This character concept is something of the original, both in lore and play style. The concept is to role play and build a tiger-dragon Ka Po' Tun, a fierce cat-like warrior who uses brute strength and agility to take down opponents, especially the hated Tsaesci. How we achieve this is to create a two-handed sneak Khajiit who most resembles a tiger. Yes, a two handed sneak Khajiit, a race I have not yet played or explored and it has been fantastic to go beyond their racial stereotypes as a thief and assassin. Let's take a look...
To begin, I need to thank Vix for helping me understand the specifics of the lore, or at least the minimal lore available to these races.
The Ka Po' Tun (originally called Po'Tun) are the tiger cat folk of the land of Po'Tun in Akavir. During a massive war time, the Tsaesci began to hunt down, "eat", and eradicate dragons, after successfully "eating" all the men, that inhabited Akavir. Having all the Red Dragons destroyed, the Black Dragons fled to Po'Tun and were accepted by their leader. The Tsaesci advanced, successfully killing the escaped black dragons, leaving both side weak and beaten down. It is at this time that Tosh Raka, leader of the Po' Tun, was said to have undergone a great transformation. He successfully transformed into a black and orange striped dragon, renaming his empire Ka Po' Tun.
From this point, the Ka Po' Tun revered dragons and worshipped their god-king Tosh Raka. In their time of rebuilding, they became even stronger than the Tsaesci except for having strong Naval capabilities, limiting themselves in war and the hopeful intentions of Tosh Raka to eventually invade Tamriel. (Scary, but future DLC anyone??)
As Vix tells me, we can only speculate a lot of what I have recounted and I also have to speculate the skills and abilities of a Ka Po' Tun warrior. Being tiger cat folk, I would assume an IMMENSE amount of strength as well as agility and the ability to be gifted in stealth tactics. What I came up with along my play through has been extremely experimental, yet proved to combine certain skills and perk abilities for achieved effects that you will surely enjoy.
Build
Race: Khajiit. Tiger-like appearance.
Stone: The Lord
Major Skills: Two Handed, Block, Sneak
Minor Skills: Light Armor, Restoration, Smithing, (Alteration)
Armor: Dragonscale cuirass, Muffled Dragonscale Boots, Stormcloak Officer Gauntlets, Circlet of Restoration
Weapon: Dragonbone Greatsword
Dragon Shouts
The idea for dragon shouts is simple. As a Ka Po' Tun, you are continuously searching to become more "dragon-like" as your leader and god-king Tosh Raka. Revering dragons is one thing, but those who attack you are not your masters. Slaying hostile dragons is a must to absorb their souls into your Tiger-Dragon blood so you can further enhance your powers to become like a dragon yourself! Stealth shouts such as Aura Whisper and Throw Voice prove their worth here. Elemental Fury, Slow Time, Breath Shouts, and Marked for Death are fantastic for open combat.
Skills and Perks - Level 30
Two Handed: Barbarian 2/5, Champion's Stance, Deep Wounds 1/3, Great Critical Charge*, Devastating Blow, Sweep
Block: Shield Wall 1/5, Quick Reflexes*, Power Bash, Deadly Bash, Disarming Bash, Shield Charge
Sneak: Stealth 1/5, Muffled Movement, Light Foot, Silent Roll*
Light Armor: Agile Defender 2/5
Restoration: Novice - Adept, Regeneration, Respite
Smithing: Steel, Elven, Advanced, Glass, Dragon
Level 50: Here
Gameplay
The primary goal of this build for me was to try something a bit unorthodox: a two handed sneak Khajiit. In it's practice, I found you are not aiming to be an assassin who always stays hidden, but more of a tactile hunter who pounces on prey at the optimal location at just the right time to maximize battle effectiveness. Sneaking and rolling creates a sense of tremendous agility that a tiger cat would possess. Battle tactics used in these situations are critical to the build and make the concept more fun and addicting to play with/experiment.
With light armor, protection is provided as well as less noise, meaning sneaking opportunities are abundant. Using a two handed greatsword isn't the best silent weapon, but attacking situations we are unleashing a fierce onslaught of leaping out of the shadows and using sweep to cleave down multiple enemies at once.
Restoration is used to mimic a sort of "enchanced healing" ability. Being a feral tiger warrior, I thought healing rates and healing abilities would be set apart from normal warriors, so the ability to "close wounds" is offered in Restoration. In leveling higher, I decided to invest a bit into Alteration. Your tiger-dragon blood has some magic properties, and magic resistances seemed worthy of this build to bolster against dragon breath attacks and mage battles.
Battle Tactics
Pounce: Great Critical Charge - Utilizing a usually overlooked perk, this creates a leap-attack effect that is great for covering some distance much faster while dealing a severe amount of damage.
Shadow Pounce: Silent Roll + Great Critical Charge + Shadow Warrior - Using silent roll mimics being in a sprint, since hitting the sprint button while sneaking activates it. If you then power attack while rolling, you will immediately come into the Great Critical Charge animation, and thus achieving a stealth leap attack able to be hidden once again. NOTE: I am no PC user, so numbers could be tested with those capable of doing so.
***For Shadow Pounce: Two handed stealth attacks only get 2x damage (
). However, with Great Critical Charge, this can activate a potential 4x being that the critical strike is also activated. Please look HERE for a reference of what I speak of. Any assassin characters may like this...***
Two Handed Charge: Shield Charge - While sprinting with your great sword, a well timed "block" with your weapon will trigger the shield charge effect, sending your enemy flying. It takes practice, and some may see this as a "glitch/exploit/cheat", but hey, we have limited "moves" so why not take advantage of what works! Plus it makes sense for a charging tiger-dragon to be able to bowl over enemies.
Dismay: Disarming Bash + Two Handed Charge - Bashing your enemies weapon out of his or her hand and then sending them flying is very satisfying. Leaves them weaponless and on the floor, awaiting your deadly strike.
Death Roll (Credit: Jonathan Davis): Silent Roll + Shield Charge - Activating the same shield charge effect can be achieved with silent roll. It counts as sprinting, so what is observed is a literal "bowling" into your enemy, sending them flying and laid out on the ground, leaving them defenseless to your devastating greatsword attacks.
Please feel free to experiment with these tactics and know some of the take practice and timing. Having to incorporate actual skill into this build was really fun and different. I hope you think the same. Please note that this build is also a "response" build to Emer Dareloth's Tsaesci, so do your best to take out any you see! With that, I leave you with No snakes aLive's pic he found, but it seems appropriate for a tiger dragon.
Here you will find an awesome video made by TZ that demonstrates some of the awesome power that the Ka Po' Tun offers and gameplay aspects! Enjoy!
While you are at it, be sure to check out Emer Dareloth's rival build!
Emer's Tsaesci build will certainly give you insight to playing the advirsary to a Ka Po' Tun! Powerful dual-wielding Argonian vampire will give you an exciting journey across Skyrim. (Just make sure to not run into any Tiger-Dragons while playing it, they will cleave you in half!)
Replies
Awesome Build Henson, and you've hit Rank:Adept!