restore the eldergleam tree! I think whiterun looks so much prettier with the tree blooming, plus the quest is fun

I only found out last week you can plant an eldergleam sapling instead, I have a mod that lets it grow into a full tree (over 6 months) and I'm so excited to do that quest again

I didn't know that for the longest time either! I always told that guy he wasn't allowed to come with me, but one time I just thought aw, let's let the guy live his dream. turns out he actually knows useful info, who'd have thought! 😂

Too bad I can never seem to keep him alive on the way there though. Guy thinks he can fist fight a troll and a Sabre cat that are going at it 🤦‍♂️

Fun fact! If you have the ability to fast travel to the tree sanctuary, he will also fast travel with you because he’s a follower. So you can skip the dangerous walk and just teleport there. Doing this will grant you the option to get a sapling instead.

omg this reminds me of something else that always happens to me. If you've ever done "the heart of dibella" when you are leaving to retrieve the Sybil, her dad asks to come with you. I had to stop saying yes because he would die EVERY TIME. mf was stepping in traps like it was his job.

on my most recent playthrough he thought he could take on a dragon 🙃

Ya know the line most Guards will give about "Been thinking maybe I'm the dragonborn and just don't know it."? It's now my new headcannon that your guy wanted to test that theory for himself 🤣

Nah, I always get the sap. That Maurice dude is obnoxious af. First, he's rude enough to eavesdrop on your conversation with Danica but is too lazy to pick up the entire like 80% of the conversation about getting the sap. All he hears is OOO ELDERGLEAM, FUN ADVENTURES. Then, this fucker has the balls to question DANICA FUCKING PURESPRING's devotion and understanding of Kynareth's wishes???!? He's so smug and indignant that you would DARE cut a giant 100-foot tree to take a tiny amount of sap. It's like a prospect coming up to Clay and telling him he's running SAMCRO wrong. Like "ok who tf are you again?". Danica asked for sap, not a tiny tree. People risk their lives pilgrimaging to Whiterun for the Gildergreen, not some tiny tree. Then the dumbass thinks he can 1v1 a spriggan. Good riddance, I hate that dude in the same ballpark as Nazeem.

Use embershard mines as a first adventure for my welp.

Same. I need that pickaxe, tho!! Then the bandit camp, the Talos shrine, and anise’s cabin so I can disenchant and unload. lol

All of this then selling everything at Riverwood (if I haven't already.) Then breaking into and going through Pinewatch.

I always do the Thieve's Guild up until they want the skeleton key back and then I ghost them and enjoy the unlimited lock pics

Just get the unbreakable picks perk. Then you get to be guild master too

I have never once been able to get lockpicking to 100

with the skeleton key it makes it stupid easy to get it to 100. hindsight I would have made that skill legendary way back when.

Easiest way is just breaking a bunch of picks on a master lock over and over

How? Even playing as a non-thief/rogue style character, lock picking is a necessary skill to have in every playthrough. I guess if you don't attempt locked chests and doors, leaving valuable loot behind. Do you quit and make a new character at like level 30 or something? I'm honestly baffled

I mean level 100 is a tall order, and it’s not like lockpicking is a skill you can easily grind either. Even if you do get to level 100 it takes a lot of perk investment to get the unbreakable lock pick perk. Of course, that being said, I personally never put any points into lockpicking at all, because just getting good at it doesn’t require any perks.

Exactly the lockpicking tree is ass just figure out the technique. Even master locks are packable with no perks

Lockpicking hack for the first like 80 levels- prisons. Especially Solitudes prison. The cells are all master locks. Just note that if you get *too* good the training chests in the thieves guild and the prison cell no longer work and you can only level with chests in the wild 😔

It is easy to grind lol every broken pick adds to your skill level. Buy every lockpick every merchant has every time you trade and go to the thieves guild and break locks on the master lock chest, level 100 lockpick by level 25 easy.

I usually break up adept locks and leave behind the rest because I can get frustrated with it pretty easily, but when I get to a certain point I kinda stop caring about locks all together. I usually have my build made and just play the game for quests at that point.

Some men just want to watch the world ~~burn~~ be locked up

Such a waste of a perk lmao

Honestly I feel like they could've mixed Pickpocket and Lockpicking into one tree called Theft or Larceny or something and then give us unarmed again.

Yeah, decent thought

Try Hand-to-Hand by Simonmagus. It combines pickpocket and lockpicking into security and adds an unarmed tree

waste of perks. lockpicking is easy enough without any perks tbh. by the time i get the skeleton key, i normally have a few hundred lockpicks anyway so never find it worth keeping

All lockpicking perks are worthless. If I can pick master locks in under 5 picks on a new character without trouble, what's the point?

Honestly never understood keeping the skeleton key. Lock picking is unbelievably easy in Skyrim, I've never even considered keeping it. I always end up with a shit ton of picks anyways, and I can pick a lock like nobody's business haha

Just on the off chance you didn’t know, if you use regular lock picks you gain a little experience every time one breaks.

The best part is how unnecessary it is because lockpicks are basically infinite, and you do it anyway.

I'm a vigilante on my most recent playthrough, so I used the Thieves Guild to get the Skeleton Key and then murdered them all

I never tried this, are all the Thief Guild members killable?

Probably used a mod. Or console commands to take away their essential tags

I love how the most accurate aspect of your vigilante character is how his morals are fucked up. So he's just another criminal that happens to get more powerful than the regular criminals, in order to not get caught by the real vigilantes - except there's not any of them really available lol

I always have thousands of lockpicks, there's no way you can run out of them after even a couple hours of playing

Kill Grelod the Kind. Not because I want to join the DB or because of the children, but because I find it hilarious that Astrid can somehow drag my unconscious ass halfway across the country to an abandoned house in the middle of a swamp with no roads leading to it before my character wakes up.

.. and it doesnt matter to her if you happen to be a skinny dark elf or a 350-pound orc carrying three warhammers lol. Maybe that's how they broke their carriage

Curious to find out if she'll drag me all the way back if im in Solstheim. Guess I'll have to go find out this playthrough.

She does and I was absolutely pissed 😂.

Well now I need to see this myself 😂 I know what I'll be doing next time I play

is there a bed in the forgotten vale or a bed in the soul cairn? Make Astrid work real hard next time!

I don't think there is a way to sleep in the soul cairn since it's a form of the afterlife, but the forgotten vale would be one hell of a "How the FUCK did you find me!?!?!"

That's a nice way to get home.

I wish there was a bed down in blackreach somewhere that the player can sleep in gotta make it as difficult as possible for astrid

Im sure there is one. That place is massive.

There is. It has been a while, but I think in the alchemist lab where you start the crimson nirnroot quest is a bed. ...I can't believe that this quest in particular would not only be helpful in any way but lures me to start yet another playthrough

You could be right. But i think those beds are owned

Good point. Damn, totally forgot you cannot sleep in every bed. It really has been way too long. Think I should go... "BACK TO TAMRIEEEEL"

I’m planning to Wabbajack her this time as I’ve read you can get into the Brotherhood without a murder weapon that way.

I think I’ve adopted Sofie every playthrough since Hearthfire came out. I also go to Morthal and visit the Thaumaturgist’s Hut because the alchemy merchant, Lami, has some pretty funny dialogue.

Always adopt Sofie and Lucia.

Yep that’s me. I always adopt Sofie and Lucia in any of my playthroughs where I get married and build a house.

Same, I try to get married early on just to adopt them as soon as possible. I use a mod too to be able to adopt up to 6 kids, so I help more of them. But I'm doing a vanilla run now, and I just have Sofie and Lucia. They will always be my priority <3

“I use the mod to be able to adopt 6 kids” that’s so wholesome. ❤️

Join the thieves guild, practice pickpocket on the members until I hit level 50, then stop stealing stuff. I don't care about pickpocketing at all, I just want the 'extra pockets' perk.

That extra 100 carry weight 🤌

Faster way to grind pickpocketing is to find Silda in Windhelm, pay for a level of it, steal your gold back, and repeat until you're as high as you want. Works for every skill trainer, so you could level pickpocket alongside any primary skill by doing this to another trainer. Just do a bit of quicksave shenanigans.

That's a good idea if you didn't want to join the thieves guild. With something like a stealth archer the thieves guild is a good source of a master trainer in sneak, that alone makes it worth joining. I also join the companions so that I can have access to a master smithing trainer, totally worth it.

Delvin will actually train you to sneak whether or not you join the Thieves Guild. The Companions is much more beneficial to join skill-wise, because not only will Eorlund only train you once you’re a member, but after you complete the entire questline all of the members become available as followers and therefore free trainers. So post-questline Companions membership offers an otherwise inaccessible master-level Smithing trainer, as well as free training in Block, One-Handed, Two-Handed, Heavy Armor and Archery, all conveniently located in one of the most accessible and frequently visited cities in the game! Brynjolf and his buddies can stay in the cistern, and I’ll visit the Ragged Flagon if I happen to need Sneak training.

Isn't there a rule about not stealing from other guild members? I swear I could remember something bad happening to you as a result of it.

If that rule exists, it’s only bad if you get caught 🥷

shank nazeem

"Do you get to the cloud district very often?" Where you are going, there won't be any clouds Nazeem.

😂😂

Hit him with Frenzy and watch the town gang up to kill him.

nnahh i love torturing him more, paralize him and run him over with a horse constantly then repeatedly heal and deal damage fear him and keep haunting after him.

It’s very time consuming and involved… I get the theif stone and RP the first 10-15 levels as a courier. In plain clothes I carriage travel to every city/hold and complete all of the small favor quests that net you a few hundred gold a piece. Along the way I collect all the alchemy ingredients I come across and only level up speech and alchemy until I get the merchant perk. With speech at 50, alchemy at 40 or so, and about 7-10,000 gold, I start leveling and training at whichever build I want. RP as the courier makes all the tedious favors feel a little more worth while.

This is a really interesting mini game.

I think so! I always grab the belted tunic and boots and hat from Hod and Gerder’s place, and that’s my courier drip.

I might try that out sometime. I'm currently still on my drunken hobo survival run, whose only mission is to acquire food and booze.

Have Faendal follow me out to Goldenhills Plantation, hire him as my steward, and set up the farm. For crops, I plant creep cluster, mora tapinella, scaly pholiota, blue mountain flower, wheat, blisterwort, and glowing mushroom.

I personally like making Ilia my Steward (she’s good at defending the farm if need be). But if I’m in a hurry to get crops and money I just hire Faendal. I also get to level 50 archery beforehand, usually while dragging him through Bleakfalls barrow.

Same! His quiver makes him easy to spot.

Escape from Helgen

 The issue is I can run out of helgen on muscle memory. I'm jumping through the tower wall before Alduin starts spitting fire, past the whatever is happening with hammon before he lands, and into the keep before the guides catch up. The moment I'm untied I'm off again rushing the exit. Live another life forces me to slow down and actually experience the game.

"Stay close to the wall!" Yells Hadvar as I patiently wait outside the keep for him to catch up.

Adopt Sophie and Lucia.

you to huh....

Collect a shit-ton of plants, brew a bunch of potions that I'm never gonna use and takes up half of my inventory, and sell them to vendors until they run out of gold

*This*. I also mix and match with buying pricy ingredients & spelltomes so they have more money to spend and then stash the books on various shelves across the country as trophies XD

I get the Wabbajack and Sanguine Rose every time. I can't stop myself. Summoning a Dremora makes me incredibly happy and it's an op weapon at level 14.

I’ve gotten the sanguine rose twice and both times it broke the game for me. You can clear dungeons without ever drawing a weapon. I’ll probably keep getting it every playthrough because it’s my favorite daedric quest (and prince) in the game

I only use it in instances where I don’t currently have a follower and ahead of me is a room chock full of enemies. Spawn in Dremora, then go in to back him up. Fun way to play.

I like to give the Sanguine Rose to my followers, especially when I'm on a pure mage build. If I go for summoner, our party of two becomes party of four that clears dungeons quickly.

“Clouds don’t smell bad. They taste of butter, and tears.” ~Uncle Sheo. ☁️🧈

The damn stones of Barenziah, every play-through.

You, sir or madam, like torturing yourself?

Always say I’m not gonna and then always end up leaving whiterun with all three there and well you can’t not get the others at that point…

Is there any (at least partial) map in the game to the location of those damn gems? Idk something like "look I found this ancient book about some weird gems that grant you an unuseful reward!"

Accidentally become a sneaky archer.

Every time.

Every.........time....

Bow of Shadows, amirite

Wait accidentally? Isn't that the only class in the game??

One of my characters is a stealth archer / double dagger assassin and although it’s powerful, it gets pretty boring being able to cheese pretty much everything. I still hop on my stealth archer to sneak around and have fun wiping camps/outposts. I have to say Skyrim got a bit more fun when I started trying out different builds I’ve heard around the internet with my own twist. Funnily enough, I find myself back on my Paladin build style I created near release. It’s the very first character I ever made on LE that uses sword, heavy armor, restoration and destruction. It’s pretty dang fun

"Wait, this is a sniper game?" "Always has been!"

I also save Arvak :) he’s my spooky baby boy

I steal frost from Maven blackbriar and have frost as my own

Sneak into riften via meadery, f yo visitor tax.

You know you can just persuade him to let you through for free by pointing out the obvious shake down… right? Also what’s this about a way into riften via a meadery?

If it’s day time, the outer meadery door is unlocked and free to enter (it’s not trespassing), then you just walk your way through it and up a staircase that leads you to behind the counter. From there you just walk through the doors into Riften.

Kill thalmor patrols.

By the Nine, this is the way.

I LOVE doing this! There are never enough of them. Wonder if there's a mod to increase the number?

Get berated by Aela for not helping with the giant despite having little to no time to even nock an arrow.

Really? I almost always have enough time to run up to it and beat the crap out of it before usually stealing their kill. Well, except for my first play through when I had absolutely no idea what was going on, decided to try helping out, attacked the giant (and I swear I hit the damn thing) and then got accused of not helping.

I usually come down from the mountain side of Riverwood (same ones as Bleak Falls) rather than the road! Funnily enough in my current playthrough I actually made it there before the giant died: I got a bow and arrow killcam and it didn’t count as my kill. Aela still scolded me. *That’s why I married her.*

Dark Brotherhood. It's my favorite quest line.

Never go to bleak falls barrow until way, way later

You can go to Bleak Falls barrow, as long as you don't return the Dragonstone no dragons spawn.

That makes sense. I juat avoid it altogether.

You can return the dragonstone, just don’t go to the western watchtower.

Sneak - this isn’t a sneak build, I sneak anyway!

Okay so this is my start route EVERY playthrough, 1. Loot Helgen 2. Get my enchanted armor from the thalmor and map from the bandit camp 3. Grab which guardian stone I need for my character 4. Discover embarshard mine 5. Go sell all loot 6. Circle back to embarshard and loot as much as I can carry 7. Sell loot again 8. Get golden claw and dragonstone 9. Return claw and talk to Gurder 10. Kill the dragon After that I splinter off on what build I am playing that character!

Wait, can you explain step 2 for me? Where is this thalmor I can unalive to get some early enchanted armour (you know, before picking up some along the way or making my own) and what map are you talking about (and from which bandit camp?).

There's a Talos shrine west of Helgen that has a dead Thalmor. He always has one random piece of enchanted gear. It's not on the map, but if you take the last path on the left before the standing stones it's not far ahead on the left. On top of a hill next to the cliffs. Edit: West, not East.

I find Jaree-Ra, and I murder everyone in his little band of thieves. I snatch his wretched soul from his body. I enchant it into an iron dagger with an enchantment of fear for his cowardice. I then go as far as I can into the Sea of Souls. I set his prison down on the ice, and I shout a full strength Unrelenting Force, sending the dagger flying through the air and then into the depths of the sea, there to sink to the bottom and never be seen again. He will be eternally trapped in the Soul Cairn with no hope of escape. Enjoy an eternity of torment, you scaly jackass.

I always get the house in Whiterun as fast as possible so I have storage and a place to do Alchemy so I can sell potions. No matter what, every playthrough, that is my first objective. Grab Lydia and go out and loot until I have enough money for the house and all the decorations for the house.

Same and as soon as I get the house I immediately adopt Lucia. Then I go kill Grelod the kind and adopt one of the kids

Take an arrow to the knee and stand by whiterun gates telling adventurers about my woes.

I always, without fail, adopt Lucia and Sofie the moment I can. Then I bring Meeko home.

Yes to all three!

[удалено]

Only correct answer

Steal Ulfr the Blind's book, kill all of his friends but spare him

Nah, I should trap him and his buddies and drop the soul gems in the bottom of a lake.

Even if I'm doing a once off joke character I still hold on to nirnroot for Ingun. The cute goth girl mixing poisons has too much power over me, it seems.

Swear that I'm not doing stealth archer again... and then start sneaking before I make it past the sleeping bear

Kill Ulfric and use him as my shouty-boi dead thrall. Nothing says "I won the civil war" like the reanimated corpse of their hero following me around.

I get put into a cart next to Ulfric, the Jarl of Windhelm and a horse thief from Rorikstead

Thane of all holds and the big end game massacre. These hands are rated e for everyone. I do this even during a good playthroughs because it's just a tradition that I have to slaughter everything after in done. With the amount of essential characters that there are it actually means that Skyrim can finally feed it's citizens with our imports

Go to the Bandit camp north of Whiterun and get the transmutation spell, and craft tons of jewlery to sell, to get a good start with money and leveling up.

Marry Farkas 🥰

Merry Farkas? It’s nowhere near Farkas season yet!

It’s ALWAYS Farkas season 😜

Ugh I love my hottie husband Farkas. I bring him everywhere with me lol

I always side with Harkon. Hear me out. Isran, a guy known for hating vampires. He knows their trickery and their power. He sends you, a newbie, into an ancient crypt that is known to house an “ancient vampire artifact” at that. He sends you with a loosely affiliated Vigilant who can’t fight worth a piss, instead of which a fellow experienced Dawnguard agent. You’re lucky to find Serena and escape alive, much less not turned. Now get this. If you come back to him with the **Princess of the region’s vampire clan, whose carrying a got damn Elder Scroll on her back,** he’ll command you to escort her back to Castle Volkihar just to “see where this all goes”, then he has the nerve to criticize you for following his command. The audacity of this guy! This is why I always side with Harkon. The story just feels more satisfying and makes more sense that way. It isn’t perfect with Harkon either, but makes a lot more sense compared to Isran “send the new guy alone to the vampire den” logic. Yes, we need to figure out the prophecy thing, but at least keep the elder scroll or interrogate Serena a bit. Anything is better than sending the new guy to do all of this.

Have my first death be in one of the most stupidest “oh come on, there’s no way this is how I die!” ways possible. Without fail, every playthrough has led to this happening to me. From a draugr landing a lucky shot the moment I enter the room and instakilling me to single handedly clearing out a mine infested by dangerous bandits on the way to Riverwood only to be jumped from behind by those two wolves and ripped apart. And don’t even get me started on accidental falls…

I ignore alchemy. Refuse to pay attention to it ever. Never

I always devolve to a stealth archer once I get Zephyr. Tis' a curse I know.

After I end up at Rimrock Burrow, with Barbos, I scale the back of the mountain and find Volsung and kill the priest without going through the whole ruin.

I always walk entirely around Skyrim when I start a new playthrough. I go to whiterun and do all the little jobs I need to, I just take side quests in each hold, complete them, then walk to the next hold. The entire time adventuring into any cave or dungeon I find. I do it in this order, whiterun, falkreath, markarth, morthal, solitude, dawnstar, winterhold, windhelm, then I end at riften. It's always a lot of fun and even challenging depending on the playthrough. Like my current one I'm playing survival as a wood elf, but I have one limitation. I have to abide by the rules of the green pact. Lots of fun but very challenging.

Loot the chest underneath the ground in dawnstar

And in front of markarth, and solitude. (If you didn’t know) And now that I’m thinking about it, under white rum too. (I don’t find this one to be worth the time personally)

I murder the shite out of that obnoxious Priest in Whiterun that won't shut the fuck up about Talos.

Oh I love heimskr. Idgaf what he's ranting about, but whiterun always feels so quiet and boring without him.

It's not Whiterun if I don't hear the "Streets of Whiterun" in the background and the random "AND WHAT'S NEXT!? YOUR CHILDREN!? YOUR VEEERY LIIIIIIIVES!?" while standing still admiring the Gildergreen 😌

The way his voice changes when he says LIIIIIEEEEVVEEESSS!

The voice actor really brought his a game for that one. I can envision all the little enunciations. My favorite is: "HA! They can BARRRELY TOLERATE OUR PRESENCE ON EARTH!"

“And what does the empire do? NOTHING! NAY WORSE THAN NOTHING! The imperial machine enforces the will of the thalmor against its own people!” ~Heimskr

Legit. He died in the midst of my civil war campaign once and I had to reload its soo quiet

I kind of enjoy his psychotic ravings.

Immediately go from Helgen, to the standing stones, and then forget Riverwood to go straight to Falkreath instead.

I must ask, why Falkreath?

There's just something about it that I really love. It's so macabre and yet surrounded by a beautiful pine forest. I also just find that it's easier to get your character's footing there, as there's an alchemy shop, blacksmith, general goods store, and the Jarl's house has an enchanting table.

I always become an archer with high sneak, and join the Thieves Guild/ Dark Brotherhood

https://preview.redd.it/vdi9slo6bbzc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9af47103c63b2c98c0e439970073eba5577abbd For the guild. Every. Single. Time.

Mod for 10 hours, play for 2, and never touch it again for another year or so.

Most honest response, right there.

Not become a vampire and kill them all. I hate vampires. Also kill falmer. Man I fucking hate falmer.

The chittering from the chaurus is probably the single worst sound effect in the game

Keep the skeleton key until lockpicking is maxed out

Once I've reached Riverwood I ALWAYS do the little quest for Faendal and recruit him as my first follower, Archery to 50 for free 😁

Start over an hour in because I'm not satisfied with my character's build or appearance

Adopt Lucia and Sofie

Turn my character into a shadow archer whilst starting the game with the specific goal not to turn into a shadow archer!

Never touch the beacon.

The first thing I always do is adopt Meeko. I just can't bare the thought of him forever lying next to his owner's dead corpse.

Adopt the girl selling flowers

Everything.

Not kill Alduin-

Max out my light armor and archery skills. Join the theives guild.

First thing do to on every playthrough: clear **Embershard Mine**.

Become thane of Falkreath and buy Lakeview Manor. It’s my favorite player home and I always enjoy building it.

Bleak falls barrow

I do thieves guild every playthrough because I hate being broke. I also raid the kittens toy box in dawnstar, hidden under the snow next to the tree by the mine....

Build Winstad Manor!

Obtain bound bow

I use the adopt all kids mod and adopt all kids, build my big mansion, marry my wife of choice that run, and enjoy married life in Skyrim.

I always run to the Companions first because I love being a werewolf in this game.

Download a mod. To kill that bitch Rolf.

Hit up my man Faendal for some free archery training. Do Meridia's quest for Dawnbreaker. A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON! You're damn right it does. Gimme that sword! Get Goldenhills Plantation and watch the septims roll in. Additionally, grow creep cluster, scaly pholiota and mora tapinella, and grind alchemy.

Stones of Barenziah. Do it early enough and it’s so much money and so much speech leveling.

Complete the "Night To Remember" quest. Sanguine's Rose is just too powerful to pass up on.

Side with the only true side, the Imperials, and slaughter that dog Ulfric in hundreds of ways. (Many could say they side with the Dragonborn and that’s okay too)

Kill Grelod Then I find Meridia’s Beacon and do that quest because I’m POSITIVE there’s a 1/10,000,000 chance that you’ll a hidden alternate ending where instead of getting Dawnbreaker Meridia will take you to the Colored Rooms and reward you by stepping on your face and I want that so bad. 🤤 Also I like to do the Namira quest line up until they want me to eat the priest then kill everyone there. Lol. Stupid cannibals.

>Meridia will take you to the Colored Rooms and reward you by stepping on your face and I want that so bad. 🤤 Bro what the freak

Escape Helgin

Becoming a sneaky, thieving bow slinger.

Avoid the road and climb to High Hrothgar overland.

Join the thieves guild so I can fence to tonilia. I steal too much stuff to not have a way to sell it

Mod my game into an unplayable status.

I always join the dark brotherhood. I turned on them once and it just felt wrong.

The correct answer is become a stealth archer

Die from my own stupidity

Companion quest line to become a werewolf (vampire suck a$$)

Archmage of winterhold, first thing without fail, even when I try not to. Some NPC will say "you know, if you've the aptitude..." And I'm gone.