Yes, I know. "Dat title"

Anyway. XD First of all, on Xbox 360, so no mods.

I was wondering what skills would be best for someone who will never enter any holds, except to sell pelts, ingredients, etc. and buy certain items. (I know this is sort of a common play style, but I want to actually do it this time. *brick'd* )

Hunting for my own food, living off the land. Sort of like a ranger. No main quest, no dragonborn powers, no dragons.

EDIT: Wanted to add a few things, after reading the posts below, some great ideas there! I'm not going to be using any sort of magic, or deeply RPing this. Its mostly just for fun. So no DiD (Dead is Dead) or anything like that.

I considered doing bounty quests, but that would force me to go to the Jarl's Stewards in each hold to collect the reward. Building my own home would be out too, since I'd have to earn a Jarl's favor first.

I know archery would be good, for hunting. Considering using dual wielding, daggers only. Light armor, of course. Sort of living in abandoned houses and campsites I find along the way. Only staying at inns in small towns (none of the Holds) and no fast travel. (Except for Carriages)

Any other ideas, or skills?

I'd say a simple healing spell would be important for such a character, and possibly alchemy if you can find a table to use (there's the Alchemist's Shack in the Rift, for starters...) At the very least you'd need to be able to make cure disease potions unless you fancied trekking all the way to the handful of shrines in the wilderness every time a wolf gives you germs. (Unless you get a good supply of hawk feathers, which I believe are meant to cure disease if just eaten, as it's their first effect).

I'd probably go with an axe or mace rather than daggers, it sounds like your melee option is mainly for situations where you get snuck up on by a sabre cat or fight bandits, and IMO bow should be your main skill, with the melee just as backup, therefore it wants to be something that you can just HIT stuff with, hard, and fast, without much need for accuracy. A dagger can be deadly if applied the right way, but really, would it stand much of a chance against a sabre cat?

(Oh, as for spells, I'd also use the default flame spell in a RP way for starting fires - yes, I know you can't actually go up to a campfire and light it with your flame spell in the vanilla game, but a lot of the time you come to campfires which, realistically, should have gone out long ago, but thankfully you can use your flame spell to re-light them far more efficiently than all that stuff with rubbing sticks together.)

Archery, Alchemy, Light Armor, One Hand

Are you using any magic?

I was thinking about making a Hedge Wizard character that would only use the spell books found out in the world.

Starting out, I'd probably also allow him to buy the few spells from the Riverwood Trader.

This quest, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Kill_the_Bandit_Leader_%28Jarl%29 does not require you to become Thane or anything, and it is a bounty quest that would benefit the landowner anyway.

Don't bother with carriages even. Walk or ride everywhere.

Is there a roleplay issue with becoming thane in one of the smaller holds? In my mind, it's almost like being deputy mayor in a small rural town - sure, you may hold some official authority, but you're still just a townie who will gladly toss a few ales back at the local tavern.

I know you don't have mods, but I'll throw out an idea from one of 'em. Roleplay that fur armor protects against cold better than leather, and that leather keeps you drier in rain than fur.

That sounds like it could be an interesting build. Places like Anise's cabin would make a perfect player home for this.

Not really. I was just wanting to be more of an explorer and less Hold bound. XD

That would be a great location. I totally want to stop my current playthrough and try this, but I need to fight my restartitis and finish up my current character.

I'm really curious as to how many spell books are out there and whether there's a "search for forbidden knowledge" style quest line that isn't dependent on entering any walled cities.

Lost Legends and Azura's Star are a couple I can think of.

I'm getting a little off topic, sorry about that.

personally, the more magic means the more unrealistic for that build.

spells and skills mean i'm playing everything but a common man.

leather, realistic smithing and gathering, food and pay for death (if not DiDing) seem a decent start.

i'd also reconsider your level up allotment: i'd go with magicka often, since, they'd be basically worthless: maybe, one magic skill (with training rules) only.

realistic encumbrance, obviously, and, true sim-like gameplay seems normal.

Yeah, to be honest I'd rather not use any magic. Just carry plenty of potions. XD I'd be going into holds rarely to buy and sell, so I'd stock up while I was there.

You can avoid the walled settlements altogether and just sell in the towns and to the Khajiit caravans. My bosmer ranger does this since he refuses to enter a walled settlement or castle/fort.

are you going for the common everyday man type along with your prereqs or are you not going hardcoe playthrough style?

if hardcoe, i'd ask yourself: are you an alchemist? how long would it take for you to make ONE potion?

It won't be hardcoe, no. *shakes head*

Enterei, that's more along the lines of what I was thinking.

sigh.

*shrug* Thanks for the tips, however.

maybe, one day, the use of true descriptors like hardcoe and dumbed-down will be regarded like they should: factual methods of clarification.

Hmmm. Falkreath really isn't a big hold either so this one might not be a bad idea.

a hold?

Falkreath is a city in http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Falkreath_Hold, located near the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Cyrodiil border. - From the UESP wiki.

do you really consider falkreath a "hold?"

i'm sorry, lol. this aspect brings me much, um, consternation. a hold means something. falkreath is a small village.

a hold, falkreath is not. story and sidestories don't negate the fact that it is not a "hold."

personally, I don't call it nitpik, since, falkreath is very far from being a hold.

it's beth compensating and i'd rather beth just get it correct.

Falkreath IS a hold. You can always pretend it's not for whatever RP purpose you are going for though.

lol, sure.

the little village is a kingdom, too, with a king who thinks his hamlet is a hold.

of course, that would mean admitting beth didn't quite get the scale right, lol.

whom exactly are they a hold for?

2 holds equals a what, lol?

uno.

lol, the kingdom of whiterun.

Anyway, Entreri (sorry if I spelled your name wrong the first time), are you still playing as that Bosmer Ranger? I was wondering if I could do this as a beast race. XD Possibly an Argonian who can go "fishing" without worrying about having to come up for air.