My character is a stealth based and I dont see how having a really high stamina will help me. I just assumed that health was more for warrior, magic is more for mage. Did stealth characters get stiffed because I dont see much use having any of the attributes really high for stealthiness.

It lets you carry more.

If you are an archer, it comes into play later on in the archery tree.
That skill that lets you zoom in with a bow. That skill costs stamina when you use it.

So, the more stamina you have the longer you can zoom. Couple high stamina,
zoom, and the slow down time skill and you pretty much level the playing field against anything.

Other than that and attacks cost stamina, not really sure.

Dual wield and bow combos/attacks rely on stamina, and the more you have the more you can sprint about when finally detected.

Can't slit all the throats. Sometimes you've got to ruff and tumble. Try sneak killing a dragon. I'll tell ya, that [censored] don't work. You need the stamina to do the sweet dual weapon power attack.

I had no idea of this. Holy noobness. It's like I've never played a Bethesda game before....

I loose stamina a lot as warrior so yea build your stamina up!

Thanks guys those reasons help me make sense of it all. I still feel like health relates to warriors and magicka relates to mages way better than stamina relates to stealth.

What are all these combos I keep hearing about?

Stamina= more carring capacity

power attacks and swinging dual wield

This. First, as a thief you are probably stealing everything not nailed down, so a high carry weight is great.

Second, when using a bow and the Steady Hand perk (especially both levels) high Stamina lets you do near godly things with a bow. You know that scene in the Lord of the Rings movies where Legolas is just rapid fire putting down enemies with his bow? You can do that with high Stamina -> Slow time, aim, fire. Slow time, aim, fire. Slow time, aim, fire.

My finest moment was when I was in a giant room being rushed by undead crawling out of the walls and bursting from the ground. I took out every one of them before they could reach me, putting down a dozen in the blink of an eye without having to move or drink a Stamina potion. THAT is the power of Stamina.

Thank you truthgiver! I now see the light!

stamina is used for certain abilities (like sprinting), or if you are like me, allows u to carry more [censored] when you pillage peoples houses