Okay fascinating stuff Toad (and welcome to the site by the way, awesome to see someone jumping in with something this in-depth already) here, it's taken me a bit of time to collect all my thoughts and make sure that I'm wording them correctly...even that seems wrong, bah anyway. So to answer the question first because I'm strange like that, yeah I think this works, I think it really, really works. The concept of a Tinkerer or Scientist studying Dwemer tech and turning to Bounty Hunting in order to fund his exploration is a pretty logical and downright interesting combination of the two concepts that works to create a consistant enough character for my tastes. More then that, I think the concept of the character justifying it all behind a desire to understand Brass-God is rather fascinating for an Altmer, actually it's really interesting.
Now I just need to figure out if I have any recommendations regarding this... So, I guess really it boils down to me being absolutely down for everything you've mentioned but I would ask a question that may help develop a build further. What you have here is essentially the backstory right? It more or less ends shortly after you've started playing, so I'd wonder where he goes from here? What's the roleplaying progression from (just spitballing a level) Level 5 to 50? How does he change during that time? Just something to think about I suppose, personally I think the character has a lot of potential to end up going down multiple different paths that could make for an incredibly cool build.
Okay fascinating stuff Toad (and welcome to the site by the way, awesome to see someone jumping in with something this in-depth already) here, it's taken me a bit of time to collect all my thoughts and make sure that I'm wording them correctly...even that seems wrong, bah anyway. So to answer the question first because I'm strange like that, yeah I think this works, I think it really, really works. The concept of a Tinkerer or Scientist studying Dwemer tech and turning to Bounty Hunting in order to fund his exploration is a pretty logical and downright interesting combination of the two concepts that works to create a consistant enough character for my tastes. More then that, I think the concept of the character justifying it all behind a desire to understand Brass-God is rather fascinating for an Altmer, actually it's really interesting.
Now I just need to figure out if I have any recommendations regarding this... So, I guess really it boils down to me being absolutely down for everything you've mentioned but I would ask a question that may help develop a build further. What you have here is essentially the backstory right? It more or less ends shortly after you've started playing, so I'd wonder where he goes from here? What's the roleplaying progression from (just spitballing a level) Level 5 to 50? How does he change during that time? Just something to think about I suppose, personally I think the character has a lot of potential to end up going down multiple different paths that could make for an incredibly cool build.
Thanks alot Dragonborn, it's nice to be here and looking forward to taking this build from WIP to finished! I had initially based this build off an ESO character I made who was an Argonian, but trying to combine scientist/engineer/tinkerer with an almost Mandalorian style bounty hunter meant some justification - Altmer seemed like the most logical choice. But I'm really glad you feel that it's not only justified, but WORKS.
Yeah this is the basic backstory I've created, although I will be fleshing it out down the line. Although the last paragraph probably ends with him being about level 10 or so, as he's acquired enough skill to fund his first exhibition into a dwemer ruin. There is also a little story I'll share with you on how he acquires bounties, and how that'll function in a roleplay sense as it really describes how he fights and functions, which is key to this build. I've been having some slight issues working out his skill progression, so that he feels viable by lvl 50 or so, as he is split between alot of different disciplines - but I'm confident with more playtesting I'll get there.
It's a good question though - I haven't really thought about it but, will give it some thought. What I can imagine is that he becomes more ruthless, going from say lawful neutral to lawful evil. He still functions very much within the Law, but when he lived in Alinor you could say that he was a normal citizen but outcasted. However his strangely detached mind had little negative effect on that world, and he was not put in situations where he would explore it, largely staying within his house, reading books and tinkering with machinary. Within the world of Skyrim, I imagine him to become more 'unleashed'; where he values lives as little more than progression for his ultimate goal. He respects the proper order of the world (he's not going to start taking assassin hits or murdering violently in the street), but he would quite happily capture a condemed-to-death bandit and experiment on him if he thought it was useful to his work. I think the turning point for him will be once he has conquered his second Dwemer ruin - he will realise that everything he has sought out is possible, and within his grasp as long as he is strong enough and determined enough to take it, to restore the honor of his people. He will look at the path he has taken and feel no remorse - if anything become more resolute. He starts the game in despair, his exhibition in ruins, and his hopes dashed. Over the course of the game he will change into a machine of war. I almost see his as a cyborg - mostly devoid of emotion, and upgrading himself everytime he dungeon dives.
I'll post the story below as a seperate comment as TL;DR.
Thanks alot Dragonborn, it's nice to be here and looking forward to taking this build from WIP to finished! I had initially based this build off an ESO character I made who was an Argonian, but trying to combine scientist/engineer/tinkerer with an almost Mandalorian style bounty hunter meant some justification - Altmer seemed like the most logical choice. But I'm really glad you feel that it's not only justified, but WORKS.
Yeah this is the basic backstory I've created, although I will be fleshing it out down the line. Although the last paragraph probably ends with him being about level 10 or so, as he's acquired enough skill to fund his first exhibition into a dwemer ruin. There is also a little story I'll share with you on how he acquires bounties, and how that'll function in a roleplay sense as it really describes how he fights and functions, which is key to this build. I've been having some slight issues working out his skill progression, so that he feels viable by lvl 50 or so, as he is split between alot of different disciplines - but I'm confident with more playtesting I'll get there.
It's a good question though - I haven't really thought about it but, will give it some thought. What I can imagine is that he becomes more ruthless, going from say lawful neutral to lawful evil. He still functions very much within the Law, but when he lived in Alinor you could say that he was a normal citizen but outcasted. However his strangely detached mind had little negative effect on that world, and he was not put in situations where he would explore it, largely staying within his house, reading books and tinkering with machinary. Within the world of Skyrim, I imagine him to become more 'unleashed'; where he values lives as little more than progression for his ultimate goal. He respects the proper order of the world (he's not going to start taking assassin hits or murdering violently in the street), but he would quite happily capture a condemed-to-death bandit and experiment on him if he thought it was useful to his work. I think the turning point for him will be once he has conquered his second Dwemer ruin - he will realise that everything he has sought out is possible, and within his grasp as long as he is strong enough and determined enough to take it, to restore the honor of his people. He will look at the path he has taken and feel no remorse - if anything become more resolute. He starts the game in despair, his exhibition in ruins, and his hopes dashed. Over the course of the game he will change into a machine of war. I almost see his as a cyborg - mostly devoid of emotion, and upgrading himself everytime he dungeon dives.
I'll post the story below as a seperate comment as TL;DR.
Hey Toad, really sorry for the delay on getting back to you, just been a bit busy lately and haven't been around as much.
I will quickly say that I really enjoyed the opening story you posted, you've written it well and it does a really good job telling us the basics of the character.
Yeah this is the basic backstory I've created, although I will be fleshing it out down the line. Although the last paragraph probably ends with him being about level 10 or so, as he's acquired enough skill to fund his first exhibition into a dwemer ruin. There is also a little story I'll share with you on how he acquires bounties, and how that'll function in a roleplay sense as it really describes how he fights and functions, which is key to this build. I've been having some slight issues working out his skill progression, so that he feels viable by lvl 50 or so, as he is split between alot of different disciplines - but I'm confident with more playtesting I'll get there.
It's a good question though - I haven't really thought about it but, will give it some thought. What I can imagine is that he becomes more ruthless, going from say lawful neutral to lawful evil. He still functions very much within the Law, but when he lived in Alinor you could say that he was a normal citizen but outcasted. However his strangely detached mind had little negative effect on that world, and he was not put in situations where he would explore it, largely staying within his house, reading books and tinkering with machinary. Within the world of Skyrim, I imagine him to become more 'unleashed'; where he values lives as little more than progression for his ultimate goal. He respects the proper order of the world (he's not going to start taking assassin hits or murdering violently in the street), but he would quite happily capture a condemed-to-death bandit and experiment on him if he thought it was useful to his work. I think the turning point for him will be once he has conquered his second Dwemer ruin - he will realise that everything he has sought out is possible, and within his grasp as long as he is strong enough and determined enough to take it, to restore the honor of his people. He will look at the path he has taken and feel no remorse - if anything become more resolute. He starts the game in despair, his exhibition in ruins, and his hopes dashed. Over the course of the game he will change into a machine of war. I almost see his as a cyborg - mostly devoid of emotion, and upgrading himself everytime he dungeon dives.
That's actually kind of similar to what I was going to recommend to some degree. Basically I was thinking that he seems like the sort of character who you could easily create a branched build around, the core starting point and then a period where a choice sends him off into a few distinct directions that change the skills/equipment/concept of the character.
For example, you could use a few guilds as a branching point at a theoretical point where money becomes an issue for him and Bounty Hunting alone isn't enough to satisfy what he needs. That leads to the largest source of income in Skyrim which really seems to be the Companions, Thieves Guilld (eventually) or Companions where you've got a sort of...scaled morality or a point where killing anyone is fine as long as it helps
My thoughts were more along the lines of creating a few branching paths to have him end up with a different guild as a source of money outside of Bounty Hunting (basically the amount he gains from bounty slowly becomes trivial compared to what he needs) so you could easily justify him joining the Dark Brotherhood, Companions or Thieves Guild for a bit of a varying morality to him. Companions is basically just 'more legal bounty hunting' and is very much the 'good' side to things (I think there's a nice mod for the Companions which alters the rate in which the questline progresses but I don't remember if it's available on console or SE...or the name right now). The Thieves Guild is a bit more neutral and easily the most profitable but at that point might not be his strongest skill. The Dark Brotherhood is a much darker route where he no longer cares who he kills as long as he gets money and you certainly get money for completing that questline.
Just some thoughts but I definitely like your path more really.
I'll post the story below as a seperate comment as TL;DR.
No such thing as TL;DR in my world :P Or I'm very long-winded personalyl so there's just about nobody who can ever write something long and I decide not to read it.
Hey Toad, really sorry for the delay on getting back to you, just been a bit busy lately and haven't been around as much.
I will quickly say that I really enjoyed the opening story you posted, you've written it well and it does a really good job telling us the basics of the character.
Yeah this is the basic backstory I've created, although I will be fleshing it out down the line. Although the last paragraph probably ends with him being about level 10 or so, as he's acquired enough skill to fund his first exhibition into a dwemer ruin. There is also a little story I'll share with you on how he acquires bounties, and how that'll function in a roleplay sense as it really describes how he fights and functions, which is key to this build. I've been having some slight issues working out his skill progression, so that he feels viable by lvl 50 or so, as he is split between alot of different disciplines - but I'm confident with more playtesting I'll get there.
It's a good question though - I haven't really thought about it but, will give it some thought. What I can imagine is that he becomes more ruthless, going from say lawful neutral to lawful evil. He still functions very much within the Law, but when he lived in Alinor you could say that he was a normal citizen but outcasted. However his strangely detached mind had little negative effect on that world, and he was not put in situations where he would explore it, largely staying within his house, reading books and tinkering with machinary. Within the world of Skyrim, I imagine him to become more 'unleashed'; where he values lives as little more than progression for his ultimate goal. He respects the proper order of the world (he's not going to start taking assassin hits or murdering violently in the street), but he would quite happily capture a condemed-to-death bandit and experiment on him if he thought it was useful to his work. I think the turning point for him will be once he has conquered his second Dwemer ruin - he will realise that everything he has sought out is possible, and within his grasp as long as he is strong enough and determined enough to take it, to restore the honor of his people. He will look at the path he has taken and feel no remorse - if anything become more resolute. He starts the game in despair, his exhibition in ruins, and his hopes dashed. Over the course of the game he will change into a machine of war. I almost see his as a cyborg - mostly devoid of emotion, and upgrading himself everytime he dungeon dives.
That's actually kind of similar to what I was going to recommend to some degree. Basically I was thinking that he seems like the sort of character who you could easily create a branched build around, the core starting point and then a period where a choice sends him off into a few distinct directions that change the skills/equipment/concept of the character.
For example, you could use a few guilds as a branching point at a theoretical point where money becomes an issue for him and Bounty Hunting alone isn't enough to satisfy what he needs. That leads to the largest source of income in Skyrim which really seems to be the Companions, Thieves Guilld (eventually) or Companions where you've got a sort of...scaled morality or a point where killing anyone is fine as long as it helps
My thoughts were more along the lines of creating a few branching paths to have him end up with a different guild as a source of money outside of Bounty Hunting (basically the amount he gains from bounty slowly becomes trivial compared to what he needs) so you could easily justify him joining the Dark Brotherhood, Companions or Thieves Guild for a bit of a varying morality to him. Companions is basically just 'more legal bounty hunting' and is very much the 'good' side to things (I think there's a nice mod for the Companions which alters the rate in which the questline progresses but I don't remember if it's available on console or SE...or the name right now). The Thieves Guild is a bit more neutral and easily the most profitable but at that point might not be his strongest skill. The Dark Brotherhood is a much darker route where he no longer cares who he kills as long as he gets money and you certainly get money for completing that questline.
Just some thoughts but I definitely like your path more really.
I'll post the story below as a seperate comment as TL;DR.
No such thing as TL;DR in my world :P Or I'm very long-winded personalyl so there's just about nobody who can ever write something long and I decide not to read it.
Hello Incanus Olorin, and welcome to the Vault. We're still active, though a few parts are more active than others (blogs and ESO are our main hubs of activity today). We are also very active on our Discord, feel free to join us: https://tamrielvault.com/forums/topic/8521/unveiling-the-tamriel-vault-discord
As for your question, there's a few questlines that you can play that would fit in with your idea. Granted, Skyrim doesn't really allow you to be outright evil, but by complementing what the games gives you with your imagination you can go some places: you could join the Companions, become a werewolf and stop just short of fulfilling Kodlak's wish to be cured, killing all Glenmoril Witches and dropping their heads in the middle of the sea so the Companions could never be cured; becoming Thane of Falkreath to serve their corrupt Jarl; doing the Markarth questlines to free the Forsworn and unleash hell on the Reach; going on rampages as a werewolf; getting Erik the Slayer to follow you and kill him, fulfilling his father's fears...
As you might have inferred, a strategy you can use is to only play a quest until a point where things aren't resolved. Another idea is that you can arrest the innocent court mage in Windhelm, and let the murders happening there continue indefinitely... It's been a long time since I played Skyrim (I'm building a new playthrough right now, though), but this is what I could come up with right now. Since you're an enemy of Molag Bal, you'll also want to join the Dawnguard, even if they are an order/good faction: maybe use the Dawnguard to kill the Volkihar and then turn into a werewolf and kill all non-essential Dawnguard members.
Hello Incanus Olorin, and welcome to the Vault. We're still active, though a few parts are more active than others (blogs and ESO are our main hubs of activity today). We are also very active on our Discord, feel free to join us: https://tamrielvault.com/forums/topic/8521/unveiling-the-tamriel-vault-discord
As for your question, there's a few questlines that you can play that would fit in with your idea. Granted, Skyrim doesn't really allow you to be outright evil, but by complementing what the games gives you with your imagination you can go some places: you could join the Companions, become a werewolf and stop just short of fulfilling Kodlak's wish to be cured, killing all Glenmoril Witches and dropping their heads in the middle of the sea so the Companions could never be cured; becoming Thane of Falkreath to serve their corrupt Jarl; doing the Markarth questlines to free the Forsworn and unleash hell on the Reach; going on rampages as a werewolf; getting Erik the Slayer to follow you and kill him, fulfilling his father's fears...
As you might have inferred, a strategy you can use is to only play a quest until a point where things aren't resolved. Another idea is that you can arrest the innocent court mage in Windhelm, and let the murders happening there continue indefinitely... It's been a long time since I played Skyrim (I'm building a new playthrough right now, though), but this is what I could come up with right now. Since you're an enemy of Molag Bal, you'll also want to join the Dawnguard, even if they are an order/good faction: maybe use the Dawnguard to kill the Volkihar and then turn into a werewolf and kill all non-essential Dawnguard members.
You're welcome, Incanus. And don't worry, if you want to join the Discord, you don't have to be a mega-geek or anything like that. We talk about other games too, and some shows and movies. It's always good to see our community grow.
If I share my playthrough anywhere (or at least the background for my "private Elder Scrolls world"), it will be here on the Vault. It's just that I'm excessively perfectionist when planning playthroughs and characters that I usually spend more time planning and thinking about it than actually playing, so it takes a while.
You're welcome, Incanus. And don't worry, if you want to join the Discord, you don't have to be a mega-geek or anything like that. We talk about other games too, and some shows and movies. It's always good to see our community grow.
If I share my playthrough anywhere (or at least the background for my "private Elder Scrolls world"), it will be here on the Vault. It's just that I'm excessively perfectionist when planning playthroughs and characters that I usually spend more time planning and thinking about it than actually playing, so it takes a while.