Hello guys, I hope this is in right topic! ^^

So, I have two questions.

1) - is there a way to effectively change classes mid-game? I'm level 36 and already maxed in arechery, almost 100 in lock-picking, sneaking etc. I've been really wanting to try out a battle mage, I purchased full set of enchanted heavy armor, using a bound weapon and frost novice spell. I've been doing this according to a guide on youtube, so it should be right. The problem is I'm getting owned by mobs I usually 1shot with my bow, and I don't seem to do much damage to them. It's probably because I haven't spend any points in heavy armor, 1handed or destruction, but, am I able to change classes mid game? I enjoy my sneaky ranger so I wouldn't that much mind if it was not possible, though I'm more melee type of a person in most games^^

2) - If I couldn't change my class, I would probably create a new warrior or battlemage character, and also see the storylines and quests from different perspective (always sided with Stormcloaks, always sided with the vamps in Dwngrd etc with previous characters). But will I be still able to play my old sneaky ranger? I went through saves and didn't find chars I created 1+year ago.

I own Skyrim vanilla game and Dawnguard dlc. Both purchased from Steam.

Thank you for any help! And sorry for my english.

o/

There is no class system. You know that, right?

Sure!

But since I have all my points spent in archery, sneaking, light armor and so, I like to think of my character as a sneaky ranger.
Even though I put spell, 1handed sword and full set of heavy enchanted armor on, I'm still getting oneshotted and doing almost zero damage, so I think something must be wrong.

thank you very much!! This helped me a lot. As for weapon (I believe you are asking about my ranged wep) I'm using the crossbow I got at the beggining of dawnguard quest, since it's better than my Nightingale bow, and I like to use a crossbow for a change. As for bound bow, I heard you need level 50 conjuration to use it, which I sadly do not have. ABout a bound weapon for my try for a battlemage I used the one sold by Farengar in Whiterun.

No, you only need level 50 Conjuration to get the cost-reducing perk. You can cast it at any level, if you have enough magicka. I have a character who has been using the Bound Bow since level 2.

First off:
Welcome to the forums! Have a fishy stick! http://images.uesp.net/c/c4/Fishystick.jpg
It's a tradition here.

Now to buisiness, I'd say start a new character and try seeing the game from another perspective.
I personally have never made a huge change to my characters playstyle mid-game, but that's usually because it would break my RP.
Perhaps you could try RP'ing your next character, it truly is (in my opinion) the most enjoyable way to play skyrim.

If creating a new character is extremely distasteful to you, then do as previously stated as meet up with some NPC trainers.

And to answer your question: you will still keep your character.
I like to keep 4 saves per character and just override the oldest one everytime I save, so I can't guarantee that this will remain true if you make a new save every time.

Good luck.

That's what I was talking about. You're already an archer, so a bound bow would fit better than a sword - it's also more powerful, equivalent to a daedric bow. However, I forgot it's an adept level spell, so you can't see it in merchant inventories yet. There should be a copy in Fort Amol you can take.

If you're not above it, you can do the pickpocket trick with trainers: pay them, then pickpocket the money back. It's kinda nefarious, but when the trainer happens to also be a follower, it's only logical that they'd be willing to give you a few lessons for free, no? At least that's what I tell myself.

But starting a new character would be fun too. You could pick up Dragonborn (it will probably be -75% again on the last day of Steam sale) and do completely new quests.

I've done similar transitions and there's ways to close the gaps. You've maxed archery so you could use the bound bow spell which utilizes the archery perks and will level up conjuration....if you maxed one hand then the same applies to bound swords so you could mix it up with a bound sword in 1 hand and a different spell in the other (perhaps a summon spell or destruction to compliment the melee). Eventually this will balance things out and you can start relying more on the magical abilities and less on the magical melee. I'm guessing you have little to no points put into magic so enchanting might be necessary to either increase your magic pool or to make a specific school have 0 casting cost.

I like some of my characters to grow and evolve so I turned a bow and sword wielding huntress into a frost witch conjurer (she uses frost destruction, summons frost atronachs and will use dual bound swords or a bound bow as needed, trapping souls with them for enchanting). The best thing is she doesn't die as easily as other mages I've made as she has 300+ points in health from her huntress days.