I'm looking to make a crossbow build and rely on it as much as humanly possible - but I can't really think of what would be most fun or work well in conjunction with it. What races, schools of magic, armour types or other skills do you think would work well with a crossbow? I guess I don't want any suggestions about using a secondary weapon because I want to shy away from them as much as possible, but apart from that anything goes.

My Witch Hunter uses it primarily and it works better than when i used a regular bow. So Archery, Sneak, Light Armor, Restoration, 1H is his build but it works well with Heavy Armor too

Sounds like fun. What's your experience with stealth and the crossbow? People seem to have very mixed opinions. Also out of curiousity how does your witch hunter character tackle the Companions' questline? Do they just avoid it to avoid becoming a werewolf or do they do it and then cure themselves?

Use Heavy Armor ( Seance bows are more light armor), use Nord, or Orc. ( Whatever you want though) I'd use Two Handed weapons as a secondary if it get nasty.

I have only done a bit of the Comps Ql as my WH because i hunt Lycans so it makes less sense to become one. Stealth-wise the CB seems to be on par with a Bow, neither seem to remain quiet in a full room. But it is better for narrow halls and straight shots. Plus the added punch makes bosses like Bandit Chiefs easier to take out. I use Fiery Soul Trap enchant with mine and it gets the job done well.

Bow bash is quite nice with a crossbow so absolutely invest in the right hand side of the block skill tree. Bash then blast. Awesome.

Edit: I second the notion of using heavy armor (if you are going non-stealth).

Really? I wasn't aware the block-bash skills worked with the crossbow. So you can disarm people with the bow bash then?

I have had a lot of enemies reequip their weapons, so I assume so. Not 100%.

Some cool tips. After thinking about it I might go heavy armour and go with ebony mail to give stealth a go, also I want to try Khajiit unarmed again and the crossbow seems like a good idea to couple it with.

Where do you get the fiery soul trap enchantment again? It sounds...intriguing.

Ironbind Barrow.

It is unique to 1 steel battleaxe, so make sure to grab it off the back of the throne at the end of Ironbind barrow, the barrow is like north of Nightgate Inn

I added illusion magic to my archer character for defense. Being able to calm almost anything comes in handy and the rest of the illusion magic is great for a stealthy character.

Ebony mail is my favorite armor but just a heads up, in first person the poison cloud really gets in the way when you are trying to use a bow/crossbow, especially if you are back pedalling.