Hi guys. Once again it's that time where I'm in the process of creating a side character to play as well as continuing Helena.

However, as usual, I'm buggered for ideas. It's not that I'm stuck, far from it. It's that I have too many ideas floating around my head.

This is where you come in, you guys can, hopefully, help me pick one. Or at least narrow it down.

Name: Varsea Hlerayn
Gender: Female
Race: Dunmer

Class: Alchemist (only Alchemy as a major skill, along with mercantile etc. No combat skills)
Birthsign: The Atronach

Varsea came to Cyrodiil from Sadrith Mora, where she was an Alchemist in the employ of her sister, Aralin Hlerayn, the Archmagister of House Telvanni. She's just out to make a life for herself, having lived all of her life in the shadow of her sister, she wants to distance herself from that. But she's still House Telvanni, which causes problems with the Mages Guild, but I'm sure if she'll listen to me, that can be worked around.
I've also never used the Atronach before, so that will be interesting.



Name: Varesa Ienith
Gender: Female
Race: Dunmer

Class: Waywatcher (Nightblade, with Marksman)
Birthsign: The Apprentice

Varesa is a free spirit. She has no idea what she wants from life, and is just out to have as much fun as possible. Often ignoring laws to achieve this. That said, she's a good person, and wouldn't intentionally harm anyone who's done nothing wrong to her. Wrong her, and expect vengeance.



Name: Isabella (help me think of a last name)
Gender: Female
Race: Breton

Class: Sorceress
Birthsign: The Apprentice

Isabella is very power driven, doing just about anything to get what she wants. She's a real "lady" of High Rock, thinking herself above mundane tasks such as cleaning. To be expected though really, from the daughter of a wealthy noble family. She's always had everything she asked for, so it'll be interesting to see how she copes in Cyrodiil where she has to make things happen.



Name: Chani Belavyn
Gender: Female
Race: Breton

Class: Nightblade (no ranged)
Birthsign: The Mage/The Apprentice

Chani is an old character of mine who, sadly, didn't get as far as I'd have liked. She's a [censored]. Sent to Cyrodiil by her master, Aralin Hlerayn, to usurp the Mages Guild, and to cause unrest in the courts so that House Telvanni might push to regain Morrowind's independence.




Any suggestions/thoughts/etc are greatly appreciated.
(I know the character outlines are rather brief, but that's because their personalities develop as I play them).

I understand why the birthsigns you chose are all magic related, but Varesa Ienith's personality would fit someone born under the Thief, doesn't know what she wants but was just born lucky, and manages to have fun and be carefree, but always somehow scraqes through with her skin in one piece. Just a thought.

By the nine divines, how many characters will you have?

I like the first one- alchemist/atronach. The other characters don't seem quite right to me.

There are two schools of thought on Apprentice. Some like it, some hate it.

Personally I never take it with either Breton or Dunmer. Giving up the resist magicka for a lazy 50 points is crazy when it is so easy to take Mage birthsign and enchant the extra 50. Dunmer is the same idea. 100% fire resist is very easy to achieve and makes the main quest a breeze.

However, it seems that you are building for RP, so go for whatever suits you. :twirl:

I also chose them mainly for the Apprentice's weakness, however, your suggestion regarding Varesa and the Thief is a good one. I intended to increase her luck as much as possible anyway, as that's pretty much how she's survived this long.



Too many =P I've got tonnes of ideas floating around my head, these are just the most "fleshed out" ones.



Indeed, this is pure RP. The Apprentice was chosen for the weakness specifically, as I like to gimp my characters.

In all honesty, I'm torn between Varesa and Varsea. Varsea more to see how she pans out, and Varesa because she reminds me somewhat of an old character I used to have.

i see i'm not the only one with too many character ideas, I'd go for the alchemist, its a unique style of play. Also the atronoch makes playing mages different, i like it, some people don't. I think that it will make you rely on alchemy that much more, which is the point of an alchemist right? Just remember to look out for flax and the blue mushrooms, or fire salts bliviongate:

Oh you wouldn't believe the amount of character ideas I have. I come up with like two or three a night, write them down in a little notebook and they get left there, to be created when I get a spare moment. Yet they somehow manage to worm their way into my thoughts. Hence Varsea and Varesa already having distinct personalities >.<

She'd probably be based out of Skingrad, so the Flax isn't a problem. Neither are the steel blue entoloma caps, if I'm honest.

I'm kind of leaning towards Varsea now. I'd like to play Varesa, but I get the feeling she'll become too easy too quickly. Once she gets to journeyman Illusion, she'd be basically unstoppable. Rather similar to Buffy.

It doesn't stop me going down that route of play though, as Varsea will need to be at least a little bit stealthy and rely on Marksman or short blades to apply her poisons.

Hmm.

Any ideas for what attributes Varsea should have as her main? Obviously I'm thinking Intelligence, but what then? Willpower to offset the Dunmer's lack of willpower, or personality, so she can get a better price for her potions and poisons.

Some just won′t settle for one character. But who does that anyway? :whistling:

Varesa and Varsea? How do you keep them straight!

Since you have never done an Atronach, I suggest giving that one a spin. It really does change the entire way you play. It is a bit of a learning curve, but once you get used to it (and stockpile a lot of restore magicka potions) it is not too difficult. It is only when you first start out that it can be hard, because you will not have a big stock of potions yet.

I see a lot of Dunmer and Bretons. How about mix it up a bit and play something different, such as a Wood Elf. The idea of a Bosmer being an alchemist is not much of a stretch. Or perhaps a Nord? She might carry an axe with her for when her magicka runs dry. I know you said no combat skills for that one, but isn't that what you are doing with Helena already? Why not try something completely different?

Subrosa, I cant make the other races look right

However, Morgana Rielle, a young red-haired Breton Thief has found her way into my game. Im interested to play a pretty much pure stealth character.
Anyone got any skill suggestions?

Know the feeling, can make a beautiful Altmer or Breton, but every other race looks bizarre, Redguard women end up with white beards, Dunmer look like they have a form of blue leprosy, and as for Khajiit, it took me days of reloading at the sewer exit, to still be less than impressive.

As for skills, I would always take speechcraft, it alone lifts you from a common thief to a rogue, and getting caught without 'the gift of the gab', well.

And Nords have those gigantic lips. Just wish I could make Dunmer look like Morrowind Dunmer.

Speechcraft, yes. Im debating whether or not to include Marksman as I'd like to see how she fairs without combat.
It's a fun way to gimp too, as Ive learned since playing Helena.

Despite what has been said on the Skyrim forum, "I assume they got rid of it because it's useless and no-one uses it" apparently, I love hand to hand. I personally think anyone living on Nirn who wasn't proficient with weapons, especially a thief/rogue/spy, would make sure they knew how to deliver a good left hook. You can't always rely on magic or shadows, and HtoH seems the ultimate back up plan, in my humble opinion.

My character won't touch any weapon aside from her bow. She's too weak to do anything with melee besides piss someone off. If she tried to hit someone h2h, she'd probably break her thumb from having it wrapped inside her fingers as she tried to make a fist. She relies on some illusion if she needs some help and a dispel potion at the ready if her magic is cursed.

H2h is an excellent skill though and it is one of her majors. I mean, in order to cap her level, it is very helpful to have a few major skills that she never touches. Illusion mean never having to say 'melee' or 'speechcraft'. :foodndrink:

Morgana isnt the h2h type, really. She'd rather run away than hurt her hand. That said, when her adrenaline kicks in, she's very unpredictable.
She'll dabble in magic once she can afford the university fees. I'm capping her Int at 50 though. But that's fine.

"Welkynd stones, that will do very nicely, thankyou, my lady."

Just download a http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/cat.php?id=43. Most of them are set at the end of the tutorial sewers, where you can still change all of your stats. There are plenty of good looking people out there already made. I often do when I do not feel like creating a new face from scratch. Or you can use something like http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7808 to import the face from a downloaded save into one of your own.

That is assuming you are playing on the PC...

I feel your pain about the Mick Jagger lips the game gives to everyone (not just Nords). I think Bethesda is getting kickbacks from collagen companies... That is probably the biggest thing I have to fight to fix whenever making a character. But you can do it with judicious work on the drawn/pursed and puckered/retracted sliders. Remember that you have to keep working them back and forth, and you will get those lips down to something human. Do not forget the thick/thin sliders either, or the happy/sad. When you are done, watch for an underbite, and the game tends to want to give anyone without tire-sized lips one.

I get some of my inspiration for characters from just playing with the "random" feature. Just hit random repeatedly until you get a face that "speaks to you," and then do minor adjustments from there. I'd think that would be a good way of generating a reasonable face for a race that you're unaccustomed to playing.

Sadly, I play on xbox, so no mods or anything of the sort for me...yet.
That being said, I did play around for a while and made a suitable Nord, using your advice. Thank you




I quite often randomise until I get a face that looks about right, then I tweak for like, twenty odd minutes, haha. Annoyingly though, many of my characters arrive in my mind fully formed, and I already know what they should roughly look like.



Anyway, I made three characters last night (random bored night, haha).

Runa Ice-Veins. She's a Nordic Frost Maiden, which is basically a Nord Atronach Alchemist using Frost magic, and when she depletes her magicka, she pulls out an axe.

Morgana Rielle. She's a red haired Breton Thief, under the sign of The Thief (to reflect her surviving based on luck).

Chani Belavyn. She's a Dunmer Nightblade/Sorceress sent from House Telvanni to screw with the Mages Guild. She uses only touch based magic or daggers to apply poison.

They're all very young, so their personalities are yet to develop fully, but they already have their own quirks.

I fancy making an Altmer Apprentice sometime soon too, and then I'm set til Skyrim/I get a PC, whichever is soonest.

Why not just forget any thoughts of aesthetic beauty? Make a female orc who is as butt-ugly as you can make her. Make it so that she doesn't use weapons in battle and roleplay her as a shaman of sorts. Have her exist for the most part on her own in the wilderness where she hunts game like deer and rats and picks flowers to make her potions. Make her self-conscious about her appearance, and give her a hood and cloak to wear on those occasions when she absolutely has to go into town. Give her a purity of heart that compensates for her lack of physical appeal. Believe me when I say that, if you play her right, she will become one of your favorites.

I think if I were to make a Shaman like that, I'd probably go Argonian, as I don't particularly like Orismer. They've never really appealed to me.

Although, I can't imagine an Argonian being terribly self conscious about their appearance, can you?

Edit: Oh yeah, Zen, what did you mean by the Welkynd Stones thing?