It is admittedly hard to run a pure CONAN char in the SKYRIM environment. Many difficulties arise - since the use of weapon and armor enhancing tools such as alchemy and enchanting cannot be used.

AND YET - the drive to become a CHAR that is incredibly powerful, GIFTED in the weapons and armor that are worn and put into play is there....

We simply choose not to be SPELLCASTERS.

But this means we become something ELSE

What is that?

How do we classify it?

I have drifted back and forth in my thinking about this. To create a "WARRIOR" who is given the advantages of enchanting all manner of things, the skill of alchemy run to the max, but not to cast spells at adversaries - one who uses what he/she makes regardless of the means to create them.....

And to trap souls and make use of soul gems.

THIS IS NOT A PURE CONAN.

It is.....

"OTHER"

But what?

There is that pure drive to create a character who is overwhelming, warlord or whatever you may term it, but one who uses weapons and armor only and their main strength above all.

Who places no reliance on throwing magicka as such at opponents, but will not stint to create the most devastating weaponry and protection possible.

It smacks of the DUNMER influence, does it not? Or is it more the Khaajit? Or the Argonian....

At this point I cannot say. But it intrigues the imagination. Who or what would set foot down such a path, and why?

Above all the thing that goes around and around in my mind is WHY?

That is the key RP concept I think - right there

Sounding a bit like my Orc character (except she is green & female). My scantily dressed hordesman (barbarian) has dual one-handed (orcish axes), archery (orcish bow), light armor (fur / forsworn), alchemy, sneak & enchanting.

She is nomadic and survives by hunting and robbing. When not living in an Orc stronghold, she will just make up camp and sleep under the stars.

it is fun and a challenge using a character without any magic at all except shouts

Alchemy becomes sort of mandatory id you are not using magic

and to be honest a better name for alchemy is herbalism it fits the skill much better

for enchanting it is not really magic it has more to do with crafting than actual spell use

a example it was believed by early celtic and germanic cultures that weaponsmiths could imbue with magic powers because of their skills so no enchanting is not really magic it is just your character crafting exceptional fine pieces of armor and weapons

Given that the world into which Conan was born is far different from the world of skyrim, then the "Conan" himself must be different in Skyrim. Not being Conan does not mean he cannot be similar and still use the tools he is given. Perhaps it's the name... I mean Perhaps there is a need for an "Unconan" called Nanoc, the enchanted warrior renowned for fighting prowess and enchanting ability... Perhaps during his time as a slave he was owned by an evil sorcerer. Might explain his reluctance for magic as well as his knowledge of how to use it...

Howard's Conan never used poison or created swords of fire, so at this point you're not even playing the Conan archetype. This is just Generic Fighter with Flimsy Justification.

No, seriously, Enchanting implies a particular knowledge of magical properties and the application thereof, which is as far from the barbarian archetype as possible. Alchemy's a bit looser, but Jim Bob the fighter may know about how to brew healing potions even if he's not going to have a dedicated laboratory.

Why are you even trying to justify this, anyway? Why would not-Conan go around trapping souls? Is he a Stygian sleeper agent?

My Conan character has not need Alchemy OR Enchanting, at all. The only crafting skill he uses is Smithing. He does use found magical items, though. Right now, he has a ring of magic resistance, necklace and hide bracers of Sure Grip (+2-handed damage), and leather boots of fire resistance (and a pair for shock resistance). His only two weapons are a Nord Hero Greatsword, and Nettlebane (ebony dagger). He has a bow (Bow of the Hunt) but rarely uses it i combat.

He seems to get along fine on Master difficulty, though he does have two companions (currently Faendal and Aela).

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p117/arkanSTFU/conan6_zps1gvb7cqg.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p117/arkanSTFU/ScreenShot377_zps4652ocg3.jpg

Yeah, I've never really missed those crafting skills when I played my 'barbarian' types. Smithing alone (and not to a very high level) gets me by just fine. Granted, I play on Adept.

If you're just asking "What sort of character archetype would be a Conan figure who is also an Alchemist and Enchanter?" then I don't have an answer, really - at least not one from any popular fiction I can think of. Of course, that shouldn't prevent you from going ahead and making your barbarian super-craftsman.

On the Skyrim Blog, I made a couple of barbarian style builds that incorporated magic, Enchanting and/or Alchemy. The Bloodskal Berserker is your basic barbarian cannibal who used Alchemy to push Health Regen to high levels. (He never drank healing potions in battle, relying instead on regeneration from various sources.) The Clever Man is my take on a practitioner of old style Nord magic, fighting with a greatsword but also using some magic support alongside Smithing and Enchanting. There's no archetype for either of those characters that I know of, but I had a blast playing them.

As much as I disagreed with you in the other thread, I tend to agree with you here. Conan did use poison twice in Howard's stories though. Once against a dragon and once against a group of men he knew were going to try to kill him, so I could see him using poison or even a magic item he found on a rare and desperate occasion. But I cannot see him using poison on a regular basis and his general anti-magic nature would prevent him from making his own enchanted magic items (enchantment is still magic) or trapping souls. I can't see him making many potions either.

My Conan is doing fine without any magic whatsoever, with rare exceptions for certain found items, whose enchantments make them seem more like just really high quality items, like thieves guild armor. He also has an amulet of stendar he found and he likes the vigilants since they hunt daedra, so he wears that in their honor. He uses found healing potions out of necessity. But that is the extent of his magic use, and I feel like even that is pushing the limits of the Conan archtype.

Booo

I've done the MQ on adept while playing a basic barbarian who used no magic or potions (only meat and mead), wore no armor (except for hide bracers for the look) and used an iron battleaxe for most of the game until he became Harbinger then switched to a Skyforge steel battleaxe. He also didn't use enchanting or enchanted gear as that sort of thing was for milk drinking mages that fell to his axe.

I wish Hand to Hand was a skill with a tree in Skyrim as he would've been a brawling barbarian but the only way to do this in vanilla is by making an unarmed enchantment strong enough for combat.

I still have my bone basic Conan game going, but I also have this kind of a build going on .

I just don't have any idea what CLASS that kind of player char is.

It doesn't fit in any of the mage classes, nor does it fit in any of the barbarian classes.

It seems almost like some kind of a "GARAGE WARRIOR"...

Not quite high tech enough to do outright magic, but canny enough to cobble things together in his basemant.

Your concept is very like a Morrowind Spellsword without the spellcasting skills. It included both alchemy and enchanting, plus a variety of Warrior skills. It also reminds of the Sorcerer, who was described as being hungry for powerful scrolls and enchanted items. There's no reason why a warrior with a barbarian background couldn't be exposed to a broader world and seek to master some of its arts for his own purposes.

I can't think of a good class name for it either, though I like Garage Warrior. Enlightened Barbarian?

I have one who will use health and stamina potions but will not touch magicka or soul gems. She'll use an enchanted weapon if she finds one until it runs out of charges, but only wears fur (or less, fancies herself a berserker with some silly notions of what that means -- We won't mention she's actually a farmer's daughter from Bruma).

Sounds like all my orcs, and it aligns with their natural racial skill boosts. Well excluding alchemy, which I don't use much anyway.