[Long-time TES player (since daggerfall)]
[soon to embark upon Skyrim for the first time]

[NO PLOT SPOILERS please]


How viable is it to play as a necromancer in Skyrim?

The perk-tree looks pretty promising.
But it might be annoying because you need humanoid corpses to raise. (as opposed to the summoning-tree)
How much of an issue is this?

Would I need to rely on the ritual stone? [or] Is there any way to make my undead permanent?

I play a hybrid necromancer class, my main perks as an assassin.

You can make permanent humanoid zombies with the spell dead thrall, which isn't available until 90 conjuration. They are however, buggy. They don't path very well so it's easy to lose them and then they are gone. They also have a habit of disappearing when loading. They also don't save if you use auto save.

IMO, a pure necromancer feels like it will be a pain, having to constantly find corpses until you get dead thralls and even then, you can't give them commands.

I only play with necromancy on the side to keep from getting bored. I don't have or need to rely on them to get through the game.

Thanks for the response.

Perhaps a more balanced mage build, with necromancy on the side will keep me entertained.

A good way early on is to use perks that extend duration, like dual casting and the necromancer perk. With dual casting alone you can get a 120 sec duration which can get you through a fight. Once you get dead thralls and You won't even need to fight yourself(though I would reccomend it to keep things interesting ).