In previous sections, we were focused almost entirely on selecting our skills and perks. Part One covered what are in my opinion a nightblade’s core skills, and Part Two covered my nightblade’s “supplemental” skills. Skills and perks are what make up a class, and so I felt these were important to establish before moving on.

This third section will include a bit of discussion about everything else: which races are best for a nightblade, the spells a nightblade uses, equipment considerations, and a few miscellaneous notes.

During your journey through life, you may have heard of a storytelling medium called the “visual novel.” You may have mocked the shit out of it. I have, and now I’m surprised to confess that I regret doing so. I guess I even think that one such visual novel, Katawa Shoujo, is worth playing.

iPhone apps: The Thinking Man’s lemonade stand.

When I announced suddenly that I’d made an iPhone app, I got lots of praise and general pats on the back. I also got a lot of the same sort of questions over and over. How’d you do it? What’s it for? And, most commonly…

Why?

So here’s the story behind SkyChart: A Perk Calculator for Skyrim.

Welcome back! In Part One of my Skyrim Nightblade Build series, we decided that building a nightblade in Skyrim required three core skills:  One-handed, Sneak, and Illusion. In Part Two, we’ll consider some more skills, and finish allocating our perk points.

There are many directions we could go from here, depending on how we want our nightblade to play. The nature of the game requires us to choose just a few more skills to invest our perk points in, even though there are many that we would find useful. Keep in mind that we can still use all of the skills, level them up, and enjoy some benefits from them. We just won’t be purchasing perk points in all of them.

The nightblade has been a favorite archetype of mine since Morrowind. Combining stealth and precision with a strong command of magic, he (or she) is the ultimate smart character. Yes, sometimes it’s satisfying to run up and hack at your enemies with a giant sword. But there’s an edgy badass feeling that comes with materializing from the shadows and slitting your enemy’s throat before they can make a sound. And magic is just too cool to pass up.

So, as I start to think about creating a character in Skyrim, the nightblade is what comes to mind first. I want to move quickly, strike with precision, and be mystical. I’m sure I’ll revise it as I play, but here is my tentative plan for allocating my perks.

Two free chapters from my upcoming novels are now available. I’m very excited to share them, and I hope that reading them excites you too.

I’d love to hear some feedback from you, even if it’s just to say “good job.” (Well let’s be honest, I’d especially like to hear that sort of feedback :P)

In any case, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more goodies and the release of my first novel.

As you breathlessly await the release of my novels, you may find yourself searching for ways to pass the time. So, I thought I’d provide you with a list of a few of my favorite books with convenient affiliate links to Amazon.

It’s probably too early to be saying this, but I can’t help it. In the coming months, I’ll be releasing some free chapters from some of the projects I’ve been working on. I know that this early on, most of my audience is comprised of my family and friends, but that makes me even more excited to share this with you guys.