Question about a Skyrim character...

[Valley]

After watching way too many Let's Plays I have decided to get Skyrim. Now that I wait for the game to be delivered I have been trying to decide on a character. I have noticed a lot of players go either warrior or wizard.

At first I was thinking something like a unbalanced warrior (as in a insane Callisto from Xena: Warrior Princess) but I realized it wasn't my style. I love knowledge, history, and books. I realized I wanted to be a scholar or maybe a type of archaeologist. I want to collect gold, yes, but also items and books.
I also find myself leaning towards an Imperial. I hear they are good for beginners and have a balanced skill set.

I also plan to Role Play, not just bash my way through.

Is there a very good reason NOT to use a Imperial in such a 'class'?

Also, I can use my keyboard or the Xbox controller. I feel the keyboard might be better when it comes to all the commands but the controller might be better in combat. Any suggestions there? To be honest, I am horrible at combat and first person shooters and feel my character will likely die a short, sad death.

[Domochevsky]

Well, the main conflict in Skyrim is between the Imperials and the Nords, so you'd be pre-picking a side, roleplaying-wise. :smallwink:

(Keyboard is probably the better option, just for the number of hotkeys available. But then again, the vanilla menus are designed with controllers in mind, so you'll find a good deal more comfort there.)

[The Kind Knido]

I hated Skyrim. The buildup didn't pay off a single bit. Now with my useless and unprovoked opinion on the game, let me proceed to say...

Do not choose to stockpile magic ability!!

It's true that you cannot be confined to one class unless you spend all your points in such a way that you are definitively a magic user, summoner, or fighter, I strongly suggest you don't play a mage.

The Elder Scrolls is one of those series of games that have horrible magic systems.

In Morrowind, I once played a really good Wood Elf character who could do absolutely anything, but the only truly useful spells there were the Mark and Recall set. And the Restore Attribute set. It wasn't a good idea to make a good spell (I once made one called the Boobs of Almalexia with codes just because) because you'd end up making a spell you could never cast due to the high magicka cost. The same thing applied to spells you buy a lot of the time. "The Boobs of Almalexia" was a fun spell to just play with because I gave it a massive explosive range and turned on God Mode to even cast it. Choosing a mage class in Morrowind was like saying "I can play with energy that doesn't do too much harm, but at least I can teleport and heal myself without the aid of temples.

In Oblivion, every spell sucks. The end. To be more in depth, spells were slow, unimpressive, and rarely had any kind of devastating effect. The magicka costs being too high were also a problem. Choosing a mage class in Oblivion was like saying "kill me".

In Skyrim...oh, Akatosh...no. Skyrim's magic was terribly limited. For each element you are basically chained down in a chair and handed a few spells. Imagine someone coming up to you and saying "I made some spells in a time span of less than an hour and got really lazy. Look at how creative I got - A continuous fire spray which does barely any damage, a fireball that's kinda cool but does nothing more than explode and deal a small amount of damage, and, oh, I love this one...a fire wall. Just watch your enemies walk through one of these suckers and take tiny bits of damage. Frost, same; shocking, same. Fun. I do like the bound stuff though. Magic in Skyrim is like saying "Weeeee, I dropped out of the Mage's Academy after a week and like to throw lights at people! I'm the Dragonborn! Believe it!"

I hate to say it, but...really, in TES, the best thing to do is run through it slashing or pounding people with a warhammer because it's the fastest way to get on with the game. Buffing spells and the like will only waste time in combat much like the Dream Eater garbage in Pokemon.

The best way I can think to sum this up is "Imagine a spellcaster in D&D. They start of weak and squishy with a D4 HD but gradually become the harbingers of ultimate doom or Titans of Ether if you prefer. Now imagine a world where spellcasters don't improve beyond 'here's a new spell that does a tiny bit more damage'".

[Rakaydos]

My character is a Paladin- Heavy armor and Heal magic, with a 1 handed weapon.

[Cikomyr]

Roleplay as a Diletante Collectionner, Daring Gentlemen Archeologist. Try to find items as unique as possible, and decorate your house with them.

[druid91]

I hated Skyrim. The buildup didn't pay off a single bit. Now with my useless and unprovoked opinion on the game, let me proceed to say...

Do not choose to stockpile magic ability!!

It's true that you cannot be confined to one class unless you spend all your points in such a way that you are definitively a magic user, summoner, or fighter, I strongly suggest you don't play a mage.

The Elder Scrolls is one of those series of games that have horrible magic systems.

In Morrowind, I once played a really good Wood Elf character who could do absolutely anything, but the only truly useful spells there were the Mark and Recall set. And the Restore Attribute set. It wasn't a good idea to make a good spell (I once made one called the Boobs of Almalexia with codes just because) because you'd end up making a spell you could never cast due to the high magicka cost. The same thing applied to spells you buy a lot of the time. "The Boobs of Almalexia" was a fun spell to just play with because I gave it a massive explosive range and turned on God Mode to even cast it. Choosing a mage class in Morrowind was like saying "I can play with energy that doesn't do too much harm, but at least I can teleport and heal myself without the aid of temples.

In Oblivion, every spell sucks. The end. To be more in depth, spells were slow, unimpressive, and rarely had any kind of devastating effect. The magicka costs being too high were also a problem. Choosing a mage class in Oblivion was like saying "kill me".

In Skyrim...oh, Akatosh...no. Skyrim's magic was terribly limited. For each element you are basically chained down in a chair and handed a few spells. Imagine someone coming up to you and saying "I made some spells in a time span of less than an hour and got really lazy. Look at how creative I got - A continuous fire spray which does barely any damage, a fireball that's kinda cool but does nothing more than explode and deal a small amount of damage, and, oh, I love this one...a fire wall. Just watch your enemies walk through one of these suckers and take tiny bits of damage. Frost, same; shocking, same. Fun. I do like the bound stuff though. Magic in Skyrim is like saying "Weeeee, I dropped out of the Mage's Academy after a week and like to throw lights at people! I'm the Dragonborn! Believe it!"

I hate to say it, but...really, in TES, the best thing to do is run through it slashing or pounding people with a warhammer because it's the fastest way to get on with the game. Buffing spells and the like will only waste time in combat much like the Dream Eater garbage in Pokemon.

The best way I can think to sum this up is "Imagine a spellcaster in D&D. They start of weak and squishy with a D4 HD but gradually become the harbingers of ultimate doom or Titans of Ether if you prefer. Now imagine a world where spellcasters don't improve beyond 'here's a new spell that does a tiny bit more damage'".

Sorry... gonna have to call you on this. Can't gainsay you when it comes to Morrowind, because I didn't play it....

But in oblivion I had a pure mage character. Never touched a sword beyond dragging them off to sell. He was so lethal I could not go full force if anyone I needed left alive was nearby. If I gave it my all, everyone nearby was highly likely to die. Why? Conjuration. That's why. And that was on master difficulty.

Skyrim, Mages are a bit more limited (Sorta fits with the whole fantasy Viking thing.) But at the same time, while the spells aren't as expansive, the crafting system and potions let you do things like one shot dragons with your continuous beam of fire, if abused, and if not abused still significantly increase your capabilities.

Is it as easy as just being a sword swinger? Nope. Is it a thousand times more awesome if you take a moment to figure out your path to godhood? Yes.

[Crow]

I tried a mage character and he didn't have any trouble downing guys if he dual-casted. I didn't even pimp him out.

For my "main" character, I did a stealthy treasure-hunter type. A large house with many places to display cool stuff was a must. Also ample bookcases. As I played through the game, I collected the rarest items to display my treasure-hunting prowess to any visitors I had over. Also, I searched out the rarest and most valuable books in Skyrim to stock the most exquisite library in the land. You see, much more than a dashing treasure hunter, he was a man of learning as well.

[Antonok]

My main on skyrim is... odd, to say the least. Shes a nord vampire jack-of-all-trades, who wears light armor and used to use a 2h sword until I finished the dragonborn dlc and then I switched to 1h axe and shield with a bit in archery, and has enchanting almost maxed (but not blacksmithing).

I also use the vampire companion from the dawnguard dlc since she just plain can't be perma killed (I've gotten bored and went on a rampage) and that shes a mage who does pretty good damage. Only problem with her is she keeps animating the gorram bodies so I have to find piles of ash instead of corpses to get my loots.

[Swok]

Snip

The only thing horrible about TES magic systems in the past were how trivial they were to break.

Skyrim: Reduce Magicka Cost enchantment can stack to 100% with crafting.

Oblivion: Custom spells are /literal/ game breakers. Chameleon 100% anyone? Reflect Damage 100%?

Morrowind: Oblivion but more. Levitate was a thing and it was flight that was modified by your speed, while conjurations summon the daedra/spirit/whatever on ground floor anyway. Oh and the first summon you receive being an ancestral ghost, which in Morrowind required silver or magic weapons (or spells) to even damage. So your starting summon basically could roll over nearly anything early game.

So what are you talking about magic being bad in Oblivion/Morrowind? I'll concede that straight melee is easier, and doubly so in Skyrim, mostly because you can get a pretty decent amount of "magic" itch scratching from shouts, and that is mostly because they changed how casting works. I will never understand why they got rid of being able to just spellcast with a weapon equipped Oblivion had.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Skyrim has two magic systems, thu'um and magic and the later had to sacrifice a lot of stuff from previous games in order to stop the two over-lapping.

I became archmage of the mage's college despite almost never casting a spell and still being a novice in all the magic skills, so that's one of the main dumb things about magic in Skyrim. I was planning on being a mage and that was the only guild I joined at first but I didn't want to use summoning or blasting so ended up using swords and bows all the time. I did lots of magic things, but they were shouts or racial abilities. Maybe the other mages at the college didn't realise that mechanically my abilities weren't actually what they taught.

When I can survive a fall from any height, wipe out a fortress with a lightning storm, freeze an enemy in a block of ice or rip his weapon from his hands, sense the auras of enemies at a massive range, create aural illusions, cause enemies to run in terror or become passive, summon animals, dragons and the souls of the dead, without even touching the 'main' magic system' I see little reason to bother with it when all it would offer me is a more sustainable rate of fire. Then there's also the fact that one of these systems actually ties into the exploration focused gameplay and involves unearthing arcane secrets and the other one just involves saving up to buy books.

On the other hand, now that I remember, I did max out enchanting, so I wasn't completely oppositely trained as an Archmage.

[Balmas]

In Skyrim...oh, Akatosh...no. Skyrim's magic was terribly limited. For each element you are basically chained down in a chair and handed a few spells. Imagine someone coming up to you and saying "I made some spells in a time span of less than an hour and got really lazy. Look at how creative I got - A continuous fire spray which does barely any damage, a fireball that's kinda cool but does nothing more than explode and deal a small amount of damage, and, oh, I love this one...a fire wall. Just watch your enemies walk through one of these suckers and take tiny bits of damage. Frost, same; shocking, same. Fun. I do like the bound stuff though. Magic in Skyrim is like saying "Weeeee, I dropped out of the Mage's Academy after a week and like to throw lights at people! I'm the Dragonborn! Believe it!"

I hate to say it, but...really, in TES, the best thing to do is run through it slashing or pounding people with a warhammer because it's the fastest way to get on with the game. Buffing spells and the like will only waste time in combat much like the Dream Eater garbage in Pokemon.

You raise many good points, and since Skyrim is my first experience with the Elder Scrolls series, I can't gainsay most of them.

I'll also say that playing a pure mage can be one of the more powerful playstyles, simply because of the Impact perk. Having pretty much every destruction spell--every boring, destruction spell--stagger your enemy when dual cast means that you can blast away at them, and they can't get at you. Dragons can't breath fire. Trolls trip over their overgrown toenails. Bandits find out that having giant ice-spikes growing out of their chest is a bit of a health hazard.

Then we get to Conjuration. Being good at conjuration means never having to worry about nuking a companion in your wanton spell-tossing. It means that you can carry more loot since you're not carrying weapons. It also means that if the plan goes to the dogs, if you haven't bought impact yet, that you're free to spawn a disposable minion to distract them while you scamper off.

Illusion is the only skill I really don't like, since there is an effective cap to how strong of an enemy you can affect, but it's great while it lasts; fights can be instantly solved through the judicious application of spells.

(Or, you know, you can force an enemy to keep fighting you, so you can level up weapon skills. Totally never done that before. :smalltongue:)

Is it the quickest? No. Is it the funnest? Debatable, since fun is an objective term. Inventive? Far from it. Is it effective, though? Absolutely.

Also, I'll just post this little linkie (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=298127) to GITP's Elder Scrolls discussion thread.

[Triaxx]

Magic is bad? In Skyrim: My LightningHose invalidates all previous arguments.

In Oblivion: Invisibility> Absorb Health+Drain Health. At two hundred points, that kills just about anything in one shot.

Actually, I haven't played with unmodded magic in Skyrim since... Okay, I admit never playing with unmodded magic in Skyrim. I've got 3x dual casting, and that really helps damage to enemies. I also have Balanced Magic, which improves the magic skills.

---

I suggest if you're going for the gentle(noun) adventurer type, I suggest a single sword wielder. You lose a bit on defense, but you can look like you were trained in fencing. A more elegant form of combat, from a more civilized age.

[factotum]

I also find myself leaning towards an Imperial. I hear they are good for beginners and have a balanced skill set.


The beginning race really doesn't make much difference in Skyrim. You get a few small boosts to skills and a couple of racial abilities--the Imperial gets Voice of the Emperor (which calms nearby humanoids for 60 seconds) and an ability that basically just means they find more gold. I don't quite see what's so beginner-friendly about them, to be honest--VotE is very situational and rarely useful (doesn't work on beasts, dragons, Daedra, or undead, which is 99% of what you'll run into during the game), and you'll be running out of places to put your gold and valuables by the time you're halfway through the game, regardless of what race you start as!

Given that, I would just pick a starting race according to role play--e.g. what you think looks cool or suits the character you're intending to play.

[Divayth Fyr]

I'll also say that playing a pure mage can be one of the more powerful playstyles, simply because of the Impact perk. Having pretty much every destruction spell--every boring, destruction spell--stagger your enemy when dual cast means that you can blast away at them, and they can't get at you. Dragons can't breath fire. Trolls trip over their overgrown toenails. Bandits find out that having giant ice-spikes growing out of their chest is a bit of a health hazard.
You forgot to mention it requires a suit which negates casting costs completely or a ton of potions - otherwise you'll run out of mana very quickly (and without the Impact perk dual casting is a complete waste of mana - you pay 40% more for a 10% increase in strength).

[druid91]

You forgot to mention it requires a suit which negates casting costs completely or a ton of potions - otherwise you'll run out of mana very quickly (and without the Impact perk dual casting is a complete waste of mana - you pay 40% more for a 10% increase in strength).

And? A lot of perks are just perk taxes.

[Divayth Fyr]

And? A lot of perks are just perk taxes.
True. Though this doesn't change the fact that Impact isn't that effective without a ton of potions/mastering enchanting (and this was my main point). The fact that dual casting prior to getting it is a trap is a minor thing.

[druid91]

True. Though this doesn't change the fact that Impact isn't that effective without a ton of potions/mastering enchanting (and this was my main point). The fact that dual casting prior to getting it is a trap is a minor thing.

Well, to be honest, I've only ever experienced the trouble from low magicka on Master difficulty.

Any other difficulty so far, an off the shelf potion or two, Off the shelf mages robes and hoods, perks that decrease magicka costs, and some clever use of terrain and staves allow me to get through any fight.

And part of what makes that possible is the stagger effect from Impact. Is it as broken without the super potions or enchanted gear? No. It still makes a difference in that it lets you get some distance between yourself and that Draugr Deathlord who is trying to rip your head off.

[Divayth Fyr]

Well, to be honest, I've only ever experienced the trouble from low magicka on Master difficulty.

Any other difficulty so far, an off the shelf potion or two, Off the shelf mages robes and hoods, perks that decrease magicka costs, and some clever use of terrain and staves allow me to get through any fight.
And which level did you achieve? After getting to 30+ I found spells to be very inefficient. Once Deathlords start getting more common, killing groups with spells becomes an issue (barring potion spam/enchantments). You need 5 (with two ranks of Augmented Flames) or 8 (without the perk) double-casted Incinerates to kill the weakest Deathlord (they start at 1000 hp). Even with the Expert perk a single casting will cost you 248 magicka (at 100 destruction). Sure enchanted gear can reduce that, but you need to get into serious enchanting or be extremely lucky with what you find to get a meaningful decrease. Even with gear giving 50% reduction (two pieces of the absolutely best pre-enchanted items) you need to burn 124 magicka for a single impacted incinerate. A character at level 30, with everything invested into magicka will have a pool of 390 points (+bonuses from gear/buffs). So, 3-5 (with mentioned buffs) castings which may be enough to kill a single Deathlord. And this assumes we are masters of Destruction with quality gear.

[Triaxx]

Why are you bothering with Incinerate? Firebolt is more efficient. Faster to cast, cheaper. Boost damage with enchanting, and it's more effective as well. I don't even bother with enchanting to reduce costs. I just go with buffs to my mana pool. I rarely play above Expert, but even so, by the time I need to demolish Deathlords, I usually have enough mana to chew them down.

[druid91]

Why are you bothering with Incinerate? Firebolt is more efficient. Faster to cast, cheaper. Boost damage with enchanting, and it's more effective as well. I don't even bother with enchanting to reduce costs. I just go with buffs to my mana pool. I rarely play above Expert, but even so, by the time I need to demolish Deathlords, I usually have enough mana to chew them down.

This. You don't need the higher level spells. Lower level spells work just fine with impact, and it doesn't change the stagger at all.

[Triaxx]

Two far more useful high levels are Chain Lightning, which is awesome for things like Skeevers and Wolves who are otherwise annoying, and spamming Ice Storm.

[Divayth Fyr]

Why are you bothering with Incinerate? Firebolt is more efficient. Faster to cast, cheaper.
34 points of magicka for 82 damage*. 13 castings to kill the weakest Deathlord which would cost more than the mentioned lvl 30 character would have without items/standing stones (442 vs 390).

*once again, assuming we have 2 ranks in augmented flames, apprentice destruction and 100 skill.


Boost damage with enchanting, and it's more effective as well.
Not doable - until Dragonborn there is no enchanting effect boosting spell damage. And even then it isn't available for the player to use in custom items. You can do this with potions - but this means another boatload of bottles to carry... Mods do add this possibility - but I've never anything about modded magic.

[Valley]

Thanks folks.

I made Marius, named after a somewhat famous Roman, a Imperial. The idea of mine was he is a veteran of the Legion, a man who has seen combat, but also had duty as a peace keeper, so had some respect for other cultures, knows how to keep his temper under control, and while loyal to the Empire he understands it isn't perfect. He was a soldier UNDER it after all.

I decided he wanted to come to Skyrim to explore and now that he is there wants to learn about Dragons, local history, and just learn.

He has done well so far. Not GREAT but he has hired Jenassa, because both IC and OOC I found her a interesting person to find in a Nord town. Also I figured he would enjoy the company of somebody with different ideas and view points. Who more different than a Dunmer? :smallsmile:

He prefers to walk around the place (because he dislikes horses) and lets Jenassa do the lock picking (because he never developed that skill and because I can't seem to pick locks :smalltongue: ). He is a listener but does not like the idea of being a killer for hire. He plans, for example, to keep away from the whole Saadia issues, not sure who is telling the truth. He ran into a giant, escorting a cow, and gave them both right of way.

He has even tried NOT to kill wolves, by sneaking pass, but has been forced to protect himself against the animals many times.

He, and I, am starting to feel a lot of respect for Jenassa and but also find many of the women in the villages and towns, strong and pretty in their own ways.

He has no problem with cooking his own food, cutting wood (made some money doing that), is learning to make his own potions, and enchanted some weapons and armor. He has done some smith work and has improved both his equipment and that of Jenassa. He collects books, but only those which interest him, and is looking for one that may explain alchemy. He has no house yet but once he has enough he will buy one. His backpack is getting heavy - even for a soldier.

He is kind of cheap and only buys what he really needs. He will in fact sell some of the meals and potions he makes, almost enjoying the act of creation more than the final product. Maybe the Legion made me understand the importance of making things instead of destroying them?

By playing him, in-character, I have learned a lot about Imperial history and relationships with other cultures. Also being a Imperial I seem to have a lot of guards telling me, at least before killing my first dragon, that they would keep an eye on me. :smallmad:

So far, having a ton of fun!

[Triaxx]

Are you factoring in magicka regeneration? And the burning damage of each firebolt?

Sorry, I didn't properly explain my methodology. I meant with things like boost magicka regen and reduce cost. Thalmor Robes for example boost the magicka regen and reduce the destruction cost. Which ultimately boosts damage, and since you're only using the default, it doesn't require massive amounts of enchanting.

[Divayth Fyr]

Are you factoring in magicka regeneration? And the burning damage of each firebolt?
No, but it doesn't change that much. The burn will make each bolt deal 8 more damage (as it is 10% of the original damage) which means you can kill a Deathlord with 12 castings instead of 13. And the regen might mean you don't need potions to kill that single draugr (tough luck if he has buddies) - keep in mind that the theoretical character didn't invest his attribute points into anything other than magicka (for 29 levels). If you'd want a bit better survivability than what the base 100 hp give you, you'll need higher regen to do even that much (you'd need a boost to magicka regen to restore as much as you would in my example - as the amount of magicka regenerated per second is tied to your maximum).

[druid91]

No, but it doesn't change that much. The burn will make each bolt deal 8 more damage (as it is 10% of the original damage) which means you can kill a Deathlord with 12 castings instead of 13. And the regen might mean you don't need potions to kill that single draugr (tough luck if he has buddies) - keep in mind that the theoretical character didn't invest his attribute points into anything other than magicka (for 29 levels). If you'd want a bit better survivability than what the base 100 hp give you, you'll need higher regen to do even that much (you'd need a boost to magicka regen to restore as much as you would in my example - as the amount of magicka regenerated per second is tied to your maximum).

You're missing the point. And that point is that the ability to stagger opponents on demand is useful.

[Rainbownaga]

The only character that I've finished the main campaign with was a (primarily destruction) caster.

I'll agree that you basically need to abuse enchanting to make it viable at high levels, but magic and stealth are the only 2 playstyles that I can actually enjoy for more than a couple of hours; running up to things and hitting them, or even playing with a shield get boring to me and archery is far too easy to abuse.

[Divayth Fyr]

You're missing the point. And that point is that the ability to stagger opponents on demand is useful.
Not when you can't kill the opponents and they one-shot you once you run out of mana. I don't disagree this is powerful with enchanting abuse* or potion spam - but without it it is "meh" at higher levels.

*yes, I consider 100% reduction an abuse of the system, just like 100% chameleon suits in Oblivion and Morrowind or gear enchanted to restore dozens of hp per second in the latter.

[Triaxx]

Never been much problem for me.

I'm not going any further with this though, since you're certain you're right and I'm certain you're wrong, so there's no possiblity for us to agree.

[Divayth Fyr]

Didn't You say You never played with unmodded magic? I'd say this could be one of the reasons for different opinions...

[GloatingSwine]

In Skyrim...oh, Akatosh...no. Skyrim's magic was terribly limited. For each element you are basically chained down in a chair and handed a few spells. Imagine someone coming up to you and saying "I made some spells in a time span of less than an hour and got really lazy. Look at how creative I got - A continuous fire spray which does barely any damage, a fireball that's kinda cool but does nothing more than explode and deal a small amount of damage, and, oh, I love this one...a fire wall. Just watch your enemies walk through one of these suckers and take tiny bits of damage. Frost, same; shocking, same. Fun. I do like the bound stuff though. Magic in Skyrim is like saying "Weeeee, I dropped out of the Mage's Academy after a week and like to throw lights at people! I'm the Dragonborn! Believe it!"


Magic in Skyrim is so bad that NPCs have special spells not available to the player so that enemy mages can offer any threat at all.

[ArlEammon]

Magic in Skyrim is so bad that NPCs have special spells not available to the player so that enemy mages can offer any threat at all.

Really, this is a designer flaw.

Just download the Magic Scaling mod and voila, you're all set.

[druid91]

Not when you can't kill the opponents and they one-shot you once you run out of mana. I don't disagree this is powerful with enchanting abuse* or potion spam - but without it it is "meh" at higher levels.

*yes, I consider 100% reduction an abuse of the system, just like 100% chameleon suits in Oblivion and Morrowind or gear enchanted to restore dozens of hp per second in the latter.

The problem is I have killed opponents. At master difficulty no less. Is it a pain in the hindquarters? Yes. But so is sword swinging without heavy perk investment and smithing.

That being said, I really have no clue where you're coming from. 4 out of my 7 characters have been mages.

While none of them smashed faces quite like Wrath, my dual-wielding werewolf monstrosity, all of them have been quite able to ruin people's day.

To be honest, I switched to master difficulty because a playthrough with an Ice-Mage left me bored, because everything died too easily.

And I play on the X-box, so no mods for me.

[ArlEammon]

The problem is I have killed opponents. At master difficulty no less. Is it a pain in the hindquarters? Yes. But so is sword swinging without heavy perk investment and smithing.

That being said, I really have no clue where you're coming from. 4 out of my 7 characters have been mages.

While none of them smashed faces quite like Wrath, my dual-wielding werewolf monstrosity, all of them have been quite able to ruin people's day.

To be honest, I switched to master difficulty because a playthrough with an Ice-Mage left me bored, because everything died too easily.

And I play on the X-box, so no mods for me.

Ah I see. I had no idea magic could be effective without being a Zhuge Liang if you didn't have mods.

[druid91]

Ah I see. I had no idea magic could be effective without being a Zhuge Liang if you didn't have mods.

It can be a pain if you just try to blast away at things as if magic was a sword, but if you throw in summons, back off, set up runes as traps and sort of run around whittling your opponents to death...

Ice magic makes this ridiculous because of the slowing effect. So.

Basically, just blend in Conjuration, Restoration, and Destruction magic along with scrolls, staves, potions, Etc. Staves are the big one. They are your renewable resources.

[Beige Dragon]

Conjuration. You just can't lose. At higher levels, you can have 2 permanent undead minions with undead thrall, which both can be humans. Humans you place gear on, so its like 2 additional followers. I even gave them both torches so I didn't have to carry one. Even then, at lower levels, fire atronachs, and low level raise dead spells/raise dead staves are very useful. What I did was train my conjuration skills like mad while killing enemies with swords. I would sell all my loot for blacksmithing and enchantment supplies, and then train those skills. Eventually, I had armor so powerful that all battles were a joke, minions that could do all the fighting for me, and a blade able to slice through any armor.

[Triaxx]

That's the screwy thing about Skyrim. Even though you'd expecte everything to be resistant too if not outright immune to ice but it's super effective against everything including bloody frost trolls.

[Valley]

Hey folks, have another question.

I have gotten to the point where my character has to get into the High Elf party to find out if they are or are not involved with the dragon issue. Now, I understand this is going to be a kind of James Bond mission, so I need to build up my sneak and lock pick and other skills, all of which are lower than my other skills.

My problem is my character, really. While he wants to help stop the dragon attacks I am not sure he would feel that sneaking into the embassy is a proper way to handle it. Nor, as I pointed out, is he really trained or geared out for the mission.

Is there anyway to bypass this mission? Find another way to get the information? Or is it a question of, either do it or dismiss the main story line and go do what I want?

Any suggestions? Please, no spoilers.

[Closet_Skeleton]

You can't bypass it, but you can just kill everyone there. Even with a high stealth character I just had to fight in parts of that mission. You just have to make sure you get your contact to stash enough weapons and armour in the embassy.

You don't exactly 'sneak into' the embassy, you walk in with an invitation and that's then there's only one other bit of required stealth which is conversation rather than character skill based. I don't even think any lock-picking is needed.

[Luzahn]

I tried sneaking through that mission once, but then I remembered that I was a Nord, and so I just let out a battlecry and started cleaving elves in half. :smalltongue:

I mean, I've even had dragons randomly attack during that quest, it doesn't seem to be set up for stealth.

[factotum]

I agree with m'learned colleagues--you really don't need to do that mission stealthily if you don't want to. That's the thing with Skyrim, it never forces you into a particular playstyle for story missions--it does to some extent for things like the Mages' College missions, for obvious reasons!

[Crow]

Why wouldn´t your character want to go to the party?

Slaughtering hundreds is ok, but sneaking into a party crosses the line?

[ArlEammon]

Why wouldn´t your character want to go to the party?

Slaughtering hundreds is ok, but sneaking into a party crosses the line?

Slaughtering hundreds of undead and people who try to kill you or burn down villages is perfectly okay.

Sneaking into a party uninvited is just barbaric.

http://imageshack.us/a/img853/1479/9o0j.jpg

[Closet_Skeleton]

I tried sneaking through that mission once, but then I remembered that I was a Nord, and so I just let out a battlecry and started cleaving elves in half. :smalltongue:

I mean, I've even had dragons randomly attack during that quest, it doesn't seem to be set up for stealth.

I found there were too many guards in the courtyard to be hiding from all of them at once, so I said 'screw it' and hid in a corner and shouted Strun bah Qo! and waited until there were considerably less guards standing around and a lot of lightning fried corpses who seemed a lot less alert.



Sneaking into a party uninvited is just barbaric.


But I was invited. I had an invite and everything. Whether or not my invite was intended for me by those arranging the party is merely minutia. If they had the initiative they'd have invited me anyway.

I had the blessing of Sanguine, having a party is practically invitation enough.

[Triaxx]

Let the Puny Elves party, as I mash their bones and stomp their corpses in search of answers. So sayeth the orc.

[Crow]

Gotta say, I was very disappointed that we will never get the glorious Thalmor-stomping expansion that we deserved. I just don't run into those guys on the road nearly enough.

[Luzahn]

Gotta say, I was very disappointed that we will never get the glorious Thalmor-stomping expansion that we deserved. I just don't run into those guys on the road nearly enough.

The lack of a Thalmor DLC is what has me suspicious that the next Elder Scrolls will be Summerset Isle/Alinor. I could see a next game set only a few years/decades after Skyrim where the protagonist is overthrowing the oppressive Thalmor overlords.

Those guys can't be very well-liked by even the normal citizens of Summerset. I mean, they want to destroy the world! Most elves probably still like the world. :smalltongue:
And the Thalmor are painted so villainously that I'm sure Bethesda intends for them to be unambiguously the bad guys.

[Landis963]

The lack of a Thalmor DLC is what has me suspicious that the next Elder Scrolls will be Summerset Isle/Alinor. I could see a next game set only a few years/decades after Skyrim where the protagonist is overthrowing the oppressive Thalmor overlords.

Summerset or around the Adamantine Tower. That's my pet theory at least.

Y'know, since it's the last active tower on Tamriel...

[Balmas]

Actually,if you're a high elf, can't you grab a set of elven armor and bluff your way through?

[druid91]

Summerset or around the Adamantine Tower. That's my pet theory at least.

Y'know, since it's the last active tower on Tamriel...

Except the giant Dwarven Time-Breaking Robot God.

[Togath]

The Thalmor are villains?

[Balmas]

The Thalmor are villains?

... Only in that they fill the same role as the Spanish Inquisition, the Nazis, and the KGB, all rolled in one. Just a little bit. :smalltongue:

[Landis963]

Except the giant Dwarven Time-Breaking Robot God.

The Numidium has been incommunicado since Daggerfall, the Heart of Lorkhan has been destroyed since Morrowind and has not been powering the Numidium since the Battle of Red Mountain at the earliest. And before anyone says the words "Snow-Throat", do you really think the Psijic Order (Based in Artaeum, formerly of the Summerset Isles) actually returned the Eye of Magnus to the Throat of the World? Really?

[Triaxx]

Yeah, but at least those guys had the good grace to pretend they weren't totally evil.

[Landis963]

Yeah, but at least those guys had the good grace to pretend they weren't totally evil.

Yeah, the Thalmor are evil a**holes and it gets them out of bed in the morning.

That and the fact that they all hope that they'll be gods by then.

[Valley]

How do you folks feel about mods?

I only have one I use. Multiple Followers Lite which allows 7 Followers and 7 Animals. I seem to have a conflict in my code and I am limited to 6 Followers. So we number 7 Warriors. Which is a cool number. I tried to make one a Follower AND a Wife, but she was killed and she was my first Follower so I had to resurrect her. I tried to remarry her and I think that screwed up the mod somehow. I decided in the future to keep my Followers and my Wife apart. So I married somebody else. But I think Jenassa prefers just being a Follower. She looks good in Elvish armor. I also have one horse (which I have not gotten killed yet). Not sure if I can get more and if the Followers can ride them. Don't think there are a total of 7 Horses in the game to be honest.