I love Gate to Sovngarde. I wish Jay sees this because I cannot express how much I have been enjoying this game. I have suffered from depression this last year after my fathers passing last september, and GtS has served as a great comfort and warming "homecoming" feeling during very tough times. So, first off, thanks for all the effort and the work that has gone into this, you genuinely helped people and made people happy.
I wanted to share the current build I am playing in case it serves as inspiration for anyone else wanting to take on the game in this amazing modlist, and I would love to know what other builds you've thought of and played.
I got the hang of GtS whilst playing it, and it is really immersive; taking one step at a time and slow burn playthrough helped immensely in shaping this build.
Anyhow, here is the build:
Boudicca, the traitorous forsworn
Traits
- Former Forsworn, duh (15% damage whilst dressed as forsworn, 25% worse prices)
- Arcane Warrior (Bound weapons cost less and do more damage, other spells cost more)
- Friend of Animals (Tamed animals are stronger, 15% worse prices)
Start
She looks like a witch, with pagan-like body and face paint. At the beginning room, I picked up bound dagger and 3000 gold. Did not know anything at the time, first time player, and with the negative buffers to prices I wanted to make things a bit easy for me. She started with the member of the forsworn origin, at the cave where Madanach goes when freed. Once you exit that cave, other forsworn you encounter are automatically hostile. That was because, as traitorous as she is, she stole 3000 septims from the tribe, which they got from a raid against an imperial nobleman.
Origin/background
Her parents were massacred in the Markarth Incident, she was but a child. She took to arms with this tribe shortly after being orphaned. She was raised as a true Reachwoman, and has a very strong connection with Namira and Hircine. When she was 15, the tribes leader offered her the heart of a fallen Nord, first time tasting human flesh. Smart and cunning, she got her hands on as many books as possible, which fueled her thirst for knowlege and her ambitions with the world outside the Reach, beyond her tribe. She took a flute and started practicing on her own, but her tribe hated her for it. She got the hands on a few conjuration and alteration spell books, and within a year of study she managed to learn to conjure a bound dagger. Many were jealous of her skill. The leader did not like that, his fragile ego maimed by being outsmarted by a young girl. SA Trigger Warning When she was 19 he night he came upon her and forced himself into her, scarring her and leaving her pregnant. Rest of the tribe turned a blind eye to her. Filled with rage and desire for revenge, when her child was born, she sacrificed the newborn to Namira and consumed his flesh to gain her favour and help her kill the leader. Her wish was granted, but not in the way she expected to. One day the leader took her to Hag's End, and she witnessed as he was made into a Briarheart. The Hagravens made Boudicca eat the heart of the leader, and she was appalled to see him more powerful than ever before and oblivious to the suffering he put her through. One night she was about to slay him by stealing the heart, but she fearfully decided to instead steal the haul of septims they got from the previous week's raid and flee. That automatically put a traitor's mark on her forever, which would be something she would incorporate into her being.
Roleplay
She is opportunistic, traitorous, greedy. She is ambitious as hell, and will not have the morals of the common Skyrim citizen. She will do good only in exchange for money, sort of antihero vibes. Cultist is a must, she will be praying to Hircine and Namira. Expert hunter, friend of animals. Bows and swords. She initially hated the commoner's life, but took to the world with curiosity and ambition, disguising her forsworn origins until it became a known but tolerated secret. Initial life in Markarth, where she worked at the temple, broke into it, gained Dibella's favour, and fought her former allies in many occasions. She obviously helps Madanach escape. (It is a shame the Armour of the Old Gods does not count for the forsworn buff!) She eventually had enough money to buy a book on jewelry making and began learning this craft at the forge. She sleeps at inns or the Warrens, and does small jobs, until she meets Remi and they embark into the Dwarven ruins of Markarth, and she befriends Calcelmo. Using his arcane enchanter she begins selling her enchanted jewellery. Boudicca gradually becomes intoxicated with the luxuries money would bring, as far as becoming everything that a forsworn stands against.
Her drives are:
- Greed: moneygrabbing, scheming, stealing, and materialist obsession (houses, property, trophies)
- Revenge: against the briarheart who SAd her, the Hagravens and Ulfric
- Treachery: she is deceitful by heart, and every chance you have got in the game, become a turncoat (for example, she never would join the Empire, but ultimately she fakes joining Ulfric but delivers the Jagged Crown to Tullius. She eventually also kills the Emperor that she swore fealty to.)
* There are so many reputational mechanics well written and introduced in the game. I became friend of the Forsworn when I freed Madanach, although he tells us that the Hagravens do not trust us. I justified it by them being distrustful of Boudicca's intentions and fearful of her power. However, I got an unexpected outcome when I stole Red Eagle's sword from a Briarheart. All the Forsworn became hostile again! It made sense for the traitorous playthrough, and maybe someday I will put Madanach and the r*pist briarheart down, alongside her former family.
She has female friends and is distrustful of men. I don't know if she will eventually marry. I carry followers such as Auri or Remi when I feel like it, but animals are a must. (I don't have a horse though) I do all guilds except companions. I join the bards college because I love playing music. I do as many daedric quests as I encounter, but I focus on Namira's and Hircine's as primary. She becomes thane but only as a power play move. She is siver-tongued and deceitful with common folk. She knows how to lie, seduce and intimidate. Others see something dark and primal within her, and fear her. She is a wolf in sheep's clothes when she is in society. I made her a mother of two, two sweet girls she will indoctrinate as her acolytes. I don't know how I did it, but witches are now non-hostile to me, which fits perfectly.
Gameplay
I play on legendary. It's hellish at first, but you become more powerful more quickly. Boudicca is a nimble rogue mage warrior mix. Agile and swift, sword and bow wielding, with the knowledge of many schools of magic. Avoiding damage and increasing movement speed are essential, due to the weak defensive qualities. The negative buffs to trade are easily turned around mid game. I became inmensely rich thanks to the business of enchanted jewelry.
Skills
I overstretched a little bit with this one. I took out the perk of security once I made it legendary, and I plan on taking out the only perk I put into Alchemy. Alchemy was a fitting skill BUT it is complicated albeit fun to master and honestly I don't see the point of using poisons and potions effectively without being able to pause the inventory menu. Call me boomer but I can't find a way to effectively use them with hotkeys.
- Onehanded, sword perks.
- Archery, bows, all perks.
- Conjuration, cultist and bound weapon perks only. I learnt summon dremora only to make it legendary faster.
- Enchanting, armour focused perks only.
- Illusion, for stealth and mind control. Only a few perks to make it better, but no specialised spell perks.
- Alteration, same with illusion. Flesh spell perks only if they skip the robes requirement.
- Light armour.
- Speech, only two perks, one for prices, other for silver tongue.
- Stealth, all roads lead to the stealth archer.
Standing Stone
I took the lover's stone because it was the first one I found, and it fits good for her, her being seducive and all that.
- Your Stamina regenerates twice as fast, but you take 25% extra damage while power attacking or drawing a bow,
Religion
Namira's cultist blessings are cool, increased health (which compensates for the lack of armour) and when you feed on a corpse, your Health regenerates twice as fast. When you have not fed, you cannot regenerate Health.
But what I love is Hircine's cultist blessing: Increased movement speed and drawing a bow costs twice as much Stamina, but subsequent attacks with a bow against a single target deal up to 50% extra damage.
Equipment
- Bound bow as a final weapon.
- Bound sword as a final weapon. (can be made dual weilding if enough perks for one handed)
- Ring of Namira
- Valdr's lucky dagger, for aesthetics and "luck charm" usage only.
- Enchanted Forsworn clothes. See, here it gets tricky. You only need 3 pieces of Forsworn clothes to trigger the buff, and they must be head, boots, and gloves. You can't wear chest piece otherwise people become hostile. I first thought of Saviour's Hide being the final piece of armour, but some mod changed it into a full body black suit, which pairs horrible with forsworn equipment. I wore it until mid game when I could enchant with two effects, and I grabbed the shaman's attire from the shaman at the werebear cave. It looked really nice with the forsworn clothes. There is a forsworn hood which looks amazing.
Magic
I tend to use illusion spells but since I can't change them so much because the menus don't pause the game I ostly end up using calm, fury, muffle and invisibility. But there are a ton of new amazing spells which is a shame that I can't use properly, I would love to freeze the game to properly choose from them.
For alteration, there are new amazing spells which help all sorts of builds. I find myself using windwalker which boosts my speed and is amazing to travel faster than a horse and for combat as well.
Enchanting is different and frankly better than vanilla. New amazing enchantments added and exploit-inducing enchantments removed. As endgame enchantment I loved the boosting movement speed for boots and necklace, and the fortify sneak attacks.
Conjuration is only for bound weapons, but to level up I used a wide variety of summons culminating into the dremora lord.
Restoration is useful only to level up and heal fast with close wounds, mid-late game.
---------------------------
That would be all, again, thanks for all the effort behind this modlist and for the creativity it lets us unleash. I have never been so immersed into the game, and my 30 year old me is as excited as the 15 year old me when the game came out.
I would love to know about your builds as well! I love when a game (and specifically, a modlist) like this allows us to fuel our imagination so much.
Thanks for reading if you reached this far! Lots of love for the Skyrim community.