After my recent save got corrupted (still have earlier saves, but with the patch coming up in half a day or soish, archived the saves in prep), I've decided to go back and refine the plan and concept for my next character.

I've had a wee look at Ebony armor, and suffice to say, I LOVE how it looks. Its such a shame that it isnt Light Armor, which my sneaky archer would use in a heartbeat.

I've also been thinking about using two-handed, mainly because dual-weilding weapons, whilst fun and damaging, is proving to be a bit too much risk for little reward for my playstyle. Heck, I've been thinking about adding some magic to the mix as well.

Might as well ask the questions I've been meaning to ask:

1. How does the Heavy Armor perk tree work in practice? Some of the perks seem... superfluous. Also, do they penalize you when sneaking? Same question for two-handed, though I imagine it does penalize you, it would be nice to get confirmation on this.

2. Magicka use and casting causes you to be visible right? Other than the Illusion's "Quiet Casting" perk, is there any other way to make magic more stealth-friendly? Do they benefit at all from sneak attack bonuses?

3. I dont suppose summoning a bound weapon works off on your weapon skill, does it? Does the quality of the bound weapon base upon your Conjuration?

4. Does blocking with your weapon benefit from the Block perk tree?

I am not familiar with the Heavy Armor perks - but I know as consequence: the heavier you are - the easier enemies hear you while sneaking. In Oblivion, also as I started in Skyrim; I took off my shoes/boots to sneak better and kept on building up my sneaking skill + the weapon class I fancied most.

As far as I know, magic does not gain a benefit from stealth bonus ( though I don't see what the difference between an arrow or a fireball slamming into you from behind, both would freaking hurt, or burn in fires case ... ). Uh, let's see, I think it causes you to be visible if you're close enough, if you cast a spell from far away you should be fine. I don't think a higher conjuration skill makes bound weapons any better, just the perks for them do. And yes, bound weapons receive the bonuses from the weapon types respective tree. So if you put a bunch of points into 1Handed, and you conjure a sword, it will have all the same benefits from the tree that a metal one has. I'm pretty that using weapons to block would still have the benefits from the tree, but remember, you have to unequipt the spell from your left hand to block with a 1Handed weapon. Hope that helps.

Damn I were there were a table to go on that'll tell how much penalty you suffer from equipped weapons and armor during sneak.

anyone have answers for 2 3 and 4?

I'm pretty sure it's just a generic type weapon that does damage based on the appropriate skill and possibly the conjuration skill too.

Sorry OP, a little of topic, but is it possible to conjure 2 swords/daggers? Would be awesome with a evil assassin type character.. but I havent seen this, so I guess its just my imagination playing with me

I know question 4 is a yes, any perk that doesn't specifically mention shields works when blocking or power bashing with any weapon (you can powerbash without a shield).

personally i use as much things as i possibly can, i dont give a f about what perks say, i mix light armor and heavy armor, use two hand and dual swords, while also summons and of course heal.

First, without the "weght nothing" perk you can hardly sprint.
In Light armor that perk comes naturally, and is followed by 50% stamina reg perk, which is very nice.

Heavy armor tree is not good, final. And heavy armor as a stealther is just silly.

Press your sprint button for longer then 3 seconds and half your stamina bar is gone unless you have 300+ stamina, at which point it takes 5 seconds to empty half of it.

I agree, Ebony and Daedric looks very nice.

But, so does the Thiefs leather armor or Dark Brother hood gown:-)

Kronis face mask alone is worth going light for:-) Especially if you are an archer.

If you want a really good looking light armor, then just get smithing to 100 and make yourself a light dragon armor.
That, looks good.

Blocking from your weapon benefit from the block perks yes. Some are shield only but the basic perk is for weapons and shields.
You block better with 2h then with 1h, and you block better with shield then 2h.
With better block, that means, you take less damage blocking.
But with a high block skill and perks, even with 2h, you need to face some pretty strong enemies before they manage to break your block so you take some minor damage.

You can dual wield Conjured and bound weapons yes. Since you can dual wield spells, you can conjure one for each hand. Simple as that.
Conjured weapons goes on weapon skill indeed, but t heir strenght I believe are based on your conjuration skill, Im unsure there.

If you get high enough in enchanting to place to enchants on your items, you can place muffle and fortify sneak on your boots. That along with the perk in stealth tree which reduces noise made by armor by %50 means there isn't much of a difference between light and heavy when it comes to sneak.

Even if you don't plan on getting that high in enchanting, just putting the muffle charm on your boots should suffice to equalize the difference between light and heavy armor when it comes to stealth.

Heavy armour might be viable for a sneaky character if you choose The Steed as your standing stone bonus. This negates the movement penalties incurred by wearing heavy armour so I *assume* it would also get rid of the sneak penalty. Anyone know if this is the case?

Oh, and you also get + 100 carry capacity, which is nice.

To the OP, sorry buddy, I wish you could, but you can't take word for word what the effects might say. That would be nice, but some effects are slightly broken to were they do extra things ect. While most of them work fine and normal, there are a few of them that can be strange. And yes, you can summon a pair of swords to dual wield. To whoever said that.

cast muffle makes all sound go away thats all u need lasts 4 3mins and has very low magic cost

Boud weapons raise your 1 Hand Weapon Skill and benefit from Perk (lovly 6x Damage hrhrhr)

No other way then silent cast doe stealth magic use. but never forget not only noise alterts Lights do the same

You can sumon one weapon in each hand looks very cool