Skyrim House Rules and You!

[Dkboy24]

@Kleinstaff I like the idea about not doing any Daedric quests unless you're playing an evil character. How do you feel about Merida though? Yes she is Daedric... but seems to be against evil all at the same time.

[DiamondLlama]

I am playing a Paladin now, and in another thread I have a similar discussion. Eventually I chose to do the quest, after all, the enemy of my enemy, right?

 

This has given rise to an interesting dichotomy, of a questing Paladin who helped a Daedric prince. Even more interesting is that the said Paladin is considering helping Azura who isn't that evil either right?

But where then does one draw the line. The greatest struggle this Paladin is having is finding an answer to the question: "Who decides what's evil? Myself, or something beyond me?"

 

If the answer is 'myself', then inherently the choices I make and sides I chose will be flawed and sunject to my bias, but even worse, can something beyond me, a moral code constructed out of context of this event or this time of crisis, really be used to fashion the belief of one such as I?

 

But....thats a discussion for an entirely different thread! Tl:dr - It certainly adds an interesting twist to the game!

[Dkboy24]

Indeed! But I love how the show of our own "house" rules can drastically impact gameplay to keep it lively and enthralling. It impacts what quests we choose to complete and who we decide to help. I would imagine that is why in most quests you have the option to tell them to sod off.

[RatcatcherOfKvatch]

Legendary Difficulty

Permadeath

Real-life ethics. If I wouldn't do it personally I won't do it in the game. (Permadeath helps with this: would you really risk your life like you're contemplating? If dead is dead you'll think twice, plan just a little harder, as you would if you were there yourself.)

Will only marry a "fighting spouse", no homebodies

Nirnroot Conservator (if it won't grow back don't pick it)

No Fast Travel without a Horse

No fortify restoration stacking

No using a fifth alchemy slot

 

The gestalt of the character is, "Talented at everything except fighting when everything is trying to kill him," which is really the gestalt of Legendary difficulty. If he's going to survive long enough to become the Legendary Dragonborn he'll have to earn it. In the meantime he invests a great deal of his attention helping Lydia stay at the top of her game.

 

There are some things other "hardcore" players don't allow which I'm not so strict on:

 

Use Ralof to get the Treasure Map 1 safe container. Permadeath creates a book of opening moves to rival Kasparov.

Will savescum if fast-traveled to wrong destination.

Will restart game if merchants run out of money.

Will use Fortify Restoration on equipment, but not past 60 seconds

Mammoths poached like Eggs Benedict

Dragon Souls to Perks. I try not to abuse it too badly, but if I don't use it at all I stop caring about dragons after a few key shouts are nailed down. Skyrim isn't itself without dragon fights.

 

More on Fast Travel:

I don't fast travel untraveled routes. Taking a carriage to Windhelm then to Winterhold is all right -- the carriage driver knows the way -- but to then fast travel back to Windhelm would be off-limits. That means taking a carriage to Winterhold is a one-way trip, at least until you do some trailblazing.

This is an interesting restriction because it makes the game more immersive than walking everywhere all the time. If you walk everywhere you eventually "wear down the grass" -- all the spawn points are popped, you build a mental map of every rock and tree, and parts of Skyrim start looking less like a huge, open world and more like a theme park. I killed all the mystery in a couple of places before I realized it was a mistake. Fast traveling makes the world seem large, keeps some mystery going, and keeps the spawn points turning over like they should if you do find yourself walking about in the wilderness.

"No fast travel of unique routes" to me captures the best of both worlds.

[TenderHooligan]

 

Also: I'm on the fence regarding essential followers. For me, knowing a follower cannot die makes me a little...callous? If I have to worry that they aren't going to make it, I'll take better care of them won't I? Until a giant flying lizard lands on them to spite me, or a vampire chews their face off.

 

 

I was rolling with non-essential followers for the first time in my current playthrough...until I started encountering dragons. With Enhanced Mighty Dragons and Dragon Combat Overhaul installed, you and NPCs spend a lot of time being flung through the air thanks to the giant lizards and while this isn't the biggest deal on the plains of Whiterun, it basically makes fighting on any raised area impossible if you want to keep your follower alive. They just don't have the AI to accurately respond to an enemy that can send them flying off Shearpoint and dying from fall damagejust by flying close overhead or landing nearby. And it's doubly frustrating because most dragon fights last upwards of 45 minutes and my follower dies after 43 minutes.

 

So I'm back to essential for my one and only current follower though I don't know if it'll stay that way. I suppose I could just switch it on/off before/after dragon fights but that just seems tedious and no more immersive than leaving him essential at all times.

[ilikecheese1337]

I use RND and Frostfall for realism, and I also have Requiem, which is great from a combat realism perspective - two arrows will kill you, and they'll also kill a bandit (no squishy Dovahkiin vs. magic super-bandits, like Vanilla Legendary or, apparently, SkyRe), as will a single lightning bolt or whack with a warhammer, unless you wear heavy armour, in which case most arrows bounce off but you lose huge amounts of stamina... great mod. Now, house rules:

 

 

1. No using shrines to cure disease. It strikes me as a little silly - use a potion or cast a spell.

 

2. No matter the character, no matter how much it makes sense for them, Paarthurnax never dies. Stuff the Blades.

 

3. As above, all Thalmor die, and Elenwen is always kicked out of negotiations.

 

4. Unless I have the Respite perk, walk every so often whilst running - no matter how fit, nobody can run thousands of miles up and down mountains in full plate armour. Requiem is OK about this, in that normal running drains stamina rather than just sprinting, but all that does is prevent power attacks.

[Dkboy24]

@RatcatcherOfKvatch I love what you said about fast travel. I've always played with a very strict "no fast travel" rule... but what you say makes sense. And I have noticed that I have begun to memorize certain areas so much to the point where I hardly need the map any longer when traveling cross country. Hmm.. I think I will re-consider. I really like your method!

 

@ TenderHooligan I know what you mean... I run with DCO as well and some of those fights can be quite lengthly. I try not to have a companion with me at all times and I like to rotate them out based on the adventure I'm going on (because they have lives too! haha) but I have lost my fair share of companions because of DCO's insane dragon fights. I see their poor lifeless bodies being flung off a mountain side. I normally will rage shout at the dragon and charge in with zeal. But it still hits home when I loose a companion.

 

@Ilikecheese1337 Ha! Yeah eff the Blades! They piss me off so much! They act nothing like the Blades of legend. They are supposed to serve the Dragonborn yet all they do is boss me about and shun me for not doing their bidding! My current play through is with an Imperial Loyalists serving in the army. He doesn't like the Thalmor but soldiering is all he has known his entire life and may not like his orders in matters of the Thalmor.. but follows them none-the-less. I have a plan for him though.. see I was on tour in the Rift carrying out some Imperial orders in Riften when I decided to help a poor old man out investigate a cave. Turns out I ventured into the new land of Falskaar and after many days of working my way back home, I arrived to find I have been branded a criminal as the Thalmor convinced my army superiors that I was AWOL and have sided w/ the Stormcloaks. Having served my entire life.. this outraged me to be sold out like that and at that moment I knew what the Empires puppeteers where really about.. so now my new house rule is to attack the Thalmor on site. No matter what! I had to seek the face sculptor in Riften to hide my identity as to not get arrested by the Empire but now I'm on a personal mission to rid Skyrim of the cancer that is the Thalmor

[Dkboy24]

Oh I have a few more house rules I'm trying out:

 

- Through Immersive HUD I've turned off quest markers and my on screen compass. I use only my map but this forces me to actually search for people who I'm looking for to turn in quests. Not like I will magically know where they are at :)

 

- Also through Immersive HUD I turned off the enemy health bar. Let me tell you.. that one is wild! I mean.. it's not exactly like I'm going to know how many hits before an enemy falls. It's pretty crazy to be in a fight with someone not exactly knowing when they are going down.

[RatcatcherOfKvatch]

No compass sounds like a good one. I know my way around well enough I probably won't miss it. If I do ... extra fun, right?

 

If friends and enemies could bruise and bleed you wouldn't need health bars, just heal the haggard ones on your side and finish off the bleeders from the other. You can kind of do that with fire dragons: the one on fire is probably the one who needs your help.

 

Re: Stuff the blades: I'm with 'ya, brother.

[Urtel]

I do not use compass at all. Stick to the roads, they have signs. And use spell that shows path to the quest object, if completely lost.

Also, i carry only one bedroll with me, and only weapons/armor that can be placed on character. Like 1 bow+1 sword+shield+1-2daggers+one more (second sword/staff/2h weapon)

usually too heavy to carry all that, so now i stick with extra fire staff. Also, i carry with me only things that may fit in the backpack. And dump all other into horse.

In saddle bags i have one tent+firewood+some food and extra gear (a crossbow+sword+winter gear in case i need to go to pale-i wear glass armor, which is not good in case of keeping warm)

Ow, i use mod that adds weight to gold, so i cant carry all my money with me. And bying a house was an issue, since i could not carry that much gold)))