I love being a Mage but I really want to join the Dark Brotherhood but I don't find murdering people with spells very, assassin like in my opinion. Maybe I'm just old.
But I was wondering if anyone tried as a Mage to join the Dark Brotherhood by only using Bound Bow and Bound Sword for assassinating people and if that is a viable way to be a Mage and kill your targets? Because spells isn't really quiet after you fired at your enemy, you need something like Bound Bow and Bound Sword but I don't really think I have the luxury to put points into One-Handed and Archery when I already is very much focused in Destruction, Illusion, Alteration and Alchemy with just the early perks in Conjuration for Bound Bow and Sword (well not yet with the Conjuration part) or any of it for that matter, ha ha. But this is the idea I want to follow, if anyone would give me any feedback if this is a possible way to play thru the Dark Brotherhood or I would be having to spam like 10 arrows to kill my targets because I didn't put points into Archery or One-Handed. But I do get 20% increased damage thru Conjuration and with Alchemy I can make powerful poisons tho I would mostly use Paralyze poison on my Bound Bow\Sword. What do you think? Remember, I don't ever want to use any real weapons because that would just break any sense of roleplay theme I have put up for myself, only level 1 now tho but any experience, feedback is welcome.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Festus_Krex

Quiet spell casting and silent footsteps spell
That is all

You can use the invisability spell and the muffle spell to sneak attack your targets. That's what I do. Also you can use bound weapons.
There is some Darkbrotherhood Mage robes in the sanctuary.

Silent casting and muffle combined with invisibility are great tools. Then there is the mind control of illusion magic that is great for any would be assassin.

You dont even HAVE to sneak to go through the DB QL so even a regular mage can do it. Otherwise use illusions instead of directly killing your target

Illusion magic.

Festus gives you a pretty good ring that helps with sneaking and magic. And there are also robes

I want to sneak and kill my targets with a poisoned Bound Bow that will kill them in their position and they will stay in that position in death.
So I'm so curious if I'll pull enough damage with Bound Bow as I want most of my points into magic schools.

If I would have to put some points into Archery I would have to say nay to Illusion perks or Alteration or Destruction. And that isn't good.

SO, I joined the DB as a warrior who charged into a situation with a 2 hander

Archery makes the BB better of course, but you only need the 1st perk of the archery tree maxed out at 5/5 to do alot of damage

Get the silent casting perk and maxed out fury. Find your target, hit him with the fury, and watch his friends chop him down.

That's true, hm. Something like this? http://skyrimcalculator.com/#136971
I mean, I can still have fun with Paralyze poison I make with Alchemy without having to put any points into the perks of Alchemy.
And other poisons that make the target fragile from shock damage, should be good enough poisons without the perks right? As I have other tools to play with as a Mage.


I think for myself, when people find me I don't want to be that guy with the bow, I want to be that guy with fire in his hands and explode!
But sometimes I want to be in the dark with a glowing bow. So I hope this http://skyrimcalculator.com/#136971 is the best build to get this experience.

I will keep all my points into magicka and become very fragile for the challenge but with Illusion I can avoid some fights that would kill me. That's a good thing.

Once upon a time I knew an Orc by the name of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Gogron_gro-Bolmog.

Lets just say sneaking and finesse weren't his strong suits.

You can still use archery instead of the bound weapons if you choose illusion, unless your doing so because of roleplaying reasons. The bound weapons are not as powerful as the actual bow and arrow in this game just to let you know, but they are still useable there is no real reason you could not use the bound weapons try it out.

I do like the db mages robes.

It's for roleplaying reasons I only want to use Bound Bow.

Illusion magic school in Skyrim has mainly been designated for Asssasins - if you have perk points focused in illusion with things such as calm and fury working on higher level opponents; if you're skill level in it is too low use "muffle" to power level.

My Khajit character is a stealth thief and I got into the college of winter hold questline my telling the lady "i wanna use illusion magic to give my foes a good time blah blah blah." Now im in the Dark Bro-hood illusion magic made alot of the quests im doing for them much easier than they should have been.

So maybe with Illusion, and being a stealth Mage .. I don't need all this protection against magic and other things in Alteration?
Because the #1 reason I want to level up Alteration is because of the Detect Life\Undead that I get at expert level, the Undead one.

So maybe it be better if I did this insted? http://skyrimcalculator.com/#136981
That way I can make so much better poisons so if the damage doesn't kill them when they come running at me I can destroy them with Destruction spells?
I mean. Illusion cover parts where things go [censored], right? Charm your way out.

I think I am getting somewhere now, thank you guys for sharing your opinions, it does help shape my own with this new build I want to play with.
So with this new one http://skyrimcalculator.com/#136981
I can get things like:

• Archery - 100% more damage with bow (Archery)
  
• Alchemy - 100% more damage with poison, hit two times with the cost of one poison. (I don't think I really need Purity?)
  
• Illusion for Muffle and Invisibility and many other ways to control the crowd.
  
• Alteration for Detect Life\Undead & Paralyze only for single target, not going master in this one.
  
• Conjuration only reduce cost and increase damage by 20% with Bound Bow and give some flavour to the character with Soul Steal.
  
• Destruction, everything up to master but not Intense Flames, Deep Freeze and Disintegrate.

Looks like a not so bad mix for a Mages build that want to sneak in the shadows mostly?
I'm not sure if I have a name for this build.

But the style is going always in shadows, wearing clothes only and never use anything but magic.
All level up points into magicka.

Hm, what you guys think about this last one I tried to explain? I'm not good at explaining but I tried.

Mages make great assassins. My favourite for when you have no specific manner in which to kill:

- walk into location, identify mark.

- walk to dark shadowy corner, enter sneak mode and cast fury on the mark

- pull up a stool and watch everyone else do the hard work for you

Festus Krex is a mage and an Assassin and has got to be one of the best characters going, with some of the best lines including...

Well, you know the old saying. When life gives you lemons, go murder a clown.
&
Lukewarm is not tepid!

You have illusion and alteration alteration. So, you can go muffle and invisible, get right in front of your victim's face. cast paralysis. and kill him slowly with flames, occasionally recasting paralysis.

You also have alchemy, you can paralyze your victim, and apply all sorts of nasty posions on your victim while he is immobilized.

Destruction magic is very loud, and explosions shake the whole building, but somehow people in the next room don't seem to hear it. Destruction is pretty good for stealth killing. I often use Fireball from long range like I would use sneak archer. I can go farther away with fireball and sometimes it's so far that NPCs don't react to the incoming explosions. They just stand around and die.

You can make targets attack you, as a way to kill them without having to use stealth.

Beware, the path of the mage is dangerous......

If your stealth level is super high you dont have to bother with combat based enchantments simply because your never gonna need to get into a fight with anyone - but in terms of different enemies you'll need to change your tactics:

Bandits: No problemo just stab em with a dagger in the back or silent cast destruction magic with illusion perk.

Undead - draugr: Illusion magic wont work on them till its level 100 with perk so until then rely on using muffle and sneak attack, then running away and hiding.

Undead-ghosts and ghouls: Probably one of the hardest things to sneak kill - my khajit is level 100 sneak with all perks apart from shadow warrior and they still manage to see me, sneak attacks with bows dont do enough damage to full take them down usually need like 3 good ones on the head. So if there already that hard without magic i have no idea how a stealth mage would take them on.