Ok this is weird I have had an idea for a build for a while, but am finding it a bit awkward getting it all put together.
This is the build I have in mind...
A Dunmer noble from morrowind,.
six. not really sure. How I imagine them to be is male, but the basis of roleplay content is female.
Sign. no clue modded game but atronach with a back story of daedric / almvisi blessing / curse is getting cemented in my mind.
Majors is where I am having trouble most, as I tend to have a rule where I limit skill use to nothing but majors with a few minors to cover other role aspects.
This build however is spreading out fast.
What I have so far as possible keepers..
Blade ( fencing ).
Speechcraft ( courtly affairs ).
Mercantile ( as above ).
Illusion ( as above, and the real of beneziah made reference to nobles being schooled in illusion to keep themselves safeguarded ).
Security ( More as a counter espionage tool ).
Alteration and alchemy ( I see nobles brewing up love potions, poisons and having protections outside of duels ).
Other skill sets Sneak ( obvious reasons ). Light and Heavy armour ( In morrowind most nobles were unclothed or armoured in glass / ebony ).
So I see mixing everything together but end up with a bit of a hodge podge, combat wise I will just set the difficulty to how challanging I want it, and have no issue with leveling.
But roles I think most guilds are counter to the idea, apart from maybe the thieves guild, and playstyle I think the closet is a callous bardic rogue.
Ok thats about all I have any ideas would be kindly recieved.
Okay-- I'm gonna give this a go. I almost always build characters from a pure metagaming perspective-- whatever is going to work best with the game mechanics rather than whatever fits the character, but it'll probably be good for me to think about it this way, at least for a bit.
Blade-- absolutely.
Speechcraft-- I agree.
Mercantile-- I'm not so sure about this. There's something a little gauche and tawdry about haggling over price-- it seems uncultured somehow. I would think that a noble would merely snap his fingers and have his squire write out a check for whatever the price was.
Illusion-- I think so. The command/charm/etc. aspects of illusion are a bit manipulative, but that could potentially fit in with a noble roleplay. Or not, depending on the character. I could see some being too proud to stoop to such methods to get their way.
Security-- I'm not sold on that one. It smacks a bit too much of manual labor, and seedy manual labor at that. I can see it if the character is a bit disreputable (a blackmailer, for instance) but aside from that, it just seems a bit too dirty and squalid.
Alteration-- I can definitely see that, both for the shield buffs (instant shield without messing up those fine clothes) and for open spells instead of lockpicking.
Alchemy-- maybe. It makes some sense that they'd at least be interested in potions, but it seems like the sort of thing they'd hire a professional to do for them instead of doing it themselves and getting all that goo all over their hands.
Sneak-- maybe. That goes along with security to me. I can see a disreputable roguish-type noble getting good at sneaking, but can't see a proud noble stooping to do such a thing. I would think that a proud noble would enter a room brazenly and if someone else has a problem with that, that's just too bad. And again, it seems like the sort of thing a proud noble would hire someone else to do, if absolutely necessary.
Light or Heavy Armor-- definitely, though more from a style viewpoint than an actual combat viewpoint, so that's going to depend on the specific character. And the specific armor-- I'm sure that a noble would rather take his/her chances with no armor than deign to wear something as tacky as fur or iron.
For sign, from a pure roleplaying perspective, I'd lean towards something quite out of the ordinary-- maybe the Serpent or the Lover for a real rogue or the Ritual for a proud noble-- something that grants a quirky power rather than just an attribute bonus. That said though, Atronach could well be sufficiently quirky.
For guilds and such...... I can't see a noble putting up with Modryn or Burz, so the FG is pretty much out. MG might be a possibility, if they're that interested in magic. Probably not the TG-- that's just far too squalid. Maybe the DB though. And definitely, if you've got it and if they're at all the hero type, KotN. Aside from that, I would think that side quests would be the focus-- either the noble and honorable ones or the sneaky and underhanded ones, depending on the character's specific inclination.