I have some more questions.

1. How many skills do you choose for your character?

My level 20 character... The bow is the killing skill. One-hand is used as a back up, but no perks are chosen for that. Magic is used, heavy in Illusion, Restoration and Fire Destruction. Wears a mix of heavy and light armor (looks only), no perks chosen in either of those either. One-hand, and the armors are slowly leveling, but not by me forcing it.

Enchanting, but no Alchemy or Smithing. No other skills than what I've mentioned, other than things like lockpick and sneak which occur anyway.

Game feels really balanced right now. Some things kick my ass, some things are easy. Playing DiD.... sometimes it's pretty scary. Vampire patrols are to be feared.

^^Basically... the bottom line question that I am really asking.. is, if you played the game in a vacuum, would the leveling of each skill support itself in getting all the perks?

Light Armor Skill has less perks than, say, Illusion Magic. Does LA level slower then? Or do you have leftover points you drop into a different skill? See what I"m asking?

This ties into the how many skills do you choose, question. Does choosing 6 skills mean that you can perk 7 skills? Does choosing different combos of skills, net you different totals for points? I also realize, that you can never choose to perk anything... but still, the question remains.

2. On another note, if I don't Smith, does this mean that I will never be able to craft my own arrows? If I cannot smith higher gear for myself (because of my own choosing of no smithing) where can I go, and who can I pay to do this for me? Is there a particular smith somewhere?

3. On another smithing note. What's the max grade armor improvement I can achieve without choosing to perk smith, and just letting it rise naturally? Do I hurt myself in the end by not choosing to make better gear for myself?

2- You can buy arrows from merchants normally.

3- The armor cap is 567. Once you have that, you'll have 80% damage reduction.

I specialize all of my characters, with skills that support their personality and adhere to those skills. However, I must forego Smithing on every character because that is the only way to get the cool armor and weapons that I want. It's just the way the gear and equipment is set up by be the mod authors.

None the less, If I am an archer, then I want assess to my best, or at least some pretty good, arrows. So, that means taking the associated perk of a few.

You can still improve any piece of equipment to legendary without ever spending a perk. You must buff your Smithing skill to 168, with enchanted gear and/or potions.

This chart on http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Smithing#Item_Quality will show you what I mean.

I tend not to worry about the number of skills that I use, just whether or not they fit the character. That's the real deciding factor in where I spend my perks. There's no reason any character couldn't pick up a sword ig they need to, but especially later on the fewer perks you have in a skill the less likely you'll be good at doing whatever it is.

I have some characters that carry a bow around, but I might not put any perks into the archery tree, or only into the first perk.

1. One Major Attack Skill, One Minor Attack Skill on all of My characters. Even My Pure Mages will use a Bound Sword when they run out of Magic.

Illusion can be the most powerful Magic School in the Game, but using it effectively requires Sneaking, and investing in all of the enhancement Perks as soon as possible. I would not bother with a Perk in Armor at all if I was playing Your character. I would try and get a Shout or invest into Alteration to see opponents before they see My character.

IMO Destruction takes Perks that could be used for Marksmanship, but when Your character is at a higher level and has an Elemental Enchant on a Weapon, the Perks for the Element in the Destruction Tree really boost the damage output of a Weapon. I use the same type of strategy with My Two Handers and Destruction, Frost and Chaos damage from a Stalrhim Bow can one hit many opponents without a Sneak Bonus.

I think placing a Perk in an Armor Skill is pointless for a character who is not designed to get hit a lot in Combat, The Perks are better spent in a Skill that will prevent getting hit to begin with, like Illusion and Sneak.

2. Your going to have to pay a visit to a Vendor to get better Arrows, and Solitude has an actual Fletcher. Without Smithing there is no way to make better Gear for Your character, and upgrading Armor means getting a lucky drop from loot.

3. Unimproved Glass is a fairly common Armor, and Dragonscale does appear as loot occasionally, but finding a Dragonscale Cuirass can take a while.

I do not think You can hurt the character You are playing by not Smithing, but running up the Light side of the tree can be done with less Perks, and will give a character access to Dragonbone Weapons and Armor.