Backstory
4E 201 17th of Frost fall
My name is Zireael Zarola, 24 years ago i was born in Dragon's Bridge and that is where the good news end. From that day I didn't have anything good that lasted. That day my mother, the name i never heard, died so that i could live.
People say my father was so broken that he left me for over a year, but then he returned and everything was perfect, or so i thought. Six and a half years later me and my father, Zodo Genitor, were training as always in a camp we made a bit north from my birth village. As always we woke up at 4 in the morning, we run in the woods so that we get something to eat. We saw an elk, we were getting close and closer when suddenly, I stepped on a branch that i haven't noticed. I was never good at that, i didn't want to crawl for hours i wanted some action some fighting, some running, i was never patient.
I was good in a lot of things. I was "perfect" with swords, bows and crossbows, for my age or at least that's what my father was always saying. But i wasn't good at one thing, waiting. So, when we tracked down that same elk it started running, again, for no reason, and when my father tried to say to me: "Wait something scared it lets see...". I was already way ahead, i couldn't let MY food run away again.
That's where my second massive disaster happened. That elk was running not from us, but from the sounds of a nearby battle. Ah! Bloodsuckers against an army of undead conntrolled by necromancers. It was finnaly the first time i was just, waiting?! when i saw him... well, what's left of him. It was my dad or should i say "a vessel of blood"? Food for those vampires. Harkon. I will never forget that name, or those bloodthirsty eyes. I ran crying and while i was running i wasn't noticing anything in front of me, so i fell into a hole. In it there was a small, abandoned baby wolf.
In the beggining i thought "she" was dead, but she was just heavily wounded. From that day i tried to find some potions or magic or anything else to help my new and only friend, my new family. After some time, my hunt was successful i found a mage that helped her. After some years when she grew old and died i found a way to make her spirit to be close to me so that i am never alone again. I learned the wilds so good that it was my only home, i knew every creature, how they act, how they think, what they eat and when they go for some water or rest.
I spent years since that catastrophy, practicing everything my father and the wilds have taught me... and now... I am ready.
Character
Name: Zireael Zarola
Race: Bosmer
Age: 24
Faith: Auriel
Standing stone: Warrior (for leveling) then Lady (Lunar Familiar)
Allignment: True Neutral
Mods
Essential:
Ordinator
Ordinator changes the vanilla perk system into a more detailed one. So you can be more open on your playstyle.
Imperious
Imperious makes the races of Skyrim unique, by changing a bit the beggining stats, giving 3 racial abilities and 1 unlockable with a quest depending on the race.
Wintersun
Wintersun adds religion and worship. Depending on who you worship/pray you get different helping tools (passive or active)
Andromeda
Andromeda replaces vanilla Standing Stone effects with two new abilities per stone. Upon discovering all Standing Stones, each of them also grants a unique power.
Honed Metal
Now you can pay some coin to your blacksmith or mage to have something crafted, upgraded or enchanted for you.
Recommended:
Alternate Start
Awesome Artifacts
Legendary Skyrim Crossbows
Rebalanced Encounter Zones
Wildcat
Mortal Enemies
TK dodge
Build
Attributes: 0 Magicka / 2 Health / 1 Stamina
One-handed
Being taught some basics from her father and after years of watching from distance to some of the best swordsmen. She learned how, when and where to identify weak spots and hit there, to inflict the most damage to her opponents.
Furious Strength - Power attack damage with one-handed weapons increased by 15% plus 0.1% per point of Stamina.
Cross Cut (2) - Unblocked regular attacks with a sword increase the damage of your power attacks against the target by 25/50% for 4 seconds.
Falling Sword - Forwards power attacks with a sword cause targets to bleed for 20 seconds. When a bleeding target falls below 25% Health, your attacks against that target are critical strikes that deals ten times critical damage.
Thundering Blow - Whenever you perform a total of 8 or more one-handed regular attacks in combat, your next one-handed power attack is a Thundering Blow that deals double damage and costs no Stamina, resetting the counter.
Aftershock - After a Thundering Blow, attack speed is increased by 75% for 3 seconds.
Light Armor
She likes the benefits of an armor, but she also wants to be as fast and agile as possible, so she got herself into light armor. She doesn't like headwears it blocks her vision.
Keen Senses - You no longer need to wear a helmet to benefit from perks that require "wearing all Light Armor". If you are not wearing a helmet, Light Armor pieces have 20% increased armor rating.
Windrunner - Move 10% faster in combat if wearing all Light Armor.
Fight or Flight - When struck by an unblocked attack or spell in combat, an adrenaline rush regenerates 5% of your maximum Stamina per second for 6 seconds if wearing all Light Armor.
Survival Instinct - When you get struck by an unblocked attack or hostile spell in combat, gain 10% movement speed for 6 seconds if wearing all Light Armor.
Tempting Fate - You gain 20% movement speed if you are not blocking during an enemy's power attack. If the power attack misses, the effect lasts until combat ends or until you get struck by a power attack.
Archery
Mastering this skill helps her with loosening the strength of her opponents from afar. Also it was very usefull for hunting. Bow is her best allie against undead because her arrow-tips are made of pure silver, her crossbow on the other hand with the help of her mage "friend" was made a mage killing machine because of the enchantments.
Hawkeye - Grants the "Hawkeye" power. Once a day, slow time and focus on your foes for 10 seconds, looking for opportunities for a killing shot. Finding their vulnerability takes 1 second per 125 Health. Once you do, you may shoot them for an instant kill.
Ambush Predator - After standing still for 6 seconds with a bow or crossbow out, it does 25% more damage until you move.
Snipe - Shooting targets you haven't shot within the past 10 seconds inflicts a critical strike that deals three times critical damage, and any weapon enchantments applied by the shot are twice as effective.
Thread the Needle (2) - Bows and crossbows ignore 25/50% armor if the target is not moving.
Block
When running or dodging is not yet an option a survivor must find another way not to die. By blocking an attack you will still get hurt especially if you have a massive orc male against you, but its better to be hurt than dead right?
Block Runner - Can move at full speed while blocking.
Quick Reflexes - Time slows down if you are blocking during an enemy's power attack.
Apocalypse Proof (2) - Perform a Timed Block to mitigate incoming fire, frost and shock spells and effects, reducing their damage by 50%/to zero.
Poke the Dragon - After a successful Timed Block within 8 feet, you may retaliate with increased strength, increasing your attack damage and critical strike damage against the attacker by 25% for 5 seconds.
Restoration (optional)
(As a backstory you can think as if the mage friend taught her some restoration magic, this skill is mostly for those who don't want to waste tons of gold for healing potions or food)
Restoration Mastery (2) - Cast Restoration spells for 35/50% less Magicka, and Restoration spells are 0.25/0.5% more powerful per level of Restoration.
Edgewalker - Restoration spells are up to 30% more powerful if the recipient is below half Health. The bonus increases as Health decreases.
Respite - Healing spells also restore Stamina equal to their power.
Quests
Before i say about the Quests, if you have Alternate Start, i would choose the "I am outlaw" option because its the closest to her background in my opinion.
Main Quests:
Dawnguard, The break of Dawn, Main Quest Line, Find all stand stones.
Dawnguard is her biggest priority, getting revenge although the other 3 will be the, lets call it, "preparation" for that big moment. So The break of Dawn will give her a helpful tool with that Fire and Sun damage (Awesome Artifacts). Main guest line can be really helpful because she can get some powerful and backstory friendly shouts, like Animal Allegiance, Disarm, Dismay, Whirlwind Sprint or Kyne's Peace. And lastly Find all stand stones will help you with the Lunar Familiar (Eclipse: 1/day - Commands your Lunar Familiar to fight the target. It deals 300% more damage and takes 50% less damage.)
Other Quests:
The man who cried wolf, The White vial, Dragonborn, The wolf queen Awakened, Laid to rest, Kyne's Sacred Trials.
The second and third things after vampires Zireael hates are necromancers and undead The man who cried wolf have both of those, The wolf queen Awakened is the following quest. The White vial will give her some power you can choose between Magic Resist or the One-handed buff. Dragonborn have another powerful shout Dragon Aspect. And last but not least, Kyne's Sacred Trials, should i say it? Well Zireael is a HUNTRESS, i think that says it all.
Replies
A really nice build - well done! I dig the overall character concept and I always appreciate a good Bosmeri hunter of any sort. I also appreciate a simpler playstyle (which I am sure is suped up in some mods I will never get to experience ... sad face) BUT it offers a nice diversity with long range and up close fisticuffs.
The perk spread is a bit hard to read but that might be my aging, terrible eyes. I love the artwork you have chosen to accent the character and give us a visual.
I am curious about the optional note on the restoration skills. Do you think they are necessary after the fact? The idea behind an undead hunter that isn't all "restoration spell slinger" is super refreshing and not some holy-esque crusader. Nicely done.
First of all thank you very much. About the perk spread it might be just me i am not good at creating things like that. The restoration perks are not a necessity, its just to help you spend less money on Potions, because in the beggining you will be kinda low on that. Thanks to other expenses like, asking blacksmiths to make you silver arrows and things like that.
Hey karnetsnake, pretty good first build. I've always been afan of combat archers and swordsmen.
My advice would be to elaborate on what the mods you've listed do for those unfamiliar with them. Its always safest to write your build, especially modded builds, with the assumption that your reader is a vanilla player who may not be familiar with the mods nor the perks/skills they add.
My next piece of advice would be to perhaps detail what synergies are present among your chosen skills, spells, perks, shouts etc. For example Block features a number of damage enhancing perks such as Poke the Dragon. What is your character doing with their offensive skills to take advantage of that? How do they go about fighting various enemy types? What are they effective against? What are they weak against and what steps are they taking to mitigate or avoid their weaknesses?
Thanks. I am always open for advice on how to improve, both of them make sense so I'll make it happen.
Pretty well done, I pretty much have little to say the others haven't. You should focus on expanding a bit on gameplay, detailing how he deals with differing encounter types, like bandits, mages, dragons, etc
Thank you, as i said i add that.