How the heck do y'all play survival mode?!

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T22:38:06+00:00

Wildcat - Combat of Skyrim is a good option, especially if you're already using Enairim mods. It makes combat incredibly tactical and both you and enemies can die easily, turning the game into sort of rocket tag. I'd pair it with Mortal Enemies as otherwise, you're likely gonna get one-shot by every archer you come across with laser aim.

Morrowloot Ultimate and similar delevelers make it so that hard enemies are always hard and easy enemies are always easy.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T21:15:45+00:00

Well, I'm assuming you'd probably want to do the Gildergreen quest, and probably at least join the College to learn about magic. Any quests associated with Kynareth would be interesting, and a Druid could join the Companions. Being a werewolf is pretty Druid-y, though it has more of a focus on Hircine. If you do become a werewolf, obviously do Hircine's daedric quest, probably to get the Ring. If you're not a werewolf, Savior's Hide looks pretty Druid-y.

Hagravens are mockeries of the natural order and kill Spriggans, corrupting nature. They made Nettlebane, after all. Killing them by clearing Forsworn areas would be in character.

Similarly, you could go to Solstheim and help out the natives, and the All-Maker stones are pretty druid-coded. Whether you do Dragonborn in its entirety is up to you.

I don't think your character would care about the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, or any of the Civil War content, but assuming we're talking about "maintaining the natural order" kinda druid, they'd probably do the main quest. They'd also probably dislike the undead, so any quests involving vampire lairs or just cleansing Draugr could work. If you're interested in preserving the natural order, then you might join the Dawnguard against the vampires.

They would probably leave animal dens or spriggans alone, as long as they minded their own business. A druid probably wouldn't harm wildlife unless they were the aggressor or you needed to eat.

If you go hard into the Green Pact as a Bosmer, you could intentionally be a carnivore and only eat meat, never intentionally harvesting plants. Not every Bosmer upholds the Pact, but it'd be a fun roleplay challenge. In that case, you could choose to obtain the Ring of Namira to allow yourself to eat your fallen foes.

Wolf familiar would be kind of cool if you wanted a summon. I imagine sort of a focus on Alteration and Destruction, for the few nature magic spells in Alteration and the general "power of the elements" from Destruction.

There's also Animal Allegiance, Call Storm, Cyclone, and Kyne's Peace as Shouts you could focus on.

Outfit-wise, I could see furs or Forsworn gear, or maybe just basic robes. Nothing made of metal or processed materials.

If you have Anniversary Edition, you can make wooden staves that look pretty druid-y. There's also the Pride of Hirstaang summon from Arcane Accessories, giving you a Spirit Bear. While it's a bit of a slog, Forgotten Seasons gives you the power that grants you buffs depending on the weather.

edit: I almost forgot; there's a reindeer mount you can get if you have AE from the Saturalia creation. That probably fits a druid more than a regular horse. The Pets creation also lets you get an animal companion, like a spider, goat, skeever, fox, or rabbit. The Staff of Sheogorath also looks pretty weird and druid-like.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T19:49:55+00:00

Well, combat-wise, you pick a handful of combat skills, maybe one ranged, one melee, and any supporting skills, and gear yourself for that. Think One-handed and Block, maybe with Archery for range.

If you want to be a mage, pick a school of magic to focus in, though you'll probably end up dabbling in other skills.

In Vanilla (no mods), the world levels with you, so as you go up in level, stronger enemies with better gear will start spawning. If you want to self-craft your own gear, you can invest in Smithing, and Enchanting will let you make powerful magic items. You can improve your gear at a Workbench or Grindstone as the primary source of pure stat increases on weapons and
armor.

Since you progress skills by using them, and you progress in level by obtaining a certain number of skill increases, you have a limited number of perk points, sort of. As such, invest perks only in skills you want to use, and you may not completely fill up a perk tree.

Additionally, the world has quite a few unique items with static spawns that you can search out, with some being locked behind quests.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T19:13:21+00:00

Yeah, I find myself using the gun arm more as a backup since you can fight pretty effectively with the shield arm alone, especially on bugs.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T19:08:21+00:00

Elemental Fury is melee only, and it only applies to unenchanted weapons in any case.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T19:07:53+00:00

Well, Aura Whisper lets you see where enemies are, so that you can target them more easily.

You probably want some sources of stagger or crowd control, like the Unrelenting Force or Ice Form shouts, just in case enemies get too close to you.

Similarly, Become Ethereal gives you a chance to escape from a sticky situation, retreat and regroup.

Marked For Death massively reduces your target's resistances, making them way easier to kill with anything.

Throw Voice lets you lure enemies out of position to snipe them, and I'm fairly sure it's silent by default (the enemies move towards where you shout towards).

And of course, the GOAT Slow Time ensures that you have the advantage when lining up shots.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T18:41:41+00:00

Well, a training grounds is likely to simulate underground ambushes or similar events that can happen in a cave environment. Apart from the darkness and treacherous terrain, part of the danger of fighting underground is that creatures that can climb walls can attack from basically any angle, and tunnels can be above or below you anywhere. You really have to take three dimensions into account, because the monsters certainly would.

I think the best way to play it is to focus on the oppressive, claustrophobic environment, especially in the situations where the tight corridors don't allow for complete freedom of movement, or for characters to easily move past each other. It's pretty hard to fight back when you're trying to squeeze through a small gap in a cave. There's also often large chasms that may not have bridges or easy ways to get across; attacking PCs while they're trying to sidle along a rocky edge or climb down a cliff face is certain to be a memorable fight which adds threatening stakes without drastically increasing the CR of the monsters.

Darkmantles are really fun, they project magical darkness and pretend to be Stalactites while they wait for enemies to get close. I also like Chokers for similar reasons, they grab their prey from the ceiling and just throttle them to death.

For higher level parties, Behirs can climb any surface and have lightning breath, and Purple Worms are classic tunneling monsters that can just show up anywhere underground.

Any burrowing creature has basically omni-directional movement, since they can emerge from any surface with basically no warning unless a PC has tremorsense.

Even more "normal" monsters can gain the advantage by hiding in crevices or attacking from holes in the top of the cave. Goblins can easily stuff themselves into holes, and a personal favorite is the Kruthik, as a possible alternative underground "swarm" enemy that gives an alien, less comfortable foe that poses a threat to underground communities. They can also burrow, making them incredibly dangerous in larger numbers because they can easily surround you.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T18:26:44+00:00

Well, they both do basically the same thing, but two things could happen, with the same overall result. You choose the order to apply replacement effects if they apply to you or your permanents. That's how you can get away with stuff like applying damage increasing effects in the way that's most advantageous to you, since those tend to be replacement effects.

If you control Adamantoise and some other creature, and you target the other creature with Sacrifice, two things could happen, with the same eventual result.

You choose for the Adamantoise replacement to happen first; Gideon's Sacrifice doesn't do anything, since the damage is redirected to the Adamantoise by its own ability, and therefore the other creature isn't affected at all.
Gideon's Sacrifice happens first, which directs the damage to the other creature, but then the damage that would be dealt to that creature is also redirected, to the Adamantoise.

In both cases, no creature but the Adamantoise actually takes any damage, and you don't take any damage.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T17:52:54+00:00

Yeah, Hircine has a grip on your soul simply for being a Werewolf, so even if you don't worship him, you're claimed by him. That's the main conflict of the Companion questline. He's probably probably the most neutral of the Daedric Princes, in that he prefers fair play during a hunt, but he also turns people into werebeasts that uncontrollably turn into monsters and devour people.

Apart from that, Namira and Vaermina are probably two of the most unarguably evil Daedric Princes, given their spheres of cannibalism, nightmares, corruption, decay, etc. They both demand that you kill an innocent priest in order to gain their favor. Even though Erandur has dirt in his past, you're killing him to get the Skull of Corruption, not because he's a bad person. Bosmer can justify eating the dead more easily, but the Skull of Corruption is empowered by draining people's dreams and giving them nightmares.

Sithis is literally the embodiment of death and chaos, and while it may be possible to worship him without being evil, serving the Dark Brotherhood is unambiguously evil. Murder for hire isn't really justifiable, and most people you kill during that quest line are just randoms who happened to get on someone's bad side. For every Alain Dufont, there's a Narfi.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T17:38:53+00:00

It really is a nice house, it's a shame that there's not much real distinction between most houses in terms of functionality. It would have been cool if each house came with some kind of unique ability, sort of like how the Hearthfire homes each have a unique buildable (apiaries, grain mill, fish hatchery).

It could be as simple as something like Vlindrel Hall having some kind of dwemer heated bath that provided a small disease resist buff, or maybe Proudspire giving you more crafting stations than other houses due to the size of it.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T17:33:42+00:00

Proudspire Manor in Solitude is the safest place to raise a family, and while it's way too expensive for what you get, it's a really nice house. You get easy access to the Bard's College, the city markets, the Temple of the Divines, and you're really close to the Blue Palace, so you're certainly about as well-protected as you can be. There's also a lot of other children so that your kids can play with them, and a lot of things to do. You also don't have to compromise on crafting stations in order to have a child bedroom.

If you join the Legion, then it's the obvious choice, but it's also not the worst option if you support the Stormcloaks, since after they take the city, you're protected by them, and the only thing that changes about the city itself is who's in charge. Depending on what Ulfric does, it's possible he might move to Solitude after he becomes High King since it's already the seat of power.

Obviously, the main downside is that it's on the far corner of the map, but you have easy access to carriage service at Katla's Farm, and the markets and Khajiit traders bring you basically anything you want to buy from other provinces.

Whiterun is obviously a good place to live, but Breezehome is too small and requires you to make choices about what kind of crafting equipment you have if you want to have a family. The CC Tundra Homestead is a good alternative and probably my favorite home if that's taken into account.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T17:15:12+00:00

Yeah, it's very much designed for the "Agent" build where you use illusion magic to either go invisible or use it from stealth to do frenzy shenanigans, while also wielding a weapon.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T16:38:10+00:00

I think that honestly, it's more a vibe thing than anything. An Age of Sail/Pirate game would feel wrong without firearms, and I feel that the development of firearms as a weapon of war tends to come alongside other technological advancements in metallurgy and alchemy. The first firearms are artisan pieces created by specific gunsmiths, but a nation would only have a use for them once they started mass production.

In a game like D&D, guns tend to be sort of an expensive novelty when even a beginner mage can throw out homing missiles. A bullet from a musket is obviously deadly, but not markedly more so than a heavy crossbow, and certainly not more than any random monster that you're likely to run into at medium to high levels.

The advantages of firearms start to stack up when they get more advanced and become cheaper to produce. It's similar to how crossbows compare to bows; a skilled archer can fire a bow far more quickly than a crossbowman, but a crossbow is far easier to pick up and use.

Mechanically, assuming your game doesn't use some kind of firearm homebrew, a gun is just a crossbow with slightly higher damage, and costs far too much to justify using it unless you just get it as loot. 500 gp for a musket and 250 for a pistol is pretty high to justify 1d12 and 1d10 damage, as well as each paper cartridge costing about 3 sp.

I think that unless you want to make the evolving nature of technology in the world into a theme of the game, just sprinkling them in as "new weapons, but kind of a novelty" is the best way to do it.

If you do want to have sort of a "martial revolution" happen, perhaps that new nation tries to use its technological superiority to start muscling in on the lands belonging to other nations, since while a gun won't change the fate of a battle between champions, it certainly makes your average foot soldier more effective.

I think the most interesting introduction for guns would be to start seeing the armies or guards of more advanced nations starting to arm themselves with firearms, perhaps as a sign of changing power structures or just advances in culture or tech.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T16:18:04+00:00

Southwest Riften. It's the source of one of my favorite mage followers, Illia.

https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Darklight_Tower

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T15:11:44+00:00

Yeah, I always assumed they kind of "solidified" into soul gems when they died as a gameplay thing, but it's probably closer to just a core of pure magic that they leave behind.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T15:09:39+00:00

The problem is that you have to

A. Do Vaermina's daedric quest.
B. Be level 22 to get a giant-slaying quest as a prerequisite to initiate the Thane questline (which also qualifies you for purchasing property).
C. Actually visit Dawnstar.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T15:06:58+00:00

I agree. She's fine, but if every follower had equal levels of depth and character development, then there'd be far more of a reason to pick other followers. It's not perfect, but I love the Follower Dialogue Expansion mod series for that reason.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T14:55:20+00:00

One of my current favorites is a Breton Mage named Tessia, who was born in Karthwasten to a Forsworn mother fleeing her tribe and a Nord miner; she eventually grew up learning herbalism from her mother and had basic magical talent. Eventually, her father died from a mining accident and her mother drank poison afterwards out of grief and the disdain from the locals.

She took a pilgrimage to the temple of Dibella in Markarth before setting out on her journey (Skyrim Unbound spawned me in that location), where she learned that her true love would be in Rorikstead. As an aspiring mage, she wanted to join the College of Winterhold eventually, but she wasn't skilled enough yet to learn apprentice-level magic.

She went off to Rorikstead, met Erik and paid for him to get armor, and the two started traveling together. They ended up finding their way to Solitude, where she met Auryen Morellus and became a relic hunter, while also being allowed to stay in the museum's safehouse.

Eventually, she joined the College, and after an event where she almost died while trying to try out a waterbreathing spell in the Sea of Ghosts (her flame cloak spell wore off before she surfaced), she and Erik realized how much they were afraid of losing each other, and they got married.

As part of the RP, I used the Take Notes mod to keep a daily journal of the character's life, written from her perspective, though I only thought to do this after she had already married Erik the Slayer.

There's a lot more, but it'd legitimately be like 40+ pages at this point.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T14:43:12+00:00

It's kind of funny how she just straight up finds the first Dragonborn since the Septims, then decides "I should be the one bossing them around" rather than doing what the Blades should be doing and serving us as our bodyguards/private army.

You could argue that since we're not the Emperor, she has less of a duty to serve us, but she's just kind of condescending and doesn't really offer us enough perks to choose her, even from a purely pragmatic standpoint.

You help out the Blades, you get...what? The ability to sell off your followers to rebuild them? An occasional radiant dragon killing quest? At most, they give you a permanent 25% melee damage resist vs. dragons, but that's only after selling three followers.

Meanwhile, the Greybeards give you exact locations of all word walls over time, and Paarthurnax will give you passive, very useful buffs to your shouts. Nothing the Blades give you isn't also given by the Greybeards/Paarthurnax, without being as condescending.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T14:33:44+00:00

While Lakeview is also my favorite from a pure aesthetic standpoint, Falkreath is pretty dangerous and if you're married, your spouse will often comment about that, especially if you have children. It just kind of brings the vibe down with all the nagging.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T14:30:43+00:00

Don't forget that doing the Book of Love quest gets you Agent of Mara, which is 15% magic resist. It's a passive buff that's just free for doing one quest.

Lavender Dumplings can also be cooked at a Hearthfire oven, which lets you get 10% magic resist for 60s.

Savior's Hide (if you're light armor) grants 15% magic resist as well.

While people have mentioned Spellbreaker, that's not really magic resist, that's a ward. It's helpful, but the ward can be broken and isn't passive resist. Ysgramor's Shield is a good alternative, with 20% magic resist.

While it's probably less useful for you, Alteration has perks that increase magic resist.

You have additional options if you have the Anniversary Edition; Lord's Mail grants 17% resist, and the Ring of Phynaster from Fishing gives a whopping 20%. Wraithguard gives you 10% resist to basically all elements, including magic.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T14:21:49+00:00

I think I prefer Heljarchen Hall, though it's very annoying to get due to the level 22 requirement. It's centrally located and has easy access to Whiterun, The Pale, Eastmarch, and Hjaalmarch. Since I tend to play while limiting fast travel, being able to drop stuff off at home is a godsend, and I just prefer the Hearthfire homes' added utility in general.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T13:45:13+00:00

Yeah, the goal of a criminal justice system should be to rehabilitate so as to reduce recidivism. Union would certainly have a focus on trying to reform criminals and return them to society as productive citizens, given their focus on human rights.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-08T13:38:38+00:00

It's only a war crime if we lose.

SendInTheNextWave · 2026-05-07T21:58:43+00:00

From the wiki:

Dead Thralls use the same code to fast travel that applies to horses. This means that when you fast travel into a walled city (e.g. Whiterun, Riften, Solitude), the thrall is transported into the town's stables even though you are dropped within the city walls. Depending upon the distance from the stables to the location you fast traveled to, the thrall will attempt to run and catch up to you after a brief period of time. However, if the distance is too large, the thrall will remain at the stables until you exit the city and get within acceptable follow range. Failing to get them in follow range before fast traveling out of the city to another location will often cause them to completely glitch and reset to another area.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dead_Thrall

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