Roleplaying-based challenges for Morrowind

[TheMM]

I've played Morrowind a lot, done every possible thing multiple times over. Really only thing I've not done is make mods. But one thing I came up with is various roleplaying-based challenges to help improve the difficulty and change up how I play. Some of these challenges are 'full character' challenges, others are just add-ons that you can tack onto full character challenges to make them harder still. These challenges are made with the idea of playing vanilla Morrowind. I mostly played these at 0 difficulty, but feel free to crank that up as high as you reasonably can handle to maximize the toughness.

 

The number of * determines the base overall difficulty. Also if the game forces you to join a faction if the rules say you can't, it's fine. Some hiccups are gonna hit here and there. The challenge is considered 'over' once you defeat Dagoth Ur by freeing the Heart.

 

I may add some mod-based challenges if people have any interest in that. Either completely new challenges or twists on some of the ones below.

 

Full character challenges:

Path of the Warrior/Mage/Thief ** -

Must use the Warrior/Mage/Thief sign

May only join the Guild and House related to your sign and do their questlines fully.

May only use services and artifacts gained from the two factions you were allowed to join.

Must use a pre-made class related to your sign

Must do the backpath MQ only.

Optionally for an additional * you may join the vampire clan related to your sign as well (such as the Aundae for the Mage path)

There are also specific challenges for each path:

 

Mage *-

May only create your own potions and enchanted items then sell them for profit, no other form of income is allowed beyond looting gold off of enemies.

Forbidden from wearing armor unless playing as a sorcerer. May not pay for potions or enchanting.

Must complete one Daedric quest due to a mage's urge and desire for power

 

Warrior *-

May only sell weapons and armor looted off of enemies or found for money or loot gold off of bodies. May not pay to have your gear fixed.

Must wear at least 4 pieces of medium or heavy armor at all times once you have at least that many.

 

Thief *-

May only sell items that are stolen or looting gold from people.

Forbidden from murdering the innocent (Morag Tong quests do not count)

Not allowed to create your own items and must pay for services

Being caught and thrown in jail is a 'game over' and you must reload a save file.

You are not allowed to level up combat skills at all except by skill book after you start the game.

 

Assassin (use only if playing as an Assassin-class character, these override the challenges of the thief)

 

May only sell items you loot off of non-hostile people you kill or assassination targets.

Being caught murdering an innocent is a 'game over', and you must reload a save file (Morag Tong targets do not count)

Forbidden from creating your own items and must pay for services, however you may repair your own armor

You may not level thieving skills except sneaking except by skill book once you start the game.

 

 

Imperial Agent *** -

Must play as an Imperial or Dunmer

May only join Imperial-aligned factions (imperial cult, imperial legion, and blades only) and may only use artifacts gained from those factions

Do the main quest normally except at the end you must kill Vivec

Must use Imperial-aligned services only, no House services

Not allowed to become a vampire or werewolf.

Forbidden from using Almsivi Intervention under any circumstance

Must get the Lucky Coin at Ghostgate

Completing the EEC questline for Raven Rock is completely optional.

For another * kill all Dunmeri leadership of the Great Houses, Ashlanders, and Temple right before you go kill Dagoth Ur.

 

Tribunal's Servant, ***-

Must play as a Dunmer

May only join the Tribunal Temple and one of the three Great Houses (your choice as to which)

Must use Tribunal Temple and House services and artifacts gained from those questlines

Do the main quest normally, but you must kill all the Blades agents when Caius says he must leave.

Forbidden from using Divine Intervention.

May not become a vampire or werewolf.

For another * you must kill the leaders of the Imperial Legion, Cult, and Duke Dren before finishing the MQ

 

Daedric Slave ***-

Must complete every Daedric quest and do the backpath MQ.

May only use Daedric armor if you wear armor
May only use Daedric weapons or artifacts as your weapons if you use them. (You may use normal projectile weapons however, such as arrows or throwing stars if you use marksman at all)

Must become a vampire or werewolf and must either complete all vampiric clan quests or the Bloodmoon main quest as a werewolf. You may never be cured either.

Optionally for an additional *, you must keep a Daedra summoned at all times once you hit a level of your choosing, otherwise you 'die'.

 

Azura's Champion ****-

Must play as a female character

Once you leave Seyda Neen you are forbidden from joining factions, doing quests, or entering any cities, towns, or villages. The only exceptions are you may enter Ebonheart to get the Dark Brotherhood off your back, and you must kill Vivec by soultrapping him with Azura's Star (and you may do Azura's quest), you may also enter towns ONLY to buy spells if you are a mage, but you may not create your own spells.

You may do quests around Seyda Neen to get some money and may buy whatever items you wish from Arrille's shop before you leave.

Must do the backpath MQ as well.

You are allowed to use any trainers or merchants you find in the wilderness

Places like Ghostgate, Tel Fyr, strongholds, farms, and plantations are not considered to be 'civilization'. In turn you may use any services found at these places.

May not become a vampire or werewolf.

 

Vivec's Champion ****-

Everything included in the Tribunal's Servant challenge is included, along with...

May not use any armor, weapons or artifacts, unless they are given to you during the Tribunal Temple questline only

Must gather and carry around the entire 36 Lessons of Vivec in your inventory (recommended you do this first, since some copies are found either in difficult dungeons, or will have to be stolen, usually in front of Temple faithful)

You are forbidden from asking for Wraithguard from Vivec, and instead must free the Heart using the other two Tools.

 

Hortator and Nerevarine *****-

Must play as a Dunmer

Must do the MQ normally and ONLY the MQ, all other quests (again getting the DB off your back is fine) and factions are completely forbidden.

May not sell any items whatsoever.

May only use gold found in the open, on bodies, or looted, or gold that is given to you as part of the MQ.

You are forbidden from stealing anything or looting the bodies of normal people (animals, daedra, and the undead are fine, 6th House monsters are not however)

May not use any armor, weapons, or clothes beyond what you start with or what are given to you over the course of the MQ.

You may use your gold to buy spells and create your own

You may not use trainers

You may create your own potions and enchants or repair your own armor if you wear any.

You may not equip, use or even have in your inventory the artifacts and other items the 6th House has created

Forbidden from becoming a vampire or werewolf

Once you have the Moon-and-Star and the various items gained during the Fourth and Fifth Trials, you must wear them all at the same time until the MQ is beaten.

 

 

 

 

Add-on challenges: Adding any of these to one of the above, makes them more difficult, so mix and match whatever you want to add in.

 

One-stop shop * - Each shop you visit, you can only buy or sell to things once. You're allowed to make an exception if and only if a shop has a quest item or something that spawns due to a trigger. But even then, you can only buy what you need and that is all.

 

Incurable *- Diseases the player gets may not be cured until you are cursed of Corprus first.

 

Insomnia *- Not allowed to rest or wait at all except to level up or start the Tribunal questline.

 

Vvardenfell Champion **- Must be at least level 20 and have 50 fame if doing the MQ normally and get the skip.

 

Savant *- You may only use enchants, spells, and potions you create yourself, you must also repair your own armor and recharge your own items. Paying for such services is forbidden.

Idiot *- You may only use premade enchants, spells, and potions. You may not create any items, nor may you repair or recharge items.

 

Bugs are gross *- You may not use fast travel services. Teleportation is allowed.

 

How does this work again? *- You may not use teleportation, fast travel is allowed.

 

I'd rather walk **- No form of fast travel, including teleportation, levitation (except where needed), or extreme jump and slowfall spells are allowed.

 

6th House cleanser **- You kill every Ash Vampire and every other named Dagoth to help rid the land of their influence before killing Dagoth Ur.

[HadToRegister]

Stupid forum isn't allowing me to quote

 

Mage *-

May only create your own potions and enchanted items then sell them for profit, no other form of income is allowed beyond looting gold off of enemies.

Forbidden from wearing armor unless playing as a sorcerer. May not pay for potions or enchanting.

Must complete one Daedric quest due to a mage's urge and desire for power

 

 

Are other Daedric Quests forbidden after completing one?
Or....will the Mage keep completing more and more Daedric Quests for more and more power, (Thinking of Dragonlance Raistlin Majere) where they keep getting more and more tainted?

[TheMM]

Your choice. They must complete at least one Daedric quest for their challenge due to their lust for power. If you want to do more, that's entirely your decision to make. I forgot to mention that doing the Bloodmoon questline, whether you're a werewolf or not, i consider to be Hircine's 'quest' for the sake of that challenge since you get a good item by defeating him at the end.

 

Also basically if i don't mention something for a challenge, then you're totally free to do that thing. Primarily I mean the expansions and official plugins. Unless otherwise said, those things are free game, and are more if you want to include them or not. Which i personally don't in my own runs of these challenges, simply due to how you can gather so many powerful items from em and make the challenges a breeze, kinda undercuts the whole idea.

[HadToRegister]

Your choice. They must complete at least one Daedric quest for their challenge due to their lust for power. If you want to do more, that's entirely your decision to make. I forgot to mention that doing the Bloodmoon questline, whether you're a werewolf or not, i consider to be Hircine's 'quest' for the sake of that challenge since you get a good item by defeating him at the end.

 

Also basically if i don't mention something for a challenge, then you're totally free to do that thing. Primarily I mean the expansions and official plugins. Unless otherwise said, those things are free game, and are more if you want to include them or not. Which i personally don't in my own runs of these challenges, simply due to how you can gather so many powerful items from em and make the challenges a breeze, kinda undercuts the whole idea.

 

 

Thanks for starting this topic, with the Role Playing suggestions.

I'm now thinking of playing a mage obsessed with the Daedric gods, and finding their shrines to gain more knowledge, and researching where they would be in the game etc.

(What an excellent mod that would make!)

[TheMM]

Sure thing. I'm glad to have provided some new variety of ideas for you. I came up with these ideas because I disliked how most 'challenges' tended to be more about survival and combat, rather than roleplaying based. I'm not opposed to survival mechanics, it's more the annoyance that's the only 'challenge' I saw besides ramping up combat difficulty to extreme levels. These ideas restrict where you can go, what you can do, and even who/how you can play. It forces you to adapt and change your playstyle.

 

In terms of mods, the Illuminated Order might have a bit of what you're speaking about. You need to get all the Daedric artifacts, but it does also let you become a lich at the end as well if you should do so, which seems to fit your idea of a mage obsessed with the Daedra. But it is an old mod, so just beware. There might be a newer mod out there that does the same that I don't know about.

 

Also I did post a couple mod ideas down in another section of the forum, would love to know your thoughts about em if you'd wanna read em.

 

Lastly would you like some mod-based challenges? I've got some of those too. Not a ton atm, but a few at least as a start, and of course if you have any challenge ideas I'd love to hear em. I do have more non-modded ones too.

[TheMM]

Here's a few more ideas for challenges, some are mod-based in nature and will be labeled as such:

 

N'wah ****-

 

Must play as a non-Dunmer.

Forbidden from joining Dunmer-based factions and may not speak to Dunmer unless necessary for a quest, and may not buy/sell to Dunmer merchants unless in an area that is acceptable to do so.

May not enter Dunmer-centric towns (so anything with Dunmeri architecture as the focus) except for quests or only to enter allowed guild buildings (such as the Mages Guild)

You may freely enter the Foreign Quarter of Vivec and use any services there but not the rest of the city unless needed for a quest.

Must do the main quest normally.

May otherwise play any kind of character and build without restriction so long as it doesn't interfere with the above rules.

 

Ashlander ***-

 

Optional mods: Any mod that allows you to do more quests for Ashlanders and/or rise up in the ranks of the Ashlanders

 

Must play as a Dunmer

Must wear at least 4 pieces of light armor of any kind once you have enough

May not use magic or shrines unless your stats are damaged.

You may not create your own enchants.

May create your own potions.

May not join any 'settled' Dunmer factions (aka the Temple and Great Houses)

May not join any Imperial factions except the Blades

Do the main quest normally

You may not become a vampire or werewolf.

Optionally with mods: Do all quests for the Ashlanders or whatever else your mods have in regards to them.

 

Sheogorath's Champion ****-

 

Your race, birthsign, and class may not match (for example you could choose to play as a Redguard, with the Apprentice birthsign, but must pick a ranged class to play as)

You may not join any factions.

You may not rest except in a bed in Ihinipalit (under the St. Delyn canal) or a bedroll in Ald Daedroth, you may use Mark/Recall and you may also kill the cultists if needed.

You must do Sheogorath's quest successfully.

You must start Azura's quest and intentionally fail it (but also must collect Sheogorath's Signet Ring and wear it)

You must also kill all other cultists at all other daedric shrines except if any in Sheogorath's shrines (such as in Ald Daedroth) do not attack you.

You must get the Gambolpuddy and keep it equipped after you find it.

You must do the backpath MQ and may NOT wear any items you get from it, only using the Tools to destroy the Heart and nothing more.

You may not become a vampire or werewolf.

Optional: Voice of Madness *- Speaking to any NPC drives them insane (you must cast a frenzy spell to make them attack you then kill them, except any NPCs met during character creation, or Sheogorath's cultists, or any sufficiently powerful NPCs such as Divayth Fyr and Vivec)

 

Servant of the Sixth House ***-

 

Required mods: Sixth House or Great House Dagoth (or any other mod that lets you join Dagoth Ur if more exist beyond that)

Optional mods: Any mod that expands the above or otherwise adds in or alters anything Sixth House related

Note: This idea was more built with the idea of playing in the GHD mod, but it can work with the Sixth House mod instead.

 

Must play as a Dunmer

May only join the 6th House (for GHD you may join the Blades and Ashlanders due to requirements of the mod's questline)

Must do the 6th House questline for the mod you chose

You may not use any Aedric or Daedric armor or items of any kind (Staff of Magnus, Mehrune's Razor, Azura's Star, Daedric armor and weapons, etc)

You may not become a vampire or werewolf.

You may not wear the Moon-and-Star or any items gained by becoming Hortator and Nerevarine, or use Kagrenac's Tools.

 

Champion of the Sixth House ****-

 

Includes everything in the above challenge

Must play on max difficulty from the start

May not wear or use any gear unless it is of the 6th House

You must wear at least one artifact of the 6th House once you have access to them (such as the Heart Ring, a 6th House Amulet, and so on) at all times

If playing GHD you must gain Corprus as your first goal and then once you are an Ash Vampire you must remain transformed as much as possible unless you need to otherwise be normal looking.

If playing Sixth House you must beat the questline of the mod first and foremost but also once you can get Corprus you must get it and keep it.

You must after the end of the mod's questline kill the leadership of every other faction in the game, along with Vivec, Divayth Fyr (and his daughters), and any other vital or important NPCs you deem worthy of killing.

 

Archmagister ****-

 

Required mods: Rise of House Telvanni,

Optional mods: Any mods that add to Tel Uvirith on the inside or outside. Any mods that expand magic, enchanting, or alchemy. Any mods that let you do any sort of 'magical research'.

 

Must play as a Dunmer, with a magic-based birthsign, and magic-based class (customized classes are acceptable)

Must play on max difficulty from the start

May not use armor unless playing as a sorcerer or your custom class allows it. May not use weapons except summoned weapons or staves. May only use artifacts gained from the Telvanni questline and mods

May not become a werewolf.

May ONLY join the Telvanni, use Telvanni services.

May not go into non-Telvanni towns (the Telvanni canton is acceptable)

Must do the backpath MQ.

Must do the full, correct path for Rise of House Telvanni and whatever quests your Tel Uvirith mod(s) have.

You may create your own spells, enchants, and potions.

You may only steal if it's from another Telvanni.

You may clean out the Telvanni vaults in Vivec.

 

Darkness over Tel Uvirith *****-

 

Optional mods: Any mods that expand vampirism or let you become a lich. Any mods that add in necromancy or other 'dark' magics.

 

Includes everything from the above challenge

You MUST become a vampire (Aundae only) or a lich

You must do all vampirism quests you can do including any added by mods you have installed, or do whatever questline (such as Illuminated Order) to become a lich.

You must also do any other quests that your other magic expanding mods add in such as letting you learn necromancy and so on.

 

Heartthrum ******-

 

Required mods: Any mods necessary for the challenges mentioned below. Versus Vivec. Any mods that generally just make the game more challenging in whatever way you prefer.

Optional mods: Tamriel Rebuilt. Any mod (if one exists) that makes Almalexia, Helseth, and Baranziah more difficult to kill.

 

Combines the challenges of Champion of the Sixth House (you must use GHD in this case, not Sixth House) and Archimagister (or Darkness over Tel Uvirith) to become the new divine (and possibly undead) Wizard-King/Queen of Morrowind, powered by the Heart of Lorkhan itself.

Once you have access to them you must always wear the two of the three 6th House rings (Blood, Heart, and Soul), the Heartthrum Amulet, and the Heartfire Belt at all times. You may take the Heart Ring on/off to transform in and out of your Ash Vampire form (which you must remain in as much as possible).

While transformed you are not allowed to use potions, self-healing spells, or cast-on-self enchanted items unless they are of the 6th House.

Once you have beaten the questline of GHD and ROHT you must kill the leadership of all other factions except the Telvanni (Tamriel Rebuilt is optional if you want to kill ALL of them even on the mainland)

Lastly, you must also kill Queen Baranziah, King Helseth in the throne room while surrounded by his guards (you may do quests to get him to appear), Vivec, and Almalexia in the High Chapel while surrounded by Her Hands (also you may use quests to get her to appear as well).

Edited December 14, 2019 by TheMM

[TheMM]

SO...2020 was nuts. I was intending on keeping this page more up to date with new ideas, but unfortunately the year kinda got in my way, as it did for so many others. But here's a few more ideas:

 

Filthy s'wit *****-

 

Must play as a non-Dunmer, non-Imperial.

May not wear any armor or clothing.

May wield a weapon.

May not carry anything on you except for a weapon, gold coins, or quest required items.

You may use not potions and scrolls

You may repair your own weapon or pay to have it done, but repair items may not be kept on your character.

You may use trainers.

You may buy spells and create your own.

Not allowed to cure diseases if you catch them, even Corprus.

Not allowed to pay off bounties.

May not do any quests and must do the backpath for the main quest.

May become a vampire, but not a werewolf (as that requires doing quests).

May not join factions.

 

 

 

The Reclamations ****-

 

Must play as a Dunmer.

May do the main quest normally or the backpath.

May not join the Tribunal Temple, but all other factions are fine.

Must play on max difficulty.

Must and may only do the Daedric Quests for Azura, Mephala, and Boethiah and use Goldbrand once you get it, and wear the Ring of Khajiit as well.

Must kill the leadership of the Tribunal Temple before you defeat Dagoth Ur.

Must kill Vivec and soul trap him in Azura's Star.

 

 

Optional: Join the Morag Tong, gather and keep all of the Threads of the Webspinner, and before you kill Dagoth Ur, kill the leaders of every other faction in the game.

 

 

 

Doom Drum *****-

 

Must play on max difficulty

If your character dies, gets thrown in prison, or kills an essential NPC for any reason, that is a 'game over' and you must start over completely.

Your first task must be to get a cursed Daedra Heart, which one or how you get it is up to you. Losing that heart counts as 'dying'.

Must use the Atronach birthsign.

Not allowed to use potions, spells, shrines to restore or fortify health, fatigue, or magicka (restoring attributes or curing diseases is fine)

Only allowed to regen health by enchants or sleeping.

Only allowed to use artifacts based on/around the Heart of Lorkhan (Kagrenac's Tools, the unique items the Ash Vampires hold, things like that)

If you use Conjuration at all, you are only allowed to use Bound Armor, Command, Turn Undead, and Summon Daedroth ("FOR HE IS DAEDROTH! TAMRIEL AE DAEDROTH!") Powers do not violate this rule.

If you use heavy armor, you are only allowed to wear Daedric and/or bound armor

 

All other builds, gear, factions, quests, etc is fine as long as it doesn't conflict with anything else in this list.

 

Optional: Use a mod that allows you in any form or fashion to tap into the power of the Heart of Lorkhan. If so, becoming a 'god' must be the final thing you do. If you became a vampire or werewolf, you must cure yourself first. Alternatively, use a mod that allows you to return Kagrenac's Tools to Vivec instead.

[gnarly1]

This is a great idea. I love Zaric Zhakaron's Skyrim character builds videos and this puts me in mind of those.

Edited October 27, 2020 by gnarly1

[TheMM]

This is a great idea. I love Zaric Zhakaron's Skyrim character builds videos and this puts me in mind of those.

 

Thanks. I wanted to more create a series of 'guidelines' rather than a hardline character build. For the ideas you'll notice that while there may be some restrictions, generally the kind of character you make is up to you. The build and strategy you go for is also up to you. The restrictions are more based around the idea that the game has a LOT of easily exploitable things in other ways. Enchanting, Alchemy, shops resetting their gold for easy infinite wealth, things like that. So the guidelines help cut down on what can be exploited and used. It makes people have to think about going through things in different ways, ways they might not have considered before. They are still just guidelines though, a general set of rules, not a super hardcore list you 100% you must follow, adjust them to your personal tastes.

 

I also wanted to create things that felt themed to the game, which is why so many of the challenge names are related to ideas, words, and individuals in Morrowind. After all a big part of the game is you decide how you want to go about doing things. This simply alters what you're allowed to do or not do in order to make it more challenging, and do it based upon a theme to boot.

[leonardo2]

How about playing a race, any race, and pick the birthsign for the race. For example, playing a Breton with the Apprentice birthsign.