Going to attempt my first Stealth character but I have a concern, I've already mapped out how I'm going to pick my perks and there is just no room for Blacksmithing but it seems like improving weapons and armor makes such a huge difference that you'd be insanely gimped without it. Is it even possible to get by without wasting perks on crafting?

You can still improve weapons without any perks. It is just half as effective. If you are grabbing alchemy you can do a lot to make this more effective, same with enchanting -- you'll get some benefit even if you don't spend any perks on them.

I doubt you'll be gimped. hardcoe crafting makes people insanely overpowered when using weapons.

It is and imho much more enjoyable

I don't use Smithing. I haven't even invested a single perk into it. Sometimes it's annoying, because my Smithing is only 33 now and if I want to upgrade my Blade of Woe (which requires no materials/ingots) I can't because I lack the proper perk (unlocked at level 60). But overally seen it's perfectly viable and makes the game more challenging. I use the x15 damage perk on a stealth character, which pretty much allows you to instakill every living being, although this does mean you can NOT be detected at all or you have a MAJOR problem, because in battle it's still hard sometimes (especially annoying mages throwing ice at me).

just do it, if you don't like it you can always quit.

never used it myself, a good assassin could make due with a rusty butter knife and still kill his target

Are you kidding? Haven't you seen the numerous threads complaining about the overpoweredness of the crafting profs, as well as stealth? A sneak character is already a god. A sneak smith is a demigod.

I know that using the three in conjunction is broken. I use Blacksmithing and Enchanting on my main and I intend to do Alchemy (and only Alchemy) on this character. I've never combined the three because crafting is boring as [censored] (as it is in virtually every game) and I hate wasting perks on it.

I have a level 43 assassin/thief who uses a bow as her prime weapon. She has no smithing - but she does a lot of dungeon crawling and constantly gets upgraded gear for her and Lydia from dead enemies and chests. She has invested a lot of points in sneaking.

So, you'll be fine without it.

She does have enchanting - and that helps a lot when you find items that add damage to archery/bow - disenchant the item and then add it back to your gear. She has 4 pieces of gear that add 90% damage, so her bow damage is now at 105 (not counting arrows,etc.)

until yesterday i had improved no items, weapon, armour.
level 48

You don't need it, but investing in either the warrior, mage or thief crafting skills does help.

You don't have to spend a single perk on blacksmithing. All you need to do is to level it to 100 and reinforce weapons with whatever you can at that level. Choosing perks would only double the amount of improvement.

My first character didn't use any of the crafting skills. Didn't have a hard time at all.

You don't even need blades as a stealth character. All you need is a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfk-BNf51Qw

Even if you do eventually get to the point where you think your weapons aren't keeping up with enemies, you can always knock up a smithing potion. No need for smithing perks ever.

You can play without smithing although I would focus on getting the Armor perks that add 25% for all light/Heavy Armor and another 25% for all light/heavy Armor that's involved with a set. I think I had the Ancient Shrouded Armor Set up to around a 385 armor rating without Inproved Smithing the items.

It's totally viable. You can still improve items slightly without perks, and buy any kit you need from merchants.

If you're any good, you wouldn't need it. No offense.

Sure it is. Four playthroughs and I touched smithing only once to see what it looked like...

you'll be fine till ya hit 50 IMO. at which point elder dragons start popping up, then all bets are off. you could always avoid MQ and then you really shouldnt have any issues... especially with a stealth char.

I've never used smithing - ever. And I have played dual-wielder and 2-hander. With damage enchants on my swords, the weapon perks - I do fine.

J

I hardly use smithing. I only used it at the beginning to experiment with it, so I've got an upgraded Ebony sword (which is already powerful enough to me), and I now only smith to craft jewellery (my character is a silver smith), and finally to try making dragon scale armor (although I've heard you can actually find it in the game. Wasted perks dammit)

2 perks in smithing just for improving enchanted gear is kind of a no brainer, the rest aren't a big deal. Playing without it is viable though.

Pretty much the same thing, but I have a bow that I run away and use (sprint ftw) when I get detected - even on Master, a Daedric bow with Daedric arrows and even 60 archery is still pretty good - and the 15x dagger damage is awesome - combine it with the DB gloves that double sneak damage to make it 30x damage, and get the +100% with one handed perk, and have 2 daedric daggers, then power attack. I've never not seen an enemy die from that, besides elder dragons and some dragon priests

I've no intention of doing the MQ with this character, Assassins don't shout at the top of their lungs and fight dragons.


Baron Harkonnen... for some reason you seem familiar.

Smithing is good for people who want to keep their steel longswords and have it be on par with the leveled gear they encounter. Smithing is for people who don't like to find newer and better gear in dungeons.

I don't take perks for Smithing and I only use it to upgrade armor for my companion or to make jewelry to sell. Right now at Level 22 it's only at 18 and that could be from skill books or a training reward for a quest. There are so many other places the perks do me more good because I'm a mage but if I was a warrior or thief, I can see doing without it. Maybe take only the first perk...I've done that with a skill just for an initial boost.