I've been thinking about trying a WoW type shaman, or using the WoW shaman as a guide anyway.

Light armor
Restoration
Destruction for the shock spells
Block with a shield
Axe or Mace

Open up fights with lightning, or chain lightning, and then use shield and weapon to finish them off.

TES games are increasingly forcing players to conform to specific playing styles (in the name of balance) and this is making it increasingly difficult to come up with out of the box character ideas. Some of my most rewarding characters in previous games were:

True Thief (100% non-combat - never killed anything. Ever)
Fisherman (made a living off the seas instead of the land).
Trader/Merchant (inability of Beth to come up with any sort of a functioning economic system kinda ruined this, but i certainly tried, and would like to again)

As for Skyrim, i'm still on my first character, which i don't really consider to be my character at all because he's the Dragonborn and Beth is playing that one for me. The only out-of-the-box concept i've thought of so far is a Miner/Smith (someone who wanders the lands with a pickaxe making a living by selling the items they craft). However, until a mod can do away with the level scaling, such a build would become too difficult to play. I do intend to try it though.

My younger sister goes sneaking around and whomping things with a hammer.... I call it her super mario charecter.

Ethereal Warrior/Archer: Carry no weapons and only use Conjuration spells to make your weapons(ie, see an enemy in the distance you want to shoot? Use bound bow and shoot him. Being attacked by melee enemies? Use a bound sword/axe)

funny I don't see that

Dirty merchant who is deceitful and impulsive and of course a coward. All the time looking only for his own benefit. Has studied a little bit destructive magic and sword using just enough to get rid of people who gets on his way. This character may also have some addictions with wine or skooma.

Very true. The loss of features like spell creation, acrobatics, and a few others really limits the odd ball and niche builds that were more than viable in previous ES games.

before i derail the conversation, while I wont say the variety is still as open as it used to be but the way he said it made it out to be like there is completely no variety whatsoever.

I was agreeing with his first paragraph. See my list of builds up there? Well that would be a third longer with spell creation and acrobatics, and a few other things that are no longer in Skyrim. Does SKyrim still allow more builds than any other RPG out there that isn't called Elder Scrolls? Yes, but not as many as were viable in previous games. Heck, even some of the ones I list up there have been marginalized or severely gimped by the cutting. The Witchdoctor is nothing compared to his previous form in earlier games with custom made 'curse' spells. The Inquisitor I mention, I don't even think is possible now with the lack of command spells and spell creation. All of the H2H and pugilistic builds have been marginalised with the neutering of H2H. Forget acrobats, street performers, and the like.

I'm sure if you took the Beth Defense Beret off and read it again, "completely no variety whatsoever" would be an innaccurate evaluation of the post.

Political Debate Person.

Only uses dragon shouts and uses an Amulet of Talos. (If you can, mod something in so that you can enchant all your gear) Then wear the fanciest clothes and no gloves. No hat either.

i Miss my Oblivion Acrobat. damm it was so cool to run trough an doungeon leaping over the Mobs and jumping to the Treasures instead of fighting trough all of em.

I did a light armor, conjuration (undead), sneak, one handed (mace), alchemy play through on a fem Breton and enjoyed it heavily.

I agree with Erandur completely.

I love toby

I play a Death Knight which is a blast, raising zombies and smashing stuff with a big hammer. The witch doctor sounds really cool. If any of you remember the Witcher class from Oblivion that's another ridiculously OP class that you can breeze through the game with on Master. In my head I've been tinkering with the idea of a Mage that uses 2h and alteration for armor, but so far it always ends in disaster. If only there was a button were I shouldered my hammer and could cast ONE spell with my off hand, like Oblivion, instead of have to sheath a weapon and bring up my hands, then having to redraw my weapon. That would make me a happy camper.

Also, am I the only one who misses the hell out of Restoration absorb spells? That's what made my priest in Oblivion so much fun.

I'm sure I don't have one of those, I will not deny I enjoy the game for what it is right now,I tend to hate really devoted fan/girls and don't plan on being one anytime soon ( I make my own jundgments if I like something or not, not because a company made so and so that its awesome )
probably would be a good idea not to view everyone in opposition to a post as [censored] eh?

If anyone needs ideas, there's always the Diplomancer.

Main skills are:

Speech, Sneak, Alchemy, Smithing, Enchanting, Illusion, possibly Alteration.

The point of the character is to go through the game without combat, relying purely on diplomacy and capitolism to get you through to the end. You do not wear armors or stuff like that, but you can get them for your armored escorts. Try to calm foes instead of fight them, and sneaking/invis for those difficult places is advised.

Go out there and become the greatest merchant in the lands. Who says speech is a wasted tree?

Outside the box:

A pacifist character. Only focuses on healing and protecting people. Uses hired muscle to do the dirty work, but heals and protects the companion while using disruptive magic to dismay the enemy but not harm them. Skills: Restoration, Illusion, Alteration, Alchemy, Enchanting.

Completely plausible character.

One of the characters I built:

Blacksmith/Shopkeep
Primary Skills:
Smithing (obviously)
Speech
Enchanting

Secondary Skills:
One-handed
Two-handed
Light Armor
Heavy Armor

"Every item has been field-tested to ensure quality"

Rules: Every weapon must kill at least one creature before it can be sold. Every piece of armor has to be worn in combat before it can be sold.

I haven't made it to the enchanting part yet (only level 16 and the focus has been on smithing thus far).

So hard to get started in, yet so much fun if that's your thing.

So what did you gleen on your second reading?

Druid Necro Mage

There are no "out of the box" character ideas in Skyrim. Although Bethesda tried to make the game more flexible, the reduced skillset means almost every character will fall into one of maybe four categories: Warrior, Mage, Thief, Spellsword.

Copy/paste from a couple threads I made:

Legionnaire:
- Armor, I suggest heavy but light works too.
- Block (with shields)
- One handed, but only shortswords/daggers
- Archery
No magic skills ever, maybe some sneakskills or smithing.

Bosmer assasin/thief
Regular assasinbuilt but Bosmer do not harm plants so you take any bow over a wooden one no matter the damage and you can't harvest any plants for alchemy. Also smithing is a skill you can only use to make non-metal things -> leather.