Mass murderers will settle for killing anyone - Assassins are only interested in high-profile targets, like Ulfric Stormcloak, General Tullius, Maven Blackbriar, any of the Jarls, commanders of military camps, and the like. Unfortunately for assassins, those characters are the ones that are SO important that they're not allowed to be killed.

That's a really interesting and fascinating story D'jinn, I've always wanted to go to the College of Winterhold but I never had a chance. I know it's weird for a Breton, but I prefer two-handed weapons and I think I'm very good at it! I just wanted to tell you something that happened to me just recently and I'm sure you'll find it worth your time! I was going to this cave to learn about Alduin or something, I never listen to what Delphine says because she is always too serious but anyway, there was this army of fosworn soldiers in front of it, there were tonnes of it and then a Hagraven showed up and started to attack everyone alongside a frost dragon. It was intense, Me, Aela, Delphine and Esbern VS Fosworn Army VS Hagraven VS Frost Dragon. I think the Hagraven and Delphine took most of the dragons health but I went there and finished him, althougj I crossed paths with the Hagraven, she got killed by someone else and the fosworn army just had people popping out of everywhere and caused a lot of trouble. I was releaved to see that everyone was ok and that we beat the enemies!

I've restarted a few times, so I wouldn't say my characters have evolved so much as my concepts for a character has. If I stuck it out from the beginning and tried to fit it all in one character, it felt it'd cheapen things.

Nope. If I want to kill someone in the game that is rude to my character and is essential, it breaks my immersion. My character is able to kill anyone he wants because he's an assassin. But what's the point of playing an assassin type character when you CAN'T kill some characters and change the story? This Radiant Story crap doesn't work at all. Bethesda needs to fix this. I'm not speaking of mass-murdering, I'm speaking of playing in my own style.

Geez.


This!

Sounds like an awesome battle, love things like this in the game!

I have something she'll need two hands for..._sorry....




Savos, my character is a Dunmer Veteran of the great war, he helped with small guerilla attacks on Aldmeri supply lines, and sometimes people would be injured during these attacks. It was his job to patch his comrades up, be it with magic of herbs, he picked up the skills for sneaking upon supply caravans etc.. but he was never much good at sneaking if he had to get too close to other people, he found himself getting excited; so he generally helped deliver arrow barrages, however he did also pick up some skills using small one-handed blades, either dual wielded or not. He never properly learned how to use a shield, but the concept seems to just be hide behind it, so he thinks it can't be that hard. He learned much of the Thalmor and there methods of 'entertainment' from prisoners he was assigned to patch up after rescuing them from prisoner caravans. He became rather popular among his comrades, mainly due to the fact that he had, on more than one occasion cleared up 'infections' caught from 'local women' if ever he and his Squad were near a town; hence why he was rescued rather swiftly after he was captured during a raid gone awry, however not before he was brutally tortured by a Thalmor inquisitor. He found that Thalmor have some very 'interesting' methods of interrogation, they can do things that leave no marks or scars on the body, then make you forget everything about them, save for some brief flashes of pure agony. Shortly after he was rescued the war 'ended' and he was free to go, but not without some battle-scars, and not the kind so easily seen either. He moved to Hammerfell, hoping to get away from anything that might remind him of his time in the war, but in the end the only things that truly let him escape was Skooma and Alcohol. One day he decided that enough was enough and stopped, or at least as best he could. One day a small boy who lived near the wall where his bedroll was (nights in hammerfell are freezing, so he was no stranger to cold) was injured when playing near a Scorpion den, and not the small cuddly kind of Scorpions either. Trying to help, Savos attempted to make a potion to heal the boy, but found he could not remember the correct mixtures to make an antidote, and was just making things worse so he attempted to cast a healing spell upon the boy. Unfortunately Savos had not practiced his magick for quite some time, and ended up char-grilling the boy with a gout of fire from his hands. He barely survived the mob that was sent after him for that, but managed to rediscover the power to heal himself, luckily. On that day he swore off ever using violence again, unfortunately Tamriel is not that sort of place.

After another year if wandering he found himself in Skyrim and was captured during an Imperial raid, no matter how hard he shouted that he was an honoured Veteran not a Stormcloak he was knocked unconscious and bundled into a cart with some other Stormcloaks. Then he learned the Thalmor were there. Then all the repressed memories of his time at the hands of 'Elenwen' as she called herself, though he was sure that wasn't her real name came back to him. He was surprisingly calm about it actually, he knew that he was sentenced to death, he knew that he would never possibly be recaptured, or even recognised in his current state. He accepted the whole thing as he was led to the block, no, that was just the way the sunlight played against the clouds. Wow the headsman looks funny from this angle. He wasn't sure what hit him, it didn't feel like an axe, and it seemed to hit all of him, not just his neck, he opened his eyes and that Nord was calling to him to follow, the gods wouldn't be giving them another chance, he followed Ralof, believing himself to be headed straight for the afterlife. But Dunmer don't go to Nord afterlives, and those Nords are injured. HOLY [censored] A DRAGON! He hadn't been hallucinating, they had seen it too. Things were getting a bit crazy for him, and any minute now a Thalmor might see him and recognise him, just barely managed to dodge the dragons breath, after looking it right in the eyes. It had been right in front of him, just before the scorching fire had blasted into the tower, he had seen something in the dragon's eyes. Recognition. The dragon flew away before he had a chance to examine it again, but strangely he didn't fear the dragon, He jumped through the roof into the Inn and kept going, joining up with a Soldier called Hadvar on the way. Together they fought through the keep before going their seperate ways, Savos decided he was better off heading straight to Whiterun, but on the way he took a 'shortcut' through an old mine, and brushed up on some of his old skills on the overly-aggressive bandits within. In whiterun he met up with the court wizard, and started to hate some stupid Woman who kept on chewing his head off for 'interrupting' something. He saved up his funds doing odd-jobs around Whiterun until he could afforf to buy a book that helped refresh his memory of how to cast a spell for healing others, he didn't want a repeat of the 'incident'. He headed to the local Temple of Kynareth and found some injured soldiers and a sickly farmer, both on the doors of death, but he helped bring them back with his magick. Then an old woman at the Market asked him to help find her missing son. but it soon became apparent things were alot worse than he could imagine. But he was going to face his old enemies, and head to the Fort near Solitude. On the way some Young Orc, obviously too young yo have seen the horrors of a real war had the cheek to call him a milk drinker, he allowed his emotions to almost take the life of this young orc, he left the Orc, who was now on his knees some healing potions and fled, then he met a thief who was trying to rob him, but Savos had no money and little time for such a stupid Argonian, so he politely informed him so, then the Argonian demonstrated a small degree of intelligence by dying for Savos, so he could take his stuff, including a snazzy hood. Continuing on his way, he was almost ambushed by more Bandits. But his quick-thinking managed to avert the potential disaster. Well for him anyway...not so sure if the bandits would call it that. He has currently stopped for the night in Dragonbridge, and that is all I am up to. As you can see, the no more violence rule doesn't really work for him But he often tries to find diplomatic solutions to situations, but many people don't seem to respond to diplomacy.

Aside to posters and moderators: I'd appreciate if we could actively discourage racist humor. (Search this thread for "watermelon" and "welfare.") Not cool.

I'm currently playing an Argonian conjuror/assassin. He would've been born a shadowscale, though the order dissolved before he could be properly trained. As an advlt, he made his way to Skyrim in search of the last Dark Brotherhood chapter in Tamriel, thinking this would give him purpose. It did not; in fact, he grew to empathize with his targets more than any assassin should, mostly due to his final and greatest contract. He still respects the role the Brotherhood must play, and so takes care of his brothers and even wears their uniform, but he's lost his stomach for the killing of innocents. (Or I have, anyway.)

My character started off as a poor farmer who felt he had little reason to be alive. When a local Whiterun farmer insulted him very darkly, he committed his first murder that didnt have to do with self defense. His bounty rose high in Whiterun so he fled and took to thieving and cutting wood. Worshipping Kynareth and helping some of the daedra, he became a noteworthy sellsword and made a home in Markarth. He also paid off his bounty in Whiterun, and has yet to learn of his dragonborn state.

I'd like to see more stories of how characters have changed, and fewer impenetrable play-by-plays of how they stay the same.

My Nord 2 handed warrior was returning to Skyrim to join up with the Stormcloaks, when his capture by the imperials cemented in his mind that Ulfric is correct in his ideals for the Nord Culture. He mirrors Ulfric's desire to rid the land of the Imperials.

After a couple of hit and run raids on the Imperials he was celebrating in the tavern in Whiterun and was called into a drinking game by one of the locals, the next thing he knew the poison that is Deadra is in his veins and the power they offered was to hard to turn down.

He has continued to serve the Stormkcloaks but every spare moment in his lfe is currently used to track down and gain the power of the Deadra Artifacts.

His mind is being tainted and his lust for battle has mutated into nothing more than a love of killing, unashamed of who he kills be it Soldiers, Thelmar, Farmers, Peasants anyone is fair game as long as he is not seen to tarnish his Warrior reputation.

Well, in short, Ravel, my orc character, is a very greedy man who only cares for himself and his wealth, but he has a touch for more sophisticated things, he finds them... Intriguing.
So upon hearing about the Bards College and joining it he always strive towards the truth of things and to seek lost ancient legends for the good of the people.
And after encountering his first Orc stronghold he was taught about Malacath and the Orc way of life.

In shorter short, Ravel started out as a mean man, as an evil greedy bastard who only cared for himself.
And he hasn't changed too much in that aspect, but he has broadened his horizon, he now also cares for the wellbeing of his fellow Orc's and for seeking out truth and history.
He's still a dike though, and unless somethign is related to Orc's or history he still mostly cares about himself and whether the task asked of him will be worth the money for his troubles.

my watermelon eating/stealing, welfare rat nord made his way out of helgen and eventually to riverwood...

Alaric adventured his way to see the graybeards and find out why people began calling him the dragonborn after the defeat of the dragon outside whiterun. on his way back to riverwood he was told by some imperials to stand clear of their prisoner and later ambushed just outside the town by some imperials who demanded that he pay his way through. after defeating them he is now ready to discover his nord heritage, the depths of being a dragonborn and has just entered windhelm to speak with ulfric. he plans to join the stormcloaks to rid his native land of the imperials and their corruption, but, will need to hear from ulfric personally and then decide to join or go it alone. the imperials themselves have turned him into a loyalist.

Mine is a Khajiit assassin/thief (go figure) with Alchemy being his highest skill not counting sneak. Poisons for every situation, that's his way. Though I wish I could name poisons, since I have one I use specifically for everyone who disrespects the Khajiit.

His name is Mal'Sakhar. The Mal coming from the main character in Firefly, and Sakhar being a slightly changed version of the name Scar from Lion King.

I recently used Alchemy to make my enchanting better so I could forge two polar weapons. A fire dagger and a frost dagger, both from Orcish Daggers. I used the Black Star to entrap souls to enchant with.

The fire dagger traps the soul of a brutal Orc Chieftan, furious over an apparent pregnancy he doesn't want. Since his soul is trapped in the weapon, I name this Burning Fury.

The frost dagger traps the soul of the annoying, loud and obnoxious herald in the middle of town in Whiterun. He constantly yelled at me, forcing his Talos worship down my throat. I killed him by putting a potion of frenzy in his pocket when he wasn't looking, and letting the guards clean him up. Because it is his soul trapped in this dagger, I named it Freezing Silence to represent... well... his silence.

That's really all I got for right now. I'll add more when more happens.

I'm personally curious about WHY characters change, myself, if anybody feels like sharing. Do you go in knowing how your character will change, or is it a result of unexpected twists and turns in the plot, or reactions to gameplay? (A combo of all of these, for me ... I knew my character would start out hating the Empire but eventually join it; I didn't know he'd be giving up his life of crime until I started to get a sense of what personality would be fun to play.)

Just realised you could RP a medieval Batman using Nightingale Armour and your fists

J'Kail started out as your average Khajiit, immigrating from Elsweyr to join a local trading caravan in Skyrim. J'Kail's main goal was to travel the roads, clearing any dungeon along the way to add to his wares. J'Kail thought it would make for an interesting life, getting to see the sights of the Frozen North while still putting coin in his greedy little pocket. Being known to have very sticky fingers, J'Kail often remained on his best behavior when he was near towns/holds, to avoid arousing suspicion with the local guards. With absolute hatred for how Ulfiric regarded any non-Nord race, and the Empire's signing of the White-Gold Concordat, J'Kail was unsympathetic to Skyrim's Civil War; until he found himself on the headsman's chopping block. After escaping with Ralof, the two parted ways, with J'Kail grabbing the Thief Stone's blessing on his way to Riverwood to unload his wares. J'Kail drank a little too much mead that night while he pondered his choices; should J'Kail continue his simple dream of being the most successful traveling caravan in all of Tamriel, or should he pick a side in this nefarious war that had almost taken his life only hours prior?

A good night's rest left J'Kail with no real answer, though the hangover was intense, and he decided to take things day by day. With his mind set on Riften, J'Kail spent the day traveling there in hopes of establishing a network of fences within the Thieves Guild to sell his ill-gotten wares. One thing led to another and, before he knew it, J'Kail had ended up as an actual member of the Thieves Guild. To this day, he is still unsure of the tricks used that led him to that path, but admires their craftiness in recruiting him. J'Kail spent all of this time unarmored and with no weapons other than his fierce claws, which was the way he liked it: J'Kail was quite vicious in brawls, and his success had inflated his ego.

One day while he was in between contracts for the Thieves Guild, he happened upon a cave that seemed to be chocked full of spiders. J'Kail despises spiders as much as he despises Ulfiric and the Empire, so eliminating them all was a pleasant task. On his way out of the no longer infested cave, J'Kail discovered a switch that, when used, revealed an entirely other section of the cave. Venturing forth with fury at being deceived by ignorant spiders, J'Kail plowed headlong into what he later discovered was a vampire coven. The fledglings swarmed him, and though his claws gave a valiant effort, J'Kail still ended up contracting Sanguinare Vampiris. Angered at being infected with such a sickening ailment, J'Kail vowed to seek revenge. In order to attain it, though, J'Kail realized that he would need to better arm himself against these parasites, and thus donned his Thieves Guild Armor and a hunting bow that he had acquired the day before. With vengeance weighing so heavily on his mind, J'Kail relentlessly trained in archery on various wildlife, becoming ever-more confident in his abilities. Time had slipped away from J'Kail, though, and his disease had mutated to the point where he was actually a dreadful Vampire, being negatively affected by the Sun that he loved so dearly.

A depressing talk with a local innkeeper revealed that there was a man who may be able to help J'Kail reverse the effects of his terrible disease, and with abounding joy in his heart once more, he set out to find this man and do whatever it took to rid him of this evil. A quarter of the way through the journey, things went sour. The sun rose, and J'Kail's health, stamina and magicka refused to regenerate. This angered J'Kail, as he had already sold off all of his potions to Whiterun's Court Wizard, and he made a silent oath to take up alchemy as a hobby so he wouldn't end up in similar situations.

After reaching the man and finding out that he needed a filled black soul gem to proceed in the ritual, J'Kail's confidence in ever ridding himself of Vampirism depleted noticeably. Begrudgingly parting with over 100 gold, he purchased an empty gem from the man and set off to the nearest Court Wizard in hopes of finding a Soul Trap tome. Being familiar with prices, even not with Magic itself, J'Kail knew that the Wizard was offering him a fair price, and bought the tome without hesitation. After a few practice runs on unfortunate wolves and an unruly sabre cat, J'Kail was confident in his ability to soul trap a human. Having heard about the Arentino boy in Windhelm performing the Black Sacrament, J'Kail found it to be the perfect opportunity to fill his gem and assist a young boy in ridding himself of his own personal turmoil. With his hope replenished, J'Kail ventured back to Riften and carried the despicable old hag to Sovngarde on a swift-flying iron arrow. The children rejoiced in the woman's defeat, and it brought J'Kail a sense of personal satisfaction. Perhaps helping others was not such a bad thing after all.

J'Kail returned to the man with a black soul gem, filled with the essence of a human, and after a short ritual, was finally rid of the parasitic plague that had been causing him so much grief. With his newfound freedom, J'Kail took a leisurely stroll through the mountains, sniping any creature that moved, thankful for the Sun's golden embrace once more. With yet another fresh outlook on what it meant to truly be alive, J'Kail found that it would be his destiny to carry others to Sovngarde, the same way he had helped Grelod the Kind transition. As if fate had set it in motion, he stepped foot into Riften to sell what he had acquired on his journey only to be approached by a courier with a note for him which simply read "We Know". J'Kail's studying over the years had allowed him to recognize the black handprint on the note as a signature of the Dark Brotherhood, and was so overjoyed by the news that he could barely get to a bed and sleep fast enough.

Sometime in the night, J'Kail was kidnapped by a mysterious woman and woke up in a cabin of sorts. J'Kail hadn't expected their initial contact to be so dramatic, but he appreciated the flair that it had. This Dark Brotherhood representative was angry that J'Kail "stole" their contract, although J'Kail thought that if they wanted it so bad, they should've answered the boy's request sooner. In his mind, J'Kail had done them a favor by maintaining belief that the Black Sacrament worked. This woman took it as a theft, though, and although she was impressed with the kill, ordered it to be repaid. There were three prisoners behind him, and J'Kail learned that one of them had a Dark Brotherhood contract on their head. It was up to J'Kail to figure out which one it was, so he talked to them all, and gave two of them an arrow to the face, only sparing his brother Khajiit. The Mysterious Woman seemed pleased enough with J'Kail's actions and officially invited him to join the Dark Brotherhood.

J'Kail left the shack with his adrenaline still running high, unsure of what his next move should be. J'Kail could return to the Thieves Guild, start a new life in the Dark Brotherhood, or finally choose a side to fight for in the Civil War. The decisions were still too much for J'Kail to bear, so he agreed to let the Skyrim Forum members suggest his next path.

******

tl;dr - Unarmored, bare-clawed Khajiit trader evolves into a sneaky, light-armored archer thief/assassin with a light background in alchemy due to a product of his environment.

My Dunmer started as a thief in Riften, then discovered her potential to be an assassin.

He's turned to the voices in his head too? That's not going over well for another khajiit that lived two hundred years before him...

Hahaha, I guess some cats are indeed smarter than others. J'Kail seems to be torn between his newfound love for helping people (especially involving murder), and his extreme hate for both sides of the war. He's definitely going to join one of them, at some point, but all of his information gathering mixed with his personal beliefs have left him at a stalemate.

old, wrinkles, long beard, grey hair, doesn't sprint for longer than two seconds, likes to pick everything, oh and he's blind as well.

Delekhan, my Argonian Assassin does what he always did: Killing, stealing, beating and intimidating. And collecting skulls. And poisoning people. He just does what he wants, without really caring what others could think about him. As evil as this sounds, he has a weakness for the poor (as long as they are nice to him and are not the targets of some contract). So he helps out once in a while. Of course only if it is not connected with too much effort. The Dark Brotherhood suited him well. He also started with the thieves guild, but he dislikes this b**** that plays a big role there. Unfortunately he can not kill her. The gods seem to have made her immortal...He still wants to be the leader of the guild, but for the moment he stays away from it, before he goes on a bloodlust because of her...

He was also told he is some "Dragonborn". He could not care less. The people of Skyrim should look for themselves, that is none of his business. The only advantage he got from that are these shouts, but since you really have to shout, they are not too useful while sneaking.

He now finished the Brotherhood and does not really know where to go from there. He wants to hunt down some daedric artifacts. Some may be useful, but mostly they make a good price. He is also sick of his weapons being in such a bad shape so he wants to improve on that. An assassin should care about his weapons, just like a smith should care about his tools...

Edit: Oh, and apart from not caring about others' oppinions, it is an honour to hear the following sentence: "M'aiq heard it is dangerous to be your friend". That made him somehow proud .

J'Kail continued the Thieves Guild questline and got assigned the Goldenglow Estate job. J'Kail was doing fine until a dragon swooped down and roasted ALL of the beehives. Now J'Kail is in trouble with the Thieves Guild and Maven

Nobody asks you to kill those people. An assassin is a hired killer. He does not choose own targets. He is a weapon. Someone else aims him at a target. Nobody asks you to kill essential characters in this game.

Either way, you can always turn off their essential tag. Spending 1.5 seconds in the console is no more immersion breaking than pushing the level up button.