Need character motivation advice...

[ElricOfGrans]

I am having difficulty sticking with a character these days, mainly because I cannot come up with a good motivation to stick by. My past Skyrim characters were:

 

* Sword and board Nord. I played `super-Nord': loved all things Nord culture, was swayed heavily by Ulfrik, facinated by my Dohvakiin heritage, did everything for honour and glory. Did The Companions with this character, but they did not fit as well as I had hoped.

* Pure-Mage Bretton. Ultimate scholar. Joined and completed The College's quests, studied anything ancient or magical (eg Dwemer ruins, anything Daedric). Knowledge came before morals or honour, but anything that did not advance knowledge was not worth bothering with. Had some interest in The Voice, but not in working for either The Greybeards nor The Blades.

* Pacifist Thief Khajiit. A smuggler down on his luck, only interested in wealth. Not violent and avoided combat at all times (unless the game would not let me, eg some Thieves' Guild quests) and tried to do what he could to garner influence and avoid the law.

 

I have made multiple attempts to make an archer, and tried making a heavily armoured/weaponed Orc, but cannot maintain interest in them. I come up with vague ideas (eg Ranger, Assassin, Imperial Soldier, etc), but without much motivation or a defined persona I quickly lose interest. I could use some ideas on character motivations, particularly for an archer, to work from. Tried Dark Brotherhood and found it dull, so no plans to follow it.

[BrettM]

How about a Bosmer archer who left Valenwood because of Thalmor oppression and chose Skyrim because of the hunting opportunities. Then it turned out the hunting was even more challenging than he'd dreamed when the dragons showed up. :)

 

Alternatively, you might try an Argonian led to Skyrim by Hist prophecies of an unusual destiny. I have two of those, myself. One is a light-armor scout type using stealth archery backed up by sword-and-board. The other, Eyes-on-the-Sky, is an archer-mage that I'm rather fond of, especially since I got a mod that let me put him in leather Psijic armor re-skinned with dovahkiin-style designs and a choice of colors other than banana yellow. He's pretty cool.

[Brandy1123]

One of the hardest and most enjoyable plays I did was an outlaw. Never EVER set foot in a town, village or occupied (legion/stormcloak) settlement or stronghold/tower. Make it a personal vendetta against society for taking you to the block innocently (for crossing an impasabble boarder region). That means no shops, no settlement craft stations nothing from civilized Skyrim. Use the caravans, as they have a bad reputation anyways, but I only used them if encountered between towns. You only get what you can find or make at captured ruins/dungeons or "wild" locations. Septims now have NO value what so ever. Its a wonderful game play, but you need to be very dedicated when you get above 15th level. Its hard to not go into a town to get things, sell things, or do a quest.

 

There's pleanty of storage when you start looking and testing containers, but after a while, you do realize, without using towns, there's little need for any of it. I kept 3 containers. 1 for potions/ingrediants, 1 for smith materials, and 1 for items.

 

You can console the main quest to start. You can also console the main quest along the way if your intent is to do it. Without the console start, dragons won't show up. At least do that. You will also have to console out of your inventory perm quest items that show up. Not really a great hardship, if you don''t plan on going to towns, you really need very little in terms of quest items.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Brandy_123

[NudeSkyrim]

I'd dig up your " Pacifist Thief Khajiit." and remove the Pacifist part. Being a dual dagger theif is one of my favourite builds. Once you get the 100 sneak perk you'll be able to dip out of combat and go stealth, tumble around back of the enemy and slice their throat with a sneak crit killcam. Or, you can avoid all combat like you said and spend 50% of your time in the pickpocket menus.

[PsxMeUP]

How about a murderer?

[Tropxe]

As odd as it may sound, I actually find it easier to stick to a character if you pick a character that you don't actually like - even a race you don't like. I find that if I play a character similar to my own personality, even like 50% similar, it eventually migrates into me just playing as myself. If I decide to play as a non-typical character for me (e.g. paladin or priest) then there's a much firmer framework in mind that has no crossover with my own personality, and therefore little chance of "roleplaying drift". The best time I had in Morrowind was probably when I played a devout temple follower that went on the pilgrimage and read all books relating to holy matters. Nothing like me in real life, and thus has a clear divide between me and the role.

[ElricOfGrans]

Tropse, that actually makes an awful lot of sense! Most of my characters quickly drifted into the same patterns because they where, at their heart, too similar.

 

Races I do not like? Altmer (stuck up) and Bosmer (annoying twits); ironically, the `villain' races now ;) Archetypes I do not drift to? Necromancer, Assassin, Priest... yeah, one of those three does not belong. Assassins do not need magic *cough* Working from that could actually be quite easy. Altmer make natural Necromancers; Bosmer make natural Assassins. An Altmer Priest could be a Thalmor agent trying to move the Nords away from Talos and `reeducate' them on other matters.

 

I have also never played an Argonian in any game before. I actually like the race, but never felt they `fit' with any characters I tried before. Perhaps I could work on that angle too. BrettM's archer-mage sounds like an interesting angle to consider.

 

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. I think I may have something I can work with.