Hey guys, I just got back into skyrim since mods came out on the steam workshop. I've been roleplaying an Orc mercenary and I wondered if anybody had any good quests/play styles I should look into for a type of character like this ?
Thanks

Yeah, don't join any factions and try to take minor quests from NPC's in towns that involve using brutal force (for example, retreiving a family heirloom from bandits). Actually scratch my first point, join the companions, although they may be a bit too honourable for a mercenary.

They are not above asking you to beat up your wife.

Just because you're a mercenary doesn't make you dishonorable. A mercenary is nothing more than someone who provides a service. That service being their ability to fight. There's nothing inherently dishonorable about that.

Yeah, I suppose that it's all about your moral play-style. Fortunately for you, a mercenary is a very, very broad term indeed.

This is true. Although, in my view, it can become more complicated than that as you may be asked to do things for your service that go against your personal view. In fact mercenaries do tend to pick and choose jobs, not just for the coin or danger facter, but also if they are happy to actually do it. Of course, a totally ruthless mercenary will do anything as long as the coin is right and that means ANYTHING.

I`ve been running a new game and avoiding the MQ (where the Dragons attack) for quite a while and it dawned on me from all the jobs I was doing that I was actually being a mercenary, even though that was not my original intention. I noticed I was also cherry picking my jobs, going from town to town,asking Taverners what was going or checking out incidents. There were some jobs where I felt I was being taken advanatge of so just said `No` or avoided and moved on.

That`s how I play the merc.

In a sense, these whole games revolve around mercenary work. Doing jobs for money makes up the bulk of the quests. And that is essentially what a mercenary is. The Jarl of Markarth even refers to you as a sellsword when you first meet him.

So really the answer to the question of "How to play a mercenary?" is to just play the game. It's a lot harder to NOT be a mercenary in this game.

Currently playing a Mercenary who is morally grey; hates authority and rich, arrogant people who spit on the poor (argonians, dunmer and khajiit) but for the right amount of gold he'll suspend his kindness in favor of his own gain and slaughter them all if paid. So I'm interested in some suggestions as well.

First time to Whiterun I racked up a 3,000 Septim bounty upon meeting the head Battle-Born guy...smug jerk. Didn't mean to kill the old Battle-Born lady though

That's true, I've only limited my character though to semi-realistic work. For instance, my Redguard (ex-soldier, now a sellsword/soldier of fortune/sometimes just a plain criminal if an oppurtunity is decent enough without too much innocent bloodshed) He has no interest in diving through Draugr ruins and battling Spriggans and Dragons. I've not started the main quest whatsoever, I don't like my characters to be recognized as a 'Dragonborn' nor do I have any interest in Daedric Artifacts. My character is just after the most gold he can get, to live lavishly and someday move to Solitude. My character joined the Thieves Guild with no thoughts of promotion, simply to have the option to Vex and Delvin's jobs when I need some extra gold. The Solitude lighthouse quest is also another good one for this type of character.