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Contest Build: Wrong Set Right, Part I

Tags: #Character Build Spellsword  #Character Build Juggernaut  #Character Build Necromancer  #Character Build Villain  #Race:Dunmer  #Contest Bronze  #SE Rank:Apprentice  #Judged Contest 
  • Member
    July 6, 2018

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Race: Dark Elf

    Gender: F

    Stat Spread: 3 | 2 | 1

    Her approach to combat, paired with her choice to use heavy armor means that Malven can put most stat points into magicka, allowing for more spell casts. A small investment into stamina should allow for some sprinting and power attacks during combat.

    Standing Stone: The Mage ⇒ The Ritual

    Reversal of death without destruction of the corpse is one of the potent feats of Shadow Magic. However, such a powerful spell can only be cast once per day.

    Alignment: Neutral Evil

    Due to past wrongs, Malven is distrustful of others and generally will resolve any given situation to help only herself. She learned from a very young age that the world is far from fair, and to take what she could and damn the rest.

    Major Skills: Conjuration, Alteration, Destruction, One-Handed, Heavy Armor

    Level: 40

    Lore

    “Shadow Magic is the art of manipulating shadows - The possibilities of what was, what is, and what will be. But you must understand: A shadow is not a true reflection of reality; it is merely a notion, a twisted afterimage of what takes place. Using Shadow Magic, one can bend the shadow to distort the reality, you see? A sword strike that plunges into the heart of its victim instead finds mere air in the event that they are one more inch apart. Shadow Magic is dangerous, to be sure, and yet it holds perhaps the greatest power of any modern technique.”

    -Azra Nightwielder, Mastering the Shadows

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Conjuration

    The hallmark of any necromancer, conjuration is used to bind the soul of a dremora to a corpse in order to force the body into servitude for a time. Of course, this in not the only way to accomplish such a feat... 

    Perks: Novice-Master conjuration, Necromancy, Dark Souls, Twin Souls

    Alteration

    Stylistically the most similar field to Shadow Magic, alteration can change the real world in accordance to the laws of nature, generating light or turning its user’s skin to stone.

    Perks: Novice-Expert Alteration, Stability, Magic Resistance 3/3

    Destruction

    Ice magic, while not as commonly used in Morrowind, is the best choice for many mages. Ice magic slows or even halts enemies in their tracks, and is less destructive to corpses than lightning or fire is, which results in easier reanimation.

     Perks: Novice-Expert Destruction, Augmented Frost 2/2, Deep Freeze

    One-Handed

     Sometimes, melee combat is unavoidable and Malven will have to fight back accordingly. Luckily, she is no slouch when it comes to armed combat and is incredibly familiar with the use of a heavy mace.

     Perks: Bladesman 5/5, Fighting Stance, Critical Charge

    Heavy Armor

    Malven isn’t nearly as soft as many other mages. Due to her years of training, she is just as comfortable in the chitinous armor of her homeland as she is in cloth robes.

    Perks: Juggernaut 5/5, Well Fitted, Tower of Strength, Matching Set, Reflect Blows

     

     

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    A chill breeze wafted through the Arcaneum, causing the single tallow candle illuminating the small desk to splutter and dance atop its wick. All was silent save for the quiet fluttering of parchment pages as a young dunmer mage thumbed her way through an ancient tome. The soft yellow glow illuminated the cover of the book she was reading; Shadow Draining: A Hypothesis. Malven’s eyes carefully scanned the pages of the ancient text. According to this book, the ability to drain life essence from one’s victim as vampires do was deeply rooted in shadow magic, as one steals the vigor of another’s shadow for themselves. She flipped the page once again, silently praying that this book would provide more than a simple notion. As she turned the page, a small slip of paper fell out and fluttered to the cold stone floor.

     

    Reaching down to pick it up, Malven peered curiously with dark black eyes at the note. Faded ink handwriting scratched the surface of the old parchment. Several drops of blood, now faded to an ugly brown from years of decay, all but obscured the writing; save for one word.

     

    “Harkon”

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    Mace of Molag Bal

     

    Chitin Heavy Armor

     

    Chitin Heavy Boots

     

    Chitin Heavy Gauntlets

     

    Vokun

     

    Ring of the Erudite

     

    Amulet of Bats

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Roleplaying

    Malven is purely out for herself, unconditionally. She sheds no tears for those she kills, and she will use murder, theft, and arson if it conveniences her. She does gain pleasure from bringing harm to others, but she does not feel bad for doing so. Due to the nature of her purpose for visiting Skyrim, she will avoid contact with everyone except potential allies such as the Mages’ College and the Volkihar Clan.

    Combat

    Malven’s cautious approach to life is directly reflected by how she fights. In combat, she allows her undead to directly engage opponents rather than putting herself at risk. She will support her minions with offensive destruction and alteration spells. Should she run low on magicka or should her summons be defeated, she will cast frost cloak and a flesh spell before engaging her opponents with her mace. Should she need to retreat from combat, ash shell and ash rune can both be used to either pacify her opponents or distract them by casting it on an undead minion to make it immune to damage.

    Quests and Factions

    College of Winterhold

    After escaping Helgen, Malven will travel to Winterhold in order to advance her study of magic and attempt to find more information on the whereabouts of Azra Nightwielder’s knowledge. She can progress at least partway through the questline, but keep in mind that she’s not here to draw attention to herself or win favors from teachers at the college. The most valuable thing about the College for her is the vast amount of knowledge contained in the Arcanaeum.

    Volkihar Clan

    After discovering a cryptic note in in the Arcanaeum, Malven directly seeks out information regarding Harkon and the Volkihar Clan. Her search leads her to an ancient and powerful family of vampires. At Volkihar Castle, Malven will have a dedicated environment to study shadow magic, gather allies to her cause, and generally gain power. She will do the radiant and side quests in order to unlock new powers and artifacts.

    Nordic Crypts

    To a necromancer, the draugr in the crypts of Skyrim are intriguing. Powerful magics animate these sentient corpses centuries after they have died. Malven, curious and hoping they have some link to Azra Nightwielder, will explore them in her free time.

     

     

     

     

    Click Here for Part II!

  • July 7, 2018

    So...this is sorta cool, it reminds me a bit of a project ShinJin and I worked on where we ran two different characters in an antagonistic relationship with each other. Actually sorta similar, one was a Necromancer the other a more Paladin/Cleric-y sorta character, still very different feels to the two, our Necro was a bit more of the slow build from 'good intentions but evil deeds' to being more power hungry.

    Anyway, enough of that, the build's an interesting dynamic Xen, I'll read the second bit and then get to marking them for the Contest.

  • July 7, 2018

    First, my eyeballs thank you for the larger font. I don't use it, but I'm thinking of doing it soon because my eyes suck. That being said, I'd highly recommend a glow effect around the text in the perkspread because I can't really read it. I can read the heading fine, but not the perks. So, good that you also listed them, but why be redundant, no? You can cut some space by either having one or the other. 

    The concept is interesting, two siblings, one dark, one light. And it adds the dynamic that she's being punished, because yeah, necromancy is not well-received in Morrowind, so it makes sense that she'd be on the run. 

    I also appreciate the use of Vanilla equipment and perks. I think there is still room for some cool combinations using Vanilla assets, so nice.

    I'll echo Deebs' in the second part though, the crusader section. Gameplay is lacking. I mean, I think we could use more, or at least treat us like we've never played (I know! very hard!)  and tell us how you tackle the gameplay, especially at early levels. A good question to ask yourself is when do your characters become your characters, you know? 

  • Member
    July 7, 2018

    The Secret of CHIM said:

    First, my eyeballs thank you for the larger font. I don't use it, but I'm thinking of doing it soon because my eyes suck. That being said, I'd highly recommend a glow effect around the text in the perkspread because I can't really read it. I can read the heading fine, but not the perks. So, good that you also listed them, but why be redundant, no? You can cut some space by either having one or the other. 

    Hmm. Yeah, I see what you mean there. I couldn't find a color that stood out from the background and didn't really have the inclination to redo the whole thing. Laziness on my part then I guess to just reiterate it in description. That being said, I'm always looking to get rid of clutter in my builds, so that's something to keep in mind for the next one!

    The Secret of CHIM said:

    I'll echo Deebs' in the second part though, the crusader section. Gameplay is lacking. I mean, I think we could use more, or at least treat us like we've never played (I know! very hard!)  and tell us how you tackle the gameplay, especially at early levels. A good question to ask yourself is when do your characters become your characters, you know? 

    Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed with how I chose to approach this build, because I kind of gave the spotlight to the story of this build. That meant that gameplay sort of sucked in comparison. I think I'm still trying to strike a balance between the elements of a build (I touched on this on the CB discussion). But, I learned something for next time.

     

     

  • April 14, 2020

    How to heal in this build? Restoration, because of role-playing, is forbidden (i think so)?