And I'd love to see some interesting build ideas. I'm thinking a sword and shield build of some kind, but I'm not sold on anything yet. I've played pretty much every kind of conventional character and I'm just looking to spice things up a bit.

be a true assassin and once you get the skill behind you only use your dagger i did this one time and it is the most fun i have ever had. you have the illusion spell calm in one hand dagger in the other and you calm your enemy(if you cant avoid being detected) then sneak behind them and then slit their throat
for animals if your powerful enough you can calm them and get the sneak attack as well. however i did none of the main quest on this build so i would not recommend taking on a dragon this way because i don't think the calm spell works on them

I just watched a buddy of mine roleplay a true nightblade who uses only ilusion and alteration spells, plus bound weapons and he was truly fun; he cast fury on opponents and while they where fighting he would sneak up and whack the survivor