Hellurr! Alright, so I was thinking about starting a sneak-based character. My question is how do these characters do in actual battle?

For instance, he would have no problem sneaking up and taking out a lone bandit. But what about where there's multiple mobs and in places like dungeons? Can stealth-based characters hold their own in situations like these?

Thinking out loud, looking forward to ideas.

Arrows from afar and perks in the illusion tree are going to be your friend. I've found non-sneak melee combat pretty tough as a high sneak character. You'll need to even the odds a bit.

A sneak based archer can be devestating. Seriously...

Many will tell you to use a lower power bow to do more damage quickly and reliably. I am on the other side of the coin in this however. My initial sneak archer had no difficulties in ridding herself of any enemies she came across. I went with the highest power of bow I could find, perked out the archery tree. Added in the perks from sneak and sneak attacks (6x damage btw). And enchanted her gear with sneak and archery bonuses.

My thoughts and ideas are this: Why worry about them mobbing you if:

1) They can't see you
2) One hit kills

Simply put... archers, done correctly, are freaking sick in this game.

Like Caribou said... use illusion to fall back on if you need to run or calm things down a bit if it gets ugly.. but the majority of the time, you won't even need to worry about it.

*Edit - Afterthought

Oh.. forgot to mention... my suggestions for race on a sneak archer.

1) Khajiit
2) Bosmer
3) Argonian

Though.. as always.. you can use whatever you want...

Level up Sneak to 100 and get "Shadow Warrior". Allows you to turn invisible everytime you crouch allowing Sneak Attacks from the front. Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO7Ch2sk1AA

Oh, and you don't make a pure Thief Character, you have to invest in the Warrior Class or the Mage Class too. Because you can't pickpocket a dragon's fang or their shouts. They also know where you are the moment you enter the vicinity of their lairs.

Pure Sneak Assassins do not do so well in direct combat.

They should have two daggers and a bow for sneaking, but you should always carry an extra sword if you have no choice. After entering a certain part of a few dungeons, bosses such as Drougr Deathlords know you're there even if you're sneaking.

While you can retreat really far away and sneak up on them after they are done pursuing you, a direct confrontation on Master difficulty against a boss is almost certain death.

If you aim to make a true sneaky archer you won't need magic at all. You can also forget light armour, you're not supposed to take damage. Sneak + archery it's all you need, train those two skills and you won't ever need anything else.

I have a character that is nothing but stealth, I had already maxed out stealth perks, and the Archery perks, and I literally can go into a room full of drauger or other enemies and basically dissapeer.
fun thing to do is have the shout where you can throw your voice, it will setup the enemy for you to make good kills.

I do recommend having the ability to jump higher it would help you get out of situations and then dissapeer, I use this mod for it:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/164

I also have a few necklaces that help stealth, as well as armor/clothes that add to the stealth, I suggest if you wish join the Dark Brotherhood,
and you will get hoods, and clothes that will add to your stealth.

Illusion magic is VERY useful for sneaking, with the muffle spell. I rarely would use the calm spells, but casting frenzy on the toughest looking guy in a group of bandits is pretty helpful. I also got into the habit of dabbling with destruction magic in the form of runes...either laying traps and baiting mobs into them or as an "Oh crap" measure if I was caught in melee combat with multiple enemies, casting a rune at the group's feet does great area of effect damage.

I wanted to make a dark elf...that's what my current heavy armor/1h character is and it's pretty much all I play in any game that will let me. Curse you R A Salvatore for writing such great books!

Anyway, where do I join the dark brotherhood and where do I find these useful enchantments to help out sneak/stealth? That's one problem im having on my main character right now...I can't find any really useful enchantments for heavy armor and such.

If you use a bow to attack from the shadows, look for a couple of good dark locations close to each other. Fire from one, then move to the other, as they will likely move to your old position. Then alternate between positions as you fire.

Also, as a stealth character, if your not focused on straight up melee combat, dont be affraid to run & hide then come back & kill them. Live to fight another day

I've ran both a knife based thief and now an archer, and both end up pretty powerful. Melee is a bit awkward in the low levels when your sneak isn't actually high enough to get behind anything undetected but once you get your stealth skill to about level 60 and perk it everything becomes so much easier. With a single piece of enchanted gear later on I was capable of waltzing into a huge horde of bandits and kill them all one by one without being detected.
It actually got a bit gamebreaking, especially when I got the last perk. Crouch spam+m1=win. Probably didn't help that I smithed.

As for archers, my current character did a lot better at lower levels. I've trained her up on Sneak, Archery and Alchemy and now with those rapid fire/reload perks she's an absolute beast. Detected or not I can still take down large groups without much effort. I've actually vowed not to give her the final sneak perk just because it would make her beyond overpowered. To note, this is with master, difficulty mods and self 'limitations'. (Which are really just RP restrictions.)

Do you all use smithing to create better daggers or just try to find one out in the wilds?

For the Dark brother hood, you need to do a quest and kill someone, so go to Windhelm and enter the house that sits over the bridge mid east end of windhelm, all i can tell you, otherwise I'll ruin it for you.
Once you get into the dark brotherhood, you can make some great money doing assassinations their basically contracts, but dont join them just to get the stealth gear, join them because you really are into death and assassination, and contract killing, all up to you really.
As far as enchantments, the statement is of course where do you find them, and well my answer is exactly that, you have to find them, so good places to start are your local shops,
and of course adventure, find bandits, and kill them, go explore and get loot.

You can earn a one with Dark brotherhood, but there is a quest you can do if you go to Dawnstar, and talk to the dude at the museum, at the north right side of town, he'll give you a quest where you can get a dagger that is in pieces, i forget the name and I have it, lol

I never use smithing or enchanting on a stealth character. I always roll with alchemy. There are some nice daggers out there, especially one you can get early on i use'd it upto level 40, but i mainly use the bow or poisoner to place potions into an NPC's inventory. I found that more interesting, placing Frenzy pots into NPC pockets in busy areas, let them do the work for me.

With mine I got the one handed perks to speed up duel weilded attacks, and reduce stamina cost. Duel wielding double enchanted glass daggers with absorb magicka, health, stamina, and paralyze enchantments. Glass bow with frost and fire for dragons. If he has to fight he can hold his own.

I find them in the wilds or merchants. I'd rather spend my perk points in Sneak earlier in the game before the crafting skills.

There's guide in UESP or TES wiki how to join the DB. These ones are from TES: Wiki
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Innocence_Lost How to initiate a DB encounter
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/With_Friends_Like_These... How to join or destroy the DB (Yes, you can destroy the DB)

Can you see your character smithing? Standing over a forge for hours grinding out multitudes of gear for whichever side of the civil war.. (because that's really the only way I can explain it ).. if not.. then you can do just as fine by the daggers you find. I DO.. however.. usually push enchanting, simply for the fact that you can create much more powerful gear, than what you can find.

It's indeed useful, but for the sake of RP if you want to stay true to your character you shouldn't use any magic tricks. A true sneaky character is by definition sneaky per se even when he's naked with no gear and magic at disposal.

And not sure what the OP has in mind, heavy armor + sneak don't get along very well in my mind

You wont need the muffle spell if you max out your sneak, your character will be so muffled, that it be like hes floating.
If you truly want to be a master stealth character I mean nothing but stealth but all your perks on stealth, and archery, and max them both out.
Why archery?

Because like in real life a sniper is dependent on stealth, and from afar, if you can kill someone from far away in the game's sense with bow/arrow
and poison you cannot be found and you can kill anything/anyone without ever making contact. Also with Archery it gives you a zooming capability
when you get high up in the perks, or maxed out, and from real far you can zoom on your target , launch an arrow, and hit enemies, bandits,
whomever with an arrow that will give you the bonus of extra damage.

As for bows, a good bow makes a difference, good arrows make a difference so look for an arrow type that gives more damage,
and then too get into alchemy, and learn how to make poisons, a poisoned arrow will kill an enemy in half the time vs just an arrow itself.

Look for shadows or high places to hid and sneak, wait for enemies to turn their back and look away.
If your up high and in the dark your less likely to be seen vs being in the dark and level with the enemy, but if you mastered the perks for stealth then
you should be able to hide anywhere and be in plain site but not be seen, I did this against a dragon priest, I was stuck in this big room with zombies and him,
and 1 by 1 i picked them all off, every time i shot, I moved, thats also the key, shoot and then move, thats if your in a med to close vicinity, if your real far
out then just watch the enemies reaction and movement when you shoot at them.

agreed, up your light armor perks too, the lighter you are the less noise you make, you have to understand that being super stealth is basically your armor.
You dont need heavy armor if your not going to be hit, you only need it unless you plan on going toe to toe with the enemy as in trading blows or swords.

My sneaky archers wear clothing for the most part ( maybe boots and gauntlets), they never end up in direct combat. A stealthy archer can take out several NPC's without blinking an eye, during the Stormcloak raid on Whiterun I planted myself on top of the first gate, hid, and opened up on anyone who was making their way towards the gate. Not one Stormcloak made it past the stables and not once was I spotted in my hiding spot. If you want a build that's pretty much unstoppable a stealthy archer is the way to go, it's even better if you mess around with poisons ( but just as a precaution I will carry a couple daggers and a sword, just in case. )