Where's the hero tag for this one?

Can you really consider yourself a pussyfest if you lure people to their doom via traps? Is there really a moral difference?

Wait, you can broker a peace deal in the civil war?

Even on Expert difficulty, the local guards, farmers, bears and giants were more than happy to kill my dragons for me

pacifist my ass

Huh. I thought I'd done well by getting to Lvl 65 (so far) with no recorded murders or non-quest thievery.

/My character's an avowed hero.
//My next will be a serial killer to balance it out.

Some Michigander: Wait, you can broker a peace deal in the civil war?

Yep. On my first run I decided my mage didn't want to meddle in politics, so I didn't take a side and just investigated the dragons. When you have to capture a dragon, you first have to get a peace treaty with the help of the Greybeards. There were spoilers in the previous sentence.

Skyrim sucks.

So if you've never finished the game before

*steps out of mmorpg land*

Finish? They have games you can finish? They actually have an ending?

*runs back to mmorpg land to grind daily's until the next big patch*

Ed Finnerty: Bullshiat. What about all the wolves, bears, and trolls wandering about?

My first reaction would be silence, invis, and sprint, since he's an illusionist, but apparently he would just bait dragons and bears into each other and kill dungeon mobs by walking them over traps. Which is admittedly easier, but it makes this not a pacifist run. It's a technical pacifist run, which is quite different.

Actual pacifism = you actually leave everything alive, don't cause any death.

Technical Pacifism = you still slaughter half the setting, but technically keep your hands far enough from the actual proximate cause of death to retain plausible deniability. In D&D terms, this is actually generally considered _more_ evil/morally dark than just meeting foes head-on. Which, of course, makes it awesome.

yeah, so, I'm playing thorugh skyrim myself for the first time, and I find mself wondering
do I want to join the imperials, who wanted to off my head simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or do I want to join the protonazi Stormcloaks who hate my ass simply for not being a Nord

FTFA So I figured I'd kill two birds

Some pacifist.

I enjoy pacifist runs, especially in games where killing is easier. I heard you can play through Baldur's Gate with only six actual murders to progress the plot. Be better if you could go through the whole game without any kills like the Fallout series, but still a great way to challenge yourself.

Rreal: yeah, so, I'm playing thorugh skyrim myself for the first time, and I find mself wondering
do I want to join the imperials, who wanted to off my head simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or do I want to join the protonazi Stormcloaks who hate my ass simply for not being a Nord

I'm closing in on 200 hours played and have yet to choose a side. I kind of want to because it's probably the only main questline I haven't looked at yet, but I hate both sides so much, I just don't see it happening.

I've beaten Alduin after I joined the Stormcloaks, but while I did the peace treaty thing, I farked it up in the trades for peace in favor of the Imperials. Now I can't complete the quest to liberate Falkreath, which is under Stormcloak control already. I can't move on in the civil war until that quest is complete, and it sucks.

Any suggestions?

It's hard enough with mindless killing. That's a real feat.

Ed Finnerty: Bullshiat. What about all the wolves, bears, and trolls wandering about?

There are calming spells that make them non-hostile. That and running away.

Nadie_AZ: Oh- and you can't progress the Civil War at all after the peace treaty until you complete the main questline.

Well, I've killed Alduin in Sovnguard, is there any more to it?

Nadie_AZ: that damn kid: Nadie_AZ: Oh- and you can't progress the Civil War at all after the peace treaty until you complete the main questline.

Well, I've killed Alduin in Sovnguard, is there any more to it?

Nope. That should do it. Does the quest show as closed in your menu?

The main story, yes.

when asked for comment, a bear held the reporter down while woodchucks began to work away at his nads while randy chanted, stop murdering yourself, stop murdering yourself

I used to be a pacifist but then I took an arrow to the twat.

I've killed 798 people, of which 16 were murders, and slaughtered two bunnies in 130 hours of play time.

I can beat megaman 2 in one man.

stuhayes2010: I can beat megaman 2 in one man.

How do you play video games while you're in him? And doesn't he feel neglected?

Hawnkee: I used to be a pacifist but then I took an arrow to the twat.

Why would you say that?

Saw a post about this style of playthrough a few days back and decided to give it a try. It's suprisingly easy to do. I don't consider myself a "pacifist", I consider myself a "manipulator". Why get my hands dirty, when I can frenzy someone else into doing it for me? Or convince someone that walking back and forth over that nice, innocent trap is a wonderful idea.

It'll be interesting to see how many questlines are doable this way. As my character doesn't have any moral objections to having people die, I can probably start the Dark Brotherhood quests, but I'm not sure I could actually join, as I seem to remember that requiring a kill, without any traps or anyone else around. The Companions would probably be doable tho'.

This reminds me of The One Free Bullet achievement in Half-Life 2 Episode One. (The one bullet being used to open a padlock near the beginning.)

Desmo: Hawnkee: I used to be a pacifist but then I took an arrow to the twat.

Why would you say that?

Well, I'd say getting an arrow in the twat would make anyone violent.

Wayne 985: I love the story, but I have to say that Alduin was a bit too easy in Sovngarde and the ending felt anticlimactic in the sense that few people really cared. Paarthurnax and Odahviing were there to greet me when I returned and had some cool dialogue, but everyone else seemed to have an attitude of, "Yeah, you saved the world. Good job, thanks, whatever." There just doesn't seem to be a huge impact in the same way that Morrowind or Oblivion provided.

Still, I guess that's my only real complaint about the game or story. Most everything else was pretty damn amazing and well crafted.

That was my main complaint about the main storyline too. All the quest lines have been fun, the dungeons are fun, hell, wandering around aimlessly is fun.

It's been said but, letting random wildlife and guards kill off yer dragons is one thing, but to actively lure them to their doom is only pacifistic inside the mind of a sociopath.

Never played Skyrim or any of the other related games. Fark all it sounds complicated.

Bhruic: It'll be interesting to see how many questlines are doable this way. As my character doesn't have any moral objections to having people die, I can probably start the Dark Brotherhood quests, but I'm not sure I could actually join, as I seem to remember that requiring a kill, without any traps or anyone else around. The Companions would probably be doable tho'.

The intro quest to the Dark Brotherhood involves stealing a kill (which you probably can't do without direct damage, but who knows). The second step, which actually gets you invited to join, is basically you in a room with three kneeling, blindfolded prisoners and a pistol (metaphorically), and the door doesn't unlock until one of the people in the room (who isn't you) has died. Even intentionally failing the quest requires that you kill someone with your own hands/magic/whatever. So I'd imagine that's a no-go.

The Companions quests are probably doable, though. If nothing else, you're allowed to bring an NPC buddy along that can do the slaughtering for you while you heal.

Jim_Callahan:
The intro quest to the Dark Brotherhood involves stealing a kill (which you probably can't do without direct damage, but who knows). The second step, which actually gets you invited to join, is basically you in a room with three kneeling, blindfolded prisoners and a pistol (metaphorically), and the door doesn't unlock until one of the people in the room (who isn't you) has died. Even intentionally failing the quest requires that you kill someone with your own hands/magic/whatever. So I'd imagine that's a no-go.

The Companions quests are probably doable, though. If nothing else, you're allowed to bring an NPC buddy along that can do the slaughtering for you while you heal.

Oh, I know how to do the DB questline, I've done it twice already. I was just trying to be generic about it for those who haven't played through it yet. But as that time has passed...

You can probably kill the orphanage woman easily enough, although I don't think frenzy works on kids, I recall there being at least one other adult present to fight her with, so that should be doable. But while I never did it, I recall there being an option to free the blindfolded people from their bonds, it might be possible to frenzy them after doing so, which could fulfill the "someone has to die" criteria. Worth a shot, anyway - I can always reload if it doesn't work.

Scruffinator: That was my main complaint about the main storyline too. All the quest lines have been fun, the dungeons are fun, hell, wandering around aimlessly is fun.

I've never felt overly motivated to follow the main quest in any TES game. So far, in Skyrim, I've gotten as far as meeting that chick in Riverside to get the horn back for the Greybeards. After that, I park the main quest line and go join the thieves guild, then dark brother hood, etc. Hell, a man could be plenty entertained just tracking down the words of power one at a time with the help of the greybeards.

Honest Bender: Hell, a man could be plenty entertained just tracking down the words of power one at a time with the help of the greybeards.

Heh, that's what I've been doing most recently. The first one I got sent me to a dungeon with a Dragon Priest. Bastard killed me like 10 times before I finally lowered the difficulty. I know it's random, but cmon old man, I was only level 14 or so at the time!

Wayne 985: I love the story, but I have to say that Alduin was a bit too easy in Sovngarde and the ending felt anticlimactic in the sense that few people really cared. Paarthurnax and Odahviing were there to greet me when I returned and had some cool dialogue, but everyone else seemed to have an attitude of, "Yeah, you saved the world. Good job, thanks, whatever." There just doesn't seem to be a huge impact in the same way that Morrowind or Oblivion provided.

Still, I guess that's my only real complaint about the game or story. Most everything else was pretty damn amazing and well crafted.

Not to mention that you, Dovahkiin, savior of the world, can be berated by random passers-by, arrested or killed by town guards for petty crimes, the target of the Empire, etc...

But wouldn't even most pacifists agree that honest-to-god monsters should be ok to kill? I mean a dragon might be a problem since they're intelligent, but a draugr? I'd think a draugr would be a different story.