hi,
starting a new character with a view to finishing the main quest and avoiding that difficulty spike i always run into around level 15 when everything else seems stronger than me, and i kind of lose the rythym of my game. i tried efficient leveling briefly but i found it too intrusive checking on my skills all the time, so what i'm aiming for is getting +4 or +5 in two attributes in particular per level - agility and intelligence, without having to worry too much about it -

here's what i have so far:

Khajiit, male, stealth, the lady, agi/str, so... 40s across the board except agilty 55 and strength 45

majors - acrobatics, illusion, mercantile, marksman, hand to hand, conjuration (?), security (?).

the skills i will use the most however will be alchemy and sneak,

so for agility - i figure by using sneak as much as i want, and leveling with marksman i can get a high bonus - my question is if i take security will that mess up my plans? sometimes the mini-game is easy for me, sometimes though i'm not in-the-zone with it, so i appreciate the perks when i get them, but i suppose i'd start at 15 so it wouldn't be too long anyway. i could take alteration instead.

for intelligence - i'd like to use conjuration for the sake of bound weapons and armour, and the odd creature thrown in, especially for end game, but there's a slight worry that overuse will push my leveling too fast - before marksman has a chance to build up a lead. might this be a problem? - considering my other majors will be relatively easy to control.

otherwise i'd like to build a combination of speed, which doesn't seem a problem, and strength, but i won't be going out of my way to use a variety of weapons (unless the bound weapons can do the job without me thinking too hard about it) or punch things to death for the sake of it, so i'll be happy with lower bonuses here.

any advice would be appreciated.

I think you have the right idea, pretty much. In order to build attributes well, you don't want too many of that attribute's skills as majors. Personally I wouldn't take Security as a Major. It's one of those skills that works fine as a minor, and along with Sneak it'll help your Agility bonuses.

Conjuration - Yeah, it increases quickly, but being a Stealth specialist will temper that somewhat. To me it's one of those skills that's worth getting to a good level fairly early. If you're in your "terrible teens" but you have high enough Conjuration to summon a Clannfear, that can be a big help, and at that point the skill isn't flying up at an insane rate anymore. Just leave the rest of the Intelligence skills as minors.

I think Uncle Pain's advice is good. I think also that you have a fine idea of only worrying about some of the attributes, and it certainly can work. Which ones depend on your character, but I like focusing only on a few to help more sharply define my character. My own character is probably more extreme than what you have in mind, but as a glass cannon mystic archer she only worries about agility, intelligence and willpower. It sounds like your Khajiit may be focusing on stealth and bow with some magic, so agility and intelligence sound great and the character may share some in common with mine. See if some of my character's thinking applies to your concept:

Endurance. She's all about not getting hit and takes extraordinary measures to avoid it, so hitpoints are not important to her.
Strength. No melee, doesn't care about loot.
Speed. She loves illusion, so when she gets in trouble she either immobilizes foes, controls their minds or disappears. She never runs.

You certainly may not want to go as far as keeping several at base levels like I do, but it certainly is not necessary to push all attributes to high levels.

The trick to making a powerful character is in having high skills and a low level. The easiest way to achieve that is by utilizing minor skills (like you're doing with Alchemy and Sneak) and having major skills that you don't use. So for your final two major skills I'd suggest something you won't use much (or at all). Destruction and Speechcraft perhaps? You'll be using a bow as your ranged weapon and Charm spells will render Speechcraft irrelevant. Assuming you'll be using your other 5 major skills, this would give you a natural level cap of 28. which is low enough that scaled monsters don't grow out of proportion.

Or... or you can just stock up on alchemy and not even worry about it.

I think you've got a fine plan there. You'll still struggle a bit in the teens - it's just a part of the game. There's a flurry of tough creatures - mountain lions, bears, wraiths, will o' the wisps and so on - that all show up close to the same time. But making sure that your skills are as high as possible when you get to that point is the best way to deal with that (aside, arguably, from Zak's all-purpose strategy of "spam alchemy" ), and the best way to make sure that your skills are as high as possible is to have enough important minor skills that you're consistently getting lots of skill increases and attribute bonuses at each level.

Conjuration is generally fine as a non-spec major. It can increase a bit uncomfortably fast, but if you're not using it constantly, that shouldn't be a problem. And conjuration is one of those skills that gets much, MUCH better at higher levels, since higher skill levels don't just lower your cast cost, but open up new and extremely useful summons.

I'd stay away from security. The perks aren't all that great, IMO, and it's broken later in the game when you get.... an artifact. Plus having security as a minor will give you one more steady source of skill increases and agility bonuses. With that build, I'd tend to go with Block for the last skill, especially if you plan on using hand-to-hand, since bare hand blocking before Apprentice level accomplishes nothing. If not that, then, as Dragatus suggested, some filler skill that you're not going to use at all.

And I'd consider Athletics instead of Acrobatics, just because it's a combat skill instead of a stealth skill. That will leave Athletics increasing at the 60% rate for non-spec majors and Acrobatics at the 75% rate for spec minors, rather than Athletics at non-spec minor 100% and Acrobatics at spec major 45%. That's not that vital though and depends on a couple of things, primarily if you run everywhere or ride a horse or fast travel. If you run everywhere, then Athletics increases pretty well even as a non-spec minor, and Acrobatics is certainly easier to control than Athletics. If you don't want experience in it, just don't jump.

All in all, looks fine.....

i was considering block but figured if i found myself in a bind it would start going up more than i wanted it to, whereas if it's a minor i can hold block all day and not worry about it,

and for this char there'll be no fast travel, maybe a horse, but probably a lot of running cross country, so i'd sooner not worry about ahtletics, and then just use jump when necessary - plus this is a skill i'd like to max once i have everything else under control, maybe after those teens,

i think i'll go with alteration instead of security, i probably won't use it much but it has some handy spells just in case,

thanks for the advice

yeah evasion is key - i fancy trying for all the sigil stones using just invisibilty and sneak, when i'm high enough level, - so i won't do much with endurance,
but i'd like to try some evasive ninja moves too - hand in hand combined with bound armor/weapons with maybe a burden or drain speed poison and jump attacks is the idea - so a little extra speed won't hurt,
plus if i end up liking the character then i'll want to get those mercantile perks, which i've never had before, so loot and strength are desirable,

Spam Alchemy