CHARACTER SUMMARY
On the mysterious island of Artaeum, the Psijic Monks reside. Powerful practitioners of magic, they safeguard the magic from those that would misuse it and swear to never interfere with the world unless absolutely necessary. Some say the Psijics can forgo the use of magicka completely while others believe they can transcend the laws of Time and Space. Whether these are fact or fiction, only a few know, as only the few worthy are admitted into their ranks.
REQUIRED MODS
This build requires several mods to work at its peak. You will need the following mods, all of which are available on both the PC and Xbox One Special Editions of Skyrim.
*Ordinator: Perk Overhaul
*Andromeda: Standing Stones of Skyrim
*Imperious: Races of Skyrim
*Apocalypse: Magic of Skyrim
*Summermyst: Enchantments of Skyrim
*Alternate Start: Live Another Life
To achieve the aesthetic shown here for this build, you’ll need this mod:
*Craftable Psijic Robes
Of course, you can create your own aesthetic with vanilla stuff if you like, but this is what we used for our character.
I’ve also got a couple of mods that are highly recommended for this character but are not necessarily a requirement.
*Magical College of Winterhold
*Winterhold Fully Restored
RACE
The Psijic Monk will be an Altmer, born among the shimmering shoals of the Summerset Isles. The Altmer are the purest of mer, gifted with incredible magickal potential at birth.
As an Altmer, the Psijic Monk will start with:
Health: 90
Magicka: 115
Stamina: 95
Health regeneration: 0.5%
Magicka regeneration: 3.75%
Stamina regeneration: 4.5%
Carry weight: 250
With the Imperious mod, Altmer are naturally gifted with three passive Abilities and one Racial Power unlockable through a quest given as soon as the playthrough begins:
- Elven Supremacy: Skills are more effective upon reaching skill level 100.
- Gold and Glass: When low on Magicka or Stamina, it regenerates faster at the cost of reduced armor and magic resistance.
- Shimmering Threads: Weapons and armor are weaker, but enchantments are stronger.
Quest reward - Pluck 40 wings off butterflies to unlock...
- Contingency: At will - Weave spells into an auto-cast trigger with specific conditions.
STANDING STONE
The Psijic Monk will discover the power offered by the Atronach Stone. With the Andromeda mod, the Atronach Stone grants two new passive abilities, and one new unlockable power:
- Corrupted Arcana: Magicka does not regenerate. Each death within 50 feet restores Magicka equal to 25 times their level.
- Oblivion Bound: If you have Magicka remaining, spells are 25% more effective and cost 50% less Magicka.
Unlockable...
- Devour from Within: 1/day - Paralyzes a living target, absorbing 50 Magicka for 10 seconds. When depleted, absorbs Health instead.
This stone fits perfectly with the Psijic Monk’s playstyle. This early in the build it may be difficult to see why we’ve gone for a stone that completely eliminates Magicka Regeneration, but all will soon become clear.
STAT SPREAD:
Health: 40%
Stamina: 0%
Magicka: 60%
SPELLS:
Alteration:
*Mage Armor Spells
*Knowledge is Power
*Ocato’s Recital
Destruction:
*Lightning Bolt
*Lightning Storm
*Thunderbolt
Restoration:
*Fast Healing
SHOUTS:
*Slow Time
*Become Ethereal
These two shouts are essential, but any other shouts you find useful are viable.
EQUIPMENT:
*Full Psijic Monk Robes
*Rollback Enchanted Ring
*Mark and Recall enchanted Necklace
LORE:
The Psijic Monk was inducted into the Psijic order long ago, before their disappearance in the 4th Era. He studied for many decades and become a prodgenous student. He mastered Alteration and Enchanting among other skill.
After learning all it seemed there was to know, The Psijic Monk delved into the Archives of Artaeum where he stumbled onto ancient legends and myths of Skyrim. He found books detailing the dark influence of Herma Mora on the province of Solstheim, mentions of an ancient vampire clan in Haafingar, superstitions around Saarthal and Bromjunaar and the Legend of the Dragonborn’s Return. This intrigued him, for the more he read of the Prophecy of Alduin’s Return, the more the signs began to add up.
His moral compass was stronger than the other Psijics and he decided upon traveling to Skyrim in search of the Dragonborn. The Council of Artaeum declined his request to undertake this crusade and so he used magic he found the the Archives to disguise his appearance and travel to Skyrim.
When he reached Skyrim, he sought out the College of Winterhold to investigate, but also because Skyrim’s chapter of mages would be the last place the Psijics would look for him. Artaeum already hoarded all the knowledge known to the mortal plane. Truly the Monk only ventured to the College to uncover more secrets about current events that may be hidden there, furthering his goal of saving the people of Skyrim and all of Tamriel from the doom that loomed on the horizon. But this did not matter to the Council of Artaeum. To them, the only thing in known realms and those between was knowledge. For knowledge is power.
SKILLS:
*Alteration
*Restoration
*Destruction
*Enchanting
PERK SPREAD:
PERK REVIEW:
The Psijic Monk’s perks are extremely unique and fun to play with. The goal for this character was to change the way the use of magick feels when playing a mage in Skyrim at a fundamental level. Lore on the Psijics states that they can tap into an alternate source of magick, forgoing the standard use of magicka as a power source. This led to the Vancian Magic perk.
With that said, the Psijic really delves deep into the school of Alteration, but perhaps not quite as you may have seen it before. Ordinator’s incredibly interesting perk options, when combined, make this character both extremely unique and extremely powerful.
Here is a review of the perks taken from each tree and the reasoning behind some of the choices we’ve made. This perk review section will be particularly in-depth because the Psijic perks don’t only play off of each other; and while they certainly do that, they also are deeply connected with other powers from new spells, enchantments, standing stone effects, and racial bonuses. Feel free to skim this section if you only want a surface-level overview of the build. However if you plan to play this build long-term and would like to know the ins and outs . . . we would recommend getting up, making yourself some coffee or perhaps a mug of tea and getting as comfortable as possible, because we may be here for awhile.
Alteration
It only makes sense to start off with the most important skill tree for the Psijic Monk: Alteration. Every other skill essentially relies on the perks from this skill tree. Alteration Mastery will give you a magicka cost reduction for spells, but this will quickly become obsolete for reasons that will become clear very soon. More important is bonus to the length of time a given casted spell lasts (+1% duration per level of Alteration). At this point, rather than go in the order of how the perks are listed on the Psijic Monk’s Perk Spread, we’re going to ge a little weird and jump around a bit. This will make it much easier to follow, because the Alteration tree serves several purposes to the Psijic Monk. We’ll go over all of these individually and all at once rather than jumping from perk to perk and having to refer back to previous information. But before anything else, the first thing we need to talk about is Vancian Magic.
Vancian Magic is the big game-changer here (see what we did there?). The official description of this perk reads: “Cast magic like the wizards of old. Your next 20 spells do not use magicka and are twice as effective. When you run out of spells, you are unable to cast spells until you rest by sleeping at an inn or in your home.” Now this perk sounds cool and all. The 2x effect on spell effectiveness is great, but what about that punishing 20 spell limit? Isn’t that a big problem for a pure mage? And wouldn’t that render magicka totally obsolete? Well, it certainly would, were it not for the next perk; Quadratic Wizard. With this perk, you will gain 1 additional Vancian Magic spell to cast for every 10 points of magicka. So even if you didn’t upgrade magicka at all up until taking this perk, you would still get an additional 11 spells to cast because of the high starting magicka of the Altmer. This means you’ll have a minimum of 31 spells to cast, but since this build calls for a heavy magicka investment, you’ll find yourself with a lot more leeway than it sounds like. There are a couple more perks in the Vancian Magic branch of the Alteration tree, one of which is Dungeon Master. With this perk, whenever you recharge your Vancian Magic spells, you may choose less or more spells in exchange for increased or decreased spell effectiveness, and/or choose one of three metamagic enhancements. Your choice remains in effect until your next rest. Whether you go for more spell effectiveness or more spells available depends on what you have planned for that in-game day. Different tasks will call for different things, so you’ll have to judge what you can sacrifice and what will benefit you the most. The final perk in this branch is Arcane Thesis. This allows you to utterly master a single spell (the perk chooses the spell you are dual casting at the time of taking the perk). The mastered spell is 20% more powerful or lasts for 40% longer. The best spell to master is Lightning Bolt, which we’ll get into a bit more later.
Now Vancian Magic sounds much more appealing, although admittedly there is still one more glaring issue: Destruction spells. You’ll need to cast a lot more than 31 destruction spells over the course of an in-game day to get by in combat. This is where the Intuitive Magic perk comes to the rescue. To get to this perk you’ll need to take Wild Shrines, which certainly is useful by its own merits as well. This places 5 shrines located around the map; one for each school of magic. Each will make all spells from that school either 15% more powerful or last 30% longer. You’ll want to find the Alteration, Destruction and Restoration shrines. For Alteration the best choice is the duration increase (mainly because of Mage Armor), and for Restoration and Destruction it will be most beneficial to take advantage of the effectiveness buff. Once you’ve taken Wild Shrines, you’ll be lead to one of the most useful and essential perks that the Psijic Monk will take advantage of: Intuitive Magic. As mentioned above, one glaring problem with Vancian Magic is that it severely limits damage output potential for a pure mage like the Psijic Monk. With two points invested into Intuitive Magic, however, you can cast both Novice and Apprentice spells for no cost whatsoever. This translates over to Vancian Magic. This means that even when you are out of Vancian spell slots, you can still cast any apprentice Destruction spell. Since this character uses lightning spells, the best option will be to use Lightning Bolt. Be wary though: these spells will still use up your Vancian spell slots if you still have them remaining. If you have 20 spell slots and you cast 21 Lightning Bolts, you’ll be able to cast all of them, but you will have 0 spell slots remaining. Basically what this means is just use more powerful spells until you run out of charges. Once that happens you can infinitely cast Lightning Bolt for free. This is also why it is best to master Lightning Bolt with the Arcane Thesis perk. It’s damage output is mediocre at best, so the 20% effectiveness increase from that will prove tremendously valuable. Add that to the 15% buff from the Destruction Wild Shrine and you have yourself a very decent Destruction spell that you can cast for free at any point.
Now that we’ve covered the Psijic Monk’s offensive buffs from Alteration, it’s time to move on to defense. Mage Armor offers a very powerful 200% increase to the effectiveness of mage armor spells if you are not wearing an pieces of physical armor. Mage armor spells are essential for any magick-user who doesn’t plan to invest in a good set of physical armor, and the Psijic Monk is no exception. The next perk, Energy Shield, is what takes the Psijic Monk’s defensive potential to the next level. It reduces all incoming damage by 35% if you are not wearing any armor, but you lose magicka equal to the health you would have lost. However, this is no problem for the Monk, as he doesn’t need magicka anyway. Since the extra spells added by Quadratic Wizard are based on his base magicka at the time of resting, magicka in combat is useless to the Monk. Thus, this perk is basically just a free and permanent 35% damage shield: a hard yes for obvious reasons. Just to make casting a Mage Armor spell even more convenient, take the Home Mythal perk. This perk will place a permanent green energy orb at your location when you take the perk. If you cast your Armor spell (and technically any other Alteration spell as well) within 250 feet of the Mythal, the spell will gane a 20x duration boost. This way you minimize the amount of spell slots you need to spend on casting Mage Armor spells. When you do eventually run out of Armor, the Dimension Door perk allows you to create a portal that will automatically transport you to your Home Mythal whenever you like. However, it should be noted that with the Distorted Shape perk, casting a Mage Armor spell directly before the start of combat has its merits as well. With this perk, you will become “intangible” for 10 seconds after applying a Mage Armor spell. This has great potential for allowing you to easily cast a Master Level spell (i.e. Lightning Storm) without fear of enemies interrupting your animation before you are able to finish the casting.
That’s all the main bits of the Alteration tree to go over. *Phew.* But there are still a couple miscellaneous Alteration perks worth mentioning. Choosing the Magicka option when taking the “Alter Self: Attributes” perk will grant a permanent 25% bonus to your base Magicka, which is essentially permanently increasing your max Vancian spell slots. Obviously, since the bonus is based on percentage, you will benefit more if you have more base magicka to start with. This means it’s overall better to take this perk in late game, although the extra boost in the beginning can be helpful. Finally, we come to Welloc’s Dormant Arcana. This perk is a fairly complex and very rewarding one that allows you to choose 1 spell type and 3 bonus passives that you will gain when under the effects of your chosen spell type. When taking this perk, choose the Armor spell type, and whatever bonuses you think will be most useful.
That covers all of Alteration. We realize it was quite the long-winded explanation, but hopefully it has given you a more well-rounded understanding of the character. The rest of the skills are perked mainly to play support roles to the Alteration perks. For example . . .
Restoration
This tree is very lightly perked. Restoration simply functions as a healing tool for the Psijic Monk. The spell you’ll probably be using most consistently is Fast Healing, since it is an Apprentice level spell and thus benefits from the Intuitive Magic perk. The Restoration Mastery perk only has 2 perk point invested because it increases the effectiveness of your healing spells as you level your Restoration skill, and serves only as a gateway to the second and final perk he will take from the Restoration tree: Edgewalker. Edgewalker will increase the effectiveness of your self-healing spells if you are at half health or below. The bonus increases as your health decreases.
Enchanting
This is another lightly perked tree that is mostly to help with end-game gear. There are several enchantments that you’ll see later that help the Psijic Monk out and contribute to his playstyle. This skill basically helps make them that bit more powerful on his final set of Psijic Order Robes. Enchanting Mastery and Gem Dust increase the effectiveness of enchantments in various ways, and Regalia makes enchantments on clothing, robes, and jewelry more powerful.
Destruction
Finally, we come to the Psijic Monk’s main source of damage. Since the Monk will be using lightning spells, we’ve taken several perks that make them a bit more deadly. Destruction Mastery’s decrease to magicka cost won’t be very helpful, but it will make Destruction spells .5% more powerful per level of Destruction. Since your Destruction skill will be in use often and will mostly just level in the background, this is a valuable perk that makes it easier to take down higher level enemies as you progress. Ionized Path plays off of lightning spells’ ability to drain magicka by increasing damage dealt up to 30% based on the target’s missing magicka percentage. Finally, we come to Static Field. This perk deals extra damage to targets when your spell would leave them above 75% health; a good way to boost damage to new enemies at the start of combat.
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ABILITIES
True Mastery - Most magick-users in Tamriel aspire to perform great feats of the arcane by quickly moving past basic spells and reaching the level at which they can cast more advanced magicks. And yet, a true member of the Psijic Order focuses not on reaching the next step quickly, but on utterly mastering the first few steps to form a solid base on which to build the tower of their arcane strength. Effortlessly cast the most basic of Destruction spells with the most powerful of results.
Requirements: Lightning Bolt spell + Vancian Magic, Destruction Mastery (2/2), Wild Shrines, and Arcane Thesis perks
Once you run out of Vancian Magic spell slots, the Psijic Monk can infinitely cast the Apprentice level Lightning Bolt spell. However, this spell is much more effective than it is for the average mage. Destruction Mastery will add .5% damage to any Destruction spell for every level of Destruction you have. The Destruction Wild Shrine makes your Destruction spells 15% more powerful. Finally, with Arcane Thesis you’ll be able to fully master the Lightning Bolt spell and get a 20% damage boost to that specific spell. With all that, you have yourself a quite powerful damage spell that you can cast infinitely.
Energy Shield - Using ancient magickal practices, defend yourself from all incoming damage with a shield conjured of pure arcane power from Aetherius. Move onto the battlefield as fearless of damage as a fully armored knight, and destroy the enemies of knowledge as they watch in awe and horror as their attacks fall harmlessly upon your robes.
Requirements: Mage Armor spell (preferably Ebony Flesh or Dragonhide) + Vancian Magic, Mage Armor, Intuitive Magic (optional), Energy Shield, and Home Mythal perks
This is essentially an ability that makes Mage Armor really, really powerful. Two points into the Mage Armor perk makes your Mage Armor spell of choice 200% more effective. Because of Vancian Magic, Energy Shield provides a permanent 35% damage reduction. Finally, you can cast your Mage Armor spell of choice at your Home Mythal to multiply its duration 20x. Additionally, although it’s not essential for the ability, Intuitive Magic will be helpful if you run out of Vancian Magic spell slots so you can cast the Apprentice level Mage Armor spell (Stoneflesh) for no cost.
Storm of the Master - While other lesser mages will be easily interrupted while slowly casting Master level spells in combat, your training with the Psijic Order allows you to become utterly intangible as you momentarily shift into the space between Mundus and Aetherius.
Requirements: Vancian Magic perk + (Mage Armor spell + Distorted Shape perk) OR (Become Ethereal shout) + Master level spell of choice
This ability allows the Psijic Monk to cast those ultra-powerful Master level spells without having to worry about getting interrupted in the extremely long animation that typically renders Master spells nearly useless. There are two ways he can do this. One is with the Distorted Shape perk. This perk allows the Psijic Monk to become intangible for 10 seconds upon casting a Mage Armor spell. This way, you can run into the fray, cast your Mage Armor spell, and then quickly switch to your chosen Master level spell and get it off in the beginning of combat. This is particularly useful if you use Lightning Storm so you can take out tons of enemies right at the start of combat. Another way to is to simply use the Become Ethereal shout mid-combat and cast your Master spell from there. Generally, we’d recommend using the first method at the start of combat and the second mid-combat or at the end.
Through Time and Space - Through your studies on the Isle of Artaeum you have unlocked the jealously guarded secret of the flow of time. Alter the timestream of the Plane of Mundus, rendering enemies helpless as they struggle to move through the force of time that now rebels against them.
Requirements: Slow Time shout + Vancian Magic perk + Lightning Storm
This is a fairly simple ability, but a very deadly one when used in combat. Simply use all three words of the Slow Time shout, then quickly switch to the Master level Lightning Storm spell and pick of helpless enemies with an insatiable blast of magickal energy.
Time Warp - Through your time in the ancient libraries of the Isle of Artaeum, you learned more than just how to cast spells. Through the utmost focus, discipline and concentration, force your body back against the natural forward-flow of time. Not even Time can master a Monk of the Psijic Order.
Requirements: Emergency Teleport perk OR Ring w/ Rollback enchantment
This is a very powerful ability that entire alters the combat experience that the Psijic Monk provides. With the Emergency Teleport perk, you will instantly gain temporary invulnerability and teleport to the location where you started combat if you fall below 15% health. A ring with the Rollback enchantment, when equipped, will allow you to teleport to a position you occupied a few seconds earlier. Make sure you unequip the ring when you don’t plan to use it though, or else get used to not jumping in combat, because unintentionally moving back through time can sometimes prove to be hazardous.
ENCHANTMENTS
With a lightly perked Enchanting tree, it’s important to note which enchantments should be put where. With the Summermyst: Enchantments mod, we have some pretty interesting options. Here are the enchantments you should have at end-game and where they should be applied.
Amplify Alteration - Robes
This is a simple enchantment that increases the duration of Alteration spells by X%. This is useful when casting Mage Armor spells.
Amplify Restoration - Hood
Another simple one that increases the strength of Restoration spells by X%. This is good because the Psijic Monk will mainly use the Apprentice level Fast Healing spell because it benefits from Intuitive Magic. The trade-off is lower effectiveness than some of the higher level self-healing spells, so this bonus will come in handy.
Amplify Destruction - Boots
This one is pretty self-explanatory as well. Increases the strength of Destruction spells by X%.
Rollback - Ring
Equip this ring at the start of or in the midst of combat. As explained above, it will allow you to return to the position you occupied several seconds previously if you jump with your hands raised. This is a very effective evasion tactic, and is also useful for confusing enemies.
Mark and Recall - Necklace
There’s not much to say about this one apart from its official description: “Equip to create a magical mark at your location. Unequip to teleport back to the mark.” This can be useful in a variety of situations, including as a way to quickly escape combat altogether.
COMBAT STYLE
The Psijic Monk’s early game combat will look quite a bit different from his end game combat. The idea with the Psijic early on is to focus all your attention in training up your magick skills and following the College of Winterhold questline very closely. In fact, early gameplay will take place pretty much entirely around the College. Get your hands on the most powerful mage armor spells you can as quickly as you can, and pour pretty much all of your perk points into the Alteration tree. While this isn’t technically a combat style, it will contribute significantly to the Psijic Monk’s combat early game.
As soon as you have your hands on the mage armor spells you’ll stand a considerably better chance against most enemies you’ll encounter. When it comes to the Vancian Magic perk, We’d recommend waiting on taking that one until you are high enough level to take Quadratic Wizard. Otherwise you’ll find yourself very very limited in combat early on. Early game combat should be as limited as possible, but when it is necessary, try to get a mage armor spell out as quickly as possible and start casting the best destruction spell you know. Most of the abilities listed above won’t work until later game, so you’ll have to rely largely on your armor and your wits (and the Rollback enchantment if you get lucky and find it early).
Once you’re high enough level to take a few of the more beneficial perks from the Alteration and Destruction trees, the Psijic Monk’s combat style must conform to the amount of remaining Vancian spell slots he has access to at a given time.
Upper Vancian Capacity
With Vancian spell slots comes nearly unlimited potential. In combat when it comes to anhilitating foes, the “Storm of the Master” and “Through Time and Space” abilities are your most powerful tools, as they allow you to cast incredibly powerful master Destruction spells without any of the problems that come with casting them normally. Essentially, this is what makes the use of Vancian Magic so much more powerful than standard magicka. Of course, mage armor is still a key component of the battles that you face. If you alternate between the two abilities (and the perk/shout variations of “Storm of the Master) you shouldn’t need to waste Vancian spell slots with too many of the smaller spells; your enemies will likely be pretty well done in before then, especially if you are clever about when and how you use these abilities.
Since the master level Lightning Storm spell is an aim-based spell, you won’t need to wait until you’re surrounded with enemies; you can just pick them off one by one. This is the reason that the “Through Time and Space” ability is so helpful, as the slow time effect makes it even easier to destroy your foes, essentially rendering them sitting ducks. Because of the way the Lightning Storm spell works, it’s best to sit back and cast your spell from a reasonable distance so you can get the most out of it. Even better, you won’t even need to worry about the duration: since you’re not limited by standard magicka, you can cast it all day long, or at least until you need to relocate in order to target more enemies.
Before we move on to lower vancian capacity combat, let’s talk a bit about the use of the Time Warp ability. The idea behind this ability was originally to provide a fail-safe: a quick escape in case the going gets tough. While this is certainly useful in specific situations, it is also useful for confusing the AI of your opponents and strategically placing yourself to deal the most damage. If you do happen to drop below 15% health at any point in combat and thus are teleported back to the place where you entered combat with this ability, you’ll be given the perfect opportunity to use the “Storm of the Master” or the “Through Time and Space” and deal enough damage to (ideally) end combat. It’s hard to describe the strategy of exactly when to use the Rollback enchantment, as it is truly a judgement that must be made on a case-by-case basis. We’d recommend using it fairly often, as it can truly befuddle your enemies and give you great openings to deal some good damage.
Lower Vancian Capacity
If you are totally drained of Vancian spell slots, or are approaching that stage, the Psijic Monk’s combat style changes completely. This is where the Psijic Monk really needs to take advantage of the “True Mastery” and “Energy Shield” abilities. When you’re out of slots, you’ll need to use spells that are free to cast, which means only apprentice and novice spells are available. This means that your mage armor will likely be a lot less powerful than it would be otherwise, but the Energy Shield ability still provides a substantial buff to your defense. This combined with the frequent use of the “Time Warp” ability will keep you alive in combat. If things get really hairy, the Psijic Monk can always fall back on his competent use of fast healing for some quick and free health.
As mentioned above, Rollback is also useful for managing your location on the battlefield. Using this consistently in conjunction with the free apprentice Lightning Bolt spell from the “True Mastery” ability will let you avoid damage most of the time.
Basically, low Vancian capacity combat centers around getting a mage armor spell out, constantly changing locations, casting tons of Lightning Bolt spells, and using your fail-safe options to keep yourself alive if you take major damage.
Getting off the mage armor spell is helped along by the Knowledge is Power and Ocato’s Recital spells. Knowledge is power will all you to transform a mage armor spell of choice (ideally Dragonhide) and cast it as a power once per day at no cost. Ocato’s Recital will allow you to make a mage armor spell auto-trigger for no cost at the start of combat.
ROLEPLAYING & QUESTLINES:
Of course, the roleplaying and questlines for your character are ultimately up to you, but there are still certain parameters that should be met in order to fit with the lore of this character.
As we know from the backstory, the Psijic Monk’s primary motivation is to use the knowledge he has gained from his time at Artaeum to save the people of Tamriel.
For starters, he’ll head to the College of Winterhold to gather as much knowledge on local lore as he can. To save some time, choose the Alternate Start option to start at the College of Winterhold. This will get him wrapped up in their questline, as he, like his former contemporaries in the Psijic Order, will be supremely interested in the Eye of Magnus, and more specifically how it used, misused, or abused. Along the way, train up as much as possible, investing pretty much all perk points into Alteration at this point. When the Psijic Monks come into play in the questline, you can decide how you want your character to react and interact with them. Will he be bitter and distrustful? Will he perhaps regret his decision to leave? The choice is yours entirely.
After he has finished the College of Winterhold questline, your character will probably be in a pretty powerful place, enabling him to use his foresight of the coming of the World-Eater to stop Alduin and save all of Mundus from being devoured. Upon meeting the Greybeards and learning of his identity as Dovahkiin, the Psijic Monk will be quite interested in this whole new branch of magick that has been opened to him, and will spend some time studying with them and learning new shouts that appeal to him.
With that final goal complete, the Psijic doesn’t have any real motivation to complete any other questlines. He certainly does not wish to get involved with yet another faction since his leaving the Order and quick unexpected Archmagehood over the College. Instead, the Monk will focus more on using his foresight to further benefit Skyrim, perhaps completing the Dragonborn DLC and stopping the threat that Miraak poses to all life on Nirn.
EXTRAS:
This brings us almost to the end of this event build, but there are still a few final things to go over with the Psijic Monk. As to housing, he will make his home in the College of Winterhold. This brings me to a key point: it will be best to place your Home Mythal in the Archmage’s quarters. Although he will technically not own that bit of housing to start with, that will be his end-game home, so make sure that when you take the Home Mythal perk you are in the Archmage’s Quarters.
Followers are not a part of this build, and a mount is unimportant apart from as a mode of transport. However, it may be more immersive to use fast travelling to get around with this character to simulate teleportation or movement between planes. Riding a horse to get somewhere seems somewhat mundane for such a deeply arcane character. Of course, the choice remains entirely yours.
Another quick note on the Standing Stone. We didn’t really go over why it was selected in the beginning of the build because we were yet to explain the concept of Vancian Magick. However, it should now be fairly obvious why we chose this Stone. The “Oblivion Bound” passive effect is incredible for this character: “If you have Magicka remaining, spells are 25% more effective and cost 50% less Magicka.” Since this character does not rely on magicka, this effect will be permanent, as far as we are aware. We have no real way of testing this so if any of you know otherwise feel free to let us know.
GO FORTH!
And here we are, at the end of our event build. Thanks for taking the time to read this entry into “The Elder Scrolls: Teams” event. We realize it was quite a long one, but this is a deep and complex character and we wanted to make sure we gave you the full depth of thought that went into creating the Psijic Monk. Thanks to Pixel for the abilities and perks, to Percival for the wonderful backstory, and to Brosis for the concept and ideas.
Now waste not a second more, adventurer! Go forth and harness the ancient and mystical power of magick with far more power and potential than ever before!
Replies
This turned out amazing, you guys did a great job on tying everything together. Too bad I had to leave the project but you surely did do the Psijic Monk justice (More then I would've anyay :I). Might end up playing it once I actually can play :P
'Sall good man. Glad you're happy with the end result! Hope you get some freetime soon enough so you can give the character a whirl.
Nice build guys
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