I've recently made a character that fights with a 1hand sword and no shield or spell in the other hand. I like to be able to block, and I've tried several greatsword builds, but the price you pay when you miss a target is just brutal.

It's working out really well actually, the ability to weapon bash to stagger a shield/blocking target is very useful (Hired Thugs, I'm looking at you). I wear light armor (Forsworn because 90% of combat is how attractive your character is) move around, move in, slash a few times, sometimes with poison on my blade, move out of the way of heavily armed combatants who are slower and dodge 2-hand attacks easily, and use weapon bash when they decide to block constantly.

And if I miss an attack I'm not open to painful counterattacks like I was with s 2hand sword. Also, I rarely power attack with this character.

Basic idea:

Race: Nord (my first nord ever, srsly)
Primary Skills: One handed, archery, alchemy, block, and light armor, with a little sneak and alteration

Anyone else rolled this?

i my self have kinda wanted to try something similiar to this. Make him like a master swordsman type. i was even thinking about rolling him with mostly robes and cloths instead of armor cuz i just think that would be cool. But is it even viable

I tried a similar build before script dragon was released, but since then, i've come to depend on the dual block mod. So my favorite style has come down to a spellsword that makes use of alteration spells from mods like Phenderix Magic Evolved and Be A Better Mage.
Offhand spells that support my swordsmanship, like infusing fire damage or fortified attack speed into my sword. Attacking with a fury of impossibly rapid blows for a brief moment (even though every speed boosted swing just chips away at your stamina)

and @sylynce
I rarely use armor at all, even with a non-magic non-archer build. Just focus more on dodging, or make use of some enchantments to improve your clothes.

For practical purposes there is no reason not to have a shield, but for roleplaying purposes I think it's pretty cool. I want to try to utilize block and bash on my 2H warrior, but a part of me would rather just take it in the face while I wind up a home run.

Braavosi style fencing. I like it.

Xbox 360 player so mods are not as helpful as they are on pc

but yeah, for some reason, this kind of set up is the only one i can really picture a argonian in, other then an assassin/theif type of course

That is true for an Argonian, I remember reading a book in Oblivion that basically said that an Argonian would rather dodge a blow than block it.

Dual wielding plus the ability to block seems like cheating to me. Plus I'm still on 360 here.

The 1 hand weapon bash feels quicker to me. And I want to use to bash as an offensive manuver to open up a heavily defensive target, not deal damage.

But yeah, I've made a sword & board before and it can be near unstoppable.

Ive made this. Had illusion in there as well.

I don't see it as cheating. I see it as an overlooked feature. When have you ever seen someone DWing that couldn't block?...Oh yea...Skyrim.

I just about have the same build as you have.
I am playing a Nord female, using daggers only (Earlier I was using sword and shield then I stop because she is using too much stamina for a wee lase. Also I felt I playing like my first character.) because using daggers uses less stamina. When inside fighting I use the torch as a bash. Its a pity that I cannot use her left fist as a bash and block. She uses bow and arrow as her primary weapon when far away from her foe. She uses a dagger as a side arm when her foe gets too close. Lucky your character is not in my Skyrim or she/he would of copped the arrow to the head or a slit to the throat. Your charcter needs a third eye. Those bonuses I get from sneak kills with the bow and back stabbing with the dagger.

As for armour she wears light. She will not loot the armour from a dead foe. Wearing ones dead armour with blood squishing within her bare skin is beneath my character. That leads to smithing. She wants to upgrade the Savior's Hide (She wants to show a bit of leg. Her best feature of her body her foe wants to see before dying.) Also she upgrades and makes her own weapons and armour.

The only spell she uses beside shouts and her race powers is the healing spell. She has her potions. Sometimes the player forgets to quick slot them. (Yes I am looking at you Gerza)

I know fighting one hand without a shield will leave her open but she will still have stamina and keeps going until her foe or herself dies.

Her primary skills are Archery, One Handed, Light Armour, Sneak and Smithing.

I have rarely used a shield and I use a dagger as my main weapon.

That's what I'm doing right now. I made a Redguard Spellsword who uses a one-hander with nothing in the offhand until he needs a spell. I also use mods however and the ACE mod adds bonuses for certain combat "styles" such as a spell damage bonus when using a one-hander and spell, or a weapon speed bonus when not having anything in the offhand. So far it's been really fun

Two handed weapons have longer reach, so you can swing from further back, making it far easier to not be hit by a counter attack. I know this as my light armored 2h warrior can take out most enemies by simply dodging their hits, attacking from a safer distance due to the reach.

Any one handed enemy is stupidly easy to dodge if you concentrate, two handers are more difficult.

Illusion makes any character overpowered though and it doesn't sound like that's what he's looking for. With Illusion it's just too easy to use Calm, hit them, calm, hit them, repeat until they die. Not to mention fear and frenzy and invisibility. My current mage is Illusion/conjuration and she is never touched by anything, ever. It's crazy. It's my 4th character though so I'm pretty much just messing around now.

Yeah illusion gets cheap pretty quickly. Conjuration too. I don't understand how people can run around with two Dremora lords, and then just frenzy everyone, turn invisible, and stand there while their dremora lords fight for them, and do that for 81 levels without falling asleep at the controller/computer. (I know im exaggerating a bit)

Maybe they have the CBBE and other nudity mods running full bore and want to play skyrim with only one hand?

Sorry- he asked if anyone else had done a build like this, and I responded that I have. I don't really have to hold my game to your standards of OP, and when I say illusion (personally) I only mean invisibility and muffle- as I too dislike the effects of calm.

Well I can only speak for myself, but its just my personal preference, I'm not holier then thou about how to play skyrim properly.

There's probably some guy in eastern europe or northern florida right now running around his skyrim game with lightsabers and a mod that makes him look like his favorite totally out of play for skyrim anime character, only half naked, casting calm, backstab killing with that lightsabre over and over for hours on end, and having the time of his life. And I say good for him.

exactly.

Cloth leaves you invariably vulnerable. You can use alteration, but alteration, in all honesty, pales in comparison to even minimally perked light armor.

IMO wear light armor, but keep to the low level stuff. Improve it and maybe enchant it, and back it up with alteration (obviously without taking mage armor)

for 4 perks instead of 3 (going down left side light armor for stam regen) will yield you much greater results.

Additionally.... the cloth in this game is just abhorrent, whereas many of the lower tier light armors look pretty damn good. I wear a circlet instead of a helm as well because of appearances taking a small hit to my armor rating but my alteration backs it all up.

And actually... I haven't even perked light armor yet at all... I'm just perking into Alteration for now.

I do use a shield though unlike the OP, and offhand spells as well. No destruction of course (sux for an offhand) but use archery for ranged. Spell use is mostly Alteration + Restoration. Ranking up Conjuration as well (bound weapons primarily.... and extra firepower/target via Atronach when needed) now. Will end up using enchanted swords and bound bow in the end (using bound sword now to rank up for bound bow).

Perking into Smithing only for Arcane Smithing (to improve my enchanted weapons) and not perking into Enchanting, though I am leveling enchanting to help fill any gaps in gearing (small enchant is better than none.) I've also restricted myself from buying ANY crafting mats.... soulgems included (there is an answer for that in game via quest line of course, which also happens to be thematic for my character)

Concept is something like the archetypal "Paladin" with the Daedra being the "gods" so to speak.

She came to Skyrim on pilgrimage driven by her interest in Talos and the possibility of mans ascension into godhood.

Her dedication to the Pantheon keeps me from joining any of the factions. (Convenient for me since I've already played every faction) putting the focus of my gameplay on exploration, seeking out ancient ruins and daedra shrines.

PS: calm is hilarious lololol

Every try destruction in one hand and a shield in the other? Works very well actually.

I do use Alteration with my build as well. Mostly to get those Magic Resistance perks in the Alteration tree, but the armor boost is nice.

Same here.
Single dagger only, no shield, no magic.

I never dual wield or use a shield. Just doesn't look or feel right to me.

No, but I have a character who is close. I’ll see how she does with a sword and an empty hand. Thanks for the idea!

yes i did this. i would use restoration and conjuration to summon zombies. but use my sword for block and attack. my skill were like restoration, block, conjuration, one handed, and light armor but unequipped spells as soon as i was done with them. you know to give it that more swordsman feel.