Skyrim pacifist challenge

[Jake55778]

Okay so a lot of people complain that Skyrim is too easy. So how about this; how far into the main quest can you get without killing a single thing?

At first it might sound impossible, but you can use frenzy to turn enemies on each other, calm to get out of fights, lure enemies into traps or towns to be killed by the guards, and you can always just tank while your companion does the actual killing (do companion kills affect your stats? Need to test this). If all else fails, just run away.

This is basically just a friendly competition to see how far it's possible to get. If you're interested in participating just post below. Post screenshots showing your progress, and more importantly: your stats screen showing that you still have 0 kills.

Difficulty setting is up to you, this is more about finding creative solutions in order to progress than just buffing up all the enemy stats. You will be laughed at however for playing on novice.

I have an Unbreaking III / Silk touch I diamond pickaxe as a prize for whoever completes the main quest first (or gets the farthest).

[Rock Beefchest]

I am in jake, I accept your pansy challenge. I shall be the pansiest of them all!

[Rock Beefchest]

btw when do we start. Also my screenshot will be ghetto as all hell I play on the playstation and have no idea how to screen capture from my tv and have no interest in learning, so i will be taking shots with my iphone.

[andy25100]

If it is just the main story i will do your challenge, who says restoration & illusion are pointless colleges, anyway i hope you enjoy terrible pictures from my iPod as that is what you will be getting for proof.

[Jake55778]

Okay I've started my run. Playing as a Khajit for the sneak bonus early on.
Leveling:
Heavy armor*
Illusion
Sneak*
Pickpocket
Restoration
Block*
Enchanting
Smithing*
Alchemy

*Priorities

I also checked and it turns out companion kills do add to your stats, so my plan of kitting out a follower to protect me has failed.

*edit*
Why did no one ever tell me pickpocket was so good?!

[Rock Beefchest]

ok will start tonight I guess

[XDelphi]

I'll give this a go. I'll start tomorrow, although I'm on console so you'll just have to take my word for it

[sag185]

Take a photo on your phone and upload? :3

[Jake55778]

I am now level 25 and off to kill the first dragon. Kinda slow I know, I got distracted looting things. I learned several important lessons today:
1- Pickpocketing is awesome. I now own everything of value in Whiterun and can steal an enemy's sword right out of their hands. Unfortunately since it's all stolen I can't sell any of it yet.
2- Both Pickpocketing and smithing level you up fast. Don't attempt Bleak Falls Barrow at level 20 armed with only novice level illusion spells that no longer work on the enemies there. I basically had to sprint or sneak past every draugr and lure the boss into one of the traps. The puzzle wall was particularly challenging with 4 draugr hitting me in the back as I tried to solve it.
3- Don't try and level up illusion by casting frenzy on a chicken.

[aflycon]

I learned enough from my "How to Be a Fucking Badass in Skyrim" playthrough to know that you need to seriously level your shit up before you do anything. Even with a high unarmed combat (which is pretty shitty as it is in Skyrim), the game is hard. .-.

Also: Challenge accepted.

[BlackKnight]

I was looking for a way to make skyrim a bit more interesting so I'm in. does having mods matter? I don't have cheat ones, I only have ones that make the game better as a whole like horses that actually sprint faster than a snail. I can link them all if you want.

[BlackKnight]

Tutorial Level Complete.
I am playing as a naked dunmer pure healer. Yes I will be naked for the entire main quest except for maybe rings and amulets. I am only going to be using restoration magic.

[Wildwill002]

Thats given me an idea blackknight... How about a secondary harder challenge. I.E. Playing pacifist but with no armour or shields etc and the only time you can heal is when you find a bed. It saves on potion weight at least :3

Oh and theres no chance of me actually doing this as im still focusing on my level 74 redguard and trying to get the last of my mage skills up... everything else is 100 except the freaking spell schools...

[Godavari]

Alright, this seems like fun. I'll give it a whirl.

[Jake55778]

Just got me some ebony armor.

[Jake55778]

Meet Mercer Frey, head of the thieves guild and a surprisingly capable fighter. He's been stuck tagging along with me ever since I found out that the mission he was supposed to be accompanying me on couldn't be completed without adding to your kills stat. What's interesting though is that it only seems to apply in that one dungeon, any kills he makes outside of it don't seem to add to my stats. So I now effectively have a companion to do my dirty work. The only drawback being that he won't carry my stuff.

[aflycon]

He is also a massive asshat.

[Jake55778]

Whatever, he kills dragons for me now, he's allowed to be an asshat. I have him kitted out with 2 ebony swords* and some enchanted gear and can buff and heal him with various spells to make him even more effective in combat.
It feels odd to be playing support though. Almost like role reversal; where he's the dovahkiin hero and I'm just the tag along companion. Although of course I can be a lot more effective in support than the AI normally is.

*Easier said than done. I had to use pickpocketing to plant them in his inventory, and he's surprisingly difficult to sneak up on.

[Lathania]

I am now level 25 and off to kill the first dragon. Kinda slow I know, I got distracted looting things. I learned several important lessons today:
1- Pickpocketing is awesome. I now own everything of value in Whiterun and can steal an enemy's sword right out of their hands. Unfortunately since it's all stolen I can't sell any of it yet.
2- Both Pickpocketing and smithing level you up fast. Don't attempt Bleak Falls Barrow at level 20 armed with only novice level illusion spells that no longer work on the enemies there. I basically had to sprint or sneak past every draugr and lure the boss into one of the traps. The puzzle wall was particularly challenging with 4 draugr hitting me in the back as I tried to solve it.
3- Don't try and level up illusion by casting frenzy on a chicken.

According to the Wiki muffle levels your illusion up abnormally fast. I found this to be true before reading it, spamming muffle over and over gave me level 95-100 in a few minutes, even though i spent hours spamming invisibility while I was walking.

I'll participate in this challenge, on Master of course

[Jake55778]

I've been spamming all the NPCs with courage. Seems to be leveling me up pretty quick. I'll try muffle though.

Enchanting is a pain on the other hand. It's tedious enough to level in a normal run, but on pacifist you have no way to fill your own soul gems.

[Wildwill002]

Enchanting was one of the first 3 skills i got up. Just go to mehrunes dagon's shrine and theres several filled black soul gems there for pacifists. If you aint doing the challenge just get the black star and kill the odd bandit

[Jake55778]

That's a nice start, but it takes hundreds of enchantments to level up to 100. I don't know if I can afford to buy that many filled soul gems.

I might just level it up slowly with a trainer. I can pickpocket my money back off them afterwards I've discovered.

*edit*
Found a good method. Disenchanting scales with the value of the enchanted object. So just use pickpocket to steal all the high level robes right off the mages at the college and disenchant them. It only works once per enchantment, so it's not foolproof, but it's a big chunk of exp

[vallorn]

That's a nice start, but it takes hundreds of enchantments to level up to 100. I don't know if I can afford to buy that many filled soul gems.

I might just level it up slowly with a trainer. I can pickpocket my money back off them afterwards I've discovered.

*edit*
Found a good method. Disenchanting scales with the value of the enchanted object. So just use pickpocket to steal all the high level robes right off the mages at the college and disenchant them. It only works once per enchantment, so it's not foolproof, but it's a big chunk of exp

another way is to synergise your Alchemy, Smithing and Enchantment leveling. to do so you: Make Armor and Potions of Enchanting (the ones that boost your enchantment strength also boost the XP you get from each item enchanted) then enchant the armor to give you either better smithing or alchemy depending on which one you need more then rinse and repeat.

[andy25100]

I've finally got round to starting this challenge, let's bring the healing

[Godavari]

I cleared out the fort of bandits north of Goldenglow Estate today. I sicced their own wolves on them! This challenge is pretty fun, though I admit I'm playing on Apprentice difficulty.

[Jake55778]

Well I finished the mission Diplomatic Immunity. Have fun getting the trap door key without killing.

I think I'm nearly at a point where I can finish the main quest without any more leveling. I just need one more perk in illusion so I have a way to deal with draugr. I hope Mr Frey comes with me to the final area, if not those dragon fights are gonna be a real pain.

[vallorn]

Well I finished the mission Diplomatic Immunity. Have fun getting the trap door key without killing.

I think I'm nearly at a point where I can finish the main quest without any more leveling. I just need one more perk in illusion so I have a way to deal with draugr. I hope Mr Frey comes with me to the final area, if not those dragon fights are gonna be a real pain.

uh. how will you break Alduin?

[Jake55778]

Tank him and let the dudes from sovngarde do the damage. Hopefully the earlier encounters won't count as kills since he just retreats.

I'll probably have to improvise. I don't remember enough of the main quest to plan everything out in advance.

[vallorn]

Tank him and let the dudes from sovngarde do the damage. Hopefully the earlier encounters won't count as kills since he just retreats.

I'll probably have to improvise. I don't remember enough of the main quest to plan everything out in advance.

well let me just say... you HAVE to get a staff off of a DracoLich to activate the Sovengarde portal.

a Disarm shout could do it but you may have to kill him

also you may not know this but you can have an animal companion as well as Mercer. i suggest you start the Molag Bal quest. tell the dog you want to take him there. then you have an immortal dog companion AND mercer!

[Jake55778]

Hopefully I'll be able to resurrect some draugr or something to kill the lich. I'd rather not overthink it. The improvising and finding ways to get around problems like that are what makes this playthrough fun. I don't mind giving myself as many tools to work with as possible, but I don't plan them with specific encounters in mind.