I need help in avoiding OP fails... because this is a Bethesda game, and you know what that means. This is only my second character, and would like to avoid spoilers as well.

Background:

I don't grind or powerlevel at all.

Level 42. Still not 100 in any of her skills. Highest is Archery at 90, second highest is Smithing at 80.

My character wears no magical armor at all (wears magic ring for health and necklace for fire protection). She wields a Nordic Sword and a Nordic Bow.

I took the Double Damage for Archery. At first, I thought that I messed up, because all light armor humans are now one shots, but all these high-end undead, and elder dragons are still kicking my butt, so I breathed a sigh of relief. In balance, while my character runs with a board n' sword as backup, she has only taken a couple of low-level blade perks, and two levels of basic Block perk, to balance out. Feels pretty good so far.

What should I avoid in the future?

It seems to me that in the future, Double Protection or Double Damage anything should be avoided.

I also don't take any perk that could start a cutscene, death blow.

What about that Power block? I have read that that is a bad thing.

I'm not really sure how to ask what I am asking. I don't want to become invincible, and be able to just stand there and take abuse. And then one shot someone. I have purposefully not taken the third tier of critical hit perks, and almost feel as if I should have not taken the second tier as well.

I found this book. Transmute Mineral. Sounds nice.... but OP. I am holding on to it right now, because Corinna could use one gold ingot, it's been like 20 levels since she has found any gold veins... That find, this early am, sparked this thought, as I have, been playing Oblivion and FO3 for years, know exactly how to avoid becoming OP in those games, and play with strict rules.

I was excited to be able to almost get that last perk, of having a chance to paralyze someone, but now I think that when I get to that point, I won't take it. How often does that happen? Is it an animation? Cuz then I would say no.

What is the top level of Smithing? I am at Legendary right now.

My character seems to be majoring in Heavy Armor, Smithing and Archery. With minors in One Hand and Block. And then heavy use of, but no perks taken in Restoration and then a smattering of Alteration, and then some Enchanting happening as a result of charging up Auriel's Bow, when we need to smite the undead. Except for I found this Chaotic Damage dagger.... which makes me want to do some Enchanting, but is that too much? Am I falling and failing to Bethesda's OP temptation? Should that be saved for a different character.

I finally found my groove, and have learned to successfully avoid the stupid in this game, and would like to avoid the OP when it comes to leveling. I want to keep the feeling of the early levels, at all levels. With some butt-kicking allowed for eventual mastery of certain combat skills.

Last question I promise!

I already have ideas for another character. My son plays as well, so I will be forced to have all DLC loaded. Can I avoid the MQ? How to do that?

Thanks for reading.

Don't level up sneak. A good route to staying away from being OP. Max sneak = kill anything undetected no matter where you are in relation to their LOS.

Well there's a lot in that post, and some stuff I didn't understand, but overall, here's how I go about character creation and avoiding OPness (heh, Pness...)

First, focus. It's easy to start playing, say, and archer, and think, "I'll just carry this sword and shield as backup. And of course I'm going to wear some armor, probably light. I'll want to keep my bow in good shape, and there is some CRAZY fun you can have with poisons in this game. Sneaking is a good way to open up a battle. Oh, and if I can enchant my bow, so much the better."

Now you have a character with 8 skills, and all 3 of the crafting skills. And I haven't even mentioned Speech or Lockpicking. You know how that turns out.

At least if you're playing on Adept difficulty, like I do, Skyrim allows you to approach the game in tons of different ways. You can be a pure archer, with no backup skills, no sneak, and no crafting, and do fine if you're willing to play tactically and make the appropriate investments in gear, perks, and attributes. You can be a pure Destruction mage, with no backup skills, ditto. Same for basically any skill that allows you to hurt or bypass enemies.

So I like to really hone in on one or two skills that are the character's signature. These are the skills I'll invest in, usually with specific perk goals in mind. Around that, I build up a couple complementary skills. Then I severely limit myself.

Here's a character I recently posted on the Skyrim Blog, the Askelde Man - sort of a Nord "freedom fighter"/guerrilla ambusher: http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-the-askelde-man. He used Sneak, One-handed, and Archery. He perked those, but not completely. He also wore Light Armor, but didn't perk it (since most of his killing happened from stealth). He did create some potions, but didn't put perks into Alchemy.

That character got to lvl 25 or so, and had I felt like continuing it would have been easy to gradually put a few points into those minor skills, or just keep focusing on the major ones.

Another character I made was the Vargr (http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-the-vargr) - a werewolf who only wore the cursed ring of Hircine (therefore transforming randomly), and walked around with the ragged tunic you start with in Helgen. He put points into Two-handed, Smithing, and Block; though he used Sneak and Archery, they were unperked. He was tough in the right situations, but vulnerable in others.

The Clever Man was a greatsword-wielding Nord mage who raised the dead and enchanted his stalhrim greatsword with frost damage. (http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-the-clever-man) Important skills there were Conjuration, 2-handed, and Smithing, with a smattering of perks in Enchanting and Restoration. That character made it up to around lvl 40, and could easily have gone farther. He never felt OP, since he needed to keep Health, Magicka, and Stamina pretty much even, and because he only wore lowly fur armor (while Light Armor remained unperked). Powerful but fragile, so he needed to use care when approaching enemies.

I guess that's the key, for me - I deliberately keep my characters focused, so they tend to be specialists in some areas. Meanwhile, I deliberately avoid working up other skills, so I don't feel tempted to level too quickly and spread perks around into other skills. For example, if my character concept doesn't include picking locks, I don't do it. Maybe once in a while, or just limiting myself to Novice locks, but you get the idea.

Hope that helps!

I would cut out the 1H & Block and play only as a pure archer. Like others have written, do not take Sneak nor Alchemy and Enchanting. Also, I would avoid using HA and use LA instead.