I am interested in the application of cheats and overpowered equipment for the sake of facilitating RP. I mean I'm sure we've all had that one character who technically should've started out much more powerful than he is now, maybe some adept wizard or a expert thief. They could have gotten caught crossing the border like any other vanilla character, escaped through Helgen and made their way out into the world. Maybe they find some artifact of immense power, or a suit of armor that gives them godly stats. But what happens when the gameplay just doesn't properly lend itself to the RP we had in mind? What happens when our intended character starts out weak because, to our dismay, there's literally no other option due to limitations of the game?
A perfect example of this would be Mason's "Obsidian Sentinel".In the build he makes it sound like a machine; a juggernaut of an anti-mage, a parasitic suit of armor with flesh inside that is the bane of every mage in Tamriel. He is awakened from his deep slumber by the danger that shakes Skyrim, ready to hunt down any who stand in his way. ...And then he's caught crossing the border, loses all his equipment and magical buffs and spells and is returned to Level 1. Now you have to work your way up to the Obsidian Sentinel, which includes all that grinding and stuff. You've wasted so many quests just to become a frozen construct warrior, when you could've gone through those very same quests "as" the frozen construct warrior.
Point is, sometimes the "gameplay" doesn't lend itself well to the "roleplay". Sometimes you want to start out a little stronger than Level 1 to fit the shoes. Sometimes you wanna start the game as the Obsidian Sentinel, and just go ape on all the mages right out of the gate, or start out as some powerful sorcerer traveling to Skyrim to seek out a powerful artifact. And on that note, sometimes you want to get "Windshear" without having to go through the entire Dark Brotherhood questline (which was a god blessed terrible idea in the first place), or get the Equilibrium spell without going through the College of Winterhold's questline. Hell it doesn't even have to be at the start of the game, you can play as a necromancer with a band of mercenaries protecting you and, upon finding the Necronomicon, level your necessary skills to 60 or something before disposing of them.
So my question to you is this: What is your opinion on using cheats and god items to facilitate a more advanced starting roleplay?
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Excellent thread BB.
IIRC the overarching story of the obsidian sentinel is that of a slow descent into a permanent machine state as your character constructs the armor set, culminating in the armor coming alive and feeding off the essence of its creator.
The point being the story of the build does work fine with the vanilla start, although I can see why you’d be bored by the early stages. As far as writing builds go it would be boring and tedious for authors to describe their characters beginnings. Readers want to know pretty quickly what the characters end state will look like, and that’s exactly what a good build author gives them.
Sometimes there is no simple, concise way to establish how a character gets from dumbass caught in an ambush meant for Ulfric to their end state. A good build author will recognize that and not write themselves into a corner trying to explain. Better to keep the details vague or omit them entirely, allowing the player to fill in the blanks themselves if they so choose.
But that being said a lot of build authors do make the mistakes you’ve described, ending up with far fetched and implausible stories of literal gods being apprehended by rank and file soldiers. In other cases we have characters starting from zero in skills they were established to be world class masters in from the start.
For those characters I absolutely recommend cheats, god items or whatever else is needed to fill their roles as soon as possible.
There is no secret that in each game, people use cheating methods. I was also frustrated since I had just accepted the idea that I couldn't change this aspect. However, I started learning this side and found some cool hacking tutorials. They are not cheating platforms, but they might teach you and give you tips on becoming better at a certain game. Applying some of their methods may make it harder for other games to fool you. At least, this method worked for me.
I personally have no qualms of using cheats/got items to facilitate a more advanced starting roleplay. I have use this method ever since I started playing Skyrim on PC. I was never a fan of Skyrim's slow build up character when I played it on 360. The way I personally use cheats/god items include the PC's console commands and mods that are deemed "Cheats and God Items". I personally this aspect more opening and less limitation when I want to create my own RP characters. For example, my first two posted modded builds both involve "Cheats and God Items" at the start to emphasize the idea that my characters are already in a way "powerful" to start with. If you are interested, here is my first build:
Character Build: The Contractor (John Wick Inspired Modded Build) ...
I personally like making characters who are already "powerful" in certain skill trait area. I don't care if people call me filthy casual, I play for fun. Especially Skyrim on PC.
I think it entirelly depends on what roleplay are you doing. If you're playing with a character that's OP by nature, like Mannimarco, Shalidor, or something like, it's ok. But if you're roleplaying, for example, a hunter bosmer arriving in Skyrim for new adventures, it makes no sense to use cheats or god items.