...Thief,

Sound strange? The reason I want to do this?

I do not want skills like speech, sneak, lockpicking, etc. increasing my EXP in leveling.

I still will play a ranged character mostly, but in close quarters I do not want to be a sitting duck.

With my Barbarian class, I will level up my character with skills like one hand, light armour, etc. while still raising my skills in archery, sneak, and lockpicking.

I figure this way, when I level up and put points into strength, endurance, luck, I will not be all FUBAR'd in the higher levels.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I clicked on this thinking I was in the Skyrim section, then when I saw the mention of strength, endurance and luck I was utterly confused for a moment.

Not from me. Give it a shot, let us know how it works for ya.

Sounds good to me, but I'm not an Oblivion expert in any way, shape or form. But just be careful you don't focus too much on the thievery and not enough on the barbarianism, since fighting is one of the activities you'll be doing a whole lot of in this game

Yes, I hear you. My first play was an Dunmer Acrobat Thief. I was leveling up too much with archery, speech, sneak, lock pick, etc. I was still using one handed, block...melee tactics.

This way, I can practice all my sneak skills while still having to use "barbarian" type tactics to stay alive. I will level according to my "barbarian" style, but hopefully become a shadow master with my "lesser" skills...and not have to worry about getting outclassed by the NPC's who are leveling with me.

This is my hope, anyway.

Definitely not lore friendly, but it could work out.
A barbarian goes by a two-handed weapon and relies on power attacks. I'd recommend trying to max out one of the weapon skills quickly, but also you need agility in order to prevent yourself from being staggered and speed naturaly. Birthsign should be warrior/steed/shadow/lover. Increasing your hand-to-hand should also yield good results. Max out your strength and make sure your items are in good condition.

This one-handed/two-handed stuff must be from a Skyrim viewpoint. There's no such skill differentiation in Oblivion. Maybe it would be helpful to point out that the Oblivion Barbarian class has Block as a major skill, which implies the use of a shield (and therefore, a one-hand weapon.)

The biggest issue is going to be getting enough skill-ups per level to raise both Strength and Endurance, given that the Barbarian has all of the Strength skills, and two out of three Endurance skills, as Majors.

trying a Conan dunmer huh?, well i like it it might work just fine