The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire [Guide]

The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire is the latest DLC for Skyrim. It adds a host of simulation opens, allowing players to purchase their own plot of land and build a house on it, as well as adopt children. This guide will teach you how to get this all done, and unlock all of the new achievements!

Table of Contents
1. Buying a plot of land
2. Building Houses
3. Adopting a Child
4. Achievements

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1. BUYING A PLOT OF LAND
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When walking around one of the cities in Skyrim, a courier will approach a letter. If you never receive a letter, you can just go directly to the cities after downloading the DLC and start at it that way as well.

There are three available plots  in the game. They are in the following cities:

Falkreath
Morthal
Dawnstar

To purchase the plot of land in Falkreath, speak to Tekla in the Jarl’s Longhouse.

To purchase the plot of land in Morthal, speak to Aslfur at Highmoon Hall.

To purchase the plot of land in Dawnstar, go to The White Hall and speak with the Jarl.

You will want to choose the conversation option of “I want to buy a house.” They will then tell you that there are no houses for sale, but there are plots of land slightly outside the cities where they say you can build a house. Each plot of land costs 5,000 gold, so if you want to purchase all three plots, you will need 15,000 gold total. I recommend getting the achievement for having over 100,000 on you before doing this.

If any of these people refuse to sell you the land, it is because you are not in good standing with the residents there. In order to fix that issue, do quests for the Jarl until they are willing to sell you a house.

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2. BUILDING HOUSES
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Upon purchasing your plot of land, the quest arrow on the compass at the top of the screen will point you to your new plot of land. Go there and then you will find a chest with supplies, an anvil for metal-working, and a workbench with an architect map on it that will allow you to actually design and build the house.

Before you can start building the house, be sure you have materials. Ingots that can be smelted into steel or whatever they’re made of are good to have around, as is plenty of wood. Wood can be acquired at the lumber mills.

When you have the necessary supplies, start designing your own home! As you build the house, you will be asked to build various rooms. I recommend creating rooms for children so that you can later adopt a child.

Beyond that, building your house is a matter of taste. You can add on different wings to your house, such as a greenhouse or an alchemy lab. It’s all a matter of preference. As long as you have the necessary supplies and materials, building your house in Skyrim is fairly easy and straightforward!

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3. ADOPTING A CHILD
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Hearthfire DLC also allows players to adopt children! Be sure to have your wife move in to your new home, and hire a steward as well. At the carpenter’s workbench inside your home, start building. Go to the Child’s Bed tab.

To build a Child’s Bed, you will need a Sawn Log, Nails, 2 Leather Strips, and Straw.

You will also want to build a Child’s Chest.

To build a Child’s Chest, you will need a Sawn Log, Nails, Iron Fittings, 2 Hinge, and a Lock. You can create the hinges and locks by using the anvil outside.

When the child’s room is ready, it’s time to go find that child! Any children that are orphans can be spoken to, and then you can ask to adopt them. If you don’t want to look around for parentless children, you can go right to the source — an orphanage!

Go to the Honorhall Orphanage in Riften. Speak with Constance Michel and then speak with one of the children at the orphanage. Go through the conversation options, and then fast-travel back to your home. Wa-lah! Child successfully adopted!

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4. ACHIEVEMENTS
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There are five new achievements added to Skyrim through Hearthfire. They are as follows:

Architect (10G)
Description: Build three wings on a house

Strategy: After building a house, you will be able to continue adding on to the house, creating new types of rooms. Each wing contains specific rooms that can be contained within them. You have to pick one for each wing.

East Wing
Armory
In the Armory, you can store your weapons and armor that you’ve collected throughout your adventures.

Kitchen
The kitchen allows you to prepare your own meals, instead of relying on a spouse. Of course, you can still ask your spouse to cook for you.

Library
The Library is useful for storing all the different books that you’ve collected during your adventures in Skyrim.

North Wing
Alchemy Laboratory
You can create potions and poisons here.

Storage Room
Used to store miscellaneous items.

Trophy Room
This room can be used to display various trophies obtained during your quests.

West Wing
Bedrooms
These are used to sleep in. You can create a bedroom for you and your spouse, as well as a room for children. You can adopt up to two children at a time.

Enchanter’s Tower
This tower is used for enchanting weapons and armor to give them magical capabilities.

Greenhouse
The Greenhouse can be used to grow various food and to grow ingredients that can later be used for alchemy.

Land Baron (10G)
Description: Buy three plots of land
Strategy: There are three different holds that are selling land. One is in Falkreath, one is in Morthal, and one is in Dawnstar. Speak to either the Jarl or the Jarl’s assistant and tell them that you want to buy a house. They will sell you a plot of land for 5,000 gold. Sometimes you will have to win the favor of the Jarl by completing various quests for them. You will need at least 15,000 gold to do this.

Landowner (10G)
Description: Buy a plot of land
Strategy: See the above strategy for buying the three plots of land. You will need at least 5,000 gold to do this.

Master Architect (10G)
Description: Build three houses
Strategy: Simply buy the three plots of land, and then build three houses on each different piece of land. There just needs to be the core house built, you won’t need three wings on each house. You can hire a steward to gather supplies for your home-building. Stewards can be any non-story companions that you recruit on your adventures.

Proud Parent (10G)
Description: Adopt a child
Strategy: To adopt a child, find an orphan and ask them to let you adopt them. Before you can do this, though, you will need a house, and you will need a room for the child. You will also need a child’s bed built and a child’s chest built. If you have two children adopted, you will need two beds and two chests. You can send the steward to get supplies to help build these things.

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