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Community Challenges

These are challenges set by the community - for those lacking inspiration for what to do

Wildlander: The Serf Start

Is your Wildlander experience too easy? Well with just three easy steps, find out how you can make your early game an even more miserable experience, the medieval way.

The goal of this challenge is to begin your Wildlander character as truly helpless as possible, emulating the life of a peasant farmer in the dark ages. This will make the early game incredibly difficult, and force the player to rely on non-combat methods of increasing their skills, like training and studying.

  1. After creating your character, remove all background related skills and perks.
    1. Lower your background related skills by using the command player.setav (skill id) 0. You may optionally keep your race related skill bonuses, ie if you pick the Nord race, you may keep the skill bonuses you recieve from your race.
    2. Remove all perks. You cannot remove the unspent perk points you start with, so first you must spend the perks, then use the command player.removeperk (perk id). In order to find out what the perk id is, utilize the command “help (perk)”. For example, if you spent your perk point on the first Alchemy tree perk, Alchemical Lore, type help “alchemical lore”.
  2. Next, remove all background related starting gear from your inventory.
    • For most characters, this will include a weapon, some armor, and some miscellaneous gear, like a toolkit.
    • You may keep any gear which a peasant would reasonable have, like a torch.
  3. Finally, drop all your gold.

Congratulations you are now ready to experience the world of Skyrim as its people would, like a true medieval peasant. For even more added difficulty, consider the following optional challenges.

  1. Lower skill gain in the Requiem MCM menu. I recommend 50%.
  2. Do not commit any crimes. The Divines frown upon unseemly deeds.
  3. Only save at the start of each day, after waking up.

This challenge was intended to be played alongside DamnPeasants’s own challenge, to create a truly miserable experience. Being the dragonborn is optional, but for true serfdom, pick non-dragonborn.

Lizzy’s

  • Saves are only permitted when passing though a doorway with a load screen, or when sleeping
  • You are only permitted to craft what you will use - you cannot craft items for sale.
  • You are limited to buying 5 spellbooks total. (everything else you must either find, or craft using spell research)
  • You are allowed a maximum of one mercenary/follower (exclusing any which are forced on you by quests)
  • YOU CANNOT STEAL MIDNIGHT (or Frost)
  • be respectful of the dead - you cannot strip corpses of anything except Gold, jewelry or weapons

Wes’s

  • no chopping wood
  • turn skill rate in req mcm all the way down to 50%
  • only change weapons with hot keys. No pause menu.
  • no use of potions &/or food while in combat
  • press the x key & never use your hud. (Only get hints from sounds & message popups)

DamnPeasants

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS:

You start from the F10 start, with no perk points.

Trainers are only allowed up to skill level 25 (Apprentice)

Alchemy is completely prohibited - Alternatively, Ingredients used for alchemy must be gathered manually and the 2nd Alchemical lore perk is off limits.

Merchant perk from the speech tree is not allowed.

Skill books may only be studied between the hours 6pm-12am (you are an adventurer, not a student. You may only read at night, before bed.) Same hours are allotted for spell research.

Once you DO become a student, at the college of winterhold you may spend the weekends in the library studying - no, not any day will do; ONLY WEEKENDS SPECIFICALLY.

HUNTERBORN

Do not interfere with the time mechanics - leave them as is.

CRAFTING

No, you may NOT sell paper crafted with an alembic or made from broken down ruined books.

Want to make mage scrolls with the paper instead and sell it? This is fine. Though note the limitations on buying spell books.

No you may not spam craft jewellery once your smithing reaches 50 just because trade routes gives you access to a ton of gold and silver in Markarth.

Should you want to craft jewellery, then you must find the raw materials for it yourself. (Mining / Looting / Breaking down sources)

And, lastly, you may not haul dwarven metal and raise your smithing to the moon with it. Maximum of 3 sets of armor and 3 of every weapon may be crafted and tempered. (Generous, aren’t I?)

DECISION MAKING / BEHAVIOR

You may not loot anything the guards killed - this includes animals which strayed into towns or vampires from missive quests. If you didnt kill it yourself with no assistance, you cant loot it.

You may not loot enemy armour FROM CORPSES that has a V/W ratio of less than 50, unless enchanted - this to prevent breaking down trash gear and leveling smithing. (Looting anything from containers is allowed.)

You may however take what you intend to use, and NOT sell. Example: You want an orcish sword - you find orcish armour; you may break it down and craft/pay someone to craft a sword with it

Items you may loot from corpses:

  • Gold
  • jewellery / Gems
  • Scrolls / Staves
  • Lockpicks
  • Raw materials
  • Food/Water

You may not engage in combat while on top of a horse - this since the rest of skyrim apparently doesn’t either.

You may not steal a horse, unless already lost the divines favor.

You may only BUY a total of 3 spell books - the rest must be found, gained through perks or through spell research. (If you want to be a mage, then I suggest you familiarize yourself with spell reserach.)

You may not hire followers before level 10, and you may not assign them to heal you or cast armour spells on you.

If you are a summoner with the “Cognitive flexibility” perk you may NOT have any followers.

You are also limited to a maximum of one follower, with the exception of when dragon hunting - you may bring as big a party as you can afford for such occasions. For RP reasons, ofc.

Last, and most important, you may only save at dungeon enterances and (before or after) walking through doors with loading screens. I recommend you disable all forms of auto saves in the settings > Gameplay menu.

OPTIONAL

Restoration is very powerful and easy to level - that’s why I suggest restricting yourself from the “Power of life perk”, or at the verk least the perk “Essence of life”

Orc not allowed - because they’re OP.

JU12000’s Wandering Merchant Challenge

This one is more of an immersion challenge. You have only one life (unless you die to a collision glitch or something). You can not use armor, or learn any tradesman skills (enchanting, alchemy, smithing). You must walk the roads and cities of Skyrim unless in combat or avoiding combat. You may do delivery and gather missives, but you may never clear a dungeon or initiate an attack on any creature. Combat is only allowed in self defense and even then illusion spells like Calm are preferred. Followers are allowed and should be used to do the bulk of your combat. You may loot items only if they have a value/weight of 50 or more, or if you know they’re part of a trade route leg. You must learn the trade routes of Skyrim and walk them for money.

The Ironman

  1. What you start with is the only Armor allowed.
    • Enchants to weapons or armor are not permitted.
    • No rings or necklaces for any character.
    • Weapons must not exceed Iron/wooden tier. You can buy replacement bows if they break or swap out a sword for a Axe/dagger/Mace.
    • You are permitted to only have armor and weapons tempered by Alvor in Riverwood. No one else. (and this is only to allow you to repair degraded gear)
    • Mages may use a replacement robe (novice only) to replace their chest.
  2. No perks can be learned after your initial starting 6 perks.
  3. No followers (except for where quests force you)
  4. If you are a mage, You can use up-to apprentice spells only. You are permitted to buy spells up to this tier, but no higher.
  5. Shouts are allowed, but each only taken up to the second word (obviously you don’t have a choice on Unrelenting Shout, as they give it all to you in the questline whether you want it or not)
  6. Buffs from food are allowed, also feel free to up your Magicka/Health/Stamina at each level - just no perks, don’t forget
  7. No Additional mods other than what is in the pack.
  8. No turning on fast travel…horses are fine, carraiges are allowed since you pay for it.
  9. Restorative potions are allowed, fortify potions are not. Poisons are OK.
  10. No console commands to give items, get places, kill creatures/people, etc ABSOLUTLY NO GOD MODE.
  11. If you take another form (Vampire, Vampire Lord, Werewolf) due to a faction questline, do not take the perks associated with it either…outside of that I think it’s acceptable since there are in-game limitations placed on you for those things.
  12. You are not allowed to turn off Sunhelm, Frostfall or any other mods in the MCM.
  13. If you die - thats it. End of run