I understand as a pure mage, which I won't use...but what about a spellsword? And can someone explain what a spellsword is?

Spell in one hand maybe with a shield/sword in the other and casts spells basically. For this type of play style I would usually go with light armour.

Spellsword = mage sellsword

Ok. So a spellsword is light armor and a battlemage is heavy. Would you recommend I take both enchanting and smithing? I don't plan on using destruction.

Yes that would be fine, playing a spellsword a good way to learn about magic use of you havn't used it much before.

I've played with magic a bit, but haven't really used alteration. Hmm. I also don't want to use too many skills either.

There are different opinions on what defines each class and what skill sets they may or may not be incline to specialize in. For me, a Spellsword is one that is proficient in the use of magic as well as 1H weaponry. They are agile and cunning. They tend to favor Light Armor and move across the battlefield swiftly. Basically it's just another fancy name for a hybrid.

Aside from 1H and Light Armor, the rest is up to you and how it fits with a given character. Spellswords will almost always have a spell ready in the offhand so the use of a shield is not really something I put into play with this character. BUT that's not to say one can't.

Do what you can to make it your own and what defines THEM. Don't just give in to any cookie-cutter skill set that anyone throws at you or from former instalments.

A Sellsword is just another for a hired blade. A mercenary. It doesn't matter what class.

Then again, a mage would technically be a Sellspell.

When in doubt refer to the Oblivion classes: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Classes

You just have to tweak the skills that have changed since then but the guidelines are there.

I have always considered a Spellsword a Heavy Armor equipped Warrior who uses Alteration, Restoration, and Destruction. A Spellsword focuses more on the Melee aspect than the Magic aspect than a Battlemage would during Combat. I would even go as far as to say a Spellsword is the equivalent of an Armed Medic in a modern Army.

They typically use magic to enhance their sword techniques.

Similar to how a nightblade uses magic to increase their stealth, the spellsword uses magic to help their warrior attributes.

When I play a character that uses Alteration, I get Oakflesh as soon as possible and keep the Spell Active when outside a Player Home. When the character can cast Stoneflesh, then upgrade, eventually getting Ironflesh then Ebonyflesh. The last tier Flesh Spell requires being a member of the College of Winterhold and having Alteration Skill of 90. The Utility Spells like Transmute, Detect Life, Detect Dead and Telekinesis are useful for any playstyle. Paralysis and Mass Paralysis are Expert and Master Level Spells that can almost be overpowered.

I never bother with the Perks on the left side of the Alteration Tree except on Mages that only wear Robes, I use Flesh Spells to cover My characters dislike of Helms. I do like the Expert Perks (being on a PC and not having Summons absorbed made getting 30% Spell Absorbtion a great Perk) Cost Reduction for Master Level Spells means My Alterationist is as well defended as a Warrior in a full suit of Daedric Plate.

Thing is I don't want to use that many skills. Maybe 5 at the max and im worried if I don't take smithibg my weapon damage will be low. I guess there's always enchanting.

What 5 skills do you have in mind?

I was thinking 1 Handed, Alteration, Light Armor, Restoration, and Enchanting.

That seems fine to me. Definitely a pretty good build for a spellsword. Later in the game if you get the double enchantment perk I would imagine you would be quite powerful. No smithing isn't really a problem because there are so many weapons that you can either loot or just find and enchant yourself. Give it a try, I'm pretty sure you will enjoy that build. What race are you going with? Breton would be my choice.

Probably Breton. I will probably end up with Glass Armor, seeing as Dragonscale would be next to impossible to come by. I want to be effective at HIGH levels, like legendary dragon fighting and such.

Legendary Dragons don't show up until just shy of level 80. IIRC it's level 78.

Focusing on just 5 skills is fine. Just remember that you will still be leveling Speech and Lockpicking, unless you don't sell anything or pick any locks. Then you need to plan for which of those 5 skills you want to implement the Legendary feature with. As that's the only way you will get past level 37 or so.

Are you planning on just using those 5 skills or considering using other skills, just not placing perks in them?

Possibly using other skills on top of them, but I want to max out those ones first.

As long as you have a primary damage skill ( 1H ) and a primary defensive skill ( Lt Armor / Restoration ) then everything else is just bells and whistles.

Not going into Smithing isn't an issue. Besides your Enchanting can cover extra damage to boost the 1H skill. You will eventually cap your damage as Enchanting alone will only allow a certain % increase in Skill Fortification. Not a bad thing but just be aware as you plan to continue leveling to well above twice that.

Thanks. Maybe in the end I'll go for smithing as well, but not right away.

I've got a character which puts perks only into One-Handed, Block, and Alteration. He doesn't wear any armour at all (just robes that reduce Alteration spell costs), so he relies on blocking (with his one-handed sword) and alteration spells for melee damage reduction. He also uses Sneak to stealthily get past enemies, and to perform sneak attacks, but he takes no perks in Sneak. No crafting at all, although he does use potions and suitable enchanted items.

Cool. Thing is I play without exploiting/glitching stuff. So instead of casting Detect life ina town, i'll actually use it as it's intended. Same with enchanting. I want to ctually progress my enchanting skill on items, instead of just making rings of fortify conj. or w/e.