I recently discovered the "Dead is Dead" playstyle, and I've been thinking of characters that might not necessarily be good to play with long-term, but might be fun to mess around with and RP for a while until they kick the bucket.

Well, here's one that I think might be rather interesting and challenging. This is strictly a build for role playing:

Basically, it's an archaeologist/scholar sort of character. He'd go around exploring ruins, looking for old treasures, and collecting all the books he can get his hands on. Some stuff he'd sell for profit, others he'd put in his home, turning it into a little museum. But, the catch is, he isn't a warrior and Dwemer ruins can be quite dangerous. Therefore, he needs a powerful follower to act as his bodyguard and escort.

He'd wear pretty much everyday clothes, and maybe occasionally some very cheap light armor (like leather or fur). His follower would do all the fighting and he would have only a dagger with which to defend himself in case of emergencies. Sneak, restoration, speech, and lockpicking would be his major skills. Alchemy and Illusion could be minor.

Alternatively, he could also have a slight "Indiana Jones" feel and be a little bit better fighter, but he'd still rely heavily on his bodyguard.

That certainly would be challenging indeed to play this character,I wish you luck Its nice to someone doing something different for a change.Try this link,as there is one or two similar builds here that will give you some good ideas - http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building hope this helps you out.

I've been thinking about an archaeologist/scholar build for some time. I'd go like this:

Breton (for Speech and magic skill bonuses, but also for RP)

Speech
Illusion
Alteration
One-handed
Enchanting

Speech would be sort of his 'major' skill. (This is largely a RP build, which is sadly the only real reason to perk Speech.) Probably go up to Persuade on the right side of the tree, and grab several of the merchant-related ones on the left. Speech would represent his cultured side, and his ability to make deals.

Illusion would be mostly used to rally his follower. I see this guy as a somewhat doddering older archaeologist - similar to the narrator of 'The Ruins of Kemel-Ze'.

Alteration would be for utility things like the shield spells and light. No armor for this character.

One-handed is the main way he does damage. At first I thought this kind of character would only be armed with a dagger, but I actually think a sword wouldn't be too unreasonable - he was trained in swordplay as a youth, but is a little rusty. Probably just take a few perks of Armsman here.

Enchanting reflects his inquisitive nature; needs to figure out how things work. It also has its uses, of course, in providing reliable gear.


He would use staves and scrolls more frequently than his sword, I think - so he would need to buy/collect a good variety of the things.

Other than that, the basic plan of action would be to go from town to town, rent a room at the inn, and use that as his jumpin-off point for exploration of promising-looking ruins. For each expedition he would find a suitable hireling to take on. He would probably 'fire' his follower after an expedition, unless he knew there was another big expedition coming right up. (This gives him a reason to spend all the money he's going to acquire, as well as a way to keep it interesting... or replace followers killed in action.)

Eventually, he'd pack up his finds and move to another town.

Read lots of books to get new ideas for places to search. Buy a horse when available to make travelling easier on his old bones. And buy houses when they open up.

The Bard's quests are a good fit here - not that he's a bard, just interested in the lore. Other than that, no major faction questlines - with the possible exception of membership in the College of Winterhold. No need to complete that questline, though.

That sounds like a real interesting build. Good job. Very creative.

The biggest problem with relying on a follower is that you would probably need a lot more commands for the follower than you have now. They would also have to be used from a distance since you can't be beside them all the time.

Such things as
"Help me" - Makes the break off their current attack and come back to help you.
"Back off and wait till they come to us" - speaks for itself so the enemy set the traps off instead of you.
"Use stealth and take them out one by one" - Same way a sneak/bow player would if there are too many to take on all at once.
"Create a distraction" - The follower will run them around for a while then lose them and return without fighting them.

Without these extra commands, followers will die too often. They are not too smart and love running into rooms and taking on more enemies than they can possibly handle at once.

Well it sounds like I am going to have to steal your Idea. With a few changes here and there of course. Thanks.

I tried this once, made a high elf mage who was a student at the college of Winterhold then studied Dwemer ruins and collected artifacts, it worked pretty well and reading all the Dwemer books and stuff was pretty interesting.

I actually did something similar to this when I first started the game.

I created a Khajiit Merchant! He had maxed speech, smithing, enchanting, and alchemy. I also maxed Conjuration for the Twin Souls Perk to get two dead thralls that acted as additional guards, 'cause what self respecting super successful merchant only has one guard?!

I never put perks into any skills besides those, never equipped any weapons, used any spells (other than Dead Thrall), or even wore armor. I wore nothing enchanted unless the enchantment was non-combat related.

Anywho, the entire basis of the playthrough was that I could make and create the best armor, weapons, and potions I could....but couldn't use any of them! My claws were my only defense and even then, if my guards went down, I'd prefer to run. The only stat I ever increased was stamina, so I could run for a good loooooong while. I also didn't use fast travel, opting for going on horseback instead.

All in all....it was actually pretty easy, even on Master difficulty. Being able to smith and enchant the best weapons and armor for the follower, as well as the Thralls, made it so they could pretty much take care of themselves. Granted, if anything actually did get through them, they'd sneeze and kill me, but most of the time they did their jobs well enough that I didn't have to ever worry about it.

The main story was a blast, though. It's fun playing the main 'hero' that runs away and hides at the slightest hint of danger while his companions, who somehow still revere him, take care of all the dirty work.

That's mostly my biggest concern, mainly the distance thing. I tend to lose my followers a lot. But I've had some pretty good luck with them otherwise, and they tend to stick with me fairly well in caves and such. And, well, if all else fails...run away!

Lots of good stuff here, guys. I'm getting some great ideas for this character.

I have a Khajiit Archaeologist Hand to Hand fighter. He's pretty fun. He opened a museum with Nordic and Dwemer stuff on display.

Personally I would also add smithing to your skills. Nothing to high just enough so you could customize your follower a bit and give them some extra protection but if not you could just dress them up with whatever you find.

Your insane... But I like it

An archaeologist? That could never be wrong. Take the amateur archaeologist Marcurio with you and you two can have some nice arguments about the symbolic meaning of artifacts while he's blasting enemies all the way to Oblivion.

Dammit. Now I want to do an archaeologist as well.

I was going to say you could level illusion for light spells but it could be more fun to rely on torches actually. Definitely take light armour with you though, if you go to any dwemer ruins and get in a fight clothes will leave you dead rather quickly lol.

Maybe the person who made the archaeologist guild mod for Oblivion will make it for Skyrim. That was one heck of a mod.

I like the idea but you cant be Indy without a whip, fedora and annoying asian kid following you around shouting headache noise

I thought about creating a retired warrior turned travelling merchant but i decided to wait until i've explored and looted most ruins with my current warrior then retiring him and focus on simple living

Letting followers do most of the fighting is really great, go for it

My three followers could actually do all the fighting themselves with me only supporting them with healing, but I like to shoot my bow from time to time or even go with sword to take enemy off one of my follower's tail.

haha i love this idea thinj il give it ago thanks