» Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:33 pm
As a fan of Necromancy in fantasy games and RPG's, allow me to say thank you for that video. I have had Conjuration as a focal point of virtually every character I have ever created in an Elder Scrolls games for my summoning and Necromancer purposes, and I must say that I feel that Skyrim allows me to play the best Necromancer character I've ever been able to play in an Elder Scrolls. I do have some minor disappointments, such as not being able to -summon- supernatural beings like Skeletons, Ghosts, Wraiths, and Liches like in games past, but I think that being able to reanimate dead enemies more than makes up for that.
That being said, I don't think I have -ever- played a "pure" Necromancer in any Elder Scrolls game.
In Morrowind, I played a stealth assassin / thief who was skilled in Conjuration, but to be quite honest, the Conjuration abilities began to fall by the wayside as I became more and more focused on my stealth abilities.
In Oblivion, I played more of a Shadow Knight character - a Heavy Armored warrior who also summoned undead to fight alongside him.
In Skyrim, I played what I felt to be a slightly improved version of that Oblivion character, but I accidentally wiped my X-Box 360 saves, and have been flirting with restartitis in attempts to create a new character, probably even just recreate Thadious and do some things differently.
I will disagree with one thing you stated in your video - using Heavy Armor and Dual Wield swords, I don't feel like my Necromancy is just an added bonus - at least not on Master difficulty. A part of me did feel like that when I played on Adept. But since bumping the difficulty up to Master difficulty, I really do feel like my Necromancy is a valuable part of my playstyle. But I haven't gotten very deep on any of my characters on Master, so I don't know how it scales to later levels.
Just to share my build:
Name: Thadious
Race: Breton
Skills: One Handed | Heavy Armor | Conjuration | Enchanting | Alteration | Restoration | Smithing
^ That was the original version of Thadious. The second version includes Illusion, as well as some reshifting of some perks.
The new version I'm looking to create would look like this:
One Handed
Armsman (5/5)
Dual Flurry (2/2)
Dual Savagery
Bladesman (3/3)
Heavy Armor
Juggernaut (5/5)
Conjuration
Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Master
Dual Casting
Necromancy
Dark Souls
Twin Souls
Illusion
Novice, Apprentice, Adept
Dual Casting
Hypnotic Gaze
Aspect of Terror
Rage
Master of the Mind
Alteration
Novice, Apprentice, Adept
Stability
Restoration
Novice
Respite
Regeneration
Enchanting
Enchanter (5/5)
Insightful Enchanter
Corpus Enchanter
Extra Effect
Soul Squeezer
The RP is basically a warrior who captures the souls of his victims, harvesting their arcane energies to imbue his equipment with magical properties. He also commands the souls of the living and dead, and dominates them to do his will.
Playstyle, I'll use Frenzy spells to get enemies attacking each other, summon a Familiar (in early levels, a Dremora Lord in later levels) to go in and start attacking, and when enemies start falling, reanimate them to fight their own kind from beyond the grave. When my blade is needed, I cast a Shield ("skin") spell, draw my 2 blades, and rush into combat equipped with a suit of Heavy Armor to protect me.
I certainly don't play a "pure" Necromancer, by any means, but Necromancy is definitely a key component of the build.
I haven't used the Summoner perk yet, I've thought about it - just how drastic a distance is it, and do you find it a significant improvement to your abilities as a Necromancer?
Also, I feel real "dee dee dee" - In my first play through with the character, I avoided The Ritual stone, because I didn't realize that it would reanimate -multiple- corpses. I thought it only reanimated one, so I avoided it, figuring "Why do I need that ability, when I already have reanimate spells at my disposal?"
Your build seems very interesting, and I may give a more "pure magic" Necromancer build a shot at some point. I still love my warrior-Necro though. I guess the proper term for that would be "Shadow Knight"?