“What I'd like to do today is get your version of what happened.”
“You mean the truth?”
“Of course. Now, before we get to the meat of this thing, do you at the present time have any knowledge of the whereabouts of a Mr. Jak Breton or his cart?”
“By the House of Troubles, will you leave him alone?”
“Mr. Neloth, please. You could be in a great deal of trouble. The west point of Raven Rock explodes in a ball of green flame. Green flame! All Oblivion is breaking loose here. And there are people who say you're involved, that you might be responsible, that you're a very dangerous man—now, if you're protecting Jak Breton...”
“You leave Jak Breton alone! We are in his debt. He showed great courage.”
“OK. But if I'm going to represent you, there are a few things I have to know that still don't make any sense to me. Like... do you really believe there’s a resurgence of ancient evils?”
“Absolutely.”
“Are you still serious about this? And an alarming increase in ghosts and vampires as well, I suppose?”
“Sure. And dragon priests.”
“And I suppose that you expect me to believe in this… corrupted ancient dragonborn as well?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Because it's real.”
“How did it start, Mr. Neloth?”
“How?”
“Yes, how? Help me out here. Please.”
“As nothing. But that's how it always begins. Very small...”
The Low Down
"I don't get this at all. I thought..."
"Shut up, Mr. Breton! You are not put upon this world to 'get it.'"
Brash, arrogant, opinionated, frequently clueless, delusionally self-confident, and so very loquacious, there's bound to be big trouble just about anywhere Jak Breton plants himself. Fortunately for the holds of Skyrim, Jak Breton rarely stays put for long. A travelling merchant with his own cart and a cargo full of items of dubious worth, he flits in and out of the lives of Tamriel's Skyrim-ians, many of whom have become friends... and just as many have become enemies. See, you either love Jak Breton or hate Jak Breton. There's no middle road. But that's okay by him. Jak is comfortable with Jak, and that's all that matters...
Race
Breton—Yes, it would certainly make sense to play Jak as a Nord. Jak is a patriot and son of Skyrim, but I opted for Breton for what I consider to be even greater roleplay reasons: first, tweaking the last name into 'Breton' felt like a fun way to Skyrimize this character (and what self-respecting Nord would own up to a last name like 'Breton'). Secondly, while Jak Breton is the epitome of your commonplace everyman, he's also a bit of a fish out of water in his adventures, and Breton-in-Skyrim gave me that feel.
But perhaps the greatest reason is this: Jak has an almost child-like perception of what is right, what is wrong, and acts accordingly—100% of the time—even if it's difficult, embarrassing, or dangerous. In spite of his penchant for trouble, some glaring gaps between perceived abilities and reality, and an aptitude for complaining, the universe looks out for Jak Breton. In fact, the universe looks out for all its Jak Bretons. It may allow them to get banged up a bit, but it always lets them to pick themselves back up—and the Jak Bretons of the universe always pick themselves back up. I figured the passives and racial abilities that come with Bretons recreate that little bit of extra love Jak receives from the universe.
Stone
Since you pass it on the way out of Helgen, go ahead and grab the Warrior stone to help you level two of your three skills. Eventually, however, you should be picking up...
The Lord Stone—again this is almost more for RP reasons than mechanics. Certainly, the protection bonuses the stone grants are helpful, but most importantly, they perfectly mirror the luck or fate or karma or whatever it is that keeps Jak alive in spite of the many threatening encounters he is so obviously ill-equipped to handle.
Stats
4 health/1 stamina—life plays rough, and Jak gets slapped around quite a bit; health helps him absorb the rough treatment. I also decided to throw in some stamina for crossbow bashing (the Ordinator perk, Wingstrike, gives you added bow/crossbow damage after throwing a bash on your target with said weapon, so it was nice to have a little extra in reserve.
Shouts
Slow Time—No, he is not the dragonborn; he's just a regular guy who doesn't know when to quit, one that trouble tends to follow around. But Jak's uncanny reflexes save him when he gets to feeling overwhelmed... which is often. The Slow Time Shout so perfectly reflects these reflexes that I couldn't resist throwing it in ;D
Mods
Just Ordinator. As far as I'm concerned, SkyUI and Ordinaotr are the only two mods a person needs if you play using PC. In order to avoid sounding overly preachy, I'll limit my comments to this: I'm a Skyrim minimalist (still refuse to play with the Unofficial Patches), but Ordinator is the Perk system Skyrim was made for—if you want to truly experience TES archetypes in Skyrim, start running Ordinator... NOW!
Major Skills
"It's all in the reflexes."
There were a lot of different ways to tackle Jak Breton. My first playthrough utilized One-handed dagger and Block exclusively, and on paper it was a fantastic match. The problem, however, was while the skills fit, they just didn't feel right when I played it. I tried a second playthrough, opting instead for Light Armor, Archery, and Speech, and it was infinitely more satisfying and closer to the spirit of this build's inspiration. For a more in depth justification of my skill selection, check out the ClosingRemarks section at the end.
Light Armor
"I feel pretty good. You know, I'm not...I'm not scared at all. I just feel kind of... I feel kind of invincible."
"Me too. I've got a very positive attitude about this, Jak."
"Good. Me too."
"Yeah."
"Is it gettin' hot in here, or is it just me?"
I perked Light Armor because I really wanted to capitalize on Ordinator's unarmed branch and its many fantastic perks. But the two brightest stars are Iron Fists (a 3 perk point skill, which boosts your unarmed damage by 5%, 15%, and 25% respectively) and Rushing Tide (grants 10% stamina regeneration and 5% movement speed increase for 8 seconds per unarmed attack... AND the effect stacks). Unarmed power attacks are so painfully slow that Sweeping Wind (25% increased damage per power attack) seems like a wasted perk until you combine it with Rushing Tide—then your power attacks get some additional oomph with your increased movement speed.
I agonized over whether or not to take the Hissing Dragon perk (adds 10 additional points of your choice of elemental, poison or sun damage to your unarmed attacks). I was afraid it would make Jak borderline magical/mystical, which I really wanted to avoid. But again, considering Jak's swagger-to-skills ratio, he'd have been dead ages ago if life wasn't intervening on his behalf in some way. My workaround was to choose Sun Damage which is part of the Restoration school—life's way of looking out for good ol' Jak Breton.
As to armor vs unarmored: I was initially going to just wear the Roughspun Tunic and ignore the the other branches of the Light Armor skill tree entirely, but again... didn't feel right. The choice had me running around dodging and dancing like a Shaolin monk. Which was certainly cool, but not Jak Breton. So I opted for the Blackguard armor and hood, Gloves of the Pugilist, and the Predator's Grace boots. Doing so allowed me to approach my close quarters conflicts a little more like a tank-fist than a ninja, and that felt a lot more like Jak Breton ;D
Archery
"All right. You got any crossbows?"
"Not against Miraak, but here's one for you, Jak, to make you feel better—like Missun Akin."
Jak Breton is not above sending a hot one into the domes of his enemies when he's up against mobs or a particularly tough boss... a crossbow makes for a great equalizer when faced with odds that are skewed in your enemy's favor. Nor is Jak above putting a quiet one in the back of a foe when faced with the aforementioned odds. But he's not a sniper and prefers more of a stand-your-ground type of archery.
For this reason I ignored the stealth archery branch (and also the Snipe perk), focusing instead on perks that would let me be a bit more... confrontational. Crippling Shot, Pinning Shot, and Beak and Talon are fantastic perks that reward archers for standing their ground rather than kiting, and both points into Wingstrike increase your crossbow to an additional 40% damage for 10 seconds after bashing an enemy with it. This also synergizes wonderfully with some of the Light Armor perks that increase stamina regeneration during combat :D
Full disclosure: if I were really trying to be true to the character of Jak Breton, I probably would have ignored the Ranger perk. Increased mobility with a weapon drawn definitely implies a familiarity and training with that particular weapon, and I'm not convinced that Jak Breton has a lot of experience with a crossbow before all his big troubles in little Morro. But this time, I confess, I let mechanics overthrow the RP overlord that resides in my heart. I played without it for quite a while, and yes, it was a better fit for Jak Breton, BUT... I. Love. Dat. Ranger. Perk. If you'd rather stay truer to character by foregoing it, I fully understand—and much love and respect to you for it ;D
Minor Skill
"OK! You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. If we're not back by dawn... call the emperor."
Speech
"Not so fast, gentlemen."
"Is it too much to ask, Ahzidal? Kill him! For me!"
"It won't solve anything, ‘raak. Too many people have been droppin' like flies already and where's that gettin' us? Nowhere, fast. Nah, you know what Jak Breton always says at a time like this?"
"Who?"
"Jak Breton—me! Ol' Jak always says… 'What the hell?'"
Jak Talks—a lot! He says what he thinks, and to oblivion with the consequences. It's part of what makes him loveable (and also a part of what makes him infuriating). In addition to a lack of basic mind-to-mouth editing skills, his travels and business insinuates him into the lives of all sorts of people, all of whom he must interact with. I threw a point into Mastery, and then dumped a couple more to pick up Kinship (meh) and Salesman (very handy—sell any item to any vendor... huzzah!).
And I really didn't want to add too much more Speech to him than that. Yes, Jak's a talker, but not a smooth talker. In fact his words are just as likely to get him into trouble as they are to bail him out of it. This seemed just the right balance: enough to help him in his business ventures, but not so much that it starts rounding off some of the rougher corners of his persona.
Perks—Level 31
"It's OK. Everybody relax.... I'm here."
Follower—Teldryn Sero
"Is this gonna get ugly now, Teldryn? I hope not, because I thought what we were here, racial differences aside, was just a couple of old friends. You know… just both of us Skyrim-ians."
"You know something you're not tellin' me, Teldryn."
"Myths and legends, Jak. I don't wanna insult you."
"No, no. Go ahead. Insult me!"
Usually unless RP dictates otherwise, I prefer to play Skyrim sans followers—I'm just wired that way. I will admit, however, that I am often pleasantly surprised when a character's RP requires a follower of me, and Teldryn Sero is no exception. While not nearly as fun to hang out with as Belrand, I readily admit that Sero is perhaps the best spellsword I've ever played with.
Teldryn's spells and summons are incredibly useful, and he withstands abuse wonderfully, but most importantly, he closes in for sword work double-quick! I'm used to my spellswords hanging back a bit so they can get to pelting away with the spells, but Teldryn seems to do a better job of firing off a few shots or a summons, then getting straight to the slicey stuff. I gave him Dawnbreaker, and he simply tears up the undead with it. It's nice to know I can charge into a group of enemies with just my fists, to find half of them concentrating on Teldryn because, in spite of my best efforts to beat him to the punch, he got in there first.
"We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we, Teldryn?"
Combat
"Hide!"
"HIDE?"
"They only saw me!"
"We fight together, Jak. Do or die."
For me, combat all revolved around deciding when it was most beneficial to trade the high-damage, but slow speed of my crossbow/Wingstrike bash combos for ultra-quick, high DPS knuckle work. I usually kept the crossbow out and ready, and would start the decision making process after encounters started. Distance and numbers really seemed to be the two key factors here.
Distance
"First time you ever plugged somebody, Jak?
"... 'Course not."
Obviously, if enemies are a good way off, I'd plink away with the crossbow. For initiating combat with large groups, if I was still undetected, the first shot would be taken stealthily. I'd try to single out the weakest enemies to take them out of the picture first. If the weakest was not readily apparent (one bandit oftentimes looks very much like another), I'd just settle for shooting the closest threat. As long as enemies were far enough away that I couldn't give 'em a five-knuckle caress, I'd keep the bow out. It was when enemies started closing the gap that I had to start making some quick decisions.
Numbers
"Great! Who wiped out all those Reavers? Those guys were winning."
"He says it was the Storms. The Three Storms."
"Three guys did all that?"
Mobs—Tamriel's a rough place with the odds frequently stacked heavily against you. When the mobs start rolling up like blades of spring grass, you need to put your thinking cap on. My opening gambit for close quarter mob encounters was to run straight for the closest whose AI was locked on me, bash him with my crossbow to (a) stagger him, and (b) get that Wingstrike perk bonus to crossbow damage kicking in. Next, I'd quickly put a bolt through the threat, shift position and assess: if the threat went down, I'd do the same thing to the next guy locked onto me.
But sometimes they don't go down. If that's the case, a quick look around is helpful. If I've only got one or two locked on me, the threats aren't overpowering me, or Teldryn is taking the the majority of the heat. I'd rinse and repeat with the Wingstrike bashes and bolts. If, however, things look to be spiraling in a downward direction, I'd lose the crossbow and start flinging fists quickly. With the appropriate perks, this initial flurry does two things: (a) it drastically increases your movement speed and mobility (Rushing Tide Perk)—a huge advantage when surrounded by the raging hordes, and (b) it also increases your unarmed power attack damage (Sweeping Wind perk). Experience got me pretty close to using my power attacks like a kill move (and when it didn't kill the enemy, it would put them down on one knee, taking them out of combat and giving me a chance to stick it to some other threat).
It most certainly would be a mistake to neglect the power of the Slow Time shout. I saved this baby for when things with mobs started to look their darkest. All AI is locked on you; you're surrounded by Scourges and Deathlords with ebony axes; and Teldryn just isn't taking enough of the heat off? It's all in the reflexes! Weave your way in and out of blows, and counter with a rain of fists all the while. Slow Time turns tides... 'nuff said! ;D
The Singularity—for one-on one encounters, I tended to bash and shoot till the threat joined its predacessors in the oblivion-of-the-horny-dragon. The speed of your crossbow (even with the Quick Shot perk) doesn't quite stagger lock enemies... but it's pretty darned close.
Archers I took on differently. Rather than trading bolts and arrows back and forth, I'd switch to unarmed, and charge. At a distance, ducking arrows is fairly simple; it's up close that things start to get a bit dodgey. Enter the Evasive Leap perk! This Light Armor perk allows you to jump, and in the second that follows, you take no damage (there is a cooldown for this, so no, you can't spam it... you sly dog, you xD). At this stage in my Skyrim life, I've got a fairly innate feel for when that next arrow is coming. Once the spidey senses start tingling, give a quick little hop to let the arrow fly by, then Pound. That. Fetcher's. Face.
Mages. Just treat them like archers. Your Breton resistances to magic plus Lord stone make these guys pretty tame.
Speaking of pretty tame, Dragons aren't nearly as tricky as they can be for other builds. Shoot 'em out of the sky, take some more shots while you close the gap, wait for the breath attack to start (yes, you read that right), move into close quarters, and start flinging fists. Your racial abilities as a Breton combined with the Lord stone make the breath attacks the least of your worries. For tougher dragons, I'd fall back after the breath attacks end and keep out of the way of the dragon kill-cam-chomp-of-death, wait for the next breath attack, then close on in again. If the breath attacks start to sting, your Dragonskin greater power will end that jive super quick! ;D
"What I need to get straight is... These Storms, what are they? Magicians?"
"Yeah, sort of. It's hard to explain."
"Try real hard."
Gameplay/Roleplay
"See you around, Burton!"
"Never can tell."
Like a Rolling Stone
Gameplay for this build is pretty free and easy; Jak meets all kinds of people, then moves on. This means you're free to pick up quests, get what you want, then walk away never to return. Or maybe you will... you never can tell. This means I was in and out of all kinds of factions and quests. For example, I joined the thieves guild to get the Gloves of the Pugilist and Blackguard armor and hood, but never bothered to visit Goldenglow Estate. On the other hand, the Winterhold College quests lent themselves very well to the types of trouble Jak gets into; I completed the whole thing (off and on), then strolled off into the sunset. But I took the middle road with the Civil War quest ('bout half way, then decided it was time for the Empire to start learning how to get along without ol' Jak Breton bailing it out all the time). The point I'm making is this: do whatever it is you think a chaotic/good loudmouth might do, but don't stick something out because of a sense of obligation... if you help a group out at all, they've alrady received a greater favor than they probably deserved ;D
That Kind of Guy
Also, Jak asks a lot of questions:
So, whenever I had a question in my dialogue options, I took it. I also opted for all the cocky and brash dialogue options as well. That's something I don't often do (I rarely play characters who speak whatever comes to mind), so it was kind of refreshing (and amusing) to see what happens when you indulge in those exchanges.
Training
To get my Archery to level 50 in a hurry, I teamed up with Faendal by taking care of his romantic rival, then exploiting the heck out of the follower glitch in order to train and get all my gold back. The other two trainers I utilized weren't as magically helpful, but because they were merchants/trainers, they were still incredibly useful. Grelka in Riften was my Light Armor hook-up, and Revyn Sadri in Windhelm helped me out with Speech. With all the gear I amassed from saving Tamriel from evil sorcerers and fighting tongs (bandits and reavers), paying for training was pretty simple.
Closing Notes
So tell me... who is this Jack Burton?
"Wait a minute! I'm a reasonable guy, but I've just experienced some very unreasonable things."
Jack Burton is the reluctant hero of John Carpenter's 1986 film, Big Trouble in Little China (BTILC). He's loud, opinionated, thinks he can do everything, can in fact do next to nothing, always does what he feels is the right thing to do, and spends most of his time complaining about it when he does—and he doesn't know a lick of kung fu! Honestly, as a kid I was highly disappointed with both the film and Jack Burton. I was expecting either Bruce Lee or Snake Plisskin or (even better) a glorious blend of BOTH. Talk about bitter disappointment.
It wasn't until seeing the film on television years later that I came to appreciate a movie that was never meant to be an action/martial arts flick that takes itself seriously. BTILC is a comedy. Pure and simple. Yes, there is action and there is martial arts, but the film manages to poke fun of the genre more than emulate it. The only thing that does take itself seriously is Jack Burton, a cocksure bungler who tries to pull off 'experienced/jaded', but ultimately reveals a childlike naivete just below the surface. With his unyeilding belief in himself and in his wildly imperfect abilities, he kind of puts me in mind of inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther series... just with tons more swagger.
Miraak as Lo Pan?
"Look, this Miraak I ran over... through..."
"Has spirit-medium powers. Like the immortals. His flesh and his bones are atomized. He becomes the dream."
"What?"
Miraak as Lo Pan? You dang skippy! Honestly, I was just going to leave it at that single sentence, but I love talking about movies, so grab a chair. "David" Lo Pan, a great warrior and wizard, is cursed by emperor Qin Shi Huang and his mighty spirit is banished inside a decrepit body weighed down by the curruption of thousands of years. He now wants to be free of this banishment and rule the universe from beyond the grave—that's not too much to ask, is it? I was struck by how nicely Lo Pan's banishment follows Miraak's predicament as Hermaeus Mora's banished champion looking for a triumphant return in order to rule all Tamriel.
Just as Lo Pan is trapped between a corrupted corporeal state and the formlessness of the spirit world, Miraak seems to have trouble fully breaking out of the realm of Hermaeus Mora. Yes, Miraak busts out occasionally to steal a dragon soul or two, but for the most part he remains stuck in Mora's realm—waiting. And interestingly enough, just as Lo Pan is bound in his formlessness and death that is not death/life that is not life, Miraak seems to be similarly situated. Mora's realm cannot truly be considered real. Take, for instance, that fact that the player-hero cannot be killed there. It's like a very lifelike video game for the player/character wherein if you "die", you simply respawn back to the location where you first read the Black Book. Game over—but not life over.
There are other similarities as well. Lo Pan seeks his return to the living through the help of his three storms, Thunder, Wind, and Lightning. Likewise, Miraak has got his three powerful servants, dragon priests known as the 'Acolyte Priests', who identify not with three storm elements, but rather with the three elemental damages: Fire (Ahzidal), Frost (Dukaan), and Shock (Zahkriisos). These guys are also bad news and a force to be reconed with as Jak Breton delves deeper into Miraak's machinations. In addition to all this, Lo pan has a many-eyed, spherical 'Guardian' that looks out for for him. Likewise, Miraak has been looked after by the many-eyed daedra Hermeaus Mora for untold eras. Granted, the Guardian serves Lo Pan rather than the other way around, but regardless of who serves whom, the similarities between Lo Pan's guardian and Hermeaus Mora, Miraak's 'benefactor,' are striking.
"By the Nine, no! Please! What is that? Don't tell me."
About that skilll selection, Shin... justify!
I know! You want to dump perks into One-handed and have Jack Burton swing his knife around. Heaven knows I did. But it just didn't play. First off, Jack's usual pre-film confrontations had to have been limited to barroom brawls rather than knife fights; he's not a hacker and slasher. In fact, there are a couple of quick lines of dialogue that heavily imply Jack has never killed anyone before. Yes, he does kill two people with his knife, but both times are pretty unconventional killings: the first time he's lying on his back and has to slip the knife into his boot and kick up while a heavily armored guard tries to impale him with a two-handed sword (which would be pretty boss if it weren't for the fact that the guard falls on him, effectively trapping him through much of the fight). The second time occurs at the film's climax when he pulls his knife out of his boot to throw it at Lo Pan... and misses. By a lot.
Really, it's Jack's quick reflexes, not mad knife skills, that allows him to defeat Lo Pan. This is hardly surprising considering a scene in the middle of the film where Jack tries to pull the knife out of his boot and winds up accidentally flinging it halfway across the room and is forced to fetch it, only to discover Wang has taken out the enemies single-handedly by the time Jack returns. Truth be told, that knife is probably more for show than for any practical use.
Most of Jack's kills (and there aren't many) happen through gun-play. Even the title posters show him, not with a knife, but with a gun. This was ultimately my reasoning behind replacing One-handed with Archery and Unarmed combat. But that also adversely affected using Block as a skill. I know there are glitches and exploits, but I've never been able to use them to fluidly block with a bow. Yes, Block's Quick Reflexes would have been great, but items that just don't fit—using a dagger you don't stab with just to initiate Quick Reflexes—seemed superfluous, and turtling behind a shield puts the character too much in control of a combat encounter's pacing... a luxury Jack Burton never had. Besides, uncanny reflexes should be triggered under any life-threatening circumstance, not just power attacks from enemies. No, it just felt like the Slow Time shout made more sense than Block's Quick reflexes.
Thanks/Apologies
"Here's to the Legion and the battles they have won; here's to the Empire's colors, the colors that never run."
"May the wings of liberty never lose a feather."
First of all, a big thanks to Vargr for getting this event off the ground, and for all the housekeeping behind the scenes that we don't see (but that inevitably comes with running one). Also a big thanks to each and every participant, be it through inspiring builds, helpful comments and feedback to all the event builders, or just general words of encouragement—you all are what make the events so much fun :D
Also, I apologize for the image/quote-fest this build turned into. It's difficult for me when working with a movie that is almost entirely quotable. I honestly cut tons of stuff out, but just couldn't make myself cut any more xD
“What I'd like to do today is get your version of what happened.”
“You mean the truth?”
“Of course. Now, before we get to the meat of this thing, do you at the present time have any knowledge of the whereabouts of a Mr. Jak Breton or his cart?”
“By the House of Troubles, will you leave him alone?”
“Mr. Neloth, please. You could be in a great deal of trouble. The west point of Raven Rock explodes in a ball of green flame. Green flame! All Oblivion is breaking loose here. And there are people who say you're involved, that you might be responsible, that you're a very dangerous man—now, if you're protecting Jak Breton...”
“You leave Jak Breton alone! We are in his debt. He showed great courage.”
“OK. But if I'm going to represent you, there are a few things I have to know that still don't make any sense to me. Like... do you really believe there’s a resurgence of ancient evils?”
“Absolutely.”
“Are you still serious about this? And an alarming increase in ghosts and vampires as well, I suppose?”
“Sure. And dragon priests.”
“And I suppose that you expect me to believe in this… corrupted ancient dragonborn as well?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Because it's real.”
“How did it start, Mr. Neloth?”
“How?”
“Yes, how? Help me out here. Please.”
“As nothing. But that's how it always begins. Very small...”
The Low Down
"I don't get this at all. I thought..."
"Shut up, Mr. Breton! You are not put upon this world to 'get it.'"
Brash, arrogant, opinionated, frequently clueless, delusionally self-confident, and so very loquacious, there's bound to be big trouble just about anywhere Jak Breton plants himself. Fortunately for the holds of Skyrim, Jak Breton rarely stays put for long. A travelling merchant with his own cart and a cargo full of items of dubious worth, he flits in and out of the lives of Tamriel's Skyrim-ians, many of whom have become friends... and just as many have become enemies. See, you either love Jak Breton or hate Jak Breton. There's no middle road. But that's okay by him. Jak is comfortable with Jak, and that's all that matters...
Race
Breton—Yes, it would certainly make sense to play Jak as a Nord. Jak is a patriot and son of Skyrim, but I opted for Breton for what I consider to be even greater roleplay reasons: first, tweaking the last name into 'Breton' felt like a fun way to Skyrimize this character (and what self-respecting Nord would own up to a last name like 'Breton'). Secondly, while Jak Breton is the epitome of your commonplace everyman, he's also a bit of a fish out of water in his adventures, and Breton-in-Skyrim gave me that feel.
But perhaps the greatest reason is this: Jak has an almost child-like perception of what is right, what is wrong, and acts accordingly—100% of the time—even if it's difficult, embarrassing, or dangerous. In spite of his penchant for trouble, some glaring gaps between perceived abilities and reality, and an aptitude for complaining, the universe looks out for Jak Breton. In fact, the universe looks out for all its Jak Bretons. It may allow them to get banged up a bit, but it always lets them to pick themselves back up—and the Jak Bretons of the universe always pick themselves back up. I figured the passives and racial abilities that come with Bretons recreate that little bit of extra love Jak receives from the universe.
Stone
Since you pass it on the way out of Helgen, go ahead and grab the Warrior stone to help you level two of your three skills. Eventually, however, you should be picking up...
The Lord Stone—again this is almost more for RP reasons than mechanics. Certainly, the protection bonuses the stone grants are helpful, but most importantly, they perfectly mirror the luck or fate or karma or whatever it is that keeps Jak alive in spite of the many threatening encounters he is so obviously ill-equipped to handle.
Stats
4 health/1 stamina—life plays rough, and Jak gets slapped around quite a bit; health helps him absorb the rough treatment. I also decided to throw in some stamina for crossbow bashing (the Ordinator perk, Wingstrike, gives you added bow/crossbow damage after throwing a bash on your target with said weapon, so it was nice to have a little extra in reserve.
Shouts
Slow Time—No, he is not the dragonborn; he's just a regular guy who doesn't know when to quit, one that trouble tends to follow around. But Jak's uncanny reflexes save him when he gets to feeling overwhelmed... which is often. The Slow Time Shout so perfectly reflects these reflexes that I couldn't resist throwing it in ;D
Mods
Just Ordinator. As far as I'm concerned, SkyUI and Ordinaotr are the only two mods a person needs if you play using PC. In order to avoid sounding overly preachy, I'll limit my comments to this: I'm a Skyrim minimalist (still refuse to play with the Unofficial Patches), but Ordinator is the Perk system Skyrim was made for—if you want to truly experience TES archetypes in Skyrim, start running Ordinator... NOW!
Major Skills
"It's all in the reflexes."
There were a lot of different ways to tackle Jak Breton. My first playthrough utilized One-handed dagger and Block exclusively, and on paper it was a fantastic match. The problem, however, was while the skills fit, they just didn't feel right when I played it. I tried a second playthrough, opting instead for Light Armor, Archery, and Speech, and it was infinitely more satisfying and closer to the spirit of this build's inspiration. For a more in depth justification of my skill selection, check out the ClosingRemarks section at the end.
Light Armor
"I feel pretty good. You know, I'm not...I'm not scared at all. I just feel kind of... I feel kind of invincible."
"Me too. I've got a very positive attitude about this, Jak."
"Good. Me too."
"Yeah."
"Is it gettin' hot in here, or is it just me?"
I perked Light Armor because I really wanted to capitalize on Ordinator's unarmed branch and its many fantastic perks. But the two brightest stars are Iron Fists (a 3 perk point skill, which boosts your unarmed damage by 5%, 15%, and 25% respectively) and Rushing Tide (grants 10% stamina regeneration and 5% movement speed increase for 8 seconds per unarmed attack... AND the effect stacks). Unarmed power attacks are so painfully slow that Sweeping Wind (25% increased damage per power attack) seems like a wasted perk until you combine it with Rushing Tide—then your power attacks get some additional oomph with your increased movement speed.
I agonized over whether or not to take the Hissing Dragon perk (adds 10 additional points of your choice of elemental, poison or sun damage to your unarmed attacks). I was afraid it would make Jak borderline magical/mystical, which I really wanted to avoid. But again, considering Jak's swagger-to-skills ratio, he'd have been dead ages ago if life wasn't intervening on his behalf in some way. My workaround was to choose Sun Damage which is part of the Restoration school—life's way of looking out for good ol' Jak Breton.
As to armor vs unarmored: I was initially going to just wear the Roughspun Tunic and ignore the the other branches of the Light Armor skill tree entirely, but again... didn't feel right. The choice had me running around dodging and dancing like a Shaolin monk. Which was certainly cool, but not Jak Breton. So I opted for the Blackguard armor and hood, Gloves of the Pugilist, and the Predator's Grace boots. Doing so allowed me to approach my close quarters conflicts a little more like a tank-fist than a ninja, and that felt a lot more like Jak Breton ;D
Archery
"All right. You got any crossbows?"
"Not against Miraak, but here's one for you, Jak, to make you feel better—like Missun Akin."
Jak Breton is not above sending a hot one into the domes of his enemies when he's up against mobs or a particularly tough boss... a crossbow makes for a great equalizer when faced with odds that are skewed in your enemy's favor. Nor is Jak above putting a quiet one in the back of a foe when faced with the aforementioned odds. But he's not a sniper and prefers more of a stand-your-ground type of archery.
For this reason I ignored the stealth archery branch (and also the Snipe perk), focusing instead on perks that would let me be a bit more... confrontational. Crippling Shot, Pinning Shot, and Beak and Talon are fantastic perks that reward archers for standing their ground rather than kiting, and both points into Wingstrike increase your crossbow to an additional 40% damage for 10 seconds after bashing an enemy with it. This also synergizes wonderfully with some of the Light Armor perks that increase stamina regeneration during combat :D
Full disclosure: if I were really trying to be true to the character of Jak Breton, I probably would have ignored the Ranger perk. Increased mobility with a weapon drawn definitely implies a familiarity and training with that particular weapon, and I'm not convinced that Jak Breton has a lot of experience with a crossbow before all his big troubles in little Morro. But this time, I confess, I let mechanics overthrow the RP overlord that resides in my heart. I played without it for quite a while, and yes, it was a better fit for Jak Breton, BUT... I. Love. Dat. Ranger. Perk. If you'd rather stay truer to character by foregoing it, I fully understand—and much love and respect to you for it ;D
Minor Skill
"OK! You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. If we're not back by dawn... call the emperor."
Speech
"Not so fast, gentlemen."
"Is it too much to ask, Ahzidal? Kill him! For me!"
"It won't solve anything, ‘raak. Too many people have been droppin' like flies already and where's that gettin' us? Nowhere, fast. Nah, you know what Jak Breton always says at a time like this?"
"Who?"
"Jak Breton—me! Ol' Jak always says… 'What the hell?'"
Jak Talks—a lot! He says what he thinks, and to oblivion with the consequences. It's part of what makes him loveable (and also a part of what makes him infuriating). In addition to a lack of basic mind-to-mouth editing skills, his travels and business insinuates him into the lives of all sorts of people, all of whom he must interact with. I threw a point into Mastery, and then dumped a couple more to pick up Kinship (meh) and Salesman (very handy—sell any item to any vendor... huzzah!).
And I really didn't want to add too much more Speech to him than that. Yes, Jak's a talker, but not a smooth talker. In fact his words are just as likely to get him into trouble as they are to bail him out of it. This seemed just the right balance: enough to help him in his business ventures, but not so much that it starts rounding off some of the rougher corners of his persona.
Perks—Level 31
"It's OK. Everybody relax.... I'm here."
Follower—Teldryn Sero
"Is this gonna get ugly now, Teldryn? I hope not, because I thought what we were here, racial differences aside, was just a couple of old friends. You know… just both of us Skyrim-ians."
"You know something you're not tellin' me, Teldryn."
"Myths and legends, Jak. I don't wanna insult you."
"No, no. Go ahead. Insult me!"
Usually unless RP dictates otherwise, I prefer to play Skyrim sans followers—I'm just wired that way. I will admit, however, that I am often pleasantly surprised when a character's RP requires a follower of me, and Teldryn Sero is no exception. While not nearly as fun to hang out with as Belrand, I readily admit that Sero is perhaps the best spellsword I've ever played with.
Teldryn's spells and summons are incredibly useful, and he withstands abuse wonderfully, but most importantly, he closes in for sword work double-quick! I'm used to my spellswords hanging back a bit so they can get to pelting away with the spells, but Teldryn seems to do a better job of firing off a few shots or a summons, then getting straight to the slicey stuff. I gave him Dawnbreaker, and he simply tears up the undead with it. It's nice to know I can charge into a group of enemies with just my fists, to find half of them concentrating on Teldryn because, in spite of my best efforts to beat him to the punch, he got in there first.
"We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we, Teldryn?"
Combat
"Hide!"
"HIDE?"
"They only saw me!"
"We fight together, Jak. Do or die."
For me, combat all revolved around deciding when it was most beneficial to trade the high-damage, but slow speed of my crossbow/Wingstrike bash combos for ultra-quick, high DPS knuckle work. I usually kept the crossbow out and ready, and would start the decision making process after encounters started. Distance and numbers really seemed to be the two key factors here.
Distance
"First time you ever plugged somebody, Jak?
"... 'Course not."
Obviously, if enemies are a good way off, I'd plink away with the crossbow. For initiating combat with large groups, if I was still undetected, the first shot would be taken stealthily. I'd try to single out the weakest enemies to take them out of the picture first. If the weakest was not readily apparent (one bandit oftentimes looks very much like another), I'd just settle for shooting the closest threat. As long as enemies were far enough away that I couldn't give 'em a five-knuckle caress, I'd keep the bow out. It was when enemies started closing the gap that I had to start making some quick decisions.
Numbers
"Great! Who wiped out all those Reavers? Those guys were winning."
"He says it was the Storms. The Three Storms."
"Three guys did all that?"
Mobs—Tamriel's a rough place with the odds frequently stacked heavily against you. When the mobs start rolling up like blades of spring grass, you need to put your thinking cap on. My opening gambit for close quarter mob encounters was to run straight for the closest whose AI was locked on me, bash him with my crossbow to (a) stagger him, and (b) get that Wingstrike perk bonus to crossbow damage kicking in. Next, I'd quickly put a bolt through the threat, shift position and assess: if the threat went down, I'd do the same thing to the next guy locked onto me.
But sometimes they don't go down. If that's the case, a quick look around is helpful. If I've only got one or two locked on me, the threats aren't overpowering me, or Teldryn is taking the the majority of the heat. I'd rinse and repeat with the Wingstrike bashes and bolts. If, however, things look to be spiraling in a downward direction, I'd lose the crossbow and start flinging fists quickly. With the appropriate perks, this initial flurry does two things: (a) it drastically increases your movement speed and mobility (Rushing Tide Perk)—a huge advantage when surrounded by the raging hordes, and (b) it also increases your unarmed power attack damage (Sweeping Wind perk). Experience got me pretty close to using my power attacks like a kill move (and when it didn't kill the enemy, it would put them down on one knee, taking them out of combat and giving me a chance to stick it to some other threat).
It most certainly would be a mistake to neglect the power of the Slow Time shout. I saved this baby for when things with mobs started to look their darkest. All AI is locked on you; you're surrounded by Scourges and Deathlords with ebony axes; and Teldryn just isn't taking enough of the heat off? It's all in the reflexes! Weave your way in and out of blows, and counter with a rain of fists all the while. Slow Time turns tides... 'nuff said! ;D
The Singularity—for one-on one encounters, I tended to bash and shoot till the threat joined its predacessors in the oblivion-of-the-horny-dragon. The speed of your crossbow (even with the Quick Shot perk) doesn't quite stagger lock enemies... but it's pretty darned close.
Archers I took on differently. Rather than trading bolts and arrows back and forth, I'd switch to unarmed, and charge. At a distance, ducking arrows is fairly simple; it's up close that things start to get a bit dodgey. Enter the Evasive Leap perk! This Light Armor perk allows you to jump, and in the second that follows, you take no damage (there is a cooldown for this, so no, you can't spam it... you sly dog, you xD). At this stage in my Skyrim life, I've got a fairly innate feel for when that next arrow is coming. Once the spidey senses start tingling, give a quick little hop to let the arrow fly by, then Pound. That. Fetcher's. Face.
Mages. Just treat them like archers. Your Breton resistances to magic plus Lord stone make these guys pretty tame.
Speaking of pretty tame, Dragons aren't nearly as tricky as they can be for other builds. Shoot 'em out of the sky, take some more shots while you close the gap, wait for the breath attack to start (yes, you read that right), move into close quarters, and start flinging fists. Your racial abilities as a Breton combined with the Lord stone make the breath attacks the least of your worries. For tougher dragons, I'd fall back after the breath attacks end and keep out of the way of the dragon kill-cam-chomp-of-death, wait for the next breath attack, then close on in again. If the breath attacks start to sting, your Dragonskin greater power will end that jive super quick! ;D
"What I need to get straight is... These Storms, what are they? Magicians?"
"Yeah, sort of. It's hard to explain."
"Try real hard."
Gameplay/Roleplay
"See you around, Burton!"
"Never can tell."
Like a Rolling Stone
Gameplay for this build is pretty free and easy; Jak meets all kinds of people, then moves on. This means you're free to pick up quests, get what you want, then walk away never to return. Or maybe you will... you never can tell. This means I was in and out of all kinds of factions and quests. For example, I joined the thieves guild to get the Gloves of the Pugilist and Blackguard armor and hood, but never bothered to visit Goldenglow Estate. On the other hand, the Winterhold College quests lent themselves very well to the types of trouble Jak gets into; I completed the whole thing (off and on), then strolled off into the sunset. But I took the middle road with the Civil War quest ('bout half way, then decided it was time for the Empire to start learning how to get along without ol' Jak Breton bailing it out all the time). The point I'm making is this: do whatever it is you think a chaotic/good loudmouth might do, but don't stick something out because of a sense of obligation... if you help a group out at all, they've alrady received a greater favor than they probably deserved ;D
That Kind of Guy
Also, Jak asks a lot of questions:
So, whenever I had a question in my dialogue options, I took it. I also opted for all the cocky and brash dialogue options as well. That's something I don't often do (I rarely play characters who speak whatever comes to mind), so it was kind of refreshing (and amusing) to see what happens when you indulge in those exchanges.
Training
To get my Archery to level 50 in a hurry, I teamed up with Faendal by taking care of his romantic rival, then exploiting the heck out of the follower glitch in order to train and get all my gold back. The other two trainers I utilized weren't as magically helpful, but because they were merchants/trainers, they were still incredibly useful. Grelka in Riften was my Light Armor hook-up, and Revyn Sadri in Windhelm helped me out with Speech. With all the gear I amassed from saving Tamriel from evil sorcerers and fighting tongs (bandits and reavers), paying for training was pretty simple.
Closing Notes
So tell me... who is this Jack Burton?
"Wait a minute! I'm a reasonable guy, but I've just experienced some very unreasonable things."
Jack Burton is the reluctant hero of John Carpenter's 1986 film, Big Trouble in Little China (BTILC). He's loud, opinionated, thinks he can do everything, can in fact do next to nothing, always does what he feels is the right thing to do, and spends most of his time complaining about it when he does—and he doesn't know a lick of kung fu! Honestly, as a kid I was highly disappointed with both the film and Jack Burton. I was expecting either Bruce Lee or Snake Plisskin or (even better) a glorious blend of BOTH. Talk about bitter disappointment.
It wasn't until seeing the film on television years later that I came to appreciate a movie that was never meant to be an action/martial arts flick that takes itself seriously. BTILC is a comedy. Pure and simple. Yes, there is action and there is martial arts, but the film manages to poke fun of the genre more than emulate it. The only thing that does take itself seriously is Jack Burton, a cocksure bungler who tries to pull off 'experienced/jaded', but ultimately reveals a childlike naivete just below the surface. With his unyeilding belief in himself and in his wildly imperfect abilities, he kind of puts me in mind of inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther series... just with tons more swagger.
Miraak as Lo Pan?
"Look, this Miraak I ran over... through..."
"Has spirit-medium powers. Like the immortals. His flesh and his bones are atomized. He becomes the dream."
"What?"
Miraak as Lo Pan? You dang skippy! Honestly, I was just going to leave it at that single sentence, but I love talking about movies, so grab a chair. "David" Lo Pan, a great warrior and wizard, is cursed by emperor Qin Shi Huang and his mighty spirit is banished inside a decrepit body weighed down by the curruption of thousands of years. He now wants to be free of this banishment and rule the universe from beyond the grave—that's not too much to ask, is it? I was struck by how nicely Lo Pan's banishment follows Miraak's predicament as Hermaeus Mora's banished champion looking for a triumphant return in order to rule all Tamriel.
Just as Lo Pan is trapped between a corrupted corporeal state and the formlessness of the spirit world, Miraak seems to have trouble fully breaking out of the realm of Hermaeus Mora. Yes, Miraak busts out occasionally to steal a dragon soul or two, but for the most part he remains stuck in Mora's realm—waiting. And interestingly enough, just as Lo Pan is bound in his formlessness and death that is not death/life that is not life, Miraak seems to be similarly situated. Mora's realm cannot truly be considered real. Take, for instance, that fact that the player-hero cannot be killed there. It's like a very lifelike video game for the player/character wherein if you "die", you simply respawn back to the location where you first read the Black Book. Game over—but not life over.
There are other similarities as well. Lo Pan seeks his return to the living through the help of his three storms, Thunder, Wind, and Lightning. Likewise, Miraak has got his three powerful servants, dragon priests known as the 'Acolyte Priests', who identify not with three storm elements, but rather with the three elemental damages: Fire (Ahzidal), Frost (Dukaan), and Shock (Zahkriisos). These guys are also bad news and a force to be reconed with as Jak Breton delves deeper into Miraak's machinations. In addition to all this, Lo pan has a many-eyed, spherical 'Guardian' that looks out for for him. Likewise, Miraak has been looked after by the many-eyed daedra Hermeaus Mora for untold eras. Granted, the Guardian serves Lo Pan rather than the other way around, but regardless of who serves whom, the similarities between Lo Pan's guardian and Hermeaus Mora, Miraak's 'benefactor,' are striking.
"By the Nine, no! Please! What is that? Don't tell me."
About that skilll selection, Shin... justify!
I know! You want to dump perks into One-handed and have Jack Burton swing his knife around. Heaven knows I did. But it just didn't play. First off, Jack's usual pre-film confrontations had to have been limited to barroom brawls rather than knife fights; he's not a hacker and slasher. In fact, there are a couple of quick lines of dialogue that heavily imply Jack has never killed anyone before. Yes, he does kill two people with his knife, but both times are pretty unconventional killings: the first time he's lying on his back and has to slip the knife into his boot and kick up while a heavily armored guard tries to impale him with a two-handed sword (which would be pretty boss if it weren't for the fact that the guard falls on him, effectively trapping him through much of the fight). The second time occurs at the film's climax when he pulls his knife out of his boot to throw it at Lo Pan... and misses. By a lot.
Really, it's Jack's quick reflexes, not mad knife skills, that allows him to defeat Lo Pan. This is hardly surprising considering a scene in the middle of the film where Jack tries to pull the knife out of his boot and winds up accidentally flinging it halfway across the room and is forced to fetch it, only to discover Wang has taken out the enemies single-handedly by the time Jack returns. Truth be told, that knife is probably more for show than for any practical use.
Most of Jack's kills (and there aren't many) happen through gun-play. Even the title posters show him, not with a knife, but with a gun. This was ultimately my reasoning behind replacing One-handed with Archery and Unarmed combat. But that also adversely affected using Block as a skill. I know there are glitches and exploits, but I've never been able to use them to fluidly block with a bow. Yes, Block's Quick Reflexes would have been great, but items that just don't fit—using a dagger you don't stab with just to initiate Quick Reflexes—seemed superfluous, and turtling behind a shield puts the character too much in control of a combat encounter's pacing... a luxury Jack Burton never had. Besides, uncanny reflexes should be triggered under any life-threatening circumstance, not just power attacks from enemies. No, it just felt like the Slow Time shout made more sense than Block's Quick reflexes.
Thanks/Apologies
"Here's to the Legion and the battles they have won; here's to the Empire's colors, the colors that never run."
"May the wings of liberty never lose a feather."
First of all, a big thanks to Vargr for getting this event off the ground, and for all the housekeeping behind the scenes that we don't see (but that inevitably comes with running one). Also a big thanks to each and every participant, be it through inspiring builds, helpful comments and feedback to all the event builders, or just general words of encouragement—you all are what make the events so much fun :D
Also, I apologize for the image/quote-fest this build turned into. It's difficult for me when working with a movie that is almost entirely quotable. I honestly cut tons of stuff out, but just couldn't make myself cut any more xD
Shinjin this is amazing! I didn't have much time to go slowly through the whole build but I couldn't wait to comment on how cool this is! Will come back later for some proper feedback! :D
Shinjin this is amazing! I didn't have much time to go slowly through the whole build but I couldn't wait to comment on how cool this is! Will come back later for some proper feedback! :D
Perfectly understandable (my builds tend to get... wordy xD), but I'm thrilled at the prospect of seeing what you think when you get a bit more time ;D
Right on! And thanks, Duvain :D
Perfectly understandable (my builds tend to get... wordy xD), but I'm thrilled at the prospect of seeing what you think when you get a bit more time ;D
Got no idea about the reference material, but holy shit was this an entertaining build to read, and I love the skill combination. Running that combined Archery and Unarmed (LA) is really bloody awesome. I'm definitely over 100% down for the build Shin, it's come together excellently :D
Got no idea about the reference material, but holy shit was this an entertaining build to read, and I love the skill combination. Running that combined Archery and Unarmed (LA) is really bloody awesome. I'm definitely over 100% down for the build Shin, it's come together excellently :D
Incredibly well-presented build, ShinJin! I've always loved your sense of humor as well as your simplistic, yet effective presentation style and this one definitely does it justice. I'm not too familiar with the source material, but the connections you made and the Skyrimization of Jack Burton/BTILC definitely deserves a mention. It's easily one of the hardest parts of creating a Crossworlds character and to be honest with you, I think you pull it off perfectly. Well done, hopefully, this will get a feature on the TV twitter page ;P
Incredibly well-presented build, ShinJin! I've always loved your sense of humor as well as your simplistic, yet effective presentation style and this one definitely does it justice. I'm not too familiar with the source material, but the connections you made and the Skyrimization of Jack Burton/BTILC definitely deserves a mention. It's easily one of the hardest parts of creating a Crossworlds character and to be honest with you, I think you pull it off perfectly. Well done, hopefully, this will get a feature on the TV twitter page ;P
@DB--Thanks man (though it pains me to know that someone with your sense of humor has yet to see BTILC ;D). It's awesome that you so readily caught the vision of Archery/Unarmed... I was surprised at just how much fun that turned out to be.
@Tysoyaha--Thanks! I'm embarassed to say that after six years of Skyrim I still don't fully understand the politics of the forsworn xD
I will say this, though: Jack Burton was 100% 'Merican. Didn't matter your background, if you were from the States, you were okay by him. That seemed to have Imperial stamped all over it (but 'Imperial' doesn't sound like Burton... Breton does ;D).
@Aysleph--As always, your kind words are much appreciated :D
I'm glad you found the Skyrimization of Jack Buron believeable. I struggled mightily trying to make him fit, and at times was afroaid that I was simply trying to force a square peg through a round hole, so it's gratifying to hear that the character makes it without feeling forced. Thank you.
As to the Twitter page... always a bit awkward using the Vault's twitter page to push your own stuff. I'll probably do it, but feel like a total tool for doing it xD
@DB--Thanks man (though it pains me to know that someone with your sense of humor has yet to see BTILC ;D). It's awesome that you so readily caught the vision of Archery/Unarmed... I was surprised at just how much fun that turned out to be.
@Tysoyaha--Thanks! I'm embarassed to say that after six years of Skyrim I still don't fully understand the politics of the forsworn xD
I will say this, though: Jack Burton was 100% 'Merican. Didn't matter your background, if you were from the States, you were okay by him. That seemed to have Imperial stamped all over it (but 'Imperial' doesn't sound like Burton... Breton does ;D).
@Aysleph--As always, your kind words are much appreciated :D
I'm glad you found the Skyrimization of Jack Buron believeable. I struggled mightily trying to make him fit, and at times was afroaid that I was simply trying to force a square peg through a round hole, so it's gratifying to hear that the character makes it without feeling forced. Thank you.
As to the Twitter page... always a bit awkward using the Vault's twitter page to push your own stuff. I'll probably do it, but feel like a total tool for doing it xD
Shin, Shin Shin, Why am I not surprised? only you have the imagination and determination to pull this one out the bag, it is brilliant, I am a fan of Ole Jack Burton and you have Skyrimised him beautifully, the character is a perfect fit for your playthrough, reading the Build I could actually picture Kurt Russell tearing up Skyrim as he goes about his often funny and chaotic way, Bravo my friend, a masterclass on how it should be done congratulations.
Shin, Shin Shin, Why am I not surprised? only you have the imagination and determination to pull this one out the bag, it is brilliant, I am a fan of Ole Jack Burton and you have Skyrimised him beautifully, the character is a perfect fit for your playthrough, reading the Build I could actually picture Kurt Russell tearing up Skyrim as he goes about his often funny and chaotic way, Bravo my friend, a masterclass on how it should be done congratulations.
Breton—Yes, it would certainly make sense to play Jak as a Nord. Jak is a patriot and son of Skyrim, but I opted for Breton for what I consider to be even greater roleplay reasons: first, tweaking the last name into 'Breton' felt like a fun way to Skyrimize this character (and what self-respecting Nord would own up to a last name like 'Breton'). Secondly, while Jak Breton is the epitome of your commonplace everyman, he's also a bit of a fish out of water in his adventures, and Breton-in-Skyrim gave me that feel.
Jak Breton is not above sending a hot one into the domes of his enemies when he's up against mobs or a particularly tough boss... a crossbow makes for a great equalizer when faced with odds that are skewed in your enemy's favor. Nor is Jak above putting a quiet one in the back of a foe when faced with the aforementioned odds. 
Distance
