How to Roleplay as a Sellsword? Mods?

[NNS10]

I'm trying to roleplay a ruthless sellsword, but aside from doing bounties (which gets old fast, especially since you can't pick them) I'm not sure what else my character can do. I don't want to run around talking to people in hopes of getting a quest either. The character is a sellsword and isn't out to do good deeds--it's to earn gold.

 

Are there any ideas I'm missing? Or maybe mods I should be using (note: I already use Bounty Gold). The idea is to be able to take on dangerous jobs and get paid for it.

[Kuロi]

If you won't do Vanilla quests, there isn't much that can be done other than simple bounties. There's a limit to what mods can add.

 

I tend to just roleplay the answers in a manner that makes sense to my character. I'll usually change any "I could help you" to "I could help you, for a fee." Since every NPC promises a reward right after, it usually works out my way. But there's not way to really make a Sellsword-stylized Skyrim, since Beth didn't leave much options to roleplay with.

 

Your only real hope is to look at various quest mods and see which ones fit the Sellsword type. But that's temporary at best.

[NNS10]

Any other opinions?

[Aydoo]

Well you could design a mod that makes every npc quest giver in the game give you  a starting pittance of gold when they start a quest as your "advance" pay to do their quest.

[Guest]

Mods like Radiant and other content generation types can help create the illusion of living the life of a soldier of fortune. NPC spawners make the world feel more lively, spontaneous and provide for some opportunistic game play. Add in some trading route mods, survival mods, hunting mods, crafting mods, that sort of thing, maybe something to allow you to ultimately run your own hold.

 

I've played this way a lot in the past, but I've never taken a character much beyond 25 or 30 before I get a bit tired of it. I guess even for a dedicated roleplayer there are limits to how far not having any overarching objectives tied together can take you in a game like Skyrim which only triggers events when you're in a specific cell.

 

Online sandbox games are brilliant for that feeling of being able to be a nobody in a bustling world that moves at a pace you're not dictating. Shame ESO wasn't that game eh?

 

[Redflyingmonkey]

Try out the Dev Aveza and the "Jarl of Ivarstead" mod. There are a lot of quests with that last mod that really look like merc work, just stop before becoming jarl and move on to something else, but it should take you quite a bit of time to get there. The Dev Aveza is awesome for roleplaying pirates or merc, get some nice followers and put them in the skyship, and just stroll around Skyrim while doing some bounties from the Radiant mod. 

Had a 100+ hour playthrough with something resembling a merc/pirate thingy, and with some help from Sexlab it was quite a lot of fun. 

[NNS10]

[...] and just stroll around Skyrim while doing some bounties from the Radiant mod.

 

What's this referring to?

 

I have ERSO 09.2 – Radiance, but I don't recall bounties from that. Are you referring to something different?

[Rayblue]

I remember that the follower mod Hoth also issued radiant quests.

[aabirin]

I usually just make someone my follower with AFT, then play out "missions" that I make up, and then give myself money with the console. Its not the most fun, but its something.

[NNS10]

Still no answer to the "Radiant mod" question (is it the same as ERSO Radiance?).

 

Aside from that, this isn't very encouraging. Sounds like the only way to roleplay a sellsword or mercenary is to do bounty quests, which is pretty limiting, especially since you can't even pick the bounty target.

[Redflyingmonkey]

Oh yeah my bad, I meant doing some bounties from the Jarl of Ivarstead mod, they hire you to beat up some orange skinned savages or whatever, plus if you get the Radiance mod on your game already, you'll run into fun encounters while doing it so it's not always the same thing over and over. Interesting NPCs is nice too for merc roleplay, most of the quests introduced with it are some kind of "jobs" you get paid to do, if you check on their website you can choose whichever have the most "merc" feel to them and try them out. Maybe make yourself a little diary with the quests you want to do, at which level etc. Would also advise Falskaar, place looks like shite but again, merc themed roleplay elements there. Make yourself a little merc company with Interesting NPC followers. 

[NNS10]

Oh yeah my bad, I meant doing some bounties from the Jarl of Ivarstead mod, they hire you to beat up some orange skinned savages or whatever, plus if you get the Radiance mod on your game already, you'll run into fun encounters while doing it so it's not always the same thing over and over. Interesting NPCs is nice too for merc roleplay, most of the quests introduced with it are some kind of "jobs" you get paid to do, if you check on their website you can choose whichever have the most "merc" feel to them and try them out. Maybe make yourself a little diary with the quests you want to do, at which level etc. Would also advise Falskaar, place looks like shite but again, merc themed roleplay elements there. Make yourself a little merc company with Interesting NPC followers. 

 

Have you tried Castle Invasion? That's also by the mod author of "Jarl of Ivarstead."

 

Curious if that's any good and playable. Saw some posts stating it had broken navmeshes that even TES5Edit couldn't repair automatically.

[Redflyingmonkey]

Nah don't try that, custom textures everywhere too so the framerate goes ploof, plus with the number of actors in the melee you just can't play it. Even Jarl of Ivarstead is pretty demanding, but a bit more optimized than CastleInvasion ... Almost burned up my laptop with that stuff, it was even worse than the earliest stages of Civil War Overhaul if you've played this mod when it was the buggiest shit ever.