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Flash Event Build: The Charlatan

Tags: #Character Build Nightblade  #Character Build Alchemist  #Character Build Bound Weapons  #Race:Argonian  #Flash Event 2 
  • Member
    February 15, 2018

    Remember me, you Thalmor sonofabitch? Yeah, I don’t just do parlor tricks anymore!

    Race: Argonian

    Gender: Male

    Alignment: Chaotic Good

    Attribute  Spread: 1 Magicka 1 Health | 0 Stamina

    Standing  Stone: The Lord

    Level: 20

    Major  Skills: Illusion, Conjuration, One-Handed, Light Armor, Sneak, Alchemy

      

    Backstory

    The Charlatan had never wanted anything more than a simple life. He was born in Gideon, a city on the western border of Cyrodiil and Black Marsh. Growing up in a city between to vastly different worlds, his childhood was influenced by both traditional argonian culture and that of the imperials. The Charlatan was not particularly ambitious, or skillful in any craft, but he did have a bit of a fascination with magic; Particularly the visually stunning illusion and conjuration schools. Although he had always found magic impressive and interesting, he didn’t actually care to put years of dedicated training into it. Instead, he took to performing at local taverns, fascinating everyone from argonian hatchlings to imperial travelers with his colorful spells. He even managed to attract a wonderful mate with his abilities, and they settled down to raise a family. All was happy and well for the Charlatan, and he wished and wanted for nothing other than a quiet life.

     

    Unfortunately for him, that wish would not be fulfilled. As the Aldmeri Dominion’s influence grew, so did their lust for power. Gideon, not being well defended or a point of particular interest for either of its adjacent countries, was seized in 4E 298, practically unbeknownst to any of its neighbors. It was a cold but merciless seizure. Any who resisted, including the Charlatan’s family, were slaughtered. As they refused to give in to a Thalmor Justiciar, he ordered his men to kill the argonians and raze their property. Unfortunately, the Charlatan’s parlor tricks were no match for expertly trained and fully equipped Thalmor soldiers. One struck him on the temple with the pommel of an elvish sword. His vision swam, and he fell to the ground, stunned. From his prone position, he was forced to watch helplessly as the Thalmor soldiers remorselessly cut down the rest of his kin. With his last strength, he feebly tugged at the boot of the Justiciar, who kicked him squarely in the head. The one thing that he heard as the darkness took him was the Justiciar barking at his men to prepare his vessel to sail to Northwatch Keep.

    After awakening with a splitting headache, he buried the remians of his family and gathered what few belongings he had before heading north to Skyrim. This time, not on a journey to spread wonder and mirth, but to inspire fear and to avenge his family.

     

    Illusion: The Charlatan in very well versed in the illusion school; albeit most of his experience is in crowd entertainment. He will heighten his skills to more practical uses upon arriving in Skyrim. He uses illusion to hide himself from enemies’ sights and to make himself appear as a transparent specter of death.

    Conjuration: The hatchlings always loved the small conjured rabbits and lizards, but something like that isn't going to help cut the throat of a Thalmor Soldier. The Charlatan uses conjurations to arm himself with weapons more powerful than mere steel.

    One-Handed: The Charlatan knows absolutely nothing about armed combat, but damned if he won’t pick up a sword to avenge his family. Take a few perks in this tree to efficiently bring down foes with a bound sword.

    Light  Armor: That soft argonian underbelly isn’t going to protect itself. Although he has no experience with combat, The Charlatan isn't willing to go into battle defenseless, and will take minimal perks and protection as his playstyle focuses on swift takedowns and assassinations.

    Sneak: The Charlatan isn’t a particularly powerful warrior or even a very skilled mage. But, he isn’t going to let that get in between him and the Captain of Northwatch Keep. He will use stealth to silently and aggressively take down enemies who get in his way.

    Alchemy: The Charlatan is also a purveyor of poultices, folk medicines, alchemical potions, and even dangerous poisons. He will use potions to protect and heal himself, and poisons to damage and disable his foes. 

     

     

    Weapons:

    Steel Dagger- A simple steel dagger will do as a backup weapon. Useful only if you run out of magicka

    Armor:

    Elvish Armor, Gauntlets, and Boots- A bit ironic if you think about it, but it is the best protection The Charlatan can get his hands on at low level

    Apprentice Mage Hood- Any mage hood he can get ahold of is good enough. Provides a little bit of extra spellcasting potential

    Spells:

    Bound Sword- The Charlatan's main form of delivering damage. With the Oblivion Binding perk, it will be as powerful as a Daedric Sword

    Muffle- A cheap, effective spell that amplify's The Charlatan's sneaking ability. Works well with Invisibility

    Invisibility- Makes the Charlatan all but undetectable when combined with Muffle. Must be recast after each attack

     

    Gameplay:

    The Charlatan does a fair bit of freelancing adventuring in order to level up important skills. After joining the College of Winterhold, feel free to complete whatever miscellaneous quests you want while you gain strength. As a fast and easy way to level up illusion, constantly cast muffle while outside of combat. At low levels, a couple castings will give you a level. At higher levels, it is less efficient but still very effective. In total, it took me about 4 hours to take this build from 15 to 75 illusion while I did other quests. In combat, The Charlatan's playstyle focuses on eliminating as many opponents as possible and then savagely attacking the remaining enemies before they can damage him. To prepare for combat, cast muffle and bound sword once you spot an enemy, and then invisibility if you have it. Casting these spells in this order gives you a cool purple ghostlike outline of your character while sill remaining completely invisible to enemies. It's honestly the best part of this build. Once you are armed and ready, stealthily approach your targets and eliminate as many of them as possible from the shadows. Because you must cast invisibility quite often, I chose to not use The Atronach Stone due to the decreased regeneration. Once spotted, use power attacks and poison to stagger and kill enemies before they can deal significant damage to you.

    Roleplaying:

    The Charlatan is a damaged character. Up until recently, his fellow townspeople would have called him a happy, perhaps even childish argonian. Bringing wonder and joy was his profession. After the death of his family, The Charlatan underwent a polar character shift. No longer talkative and joyful, but quiet and brooding. He is still a good man, and will seek to help those who are in need, especially those uprooted by the Civil War or the Thalmor. However, this illusionist no longer feels any need to follow the rules in order to get what he needs. He's not a thief, but he plays by his own rules now. Above all else though, remember always your purpose for being in Skyrim while playing The Charlatan. He's not really here to save anyone or make friends, only to avenge his loved ones.

    Character  Arc:

    Escape Helgen ⇒ Join Mages’ College ⇒ Hone Skills ⇒ Assault Northwatch Keep

    After escaping Helgen, The Charlatan will quickly realize that he is woefully unprepared to assault an entire military complex full of expertly trained soldiers. To remedy this, he will join the College of Winterhold. As a member of the College, he will not be particularly interested in College business. Rather, he will use it as a base of operations and a place to learn exclusive spells from Drevis Neloren, such as Invisibility. In the meantime, he will accept any offer or opportunity to challenge his skills and improve them. Once he has acquired all three spells, and has made all appropriate preparations, he will make his assault on Northwatch Keep. Using the back entrance, he should be able to eliminate two or three guards before being spotted. After eliminating the guards outdoors, he will begin to make his way through the keep. The first few targets are easy to elimiate as they are never in groups larger than three, and one is always eliminated via assassination. The large, multi-leveled room is the area of his final confrontation. Two Justiciars and a handful of soldiers inhabit the room. Though The Charlatan will recognize the captain immediately, you will be able to tell from the captain's key on his body. Eliminate him by any means possible, and offer the rest as much quarter as they gave your family. This is true vengeance. The Charalatan will clear the fort and leave, fulfilled and glowing (both with confidence and magical effects).

    What will he do next? Will he return home a changed man or embrace his new profession? It is up to you, dear reader, to decide.

     

     

     Closing Notes:

    -I would like suggestions on the different format which I am trying for flash event builds, in which I set up a sort of short story/character arc for the build and suggest how the reader/player should fulfill it. Does this work/not work for you? Is it clever or does it not quite fit with the idea of a character build?

    -As a side note, what software do you all use for images/perkspreads/etc. on your builds?

    -General feedback is always appreciated

    -Thanks for checking out my build!

  • February 15, 2018

    Whoo, great to see this one out Xenla :D I think it's a good step above your previous builds, seems like your getting better and better each time you post something which is really awesome to see. I have to say, I love this one, I think the focus on the character is really well handled and I think the Arc is pretty much perfect for the Flash Events...Yeah don't know if I have much more to say, just a really great build.

    Oh, on another note. I thought I'd let you know that I recently changed the tagging rules, so if you want you can add another Playstyle tag to the build. Not sure if that's helpful at all but thought I'd mention.

    And personally, I tend to use Powerpoint for my Image Editing, pretty basic but there's a lot that can be done with it. Before that, I used to use Picasa 3 (not sure if it's outdated now) which is still really good from time to time if I want to do something a bit more complicated than Powerpoint...and it's free, which is always good :D

  • Member
    February 15, 2018

    The equipment spread looks really good, and I remain a fan of the open-ended, choose your own adventure after level 20 idea. I like the Charlatan (whom I've taken to calling Gideon), and could well see myself playing exactly as you did up until level 20, then letting the game take over and inform me of who he becomes. He could become a vampire, or find an interest in something he sees in an organic way, like magic shield and decide to learn how best to use it from there on out. Or anything else. It's a neat idea!