Let me start by saying Oblivion was my first exposure to the ELS series. While I enjoyed playing it, I think it was such a new experience that I didn't fully enjoy it and definitely didn't delve as deep into it as I hope to with skyrim. I can't even honestly tell you the type of character I was in oblivion. Which brings me to my thread....

I want my first character to be one I spend lots of time with and maybe somewhere in the future play as another but I want my first to be special (insert joke here). I have played about 4 hours or so done a side quest and just roamed around. My character right now is a level 7 Nord warrior, uses single hand blades and war axes with a shield for defense and a bow for some long range attacks if needed. Light armor as well. Dude is pretty bad ass but for some reason I feel like another character is calling out to me and dying to be played...... An assasin/thief

My question to the community of vets is what do you think about switching when you have a few hours in with a good ammount of supplies/gold stored.

And

If I do switch what are some tips/hints to playing an assasin/thief build. I know there is no right or wrong way to play but playing a warrior is a little easier than the above. All tips and tricks would be greatly appriciated!

Thanks to all that read through this monter post and reply. I look forward to many more hours spent with Skyrim and this new community!

Any assasin/thiefs out there that have some tips for a ES rookie?

if ure new to es play a slash and bash guy

most times I play a Nord or an Imperial (Morrowind/Oblivion), mainly so I can call him Richard. lol

I fancied a change this time, so I am a thief who can also do a bit of one handed, archery and conjuration. I am now Richarta, the Khajit.

I always find a ranger/scout type fairly easy to play
Most races work although Bosmer are ideal
Concentrate on OneHanded, Sneak, Alchemy, Archery

If you want to switch character types do it early, at worst you have wasted a couple of skill perks, won't cripple your character

That's why I am trying to decide what to do now. I played a ranger type in Oblivion, Started a warrior nord in Skyrim and I am finding it kind of fun. He looks and acts very bad ass but he's almost too much your typical hero, kind of boring. I hear the darkside calling for me to be an assasin/theif for the stormcloaks!

I'm not looking for the easy to play character, I'm not a seasoned ES vet but I know enough to get by. Just looking for others that play this way to post some tips or point me in the direction of some........

You can always take your Nord and work into something else, like Destruction magic or Conjurations to give him some personality.

Who would have thought a video game would bring such a hard descion! What a great game, now if I could just decide who I want to be in this great world.......

Yo! All of my TES characters usually start as a thief assassin and then my 2nd one is usually a battlemage. This time around I chose bosmer instead of dunmer. Anyway on to tips! ARCHERY is the first rule to being stealthy. Use archery always as your first weapon it has seriously been so greatly improved in this game that you can usually end fights before they get close enough to damage you. Other weapons you should have are daggers. You can dual wield them if you want, but personally I think that using 2 weapons at once is crap and usually willl just get you killed, because the whole point of being a thief is to try to stay AWAY from your enemy. Not close like the dual weapons require you. Staying on the topic of keeping enemies away though do NOT invest in block. It's a waste of time for a thief. It's seriously an awesome thing to have on other characters, but as a thief it will kill you. Lastly Invest a fair amount of time into conjuartion(spelling?) specifically necromancy, destruction, and illusion. I would also say throw some restoration in there just because that is useful no matter what character you play as. Also poisons/debuff potions don't hurt either

On to armor! Use ONLY clothes or light armor. When in a non-combat area I would suggest tossing off that armor and slappin on some clothes. The reason for this is simply when sneaking (which I might add is a wonder in this game, and a MUST have for thieves/assassins. Certain perks for sure, but we'll get to that later!) clothes will produce NO SOUND. Which greatly helps getting around if you're stealing from people or stalking someone. Light armor is the armor type to go for as well, because it allows you to move swiftly, and also again less sound than heavy. Another reason that these two dress styles are useful which I've noticed a surprising number of people don't know is that armor effect magic. The less armor you have the better your magic will work(and magic is the last line of defense for these types of characters).

On to fighting styles/some useful perks! Since you have been a warrior type I'm sure you are used to running in and destroying all who oppose you with heavy swings and bombs lol. As a thief/assassin you will destroy all enemies, but in a much sinister way...which if you ask me is very rewarding. Okay the thing you want to stick to as this character is stealth of course! Sneak always and when you can. If you want you can try to sneak past everyone which some people like and needs no explaining. I play a little differently..and like to punish all who would do me harm :] so like I said earlier what is a must as a thief/assassin? ARCHERY! There are some perks in the sneak section that add buffs to the amount a sneak attack arrow will do which are useful, but you can probably get by without them. Most arrows (after a good bow and investing money in top of the line arrows) will one shot enemies with a sneak attack. If you fail to get the killing shot though and then enemy starts looking for you have no fear! keep your cool and use the new system of sneak/archery in this game to mess with your target. In skyrim if you shoot an arrow at a distant corner while sneaking and not seen the enemies will go to investigate that area. Just try to get the enemy away from you as quick as you can! If thise fails though prepare for combat as a thief.... as a thief/assassin close combat can be stressful...and frustrating...I play on the expert/master difficulties so it's goes without saying I die sometimes. If you play anything lower the game seems too easy but play how you play. Anyway what you wanna do is get your sword/dagger (prefered dagger for the speed) in your right hand and spells in the left. Try to kill the enemy right away with the spells, but if it isn't working will and you need to use the dagger try to coat it in poison, or a potion that makes the enemy weak against magic. The purpose of the potion to weaken the enemy from magic is you REALLY, REALLY, REALLLLLLY want distance in the fight. Don't try to block just dodge and look for an opening.

Hmm this got a little diorganized...oh well I'll just keep going! haha it's just so much to explain! It took me forever to work out being a thief, and then skyrim just comes in and adds 100's of extra tactics. Fighting as a thief is just all tactical...like the necromancy I mentioned earlier...say you stealth shot a guy killed him, but the 2nd guy saw you...you would use the necro to summon the dead to attack him..slap a calm on the enemy so you have time to leave...use the calm to summon the dead, and just ahh soooo many possibilites.. let me just say a perk you MUST have is the sneak one that lets you be 20% harder to see when sneaking. Invest in that as much as you can. I even completely left out pick pocketing and lock picking...really just kind of play around with everything...if you have questions just ask me lol. My gamertag is WorldsBestRabbi and my Steam ID is the exact same thing. I play skyrim on Steam, but I'm usually always on xbox to chat. If you have PS3 well...you have my skyrim forum account name lol. just message me I'm on often!

I HOPE YOU CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THE STEALTHY PATH!

Don't be worried about adding me on xbox either lol I can talk your ear off for hours HA. Just let me know who you are if that's what you play on.

How much harder is it getting into a battle Vs. multiple foes or a giant beast, with an assasin/theif character than lets say a warrior Nord?


PS

My GT is - Irishsaint18

It depends...I've never fought a giant. I fought 1 dragon and got killed 2 times. I ended up just using a bow. hilariously my horse kills more things than I can count in the open range before I can get close to them.... I can handle 2 or 3 bandits easily. I had some trouble fighting a bandit thug with a hammer and a bandit archer at the same time though. It's really all just how prepared you come. If you come with some high level poisons. You can handle most fights pretty nicely. Although Being a warrior nord vs thief/assassin in an open mob fight the nord warrior will do much better. The whole point of the thief/assassin is to try to make those multiple foes turn into the smallest number of foes you can before it has to come to open combat, or if you are really good make the mob disappear before they even know you're there :]

A simple answer really is just don't get into open battles lol. I did last night while doing a quest. Lucky enough it was in a cave with bear traps and small tunnels, so I could run away and set the traps while getting off 1 to 2 arrows here and there til I got the number of warriors from like 8 to 3. From there I spammed a double frost bite until there were 2 and then just healed in left hand and sword in right for the last too. Instead of just fighting like I would have a Nord Warrior I Bosmer ran and while doing little hits here and there to wear them down. It can be fun and very rewarding when it goes your way, but annoying when it doesn't. Finding a way to make it work though if most of the fun :]

PS

I'll add you when I get home ha ha. Out xmas shopping atm. I'll probs be on 11pm East Coast time.