UESP Forums

I was looking at the console commands for the pc and saw that you could change your characters size? Has anyone tried to roleplay as a dwarf or giant?

Thanks Gbaji, I wondered where you guys got those cards in your signatures. Elder Stats. What a good idea

I've played my current character up to 26th level at 0.6 scale. If I wanted a true dwarf (with disproportionate head and limbs), I might try the RaceMenu mod, but it looks a bit complicated. Since my character is a bit surly and aggrieved, it helps immeasurably to have NPCs looking down on him.



You're welcome. It's a bit of work to get all your stats entered (and kept up to date), but I find it worthwhile.

I play roles to some extent to get more immersion to game, and many times to get excuses to do things. Currently I'm playing a sort of bandit-hunter style character, the first one I am intended to develop & perk Pickpocketing skill. What to steal? I decided that this character has a sort of problem with alcohol, so she pickpockets (and steals) all sorts of beverages (ale, mead, wine), and money to buy them. The character also consumes them in large amounts more or less frequently, especially before getting sleep and after battles and other kills. I used to make her drink before battles, but at Master difficulty it is a little bit suicidal at early levels (most drinks slow down stamina regeneration, consuming a few bottles stops it entirely). I might reconsider it at later levels. For these reasons, I think I might visit "Drunken Huntsman" in Whiterun more often than with my other characters

I don't fast travel much, but the reason for that is other than role playing. Walking around is a good way to get alchemy ingredients, and you also meet several kinds of enemies making combat skills to improve. And of course, Skyrim landscape is just so beautiful, that it is usually very pleasurable to just walk around.

I'm RP'n a Nord at the moment. He lives and works out of Riverwood. He has travelled to a couple of the other cities, Whiterun, Solitude and Riften, only to trade and obtain the amulet of Mara for marriage. I married Camilla Valerius from the Riverwood Trader. Her brother had an 'accident' on his way home from the wedding in Riften. It was probably for the best, as it would have been cramped all living together at the Trader.
I do a lot of wood cutting and have gone on some minor explorations. I usually use a follower (Faendal) as my Character is not the fighting type, although he is fairly well trained in sneak and with the bow. Faendal also had an 'accident' on one of our adventures. He was spending a little too much time at the Trader with Camilla after our marriage, so I wasn't to upset at the loss.
No one has seen Sven since the letter mix up between himself, Camilla and Faendal. So the Tavern is quiet without him around. Which my Character prefers any way.
Problem was, I was always greeted rather rudely by Embry. Luckily he also 'disappeared' and hasn't been seen since. We assume he got drunk and wandered off one night.
Riverwood is such a peaceful place now. Except for Stump, that damn barking dog! Fingers crossed nothing happens to him.

a picture of domestic bliss overlying a startling number of "accidents"

i half expect nord FBI profilers to show up and ask you some questions

I have absolutely NO idea what you are implying good Sir.

-snip-

- snipped too -

I always start off with a back story of who my character is. I eat, sleep and drink. With my werewolf Dawnguard member I don't sleep as much because my character gets violent nightmares of wolves tearing each other apart, and Isran recommends to avoid sleeping as a vampire hunter. I walk in towns, take off my hood if I'm wearing one. Never fast travel, only carriages if they're available. My character has the cabin part of Windstad Manor as his outpost.

Seeing as a fair amount of us love to roleplay, i thought it would be a good idea to create a thread where we post ideas for roleplaying. As well as custom builds. From simple merchants to complicated characters. Here are a few ideas of mine for roleplaying.

The Merchant
The merchant is a simple person. He or she wants to make a living by selling stuff and making a profit. This is a speech and barter heavy build. Anything you find, you sell if it's worth selling. You are not that good at combat so you should seek to avoid getting into fights but are a master of the tongue. Anything goes as long as it's related to your main aim, get rich or just make a living by selling stuff. A lot of travelling is involved and smithing is allowed and so forth. It requires a lot of patience and you would be best off avoiding being the dragonborn but it doesn't really matter as merchant turned dragonslayer could be interesting.

And that's it for now. So, what are your roleplaying ideas in Skyrim?

The Tinker

In some of the Sackett books by Louis L'Amore, there was a guy known as the Tinker. He was fairly well known for his knife making abilities. This build is based of him.

The way I play it, is similar to a hunter or ranger type build, tho he strictly uses daggers and crossbows, as opposed to a bow. He travels around, helping people out, or not, depending on whether or not he deems them trustworthy, honorable, goodhearted people or not. His overall goal is to someday craft the nicest dagger possible.

(The idea is to go up both sides of the smithing tree, alternating which one you put the perks into each level up. This is so you have the ability to craft all the different types of daggers there are. )

The tinker is a good fighter, and good at staying hidden. He knows the ways of the hunter, and is able to survive alone in the wilderness for long periods of time. He does like people, although he is not the most social person, so he does spend some time in cities when he enters them.


Edit: forgot to mention, the Tinker only uses one dagger, he doesn't dual wield. Though if you wanna change it to meet your own preferences, it would still work much the same.


Anyway, that's a fun one I have started before.

Not that I don't think this is a good idea, but didn't there used to be a thread exactly like this?

I've been tinkering with a build based on Link from the Legend of Zelda series.

Race: Bosmer

Standing Stone: Haven't decided

Skills:

One-Handed: This one is obvious.

Block: Again, pretty obvious as Link carries a shield.

Marksmanship: Link's trusty bow and arrows.

Alchemy: Link is known to carry around potions in LoZ games, so an Alchemy skill would make sense

Destruction: Link uses various magical skills and artifacts throughout the series, items like the Fire Rod and Ice Rod in ALTTP and the medallions, and in OoT Din's fire.

Enchanting: Link can enchant set of blue clothes (or a set of armor like the TP Zora's tunic) to have a water breathing enchantment. Likewise a set of red clothes to have fire resistance. Both these enchantments are kind of useless in Skyrim though, especially water breathing.

Light armor: We'll be mostly wearing tunics and the like, however certain boots or gauntlets he might wear could benefit from a light armor skill.

Restoration or Alteration: For Wards, or defensive spells (like Oakflesh), thinking of spells like Nayru's love in OoT.

Other possible skills:

Blunt: Link has been known to use a hammer a couple times in the series so this would fit, but not something I would use.

I have a Link build in Daggerfall, but I am thinking of doing it in Skyrim or Oblivion as I think marksmanship is more fun now than it was in Daggerfall and I haven't even used a character with that skill in modern ES games.

Forsworn renegade witch hunter:

The idea is a Forsworn female who grows a conscience and leave without anyone noticing. She then trains as a witch hunter out of skyrim to return and set things right, by killing her former friends and comrades. She also helps others out of regret for her skills having been put to use killing innocent. Basically the RP is a witch hunter who does good out of past mistakes.

RP not totally done, will add more when i come up with it.

Arcane Warrior

The Arcane Warrior is the master of melee combat and master of the magical arts apart from Nercomancy. They belong to an ancient order called the Arcane Order and are always honourable. They are very dangerous and can tear down an entire army by themselves. They either use shield and bound sword or a two handed bound weapon.

I'm currently doing this with Gharel and here is what i do for leveling up. 3 levels of magicka, 3 levels of health and 3 levels of stamina. I'm using light armour but it can be heavy if you want and using block and using a sword or magic as the combat style. Sometimes, i put the shield away and unleash the full power of magic on my foes. Am also a werewolf. That's just optional. The Companions and the COW are the two guilds that I'm in or going to join in order for Gharel to hone his skills and become the world's most dangerous elf. Oh and if you have dawnguard, crossbows are allowed but it's optional.


Peasent
The Peasent is a poor citizen of Skyrim. Born into poverty, they have had virtually no luck. All of their life, they have been poor and have only scrapped by, by doing minor oddjobs. They decided to give Cyrodiil a try but got caught up in the ambush. They are not above taking stuff from the dead in order to make some coin but rarely get involved in combat. They are not that good in combat and often flee battles but when they discover they are Dovahkiin, they start a journey from cowardly peasent to dragonslaying badass. It's pretty much up to you what you want to do.

Not particularly original, but there you go:

The Lumberjack

Travel from town to town earning your living by chopping firewood and working at sawmills. If not working, explore the woods. Your natural habitat are the pine forests of Falkreath and the birch forests of the Reach, with occasional forays into the snow-laden woods of Haafingar; the Whiterun tundra, volcanic Eastmarch and the northern coasts don't appeal to you so much. Spriggans are your arch-nemesis, which makes hagravens your natural allies; if on PC, you can use the console to add yourself to the hagraven faction, otherwise you can at least befriend Melka by doing her quest (The Affairs of Hagravens), which will also provide you with a nice weapon against bark-skinned eco-activists.

Gear: you'll wear plain clothes and defend yourself with a woodcutter's axe in melee (dual-wield for extra badassery); a hunting bow will come in handy to protect yourself from hostile wildlife, as will the Poacher's Axe from Halted Stream Camp. Don't forget to enchant everything with fire-damage against spriggans (or if enchanting is not your cup of meat, at least carry some torches at all times).

Miscellanous activities: Pick wild flowers and always keep a few books with you to press them in. Go shopping on Middas. If you're on PC get Realistic Needs so you can drink herbal tea, instead of scones you can eat sweetrolls. Unfortunately Skyrim won't let you wear women's clothing unless you actually are a woman, but on the bright side your girlfriend will remain blissfully ignorant of your little secret and go on thinking you're "sooo butch".

Archaeologist

Labyrinthian, Dwemer, Draugr are words that conjure up wonderment for you and you're devoted to discovering Skrtim's past. You have a library full of books on the Dwemer, old empires and legends but really exploring the ancient in Skyrim is where you're at. There are dozens of quests and locations which will lead you into ancient ruins, the museum in Markarth and the dig in Solstheim are obvious ones. And with such a "living" ancient history, the average archaeologist stands to gain more than knowledge is prepared to risk the dangers..

Gear and skills
Early on, sneaking around is important and light armour also allows the carrying of more artifacts so you will only carry into a site the essentials. The knowledge and treasures gained form exploring ancient ruins can give you the edge but in such dangerous settings caution is key to survival. Looking out for traps and opening locks make you stealthy but the situations you find yourself in will force you to fight. Bring items to drop and mark your path as you go. Light spells, clairvoyance, chameleon and invisibility are as useful as lightning magic when you're lost in a Dwemer city. Undead, looters and other nasties are common risks to the unwary archaeologist.

Ideas
You'll need a good network of merchants to sell some items to, and useful contacts such as museum directors and scholars. So you may find yourself mixing with the Thief's guild as well as the College of Winterhold. A base of operations is also very useful in order to conduct your own research, so building a home with good facilities and display cases/manequins is a priority. An alchemy lab will allow you to stock up and leave heavy ingredients behind, every ounce you can free up will let you bring back more finds for your collection

this can be a jack of all trades sort of character or specialise in magic/fighting/stealth. Play with the lights low and the sound up

This is rather specific, but just in case anyone is interested...

How to Roleplay as Martin Septim! (Reincarnated by Akatosh)
1) Make a male Imperial, medium skintone, with blue eyes and brown floppy hair. If you are reasonably good at making Skyrim characters, choose the right sort of face shape and jawline. Remember he can't look much like Oblivion Martin because NO ONE can be that round-faced and badly-textured in Skyrim ;D

2) Concentrate on Destruction magic (Ice), One-handed (Enchanted shortswords and daggers), Speech, and Restoration. Choose robes with Mage Armor (Shields/Wards) or Heavy Armor.

3) Pick up every book you find, even if you already have it. Store them in the many bookshelves which you have around your houses. Obviously, if you have Hearthfire, build a house with the Library extension. Alphabetise them.

4) Never use Black Soul Gems. It is evil to keep another person's soul away from their god/s after death.

5) Do all the quests relating to Aedric gods. Avoid all the quests relating to evil Daedric Princes.

6) Never murder anyone. Not even bad people. Kill bad people after they attack you and pray for their souls afterwards.

7) Never steal, unless absolutely essential for the quest and an item of no real value (e.g. Thalmor dossiers).

8) Give money to every poor person and charity you can. (Since I'm on Xbox 360, Martin drops 500 or 1000 septims into chests in every Temple he visits. If I was on PC, I'd have a mod to allow you to give more than 1 septim to beggars).

9) Pray at every Aedric altar you come across, even if you already have a blessing. Build the altars in your Hearthfire house/s.

10) When you pick a side in the Civil War, choose the Imperials. Obviously.

11) Don't allow yourself to become a vampire or werewolf. Vampires are evil, and lycanthropes belong to Hircine.

12) Angst a lot.

I hope to get back into roleplaying in Skyrim again soon. I've moved from my Xbox to my laptop, and right now I'm kind of "muscling" my way through with a Dunmer Spellblade, the original character "arch-type" I played on the Xbox. This is my "achievement hunter" character, getting those kind a things out of the way. Maybe a Nord, I've surprisingly come to love playing a Nord on my Xbox version, I've come to enjoy their story, their feel, and there's something to be said about not being insulted all the time.

That said, on a previous conversation, I'm definitely a Macro->Micro Roleplayer. I'll try to keep track of things like food and sleep in my head (I won't use one of those mods, they seem TOO restrictive,) but if I happen to forget for some reason (my focus can be like that,) then I'll still fall back on to the over-arcing story and roleplay.

For me, I have my characters eat 3 times a day, sleep and walk everywhere. And I do try to limit myself to what can realisticly fit into the inventory. So far, it's interesting and enjoyable. Also, when Aejiri decides to swim, I have her remove her clothes to avoid getting them wet. Same with her boots. When she gets home, she always takes them off as she prefers to be barefooted at home.

Wow, now I get it. So since I am fairly new to all this, I just assumed. or it seems natural to role play the hell out of this. Makes it so much more interesting.
I have 4 characters, 2 that are very active, 2 on semi-idle.
This one is level 46
Ursula: must sleep 5+ hrs. in order to get the well rested/etc. perks. Must also change into sleep wear.
Usually changes as she gets home, puts the Armor in the Armory and unloads most gear and items.
Loves to collect artifacts, books and trophys from all the cool places. Then place them as decorations in the house.( currently living at Heljarchen Hall, house full of people)
Must live life as a good person, not random stealing or shooting bunnies. No necromancy, but black soul gems happen. Ursula has zero tolerance for death of friends or followers, and currently re-spawns' if that happens.
The nature of certain quests do not appeal to nor are they in line with Ursula's personality.
The family comes first, and Vorstag has father duties, so is semi-retired from venturing. Watching 2 girls is enough trouble. Vorstag will follow as a bodyguard, or when going to Dwemer Ruins as he loves to go there, he has told her so. (V. hates cold caves)
Ursula tries to bring gifts to the kids when she can find them. (going to try bringing Vigilence home and see what happens)
Not sure what other quirks to list. I guess Books tend to build up, in hopes of someday sitting down to read all of them.
Ursula has a few anger issues when the adrenalin in pumping. Enemies beware, if you attack you will be killed. If you put up a real good fight and Ursula, her follower or horse is hurt. You will pay with desecration of your body. You will be stripped and your clothes taken as a trophy or thown down on the ground!
Sassy people tend to get pummeled too.
My other characters have different agendas and character quirks. Some are the same (my real personality plays in)
So I guess you could call that roleplay.

Aejiri has no qualms about looting the dead. As long as it's not stolen, she will either keep it or sell it. She also uses nercomancy, just the raising the corpses bit to defend herself. She always wears her robes when traveling to keep her warm and when she is not, it's just her clothes. She always puts her weapons away after a long hard day of finding stuff. She has hidden her skooma stash in the chest in the alchemy Lab in Breezehome. Oh and she is not fussy. As long as it's food, she'll eat it. Provided it's clean.

As far as hardcore mode goes, since I saw it mentioned earlier -- I love it. Fallout: New Vegas has an option of it, and you have a hydration, sleep, and food bar. If you don't eat, you'll eventually starve to death. You need water, so if you go without for long enough - or if you consume too much booze in a sitting - you'll die from dehydration. And well... sleep is there and needed, too. Before getting bad enough, there would be mentalities. Combat you have to be more strategic in too, since stimpaks (ex: syfy healing potions, basically) regenerate HP instead of restoring it automatically.

I was really disappointed it never made its way into Skyrim. Atleast perks seemed to carry over, though.

Anyways I do a bit of micro and macro roleplaying with my characters, but I would say I deal more towards macro - how they would react to a situation, their attitude, etc.
I can't think of an example right now since most characters I would do this to in Skyrim seem to be set as essential (even when they're not useful anymore, bleh), but I recall in Oblivion, I waited until Alessia Caro wasn't set as essential anymore, and then I sneaked into her castle and murdered her as she laid next to her husband. And then my dunmeri girl sneaked back into the shadows, never to be caught. Alessia Caro was extremely racist and... it was really horrible what her past times were, so that character felt the world would be better off without her. XD