So I’m attempting to make a type of thief / mage. I have not done a stealth based character before.

Wood Elf: Female
Attributes: Intelligence and agility
Birthsign: Thief

Marksman
Alchemy (is this a no no?)
Illusion
Conjuration
Sneak
Alteration
Armorer

I’d basically like my battle sequence to go something like:

Chameleon
Ranged sneak attack w/ poison
Conjure meat shield
Finish w/ bow or blade or go invisible

I’ve have some experience w/ Oblivion. I understand the leveling system. I’d like to efficiently level enough so my characters are viable at later in the game, but am not obsessed with it.

I‘ve played through level 4 and I’m not leveling END very quickly. I’m concerned with this since I know END can be important early game. Also I’m concerned about releying only on ranged weapons, should I have taken blade, blunt as a major?

Any suggestions or tweaks that I should make? Things I should focus on early game? Any help is much appreciated.

Sorry can't help you with major skill selections since I pick 'em only to control how fast and how high I level. I can however, offer a couple observations that relate to your questions.

My mystic archer wood elf is at her top level of 20. She has never ever added a single point to strength or endurance - as such, she is quite proud that she can survive with only a tiny red bar and can pick up almost no loot. Further, she will not touch any melee weapon or staff. Only her bow and some magic. She plays carefully and is extremely adept as a glass cannon bow girl, but she survives just fine.

Basic tactics for differing situations look like this for her:
-Normal: Long range poisoned sneak shot.
-Dispersed crowds: Snipe the farthest first and stay in the shadows. Repeat.
-Tight crowds: Mind control spells to get the crowd to thin itself to one. Snipe the survivor.
-Underwater: Block with bow and cast touch damage spells.
-If cornered: Block with bow and immobilize foe with a spell (command, calm, paralyze…), then open fire with bow.
-If charged: Stop the charge with an illusion spell, then open fire with bow.
-Panic button: Invisibility, slip away and reapproach for the snipe (combining a cheap summon with invisiblity spell makes this both easier and more fun).

Important capabilities (Nothing to do with major skills): Bow, poisons, weakness to poison, drain speed, detect life, a slow and methodical patient playstyle, mind control spells, invisibility, Cobra's Dance (from the Serpent Birthsign Stone), blocking with a bow, touch damage spells.

Just my two septims.

Alchemy is generally no-no unless you know that you are doing. It level up very fast, you want to use it to get money and is most useful at high skill.
Replace with blade as you say you would have a blade as close in weapon.
No armor? Interesting, have started to restrict endurance myself to reduce health making the game harder.

If you want to level endurance faster the only way is by 'training' either Block or Heavy Armor enough each level to get good End raises. Block is slower to level but more potentially useful for your character.

You do have a fair number of fast-levelling skills in majors: Sneak, Alchemy, Conjuration and Alteration, plus you'll want to raise Armorer quickly so you can repair magic items. All this means your Marksman skill is apt to get left in the dust. I'd move Alchemy and Conjuration to minor skills - they'll still level quickly enough to be useful to you. Another option would be to make Armorer a minor skill and put your 5 training points in it each level until it reaches 50. After that you can put training points into marksman.

Mara

See below for my advice on character creation.


You dont need to eficiently level to be effective in the late game, you just need Alchemy :banghead:

Alchemy is a no-no in my books, unless you don't want to use it. I personally love alchemy as a skill, and all my characters master in alchemy - it'd be a huge challege for me to get through even the MQ without any alchemy at all! I'd just never, ever put it as a major skill because of how fast it levels. It's not a combat skill (though it does help in combat, though), and as such isn't a good choice to help you level. Alchemy is probably one of the best skills in the game, but not as a major. You don't need it as a major to be good at it, and you'll level up to master in no time if you just use it a bit.

Only ranged weapons does work, but my archers usually have a melee-range combat skill at at least Journeyman level to help them win their battles. You can fight only ranged, but I personally choose not to because it's not ideal in a close combat situation, and it feels unrealistic to me that a cornered fighter wouldn't pull out a dagger instead of continuing to pepper the attacker with arrows.

Thanks for the suggestions,

switched it around a bit to

wood elf
birthsign: the lady

armorer
heavy armor
mysticsim
illusion
sneak
marksman
alteration

Leveling much more the way i want now, you guys were completely right when suggesting I move alchemy and conjuration.

I swear, I've sunk many hrs into oblivion, and STILL attempting to understand the leveling mechanics.

Part of me just says play for fun, another part of me say +5/+5/+5!

Thanks gain for your suggestions, stealth characters are a ton of fun

Sounds like you are on the right path. The only change I would make is go for Mage birthsign. The magicka gain is something that will really benefit the thief-mage.

Going for attribute bonuses really doesn't help the archer-sneak character. If you use a drain speed bow or a demoralize bow then nothing will touch you anyway.
Follow the advice of Acadian, he is the master of all things archery. :toughninja: