Born and left to die in the mountains of Cyrodiil, the baby Bosmer was adopted by a Nordic couple that found him on a hunting trip, because the wife could have no children of her own, and was a gentle soul. They named the young babe ‘Treestump’ for they found him discarded in a cracked stump that mysteriously had yet to have any snowfall in or around it, and still had flowers growing between the patches of moss at its base. As the boy grew, he was trained in the art of the bow by Tolbjorn, his father, who wanted to pass the trade of hunting onto his child, and he wished for his son to never go hungry again. Freyda, his mother, taught him how to skin and cook the animals he brought back home, and how to sew the furs together without damaging them. Many years later, as a strong young man, Tolbjorn told him that he wanted Treestump to go on a journey to Skyrim, and to visit his parents' old home of Whiterun. Leaving tearfully, he waved his mother and father goodbye, and went into the wilds. He had barely made it to the town of Darkwater Crossing after a two day journey when something bashed him in the head, and he woke up dazed, on a cart heading for Helgen….
CHAPTER ONE: New Beginnings (Levels 1-15)
After Treestump escapes Helgen with Ralof, he gets sidetracked almost immediately when he spots a deer galloping past him. He runs after it, and a minute or two later comes back to his senses, completely out of breath, and grinning like a maniac. That’s when he realized the deer led him to a mineshaft. Figuring he might as well check to see if it’d make a good momentary camp, he heads inside, and is instantly attacked by two bandits. Surprised, and rightfully angry, he kills them both, and grabs their fur clothes for warmth. Settling down next to the fire, all comfortable in bed with his new clothes, and extremely tired after a very long couple of days, he sleeps. As he slumbers, he dreams of a giant wolf bringing him a strange gift. The wolf drops a bow at his feet that looks very ornate, but at the same time looks like it was taken off of a tree. It shimmers with a magical light, and as Treestump goes to grab it, two more wolves appear, and join the first one in an ear-deafening howl, waking him up. Treestump wakes up to find a name embedded in his mind: Jarl Balgruuf.
This Chapter, as you might've guessed, has many important quests that need done to build Treestumps ranking as a citzen of Whiterun, and to build his arsenal of weaponry. The main quests that he needs to get done are as follows: "Before The Storm", "Bleak Falls Barrow", "Dragon Rising", "The Love Triangle" and last but not least, "The Bow of Shadows". I would also recommend doing the fishing quests up to the point where you acquire 'The Ring of the Khajiit', as it's important in helping this fast-paced build underway. The playstyle for this chapter is unfortnately, very much sneak archer based. I know, I know, they're what almost everyone does, but trust me, it gets way better.
The perks that you should have by level 15 are as follows:
For Sneak, it should be a decently high 30, with how much you'll be using it, with the perks Stealth 1 and 2, Backstab, and Muffled Movement.
For Archery, you have Faendal as a follower, and not only is he an archer buddy to provide some cover fire for you, but he can give you training in Archery as well. So by Level 15, your archery should definitely be 40. The perks you'll have are Overdraw 1, 2, and 3, Critical Shot 1, Eagle Eye, and Steady Hand 1.
For Light Armor, I recommend training it, because we need it to be a wopping 50. The perks you're going to take as you level the hell out of the skill are Defender 1, 2, and 3, Custom Fit, and Unhindered, for an even better speed boost.
Your Health should be 150, and your Stamina should be at 200.
The armor you're going to be wearing for this period of time is literally whatever you can find. Hide, leather, anything. Whatever provides a decent protection, you're wearing it. Your playstyle for this section as a mentioned a little while ago, is kinda stealth archer based, which even annoys me personally. Your tatic for combat is to take out all sentries you can see. However, that can be with archery, or up close back-stabs. Once you do that, you charge in towards the final group/boss with a barrage of arrows to the face. See? I told you it'd get a little better!
CHAPTER TWO: The Bear and The Dragon (Levels 15-30)
Treestump got up from the bar at the Bannered Mare with a sigh, and walked upstairs, sitting on his recently purchased bed. It’d only been two weeks since he escaped from Helgen and had the dream about the wolves and the bow. He grabbed the bow off of his back and played a tune by flicking his fingers between the woven ebony strings. Just then, a crow landed on his windowsill with a note tied to its ankle. Treestump grabbed the note from the crow, tying 10 gold pieces to it, and feeding it some snowberries before opening the note, and reading it aloud: “If you are a true son or daughter of Skyrim, come to Windhelm and announce yourself to the true High King, Ulfric Stormcloak. P.S: Greetings from your friend, Ralof!” Treestump chuckled and closed the note with a smirk, thinking “Well, I suppose I should finally pay Ulfric a visit!”
This chapter has more of a focus to it, and gives Treestump a purpose/motivation. I chose to have him side with the Stormcloaks, because while he may be a Bosmer, he was raised by Nords, and grew up in Nordic culture. This will also be the chapter in which he establishes himself within in Skyrim even further and trains to become better. The must-do quests for this section are all of the Stormcloak quests, completely finishing out the Civil War. You will also do the Companions quests of "Take Up Arms", "Proving Honor", and "The Silver Hand", but only up to getting offered to be a werewolf. Do not accept this offer, you will come back to it later, I promise. The lore reasoning for this is because Treestump is concerned that he will hurt the people that he loves, and that becoming a werewolf will corrupt his honor as Dragonborn.
The perks that you should have by level 30 are as follows:
For Sneak, it should now be at 40, and the only perks we'll be taking are Deadly Aim, and Stealth rank 3. Deadly aim is just for taking out patrolling guards with less shots. This build is not designed to be a stealth archer, so please don't play it like one, I'm begging you.
For Archery, you have still have Faendal as a follower, because he's still really good backup for now, and you'll still be training with him. So for level 30 your archery should now be 60. The perks you'll have are Overdraw 4, Critical Shot 2, and Hunter's Discipline, because arrows can be damned expensive in Survival Mode.
For Light Armor, you should train it up with the Argonian in Windhelm, since you'll be there alot anyways, and we need it to be only a little bit higher at 60. The perks you're going to take are Agile Defender 4, and Windwalker. Not much of an improvement, but it'll help you run circles around enemies.
You'd probably already been using one-handed as a skill a little bit, but we're really gonna crank it up as a tool to be used now, and you should train it up to 40 with Athis in the Companions. The perks you'll take are Armsman 1, 2, and 3, Fighting Stance, and Hack N' Slash 1. This is because we're going to sneak attack the hell out of people with axes, and it makes a better back-up weapon than a sword in my opinion.
Block is used solely for bashing people in the face(normally bandits for some reason) who get just a little too close when you're firing arrows. You'll only need to train it to 30 with Njade in the Companions. The perks you'll use are Shield Wall 1, Quick Reflexes, and Power Bash. That's it, that's all you're using block for, is a little bit of breathing room.
Your Health should now be 200, and your Stamina should be 300, which is where we're capping it. From this point on, all the rest of your skill points can be dumped into health. The 2nd Chapter is where Treestump gains his iconic armor. Actual in-game wise you get it from finding a dossier in Falkreath Barracks and hunting down a rouge bandit high elf. Lore-wise, I thought it would be interesting if Treestump got the chest-piece from killing a Thalmor Patrol and modifying the Eleven Armor. He gets his boots and gauntlets from the Iron Spell Knight corpse in Markarth, and he gets his Orcish Scaled helm from a Stormcloak Quartermaster. I would also like to note that the combat style for most of this chapter is start combat with a sneak attack, and then start barraging everyone you can see with arrows, bashing anyone who gets to close, or just running in there with an axe and Faendal by your side.
THE FINAL CHAPTER: The Wolf of Kyne (Levels 30-49/50-51)Treestump sat in his tent out in the woods of Eastmarch, feeling proud of himself for finishing the Trials of Kyne flawlessly and earning the Divines approval. As he laid down for the night, a thought struck him: “Would Kyne approve of me joining the Companions as a werewolf? Would she approve of me using my powers as Dragonborn to take the souls of Dragons? Or would she shun my decisions?” After some tossing and turning, he decided he would venture out to Froki and ask him in the morning, and then he fell asleep. Suddenly in his dreams, a white wolf came to him and dipped her head down in a bow of sorts. Treestump realized the wolf was offering her power to him, and he accepted it and woke up with a start to the Eastmarch sun. As he wandered out of his tent for some food, he saw on the ground, surrounded by flowers, there was a Nordic necklace, shimmering with green energy. Kyne's Token.
This Chapter goes over a lot, and much happens to Treestump. After doing the quest "Kyne's Trials", and getting the approval of the Fifth Divine, accepts the offer of the Aela's blood and becomes a werewolf. He also finishes all of the Companion quests, becoming the new Harbinger, as well as slaying the World-Eater to save Nirn. This level gap is the best time time to learn shouts too. The ones I chose were Storm Call, Kyne's Peace, Whirlwind Sprint, and Cyclone respectively.
The perks that you should have by level 51 are as follows:
For Sneak, it should now be at 100, however if you wish, you can stop at 80. If you do take Shadow Warrior, you will need to be level 51. The perks you will take are Stealth 4, Light Foot, Assassins Blade, Silent Roll, Silence, and Shadow Warrior (As said above, this is optional)
For Archery, you will switch to Aela as a follower, because she can max out your training up to the 100 mark, and provides better backup then Faendal, plus she doesn't kill you for transforming. For level 49 your archery should now be 90. The perks you'll have are Overdraw 5, Critical Shot 3, Steady Hand 2, Power Shot, Ranger, and Quick Shot.
For Light Armor, you should switch to training with Grelka in Riften to get it to 80, but if you wish, you can train with her to get it to 90 and then grind to 100 and take Deft Movement. In that case your max level should be Level 50. The perks you're going to take are Agile Defender 5, Matching Set, and Deft Movement (Depending on how you go)
For Onehanded, you should continue training Athis in the Companions to get the skill up to 60. The perks you'll take are Armsman rank 4, Hack N' Slash 2, and 3, Critical Charge, and Savage Strike. The decapitation is a pretty brutal move that I save for bandits or trappers.
If you're at Level 49, Your Health should now be 390, and your Stamina should be 300, as previously mentioned. However, if you go all the way to Level 51, your Health will be at 410. The playstyle for the final chapter is very diverse, and offers multiple options for all sorts of encounters. For dungeons, I would steamroll through as a werewolf, then go back through as a normal Bosmer and grab loot. For bandit camps, you can take out sentries, or just charge in with a War-Axe of your choice. For the Main Quests, I was mostly just a combat archer, using shouts and bashes to keep people away from me, and firing arrows in all directions.
"I am Treestump Fairwinter, The Harbinger, The Dovahkiin, Aludin-Slayer, War-Breaker, Kyne's Champion."
"I am The Archer."
Thank you so much for reading my build, I hope you enjoy it. Please give me feedback on it, and what you think could be improved. Also let me know if you want me to do a series like this. This character was based of the Skyrim Guidbook Archer Archtype, and I decided to bring it into a modern version of Skyrim, and turn it into something else other than a stealth archer. Again, thank you so much for reading this, and I hope you have a good day, night, or afternoon!
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