sticky runes
Well-Known Member
Warning: Long post
I'm wondering if any of you guys have had a go at playing a character who focuses a lot on smithing.
With my current character, I wanted to unlock the arcane smith perk as soon as possible so I could temper enchanted items.
Smithing is very time consuming and expensive compared to alchemy, as the materials are more expansive than ingredients, different types of ore are harder to discover in the wild than flowers and mushrooms, and the items required for smithing are heavier than alchemy ingredients, so that means a lot of running back and forth to keep space in your inventory or else slogging along while being encumbered. And it also seems than selling your weapons and armour is not as profitable as selling potions.
Any way, I've found a method that works for me. What I tend to do is clear out a dungeon or bandit lair and strip off all the bodies of slain enemies. This is so I can use their weapons and armour at the nearest grinding stone and workbench. Obviously, carrying all those heavy items is going to over-encumber me, so I will drop the excess items on the floor and come back for them later after I've made space in my inventory.
The enemy bodies will disappear after a while, along with any items they had on them when they died. But loot that I have taken from them and dropped on the floor will remain there forever, so I can come back and pick it up, take it to the nearest town, temper the items and sell them to a blacksmith to make space and a bit of money, then go back until I've taken every weapon and piece of armor from the dungeon or bandit lair, before moving on to the next quest. I also take a follower with me, so he or she can carry extra items for me.
This is a tedious and time consuming process, but it does let me feel that I am focusing my character's career on his smithing skills, rather than just clearing one dungeon and moving on to the next quest.
As for choosing which smithing perks to unlock, I'd say make this decision based on what sort of quest you choose next. My character did the quest Missing in Action quite early, which required me to kill all the Thalmor in Northwatch Keep. This meant I had access to a lot of elven armour, so of course I chose the elven smithing perk rather than the dwarven smithing perk (I haven't done any dwemer dungeons yet, but if you choose to do Dwemer dungeons early, then it would make sense to unlock Dwarven smithing)
Or if you're playing as an orc, you would likely want to unlock orc smithing, and access orichalcum ore in one of the orc strongholds.
Any way, revisiting dungeons to horde items for smithing has become my new thing to do in Skyrim. It has meant taking up fast travel again (some people find fast travel off-putting for their role play) but when it comes to going back and forth between towns and dungeons I've already cleared, then I would rather not have to make that journey on foot every time!
Just thought I'd share this with you all and see if any of you have done anything similar.
I'm wondering if any of you guys have had a go at playing a character who focuses a lot on smithing.
With my current character, I wanted to unlock the arcane smith perk as soon as possible so I could temper enchanted items.
Smithing is very time consuming and expensive compared to alchemy, as the materials are more expansive than ingredients, different types of ore are harder to discover in the wild than flowers and mushrooms, and the items required for smithing are heavier than alchemy ingredients, so that means a lot of running back and forth to keep space in your inventory or else slogging along while being encumbered. And it also seems than selling your weapons and armour is not as profitable as selling potions.
Any way, I've found a method that works for me. What I tend to do is clear out a dungeon or bandit lair and strip off all the bodies of slain enemies. This is so I can use their weapons and armour at the nearest grinding stone and workbench. Obviously, carrying all those heavy items is going to over-encumber me, so I will drop the excess items on the floor and come back for them later after I've made space in my inventory.
The enemy bodies will disappear after a while, along with any items they had on them when they died. But loot that I have taken from them and dropped on the floor will remain there forever, so I can come back and pick it up, take it to the nearest town, temper the items and sell them to a blacksmith to make space and a bit of money, then go back until I've taken every weapon and piece of armor from the dungeon or bandit lair, before moving on to the next quest. I also take a follower with me, so he or she can carry extra items for me.
This is a tedious and time consuming process, but it does let me feel that I am focusing my character's career on his smithing skills, rather than just clearing one dungeon and moving on to the next quest.
As for choosing which smithing perks to unlock, I'd say make this decision based on what sort of quest you choose next. My character did the quest Missing in Action quite early, which required me to kill all the Thalmor in Northwatch Keep. This meant I had access to a lot of elven armour, so of course I chose the elven smithing perk rather than the dwarven smithing perk (I haven't done any dwemer dungeons yet, but if you choose to do Dwemer dungeons early, then it would make sense to unlock Dwarven smithing)
Or if you're playing as an orc, you would likely want to unlock orc smithing, and access orichalcum ore in one of the orc strongholds.
Any way, revisiting dungeons to horde items for smithing has become my new thing to do in Skyrim. It has meant taking up fast travel again (some people find fast travel off-putting for their role play) but when it comes to going back and forth between towns and dungeons I've already cleared, then I would rather not have to make that journey on foot every time!
Just thought I'd share this with you all and see if any of you have done anything similar.