Struggling with a 'direction-less' character - A discussion

Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:15 am

One thing I try, usually on a replay, is to pretty much play without using merchants. Instead of the looting...selling cycle, my char will just take better equip and weaps after killing someone or finding them in a chest or something. Travels light since there's no need to pick up two suits of iron armor that he or she isn't going to use. If a healing potion is needed, gotta find the ingredients in the wild and use them ... that sort of thing.

Works with everything from mages to heavy warrior types in all sorts of games.

This is a good idea, however this would level the character quite fast. I will do this but without all of the crafting, perhaps only smithing.
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Jessie
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:10 pm

Even if you could do a fire breath or freezing shout? Normally I might do the same, but crap, if I could paralyze folks with my shout, I'd be out carving Dragons like it was going out of style.

I don't know. I'm just a little girl Q_Q
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Beat freak
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:20 pm

At first I wanted to play the paladin type hero. But after I found out how the spellcasting+melee didn`t really go hand in hand the way I liked it I decided to try something different.


I figured I would try to be a traveling argonian sweatshop owner. Recruiting the children to work in my establishment didn`t work to well. sneaking into their homes at night to abduct, errr a recuit them would involve them screaming for the guards. After a few beatdowns from the guards I promised to stop my ways. So then I decided I would open up a chicken fighting ring in riften. Was going pretty good till the thieves guild started shaking me down. So I slugged Mercer in the eye then the next thing I know I got the Dark Brotherhood after me. So i skipped town.

After much thought on my next buisness venture I thought it would be optimal to provide a service to Skyrim that none had seen the likes of before. Minotaur prosttutes! Genius I thought! Think of the gold those stupid nords would pay to spend the night with a minotaur, The say it almost is the same as a woman, so they wouldn`t know the difference anyway. I was destined to bring joy and happiness to the masses. So I bought a house as a base of operations and furnished it with the best swag you buy. Then the only missing part of the plan were the minotaurs. I searched high and low, From the depths of blackwater reach to the peak of the throat of the world. All I found were skooma addicted falmors, which by the way became good customers for my moonsugar buisness and some stinky old dragon that just sat there all day thinking. But not a single minotaur was found. So sadly my dream of providing beneficial services to the people of skyrim dwindled. I still look for them, though not as much. Now I pass my time robbing merchants and making my children chop wood and work in the mines. I do feel kind of empty inside knowing my dream was crushed, but who knows. Something might come up right around the corner.
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dav
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:36 am

I do things like you do, I just take whatever comes my way if it benifits me. But if I get bored of being a mage and want to be a warrior, I'll just forget that I ever had anything to do with magic and power level my combat skills for a long time and be a warrior for a while and if something else comes along I'll do the same thing over again.


I did this when my orc hit the Mages Colleges...I put all my heavy armor in a box in Breezeholm, and just wore my regular robe/ring/fine boots no gloves, and put on their novice hat they gave me...that was it...I did most of the Mages guild quests as a Mage...it was tough...like I said in another thread, I had a Dreugh Warlord who would not go down at all to anything, so I made him chase my fire rune...he'd hit my fire rune...I'd hide under the stairs...he'd go up the stairs, I would swoop around the other stair case...drop the fire rune there, he heard me...go to check it out...back under the stairs...lmao

just use your Environment...lmao
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Austin England
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:48 am

Hey, these are some good comments, thanks! Certainly gives me more to think about in terms of how I can flesh out my character. Kinda thinking I want to start again hehe. But I think I'd end up in a relatively similar place. Rather than start again, I am mostly happy with what I've done so far. I'll perhaps just apply more of a filter on what he'd do and how he'd act or respond. I think one thing that really detracts from really personalising your character is the dialogue, or lack thereof. So far I've not seen a lot of choices. And those that I have seen are basically either "yes" or "no". Like mentioned above...

Using Falmer's idea of the short description for your character, of my character Kil?il Wayfarer I could say:

Kil?il is a Nord of early middle years who has travelled fairly extensively around Tamriel and has now decided to return to his homeland. As a far-strider, he has named himself Wayfarer. His father was martial; a hunter and a swordsman; his mother magically-gifted; a druidess and priestess of Kyne. Both fiercely patriotic and reverential of Skyrim, it's landscape, 'native' people, flora and fauna.

In the traditional D&D-style of alignment, he would be Chaotic Neutral. Neither good nor bad, but generally out for his own or those closest to him.

In this way I think I can rationalise predominantly sword-based melee combat, supported by average ability with a bow, and also average skills in magic (with a Destruction and Restoration focus - in my mind to represent Elemental / Nature magic). I read something about being able to summon a spirit wolf, which I suppose would be Conjuration, but haven't really seen or used that in-game. Conjuration seems more Necromantic to me.

And imagining a particular sense of patriotism could also rationalise being something of a Stormcloak supporter.

So I think I can embrace the character as a character. Instead of just accepting every quest perhaps think on it a bit more, and take those that seem fitting or to assist people who the character would want to assist. Instead of killing every hapless animal that crosses my path, perhaps try to use Charm of Fear instead.
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Connor Wing
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:39 pm

First thing for me is building a plausible background story for my character to tie in with the theme of the game.
******************************************************************************************************************************

Ormrsson
Nord (age: 20)

Ormrsson is of Nord decent. He knows nothing of his family, or events before being sold as a babe to the Imperial City Arena Masters, except…his masters ruthlessly chided him and named him for a small wood and leather anklet found on him. The anklet had a one-word inscription of Ormr (Norse for serpent or worm) and he has since been called Ormrsson (Worm’s Son).

Ormrsson endured the typical, barely tolerable, child hood of an arena slave child. He cleaned the latrines, worked the war beasts slop pits and was often beaten simply because it provided a gladiator or older slave a brief distraction. Regardless, Ormrsson was drawn to the gladiators and enthralled by all things (weapons, armor, smithing, combat techniques, etc.) having to do with martial combat. He dreamed of entering the arena himself someday… until!
At age 12, he convinced the only person he could call friend,Thaik (a Red guard slave his same age), into helping him steal some Nord ale from a particularly vile and dangerous gladiator who had dropped into a drunken stupor after an all-night victory feast. They bungled the attempt and the gladiator woke driving 2 feet of steel through Thaik’s heart and missed cleaving Ormrsson’s head by mere inches (Ormrsson will always bear the scar of the near miss across his cheek).

Ormrsson, feeling guilt for his friend’s death and fleeing the wrath of the gladiator, escaped the arena and found himself locked in a day to day life struggle on the streets of the Imperial city. Hunger, deprivation, and brutality were his constant companions. He quickly learned the skills of street survival (pickpocketing, lock picking, lying and stealth) but always found that what he enjoyed most, and was best at, was bashing heads. At age 16, now a gang leader, his life again changed forever.

His gang, had gained considerable influence, and unfortunately for Ormrsson, the unwanted attentions of the Imperial authorities. Captured in a bloody crackdown, he waited for time and the rot of Imperial prisons to send him to his ancestors. However, by circumstance or fate, a Breton mage, Melisande, hired by a very powerful Imperial Nobel to interrogate all prisoners (in hopes of finding a particularly damaging piece of evidence stolen from his home) sensed something unique in Ormrsson. She paid his fine and bought him as a slave.

Melisande, took young Ormrsson under her wing – she sensed an aura of power within him and tried as she might to guide him toward the arcane arts. However, Ormrsson’s heart was in the fight, not the studies of arcane elemental power or learning the properties of alchemist’s secrets. He was barely able to grasp the most simple of destructive or restorative spells, mainly because it at least had something to do with combat. Regardless, Melisande did succeed in softening his heart some and she became like a mother to him. These were the best days of his life. However, at age 20, that life would take another turn for the worse!

Melisande, when she first found Ormrsson, had indeed found the evidence her employer feared and had been using it the last four years to blackmail him. This provided a modest but comfortable life for her and Ormrsson but also earned her the destructive hate of her provider. Eventually the Nobleman could no longer stomach the indignation and Melisande fell to the blade of a master assassin. Ormrsson, came home from watching the latest arena games to find her clinging to a last thread of life. As he held her almost lifeless body close to his chest, in a dying whisper, she told him to seek out his ancestral home for the Imperial city would never be safe for him. However, even more important, she sensed he had a greater destiny awaiting him in the frozen northern realms. In her last dying gasp, she revealed that his name had another meaning… yes, Ormr could mean serpent or worm in modern Nord… but it was also ancient Nord for “Dragon”.

Heeding Melisande’s last warning and words, he quickly gathered what he could and fled the city heading for the Skyrim border. Here his life would take another turn!

As dangerous as life in the Imperial city can be, life in the wilds of Tamriel is usually short at best. Shortly after crossing the Skyrim border, he was ambushed by bandits and left for dead. His hardiness, and thick Nord skull, ensured the God’s would have continued entertainment at his expense. However, having no provisions or idea who to turn to for help, he had little choice but to track down the bandits and attempt to regain his possessions. Finally, coming upon what he assumed to be their camp, he was quietly slipping through the dark of a moonless Skyrim night when he again stepped into an ambush… but this one was Imperial in design!
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lucy chadwick
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:23 am

Same here with the rest.

I decided to RP a Khajiit ranger/spellsword. Basically a valiant warrior, favouring travelling in Light Armour and dual swords for swift speed and agility. Since he's pretty much noble, I also decided to add Restoration to heal myself and others who require it. I frequently 'heal' the wounded people in temples and all. Might not be effective but it certainly adds to the immersion.

Since he's burned on being swift and light possible, Conjuration is added in order to summon dual bound swords and a bow if need be. [ I just started, I still need those spells in the game. Hope you can dual wield the swords. ]. Also, he prefers the wilds and being rather alone. Henceforth, no companion unless he summons one!

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Prohibited
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:27 pm

Well, if I put myself in the game, I would be the most boring person. I wouldn't go into any of the dungeons, mines, caves, etc. I would hide in the basemant when a dragon came. I would be the crazy dog lady like in oblivion. So I have to be someone else. Or else it would be boring. :sadvaultboy:


Haha yep me too. I doubt I could be a warrior, not big'n'burly enough. Maybe a stealthy type? But I'm clumsy. Probably couldn't be a wizard, not scholarly enough. In fact, you know all those that get burned up in Helgen right at the start??? Yep, I'd be one of them :lol: :flamethrower::cryvaultboy:

So last few nights of playing I've been playing with more of a character-RP approach. Much more fun and working out to be sustainable :)
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helen buchan
 
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Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:33 am

my roleplaying in TES games pretty much consists of choosing an archetype/template to build my character's skills and personality around, and coming up with a simple background that fits the story. Then I just play the character.
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Liii BLATES
 
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