In anticipation of Skyrim I thought I would create a new character.

I'm considering a Nord with heavy armor with marksman and sword + shield.
I have made classes with marksman as a primary skill but I have never used the heavier bows and arrows i.e. Dwarven bow + arrow.
With heavy armor I'm not going to be the stealthy type so instead I was thinking I would pick foes from far away with my bow and then when they get closer I will draw my sword.

My question is does mixing combat skills together work well?
For those who have tried this or similar, do you have any tips?
I can imagine it will be a slog before I become profficient with both abilities however I think it should be a fun playstyle and not one I have tried before.

My rogues are always proficient swordsmen and archers. I think that the two skills complement each other nicely. :thumbsup:

My mystic archer combines bow and magic (mostly illusion). She won't touch a melee weapon and doesn't care about armor rating. With some caution, study and practice, it works marvelously.

I have played all rounders before (blade, spells, bow). They take a while to get up and running well, but ultimately become boringly powerful so I prefer to crank in some pretty significant constraints and limits now.

'Multiclass' characters ultimately become stronger than single class characters. If you bring everything along simultaneously, they will be weak at first and gradually grow more powerful. If you focus more on one specialty at a time, they can start strong and get more so as you add new abilities.

One tip I live by for survival is to ensure my primary 'killing' skill advances at least three times for every character level. This helps keep up with the baddies.

My second character Euisa Tatheth uses Conjuration, Illusion and Heavy Armor. Although she collects actual blades she uses Conjuration to summon blades when she is in combat and uses Illusion to help her at the same time, the Heavy Armor is just so she can wade into the middle for as much fun as possible.

It can be done quite easily and she can by far give and take a hell of a lot more then her elder sister Sabarel. I have a lot of fun Rp'ing her on a regular basis and I'm already thinking ahead to Skyrim with prehaps mixing both of their classes together to see what results I can get.

My first character Draden likes to use Heavy Armor, Blade, and Destruction. Trust me when I say that is a pretty dangerous combination!

Thats not a bad idea, hybrids with melee/bow combo usually become stronger before magic users, if you are gonna use heavy armour I suggest that you only wear a cuirass and gauntlets for the first 10 levels or so until your speed is high enough, carrying a heavy bow can be also very dangerous, maybe buy poisons to enhance or use some magical arrows that you MAY find... so yeah when they get close engage them with your melee weapon of choice, it would be nice to see a claymore instead of a dagger or sword and shield. Your important attribute would be speed you will need to get a lot of it before you reach the higher levels. Marksman can be useful after the enemy that came to engage you in melee is that if he decides to run away.. shoot him down. You shouldn't have any problems at all just make sure you have the potions that you need, preferably the ones with fortify speed and health/fatigue restore potions. You just need to worry about your speed, you could even decide not to wear any armour at all until you level up, but its your choice.

My character actually uses uses heavy armor, marksmen, blade,block, and has a maxed sneak and security skill as well as max destruction lol so yes mixing all sorts of combat styles can work wonders

Bow and blade is one of my favorite combinations. A bow can take out a weak enemy and the blade's always there when needed. It's particularly nice for crowds - find a good vantage point near a tunnel entrance, fire an arrow at the closest enemy and immediately back up the tunnel and draw your sword. The one you hit will come after you and you can finish him off, but the odds are that the rest won't even notice. Just take out the whole crowd that way, one at a time.

My Breton ginger, Lydia, uses a bow that's enchanted for weakness to fire, frost and shock for about 30 seconds, and a blade that's enchanted for fire, frost and shock damage. Makes fast work of opponents.