

    Undead Threats

    Handle the undead pretty much the same way you've been handling them. Distract them, turn them, stun them, and keep Faendal healthy. Not to worry, they'll be feeling your wrath instead of Faendal's in no time ;D

     

    Level 11-15

    Objective: build spell repertoirre (Vampire's Bane/Stendarr's Aura) & pick up Mjoll the Lioness

    More of the same, though I was highly tempted to lay off training in order to buy gear and just enjoy the game. Still, I made a push for leveling up faster through training because (a) I was in a rush to meet deadline, and (b) I wanted to bring Mjoll into the game, and Grimsever does not spawn until level 14 or so. By the time I reached level 14 I was pretty happy with where I was spell-wise and decided it was time for a follower switch—Faendal had served me well, and it was time to let him settle down with Camilla :D

    Combat

    This is where Mara's Might truly becomes mighty. With Dawnguard's addition of sun spells (Sun Fire, Stendarr's Aura, and Vampire's Bane) and the ability to damage the undead through 'heal' spells (Necromantic Healing and Heal Undead), your days as a distraction have come to a close. Get out thereand let those baddies have it! Whether they be living or undead no longer matters—they'll all be the same by the time you're through with them.

    Level 15-25

    Objective: just be Mara's Might

    From here on out I simply enjoyed doing what this build does best: ensure Skyrim enjoys the love and peace of Mara by removing all the hinderances to it. There were no perks that I was dying to get a hold of, and hence, no real reason to do anything other than rid Skyrim of evil—a passtime that I derive great satisfaction from.

    Combat

    At this point you've picked up Mjoll, and the combat style shifts a bit. You want her to get out there in your enemies' grill and start mixing it up. I found one very compelling reason to stick around by Mjoll's side:

    Mjoll is a very weak archer—if you run out both guns blazing (which I tend to do), Mjoll will frequently go into 'support mode' and whip out her bow. She is not nearly as deadly with a bow as she is with a 2-handed weapon. Better to remain near her and let enemies come up close so they can feel the might of her hammer!

    Living Threats

    It just doesn't get easier than eradicating the unworthy living—you've already got your Heal Other spell out, so just stick slightly behind Mjoll and pop out from behind and let your assailants have it with both hands. Rinse and repeat. If Mjoll is starting to whither, send your spells her way instead. For the first time ever, dealing with living enemies as a pure Restoration mage is easier than dealing with the undead...

    Undead Threats

    ...but not by much—it's still pretty fun killing the undead. I stayed fairly close to Mjoll with undead mobs, but tended not to stay behind her. It was more fun to orbit, pummel, and keep an eye on how that Valkyrie was doing than risk wasting a perfectly good reverse-Heal Undead spell by accidentally tagging Mjoll with it. True, it's not like it hurts her, but I found it annoying when it happened.

     

     

    Much Thanks and Love

     As always, the hugest thanks to our hosts who put a lot of thought and effort into these events, and to the participants who have either submitted builds, or who have encouraged others with friendly words, thoughtful remarks, and solid feedback in the WIP threads. It takes a village to raise a successful event. As always... you have ;D

     

     

     

     

     

  • March 30, 2017

    You did some great work with this Shin. I am very happy you did an Ordinator build and I am really impressed with the Resto perks I'm seeing so far. Very, very cool. Beautifully presented, as always. I'll update this to the roster of builds for this event. 

    Great work. :D

  • Member
    March 30, 2017
    I always forget mjoll is immortal. Masterful as always shin
  • Member
    March 31, 2017

    I'm almost tempted to try Ordinator myself. Almost! :D Light magic holds a special place in my heart so you can imagine I read this build with plenty excitement Great work Shin, as always. Keep it up! :D

  • Member
    March 31, 2017

    Shinjin, I think... I think I love this build! In fact, it could be my favourite build you have ever made. It is just so spot-on! There were two big things that got me into TES: The Knights of the Nine and all its associated lore, and the mystery surrounding Mara's connection with the Ritual Stone in TES IV: Oblivion. My first real character (once I had finally understood the gameplay) chose the Ritual because of it's Blessed Word turn undead lesser power and Mara's Gift greater power of restore health for that holy warrior playstyle. Then there were the Birthsign Stones found in Cyrodiil, of which The Ritual's powers were Mara's mercy and Mara's Milk, and so my first ever lore question was "what is the connection between Mara and the Ritual?" There has never been an answer to that question, but I think Teineeva and Karver have something very compelling which addresses it.

    I digress, apologies. Mara has always had a special place in my heart and yet I have never really seen any build that really hits at her nuance until now. There is a reason she is the Wolf totem in Skyrim ;) Mara's Might, then, not only mentions TKotN, not only embraces the beauty of Alessia's pantheon, not only does it dig deeper into the goddess of love, not only is it an Imperial, not only is the Ritual mentioned but it does all these things with such incredible presentation that my eyes are feasting! That perkspread is beautiful!

    Also, nice to see some Ordinator love :) I have chosen Speech too and I absolutely adore that skill now. I am surprised by some of the issues you have had with Speak with Animals, in my game the animal follows me everywhere, in dungeons, in shops, even by Breezehome's bed. In fact, that is the most annoying thing because a bear takes up so much room that it can very easily block a doorway :D I have yet to see if a mammoth will follow me into Belethor's Shop. If it does, the new owner will be delighted, of that I am sure. Your RP reason for this perk is lovely and resonates within me like you wouldn't believe. 

    Nice one, Shin! I am smitten :) So what next for Mara's Might? Will you continue passed the level 25 cap of the event and branch into other skills? Or has she had her time in the light?

    As always, the hugest thanks to our hosts who put in a lot of thought and effort into these events, and to the participants who have either submitted builds, or who have encouraged others with friendly words, thoughtful remarks, and solid feedback in the WIP threads. It takes a village to raise a successful event. As always... you have ;D

    I couldn't agree more. Well said!

  • Member
    March 31, 2017

    I've been cleaning up some things that I either forgot to fix or just didn't have time to get to in my hurry to post.

    I appreciate the comments so far, and while I haven't had time to read any just yet, I will steal some time here and there throughout the day and get to them. I'm not ignoring you... I'm just frustratingly busy today xD

    Thanks again, everybody! :D

  • Member
    March 31, 2017

    Well, Healers are just the master class, deal with it! :P

    In my 13 years of (mostly online) gaming my go to and favorite class was always the healer especially the healer that can bring the pain and thankfuly mods give the opportunity to play such a healer in Skyrim.

    Nice build!

  • March 31, 2017

    +1 like for the Sai reference!

    This is great! Powerful, unique, simple in a good way. The screenshots are beautiful. I like the use of Speak with Animals, it's a fun perk and in this context it reminds me of those saints who were said to have tame animals following them around.

    Then there were the Birthsign Stones found in Cyrodiil, of which The Ritual's powers were Mara's mercy and Mara's Milk, and so my first ever lore question was "what is the connection between Mara and the Ritual?" There has never been an answer to that question, but I think Teineeva and Karver have something very compelling which addresses it.

    Interesting. I tend to stay out of the Lore corner because too much TES lore starts to make my head hurt like the contradictory madness that it is, I prefer to grab it in small doses and run with it. But I'm going to have to think about this. I've been working on a sorcerer/necromancer who also uses heals and why that might be, and I might have to steal this.

     

  • Member
    March 31, 2017

    Lissette Long-Chapper said:

    You did some great work with this Shin. I am very happy you did an Ordinator build and I am really impressed with the Resto perks I'm seeing so far. Very, very cool. Beautifully presented, as always. I'll update this to the roster of builds for this event. 

    Great work. :D

    Awesome! And thanks again to you and Vargr for the event... it's been a ton of fun :D

    As to Ordinator, while I haven't messed about with much other than Restoration, Speech, Light Armor, and Destruction, I must say... it's been a fantastic experience so far. Think I'll stick with this mod; the developer really did a fantastic job thinking this through.

  • Member
    March 31, 2017

    Mottyskills said: I always forget mjoll is immortal. Masterful as always shin
    Thanks, Motty!

    Yup! Love having Mjoll as a follower. It had been a while (I think since The Knights of Iron, which has been a few years). I missed her constant chatter xD