Having three fighter characters already, a thief, warrior and mage respectively, I've been thinking about making a new character who is not a fighter (no offensive weapons or magic) but a businesswoman and was wondering if it would be a viable build to enjoy and have fun with.

Here are some things I have in mind for the character:

- She doesn't fights, her bodyguard/hired mercenary and horse do.

- Will be able to cast supportive and healing spells (Restoration school only) to shield herself from harm or heal her bodyguard.

- Her business would consist of making jewels, potions and food to sell to inns and merchants; for the making of which she'll set off to explore the wilds along with dungeons and ruins to gather the necessary materials.

- She would be similar to Maven Black-Briar in that she has a profitable business and also has a strong influence in the holds. So she'll engage in politics, gain the favor of the people of the holds, become thane, own property. etc.

- As far as questlines goes, I am thinking of going with the companions this time around just because I have focused on the other three with each of my other characters. But she not being a fighter I am not sure how it would fit role play wise. No civil war quest tho.

I could add a couple of things but that's the idea. Is such a build feasible? Has anyone done something similar? Any suggestions for it are welcome too.

It is an option but doing many of the quests will be next to impossible.

I'd say so. Though you might want to branch out into alteration, too. I'd use:

Speech (almost goes without saying)
Restoration
Alteration
Sneak (combat avoidance)
Alchemy
Smithing (no perks; make only jewellery)

Imperial seems to be the most fitting race.

I agree, branching out to alteration is a good idea. Speech is definitely a most, I'll have to find a way to level it up fast. Sneaking didn't cross my mind but it is a good suggestion, not sure how effective it will end up being since she'll have a follower most of the time.

Thanks for replying.

Yeah I can see some parts ending up quite difficult to do. But perhaps she decides to not pursue such quests due to the danger involed.

For rping purposed most likely. But i don't think there will be much quests for you.
If you are going to do this, Khajiit or Imperial would do.

In riften there is a wood elf working for the black-briar meadery, if you ask him about Maven he will give her lots and lots of compliments. But he is lieing, and you can persuade him to tell him the truth. You can repeat this dialog as much as you want.

May also want to look into illusion. Courage will help out with your follower and you can calm or fear your attackers.

To level up Speech quickly, invest in the persuasion perk and get yourself a small bounty. You will then get stopped by most guards in the hold with the line "wait, I know you". Talk to them and you'll get a winnable persuasion challenge. This raises the skill much faster than buying and selling.

I've not long finished a thief character with a perked out Speech tree, and persuasions enabled me to get those haggling rank perks faster.

I'm doing a peaceful alchemist who hates to fight right now, and it's actually a bit hard, even with a follower. When I try to run, enemies come after me... I tried using running, the battlecry (she's Nord), blocking with a shield, but eventually she had to slash franticly with a dagger when a thug attacked. I think she soon will discover a slumbering talent for magic... Probably conjuration, to minimize the amount of killing she has to do herself. Or get hold of a good staff.

And yes, you would have to turn lots of quests down. Maybe not as many as my char (who never would set foot in a dungeon crawling with bandits, and probably only will do the mistake to explore an ancient ruin once), but still.

It's fun to try out anyway, a bit different from the standard fearless fighter.

That is an option, another is to use a mod that gives you more followers, having 3-4 follower Body guards may make it a bit more manageable

That sounds like a good idea, I have been trying to figure how to level that a bit quicker myself

I'd suggest Conjuration so your character can summon bodyguards, and run and hide while they fight. I also agree that Illusion is good for saving your bacon. Your character will need something "offensive" or you'll spend most of your game running from something.

Speech
Conjuration and/or Illusion
Enchanting to make magic jewelry
Alchemy if you want to make potions to sell and/or healing potions for yourself and followers. Also invis potions so you can run away.
Restoration
Sneak
Smithing to make your jewelry, but don't think about it - just let it happen. Don't spend perks in Smithing.

Your idea does sound fun, I don't know if I could play as a pacifist. I enjoy whacking bandits too much.

Lockpicking is another good one, to get gems and jewelry from dungeon chests.

Ah, thanks for the tip, I'll definitely try this out. I've spoken with the guy who works in the meadery with another character and he does repeats the same dialog infinitely allowing you to persuade him every time.


I started the character last Saturday night and an issue I had in one occasion was that Faendal got into a sort of stalemate with a necromancer and neither of them would hit one another. Faendal would just have his bow draw without firing an arrow and the necromancer was just moving back and forwards saying "You think you stand a chance?",

I grew tired of waiting and of trying to lure the necromancer and as I can't give any commands to my follower while we are in combat (which is dumb and a massive let down imo), I had to kill the necromancer myself with the flames spell. I had a similar issue with a Draugh and Uthgerd the Unbroken.

Followers desperately need to be fixed in Skyrim, I'v commanded my follower several times to attack a Draugh who was standing right next to him/her (like when they fake that they are dead) and instead of attacking my follower moves around the room aimlessly. They do attack them sometimes, but it is very inconsistent.


Ah, but I am on PS3...

Wanting to do something different I was trying to stay away from Conjuration because my mage character is built heavily upon it. I can see how it would be useful but I think I'll op for Illusion instead as it fits nicely with the type of character I envision her as (sly manipulative mastermind but who is nonetheless a civilian and doesn't engages in combat, think of her as Maven Black-Briar done right, without the crappy snobbish attitude) and goes well with the focus on the speech skill. Enchanting is a nice suggestion to boost the jewelry she makes, specially since there are no perks for jewelry in the smithing skill. So as far as skills goes it would end up being something like this:

Speech
Restoration
Illusion
Alchemy
Enchanting
Sneak (no perks until all the necessary perks of the above skills are unlocked)
Smithing (no perks)
Lockpicking (no perks)

The idea of the build is indeed fun and I've been having a blast playing it so far. It is challenging but doable. Have had to run in a couple of occasions but not much, I've completed some rather involved quests so far like defeating Potema, killing the Master Vampire for the Court Wizard of Solitude, retrieving King Olaf's verse and the quest for Jaree-Ra where you eventually have to kill him. As I rely so heavily on my follower, I always make sure to give them the best armor/weapon I find and of healing them during battle or pushing enemies with Unrelenting Force or use battlecry (my char is a Nord) to give them an upper hand.

I would like to marry this character early on both for role play purposes and in order to have the income from the store which suits the merchant/business orientation the character has. The spouse would be a Nord, preferably female but one who is like her, a non-fighter with interest and experience in business. It seems that Ysolda is a very good choice for this, possibly Sylgja but she is a miner and my character is a "high-class" (thane of solitude, rich, has a horse, Proudspire with all decorations, etc) so it wouldn't really fit and I've read that Sylgja is incredibly buggy. Is there someone better than Ysolda for this?

I own Proudspire Manor and have Jordis as my housecarl/bodyguard (she is a beast, easily my favorite follower), so the wife will move to live there with her, taking care of the other side of the business they run together. Jordis (or if the occasion arises a hireling) is the one who accompanies my character to the dangerous places and does the fighting, her wife remains at home.

Any suggestions for a good spouse? Thanks.

Thaarie? She's a pain in the *** but very upper class.

She is very annoying indeed...doubt they'd last a day together and they don't really get along as it is, my character doesn't likes the looks of the Fine Clothes and so she always comments negatively on my clothes

What about Camilla Valerius? She is not a Nord but she looks good, dresses nice and has her own business going on.

double post, sorry.

I'm sure she would love living in Solitude. And since two men tried to trick her into loving them, she might be a bit fed up with men and wouldn't mind marrying a woman

Yeah I think she would love it and would fit in nicely. Faendal died while following me on a quest, I heard that he moves to your house if you marry her so that won't be a problem now. Does the other guy (forget his name) moves to your house as well? I did the love letter quest in favor of Faendal.

The bard will also sneak into your house. Camilla has a very liberal interpretation of marriage.

I'd go buy a dog at Markarth. Id also get 90 conjuration and get the Thrall spells, but that would require a good chunk of magicka, but you can get two Atronochs or Zombies permanently, and a body guard/merc. Ive never used the dog so I don't know if he goes with a body guard or replaces him.

Then the bard needs to go If he hasn't already....I keep hearing rumors about a bard from Riverwood that went crazy and attacked everyone on sight, poor chap had to be put down with an axe by the town folks.

And Camilla didn't marry either of them as far as I know, they were both trying to win her heart but it seems the bard got jealous that Faendal was gaining the upper hand and so decided to resort to dirty tactics with his fake letter. Faendal instead of taking the high road resorts to the same dirty tricks, eventually she found out and sent them both their merry way.