I want this game to be difficult enough... I know it can be and I know you can get overwhelmed severely if you aren't careful. I also know that restoration looks like a "must have" if you play on a hard setting or at the very least alchemy.. I want a stealth mage and I have switched things up so many times its ridiculous and frustrating. I guess I will start with what I WAS going to do..

khajiit
Sneak
Alteration
Destruction
Illusion
Conjuration
Enchanting
Archery

Let me explain and thanks for taking the time to read this.. I wanted conjuration because I like the idea of sneakily casting two atronachs from a very far distance away while sneaking. Could you imagine the chaos? I am considering dropping enchanting and archery because I feel I am going to have to have restoration for when battles get hairy (not just dragon fights either). I also would like pickpocketing for more capacity and poisoned apples. This is going to be a character working for the dark brotherhood anyway. I decided against actually using light armor perks. It does not mean I can't use light armor but that was why I picked enchanting so i can make up for not using perks in armors. Light armor is geared towards stamina based characters and would not benefit my stealth mage. I need some serious advice.

Should I go:
Sneak
Alteration
Destruction
Illusion
Conjuration
Restoration
Enchanting

or

Sneak
Alteration
Destruction
Illusion
Restoration
Enchanting
Archery (or 1 handed)

HELP PLEASE!

Don't want to burst your bubble, but you can only max like 4 skills with perks. It looks like you have 7, so you might want to narrow your focus.

I would keep the conjuration. Bound weapons FTW! plus your destruction skill will be your main ranged attack and makes archery a little redundant.

what are you talking about? 7 major skills right?

@brimir that was what I was thinking.. Might even drop enchanting at this point and rely on the magick properties of loot I find...

Agree. Too many offensive focuses just makes you mediocre in all of them, or gimped in utility.

I haven't been watching the perks closely so I can't say how many skill trees we'll be able to fill but without classes we won't have any major or minor skills this time around. Certainly hope we can get more than 4 maxed out though

yeah that would piss me off royally. That doesn't make sense since each skill tree has a different amount of perks.. I mean, look at light armor! Barely anything there!

The way it's looking (supposing we can only choose 4) I guess I am going to be stuck with a character who is half necromancer half assassin.. Maybe I will call him an "Undertaker"

Sneak

Conjuration

Destruction

Illusion (for that perk that makes spell casting more silent)

These seem like great focusing points for a stealth mage! Allow your conjured creatures to draw enemy attention while tipping the scales in your favor through illusion magic. Then if you are seen just fall back on some trusty destruction!

can someone please tell me how many perks we get to assign? Do we continue to get perks as long as we keep leveling? Do they start at level 2? Do they stop at 50? I am confused as to how many I can distribute. That would help

49 by level 50. Which is the soft cap...

but there is no actual cap right?

Once all of your skills reach 100, you won't be able to level anymore. That'll probably happen around level 70.

thanks guys

There is no need to max out all the major skills with perks, and you can specialize even within skills.

So I might want to specialize in "Axes" with my "One Handed" skill and specialize in "Necromancy" with my "Conjuration" skills and so on...

So we can have more than four major skills and in fact you can by *exactly* what role you want with this system, and I love it.

This is the *BEST* implementation of skill/perk system that I have seen by far, so far.

Bravo Bethesda!

Edit: I am so reminded of my first exciting days, when Diablo II first came out.