Who hasn't played the classic character builds ... one handed / shield warrior, thief / assassin, destruction / conjuration mage ... but there are so many additional possibilities. Doing some brainstorming on how to build out additional characters for different play experiences, please contribute your own ideas.

Aragorn style build:
Majors: Light armor, two-handed, restoration or alchemy
Minors: Speechcraft, archery
Note: Higher focus on stamina than health


Overlord Illusionist:
Majors: Illusion, Conjuration, Speechcraft
Minors: Smithing
Note: Companions and summons for all fighting; become ethereal and illusion to stay safe or escape. Maybe some smithing to improve companion's equipment.


Shadow Executioner:
Majors: Two handed - hammer or headsman's axe, sneak (for sneak attacks with 2 handers), light armor
Minors: Alchemy (poison), block?

Sidekick:
Majors: Smithing, Enchanting, Alchemy
Minors: Restoration, Lock-picking
Notes: Play as support role for companions by buffing them to insane. Avoid quests where you can't take along companions.

I had an odd roleplaying idea to play as a falmer. Make an ugly wood elf, do sneak, one handed, heavy armor, archery and alchemy. Once you get falmer armor and weapons it could be very fun.

I have another:

Shaman : Two handed, light armor, alteration and restoration and above all ALCHEMY. I just can not get bored playing this combo. You might need to take it slow with Alchemy though to enhance your experience. It's completely broken as potion are completely instant when healing , they do not require any change of equipment and can add more than 50 points of damage on your weapon.

Oh and the other day I was browsing builds i the net when I saw someone proposing a Thor build of a warrior with a 2 handed hammer that has thunder spells. If you think about it, we have Nords, we have 2 handed hammers, 2 shouts that affect weather (one is actually a thunder calling) and shock spells.

Another:

Joker
Majors: One handed - dual daggers, sneak, destruction - fire runes
Minors: speech craft, lockpicking
Note: start a quest and never finish it to get an extra companion for the gang, along with a dog. Focus on making life hell for ordinary citizens, guards etc.

Haha that is awesome. Great imagination.

Might try the Aragorn build here soon.

Arcane archer
Bow, Destruction, Restoration, Enchanting, Sneak

The Blitzkrieg:

Majors: Heavy Armor, Block restoration
Minors: Lock-picking
Notes: High stamina and lots of sprinting past opponents to reach objectives directly. Fight only when necessary, using shield bashing only, with restoration in right hand.

I play a Legolas style

Basically i use archery to kill enemies from afar using sneak. Once they reach me i dual wield my blades. Also i wear light armor.
So i'm upgrading smithing, enchanting, archery and one-hand. I have the 3x sneak b?nus from the sneak tree, so my sneak shots are stronger.
My attributes go 1:1 health/stamina


I also plan to have 100 smithing and 100 enchanting, so i can make a set of armors with 2 enchantments on them. Then i can put 25% mana reduction for two schools of magic on four armour pieces. Basically that will cut to 0 the mana cost of those spells. My idea is to use alteration and restoration.
I'm not sure if that is really possible, on the wiki it says it is.

Anyway if that turns out to be impossible, i will enchant my armour with bonuses to other things as i dont relly on magic to be deadly . It would just be a nice adition.

Of course you can play as a monk, one of the hardest ways to play the game. Who wants to see the finishing move for hand to hand vs. a dragon?

Monk:
Majors: Restoration, Alteration, Sneak
Minors: Speechcraft, enchantment
Notes: Never any weapons, armor, destruction magic

Edit: Heavy armor with the right perk might make this a lot easier, haven't tried it. But then you're out of the monk play-style into more of what ... a Beowulf play-style?

War priest: Heavy Armor, Two-handed, Restoration, Alchemy, Speechcraft
Minors - enchanting, alteration

Trickster:
Majors: destruction, sneak
Notes: Use wall spells, runes, sneak + throw voice thuum to trick people into traps and destructive spells while you laugh from the shadows

Right now I'm doing some sort of a War Priest/Crusader/Battlemage build:

Majors: Two-Handed, Restoration, Alteration, Smithing, Enchanting
Minors: Illusion, Heavy Armour, Blocking

I only take the first perk (and its ranks) in the Heavy Armour tree due to wearing robes instead of Body Armour.

Is it possible to be a spell-shield? Spell in the RH Shield in the LH.

I saw screenshots of the 1H/Spell setup and was like "That is what I am playing". Then I got in game and knew I wanted Destruction to be something my character focused on, and he should look like an unassuming traveler. He should also focus on Shock damage, Fire is overdone, and hey it is Skyrim, probably a lot of Frost resist out there, Shock is the way to go.

My wife walked into the room around hour 4, looked at my character (using Spark/1H Sword, wearing a Robe) and said "Oh cool, is that a new Star Wars game?

So I give to you, the Sith Lord:

Sith Lord
Perk Focuses: Destruction (Shock), 1H (Swords), Illusion, Enchanting, Sneak
Notes: Everything must be "Force Lightning'd" (Dual Cast Spark), using your 1H Sword is a last resort. Fear should be used liberally. If a conversation offers an Intimidate option, you must choose it.

I'm going to start my Dragon Ball Z inspired Khajiit Z-Fighter soon. Did it in Oblivion (but not in Morrowind, hand-to-hand is hard to use unmodded).

Z-Fighter:

Race - Khajiit or Orc (claws or berserker rage)

Major Skills - Heavy Armor (for Unarmed perk), Enchanting (for Unarmed enchantments primarily, also for money), Destruction (Duel-cast Haidoken style Fireballs/Flame cloak for powering up), Alteration (for shield and paralysis)

Minor Skills - Speechcraft (so you can boast and intimidate like a Z-Fighter would/make money), Restoration (monk-style builds usually have this)

Role Play/Combat Notes - The build is strictly unarmed and destruction based for offense, which means you should play a race that can get unarmed damage as high as possible considering the cap is 46 (61 for Khajiit and higher once a day for Orcs). You can use enchanting to get your unarmed damage to cap and for fortify destruction and/or alteration. Paralysis should be thought of like "Stunning Fist" (a D&D Monk classic ability). Flame Cloak + Alteration Shield at the start of a fight = DBZ power up, PERIOD. Since your fights will likely last twice as long as weapon-based builds at end game be sure to hit armor cap and magic resist cap. Lord Stone + Blessing of Mara + Enchanting is good for this. Also, because you will need to use your ring slot enchant for unarmed damage you will not be able to obtain 100% free destruction or alteration. If you want to be more of an energy blast spammer you can focus more on destruction. Casting fire balls in two hands (but not duel-casting) emulates a Vegeta-style energy barrage.

I plan on playing this character pretty soon. Should be fun.

Also: Smithing is not necessary for this build because the Unarmed Perk in the Heavy Armor tree only calculates the BASE armor for gauntlets. It is a perfectly viable skill to use however. I have yet to make a character that doesn't use smithing (plus I don't think it would make sense from a RP stand-point), so I decidedly left it out.

Also 2.0: Do the Redguard quest ASAP if you want a Piccolo turban

What about Alteration for Telekinesis?

Well played sir!

Werewolf

Armor: birthday suit and a cloth to cover the family jewels
Weapon: Unarmed/Claws

Paladin:

Smithing Light Armor Side to Glass (take a cowl and enchant it or a circlet if you prefer)

Use 1h sword with a shield (for decapitations) and restoration. Take Alchemy/Altercation (for protection spells and do not use poisons ever, ever.)

Do not drop your shield to use a heal, only switch your sword hand to a heal and do not dual heal cast ever.

This is my newest character and I really love him, he does not do uncooth things nor does he insult people. He only uses the dawnbringer or a weapon and will so all game (due to the holy sword look, concept, and effects)

Never sneak (do not be a coward and face your foes head on!) your choice to lockpick or not. I chose no. Do not use bows as not facing your opponent head on again is cowardly. Heal your followers (quest or otherwise as soon as they take a knee, you are a protector of life)

Try it, I love it personally. My favorite character so far.

Opera Singer:

Major Skills: Heavy Armor, Block, Restoration
Minor Skills: Smithing, Enchantibg


Playstyle:
The only offensive tools used are shouts and shield bashes. Restoration in one hand healing whenever needed and shield in the other, blocking and bashing while shouts recharge.

I remember someone doing a death knight build that I wanted to try for my next play though

Think it was:
Major Skills: Heavy Armor, Two-handed, Destruction (ice spells)
Minor Skills: Conjuration (zombies), Illusion (fear)

Sounds like a fun build

My shaman uses alchemy, light armor, conjuration, enchanting, shields and staves, and some destruction.

This sounds like an awesome amount of fun. Might try it.

Blackguard: Two-handed, Heavy Armor, Conjuration, Smithing, Enchanting, Alchemy

Sounds like a paladin to me