Warrior, because I respect an accomplished swordsman.

From your list I would say a fully perked and properly geared Archer beats all. You can engage at a long distance giving you a greater chance to dodge what the Mage throws at you. You can move quickly while drawing allowing you to kite the Warrior while you pelt his face with arrows. Add to each case the chance to paralyze (which procs a lot on my archer) plus your ability to slow time and zoom to allow extra accurate shots (more shots on target) and you've got a formidable opponent. Top it all off with a fully perked stealth tree for the added damage and xCrit sneak attacks, and you've got yourself a deadly opponent.

In close quarters, warrior is always best. In long rage, archer. Mage is somewhere in between - mages are fun to play but they are never as powerful as warriors and archers of same skill level.

Archer with poisons.

My character is all three, so I think he's more than capable of dealing with anyone.

How can people have these types of comparisons when characters can be any combination of skills from the above 3 archetypes?

Archer just because of usage of perks (sneak/the ability itself). Warrior is next because combine smithing, dagger, and sneaking is tremendously powerful, but at close range with many enemies, it is a flaw compared to archer.

Mage is quite powerful, but sneaking bonuses are key to deal lots of damage w/o detection, which this area lacks from my experience..

Not only am I willing to say that most people do NOT know this already, but in fact almost no one would even agree with you.

I dont have a PC and have never played runescape.

Ah. I just found your assesment startlingly similar is all.

oh.
I only based it off my experience with the game.

Fair enough.

ok... what is your views on the 3 types.

As a melee warrior I find it easy to swerve as I approach, causing archer shots to miss. You can also disenchant a reflect magical necklace and the Shield of Solitude and put two resist magical enchantments on each of several armor pieces, achieving 85% resistance. None of the three classes is superior. It all depends upon how you play.

If you perk main skills only and dont be fully protected from everything then there is a superior class type. For me it goes archer then mage and then... warrior.

Archer..............
The Riften & Markarth guards' knees hate me.......................

My two handed warrior doesn't have many problems with either archers or mages.Boss type characters with two handers are much more of a problem.I would say that the archers are more of a problem until I get close and then it's goodnight Vienna.

I don't use ranged or magic by the way and I have played on master from day one.

It's very easy to stagger mages with my warhammer and they are dead before anything they can raise or summon hurts me enough to turn on them.

Stealth Archer>Anything

They can't kill what they can't see.

Which is exactly my point.

Can a warrior use restoration magic? Enchanting?

Or are we going with the idea that only "warrior" skills are allowed?

In which case, I would argue that warrior/archer are one and the same, they can use both.

This should be a discussion on "Pure Warrior Skills" vs "Pure Mage Skills" vs "Pure Thief Skills" to set a baseline.

Then each type has 6 skills to base this argument on.

Which in the end, still makes a well used mage the best, in my opinion, due to flexibilty.

-HK

I do mean pure warrior, pure mage, pure archer.

A warrior could take magical trinkets right? so if you had a full set of Dragonbone armour, with resistance to whatever magic the mage was using, and a shield to stop the archers arrows. Oh and if he was born under the sign of the steed, which would make him move faster in that clunky tin can...yeah my votes for warrior.