House of ZAN Forum

[Grand Master Sef]

I'm making this thread to give each other tips, mod reviews and general stories from our adventures in Skyrim. I believe Damin & I are the only ones to play this (maybe Wang has) but perhaps this could persuade you other dopes to play it. Honestly, this could be the greatest game of all time for me but that is a whole other discussion.

I'll start by saying that I've played 3 characters. My first was a Khajiit named Karthor who was a sneak theif. I lvl sneak, arrows, swords and lock pick to 100. I played all the major story lines (civil war, dragonborn, companions, thieves guild & the dark brotherhood) except the Mage's guild. I dabbled in the DLCs but then my character got corrupted from reloading my computer.

My second was a high elf that I went full mage warrior. I did the mages guild and started with the dlc content. Being my second run through, I used mods a plenty and since reloading my computer again, some of my saves don't road properly so I've decided to roll a third.

My 3rd is a nord female. I plan to 100% the game this time & be done with it (as this will take awhile to do everything) I'm doing mods but only some essential ones that improve game play and a couple of fun additions. I'm starting with sneak & swords but to reach a super high level, you have to level up just about everything.

I'll post a list of essential mods I use on the steam workshop.
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[Ravage]

I ended up giving up on my first character...for two reasons, really. One, it had been far too long since I'd played, and I already forgot most of the stuff I'd finished. Second, I was playing stealth ranger. So I had maxed Sneak, Pickpocket, Archery, and One-Handed. It was incredibly fun in any area where sneak was "allowed" to work, but certain dungeons were absolute kite/bow festivals. That got boring.

With my second character, I decided to go stealth mage. This is proving to be interesting. My plan is to max Sneak again, however, Pickpocket, while fun, is a waste, so I'm not taking it again. I keep my gloves of Stabby-Stabby so my dagger does tons of damage on sneak attacks, so not really any need to put perks into One-Handed, since when the fight breaks out, it's MAGIKKING TIME!

I don't know if I'll max anything but Sneak. I'll take Destruction to full in both Fire and Lightning (Screw Frost), Illusion to Silent Cast, Just a little bit in Restoration, and then I don't know if I'll do some Alteration just for fun, max out Illusion for the great "let them kill themselves" stuff, or something equally fun. I'm also thinking that, while I detest crafting in single-player games, I will do enchanting to give myself more survivability later. Or maybe I'll take heavy armor...because a Tanky Stealth Mage just sounds too awesome to be real.

I'm going Hog-Motherfuckin-Wild on Mods. I think my "core" ones that I couldn't live without are:
- All of the "Towns and Villages Enhanced"
- Unread books glow (SO MUCH TIME SAVED)
- Pure Waters
- Expanded Skyrim Weather (Strangely, Light Rain feels the most realistic)
- Sky UI (#1...absolutely a huge improvement over Vanilla)
- Invested Magic (allows spells like Muffle and Stoneskin to last WAY longer, but decreases your Magika max while active)
- Truly Balanced Destruction Magic (from what I've heard, without mods, Destruction falls off lategame)

I use some other randoms that take away kill blow blur, add more blood to kills, make women look like women and not just well-shaved men, add quest markers for the Stones of Barenziah. I also just started using "Midas Magic" which adds a ton of craftable spells (that I haven't been able to find all the ingredients to start using yet). I'll let you know if it works out!

[Grand Master Sef]

I use all those mods. Midas is fun. it turns you into a god among men. the running spell kills the need for a horse tho. the raise any dead npc spell is great for when you accidentally kill npcs that became collateral damage.

bandoleir mod allows you to craft more pouches to wear so that you can carry more crap. I added several graphics enchantment mods that turn the game into a modern marvel to behold. you need the PEW arrow mod. there is also mods that allow you to tweak follows & many fun new followers added like Deadpool who yells something about stealing your enemies sweet rolls & then whistles the final fantasy tune that plays after each battle. plus he kicks ass.

skyui is the best mod ever in a game. it just opens it up to be so amazing. more to come later.
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[Ravage]

I have never cared for followers in general. Just don't care for the system...never really used them in Fallout, Oblivion, or similar games. Don't like summons, either. It's odd, I know, because in MMO's like SWG and WoW, I ALWAYS played summoners. Even Diablo, I was always a Necro...just never liked the gameplay style of followers in Elder Scrolls games.

The Pew mod sounds funny, but so far I've only installed mods that didn't break the immersion. I'm sure at some point, I will add silly ones.

I just installed another spells mod this morning that adds like 180 new spells. It's a bit OP, but some of the spells are awesomesauce, like shooting fire from my eyes, chain lightning, meteor, and my new favorite - Hidden Scorpion, which is a stealth spell that slowly kills a target silently.

The key I'm missing to midas magic is gold bars...any idea where I can find these easily? I suppose I will have to mine ore and refine it?

[Grand Master Sef]

yup, gold mines, you'll have to dig them out. i think ore might drop in the dwarven dungeons too
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[Ravage]

As creepy as some dungeons can be (especially anything with Draugr or Hagravens), the Dwarven ruins always get me the worst. You're just sneaking along, minding your own business, looting cool shit, when suddenly...

CLICK, CLICK, CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK OMGDWARVENSPHERESATTACKINGME!

What's worse, sneak is only mildly effective on them.

I've managed to get myself into a bit of a bind, too. I'm level 15, but I've got about 6 levels pending, but I don' want to actually level up (thus making enemies harder) until I get my destruction level up to where I'm not gonna get PWNT. I allowed myself to get way too many points in stuff like pickpocket, lockpick, and speechcraft.
I'm just hoping I can work my destruction up high by focusing on it, and then advance all those levels and not get completely shut down.

[Grand Master Sef]

I understand with the dwarven ruins. They can make ya jump!

If you're having issues leveling, you just need to go run around the wilderness killing stuff. It's a great way to explore (which helps later when you need to get somewhere that you've never been anywhere near before) & allows you to only work on your attack method. Also, walking up & down a river killing mudcrabs to fill up your soul gems is a good way to level. you just need to use the destruction magic a lot. It'll be tedious but if you're running around killing random stuff & exploring that can make it more fun.

also, a follower helps even the score on tough bad guys. Of course, after lvl 35 the baddies don't level up much so you'll be fine.
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