Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-24.158.236.107-20131006221701/@comment-147.202.161.185-20140715025514

Let me just preface this with a few things. This is my first Elder Scrolls game and really my first game of this type. I didn't really know what I was doing going in, but I have read a lot about it both on this site and another site.

I got the Legendary Edition (w/all DLCs) on sale(but not the texture pack since I play on a laptop that is not top tier for gaming)patched to the latest official version with no unofficial patches or mods. I have played for over 485 hours and have barely touched any of the significant quest lines. Will go into more detail below. First post here, btw. Here goes(please forgive if this post is quite long)...

Gender:Male. Race:Imperial(for their "luck" which I come to find everyone gets automatically applied to their character once they finally escape from Helgen into Skyrim proper). Will try Nord and/or Breton in future playthrough(s) mainly for their frost resistance and magic resistance respectively. They would more easily let me use hide(not likely), leather, elven(maybe the breton) or glass(again breton) armor. Difficulty:Apprentice(will do Adept on next playthrough, maybe higher after that).

Level:135(4x25% cost reduction in Alteration, the Telekenesis spell and fast travel between Riften/Markarth is a very easy way to gain levels). One 15->100 skill mastering is level 1->17 or level 194->195(or in between).

Health:770 Stamina:720(mostly for extra carry weight as I don't usually power attack on purpose. Also cool to sprint from your house near the front gate of town clear up to the doors of the Jarl's residence and only maybe use half your stamina in the process.) Magicka:150(Didn't realize early on you don't need magicka for 4 schools if you doubly enchant 2 sets of gear and I don't use illusion for combat purposes save for the quiet casting perk which works on shouts and maybe other powers too.)

All my crafting skills are maxed and very well perked(smithing totally perked, mainly for completion). No restoration potion exploiting, no falmer helmet/penitus occulatus helmet glitching(or the like), no necromage vampire assistance(though I do have the necromage perk and I do plan on having Serana make me a vampire lord after I beat the Dawngaurd questline for the Dawnguard, eventually. Want the related achievement and can use either it or lycanthropy for the 1000 gold bounty in 9 holds achievement or use something else for that and use lycanthropy to cure my vampirism and a glenmoril witch head to cure my lycanthropy. Got to get the achievement related to lycanthropy also. Well, don't have to but want to). So, I have a light set of gear (leather/hide) I carry with me to craft things(+29% alchemy/smithing ring/necklace/hide bracers, +29% alchemy leather helmet, +29% smithing leather armor). I also have +32% to enchant potions(if I need them) and +130% smithing potions(mostly for making and improving weapons to sell). Probably common knowledge, but while you could fairly easily improve a couple dozen items with a single smithing potion(even switching between weapons and armor in one potion if the stations are right next to each other), you can probably only use an enchanting potion to boost a double enchant on one item you intend to rename and use for yourself or a follower(unless perhaps you are super fast in the Arcane enchanter user menu and a very fast typist, then you MIGHT be able to do 2 items with one potion). Maybe people can sqeeze even more from one potion. not me. Perhaps this is why an enchanting potion isn't worth much(maybe a septim per percent increase?) but a smithing potion might be over 500 septims(567?).

Apparel:Mostly Dragonscale(with a few leather carry pieces thrown in). Displayed armor rating:660 w/o shield(546 when wearing custom leather boots and gauntlets to boost carry by 43 each). Carry:710/796/926(potion)

Apparel Enchants: 2 Dragon Scale Armor( 1 -25% Destruction/Restoration, 1 -25% Alteration/Conjuration) 2 dragonscale Helmets(same enchants as the main armor pieces). 2 necklaces(same) a few more I found around and might use but may sell(+35% sneak, +70% shock resistance) 3 rings(2 like my main necklaces, 1 custom for waterbreathing), "Comfy" dragonscale boots(54% fire/frost resistance) "Ultra" Dragonscale guantlets(+47% archery/one handed) "Ultra" dragonscale shield(54%/23% shock/magic resistance) leather boots with muffle and carry(don't really need muffle now that I have the "silence" perk in sneak) and leather gaunlets with fortify unarmed and carry(do I really need fortify unarmed when brawls seem so easy and you are allowed to heal yourself during the fight if you want?). Since both the the Steed Stone and the light armor perk "unhindered" are bugged(not sure about heavy armor "conditioning") so that if you are wearing a piece of armor(enchanted and improved) and have several of the same basic piece of armor in your inventory(enchanted and/or improved or not) they all weigh nothing, I think I may make a few more pieces to replace my leather ones and either sell my leather ones or relegate them to long term storage. All enchants used grand soul gems except for one petty.

Weapons: Dragonbone Bow w/291 displayed damage(via smithing skill, perks, enchants and potion and a good weapons enchant) plus 81/81 fire/shock damage(thanks to enchanting skill/perks, a good enchanting potion and the augment perks in the destruction skill tree). Uses no charges when wearing all my fortify destruction gear. Dragonbone Sword w/269 displayed damage plus 81/81 fire/shock thanks to the above reasons. Dragonbone dagger with 174 displayed damage plus 81/81 fire/shock(one handed enchants and potions seem to have no effect on daggers according to research and experience). I also have both an improved (but unenchanted) bow and sword for Lydia: my wife, sometimes follower and mother of my 2 adopted children(1boy, 1 girl). Should have listed this above, but I made her Some improved dragonplate armor pieces(main piece with stamina regen and +62 health, boots with 46% fire/frost resistance, unenchanted gauntlets, shield with 46%/20% shock/magic resistance, a costly necklace with 46% fire/shock resistance(so along with her nord 50% frost resist makes her as protected from elements with shield equipped as she can be while not showing 100%+ resistance which would make dragons fails to engage us in combat),  an expensive circlet with waterbreathing(so she doesn't need to leave my side and come up for air when we do extensive underwater travel) and her bond of matrimony. She's level 50 and has 100 one handed, block, heavy armor, and archery(almost). Due to the extra boost to effectiveness followers get to their skills per skill level(compared to the player character), I calculate she should have the same displayed armor rating as I do in my dragonscale even without a  shield (like when using her bow), even without a helmet equipped. Her overall magic resistance(elemental times general) should be over 90% with a shield equipped and her physical resistance should be over 90% when blocking. Her bow damage would show around 200(more when you add the arrow) and her sword would show around 180. I currently have about 2200 ebony arrows for us to share(20 damage each). Apparently a fully drawn bow counts as a power attack(2x damage) but uses no stamina(unless you utilize the perks that zoom view and slow time with a bow drawn). I also made a dragonbone battleaxe and dragonbone dagger (unimproved and unenchanted) to help level two handed and one handed respectively (made two handed legendary to get back some perks I mistakenly spent in "barbarian"). Only greater souls on weapons.

Potions:Using my alchemy/smithing gear, I can make a potion that boost destruction by (I think) 162% AND provides 97% shock resistance(all for 1 minute) with glow dust and glowing mushroom. Would be great while dual casting against a powerful electromage so I wouldn't need a shield equipped. I think I have a +160% fortify marksman potion(which supposedly boosts ALL types of weapons, even daggers). My +130 carry weight potions are valued at 1337 septims(thought that was kinda cool). Maybe a few +130% fortify restoration potions (might be helpful during a related ritual). A potion improving prices by 32% for 30 seconds(most potions are for one minute except this, enchanting and smithing at 30). I think I have one each of 130 seconds invisibility (far better than the spell since it is both much longer time and you don't have to worry about the light in you hands after casting giving you away, which it will if you don't sheath it or switch weapons right away) and waterbreathing (redundant now that I have an item, ring in this case, that is lighter than a potion and lets me stay underwater indefinitely). I think I have several that both resist poison 104% and boost stamina regen 130%. I also have several vegetable, beef and venison stew(one effect of each is generating 1 stamina per second for 12 minutes) which would allow for virtually endless shield bashing(to level block or just easily kill tough bosses on legendary, if you have deadly bash which I don't). Potions of cure disease(for when you can't make it into town right away, though I do have a necklace of 100% resist disease I found. or Poison. or both. not sure).

Skills:all 100 except 4:pickpocket(51 maybe after the odd skill book and paying Vipir the Fleet of the  Thieve's Guild quite a bit for training, just for the extra pockets perk, but also got a couple extra levels of "light fingers" and the "cutpurse" perk so I could reverse pickpocket 1 gold to 47 people and get the related "pick 50 locks, pick 50 pockets" achievement. I thinks I've picked 300 to 400 locks. The other 3 came from 1: framing Brand Shei, 2: getting the key off Farengar Secret Fire for "The Whispering Door" daedric quest, and getting an office key off the guard in the Shattleshield shipping office in Windhelm during the day so I could search for evidence easily at night during the "Rise in the East" quest) and Speech(95. I want to finish "Lost to the Ages" so I can get the Aetherial Crown, load the Lover Stone once again and the Thief Stone once again, Make and improve some Dragonbone Warhammers at 22,800 septims each, go around with my wife and sell them for a tiny fraction of their worth, and when I get to 98 speech go back to Bard's Leap and jump off to get the last 2 skill points). I don't care about getting pickpocket to 100 or any of those other perks(though I think I did get the perk where you can put poison in someones pockets to harm them, mainly as an option for when I dive into the DarK Brotherhood questline). Both two handed and Heavy armor were made legendary to refund wasted perks. Two handed was left in the teens, Heavy Armor was made legendary again and then left in the teens.

Perks:Note: I currently have about a half dozen unspent perks (1 saved for "Master Trader"), easy to get more.

Alchemy:All except "Experimenter" 1/2/3(might get for Dragonborn DLC ingredients) and "Purity"(if I decide to make more potions or poisons to sell). Can't remember if I got "Green Thumb" or not.

Alteration:Novice, Apprentice, Magic Resistance 3/3(I've made this skill legendary dozens of times)

Archery:All except the 100 skill chance to paralyze and ranks 2/3 about chance for critical hits. might get those 2.

Block:Shield Wall 5 of 5, deflect arrows, Elemental Protection, Block Runner.

Conjuration: Novice, Summoner 1 of 2, Atromancy, Elemental Potency, Twin Souls, Mystic Binding(mostly to use bound bow on a conjured dremora lord at high levels of archery before Angi's training and to make Conjuration 100 after making it legendary. Used bound sword for that, too. Felt bad because I used soul trap on a dead fox outside Frostflow lighthouse for a while the first time around to raise conjuration from like 15 to like 35).

Destruction:Novice, Apprentice, Rune Master, Dual Casting, Impact, Augment Fire/Frost/Shock 2/2. When wearing the right gear, runes are good for raising Destruction since the have relatively high cost(thus high xp gain) but relatively low damage(unaffected by augment perks). Use frost runes on draugur(they are resistance so will require more hits) or say shock on an npc and heal them when near death to raise restoration too. I did that to a low level archer bandit woman equipped with a iron dagger in a cave after all her friends were dead.

Enchanting:All except the soul related perks on the right hand side of the tree.

Heavy Armor: No perks(had 3 ranks Juggernaut plus Well Fitted, but made it legendary twice. Skill now in teens).

Illusion:Novice, Animage, Kindred Mage, Quiet Casting

Light Armor:Agile Defender 1 of 5, Custom FIt, Unhindered, Wind Walker, Deft Movement. Can sprint LONG time. May have made this legendary at least once before raising it again. Can't remember.

Lockpicking:Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Golden Touch, Locksmith, Unbreakable. I'd get Treasure Hunter, but  I already have enough valuable loot to sell and don't need the potential to be massively over burdened again(despite my stamina, extra pockets and carry weight potions) like I was on Solstheim(I was stuck on the island for weeks before I could return to the mainland, alternating selling to the the General goods merchant, Blacksmith, and apothecary in Raven Rock and waiting inside the inn as opposed to sleeping for the skill bonus since I didn't want to wake up on the other side of the island again and trudge clear across again). Frequent dragon attacks on Raven Rock didn't help matters, either. If I could just do the other quests to get the house there. No moving the family there, but already furnished, all crafting stations included, and free! No housecarl, but who cares? You don't get one for becoming thane of Winterhold, either.

One Handed:Armsman 5 of 5

Pickpocket:Light Fingers 3 of 5, Night Thief, extra pockets, Cutpurse, maybe poisoned(can't remember)

Restoration:Novice, Apprentice(mistake, but helpful earlier on. Might make this skill legendary), Respite, Regeneration, Necromage. Might get Recovery 1 and 2, Avoid Death and dual casting. Maybe not. Fairly fast and easy way to level(or re-level) I haven't seen posted anywhere (when you have higher level spells and zero cost equipment) is to carefully drown yourself on the  steps outside Dragonsreach. Just back down into the water and keep your head underwater until you are almost dead, quickly move forward up a few steps and dual cast grand healing, then back down into the water again. Repeat as needed. Perhaps not as fast as standing in the fires of the Aetherium forge(165 damage/second), but safer. I did die a couple times not paying close enough attention to my health. Also once getting beat on by giants and/or mammoths.

Smithing:All. Went up heavy side first(didn't know better) to orcish, then up light to advanced to improve found nordic carved armor, then up to ebony to make/improve bows to max skill, then dragon for: light armor(me mostly), Heavy armor(followers skilled with heavy armor) and weapons(for maxing melee skill and speech thru sales). Arcane Blacksmith for improve things like dragon priest masks.

Sneak:All. I made this legendary and raised it again, then adding all perks. Throwing a question out(maybe never read) but:Can doing that mess up Silence and Shadow Warrior? Shadow warrior seems kind of hit or miss for me(no spell absorb "benefits" getting in the way) and it seems some fairly normal NPCs can detect me from a ways away and out of sight, even when sneaking in light armor. Muffled boots or no makes no difference.

Speech:Haggling 5 of 5, Allure, Merchant, Investor, Fence. With the Masque of Clavicus Vile and an Amulet of Zenithar, I get full price selling to female vendors and only pay a little more than item value when buying(like 5 percent). I want to get this skill to 100 and get Master Trader so almost every major merchant in the game  gets an extra 1000 to pay  me for stuff, but I kind of want male merchants to pay me full price too. I've read that speech skill over 100(via enchants and/or a blessing) has no effect, but I'm not sure.

Two Handed: no perks. Had a couple in Barbarian Until I made this skill legendary. Now this skill is in the teens.

This has gone on way to long, but I want to finish up with a few extra tidbits about my current character.

Agent of Mara, Sailors Repose, Thief Stone(Current, eventually want the already "discovered" Lord Stone once speech is at 100. First get Aetherial Crown, then Lover Stone again, Then Thief Stone, Then Lord Stone).

Most Daedric Quests done except:Boethiah's Calling(in progress but don't really want to get more into it as it would count as a "murder" on my in game crime stat screen and I have zero "murders" so far), Ill Met by Moonlight(in progress. Plan to help Sindig and get the ring, then kill him and get his hide), The Black Star(in progress. Plan to take the broken star to Aranea. My understanding is that trapping black souls,even if they are the souls of dirty bandits or forsworn, is considered highly illegal in this fantasy world) and Discerning the Transmundane(haven't started yet, but I have progressed the main questline a little, The College of Winterhold questline a little, and have "discovered" the Septimus Signus Outpost).

Illusion Ritual, Conjuration Ritual, and Destruction Ritual Complete(sold Drevis Neloren the master illusion spell tome I received on completion). Will have to wait on the others until later in the College questline or even after it's over(not that I really care for the spells, but for completeness. Maybe casting dragonhide prior to the Restoration ritual might be helpful, though. Might get myself more health before then too. And more Restoration perks).

Poor Farkas(or Vilkas, can't remember which) has been sitting around Dustman's Cairn for well over a month waiting for me to show up and help him collect a fragment of Wuuthraad. I'll get to it sooner or later.

Got to get back to Maven Blackbriar about having poisoned the vat at Honningbrew Meadery.

Need to knock on the door at Falkreath Sanctuary. How fast can I get a hold of shrouded handwraps/gloves?

Need to visit Dimhollow Crypt. Need to cleans the All Maker stones and help master Neloth with stuff. Decided I will break with the Chief of Thirsk Hall and side with the nords against him and his tribe instead.

Need to make the journey to high Hrothgar. Need to return Jarl Igmund's family shield to him so I can purchase Vlindrel Hall, but I kind of want to wait until I have at least 500,000 septims( over 300K so far). Not that it costs anywhere near that much. Also need to kill me an ice wraith and get back to Jarl Ulfric. Once I'm done with the Stormcloak side of the civil war(or close with only Solitude left to conquer), I want to buy Hjerim(but again perhaps only after I've got well over 500K in coin).

over 345 locations discovered(maybe 350), Ebony Warrior is dead and his gear stored away somewhere, Other prebuilt houses the player can buy besides the ones previously mentioned are bought and fully funished for a family(except for alchemy labs which are bugged to not appear after purchase and remain available for purchase unless you install the unoffical patch). All three plots of land purchased and three big(and relatively identical) houses built and furnished, complete with cellar, family bedroom, kitchen and storage(but without weapon racks and display cases as they don't suit my tastes), gardens, cows and chickens, grain mill and fish hatchery(but not bee hive). All smithing facilities accounted for in both the cellar and outside the house on each property. Stewards and carriage drivers and bards, oh my!

Several Dragon priest masks stored, several more to go, Labrynthian discovered and wooden mask obtained.

Had Faendal as a follower pretty much from the time I arrived in Riverwood after leaving Helgen until I was in the early 30s, then switched to Lydia until I was in the early 50s, been soloing for a while. Considered J'Zargo for a pack mule but don't think I will(probably more effective to just level more). Is there a console command to make sure that when I take Lydia as a follower she isn't carrying a bunch of hidden copies of her default gear taking up her carry weight so maybe she can't use the better gear I give her and carry a few hundred carry weight for me? Had a stray dog follow me for a bit on Solstheim until I accidentally killed him/her/it with a fireball spell. Thing was surprisingly decent in combat. Thane of all Skyrim holds except Eastmarch and The Reach. Again sorry for the length. Some redundancy.