Two thing I've been wondering quite a while

1) Does attacking with destruction spell from stealth cause a sneak attack critical?

2) Is it possible to get the cutthroat animation when attacking stealthily from behind with a one-handed sword - not dagger?

Been playing Skyrim since release and now I've been planning to continue with my dunmer nightblade from Oblivion... thank you beforehand for the answers

1: No. Only works with Daggers and Bows

2: No, the backstab animation is done due to the backstabbing damage. And that can only be executed with a dagger.

If you want to be overpowered, there are otherways to play Skyrim on Easy mode.

1. No.

2. The animation triggers when your backstab instantly kills the enemy. Swords can get maximum of x12 backstab multiplier as opposed to daggers x30, so it might be more difficult to get the animation while using a sword, but yes, it's possible.

Backstabbing can be done with swords to and it starts at x3. With the backstab perk is goes to x6. With an item you can double those values.

And yes, can confirm animation even with bound swords.