Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[SpagMasterSwift]

"But SPAGGLEHORN is the Dragon Born of whom you sing, I even have a hat made out of Dragon teeth, basically if thou absolutely have to kill every Dragon in the realm then thou should be accepting no substitutes...no, nothing...?"

[Frosty]

I don't fast travel if I can possibly help it so by and large the location of my horse is a complete mystery to me, and as others have said you can't really have any followers (except a dog) when using one as they can't keep up. I think if you could tell them to follow you (and they stop when you enter a dungeon or city) and they had a non-aggressive A.I routine they'd be a lot more useful. Especially if they had a few saddlebags you could use to store loot and weapons in.

First DLC - HORSE BAGS.

1200 moonpoints.

[davejm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FqZYld5NvI

[Mr.Jeff]

Is there any way to stable a horse? I liked the idea of having my horse but being a sneaky fuck like I am, it's becoming more of a nuisance when I sneak into a bandit camp to slit some throats when Binky the Wonderhorse jumps into the middle of all of them determined to headbutt them all to death.

Being the sad sort that I am, I don't particularly want to kill him either.

[Talk Show Host]

Is there any way to stable a horse? I liked the idea of having my horse but being a sneaky fuck like I am, it's becoming more of a nuisance when I sneak into a bandit camp to slit some throats when Binky the Wonderhorse jumps into the middle of all of them determined to headbutt them all to death.

Being the sad sort that I am, I don't particularly want to kill him either.

There is a way. Just stop using your horse. The whole horse mechanism simply doesn't work at this state. I would also look for some mods.

Unless you fancy it as tank.

[Space Gibbon]

Yeah, the DB armour looks like a totally gay set of pyjamas.

Hey, you can also get the jester version, which makes you look like a gay clown.

[shock33]

In the 55 hours I've played so far, I used a horse for about 5 minutes! I bought one with the first 1000g I made, rode for about a minute to that bandit camp just north of whiterun, dismounted and the horse ran in trying to kill anything that moved and died. NEVER USED AGAIN

To my shame, I also didn't realise you could sprint until about 40 hours in! It's not massively clear on the PC that one!

[deerokus]

That's the mission that really got me into using backstabbing and bows from the sneak position

Oh I've been doing that for most of the game, that's pretty much what my character is built for, but suddenly sneak attack shots with the bow do a pathetic amount of damage against the enemies in there, and I've not seen any opportunities for backstabs. :< It's

room after corridor after room, each with a few wights and three high level scourges, who are best described as mage-tanks, who then summon frost atronachs. Mercer invariably wades in and gets incap'd, leaving me to run around with 5 undead and two atronachs after me. It takes about ten seconds to heal Mercer in order for him to get up for two seconds and go down again! With a few Overlords thrown in too.

It's nuts. Next time I'm on I'm just going to do that thing I always end up having to do at some point in Bethesda games, and drop the difficulty for that quest.

[davejm]

Didn't want a horse, as my dude is a sneaky archer type - but it sounds like I'm not missing much anyway.

[Puck]

Could someone please give a brief guide to backstabbing - I think I'm doing it wrong. I'm a sneaky archer sort, (98 and 100 respectively) and have the x15 perk so I would have thought it a doddle. Thanks.

[Guest]

Don't you have to only use daggers?

[Puck]

Ahhhh. If true, that would entirely explain my lack of success.

Edit: the perk description does actually stipulate sneak attacks with daggers. Time to smith and enchant a top-notch glass dagger then.

[dr_manhattan^]

You can use a one handed sword but you won't get the x15 damage with that.

I think you have to sneak behind your target without being noticed and strike with a sword or dagger and hope that one strike with your weapon and damage bonus is enough to kill them in one hit.

[Mr.Jeff]

It's

room after corridor after room, each with a few wights and three high level scourges, who are best described as mage-tanks, who then summon frost atronachs. Mercer invariably wades in and gets incap'd, leaving me to run around with 5 undead and two atronachs after me. It takes about ten seconds to heal Mercer in order for him to get up for two seconds and go down again! With a few Overlords thrown in too.

It's nuts. Next time I'm on I'm just going to do that thing I always end up having to do at some point in Bethesda games, and drop the difficulty for that quest.

Funnily enough, even with the retarded AI, I didn't find that place too bad as a sneaky archer type.

I found that if you stay far enough away from Mercer, you can continue to take potshots at the druagh from the doorway or if need be, flee round a corner to reset your sneak to hidden. Really helps that the npc's won't die unless you kill them

[Puck]

Ok, thanks all. Daggers look to be the best way forward in any event.

[daveodeth]

Daggers are silent swords are not though.

[dr_manhattan^]

A dagger may not always be best though as the base damage is usually less than a sword. So you'd probably have to calculate if dagger x 15 is more than sword x 6.

[daveodeth]

if it's the same material the dagger will always outclass it.

[fasteasyfree]

Could someone please give a brief guide to backstabbing - I think I'm doing it wrong. I'm a sneaky archer sort, (98 and 100 respectively) and have the x15 perk so I would have thought it a doddle. Thanks.

Do the Dark Brotherhood questline until you get the blade of woe. You'll also have some shrouded hand-wraps (with the opportunity for shrouded gloves - exactly the same but with armour points) with a double-backstab bonus. Altogether they boost it up to 30x. I don't know if other perks have an impact (like x% bonus one-handed), but after smithing my Blade of Woe, a backstab now does over 1300 points damage. Combined with all my sneak perks, and I'm a fucking ninja. It does make the game a little easy, but you've always got opportunities to fuck up so it balances out.

[bm]

Do the Dark Brotherhood questline until you get the blade of woe. You'll also have some shrouded hand-wraps (with the opportunity for shrouded gloves - exactly the same but with armour points) with a double-backstab bonus. Altogether they boost it up to 30x. I don't know if other perks have an impact (like x% bonus one-handed), but after smithing my Blade of Woe, a backstab now does over 1300 points damage. Combined with all my sneak perks, and I'm a fucking ninja. It does make the game a little easy, but you've always got opportunities to fuck up so it balances out.

Having (I think) exhausted the Companion lines, I was about to start the Thieves' Guild myself, but maybe Dark Brotherhood is a better option. Where are they?

[Teeohbee]

You get access to the 2x Backstab Damage gloves VERY early on in the DB line, so it may be worth joining up to get them, then moving on to the thieves guild quest.

It might be worth bearing in mind that the reward for the thieves guild line is scaled to your level and to get the best version you have to be over level 32 apparently.

Where are they?

Ask bar keeps about rumours, or take a walk around Windhelm...

[The Fox]

Is like everyone playing the 'Thief/rogue' archetype then? I've started out as a warrior-ish type, currently dual wielding the Mace of Molag Bal and Axe of Whiterun, in heavy armour. Seems ok so far.

[bm]

You get access to the 2x Backstab Damage gloves VERY early on in the DB line, so it may be worth joining up to get them, then moving on to the thieves guild quest.

It might be worth bearing in mind that the reward for the thieves guild line is scaled to your level and to get the best version you have to be over level 32 apparently.

Ask bar keeps about rumours, or take a walk around Windhelm...

Brilliant, cheers.

[revlob]

I found the "transmute" spell last night. I now have more jewellery than I can sell. Short of getting those perks which increase the capital merchants have, is there any way of selling a mountain of valuables without visiting every single shop in Skyrim?

[danbot]

Is like everyone playing the 'Thief/rogue' archetype then? I've started out as a warrior-ish type, currently dual wielding the Mace of Molag Bal and Axe of Whiterun, in heavy armour. Seems ok so far.

My first run was a duel wielding tank. Get some smithing and enchanting going in there and you're unstoppable. I thought the lack of shield maybe a harsh trade off but when everything drops in 1-2 seconds on Master, well...

I found the "transmute" spell last night. I now have more jewellery than I can sell. Short of getting those perks which increase the capital merchants have, is there any way of selling a mountain of valuables without visiting every single shop in Skyrim?

The 'Wait' function.

[Teeohbee]

Is like everyone playing the 'Thief/rogue' archetype then? I've started out as a warrior-ish type, currently dual wielding the Mace of Molag Bal and Axe of Whiterun, in heavy armour. Seems ok so far.

I do find it odd and amazing that the majority of players will naturally identify with one of the three major playstyles that have underpinned western RPGs since the beginning of time.

Warrior, Mage, Thief.

Presumably these base classes date back to DnD and table-top games but its amazing to think that they are still massively relevant in every western RPG to date, despite the new "classes" that come and go.

[Padaxes]

I'm playing the sneaky Rogue type as well, but I've forgone the stealing etc making myself more of a ranger.

Necessity has forced me to use some melee and magic though.

When I finally find the thieves guild or DB i suspect a fall from grace may be occurring.

[danbot]

I do find it odd and amazing that the majority of players will naturally identify with one of the three major playstyles that have underpinned western RPGs since the beginning of time.

Warrior, Mage, Thief.

Presumably these base classes date back to DnD and table-top games but its amazing to think that they are still massively relevant in every western RPG to date, despite the new "classes" that come and go.

I can't really think of a way that you can avoid the holy trinity of RPG archetypes.

Can you suggest a build that isn't one of the above or an amalgamation?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

My first character was a sneaky warrior type (good at stealth but didn't steal things) and I've started a second character to explore other things (specifically amoral things) who is a kind of mage-thief. Who only uses daggers and magic in combat, and will go all Dark Brotherhood.

So I guess those are combinations of the archetypes, but not particularly common ones.

[The Fox]

My wife has played much more than me (she's closing in on level 30 whereas I'm level 10). Her build is a bit less stereotypical, currently playing in light armour with a weapon in one hand and destruction spell in the other.

Even if I'm playing primarily in heavy armour, is it also good to have some light armour to hand for quests where I do need to sneak about a bit?