Sorry if this has been covered before... I had this idea for a character who alternates between playing like a Spellsword (one-hand weapon in main hand, spell in off-hand) and a two-handed melee fighter when Magicka is low, or when enemies close quickly. Looking for tips or suggestions, other input as to how viable this would be, or if it's just one of those ideas that seems cool until you actually try to do it.

I made a character who started out with archery, and then switched to 2-handed when enemies got close. Fun times with that wood elf. I'd suggest dual casting destruction, and then switching to 2-hand. Otherwise you have to level and perk out three damage types instead of two.

That could be tough build, as you are usually pretty tight on perks doing a spellsword...unless you're going to lvl 81

Well it depends, if you're smart about the perks you won't. Don't take 5/5 of the damage increasing perks and take the steel and arcane smithing perks rather than half the tree. Use any fortify smithing gear you find and potions you buy, you will be fine.

The only problem with that method is the damage gap between 2h and 1h rapidly closes, later on you will end up with a sword that does 60 damage but a greatsword that does 75, for example. I tend to limit weapons depending on their weapon speed. If one of my characters uses daggers and swords, I'll reduce the damage of the dagger so they're equal.

The game doesn't do this, axes and maces are quickly inferior to swords and daggers are even stronger when smithed. Battleaxes have the same swing speed as greatsword and quickly outperform warhammers as you progress. I still prefer warhammers though, they have a larger stagger value.

I was more referring to the magic side...1h doesn't need that many perks. My spellsword uses 1h, conjuration, restoration, alteration and enchanting...he's pretty tapped for perks by lvl 50, and there's a lot more that I could choose if I continued to lvl him up

Dumb question - are Destruction spells as viable as archery at range? I haven't played with spells to any significant degree yet, but based on comments here, I'm wondering if 2-H melee / spells for ranged attacks and utility would work...

Ya...it works fine....you won't kill things as fast with destruction as with archery, but it'll do the job, especially with 2h as back up

If you're doing smithing and enchanting, you'll likely find that your bow is pushing out more damage than your spells, plus you have the benefit of being able to zoom and slow down time with the appropriate perks.

That being said, if you still prefer the feel of destruction spells, they definitely work at range (I typically only play mages so destruction is my ranged weapon of choice).

Its viable, but I would say that archery is superior.