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Character Build: The Psijic Assassin

Tags: #Character Build Necromancer  #Character Build Illusionist  #Character Build Nightblade  #Race:Altmer  #SE Rank:Novice  #Tysoyaha 
  • January 8, 2018

     

    Concept:

    I've wanted to make a sneaky mage type for a while now. I've also always been intrigued by the idea of runes and had been looking for ways of salvaging their poor application. Eventually, I realized that these two concepts actually work really well together. The casting distance of runes makes them an ideal spell for those who want stay hidden, since Quiet Casting stops working the second a spell is released (and even long distance projectiles start off being "released" right in front of the character). Plus, in staying hidden you are able to wait out your mana regen from safety, making high casting costs much less of an issue. Add a bow that can control the ambient lighting while outside and an exploding decoy by way of Unkillable Zombies, and it ended up being probably my favorite build to play. Hope you guys like it as much as I do!

     

     

    Backstory:

    Your family fled the Thalmor Embassy in 4E 120 when you were still a young child. The two years you spent together in Winterhold were the happiest of your life. Your father began working for the College and trained you in magical combat when he was home in the evenings. He tried his best to instill you with a sense of structure and purpose, but Winterhold was a small boring town and it was difficult for a Mer child to make friends in Skyrim. So, being left to your own devices, you resorted to all sorts of mischief to amuse yourself and often got into trouble.

    One of your favorite past times was sneaking into the College at night and stealing potions to drink (just to see what they'd do). In fact, that's exactly where you were during the great collapse. The magical protections on the college saved you from the devastation inflicted when much of Winterhold was swept into the sea...including your home where the rest of your family was sleeping. You rushed to save them, but by the time you reached the shore there was nothing left but rubble and crashing waves.

    The sea was still ragging and the ground was still crumbing above you but you just sat and cried for your family. Suddenly, everything was silent...you looked up from your tears to see the angry sea had been frozen in an almost peaceful state and there was a large boulder hovering just inches above your head. A blurry grey figure approached you from what seemed like nowhere and began speaking to you. He began explaining to you that he was a member of a mystical Order both ancient and wise who foresaw great acts of heroism in your future. He claimed that it would be up to you to prevent "terrible change" or Oegnithr, as it was called.

    He taught you the ancient secrets to unlocking the full potential of rune magic, a powerful but complex and often overlooked art form. However, learning and mastering the spells themselves would have to be up to you. The order could guide you, he said, but only from afar. They had their ways of making sure certain whispers reached the ears of Jarls, and it would be your duty to travel the land learning of these rumors and eliminating the evils they spoke of before they could do any real harm. You would be compensated generously if you succeeded, but beyond collecting bounties indirectly actioned by the Order, you would be on your own. Only by learning to fend for yourself would you ever grow to be the great Hero you were destined to be.

     

     

    Build:

    Race - High Elf Vampire
    Extra magic and more powerful illusion spells, perfect fit your this build.

    Standing Stone - Apprentice Stone
    Runes can be heavy on mana. Luckily, as a stealth mage you can always duck and cover while your mana refills, this will help speed up that process.

    Magic/Health/Stamina - 5/0/1
    You might want a little stamina in case you get caught and need to run, but for the most part you just need to invest in magic.

    Skills - Illusion, Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Archery, Sneak, Alchemy
    Most of these should be pretty self explanatory, though Archery and Conjuration will serve more as tricks and distractions than how they're usually used.

    Spells - Frenzy Rune, Ash Rune, Elemental Runes, Paralyze, Dead Thrall, Detect Life
    The Elemental Runes are your straight forward damage dealers. Paralyze and Dead Thrall are for creating exploding dummies, Detect Like is a useful way of training Alteration and Ash Shell has many uses.

    Weapons - Auriel's Bow
    More of a tool than a weapon, your arrows can be used to lead enemies distant enemies into rune-casing range. Also, once you get Auriel's Bow you can blot out the sun, counteracting the vampires weakness to sunlight and also makes sneaking outdoors easier.

    Clothing/Armor - Archmages Robes, Morokei, Predators Grace
    Archmages Robes and Morokei will have us waiting a shorter time for our mana to refill and Predators grace saves us quite a few perks in the Sneak tree.

    Jewellery - Savos Aren's Amulet, Ahzidal's Ring of Necromancy
    Ahzidal's Ring may have a very niche ability, but it works perfectly for using Unkillable Zombies as traps.

    Items - Elder Scroll
    Viewing the scroll will reset the effect of Bloodcursed Arrows, allowing you to use Sunhollowed Arrows immediately.

     


    Potions/Poisons:

    Elemental Conduit (Ash Creep Cluster + Nightshade) - Fortify Destruction

    Liquid Guile (Scaly Pholiota + Mora Tapinella) - Fortify Illusion

     

     

     

    Perks:

    Illusion - You'll only need Adept Illusion for your Frenzy Rune. After that, Quiet Casting should be your priority. Rage and Dual Casting will be great late game, but won't be worth the Perks or mana cost for a while.

    Destruction - Get Rune Master as soon as it's available. Dual Casting will double the strength your Runes.

    Alteration - You really just need to be able to cast Ash Runes.

    Sneak - Stealth will help you stay hidden, light foot and silent roll are convenient but not priorities.

    Archery - You don't necissary need any perks in Archery, though Eagle Eye and Steady Hand can be useful if you find yourself with perks to spare. Just train with Faendal and then ask for your money back.

    Alchemy - You only need to max your Fortify potions for owing up your Runes.

    Conjuration - Eventually you'll want to work your way up to Expert (or even Master) for Dread Zombie or even Dead Thrall depending on how much time you expect to spend "collecting" enemies.

     


    Special Tactics:

    Booby Trap - Even with Quiet Casing, the spell, themselves still make noise, causing enemies to go into search mode. Once you have Rune Master this will work in your favor (like an automatic Throw Voice), but until then, remaining hidden might take some strategy. Use Detect Life to get an idea of what your up against, plan your hiding places ahead of time, and set runes at choke points before quickly retreating.

    Requires: Detect Life, Destruction Rune

     

    Exploding Decoy - Any enemy killed while paralyzed will remain paralyzed when raised as a zombie, also becoming invulnerable to physical damage. They can't defend themselves, but any melee enemy that sees them will attack relentlessly doing no damage and paying absolutely no attention to you. Once you feel you've collected a large enough crowd, any magic damage you inflict on your own decoy will make it detonate in an icy explosion.

    Requires: Paralyze, Dread Zombie

     

    There are no Winners - Once they've chosen a target, enemies won't pay attention to anything else until the first target is eliminated. This means casting regular frenzy spell would do nothing to enemies that are already attacking a decoy. Frenzy Runes, on the other hand, do just enough magical damage to detonate your Exploding Decoy. Leaving nothing in its wake but a large group of frenzied enemies looking for a new target.

    Requires: Exploding Decoy, Frenzy Rune

     

    Ultimate Betrayal - Similar to the Exploding Decoy, a frenzied foe can be encased in ash to be used as a distraction. Unlike the zombie version, they won't even be damaged by magic. Leaving you free to cast as many Destruction Runes as you can at distracted enemies. Just do it from hiding though because any foe waiting to attack an ashed enemy will still switch targets if they see you.

    Requires: Frenzy Rune, Ash Rune

     

    Double Down - Destruction Runes can be placed under ash encased enemies, and won't go off until the effect wears off. By which time your mana will have completely refilled, since rendering your foes non-combative gives you back your outside-combat regeneration rates. So the second your first Rune goes off you can cast another for double the damage (nearly triple with potions) at what is effectively the cost of a single Rune.

    Requires: Ash Rune, Destruction Rune

     

    Ashbomb - If you get ambushed, an Ash Rune can serve as a longer duration version of Shadow Warrior. No matter how vulnerable and easily detected you were a second ago, encasing your enemies in ash removes them from combat. Meaning that they're no longer targeting you and will have to search again once ash shell wears off.

    Requires: Ash Rune, Sneak

     

     


    Roleplay/Restrictions:

    Through The Grape Vine - You may be a hero now, but your day job is still as a freelance assassin for the Order. Whenever you're in town, make sure to ask the innkeeper if there's any bounties to collect. The Psijic order will make sure their rumors reach those with the wealth and means to reward such deeds, but it is still your moral duty to exterminate the potential oegnithr whether you need the money or not.

     

    Paying Respect - Being that you are an agent of the Psijic Order and not a true member, you're unsure of what the Rites of Moawita or the Vigyld even are, let alone how to perform them. However, you understand the importance of honoring your ancestors so on the 2nd of Hearth Fire and the 1st of Second Seed every year you travel to Winterhold and toss a single health potion into the ocean. It's meant to bring your family good health in the afterlife, but it also represents your own mistakes and the karmic debt you believe it caused you.

     

    Survivor's Guilt - Due to his circumstances, this characters first reaction will always be in the spirit of self preservation. However, the very next feeling he has will often be remorse. He's a little more complex than just good or bad, and often does bad things for very good reasons. Don't shy away from committing crimes, but take note of them and make an effort to atone for them later. For instance, once you have the funds, leaving a pile of coins on the counter of a shop that you had to from in the beginning of the game.


    Tips/Tricks:

    Disappearing Act - As useful as Ashbomb is in battle for your character, it's also useful for impatient players. One the best things about ash shell is that turning enemies non-hostile means you can fast travel in their presence. So any time you're on a mission or doing something important and you just don't have time to bother with hired thugs, you can use your ash based smoke bomb to literally just disappear. 

  • January 8, 2018

    I'm always really fond of Runes, though I was sorta surprised not to see, man whichever Azhidal's item that boosts Runes is. The Gauntlets is it? That might be a really good fit since you can't run Mage Armor anyway. Right, yeah other then that I think most of my notes would be identical to the other build, so I'll just drop a like and the comment :D

  • January 8, 2018

    I'm always really fond of Runes, though I was sorta surprised not to see, man whichever Azhidal's item that boosts Runes is. The Gauntlets is it? That might be a really good fit since you can't run Mage Armor anyway. Right, yeah other then that I think most of my notes would be identical to the other build, so I'll just drop a like and the comment :D

  • January 8, 2018

    Mega-Dragonborn-of-Doom (1921) said:

    I'm always really fond of Runes, though I was sorta surprised not to see, man whichever Azhidal's item that boosts Runes is. The Gauntlets is it? That might be a really good fit since you can't run Mage Armor anyway. Right, yeah other then that I think most of my notes would be identical to the other build, so I'll just drop a like and the comment :D

     

    Yea that's a pretty cool option, but it switches up the gameplay slightly. You'll easily have Rune Master by the time you can get through Kolbjorn Barrow so it would stack with that, pretty much making you able to Rune-snipe. Definitely awesome in its own right, but I just chose to focus on close range Rune stacking strategies instead. So magicka regen was a little more useful for me, especially since Ash Shell makes it to where Fortify Regeneration enchantments can activate mid battle.

  • February 15, 2018
    Is it just mobile, or are all my pictures gone?
  • Member
    February 15, 2018

    It's mobile all your pictures are there mate. :D

  • February 15, 2018

    Valric said:

    It's mobile all your pictures are there mate. :D

     

    Oh, good. Thank you.

  • February 15, 2018

    Uh, nope not seeing any pictures at all...not even anything that would normally suggest they're broken. Very strange.

  • Member
    February 15, 2018

    Dragonborn1921 said:

    Uh, nope not seeing any pictures at all...not even anything that would normally suggest they're broken. Very strange.

    Really? I see them, that's odd.

  • February 15, 2018

    Dragonborn1921 said:

    Uh, nope not seeing any pictures at all...not even anything that would normally suggest they're broken. Very strange.

     

    Yea, I'm literally just seeing text. You're not on mobile right deebs?

     That sucks, I'll have to see if I can find them again.