My experiment with Elys using a two-handed sword and no armour (just spells) is working much better now. She got the Axe of Fiery Souls, and put the enchantment onto her sword. The fire part is a fixed 10 points regardless of skill or soul gem, and the variables are the duration and number of charges. Since she's gathering souls rather rapidly, the number of charges doesn't matter much, and a low duration is equally insignificant for a weapon she uses all the time, as long as its charge lasts for the whole battle.

The small boost from the fire damage seems to make a lot of difference, but that may be because it stacks on subsequent swings (extra damage to targets already on fire).

She's wearing horns in the circlet slot, hooves as boots, and has piercings in the body slot (plus her tail). It doesn't seem right to enchant any part of her person, but the jewels may get something later.

I love the Elven armor in Skyrim. It was one of my favs in Oblivion, and they fixed those silly boots in the Skyrimized version! I agree that it isn't for everyone. It is more for the fancy-looking character, not the rough and tumble types. At first I associated with the Thalmor too. But once I finally admitted to myself that elves are indeed superior to all other forms of life, I did not mind anymore.


I love the Nordic Carved. It was perfect for Hrafngoelir.

The Nordic Carved Helm is about the only one my characters would want to wear. What's the point of spending ages in chargen making 'em look good, just to hide it all inside a can?

Before we got any mods, one of my fave outfits on Buffy was the Imperial light armor with Imperial bracers and hide boots - just the perfect blend of flattering and practical.

Unfortunately, the first time she wore it into a camp of Stormcloaks, one of the Nord women there pulled her aside and warned her that wearing Imperial stuff around the Stormcloaks could get her killed.

Yup, agree with that, Paladin.

Alise had second thoughts about having Rayya wear Imperial, being so close to Falkreath (still Stormcloak territory). So she gave Rayya a extra set of Witchplate armor, which Rayya likes very much.

I like the tunic part of the Imperial Studded Armor, with the mail over the leather. But I never liked the man-skirts on all the Imperial armors. They look wrong for Skyrim's climate. I think the Imperials would be freezing their little legionaries off. The Romans stationed in places like Britain and Germany wore trousers for a reason...

Whoa really? I had no idea they actually say this. Haven't gotten very far with Civil War quest, nor have I had anybody wear Imperial and / or Stormcloak gear in an opposing camp of soldiers

I can remember early in my Oblivion days (2008 or 2009) one of my first characters wore some Necromancer robes into the Bruma Mage's Guild, for no reason at all. She just wore it. She goes to speak to the lady who leads that particular chapter, and this lady actually reprimanded her "Don't you dare come wearing that in here!" ... something like this. It only happened just that once.

Yup. During Buffy's first playthrough. She quite liked that Imp light tunic armor. She's never gotten involved in the civil war. Li'l Miss Neutrality wandered into the Stormcloak camp near the road between Helgen and Ivarstead. It was one of the Stormcloak woman that told her something like "You've got a lot of nerve walking in here wearing Imperal armor!" The woman then sat down and didn't pursue it, happily. Still, it was enough to put Buffy off the Imp armor anyway. She likes and dislikes both sides about the same I figure. The Stormies hate elves and the Imps tried to behead her. The only one who has intervened to save her is. . . Alduin!

I’ve spent some time with Jensa lately. She wore her Stormcloak uniform throughout the war, but now that it’s over and she’s reached level 50 I think it’s safe to say she has settled on her look. Funnily enough it’s pretty much the same look she started off with.

Cold Weather Furs and Hood

Warm Weather Ranger Kit

In town Jensa favors blue dresses and white furs. Her jewelry is always her wedding ring and her Amulet of Talos, plus she has a circlet that looks pretty and fortifies Marksman. When she’s conducting business on behalf of High King Ulfric throughout the Holds she wears a copy of his outfit thanks to a mod. At court at the Palace of Kings she wears the different Fine Clothes and Fine Boots that go with them.

Her favored blade is still the Skyforged greatsword that Eorlund gave her, but she also carries the Stormblade which is enchanted with shock damage. She uses a dragonbone bow and dragonbone arrows. After all she does spend a lot of time shooting at dragons.

I think it is funny that Ulfric's outfit does not look at all like Ulfric's Outfit! That was one I tried on when experimenting with Lucia's clothes. I still love how it looks though.

Jensa's outfits are very functional and down to nirn, like their wearer. The chest area of the warm weather one certainly makes the temperature rise!

*claps* Awesome, thanks for sharing those! The warm weather gear is just to die for!

I picked a body replacer with ultra-slim Abiene and little Elven Lil in mind. Did not anticipate that I was upgrading Jensa’s rack to Legendary!

It is the weight slider. On most of the modded bodies, it is not a weight slider, but a boob slider. Seriously, that is the only thing it changes. Because of that I just keep it all the way to the left for my characters these days.

SubRosa is right,. I use CBBE Slim - It is a slimmer body overall and the weight slider is A cup to the left, B (for Buffy) cup in the middle and C cup to the right. With the 'not slim' version of CBBE, those positions translate to the more Nordic cup sizes. What I really like is when a modded outfit responds to the 'cup' slider so it can be made to fit perfectly. The CBBE Triss outfit is like that and, therefore, fits perfectly. I would love to find a mod that allows the mantled (college) mage robes to do that. Tired of pretending that they are simply well padded.

Buffy's back from Solstheim with some new vanilla things in her wardrobe -

A full set of Skaal furs. Mmmm, toastie!

A full set of stalhrim light armor. Kewl!

A pair of Dunmer outfits in rust and blue. The top looks a bit like College robes, but with just a normal length tunic, then pants. The lower arms and legs have the same type of wrappings as College robes. Here's a UESP wiki picture: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:DB-npc-Dreyla_Alor.jpg

I like that top she's got on. Very au contraire from what is normally expected, since the hemline is straight across rather than tapered. Nothing to call the Fashion Police over, that's for sure.

I like the Dunmer clothes from Solstheim. They look very functional, and still have some color and ostentation. The Skaal furs always looked too bulky to me, like a character would not be able to move once they put them on. Like the kid in A Christmas Story when he had his winter coat on. He lay there like a slug, it was his only defense!

Another thing I like about the Dunmer outfits is that they have pants. Dresses are wonderful, but pants generally make a bit more sense for adventuring and horse riding. And so many of the vanilla outfits morph into having a skirt when donned by a woman. The miner's outfit is another 'pants regardless of your sex' outfit, but the problem with the miner outfit for women is that the top is so very much proportioned for those busty Nordic women - looks ridiculous on a slender elf.


That's exactly what the Skall furs are like on Buffy! Dressing a toddler for subfreezing temps!

Another vote here for the Dunmer outfits from Solstheim. Practical, useful and not too gaudy. At this point though Alise has not worn hers much yet - she gets too cold in them! Even in Falskaar she is casting Bask spells every few seconds when she is outside!

I’m sure Buffy looks adorable in her Skaal snowsuit. Jensa thought hers made her look like a horker. Her man Stenvar (who is so not a bard) explained that it wasn’t the furs, it was her hips. The Stalhrim light armor (without the bug helm) is one of my favorites.

Lil feels Buffy’s pain with the miner outfit. Early on I found a nice retexture that unfortunately made Lil look like she was about to tip over. I’ve found a few trouser outfits (mods) for her to try when she gets back to Skyrim. One of Lil’s main concerns is the rear view when she’s sneaking, since she generally has a Nord watching her back.

What am I wearing? A robotic exoskeleton. What am I wielding? A gun.*

Screw your setting authenticity, I have firepower.

*Also, appalling screen resolution. I wield appalling screen resolution.

Wield it like a blaaaaaade!

Not a bard indeed!

Jensa: Stenvar, dear, does this dress make me look fat?

Stenvar (looking up from his ale): What? No. You just make the dress look small.

Sofie Persephonesdottir wears the Berserk Sonia Armor with the red retexture. She also wears the plate helmet from zzjay's wardrobe. Her shield is from Matherian Viking Shields, and her sword is from Chronicles of Steel.

Her sister Lucia went a different way. She wears the red Royal Vampire Armor (an unenchanted version I made), carries a Nordic Dagger, and summons up a Bound Dagger in her off hand.

WOW that looks good on Sofie.

Oh noes! Now Buffy's trying to turn her head around to see her butt wearing those Skaal furs. I have no idea why she asked me 'Does this make my butt look big?' since she, naturally, won't believe my 'Of course not; you look lovely'.

Mustard, your Dwemer Terminator looks impressive!

And, SubRosa, you and PurseMom have helped Sophie and Lucia make excellent outfitting choices. The two outfits really suit them well.

Grits - Buffy was shopping at Radiant Raiment and found a tavern outfit that she quite likes. Its neckline is a bit low, but it actually fits well and best of all, Buffy likes the hemline on this one that is angled and around/above her knees. As Teresa and Tadrose will attest, elves can get away with short skirts pretty well. She also found a green robe at the same store that makes for a nice sleeping gown (instead of the monk robe she's currently using).

*

Buffy's pretty much welded to her custom mystic bow, but she changes outfits quite a bit. At the moment, she's discovered Savior's Hide with scaled boots and bracers. Someone told her that if a short elf wants to look leggy, all she has to do is raise her hemline. . . .

OOh, what's the name of this outfit?

I love Radiant Raiment, even Mycharonna loves it too. I think it's pretty neat that there is only one place in all of Skyrim that exclusively sells a lot of wardrobe choices like this, you know? I dunno. It always feels rather special going in there.

The only thing I dislike about RR is that haughty [censored] who runs the place. Can't stand that NPC.

Renee, you are exactly right! Nice selection if you can put up with the 'attitude'. Those darn Altmer are so tall compared to Buffy . . . they seem to delight in looking down on her.

Anyway, the outfit is called 'Tavern Clothes'. Here's a pretty good picture of it on an NPC - http://images.uesp.net/8/8b/SR-npc-Alva.jpg

Buffy normally wears the outfit with just a muffle spell on her feet - that's her 'slippers'. Lol.

Whoa wow, love that picture, I bet that'd look good on Buffy for sure.

Mycharonna bought RR's "Mourner's Outfit" which is black with touches of white and red. I'll try and get a pic soon. She typically wears this outfit when in towns (or if she's around people she's trying to convince that she's human), but then switches to necro-robes during combat, or if she's trying to intimidate someone. I RP this switch as a sort of shapeshifter-type spell.

Heh, Buffy bought one of everything the RR had that was unusual. Red robes, green robes, chef outfit, mourner outfit, tavern clothes. Then she did a fashion try-on show and only kept the tavern clothes and green robes.

She did the RR quest and was a bit surprised that dear Elisef liked the shapeless bag the RR girls put Buffy in.

Neat idea on morphing clothes by spell. Buffy pretends to use an alteration spell to switch among the three color schemes she uses on her Triss armor (only one set of Triss boots/gloves though). She has a forest, dungeon and town color scheme.

Hmm, I wonder if Mycharrona would like the black quilted 'fine clothes'? Buffy put Illia in the brown version and it looks pretty good - except a bit too much like Maven Black Briar.

If she’d like a second opinion I know some folks who would gladly take a good look. Fair warning, at least one of them will say he can’t tell and can she turn around again, and maybe bend a little, and he’s still not sure so please give us another spin, and for comparison maybe one without the furs, and…

Renee, I think the Mourner’s Outfit works great for a vampire. It blends in the shadows and doesn't show any messy stains.


Abiene is not sure if she’s actually smaller in Skyrim or if she just feels that way due to the abundance of overgrown Nords, but she’s also a fan of an angled hem on her petite self. Abiene does not wear short skirts outside of the bedchamber or the Temple of Dibella, but she admires them on the wood elven lasses. Lil has a new short tunic that she’s still accessorizing. She discovered that wearing it with thigh boots and no leggings works like some kind of Paralyze Nord spell. Oops.

But back to Abiene. Now that she has some perks in Mage Armor she feels confident enough to leave the house without a metal dress, so she’s settled on the Adept Restoration robes for her adventure outfit. Brown is her favorite color, so when she finds Expert robes for sale I’ll probably just make her a custom Adept robe with the Expert enchantment. She wears mage gloves (without the cuff so they don’t clip through the robe sleeves) and tall tan-colored boots, both with small enchantments to enhance her magery. I don’t recall exactly which ones they are. She’s not a dedicated enchanter so they’re not very strong.

Here she’s bundled up in her travel furs. (She’s still looking for a cloak in a slightly darker shade to better match the hood.) The hood has a mantle so sometimes she just wears it or her brown linen hooded mantle without a cloak when she gets somewhere warmer, depending on the state of her hair. She does not take off her hood when she gets back to town until she’s had a chance to freshen up indoors. Abiene wears an Amulet of Mara and a Circlet of Restoration when she’s working or adventuring since she uses mostly Restoration spells, and she wears an Amulet of Dibella the rest of the time. She has never bothered with the College hoods since she found a Restoration circlet. Oh, and she has a different brown fur cloak and hood for city wear. It’s beautiful and does not have any of the stains and off scents that tend to cling to the things she has worn in crypts and dungeons.

Abiene is not a flashy dresser, but she is very particular about how things look. In her opinion most of her footwear looks too thick. She never wears trousers, only leggings under her College robes. Her outfits are generally brown or have a lot of brown fur on them. She has different shoes or boots for most of her gowns, and she wants that tan cuffed pair of boots in a different color which means I’m finally going to have to learn how to do that. (She also wants a brighter gown to go with her red hair flowers. Yikes.) Abiene’s second favorite color is red. The red-trimmed robe is her nightgown. She absolutely loves Buffy’s mystic slippers! Warm and comfy with the benefit of showing off one’s slender feet.

Abiene carries no weapons except for a dagger which is only for politely dealing with really tough cuts of meat. She has the Wabbajack for emergencies but she’s never used it since her aim is dreadful and she’s worried that she’ll hit an ally. Abiene is not a killer, but she’s gotten very good at putting undead to rest. She and Jerric took on Potema with Abiene’s sabre cat familiar and Jerric’s frost atronach Ishckrihk backing them up. Abiene’s NPC class would be Mystic (Alteration, Conjuration, Illusion, Restoration, Sneak). It actually fits her perfectly.

What a delightful look into Abiene's wardrobe! I think she has great taste with the browns, furs and darker reds - understated, elegant and practical. I think it's fun that she dresses just a bit conservatively. Those (like Jerric) who know her well realize she does indeed have a wilder and more adventurous streak - although generally only displayed privately. I think that her hair - dark but with a touch of wildness to it is the best clue as to what hides beneath.

Abbie's traveling furs look very appropriate to the rather arctic nature of the college.

The Nirn-tones work well with her hair, and give her a very practical, unpretentious look.

Buffy's currently wearing a delightful outfit that seems ever so perfect for her - Here.

You can probably see the convergence of College robes, Assassin's Creed, buckskin & silk, even a hint of the vanilla vampire armor.

Wow, that is very eclectic. And are those boots from one of the DB outfits?

Thank you! I'm very pleased with the outfit. It's called Dreamburrows Regal Huntsman Armor and comes in several color combinations with quite a few accessories.

The boots that come with the armor are modified vanilla vampire armor boots. In the screenshot, however, Buffy's wearing her Triss Armor boots. She prefers them as they are less 'clunky'.

That is a fabulous outfit for Buffy! Those slender boots are especially nice with it. Buffy’s hair feathers add the perfect touch, and as ever that circlet brings out her sparkling eyes.

I absolutely love Superian’s expression in this picture. She is making her newly blonde presence known!

Alaie'eesa is wearing this.
Annekke is wearing this - (although she now has an ebony shield).

AAs outfits are striking. Allie's is very colorful, and Annes looks like it came straight from Madonna's closet!

I like that color in your Khajiit's armor.

Blue is never a bad thing!

I agree! Buffy just loves traveling around decorating things with blue!

It's great that bound arrows are stuck in bodies!

Wow, ghost arrows!

Lucius wears a full set of unenchanted leather armor, the only exception is his leather helmet, enchanted with 20 points of additional magicka but he only wears it if it's raining or snowing. In nice weather he wears a circlet of restoration which allows him to use less magicka to cast restorative spells. He always wears a Greybeard mantle, given to him by the Greybeards which keeps him warm (RP) and allows him to shout more often. But because he shouts rarely, he primarily uses it to warm himself when it's cold. And of course he wears a red leather knapsack to store useful stuff.

He almost always wears an Amulet of Mara which also allows him to use less magicka to cast restorative spells. He doesn't wear the amulet to find someone to marry, at least not yet.

His only sword is a Blades Sword which he found in Delphine's room in Riverwood. If he has to run around and do quests for her, then he at least deserves some powerful blade to wield. Before that he used an Imperial sword. Sometimes in combat he'll use an Imperial bow together with any arrows in stock. Lately he's been using Orcish arrows a lot.

On Solstheim Lucius wears a full set of Chitin armor of Major Restoration that he bought in Raven Rock. In bad weather he wears the matching helmet, otherwise he prefers to wear the Circlet of Major Restoration. He replaced the Amulet of Mara with the one of Dibella and has a Ring of Recharging on his right index finger which he bought at Belethor's a while ago.

His weapons are still the same - the Blades Katana, the old Imperial Bow and Dwarven arrows. He could have used more powerful bows and swords but he is quite attached to his old wooden bow that has been with him almost since day 1 and his One-Handed skill is high enough anyway so he doesn't really need a more powerful sword.

I have two characters to report. I forget what Claire Voyance II wears, but Nassqa of Akavir found some Hide armor which boosts Restoration early on. He got attacked by some bandit outside of Helgen, and this bandit was wearing the enchanted armor. I think he's got some cheap hide or leather boots on his feet, and also cheap gauntlets on his hands.

Nassqa wields a pickaxe (seriously), and just found a hunting bow. He's a passive guy though, so he'll probably just use the bow for hunting, and his pickaxe for defensive fighting against agro NPCs.

My latest little Bosmer archer has been noting Buffy's use of the Bound Bow, and is wondering what's the best way to get there. It's an Adept spell, so she needs to get her conjuration up to 50 to reduce the casting cost, and she needs to raise her archery to make best use of it. Right now, she's running around trying to sneakily use a regular bow, while a conspicuous flame atronach is getting all the attention, but it appears that detection is a party thing, and if the flamer is seen, so is she.

Any advice from Buffy's mentor?

Ghastley, you're right about that pesky leveling stuff for a bound bow user. I think you're on the right track if you're going to do it the hard way.

My solution as to how Buffy gets around this may or may not be acceptable. You see, in my view, she arrives in Skyrim as an experienced mystic archer - and her blue wavy bow is a big part of that - like an extension of herself. Therefore, I ensure she gets it right in the Helgen keep tutorial. I give her the bound bow spell and enough extra magicka to use it right off the bat. To compensate, I tweak the damage down in the CS, then gradually tweak it back up in the CS as she levels up.

I could never get my head around somehow making a normal bow somehow disappear every time Buffy wants to cast a spell. I mean she's only a little elf. . . where would she stick the thing since the silly game won't let her hold in her left hand while she casts with her right, nor will it even allow her to put it on her back when spellcasting. For some reason, that just bothered the crap out of me. The solution was a summoned bow that is supposed to disappear - that solved it for me and is part of my affinity for the conjured bows (besides looking snazzy).

I'd noticed her uncanny ability to carry a bound bow on her back when she wants to pose for a screenshot, so I figured some amount of console and mod work was afoot.

I don't think she's got far to go before she can get one, especially if she find the tome in Fort Amol (not that I've told her about that yet), and casts it before she reaches Adept. She's been raising Magicka in anticipation of eventually conjuring Bow and Atronach together, so I hope the game allows that.

Buffy using the mystic bow from the saddle was a must - and yup, there's some Acadian magic involved to allow for that. From Buffy's perspective (roleplay-wise), she can cast the bow on the ground, then mount Superian and sustain the bow via a small trickle of her magicka - after all, she can't cast spells from the saddle and doesn't need the magicka for anything else at that point. When she dismounts, she unsummons the bow so she has the freedom to then cast whatever she needs.

You'll be happy to hear that conjuring a bound weapon is completely independent of any other summoning spells. That is, you can summon an atronach (then a second additional one once you get twin perks), then conjure a bound bow no problem. Dremoras are dumb (sometimes fail to engage or charge off the wrong way) but strong melee brutes. Frosties are smarter, but melee only and their size makes shooting around them hard. Flamers are adorable with their graceful animations and they stay out of the way, but die easily. From an effectiveness standpoint, I think Stormies hit the sweet spot for archer support because they stay out of the way and are tough.

Oh, and when you get the mystic bow perked out, one arrow will instantly dispel your own summoned daedra - sometimes that can be helpful (or convenient).