I like the idea of having a character who uses a one handed sword as the main form of attack and block but with no shield. Has anybody tried this? I also want to use restoration to heal myself and heavy armor and Smithing. Anybody have any other ideas?

That's actually a great idea, the heavy armor will compensate for the loss of sheild, smithing is definatly reccomended, restoration in the other hand/toggle back to 1 hand sword blocking is a good idea. Go for it.

Personally I have been playing an Achilles based build I've been putting together, it is working quite well.

Hey, yeah, great idea. Instead of shield in the other hand, have "fast healing" equipped. Swing, swing, heal, swing, swing. I'm going to try that.

I really love blocking though...well...to be specific, I love BASHING with my shield. Disarming Bash, Power Bash, Lethal Bash and Fast Reflexes, are fun perks. Blocking used to be boring.

Do you use anything for ranged combat like destruction or archery? I feel like fighting dragons is gonna svck untill they land or I get a certain shout

Definatly, you can do two things with this, grab destruction or archery, I would prefer archery because, using destruction for range will most likely deplete magicka reserves and not letting you heal yourself through restoration. Or you could focus more into magicka/ purchase a lot of mana potions to keep mana effeciency if you are going to take destruction.

I don't want the range destruction spells but I think it would be cool to throw up a flame cloak spell and then go in with my one handed sword

I would just have to grind it up to expert I guess to use them

Great idea, OP. You've just inspired me to do something new

I fight like this on my Nightblade if I get caught with my proverbial pants-down. I'm actually quite good at swapping out magic-to-empty for parrying with my left hand, and I must admit, it's actually a lot more fun than 2handed or Sword/Shield.

I call it the flame cloak paladin! Maybe I'll throw down some runes or a flame wall or something but no missile spells.

I play my Death Knight as 1 handed type. It`s great because you can mix up defensive and offensive combos with your free hand, fast.
My Char uses heavy enchanted armour to boost magicka/reduce destruction costs, wields a war axe in his right hand and his left throws out firebolts, icespikes, quickheals, resurrects corpses and also lay fire runes down for advancing enemies

It`s quite a formidable fighting style when used properly.

I would use destruction as it will help to get to Flame cloak. Plus if you used archery you would have to swap back and forth between that and your sword. With destruction you can just have a spell in your off hand. Or buy/loot a staff for those moments you need some range. You just need your off hand so you can still keep your sword equipped. Just have to be able to put it away so you can block.

Like your idea.

I'm actually doing this with my current character. 1H sword, light armour boots+gloves, normal clothes, nothing in the off hand. Main skills are 1H, Block, Light Armour and Smithing.
Lv.22 so far, it makes for some fairly hairy encounters at times but it's definitely a lot of fun

There’s a cool Samauri looking sword in the basemant of The Sleeping Giant Inn. Looks really cool in 3rd person when wielding/blocking...

Most annoying thing about playing this type of character, is that you can not disarm a spell to block with fast keys. So you end up not relying on block at all.

I just started a new Viking, wearing only fur or leather and using one handed sword/axe and sometimes a shield. I haven't really decided yet if he'll be using the shield or just fighting one-handed. He won't be touching magic with a ten foot pole, so I'll use alchemy to brew some potions. I'll probably have to turn down the difficulty in order to not get slaughtered with this build, but I'm ok with that, as long as I have fun. Currently playing on adept and doing just fine, so I'd definitely encourage you to try it. Don't worry about difficulty, jsut adjust the slider if you're having trouble, that's what it's there for =)

i'm in the process of creating a hybrid god and so i often use a sword in one hand and a magic skill or shield in the other. it absolutely makes for a diverse and fun style of play.

with this hybrid my battle often looks like this: sniper shot, destruction, shout, conjure/alterate, and then the up close skills.

it's good times, for sure, and, can make up for the overall lackluster combat, movement, a.i, difficulty, repetativeness, etc.