Count me in as a warrior that dabbles in enchanting, I don't know what to tell ya, enchanting just doesn't seem lame to me while all other magic does.

Different strokes?

I do find it weird when people are warriors who use restoration but then bag on magic, if I was going to hold my hand up and heal myself with swirly magic I couldn't then hate on magic with a straight face. Once you're holding up a magic hand you might as well go all out. But yeah enchanting seems different. King arthur had an enchanted sword. Enchanted stuff just translates to my character being superstitious in my mind's rp, I don't enchant flames or shock spells or anything like that into swords. I just might have absorb health in my weapon, which I can justify as my character getting amped and energised by slaying an enemy, then I might have fortify archery on a hat, and that can just be my character's "lucky hat" that makes him shoot with more confidence. Enchant two handed in boots could just mean they have nice grip to get a purchase to swing from better, enchant unarmed in a ring could just mean it has a gnarly edge, etc etc. There's nothing too fantastical about my enchantments so they don't bother me.

edit to add- no one should be talking about alchemy in this thread, alchemy is a real life real thing that has nothing to do with magic. I don't usually use it, but if I did I wouldn't consider it conflicting with my "pure warrior" status at all.

Every character is some kind of thief/rogue hybrid too with lockpicking and speech

Sorry Colonel but you're mistaken my friend, see the Warrior class from Oblivion and their skill list with not a single magic school in it: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Classes

Potions have never been spoken about (my warriors avoid them) but magic is not befitting of a Warrior, their description even mentions it: "Masters of all melee tools, they put little faith in the magical arts."

Hag, my man... You can throw those class descriptions out the window. They don't carry much weight. They change from game to game and are only there as an incentive for those that don't know what they want or need to do.

The developers even commented that, " everyone should know not to use those preset classes and create a custom class... "

I'm on the fence about the validity of Enchanting. As it can viewed as just a mechanical transition from breaking the soul gem and allowing the essence to transfer to the item. However, it only bears to reason that anyone could take wheat and blisterwort, brew it in some water to create a Health potion. Essentially, the same basic chemistry process as cooking.

You're mistaken, I was talking about actual lore, not arbitrary classes.

But:

Knight

The most noble of all combatants. Strong in body and in character.

Specialization: Combat Attributes: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Personality, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Strength Skills: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Blade
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Block
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Blunt
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Hand_to_Hand
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Heavy_Armor
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Illusion
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Speechcraft

Illusion...

ha I know this is the 2nd time recently that I've pulled the Oblivion class card (nostalgia maybe) but this time was more justified as he mentioned that Restoration was favored by Warriors in TES before.

I agree that Alchemy is basically chemistry which is more mental then magical but Enchanting involves using souls captured in magical soul trapping gems that were put there by magic so that definitely falls under magic...especially since it's 1 of the skills under the "Path of Magic" in the Ohgma Infinium (Alchemy doesn't which supports your opinion it's not magical).
Think about how you would go about transferring a soul from a gem then binding it to a weapon and imbuing it with a magical property...you don't just smash the gem on the weapon and say "you're 10pts fire damage now"
Knight is Knight, Warrior is Warrior....that's like comparing Sorcerer and Battlemage which are similar yet different.

Where in lore does it state that "Warriors" use magic? You may be right about that but I never heard of someone being called a Warrior and casting spells...don't throw the thu'um in there

And...

Crusader

A combatant who wields the power of brute strength and medicinal knowledge. Cheating death after every fight, they rely on their keen knowledge of restoration to fight yet again.

Specialization: Combat Attributes: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Strength, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Willpower Skills: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Athletics
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Blade
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Blunt
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Destruction
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Hand_to_Hand
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Heavy_Armor
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Restoration

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Crusader#Crusader

Classes don't mean much.

Maybe not to you and your game (or Skyrims streamlined style) but in an RPG a class is almost as defining as a race, more so in certain RPG's. Tell an old school D&D dude that classes don't mean much and you'll hear a nerd rant rage

Well luckily this isn't Dand D, and those classes had magic abilities since Morrowind TES goes against typical roles. And I don't think anyone will argue a knight isn't a warrior.

Only some RPGs

Runequest (1st published 1978) had no classes, a world where everyone knew a few spells and a learning by doing experience system

TES since Daggerfall shows more signs of being influenced by it than D&D

Ah, you DID argue a knight wasn't a warrior....oy, lol Anyway, I didn't say warriors all casted spells. Depends on what. A warrior to me relies on weapons for the offensive and uses some sort of armor. Nords before were given bonuses to restoration. But, why not throw in the thu'um as well? It is a magical ability.

This is true, TES is a bit different then the typical RPG of old but classes are still there even if only in name.

ha well Elton John is a knight so yea not all knights are warriors

(yes I went there ha)

The thu'um is a bit different then schools of magic, I see it more as a hereditary right that was gifted by Kyne and of course to the Dovahkiins. As for your quote, yes Warriors favor the paralyze enchantment on weapons because it makes their job easier but that doesn't mean they enchanted the weapon themselves, only use it. Think of Ysgramor, he used the enchanted Wuuthrad to kill Snow Elves as did his Companions with their elf killing weapons but they were enchanted by Ahzidal.

I don't see why a Warrior wouldn't take advantage of a better weapon but to do the actual enchanting takes magical know-how.

I can see why one would feel that Enchanting is clearly on the side of magic. However, the basic application of using a soul gem in the field to charge a weapon, doesn't require any special mystical ability or a table. So, the jury is still out on that for me.

I will agree that the use of any spell, even Restoration, is not becoming of a true pure Warrior. This is obviously discrediting the preset class category of the aforementioned Knight as being a warrior. ( I discredit all of those presets anyway ) While they are warrior types, they are not in the context of a pure Warrior as implied by the OP and the basis of this discussion.

Essentially making the socalled Knight class, just an alternate subname for a particular Spellsword.

... or Battlemage, pending how one wants to define the actual difference. Which is purely subjective.

ooh good point sir, I overlooked that aspect of the soul gem. Ok well here's my spur of the moment idea of how that could work without knowing magic, perhaps a weapon already imbued with a soul from a gem means that it naturally draws in other souls that are trapped in gems and simply smashing the soul gem with the weapon causes the soul to transfer to its new "gem"....seems plausible in this crazy fantasy world

Enchanting itself on the other hand is still very much magical to me, even the tables scream of magic with the symbols, crystal ball full of some green essence, candles and skull...it all feels very ritual.

Lorewise, only spellcasters are capable of the best and most versatile enchantments.

Gamewise, Enchantment is virtually identical to any MMO enchanting system.