Hey y'all! This is my submission for the Crossworlds event! I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out, as this build is based off of one of my favorite cartoons from when I was younger. I won't give out too many details until the end so I can leave you guessing on who he could be! As stated in the rules, I've had to modify the character a bit to fit better into Tamriel, but for the most part I think this character stays true to the original storyline.
This build is going to have a slightly different layout than my other builds, solely because I don't want to reveal who he was based off of until the end. It's is heavily modded and originally played on PC, but I'll include links in the modding section. As always, let me know if you have any questions and I'll get back with you as soon as I can! Hope you enjoy!
(Art by StuHarrington at : https://imgur.com/gallery/iFK9hkH )
The Lord of the Elements existed before the men and mer began measuring years and eras. He was a child when the first and second generations of Ysgamor's 500 began settling the Jerall Mountains. Little is known about this era save for the few scattered texts that survived through the centuries, but The Lord remembers it well. The land was wild, harsh, yet oddly beautiful. Untouched by men and scarcely touched by mer, Skyrim was a prize waiting for the Atmorans to claim. For those first few years of The Lord's life, he remembered nothing but peace, and he attributed it to the dragons.
Some saw them as a blessing, many saw them as a curse, but for The Lord the dragons were necessary. The sons of Akatosh kept the peace whether it was intentional or not. All his people, regardless of the qualms they had collectively feared them. Dragons could freeze rivers, burn forests, and raise mountains as they pleased. Their powers were so strong even Kynareth's winds bent to their will, carrying them farther into the skies than mortals could imagine. While warriors, the Atmorans stood no chance against the god-like race. In hopes of sating their appetites for power, the Atmorans worshiped their overlords.
For awhile, their acts of service was sufficient. Everything changed when The Eldest, Alduin, lusted for more. He collected his following and set out to destroy the world, bending it to his will. The Lord realized the folly of his people's misplaced admiration. His people gathered and began studying ways to combat the dragons. Theywere few, and knew little outside of weaponry. In an attempt to survive, they erected shrines to all the gods, old and new. For their devotion, the gods granted them knowledge of an existing magic, for a price. Each Atmoran could only master one type of magic: fire, frost, or earth.
When The Lord came of age, he delved into the elemental magic. Unlike the others who mastered only fire, frost, or earth, he was easily able to master all three, a feat that surprised the fellow mages. It seemed The Lord was the exception to the old gods' rule.
Certain in his abilities, The Lord headed out with other mages to join the fight in the Dragon War. His first dragon encounter was at the foot of the Jerall mountains itself. The dragon was surprised by magic was strong as his own, but still put up an overwhelming fight. Many mages lost their life in the battle, but in the end The Lord was able to kill the beast. Oddly enough, the dead dragon began deteriorating, giving up its soul to The Lord as a result. Unknown to him, Alduin the World-Eater was being banished at the same time. The similar magic energies collided, pulling both Alduin and the Lord into the scroll and sending them through time.
The Lord arrived after Alduin did, finding himself in the same location but in much different time. The place he killed the dragon was now at the foot of a small town. Everything was warmer. There was no sound of dragons anymore, but the destruction of the town looked as if one had been there....
As I'm sure is true with most Crossworld Builds, the most difficult part of this build was trying to translate the highlights and general feel of the original show into the world of Tamriel. There were many points I could have translated, but I decided to focus on just five of them. I will go more in depth with the points in the Gameplay/Roleplay section, but I briefly summarized how I accomplished each point below.
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Saving Tamriel from their Dragon Overlords: Completion of the Main Questline and Killing Named Dragons
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Incorporating the Use of the Four Main Elements (Fire, Earth, Air, and Water): Using Destruction and Alteration Magics as well as Select Shouts
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Building a Diverse, Specialized Team: Incorporating Multiple Followers who Specialize in One Area of Magic
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Honoring the Gods: Appeasing the Daedric Princes with their Quests and Completing the Four Aedric Quests
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Catching Up on History and Learning Who They Are: Collecting One of Every Book in Game
Race:
Nord. The Lord is a direct decendent of Ysgamor and his 500, the Atmorans who would later be recognized as the ancestors of the Nords. His ancient blood grants him resistance to all types of frost, an ability developed by his Atmoran kin following the Freezing, and his pure heart lets him deal more damage as his health depletes. While he learns to overcome his stereotypes towards the elves, his hatred for the Altmer will always help fuel attacks against those who want to harm his people.
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Using the Imperious mod, the Warrior's Heart perk is a game changer throughout the playthrough. Paired with the Avatar power, the elemental mage becomes increasingly more difficult to kill with each attack. The Nord's natural resistance to frost helps fend off some of the lower level dragons and mages early-on, while The Purge perk can help cover the peskier races. Choosing High Elf, Dark Elf, and Breton makes defeating flame and spark mages easier to make up for the lack of resistance.
Standing Stone:
The Mage. One of the earliest Atmorans to learn magic like the elves, The Lord draws strength from the Mage Stone. With its guidance, he is quick to learn new methods of magic that have been discovered in his disappearance.
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The Mage Stone is easy to locate early in the game making it essential to leveling up faster and dealing more damage. With Andromeda, an unlockable power makes spells from a chosen school more effective and with less magicka for a short period. This is extremely helpful towards the endgame since the upper level spells require significantly more magicka.
Birthsign:
The Lady. Those born under the sign of The Lady are said to be the kindest and most considerate of all men. Born under this sign, The Lord gets a nice bonus to both Health and Magicka, a blessing that he thanks the goddess for quite often. Who better to compliment a Lord than a Lady?
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This isn't normally included in builds, but is added by the Classic Classes and Birthsigns mod. This particular perk isn't essential, but gives another boost at the start. Choose Third Era Signs when prompted, since The Lord wasn't born in the most recent age. There isn't an option for Merethic Era signs.
Blessings:
Patron God: Akatosh, Blessing of Talos. The God of Time has always held a special place in the heart of The Lord. The Father of Dragons might have caused the chaos, but it is only with his help they can be defeated. He blesses his devoted with an edge over their dragon overlords, seeking to rectify the scourge his eldest brought on the world.
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With Wintersun, choosing Akatosh as the Patron god increases both shout and spell attacks against dragons, making it easier to defeat the wyrms that would rather fly than fight. Though Talos might be a newer god, his ideals inspire The Lord. It doesn't hurt that his blessing reduces the time between shouts.
Supernaturals:
None. While The Lord wouldn't mind the blessings of Hircine or Molag Bal, he is far too concerned with Alduin to indulge in the luxuries. Perhaps after the threat of dragons and elves is gone, he would consider taking their gifts.
Companions:
Yes. While it felt as though no time had past while inside the Time Wound, the after effects were long felt. The Lord misses his friends from long ago, and wouldn't mind some company. Any and all are welcome that want to fight the World-Eater, but he values diversity. Sword, bow, destruction, alteration- anything that can be used to fight the beasts of the sky.
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While not necessary, a multiple follower mod is highly suggested. Amazing Follower Tweaks allows for complete customization of followers from armor to weapons, even spells. Five followers are used in my playthrough: fire/shock mage, ice mage, alteration spellsword, sword and shield warrior, and an animal companion. For added diversity, I tried to have them each a different race depending on their element: Fire- Dunmer, Ice- Argonian, Alteration- Bosmer, Swordsman- Nord.
Factions:
Greybeards. The old men of High Hrothgar hold the highest of respects in The Lord's eyes. Those that could bend air to their will in the form of a thu'um were to be respected and feared. Yet these men want nothing more than to worship the gods in peace. It's a life The Lord envied. With their help, the Lord can learn to use his shouting ability more percisely. With their leader Paarthurnax's help, he can learn to save the world.
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Choosing to spare the old dragon is more beneficial that killing him. The downside is loosing all support from the Blades in the process. The Paarthurnax Dilemma mod solves the problem in choosing one side or the other, but is not needed otherwise.
Archetype:
Wizard. A Wizard from the Merethic Era has much to show the world, but not nearly as much as the world has to show him. The Lord actively studies new spells and tactics to use against the dragons while also relying on his devotion to the gods to show him the way. Not particularly fond of the College of Winterhold for keeping the Thalmor in their walls, he learns what he can from people and books in the world around him.
Class:
Custom.
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Specialization Bonus: +20 Magicka
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Combat Skills: Smithing
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Stealth Skills: Light Armor, Speech, Alchemy
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Magic Skills: Alteration, Destruction, Enchanting
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Secondary Skills: Mysticism
The Lord is a simple man with few but powerful skills. Alteration, Destruction, and Speech skills will cover all four elements he needs to master to defeat Alduin. The Light Armor tree ensures he's protected but not weighed down. The other three skills aren't necessarily necessary for the build, but help with raising levels later on. His devotion to the gods through Mysticism grants faster regeneration, while a starting bonus helps with learning the new spells. Overall, The Lord's class sets him up for success from the moment he arrives in this new Tamriel.
Weapons:
None. Heavily relying on the elements makes having weaponry almost obsolete. The Lord won't argue with his friends having a sword or mace in case his magicka reserves run low though.
Armors:
Light Armor. A little extra defense is always welcome, so long as it doesn't weight you down. Light armor provides just the right amount of protection for a mage. While buying armor is nice, the Lord prefers to to forge his own in the flames of The Sky Forge to pay homage to the people he left behind.
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For this playthrough I used Ebony Mage Robes set to light armor by Immersive Armors. For a more vanilla approach, any light armors besides Elven would be acceptable, as The Lord has a certain disdain for the Thalmor.
Spells:
Destruction and Alteration. Earth, Ice, and Fire were the elements The Lord mastered before being sent to the Fourth Era, and all will be necessary to defeat the World-Eater. Through Apocalypse, the ability to use all three elements becomes a reality. Spells in both Destruction and Alteration can be learned to truly be called The Lord of The Elements.
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Fire: Firebolt, Dragon's Teeth, Fireball, Bombardment, Scorching Hands
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Ice: Hailstone, Creeping Cold, Ice Spike, Ice Storm, Shattering Crystal
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Earth: Stoneflesh, Ebonyflesh, Drop Zone, Raise Wall, Undermine
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Mixed Elements: Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Thunderbolt, Bollide
*These were the top spells I used in my playthrough. Of these, Firebolt, Creeping Cold, Raise Wall, Thunderbolt, and Bollide were my favorites.
Shouts:
Whirlwind Sprint, Clear Skies, Disarm, Elemental Fury, Unrelenting Force, Storm Call, Dragonrend, Call Dragon. The final illusive element, air, has finally been mastered. The Lord uses the power of his voice to bend the air to his will, just as the dragons do. His thu'um focuses on the movement of wind and the control of the dragons that once ruled over him. Whirlwind Sprint and Elemental Fury affect The Lord's body while Disarm and Unrelenting Force affect others around him. The shouts he favors are those that truly make him feel like a dragon, those that control the skies and beasts.
Stat Placement:
3 Magicka: 2 Health: 1 Stamina
The Lord relies heavily on Magicka and Health, but it's good to have a bit of Stamina in reserve in case he needs to make a quick get away to recover. In this playthrough, I leveled 3:2:1 until Stamina reached 150, then changed to a 3 Magicka: 1 Health ratio. Stamina can be raised to a higher level if The Lord needs to carry more things, but the main focus of the build will be on Magicka.
All perks become available around Level 40, but the Lord can easily be leveled past it.
(Credit to Curse-Never-Dying for making this Perk Spreadsheet)
Perk Placement:
Destruction: The master of destruction comes to preserve mankind. While the minimum level on this tree is low, the importance is invaluable. Two of the four elements come from this three with shock being a fusion of both. While all perks become available at level 40, it is highly recommended to max out this tree and possibly make it legendary. Force of Nature encourages the use of all three schools, boosting certain magics in certain weathers, so it's highly recommended to reach this perk as soon as possible. Skyrim's weather is ever changing, so why not The Lord's?
Alteration: The Lord never thought he'd see the day when mortals could manipulate the world as the dragons do. With Alteration, it is now possible. The element of earth is found in this tree, making it just as important as is Destruction counterpart. The manipulation of the physical world is super important, especially when dealing with creatures as powerful as Alduin. Alteration can raise defensive barriers and boost armor, making up for the lower armor rating of light armor. Further, perks like Alter Self modify The Lord's physical body to help make up for some of his short comings.
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Some perks in Alteration require you to choose an option. For “Alter Self: Resistances” choose Shock and Fire, as The Lord is already resistant to Frost. For “Alter Self: Attributes” choose Stamina. That boosts carry weight that might be lacking. Finally, for Welloc's Dormant Arcana, choose “Armor, +20 Alteration Duration”, “+50 Armor”, and “+50 Max Health”. This combination boosts the effects of Stoneflesh/Ebonyflesh, add an addition armor bonus, and adds a little boost to health.
Speech: When dragons refuse to listen to reason, it's time to shout. The final element, air, is achieved with this perk tree. Ordinator revamps the Speech tree to include shouting, something The Lord relies heavily on. The And The Universe Listens perk is easily obtainable and helps regenerate Magicka, Health, and Stamina when shouting- helpful when you need a little break from the fight to recharge magicka reserves. Further up the tree, perks like Force Redoubled and Hurricane Force increase the effectiveness of the shout. Finally, Dovahzulaan allows The Lord to truly shout like a dragon, able to use any shout twice in a row without a cooldown. After all this time, the gods have finally given mortals the upperhand.
Light Armor: Light armor, heavy attacks. Last but not least, the light armor tree grants some strong bonuses to The Lord. Lower perks on the tree like Light Armor Fit and Unhindered help deflect attacks and lower carry weight early on in the game- important for The Lord who has low stamina. As it's leveled up however, perks like Spelldancer can have a significant effect on the spells and how they are used. For The Lord, light armor is better than no armor. His forefathers would scold him for charging into battle without mail.
Tactics:
Magic. This was my first ever mage build, and it was extremely daunting to approach it with solely magic tactics. For those of you with experience playing as a mage, I applaud you. It took all I had not to pick up a sword and hack into some of the enemies. The Lord features an arsenal of ranged attacks to keep danger at bay as long as possible while holding a few melee-ranged spells in his back pocket. The use of followers is highly recommended at lower levels in order to make up for the shortage of advanced spells and magicka, but it is possible to complete the playthrough solo.
After many frustrating deaths due to low armor, I learned to make use of Stoneflesh and Ebonyflesh every moment I thought about it. It became habit to walk around with one equipped at all times to systematically give The Lord a boost. It's hard to predict when danger is coming, so it's best to be prepared at all times. If you choose not to boost yourself while exploring, be sure to at least do it before engaging enemies you approach. As long as there is enough distance between The Lord and them, they won't be expecting an attack and you have the element of surprise.
The Lord prides himself on being the first and the last to attack. It's important to always attack enemies first, giving you the crucial health advantage. Paying attention to the type of enemy, distance from them, the speed of spell, and type of weather play a major part in planning an attack. The goal is to take as much health down in the first hit as possible to make the rest of the battle fairly one-sided. Following the attack, The Lord will keep his distance to prevent taking too much damage from heavy hitters. Allowing followers to fight at close range is always a good idea, but be careful to track their movements. Lydia tends to get in the way more often than not.
In the event an enemy does get too close, fighting with a melee spell in the left and a more damaging spell in the right is the way to go. The Lord can use Scorching Hands or Thunderbolt to severely burn and possibly knock back an enemy. They do more damage up-close than some of the ranged spells, so they serve well when the battle gets too heated. In the most dire cases, calling on the element of air may be required. While The Lord is hesitant to use his shouts on mortals, in life or death situations it becomes necessary. Avoid using Unrelenting Force if followers are nearby to avoid damaging them in the chaos. Instead, Disarm and Whirlwind Sprint can be used to remove their weapons or run away from the fight for a few moments.
I was super stoked to figure out how to translate this character and his world into Tamriel, and I was actually pleasantly surprised how nice it turned out. As mentioned before, this build is heavily-modded to incorporate more elements of the original character's world, but with Enairim mods like Imperious, Andromeda, Apocalypse, and Ordinator, I was able to stay incredibly close to lore perks and spells. As stated in the Spells and Shouts sections above, each element has certain attacks associated with them. Try to incorporate all of them at some point, though some spell and shout combinations may work better for you than others. As long as The Lord uses all of them, he will be able to overthrow the World-Eater.
The Lord is motivated by the old ways and preservation of life to save the new world he found himself in from the tyranny of Alduin. He feels guilty for being absent for so long and blames himself for Alduin's return. Because of this, he will do anything to ensure the safety of mortals. He refuses to run from a fight against the old overlords, and sets out to destroy all those who would enslave the inhabitants of Nirn. Since he remembers a time when the Sons of Akatosh and men lived fairly harmoniously, he is willing to look past a dragon that refuses to fight. Paarthurnax and Odahviing become close allies and their loyalty is invaluable to him. All other named dragons (besides Durnehviir) should be killed, including the hidden one in Blackreach.
While his main focus is the dragon tyranny, The Lord knows the value of allies. The Lord misses his friends from long ago and will no doubt be wanting to make more. The more diversity in attacks, the more balances the team will be as a whole. Try to assign a certain element to each follower- fire spells and enchantments to one, frost to another. Doing this will ensure each follower will have a chance to show their strength when facing a variety of enemies. Further, it's a good idea to make friends with merchants, smiths, and innkeepers to get discounts and gossip. Any quests that do not require killing innocent are fair game. The Lord holds a prejudice against elves, but as he travels he learns not all are as evil as those his forefathers fought so long ago. Bosmer, Dunmer, and even Orsimer are all possible allies, though he is more leery of the Altmer. He refuses to deal with the Thalmor unless it involves their unraveling. Those met on the road should be avoided, but if they start a fight, finish it.
The Lord remembers that all the gods, Daedra and Aedra had a hand in blessing him with his ability to wield all the elements. For this reason, he tries to honor them all when they call on him. No Daedric quest is below him, as his drive to please them overrides his guilt for the unspeakable acts he may preform. Fifteen of the sixteen Princes and four of the Aedric gods can be honored by quests without joining a guild and should be completed as you get them. The artifacts and blessings can be collected and used as The Lord sees fit, as long as he sticks to Spells and Light Armor.
Finally, The Lord realizes he's missed a lot in his time away. To try to catch up on his history, he reads every book he comes across and collects them for his own. Having a library in your home is a big help in storing and displaying the collection. History books, tomes, journals, and letters are all important in The Lord's eyes. Nothing is too small or unimportant to add to his collection. Be sure to buy or loot books rather than steal. The last thing The Lord needs is a bounty for being a book nerd.
There are many quests that The Lord could complete, but the main ones are listed below. The quests you choose to take or avoid are to be made at your discretion. Just remember The Lord values life (except when asked to take it by one of the gods), hates the Thalmor, and wants to see the end of evil dragons.
The Main Questline. There are very few characters I make anymore whose sole mission is the defeat of Alduin, so this one was a throwback to when I first started playing Skyrim. The Lord will side with the Greybeards and Paarthurnax about everything as he values them as teachers and pacifists. When it comes to Season Unending, try to stay completely neutral in the negotiations. While ultimately wanting to remove the Thalmor from Skyrim, The Lord knows the value of putting the war on hold to deal with the main problem.
The Aedric Quests. There are four quests dealing with Aedra in the game: Kyne's Sacred Trials, The Blessings of Nature, The Book of Love, and The Heart of Dibella. While Akatosh may be The Lord's chief god, it doesn't hurt to have blessings from some of the others. Completing these quests also give ample chances to raise your skills in speech and magic.
The Daedric Quests. Fifteen of the sixteen Daedric quests are able to be completed without joining a guild, the last one being Nocturnal with the Thieves' Guild. The Lord is always ready to honor the old gods, and chooses to side with them with every decision that comes up. Most of the quests require fighting, and, like the Aedric counterparts, help with leveling early on. Many of the artifacts given to The Lord won't be very useful, but gaining their favor is his own reward. \
After The Fall of Alduin... With the defeat of the World-Eater, The Lord's main purpose is fulfilled. His life can feel almost empty if not given anything else to do. Following the main questline, there are several areas of the world that could draw his attention. Taking a gift of Vampirism or Lycantropy would help him feel closer to some of his Old Gods. Further, without the looming threat of dragons, The Lord can focus on driving out the Thalmor in the impending Civil War. There are almost unlimited possibilities in what The Lord can do.
Alternate Start- Live Another Life: Creates an alternate start to the game. For The Lord, I chose “Camping in the Woods” as it starts you off right outside of Helgen.
Amazing Follower Tweaks: Enables multiple followers and the editing of followers in terms of armor, weapons, and play style.
Andromeda- Unique Standing Stones of Skyrim: Overhauls the Standing Stones of Skyrim to include to perks and abilities.
Apocalypse- Magic of Skyrim: Adds new and immersive spells from all schools of magic into Skyrim to add some diversity and challenge to normal mage playthroughs.
Classic Classes and Birthsigns: Adds a Class and Birthsign system to make building your character easier from the start. Birthsigns are compatible and have stacking bonuses to Andromeda. This mod isn't essential for The Lord, but gives the build a greater edge.
Immersive Armors: Adds new and immersive armors to the game. This isn't essential for The Lord, but I preferred to armor him in Ebony Mage Robes from this mod.
Imperious- Races of Skyrim: Overhauls and adds on to the vanilla perks and powers of the races in game.
Ordinator- Perks of Skyrim: Overhauls perk trees to make them more in depth and build oriented.
The Paarthurnax Dilemma: Gives the alternative to stay with The Blades and still have Paarthurnax live. This mod isn't essential to the build.
Unread Books Glow: Customized mod that allows the play to know what books they've read before picking it up. This is extremely useful for this build as it makes collecting all the books in game easier.
Wintersun- Faiths of Skyrim: Overhauls the religion system of Skyrim making it possible to choose a patron god and earn favor with them to get special, immersive bonuses.
Zim's Immersive Artifacts: Overhauls all the artifacts in game to give better boosts and rewards while remaining highly immersive. This isn't essential to The Lord, but does make the artifacts collected much more worth while.
“Water, Earth, Fire, Air...
Long ago, the Atmorans and dragons lived in harmony...
But everything changed when Alduin attacked!
Only the Dragonborn, Master of All Elements, could stop him...
But when the world needed him most, he vanished...”
(Art by merdetu at: https://www.deviantart.com/merdetu/art/Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Fanart-771103697 )
For those that haven't figured it out by now, The Lord of the Elements is based on Avatar Aang from “Avatar the Last Airbender”. Growing up, Avatar was by far one of my favorite cartoons and it taught me a lot about storytelling, acceptance of cultures, and evolution of characters. When I started this build, I was actually surprised to see how many similarities I could find between Aang's quest to save the world from Ozai and the Fire Nation and the Dragonborn's quest to save Tamriel from Alduin and the Dragons.
It was a far stretch to assume a person, namely the Dragonborn could be pulled into the Time Wound with Alduin, but it was storytelling and a good comparison to Aang “traveling” a hundred years into the future during his time. Please don't yell at me I'm fragile.
Anyways, this was an EXTREMELY fun build to play, and my first ever mage build. I've had a hard time until now learning to play as a mage so if you find anything I could have done differently or have advice for the future, please let me know below! As always, I look forward to your feedback! I hope ya'll enjoyed!
Talos Guide You!
Replies
I knew it! I knew it right from the beginning this was an avatar build! Well done Kendrix.
Hah! Good job! It was so hard to try and keep this a secret until the end. The series was amazing. Anyways, thank you!!! I'm glad you liked it.
You seem to top yourself with each new build and this build is no exception. I’ll have to put this on my short listen of builds to play in the near future.
My only suggestion would be to make the header titles darker. Baby blue text is somewhat difficult to make out against the site’s pale background.
Thank you, Curse. Let me know how you like it. As I said, I've never played a mage before, but this one was super fun!
You're right about the text. I noticed that when I got on Mobile. I'm afk currently, but I'll fix it as soon as I get back home.
I just updated the header titles to be a different color. Let me know if you see anything else! :)
Looks great Kendrix.
An Avatar build eh? You clever girl. Nice job Kendrix. Oh shit, I remember watching Avatar: The Last Airbender and thhe Legend of Korra back with they came out......
I was hoping you'd like it, Chris. I'm in love with both series, but The Last Airbender will always hold a special place in my heart.
Yeah, and to think, this is only the second or third Avatar based build. I remember one based off Aang back on the Blog, and another by Noodles, in part I believe based on Katara. Shit, I was, like, seven when this show came out. Great job
Addendum: There was also one somewhat based on the chi blocking capabalities of the Equalists
It’s impressive and almost jarring how quickly you’ve risen to the top tier of character builders.
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