» Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:40 pm
Avarae's right-- The Lord is a great birthsign for this sort of character, particularly with a Dunmer, since Trollkin just drops the Dunmer 75% fire resistance to 50%. In the early part of the game, Blood of the North will regenerate at least as much, and often more, than your total health at the time, which makes you just about unkillable. And by the later game, if you work on your intelligence, you should be able to cast it two or three times in a row if you need to (which you just might, since high level hand-to-hand battles tend to last a long time). The only downside to it is that it makes Heal Minor Wounds sort of redundant, so it's hard to get Restoration experience. And, honestly, since they both use the same icon, if I try to use both Heal Minor Wounds (to catch up after a fight) and Blood of the North (during a fight), I tend to confuse the two and find myself in the heat of battle casting Heal Minor Wounds on myself, or, after a fight when I need to catch up those last 10 HP, casting Blood of the North on myself and wasting the opportunity for Restoration experience. Aside from that petty confusion though, it really is a great sign for a melee fighter, and particularly one who doesn't rely on a lot of armor.
Other than that-- I'd be sort of wary of a combat spec, just because hand-to-hand increases very quickly anyway, so the rest of your skills could tend to lag. I'm not even set on that though-- hand-to-hand damage is entirely dependent on skill level, so getting it up as high as possible as fast as possible does pay off.
I'm not a big fan of alteration as a major. It's easy enough to build it up to the point at which you can use all the useful effects from it if it's a minor, and it's the only willpower skill that increases fairly quickly, so, for me, it's an automatic minor.
Block..... I think block's probably a necessary major with this build, but unfortunately it doesn't pay off so much in the long run. You have to be Apprentice level at least (starting level for a major) for a hand-to-hand block to accomplish anything, but beyond Journeyman level (50 skill) the perks you gain only apply to shields.
I'm not sold on either Athletics or Acrobatics, much less both. I assume the character's going to be unarmored, so the only way he's going to get speed increases is with Athletics and Acrobatics, and if they're both majors, that's going to limit his speed. And speed's important for a hand-to-hander, and particularly an unarmored one. You're far better of dodging attacks than standing and getting hit. Honestly, if it was me, I'd consider making them both minors, and I'd definitely make one of them a minor.
So... let's see.....
I'm thinking:
Dunmer
The Lord
Endurance and..... either Intelligence or Strength
Hand-to-Hand
Destruction
Block
Probably Restoration (it'll increase more slowly if you rely on Blood of the North a lot, but it's still a good major).
Illusion
Probably Acrobatics (it's the easier of the two to control)
And I think Sneak (you're going to want to be able to get the drop on opponents).
And all that with a Combat spec. Hand-to-Hand and Block will tend to increase quickly, but Hand-to-Hand's probably worth it and you'll almost certainly end up dodging more than blocking if you want to survive at higher levels. And a Combat spec will help Athletics as a minor and slow down Sneak as a major.
Yeah... that seems about right......
