If I'm going for a captain build, both a support character with Illusion and a fighter on his own, would two-handed, sword and board, or just one-handed be best? I was thinking Speech, Heavy Armor, and Illusion would be good, but I'm just not so sure about wear to head with the combat skills. Would archery synergize well with a captain or not? 

If I'm going for a captain build, both a support character with Illusion and a fighter on his own, would two-handed, sword and board, or just one-handed be best? I was thinking Speech, Heavy Armor, and Illusion would be good, but I'm just not so sure about wear to head with the combat skills. Would archery synergize well with a captain or not? 

Hey Blooded, I assume you are building a "party leader" kind of character, and will be using the Illusion skill to buff your allies right. 

As far as combat skills go it depends on what you want to be doing with this character are they a tactical general type issuing orders to their underlings?  If so then you'll want to take a ranged obtion and let your followers tank the enemy.  This approach may be better suited to a pure magic approach using Courage to buff allies and switching to Healing Hands to keep them fighting, or Destruction spells to add to the hurt.  Maybe a bow with poison arrows that debuff your enemies (paralyze/slow/drain stamina/drain magicka/etc.) to give your allies an edge in combat. 

Another option would be to lead from the front, you would buff your allies then switch to your close combat weapons and charge in.  For this I would suggest sword and board, it provides the greatest defense, allows for tactical bashing (disarm, shield charge) which would aid your allies.  Also it is pretty quick to switch your shield hand to a spell for on the fly Courage/Healling spells and then switch back to the shield. 

I tend to steer away from two-handed combat with a hybrid build like this, it's just too onerous to switch between a two-handed weapon and spells then back again for me.  The same could be said for bows however the tactical use of sniping and pinpoint poisons (even beneficial poisons for your allies) adds a layer of control to the battle without needing to switch back to spells and refresh your allies courage or health.

Well i hope that helps.

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Vargr]Vargr White-Tree[/url] said:[/b]

Hey Blooded, I assume you are building a "party leader" kind of character, and will be using the Illusion skill to buff your allies right. 

As far as combat skills go it depends on what you want to be doing with this character are they a tactical general type issuing orders to their underlings?  If so then you'll want to take a ranged obtion and let your followers tank the enemy.  This approach may be better suited to a pure magic approach using Courage to buff allies and switching to Healing Hands to keep them fighting, or Destruction spells to add to the hurt.  Maybe a bow with poison arrows that debuff your enemies (paralyze/slow/drain stamina/drain magicka/etc.) to give your allies an edge in combat. 

Another option would be to lead from the front, you would buff your allies then switch to your close combat weapons and charge in.  For this I would suggest sword and board, it provides the greatest defense, allows for tactical bashing (disarm, shield charge) which would aid your allies.  Also it is pretty quick to switch your shield hand to a spell for on the fly Courage/Healling spells and then switch back to the shield. 

I tend to steer away from two-handed combat with a hybrid build like this, it's just too onerous to switch between a two-handed weapon and spells then back again for me.  The same could be said for bows however the tactical use of sniping and pinpoint poisons (even beneficial poisons for your allies) adds a layer of control to the battle without needing to switch back to spells and refresh your allies courage or health.

Well i hope that helps.

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Yes, I am going for a party leader, and I'm definitely going to be taking the sword and board route, getting into the battle myself and fighting alongside my allies. This definitely does help, especially because I've never done any type of support build. 

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Blooded]Blooded[/url] said:[/b]

If I'm going for a captain build, both a support character with Illusion and a fighter on his own, would two-handed, sword and board, or just one-handed be best? I was thinking Speech, Heavy Armor, and Illusion would be good, but I'm just not so sure about wear to head with the combat skills. Would archery synergize well with a captain or not? 

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Have you considered a Shield Mage? Knocking over and staggering enemies while your friends hack away at them is a pretty good lead from the front tactic, as well as encouraging looking after your mates instead of getting distracted trying to dish out the damage yourself. And if you don't have enough spells to make this viable, including this a bit could make a playthrough more interesting.

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Zonnonn]Zonnonn[/url] said:[/b]

Have you considered a Shield Mage? Knocking over and staggering enemies while your friends hack away at them is a pretty good lead from the front tactic, as well as encouraging looking after your mates instead of getting distracted trying to dish out the damage yourself. And if you don't have enough spells to make this viable, including this a bit could make a playthrough more interesting.

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Hmmm...that's definitely interesting, though I don't intend to go too magical. I was thinking along the lines of RP'ing the Illusion as just his leadership skills rather than magic. A shield mage would be cool, but I'm going more combative. More just like a classic leader who encourages and buffs his allies and then they go into battle together. Of course, I haven't even started writing this build, so it's totally open to suggestion and I'll keep an open mind about shield mage aspects. Thanks, Zonnonn :)

Would it be fun to play a character who can mix-and-match skills to fill almost any role in a party composed of himself and two Atronachs?

Yeah, it really is. I've got a build that seems to have the same core idea as what you've got (The Heroic Spirit), it combines Atronachs with various combat styles (Dual Wielding and Archery mostly) to create the ultimite tag-team. I didn't really go far into using two atronachs with it, but it should be even cooler. 

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Blooded]Blooded[/url] said:[/b]

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Zonnonn]Zonnonn[/url] said:[/b]

Have you considered a Shield Mage? Knocking over and staggering enemies while your friends hack away at them is a pretty good lead from the front tactic, as well as encouraging looking after your mates instead of getting distracted trying to dish out the damage yourself. And if you don't have enough spells to make this viable, including this a bit could make a playthrough more interesting.

[/blockquote]

Hmmm...that's definitely interesting, though I don't intend to go too magical. I was thinking along the lines of RP'ing the Illusion as just his leadership skills rather than magic. A shield mage would be cool, but I'm going more combative. More just like a classic leader who encourages and buffs his allies and then they go into battle together. Of course, I haven't even started writing this build, so it's totally open to suggestion and I'll keep an open mind about shield mage aspects. Thanks, Zonnonn :)

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That's what I thought - Shield Mages are only fun and viable if magic is your main method of damage dealing. The thought of a grizzled commander, covered with scars and shit, beating enemies to a pulp with a shield while helping his friends sounded awesome, like Captain America without being a goody two shoes. And no problem mate, always happy to help![blockquote][b][url=/profile/mitchblatt]mitch blatt[/url] said:[/b]

Would it be fun to play a character who can mix-and-match skills to fill almost any role in a party composed of himself and two Atronachs?

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In theory yeah, especially if your main focus was being the 'Rogue' of the group, but being able to switch out to heavy damage if needed. For example, bring out 2 Frost Atronachs, let them take the heat, while you sneak up behind your enemies and backstab and poison them. Or, you can take potions to fortify your warriors skills, then become the tank of the party while Fire or Frost atronachs act support, pelting them from range. Alchemy is probably going to be  must for this build, as you can be good at anything with the appropriate potions.

Does a build centered around the Equilibrium spell sound viable? Like using it as a sort of sacrifice to fuel your power. Or does it seem like there's no real way it could work very well? (For the record, I am unaware if any such thing exists already.)

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Blooded]Blooded[/url] said:[/b]

Does a build centered around the Equilibrium spell sound viable? Like using it as a sort of sacrifice to fuel your power. Or does it seem like there's no real way it could work very well? (For the record, I am unaware if any such thing exists already.)

[/blockquote]Ow yeah... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n6L05A9pZ4 Search the site for the potent equilibrium glitch.