Oblivion:Roleplaying/Dark Lord

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Contents 1 Description 2 Creating an Army 3 Looking the Part 4 An Evil Lair 5 Unholy Magic 6 A Weapon 7 Assuming the Dark Throne

[edit] Description

The forces of evil often are personified in a Dark Lord. He is often depicted as a diabolical force, and may, indeed, be more a force than a personality. The effects of his rule often assert malign effects on the land as well as his subjects. Besides his usual magical abilities, he often controls great armies.

• This is best played as either an Altmer, Breton, or Dunmer.
• The face should be pale, with narrow, dark eyes and a frown in the eyebrows. Preferably no hair, but if you must have hair, make it black.
• Reach Master level in all magical skills. This shows you are highly dangerous and a Master of everything magical.

[edit] Creating an Army

• For your evil mage/necromancer army, get these followers: Adoring Fan, Amusei, Dark Brotherhood Murderer, Erthor, (If you don't want to reach a high rank in the Mage's Guild, although you won't have any access to spell making or enchanting, unless you have the Frostcrag Spire official plug-in) Guilbert Jemane, Reynald Jemane, Knight of the Nine, (do the Knights of the Nine first, complete the quest line and get the follower as soon as you complete it, so you shouldn't have gotten rid of a major amount of Infamy. From there on in, you can keep the Crusader's Armour, although it wouldn't make you a cruel, vile, Dark Lord. Only complete the Knights of the Nine for the follower, and complete that faction before any others) Martin, Jauffre, Mage Apprentice, Battlehorn Men-At-Arms, Velwyn Benirus, (you won't get Benirus Manor if you keep him as a follower) Modryn Oreyn, Mazoga the Orc (Knights of the White Stallion quest, because it doesn't matter whether or not she dies in that quest) and possibly Ulrich Leland. Bear in mind, however, that you can only have eight followers at one time. These followers can easily be obtained by starting their relevant quest and not completing it. A list of these followers and more, along with the associated quests can be found on the Followers page.
• When your followers "suddenly die" put them on the altar in Benirus Manor or on a shrine to Sithis and lay a dagger next to them.
• Dress up your army! Do this for one follower at a time. Note: when you reverse pickpocket the items in this step by step guide, you may need to tell your followers to wait, exit the cell, wait 24 hours then go back to your followers. They should be wearing the armor/robes. If not, keep exiting the cell and waiting, then entering the cell your followers are in. Alternatively, attack them with your fists or something weak.

1. First, make a 100% Chameleon suit.

2. Then make a Disintegrate Armor spell, 100pts for 1 second. Alternatively, you can enchant a weak dagger such as rusty iron, with a Transcendent Sigil Stone (50pts)

3. Enchant a black robe, black hood and the permanent bound boots all with Shock Shield from a Transcendent Sigil Stone which can be found in Oblivion Gates at level 17 and above. The Sigil Stone will provide 25% protection for each piece of clothing (black robe and hood, bound boots and gauntlets) this will provide a total of 85% protection and ensure your follower stays alive. Name each item "Aaaaaa".

4. Next, perform the Permanent Bound Item glitch for all pieces of armor except for shield and helmet.

5. Enchant the gauntlets and boots with Shock Shield from a Transcendent Sigil Stone (25%) and name each one "Aaaaaa". This is to ensure the follower equips the first item in their inventory. The items in an inventory are listed in alphabetical order so by having a string of an "a" multiple times, this will ensure they equip the armor.

6. Duplicate them and reverse pickpocket them onto your follower except for the boots and gauntlets. If they are wearing armor (Murderer, Mazoga, Knight of the Nine) proceed to the next step. Your follower should now be wearing armor and not wearing the clothes they previously had.

7. Pickpocket the previous clothes they were wearing or any other clothes in their inventory BEFORE you gave them the bound armor.

8. Wear the Chameleon suit and repeatedly cast the Disintegrate Armor spell until your follower is stark naked.

9. Duplicate the enchanted robe, hood and boots and reverse pickpocket one of each item to each follower. They will have nothing else to equip in terms of clothing and will therefore be forced to equip the robes, hood, gauntlets and boots.

10. Repeat this method with as many followers as you like. This can also be used on the Arcane University and other Mages Guilds, to make it look like you have hundreds of Necromancers at your command. Obviously, that will take a lot longer than just carrying out the method on your followers.

• If you wish to give your followers some weapons, perform the 'Permanent Bound Items' glitch on a mace, claymore, (sword) warhammer or war axe. Enchant it with Absorb Health from a Transcendent Sigil Stone, so they get 25 pts of health per hit, or enchant your own with a Grand Soul Gem. The soul gem method can give you a duration for the hit.

• To add to your army, use the console to make your followers part of the necromancer and undead factions. Then summon a Lich and use the CreateFullActorCopy console command many times to create a huge army of undead servants. Use different undead creatures if desired. You could have about five of each undead creature, to add variety.

• (This is for Xbox users mainly, for PC players, you could download a companion mod). All Dark Lords need their mistress. So, out of your followers, choose one, and have her wait in your bedchambers. A mistress will not be heavily armored, so try robes, or any dark clothing. A good idea for a decent looking mistress is around the Arcane University, any of the apprentice mages. You can pretend to be taking orders from your mistress, or that she simply lives to serve you.

• Your Champion. Your champion should be inhuman, preferably through Conjuration. This is good for the magical dark lord, but works just as well for the Armored Dark Lord. Simply pick something you truly like, but try to keep it to your motif. If you are a magical dark lord, you are left with many choices. Some good ideas for a mage would be any of the larger astronachs. For armored dark lords, your choices depend on your armor. A daedric armed dark lord wouldn't truly match with a Frost Astronach. And even the magical qualities of a Storm Astronach wouldn't match as well either. A good one would be a daedroth. For a female dark lord, Daedric Lords or other male humanoids work well. Simply create a spell summoning this creature, and extend it to as far as you can, and call it "Call of (Made up name)" or something of that sort. This also makes the beast your secret weapon, one whom they almost fear as much as yourself.

[edit] Looking the Part

• Wear a black robe, a Black Hand robes and hood, or the King of Worms' robe with a black hood (a King of Worm's Hood is available with the Console command player.additem 001885CC 1 but otherwise does not appear in the game). Remember, black is the color of death and the color of the Dark Lord's soul.
• Another good idea, for those who want to take a different approach to the dark lord look, is to get full Daedric armor, or download any mod armor (Armor of the Fallen is a great one), of course your melee skills would than take SOME precedence over your magical skills, but the two would be better if they were balanced.
• You could also use the Madness Armor from the Shivering Isles mod. It's black, and evil-looking, so it fits the bill.

[edit] An Evil Lair

• Live in Benirus Manor and use the secret room in the basement as a base for your loyal servants. Just tell all of them to wait in there, ready to be called upon at your command. Pretend they are practicing their evil spells (that you taught them of course) and concocting some lethal potions and poisons. On the other hand, if you download the Vile Lair, you can live in that horrible place as well or instead of Benirus Manor.
• If you're skilled in modding, you can help your rule along by making a mod that makes all characters unessential - or you can mod your own dark mansion high in the Jerall mountains and spread out from there.
• Also place your followers in coffins and other dark things like the bathtubs in Fort Farragut which would be another good place to have your Lair.
• Outside your evil lair, use the console to spawn a Dark Guardian to guard it. Use the CreateFullActorCopy console command to make many undead guards.
• For those who don't have the PC Oblivion, you can use some of the Mage Apprentices as guards. Arm them in bound armor, or in some other evil motif, and have them wait outside your doors and inside your house.

[edit] Unholy Magic

• You're cruel. You're evil. You're vile. Start acting like it. A few particular spells such as Heart Attack and Helpless suffering which immobilize your opponents while draining their health, are very nasty spells that you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of. One spell that can also be useful is called Kneel which is basically Damage Fatigue 100pts 5 seconds (or for the longest duration that you can) and Drain Fatigue 100 pts for 1 second. The resulting effect will look like the target is being forced to bow down to you. For a list of useful spells including Heart Attack and Hallucination, check out the page here.
• Acquire Transcendent Sigil Stones (lvl.17+) of Fortify Magicka and Resist Magic. Keep performing the "Permanent Effects from Quest Items" glitch with normal clothing. Keep repeating the glitch on different pieces of clothing until you have 1000 maximum magicka and 100% Resist Magic. You will have a massive pool of Magicka, be able to cast powerful spells, and will be immune to pathetic magical attempts to kill you. No mage can defeat the Dark Lord.

[edit] A Weapon

• Your weapons of choice should include a powerful Destruction staff, and the Staff of Worms and the Skull of Corruption. Arguably the best staff in the game is the Staff of Indarys at level 25 and over. This staff deals out a powerful shock enchantment. Alternatively you could enchant your own staff from the quest "Whom Gods Annoy". The instructions for creating your own staff from that quest can be found on this page under the "Notes" section.
• For those who choose the Armored Dark lord type (the Sauron type) a good weapon would be to have a two handed daedric weapon, or claymore, or Shadowrend or The Dragonsword of Lainlyn as alternatives. A shield and sword are not recommended, because the presence of a shield means you plan on a duel, a Dark Lord is challenged by none, and the boldness of a two handed weapon shows this.

[edit] Assuming the Dark Throne

• If you have downloaded the Shivering Isles expansion, try to reach the point where you can choose which half of the realm you want to rule. Choose Dementia and become the Duke (or Duchess) of that land. The House of Dementia Throne Room is a dark, shady place and suits the sinister personality of a Dark Lord. Alternatively, complete the Shivering Isles questline and instead of sitting on Sheogorath's throne, sit on the throne where Syl used to sit.
• If you're using the PC, use the console commands to make yourself part of the Undead and Necromancer factions. After all, you are in control of a great army. Also, consider using the console to set the weather to permanently be thunderstorm or oblivion weather.
• In your home city, slaughter every single character in that particular city, including the Count/Countess and their stewards. If you have built up all of your magical skills and used the "Permanent Effects" glitch with Fortify Magicka, this should be no problem. Afterward, use the console to set the weather to permanently be thunderstorm or oblivion weather. You can then spread your followers out across the city, like watchmen or spies. Pretend that these actions will completely annihilate the reputation of the city and will become the dreaded city of darkness; a place where the Dark Lord rules supreme. A good idea is to use Kvatch as it is already destroyed and barren.
• Using the console's help, work your way around Tamriel and take over each city, village, etc. Pretend that taking out certain cities will help cause the downfall of the other cities; perhaps if you take Anvil and Skingrad, the empire will slowly lose supplies, making it easier to have the other cities collapse. Eventually, work your way up to the Imperial City and take out Chancellor Ocato, then proclaim yourself Emperor and dark master.
• Run up a massive bounty in your home city and lower everyone's disposition to zero, even those you can't kill, so every time you return your underlings will attempt to rebel against you.
• Either complete the Mages Guild questline, (losing Erthor as a follower) defeating the King of Worms and becoming the new Dark Lord and Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild. Then lead the Mages Guild into darkness, giving lessons on Mysticism, Destruction, soul trapping and the Dark Arts to the members. On the other hand, you could do anything in your terrible, unholy power to kill the members of the Guild.

• Use detect life to hunt down everyone and everything, nothing spreads fear like charging at your underlings when they think it's safe to leave their homes.
• Use the Benirus Manor or Vile Lair or another mod. Take body parts that you can get throughout Cyrodiil, like your horrible experiments went wrong.

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