Skyrim - Jack of all Trades

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:27 am

I have a number of characters that are fairly specialised in either Warrior, Thief or Mage and I've reached the point that I'd like to play a true Jack of all Trades.

What does a JoaT character look like in Skyrim though? In Previous games, they were all the same. They all had 100 in all skills and 100 in all attributes: they could all do the same things.

The Perk system in Skyrim stops that. A JoaT will never (without cheats) be able to do everything.

What should a character be able to do to be a JaoT then? My answer to this is they must be able to act like any of the three archetypes, this means the ability to:

1 Blow stuff up with magic
2 Sneak up to stuff and stab it
3 Charge in and tank & spank.

To this end, I'm trying this character:

Race: Breton is probably the power choice. I'll choose Dunmer. Haven't played one of them yet.

Perked Skills:
Destruction (just Lightning Damage + Impact)
Enchant (5/5 + Insightful, Corpus and Extra Effect)
One Handed (Armsman 5 + Everything for Dual Wield + a point or two in Bladesman)
Smithing (Light Armour Path - means no daedric weapons)
Light Armour (As few as possible to cap out Dragon Scale + get Wind Walker)
Sneak (all, minus a couple of Sneak ranks)

gives ~50 perks

Unperked skills
Archery (back up ranged weapon)
Restoration (patching up after a fight)
Lock picking (doesn't need any perks)
Speech (can't not level this up...)

From other characters, the most dangerous enemies early on are hard-hitting boss melee and the stronger casters. The plan is to put most of the early perks into destruction to get the Impact perk ASAP. This gives a safe way of dealing with these early threats.

I'm planning on not power levelling Smithing / Enchanting, but just keep it around the One Handed / Destruction level, and actually use the skills to level them. Might need to revise this if I end up running out of Magicka too much and need that -25% x 4 destruction enchantment early.

Post level 50, I think I'll put perks into Alchemy and go the full Alchemy / Enchant / Smith route to godhood. That still leaves ~20 perks to spend as I please. It's currently a bit light on magic, so probably go there - starting with conjuration for twin soul undead thralls. Maybe go for the Alteration magic resist perks too.

Anyone else trying a JoaT? Anyone have a completely different view of what a Skyrim JoaT would look like?
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Lexy Dick
 
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Post » Sun Dec 11, 2011 11:10 pm

Use Illusion or Conjuration instead of Destruction.
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mike
 
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Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:58 am

Sounds about like what I'm doing. But more organized though. I'm pretty much just improvising as I go.

Two things though.
1) I found myself rarely using magic after level 10ish because melee is much more efficient. Well... Specifically I stopped using destruction. I use conjuration for bound sword/soul trap, and occassionally an atronach if I have a tough fight ahead. I may just find destruction lacking though because I only have the basic fire and frost spells, and I haven't invented many points into the perk tree.

It still helps, but not as much as id like. I figure later in the game when I find the mage college ill start working on my magic. Fits rping.

2) I decided to be a vampire because it helps me be more stealthy (unless I'm stage for). Maybe that's something you'd want to consider.
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WTW
 
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Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:36 am

Sneak is SO powerful. You can get away with only spending perks on the effectiveness (total of 5) and the damage ones. (total of 3)

for destruction you will find that it is not super powerful later on, and the cost of magic with drive you nuts, but since you have enchanting it might help.

Other than that I think its preference. Looks like you are on the right track.
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Chris Jones
 
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Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:04 am

I'm doing decent at building a JoaT by... not using perks...

2-handed, light armor, and alteration/conjuration are lagging. But then, Bethesda took away most of the spells I used, or moved them, and 2-handed/light armor are always the types of things I leave until after I've got the preferred setup solidified (sword & board). I think I have 9 perks in smithing, 6 in one-handed, 5 in heavy armor, 4 in block, 3 in speech, and no more than 2 in anything else (until my pickpocket is high enough to get the weight perk). I have 11 left to abuse when I'm utterly bored and actually want to irreparably turn my character into Death.
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Naomi Lastname
 
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Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:38 am

I guess my current character is as close to a JoAT character as I will ever play.

Kind of warrior who uses light armor and summons bound weapons to fight. Sneaks around quite a bit. Kind of piling up the perks at the moment until I figure out what real direction to go.
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Rachell Katherine
 
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Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:21 pm

I'm using Destruction to fit in with the Mage archetype of blowing stuff up with magic, plus Impact stun blocking can kill anything that might otherwise cause problems, eg Frost Trolls etc at low levels.

I know the character is capable (it is after all using almost every skill / feature that has been described as OP...). I was interested in hearing other ideas on a JoaT character. Especially any that are radically different from mine.
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Robert Jackson
 
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