Bloodlines: A Skyrim Character Building Contest

3508204447?profile=RESIZE_710x

"I fear the night. Because the werewolves and vampires don't"

Halloween is upon us o'children of the night. And what better way is there to celebrate than a Skyrim Character Building Contest. So welcome one and all to our 2nd ever Skyrim Build Contest. I give you....

The Elder Scrolls: Bloodlines - A Skyrim Character Building Contest. 

For this contest we wanted to try our hand at a vampire/werewolf theme while granting contestants as much freedom as possible, and 'Bloodlines', even more so than 'Pirates of Tamriel', will definitely be a treat for the most creative among us. In this contest we'll be taking the bountiful blessings of our  Daedric lords and turning them into Skyrim Character Builds. But not all see lycanthropy and vampirism as blessings. To some they are a curse, or worse, a disease to be purged....

There are no limits or restrictions on the skills, mods or equipment you may use. Use whatever you want. BUT your entry must revolve around the theme of vampirism and/or lycanthropy. The Elder Scrolls series is rich with vampire clans and lycanthropic strains for you to work with. If you'd like feel free to take inspiration from vampires and werewolves from outside the TES Universe, or invent your own original werewolf or vampire. You can even go so far as making characters dedicated to eradicating these creatures from the face of Nirn. Be it a creature of the night or a champion of the light your only real limitation is your imagination.  You may work in teams of no more than 3 people total. Once the competition closes, a panel of judges (see below) will judge each submitted build based on the criteria below and announce the winners! Here are the prizes…

 

3508564384?profile=RESIZE_710x

 

First Place - Gold

  • $60 Dollars in game credits for the system of your choice (Steam, PSN, Xbox)
  • Build video by PCOutcast for your build.
  • Screenshots done for the submitted build or build of the winner’s choice
  • Your build prominently featured on the front page
  • Exclusive access to the judging panel of the next contest (only if not participating in said contest)
  • Input into the theme of our second Skyrim character build contest
  • "Contest Gold" tag for the submitted build
  • The priviledge of walking as a lion among sheep and witness men tremble at your approach...

 Second Place - Silver

  • $30 Dollars in game credits for the system of your choice (Steam, PSN, Xbox)
  • Your build prominently featured on the front page
  • Screenshots done for either the submitted build or another build of the winners' choice
  • "Contest Silver" tag for the submitted build!

 Third Place - Bronze

  • $15 Dollars in game credits for the system of your choice (Steam, PSN, Xbox)
  • Your build prominently featured on the front page
  • "Contest Bronze" tag for the submitted build!

 

- Rules & guidelines -

  1. You may work on your own or in a team of up to 3. (Note however the prize will be split among the team) You can come up with a team name if you like!
  2. Only 1 build may be entered per contestant/team.
  3. Teams may register on this thread and submit a build at any time prior to the cut off date of October 31st 2019    November 7th 2019.  After this date Registrations will then close and the panel will judge the entries.
  4. Because this is a contest we cannot offer contestants any feedback on their builds. This is in the interest of fairness. However, you’re free to get feedback from anyone who isn’t judging the builds.
  5. Submitted builds must include a "Contest2" tag so we can find them
  6. Winners will be announced on the  8th of November    16th of November!

 

- The Panel -

  1. John (Teccam)
  2. Elysium
  3. The Long Chapper

 

- The Criteria (Please click for expanded view) -

  3515684611?profile=RESIZE_710x

- The Contestants - 

  1. NomadDash - The Lord of Shadows
  2. PaladinGelebor - The Unleashed
  3. Chris Diokno - The Lord Impaler
  4. EJT2018
  5. Lord Cheesewheel
  6. Jarlivar
  7. TheThirdCrusader
  8. Dewalt - The Nightlord
  9. JustJam - The Sanguine Protector
  10. Maezell
  11. darksabrz
  12. Blackblood
  13. Kaiser
  14. Bane
  15. Warlocksg
  16. Jiru44 - The Vigil of Molag Bal
  17. Erinoth - The Chimera
  18. Furrion17
  19. MarintheFox - The Moonlit King
  20. KendrixTrixie - The Blood and Moonlight
  21. Shadon - The Fanged Prince
  22. Johnnyawe14 - The Cursebearer
  23. Praxedes - The Blood Knight

  

- Resources - 

Below are a few helpful suggestions to get you started should you decide to enter. Here you'll find everything from informative TES wiki pages and lore articles to community input on what makes a good character build. We've even included information on various factions of vampire/werewolf hunters but what we've listed below are nowhere close to all of them. Regardless of what you do it would benefit you immensely to do some additional research. 

Good luck and may the best character build win!

 

You need to be a member of THE SKY FORGE to add comments!

Join THE SKY FORGE

Replies

  • The Unleashed

    Gameplay -

    Teccam: 5/10. I’m a sucker for werewolves, and I like what the Cursed Ring of Hircine offers in terms of marriage between characterization and gameplay. But I think your gameplay as fairly simple and standard. I’d also dispute the claim that werewolves are squishy at higher levels; they get 400 passive AR as well as a ton of bonus health and the ability to heal on demand after each kill. The unpredictable nature of the cursed ring can make for some brief entertainment, but I think there needs to be more here to drive the gameplay for a full playthrough. 

    Liss: 5/10. So basically a thief with thief skills and then flavored with random werewolf transformations. While I enjoy the randomness of the ring of hircine, this is not fleshed out enough. Certainly, viable in average difficulties.

    Ponty: 7. I loved the thief with cursed ring concept but the rest of the gameplay is somewhat lacking. I feel like the perks in combat skills in human form could have been put to better use further defining the thief archetype. The build feels like it lacks any sort of endgame as once you have the curse it doesn’t really change at higher levels. Would have been good to see this evolve later on into something which fully embraces both forms.

    Avg = 5.67

     

    Presentation - 

    Teccam: 5/10. No glaring issues, but no real outstanding presentation elements either. Screenshots are fine, but I’d like to see some varying aspect ratios, inline images, etc. Also would’ve liked you to explore the possibilities of more advanced text formatting (color, alignment, sizing, etc.).

    Liss: 4/10. I laughed at the joke in the first paragraph “puppies”. There is a mistake in skills, says pick pocket when he clearly means lock picking. Threadbare.

    Ponty: 5. Not bad first build but could always use some improvement, perhaps by adding some style with the layout and text formatting. Author did a good job of keeping their simple concept nice and concise rather than trying to fluff it up to match some of the lengthier builds.

    Avg = 4.67

     

    Lore - 

    Teccam: 4/10. As with the other sections, I think there needs to be more here. You could have gone into the lore behind the Tower stone/sign, or the connections between Nords / the Companions / Hircine / lycanthropy. There is a framework there but you didn’t really explore it.

    Liss: 4/10. Too many quests. Why would a thief join the College OR the Companions? Why DB? There is little reason given beyond the implications of the cursed ring. 

    Ponty: 4. There’s a spark of something here with Hircine’s curse, interest in the Companions and the character’s past as a “terrible person” that could be explored further but as it stands there isn’t much to go on.

    Avg = 4

     

    Roleplay - 

    Teccam: 7/10. Here more than the other sections I think the build gives enough of a clear picture to demonstrate the concept. The idea of an unprincipled vagabond doing what he needs to get by, but still somewhat struggling with the curse that keeps him on the move, is enough to evoke a reasonably concrete character.

    Liss: 3/10 What takes you to Falkreath, Why join the Companions, why everything? Beyond the idea of the cursed ring, which I think is very cool and has a lot of potential, there is little incentive to play. I see no reason for this build to join the College.

    Ponty: 6. While it doesn’t have a dedicated roleplay section the build paints a good picture of the character’s personality and motives for the prospective player. The inclusion of the College is a bit questionable but it would be interesting to explore how their experiences in each faction change the character. Perhaps they start to dabble in magic in the College or gain some semblance of honor during their time with the Companions. Lots of unexplored potential for character growth here.

    Avg = 5.33

     

    Score = 19.67

    Likes = 10

    Total Score: 29.67

    • Tough but fair. Thank you guys for taking the time to read my build and give it an honest assessment. It looks like this character building thing is harder than I thought. Phew I got a lot to learn :D

      • You came up with a very unique concept that impressed the judges and I. I dont think anyones ever thought of a thief prone to random transformations. It must have been a fun play through for you.  We really wished you could have fleshed out the concept more. Still you did a good job and I hope you participate in future events. 

  • The Cursebearer

     

    Gameplay -

    Teccam: 5/10. As always, I’m starting with the boilerplate notice that I look for special care to find clever and effective synergies in any modded build. Here, you’re using a lot of mods, so I’m looking to see a lot of synergy and creativity. The idea of becoming a water creature feels a bit hollow for me, since the game seems actively designed in a way that makes it difficult to take advantage of the water-related perks. Maybe with a mod that adds more aquatic creatures and points of interest that would work better for me. As with some other builds, especially with regard to Sacrosanct, I feel like there is way too much fat in here. Too many spells and passives and powers and shouts to keep track of. I’d trim some of the less vital ones and take that opportunity to push harder into the curse theme. That’s your best concept and something that differentiates this character from others in the contest, but often the curses felt a bit forced or hastily integrated to me. I like the gear choice and overall aesthetic.

    Liss: 6/10. A lot of the same mods that we see in other builds, but I do appreciate that you list your difficulty mod as well and what platform you play on. I like the idea of a build based on curses and leeching effects, however, you use a lot of spells, and I feel like this is going to be a build that spends quite a bit of time on the menu, which always throws me out of the game immersion. How do you synergize skills? The use of Restoration AND the use of Sacrosanct healing feels very redundant, at least to me. Either you’re a vampire or a restoration mage, but that’s just my opinion and a lot of people here do not share my hang-ups on vampires using that skill.

    Ponty: 7. You’ve clearly got the right mindset for making a solid gameplay-centric build and the concept of centering the character around curses and other debilitating effects is a novel one. I think you present a few too many options here. You mention that it’s up to the player to decide which spells and abilities to use, but we’re reading your build because we want you to tell us! Restoration also seems largely unnecessary as you’re playing a more agile character with all your vampirism spells. I did however like your inclusion of the difficulty challenges near the end.

    Avg = 6

     

    Presentation - 

    Teccam: 5/10. That backstory was a bit tough to get through. The story was decent in and of itself. But the syntax was somewhat weak, it could have been split into about ten paragraphs, and the tense was inconsistent. Generally there is a loooot of text to get through before you even get to the build itself. I’d recommend maybe splitting the story off into a separate thread, or else finding a way to condense it. Let the reader get what they really came for sooner. I’d also recommend taking more advantage of alignment with both text and image. Pretty much everything is just left aligned. You can make better use of that space for a more visually appealing build.

    Liss: 5.5/10. The backstory needs proper paragraph formatting. Typically, each line of spoken dialogue is a separate paragraph. I do think it’s interesting that you choose to first illustrate your character with a story playing on what he becomes rather than the typical “I was born, something bad happened to me at a crucial moment of my life, and now I am in Skyrim” narrative trope, though you do give us this later. I don’t think the second backstory was needed and I actually liked the ambiguity of the first story better. Besides, the lore of the second story isn’t strong, so it weakened your character in my eyes.  Try varying where you place images, left aligned can get very tedious. I think the size of your headings are fine, but having them center, instead of left, may help them pop out more. Images are already, though not inspired and some of them are clearly not argonians. The writing style relies too heavily on “colloquialisms”. 

    Ponty: 6. It’s all here but I think it could be laid out in a much more pleasing way. Formatting some of your images, especially the smaller ones, to be inline with the text would make for a much more appealing look. Your screenshots and choice of art were decent for the most part but could be more specific to your character. Some of the screenshots felt a little flat, try going for some more action shots next time! I personally wasn’t a big fan of the Deadpool-esque writing style but many of the commenters seem to like it. I suppose it’s more of a personal preference thing.

    Avg = 5.5

     

    Lore - 

    Teccam: 5/10. There’s enough in there to connect the character to the TES world and to Skyrim. I feel like the backstory with the witch is a bit of a wasted opportunity to integrate some more lore to better justify the curse theme. A kid arbitrarily breaking his witch neighbor’s stuff just feels kind of … simple? It also feels a bit too broad -- the justification for this character doing so many different core quest lines feels like a conscious choice to forego a more concentrated lore-based foundation.

    Liss: 4.5/10. Any opportunity to really expand and utilize Argonian lore isn’t really taken and it doesn’t feel like an Argonian playthrough in anything but that you picked an Argonian because Imperious gave them some nice perks. His name isn’t even a Jel name. It’s a shame because the Imperious perks aren’t actually half bad and you can play as a solid Black Tongue rather than a resident of Gideon, which were mostly inhabited by the more Imperialized Bright-Spots. The use of Restoration for healing is always bothersome to me when I read a vampire build.

    Ponty: 4. You had some good ideas in your backstory that touched on existing canon concepts but it lacked those deep roots that could have really cemented your build in the lore. Argonian seems to have been largely chosen for gameplay reasons but there’s heaps of really cool lore around the Argonians and Black Marsh which you could’ve used to make your backstory shine.

     

    Avg = 4.5

     

    Roleplay - 

    Teccam: 6/10. I will echo the other judges here; the character feels more chaotic and dare I say edgy than neutral or grounded. As I said above, the backstory explanation for the cursing also could be changed for something a bit more compelling. You provided some clear rules and goals, but there is just some inconsistency / cognitive dissonance throughout the build in terms of how the character is described.

    Liss: 5/10. I do not really see much to the gameplay other than enacting revenge for being mistreated as a child and overall, being an evil character. Doesn’t really play as a Neutral evil to me, but more like a Chaotic Evil.

    Ponty: 5. As Liss mentioned your roleplay is shallow and comes off as more chaotic evil than neutral evil. I didn’t find the reasons you list for doing various faction quests compelling either. This is certainly the area with the most potential for improvement. Perhaps further exploring Chaceito’s motives around the desire to weaken or remove the curse could result in a different path, tracking down the White Phial for example.

    Avg = 5.3

     

    Score = 21.3

    Likes = 10

    Total Score 31.3

    • Well, the criticism was harsh, but mostly true, so here's my 1 2 take on what you guys said.

      Gameplay: Like I said in one of the comments in my build, I tend to overextend things like perks, powers and spells to make sure I'm getting absolutely everything that could fit the build's theme. I guess I'm just used to going to the favorites list or the menu so often that I sorta just went nuts with the abilities, my bad. I think the main reason I do this is because I like complexity and flexibility so much. I’ll try to work on not letting myself go nuts with powers in the future. As for the water creature thing, I didn't really want to emphasize that much, I was really just playing Argonian for Histborn and Caustic Spit, but you’ve given me an interesting idea for Chaceito in the future and I appreciate that. The multiple sources of healing mainly has to do with Chaceito being rather squishy and I guess I was just rushing to try and fix that, again, something I’ll need to fix. As for the addition of restoration, I wanted to utilize the magicka regen properties to counteract the Atronach stone and to be able to use disease and poison spells, also Warrior’s Flame seemed like a very effective tool and debuff for Chaceito. I might trim that out of him as, now that you mention it, I do see that it’s kind of redundant. Also for the positives, the difficulty modifier were kind of a last minute thought I put in to discern my build from others, I will definitely try to expand upon this in future builds.

      Presentation: It was really hard to try and find some Argonian or just Lizardman pictures in general, much less ones that could pass off as “Chaceito”. To negate this, I used a mix of screenshots from the game and photoshop on everything else, I guess I kind of got tired of searching and just went for generic mage pics for my last few pics. If you know of any websites or tools that could help me look for specific pictures like that, please let me know. As for the two stories, I’m glad you liked my first story, but it was never meant to be a backstory, more of an introduction to the character. The reason the actual backstory (A.K.A. the second backstory) was so lackluster was because I was too scared of making it too long, so I tried to make it short and sweet. Unfortunately, this seems to of given me the worst of both worlds. I was already considering making a longer backstory in the fanfic forums like the Blood and the Moonlight did, so I will definitely be doing that next time. As for the paragraphs and spacing, I will also try to remember that when I make my follow-up. Finally, I’ll admit I didn’t really think of making Chaceito such a jokester, I just really like characters with a lot of satire and I guess that bleed into my first story a lot. Regardless, I will be listening to the majority’s opinion on this one and will keep Chaceito’s sadistic jokester personality consistent, even if a few people don’t like it much.

      Lore: Gonna be completely heart-wrenchingly honest, I didn’t really look much into the lore. I just looked at one Wikipedia page on Blackmarsh and that was it. However, you guys talking about all the other lore I could’ve utilized was extremely eye-opening and intriguing to me. I will definitely do my best to make up for that flop. As for the name, Chaceito is actually a reference to the Aztec god of disease, Chalchiuhtotolin, I just thought it was cool and sounded a lot like an Argonian name so I stuck with it, and I will continue to stick with it. Maybe Chaceito did have a Jel name, but changed it to separate himself from his family as much as possible? I will also look more into Argonian lore to see what would be good for Chaceito, especially this “Black Tongue” you mentioned. I’ll also try to utilize more lore driven quests and choice to make Chaceito seem more like a true TES character.

      Roleplay: Ok, yes, Chaceito is edgy I’ll admit, but I’ll also admit that doesn’t always have to be a bad thing as long as you don’t go overboard, so I’ll continue with caution. I’ve also felt like Chaceito was more “Chaotic Evil” and after a while, I sort of regretted calling him Neutral Evil, either way, I’ll do something about that, don’t worry. As I said earlier in this response I will look to improve the backstory and character consistency as well. I’ll try to go more in depth as to how or why Chaceito is doing certain things, as well as add quests to his journey that makes sense.

      Closing Thoughts: I was a bit disheartened to see my first official public OC not even close to the top 3 in the contest, that is why I plan on making an update on the build, a Chaceito 2.0 if you will. Even if I didn’t win, that doesn’t mean the Cursebearer is at all a bad concept, just one that needs some polishing and changes. I went into this to try and polish my writing skills in a fun and challenging way as I'm planning on being a writer in the future. Thank you for opening my eyes to all of these problems, and if you want to give me some more pointers or show some resources that might help me, please do not hesitate to respond, and again thank you.

      • I appreciate your responses here. I can tell that the Chaceito character is very personal for you. It sounds like something you've clearly spent a lot of time developing -- not just for a single casual run-through of the game, but for a much more longform connection to the game/world. I think your build has a lot of potential if you do tackle that 2.0 update. The bones of a great build are definitely here, they just need to be polished and fleshed out. A common trend I noticed among several of the builds, yours included, was that narrative and other "satellite" elements were often given more time than the core elements that truly make up a "build" in the mechanical sense.

        The amount of spells, powers, etc. is heavily dependent on user/author preference. For me, I like to condense those down to only the most critical/central. I always just assume that the player is capable of adding a few bits and bobs for more specialized scenarios on their own. e.g., if I present a build that uses Lightning Cloak and Chain Lightning, I feel like it's implied that Sparks or Lightning Storm are fair game if the player finds a good use for them. I just don't expressly include them in the build writeup, to avoid overwhelming the player with too many hotkeys/favorites. It helps the reader to have a streamlined and easy-to-follow character sheet in mind.

        I think your character is almost better suited to a multi-chapter story than a build, because you seem to have a whole journey mapped out in detail. That's a great character concept, but it can be super tricky to condense it down to a build presentation. (Not to say that such a concept cannot or should not be translated into a build -- I think it's an interesting challenge worth pursuing.)

        • Thank you for your response Teccam, I was hoping one of you would respond to me. Also, yes you are right, as my first internet-posted Original Character and my first fully fledged and finished Skyrim build, Chaceito is personal to me. The main reason it took me so long to respond to this was because I wanted to wait until I finished this to show you that I am already working towards making Chaceito a full-fledged character and a fun and exciting build concept.

          Rise of the Cursebearer
          So, yeah, this is the revamped and expanded backstory for Chaceito A.K.A The Cursebearer, after getting the fourth to last place on the Bloodlines co…
          • I will try to give that a look when I have some time. I wouldn't worry too much about your placement in the contest, since outside of the top 3, placement doesn't mean anything, and many builds were all within just a few points of each other. There isn't that much separating you from a top 5 placement, if you just work on some of the feedback you received.

  • The Moonlit King

    Gameplay -

    Teccam: 6/10. Optional mods is always a risk; it can add a whole new layer of complication that makes it difficult for the writer to present a precise and consistent concept. Moonlight Tales works for immersion and aesthetics, but it does also add some gameplay elements that shape gameplay. I probably wouldn’t even mention stuff like Ordinator and Andromeda; if anything, I’d almost tend toward making an entirely separate thread with a modded variant if that is something that interests you. As it is, the build just has a bit of ambiguity about it because it’s not clear if the mods should be used or not. A similar point: Silent Moons is bugged without the USSEP/USLEEP - it seems like you are assuming the player is using that, so I think it should be included in the mod list as well. Overall the gameplay is straightforward and intuitive, which is fine, but not outstanding.

    Liss: 6/10. I like that you use a Redguard’s racial skillset. And I  really like that you use the Silent Moons enchantment, which is grossly underused. However, a lot of your spells and gear are late game, however, so how did you approach the early game?  Why the increase in magic use after joining the Companions, it’s a warrior’s guild. The stages of gameplay are a little confusing to me and don’t homogenize well. You do not explain how you obtain certain components of your gear. Teccam makes an excellent point about mods and I agree. 

    Ponty: 6. There’s some good stuff here but also a lot of missed opportunities. There’s heaps of potential for you to utilise abilities like Animal Allegiance, your Destruction and Alteration spells and some Solstheim abilities while in Werewolf form to make your character pop a bit more. The (very underused) Bow of the Stag Prince from Dragonborn could have made a nice thematic inclusion as well. The inclusion of the stages changing up your playstyle is definitely interesting but I think it would be better if the stages built upon each other instead of taking away certain skills. Lastly as the others already mentioned, I think you should either stay away from gameplay mods or fully integrate them into the build. It feels sort of awkwardly stuck between being a vanilla build and a modded build. Decent work overall though, I’m looking forward to seeing you improve in future contests.

    Avg = 6

     

    Presentation - 

    Teccam: 7/10. Pretty solid on the whole. Definitely room for improvement though. I think you could have just shown the one endgame armor set rather than all three (also, the favorites menu really jumps out in that one screenshot, as does the subtitle in another shot - the “tm” console command is your friend!). I’m not totally solid on the armor combo, but your screenshots look OK. I’m guessing you took them yourself on your PC installation? You may want to experiment with console commands like “tfc” and “fov” among others - feel free to reach out to me if you’re interested in discussing that in more detail. Taking all the shots in the exact same place is also a bit of a turn-off. Spacing is good, use of images is solid. Writing is mostly pretty good as well. All could be improved with more attention to detail however.

    Liss: 7/10. Backstory is basically your gameplay using Alternate start. A bit too long especially if new information isn’t really given. Some nice images. Clean presentation throughout, though not particularly inventive presentation. Some minor grammar issues, mostly with omitted words. Alteration and Destruction are squished in your perkspread, though I can read it and the image is pretty nice. For a minor skill, you sure perk a lot for one-handed, it’s basically nearly maxed at 90, and then you state it’s your major skill after your perkspread. This leaves me a little confused. So it makes me wonder if you’re a mage or a spellsword.

    Ponty: 6. Always good to see some of your own screenshots in the build, though they could use improvement. Teccam has already outlined some good starting points so I won’t reiterate them here. The formatting and spacing of images was simple but nonetheless effective. I found the flow a bit disjointed and some things didn’t fully make sense until my second read. Given this is a staged build I think it could be better to rearrange the presentation into these stages, perhaps with recommended level ranges for each.

    Avg = 6.67

     

    Lore - 

    Teccam: 7/10. You found an interesting tidbit in Vykosa, but I feel like it doesn’t really mesh with the build very well. There’s no real connection to Vykosa or the events of ESO that pertain to her, just a verbal claim that he is related to one of her pack - and even that feels a bit tenuous, given that the character only seems to fully embrace being a werewolf and joining those who passed the condition to him after doing basically every other major quest line in the game. He did not previously seem to have any reason to care about or identify in any way with any supposed lycanthropic ancestry he claims to have. That being said, there is definitely a heap of legitimate lore that you’ve used to place the character in Skyrim and involve him in many of the game’s events, so that deserves some credit. I also think it’s fitting to have that connection between the moons and beast form, though I’m not sure how much of that outside of the ESO narrative is canonical. I’d buy it regardless.

    Liss: 5/10. Werewolves are not magic casters, especially werewolves based on traditional lycanthropy. It is stated in the lore, The Totems of Hircine specifically, found on Skjor’s desk in Jorrvaskr, so if you’re going to have your werewolf cast, you better give me a really good reason why or my lore brain takes me out of your build and I don’t feel like you’ve created a character that would exist in Skyrim. I caught the Vykosa reference as well, but I agree that it is not a solid connection. 

    Ponty: 6. You’ve certainly made efforts to ground your character in the lore but some of the anecdotes you bring up such as Vykosa seem somewhat tacked on. You’ve got a restriction written into your build where you can only use your magic at night. You mention in your backstory that it is tied to the light of the moons but I would have liked to see some more lore basis for this.

    Avg = 6

     

    Roleplay - 

    Teccam: 5/10. Not super clear or consistent in terms of motivations, codes, etc. I think going back to the lore a bit, you really could have explored the character’s ancestry in much more depth (ancestry is very important to Redguards!) and made that a central part of the roleplay. As it is, that just feels kind of tacked-on to get an extra lore reference in.

    Liss: 5/10. I am not sure what you want to be with this build. Do you want to dominate the Dragons or dominate the werewolves? The quests do not feel that they contribute to his story, but instead feel like they are what you would do in a standard “I must do everything to get good gear” playthrough.

    Ponty: 5. I get the impression that you started with everything you wanted to do gameplay-wise and worked backwards to come up with some roleplay as it seems to have little depth besides justifying the events that take place in the game. Something that might have been interesting to explore is what parts of their Redguard, Lycanthrope and/or Draconic heritage they wanted to embrace.

    Avg = 5

     

    Score = 23.67

    Likes = 10

     

    Total Score: 33.67

    • Fimvul warned me about werewolves not using traditional mortal magic, so I tried to use the connection between Hircine, Werewolves and the Moon to use fire, but I guess it was a bit too reaching. I rushed the build a bit to get it out in time and didn't think that through too much. I wish I could have spent more time coming up with a more believable and more fully fleshed out lore backstory, but I got rushed with personal life. I really feel I wasn't 100% done with it, but I didn't want to sign up for a third event and drop out of a third event, so I finished what I could and posted what I had. Better luck next time, I guess.

      It wasn't so much about doing quests to get gear, it was more about becoming one with the entirety of Skyrim, but perhaps that was too much of a handful to attempt for a werewolf-central build. I don't ever play as a werewolf - I like cats, not dogs. I tried to explain in the lore that, as the Moonlit King progresses through, he becomes more attuned to all three. Embracing his Redguard heritage by becoming a warrior mighty enough to slay Alduin, and then embracing his Draconic heritage by mastering the voice and slaying Miraak, and then embracing his Werewolf heritage by taking command of the Companions and fulfilling the quest for HIrcine's totems and his ring and the Savior's Hide. If that wasn't clear enough, that's entirely my fault.

      I personally proofread my build at least a dozen times. If I had any grammar issues, they were so slight they made zero difference to the build's layout. I guess I did compress the perkspread a bit too much, didn't I?  I realize I made an unmistakable error perking one-handed so much and leaving it as a minor skill. When I was doing my playtesting, I realized it would be impossible to leave one-handed as a minor skill and still deal enough damage playing on expert or higher. I guess I forgot to fix it . Oops.

      I had no idea Silent Moons Enchantment is bugged. What about it is bugged? It seemed to work just fine for me in my playthrough and I don't use USSEEP. I suppose I probably shouldn't have mentioned other mods if I wasn't planning on using them in my playtest/build. It becomes nothing more than clutter. Thanks for the advice.

      As far as the screenshots go, I used TM and TFC for all of them, but I missed TM on one of them and didn't have time to fix it :(

      I'm pleased I did well enough to get a relatively decent score, though I am disappointed I didn't do as well as I probably could have. As I stated above, I rushed this build a bit so I could post it by the deadline - even with the extra week, I almost missed it! - and, as such, many of the things I wanted to do, or intended to do, were scrapped or altered so I could finish faster. The lore in particular I struggled with, as I'm entirely unfamiliar with the lore on werewolves - Fimvul told me about Vykosa and the Moon Hunters, so I thought it could be cool to include that, but then I failed to make any reference to them beyond supposedly being descended from one. In hindsight, I think I probably shouldn't sign up for the contests anymore, because I can't guarantee my personal life won't get in the way of making the deadline, especially considering I dropped out of the last two (crossworlds and pirates of tamriel; both are builds I do plan on finishing eventually!). That being said, I still had fun participating and hope I can improve my future builds to everybody's liking! Still think I did pretty good for this only really being my second build.

This reply was deleted.