Do everything in Skyrim with one character?

[Battlemage92]

I'm torn. I don't know what I should do.

 

Im torn between doing everything with my Battlemage, or keeping certain story paths seperated. I already have a Khajiit character set up in-case i choose to leave the theives and assassins guilds out of my main characters progression.... But then I'll miss out on new events, oppertunities and items.

 

I don't know what to do. I love the sense of Freedom Skyrim offers... But I feel... too free...

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks

[InuyashaFE]

It depends on what you want to do, do you just want to play the game and have fun, or do you want to create a realistic character and play out with that personality and with some realism?

 

If it's the former, go ahead, but if it's the latter, stick with one faction.

[Battlemage92]

I'm not reaaly sure. It just feels wierd being the Archmage of Winterhold, theives master, imperial legate etc all at once...

[leot486]

I'm the Listener, Theives Guild Master, Archmage, A member of the Bards College, Dragonborn, Leader of the Companions, and yeah, I feel like a demi-god :3

 

I do what I want!

 

 

Maybe if you want it to seem real do it in some kind of order? Like dragonborn first since it is true calling, then after you saved the world you don't know what to do with yourself, so you join the bards. You eventually conclude being bard is stupid, so you stumble upon the thieves guild. Once having completed that you thirst for more, so you search out the dark brotherhood. After completing that you thirst for adventure (or somewhere along the lines you gained a sense of valor) and you joined the companions. After completing this you had one final desire, knowledge so you become a mage. Ta-da. All done ^_^ Maybe switch up the order and put the companions after the bards or something, idk, up to you. :D

Edited December 27, 2011 by leot486

[WastelandAssassin]

my current character has around 106 hours of gameplay put into it (and that is not counting all the reloading of saves because i died or did things in a stupid way)

now, i knew i won't start a new character in probably a long while, so i went for the all out experience, doing almost every quest i could find (though i only really cared about the Civil War quests, the 4 Guilds, not counting the Bard's, and the Deadric quests, though i eventually gave up on finding one or two of these)

the thing is, i don't believe i'll play Skyrim again for at least some time, and it's probably going to be several months before i'll play it again, so i didn't mind about going all out on this first playthrough

 

if you plan on starting a new character soon, then leave some things for that one

after all, aside from the choices taken in the Civil War, there aren't too many main choices to make in the game, at least when speaking of the Guilds

so you should probably leave yourself some new things to find out

 

my mantra with new playthroughs is that you should have either a new unique experience, which usually comes from large scale overhaul type mods, or with lots of new, game changing quests

so if you can't have the former, make sure you have the latter, otherwise it won't be all too interesting

at least, that's my two cent's

[Battlemage92]

Some good advice from both sides...

 

I currently have my lv30 Battlemage as College Archmage, Imperial Legate & Companion Harbinger. He looks pretty badass, with the immunities mask (I wanted the rest bonuses)

I already completed the Theives Guild in a previous save (where I was getting my barings on the game as I'm new to the series).

I know that the Theives leads to the Nightingales, and I have yet to attempt more than one mission of the Dark Brotherhood.

I'd like to have the full eperience with 'Savrend' the Battlemage. But on the other-hand I'd want 'Ra'Dasarr' the Khajiit to follow the stealthy type of game, using different overal perks, light armour and such, so that the items from the DB and TG can be used without damaging my Battlemage (who has no shield so needs heavy armour). And my Khajiit is also a Stormcloak. I've been more realistic with my Khajiit - trying to ensure I have a meal in the morning and evening and trying to remeber to sleep whenever i get the chance. But then, unless i work my way through the game and become like godly with Savrend... Just dropping that character for a few guilds seems like a waste of time for the 50 hours or so.

 

Gaaah damn my mind & too many choices without consequences! :(

[abaris]

 

I don't know what to do. I love the sense of Freedom Skyrim offers... But I feel... too free...

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks

 

That sums it up pretty nicely.

 

Following my own instincts I wouldn't do it with just one character, since I would feel silly being a Jack of all trades. In fact, there are factions that don't interest me one bit. Sadly the game forces one of them down my throat anyway.

[saintjimmyz]

I would clump together factions into groups that fit your character. With the complete lack of content Skyrim has, I only need three to cover everything I would want to do, and to be honest I doubt I will follow through with the third one, as I am not that interested in that style of play:

 

1) Nord male warrior, using at first a pair of swords but moving onto two handed axes, heavy armour. This is my 'canon' dovahkiin; even though there is no strict canon dovahkiin yet, this was the one I felt was closer to the true dovakiin than a argonian archer. No offense to argonian archers, of course. I ran the main questline, the companions and the stormcloaks parallel to each other, which I felt was very rewarding as it stretched out my advancement greatly. The main driving motive in making decisions was 'What would be best for Skyrim?' This wasnt just 'side with the nords', this was what I felt would msot benefit the native people and the land best. This did involve me actively seeking out and killing Thalmor, as well as siding with the Stormcloaks in the war. I was very much a crude blunt instrument, much like your archetype warrior, although I did smith - but a zero tolerance for alchemy or enchantments.

 

2) Altmer female 'battlemage' - destruction and restoration, a fair amount of enchantment and alteration, light armour and 1h for those 'ah feck out of magica, the dude has 3 hp, Ill just poke him with a stick before he kills me' moments. This was harder, mainly due to the underpowered magc system, and I never got past level 25, as I knew that I was not going to get any more powerful, and was struggling with the spawns at that level. This character was essentially an unofficial Thalmor, and I trained her up in the wild for the first few levels, then went and did the Mages Guild, really stretching out the missions and training up between them. Once the Mages Guild was done I blitzkreiged the Imperial Line, and called it a day. The overriding motives lean towards Imperial/Thalmor, but with a bit more cruelty and greed involved. Ill probably revist this character/this character type once mods with an alternative magic system are released.

 

3) A theoretical third character type. I say theoretical because Ive gotten a few characters with this sort of rough build up to level 5 or so, before scratching it and starting afresh. Its a stealthy character, using archery, 1h and light armour, as well as a few stealth/theft skills thrown in, who will do both the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood simultaneously. I am unsure about the race/gender yet, as Ive tried a few things like female nords (essentially a forsworn) and male/female bosmer, but they are ending up far too similar in appearance and style to 2) (apart from the magic, of course) so I get bogged down and stall. Not sure what Ill do, but that would be the third character I need to complete the lot. I think Ive done 90% of random side quests with 1) or 2), so thats not too much of an issue. The overriding motive here would be personal gain, as well as personal gratification - I kill people/steal stuff simply because I can.

[CalibanX]

I'm doing a different character for each major quest line: Main Quest, East of the 4 Guild Quest Lines, Civil War Quest line-Imperial and Civil War Quest line-Nord. So, that's seven characters there. I'm on my fourth character now. Each of my previous characters were retired around level 35 after I finished the primary Quest Line they were made for. For me, a big part of exploring Skyrim is also exploring what all of the different races feel like. Fun!

[AlfarinIcebreaker]

Very good question, something which has troubled me greatly with Skyrim as I am bit of perfectionist and I like to experience everything with one character. However, I still want immersion so I avoid unrealistic (if you can use that term in TES games at all) characters and situations, such as having a Nord Warrior as a head of Winterhold College. I've given this a lot of thought and I came up with a character which can cover all of the main 4 factions.

 

He wears Light Armor and uses One Handed weapons in his right hand + magic in another. Restoration works wonders here because of the ability to heal in the middle of the fight without swapping shields/weapons and not to mention that lovely perk Respite which restores Stamina, and we all know how important is that for melee fighting (Power attacks). Also, there are Wards which are useful against all sorts of spellcasters, and they even block Dragon Fire and Shouts. His other school of magic is of course Illusion which suits an stealthy character nicely - Invisibility and Muffle spells mostly, but he can also do some crowd control with Calm/Frenzy/Fear and Silent Casting Perk. Vampirism also suits this character as a glove, should one choose to go down that path (Illusion and Sneak bonuses).

 

Of course, he is skilled in Sneak and Lockpicking which enables him to do deadly assassinations and thefts. He is also skilled in Smithing, maybe some Enchanting as well for reduced casting costs. All in all, I think this character is viable for every major faction. I think he would fall under a Nightblade class if Skyrim had class system like in previous games. Nord as a race would also fit in the main story, IMO.