I wanted to try a character that is a pure rogue, meaning that I will only pick Perks that are in the rogue class. In prior TES games this was not too much of a problem, but in Skyrim there is no weapon perk tree for rogues since bows were given to warriors and there is no short blade at all.

I figured the only melee weapon I would use is the dagger, since there is a couple dagger specific perks in the rogue sneak perk tree.

So I have a character that can sneak well, but does nil on bow damage and melee damage. I would have to dagger sneak attack to make kills and hope that everyone is killed in one hit and that they are alone.

Is this doable at all? I can of course make poisons out the whazu and make every dagger hit really count, or paralyze, etc. I just fear that when I get to higher levels and I enter areas where creatures pop out of the walls, or a really high level I would be toast. To date I have never really been able to sneak in front of a dragon or dragon priest.

Thanks.

You could always take the perk that allows you to plant poison in peoples pocketts and just kill them that way.

This gets better and possible once sneak gets near 100 and you leave that noisy follower at home.

My last dragon, at a temple, was a sitting duck as I scaled down a mountain, behind it, and just unleashed horrendous damage on it before it could take to the sky.

I actually felt bad for killing it like that.

Yeah and that is why I am thinking of doing this. Not for that perk specifically, but because it will force me to play completely different than how I played before

You are making an assassin that way, not a theif. A theif takes everything not nailed down, sells it and repeats the process. Daggers should be the last thing on your mind.

well I have an Assassin and Thief. I chose the bow on my Thief character. That has many advantages over daggers in my view.
1) You can use the Bow to lure enemies away
2) As a Thief your are squishy so why would to want to get in range of deadly enemies
3) Bow perks allow you to slow time, stagger and paralyze enemies which makes it even more safe for a cautious Thief

As a thief, the order of the day is sneak and more sneak.

You see that Bandit there? Instead of murdering him, sneak up, pick his pocket, and slip away.

Use a bow and a dagger, and forget alchemy (more of a wizard thing anyways). Use your bow to hunt animals (and dragons later on), and use your dagger for protection against animals, monsters, bandits, anything that gets the jump on you (which should be rare). If the cards are down: flee. Run run run run run. Other than that, burglarize every profitable house you see in the city or in the world. That noble talking s*it again? Wait till he turns, and take that fancy ring and amulet off him.

Just my two cents. And join the Thieves guild!

You got the right idea. But sadly its impossible to advance without killing. Even a Thieves Guild quest requires you to kill someone or the infamous hired thugs that you have to kill alone because City guards dont even think about helping you.

You could take archery, even though it falls under the combat guise. The skill is governed by the Thief Stone (rather than the Warrior Stone as expected) in-game, so it will increase 20% quicker when the player is using the Thief Stone.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Thief_Stone

Given that you'll need a weapon of some kind, the bow is probably more versatile. You can ring arrows off of stone walls to create distractions and divert attention (love that little feature). It's also beneficial for hunting and for delivering poisons from the shadows if needed. A dagger feels more like the weapon for an assassin rather than a rogue in my mind.

All that being said, Axe (Combat) and Short Blade (Stealth) were the primary weapon skills in Morrowind and Blade (Combat) was the primary weapon skill in Oblivion for the Rogue class.

The problem with being just a 'sneak thief' is that there are times when you have to kill, or at least it seems that way. Maybe if the boss has a key I need to move on I can sneak up to him, pickpocket the key and leave without him knowing it.

And I guess that's my question. Sneaking and stealing is easy. But can that get me past some of those points were I get cornered down? Also at what level is sneaking that good? I'm not going to start out a great sneak. Just getting through the first dungeon would be a challenge if I try to just sneak my way by.

For early sneaking: Stay in the shadows, and out of line of sight. Also Walk, don't run. Sneaking is very possible at level 30 if you take into account those tips.

hey thanks didnt know that Archery is governed by the Thief Stone.
well that depends on your sneak kill. If you dont use mods than you will not have to worry about getting detected at higher levels. I had a sneak skill of 40-50 and put points in the first perk which makes more difficult to detect and I had enemies who were right in my face and couldnt see me.

Out of interest, how well does invisibility work here? If a bandit can see you and is attacking you, will an invisibility potion do any good for evasion?

It seems to me you would need some kind of distraction tools (though Illusion doesn't quite seem rogue-ish). A kind of "wait, before you kill me, look what's behind you!" I'm not sure if the mechanics are there for that, though.

Still, I love the idea. It takes a lot of thinking about, for example, how you can take out two guys sat at a table, one at a time without the other noticing.

I used bow to make noise and distract people. Why limiting youself to a dagger? A one hand sword is a better all round weapon

I plan on using both bow and dagger. My current archer uses it for distraction all the time. As my Alchemy skill goes up it will be used to back up my dagger damage if I do have to get into melee.

One thing I have never done with a character is stole much. If it has the red STEAL label on it I tend to leave it alone unless I need it for a quest. I am kind of looking forward to just breaking into someone's house and robbing them blind just because.

You will not regret it. At the end of Thieves Guild quest I had over 30000 gold and didnt know what to do with it. I started the quest line right after helgen so you make A LOT of money with stealing.

If you're playing a pure thief then you don't engage in open melee, your primary objective is to get rich.
But if you do... you either run or you pull that second dagger hidden in your boot and you go ape, capche?

That doesn't mean you try to avoid all killing, that's impractical... it just means you have to be creative about killing on the rare occasion you need to do it.
So a dagger in the back or poison or some mind control like frenzy, sneak into a room and drop something shiny and hope the bandits tear each other apart over it.
Looping an arrow over a guys head so it clatters against a stone wall or floor works as a distraction btw.

While you're still low level just forget about your sneak skill and y'know, actually sneak, stay hidden, move slowly, stay quiet, use darkness and cover.
Get the loot, get out... use it to bankroll training in pickpocket and sneak from trainers.
Your primary skill is not actually sneak... it's being rich so make sure you always have the best possible gear septims can buy.

If you want to be a pure thief and do quests you're gonna have to concede some of that purity to the games requirements for those quests... there can't be questlines for every potential build and variation people come up with and let's be honest, pure thief "and just a thief" is a step to the side for the game's "rogue" skillset which heavily leans into assassin stuff to prop it up in combat.

So you're taking away the combat crutch to the games loose rogue "class" (even if it's just us, the players who are still working within "classes"... and we are, Beth may as well bring them back imo). But it's still very possible to stand on your own two feet as a pure thief in Skyrim and make an (dis)honest living.

Now I just need to decide Bosmer or Khajiit as I assume those given racial bonuses will be very helpful early on.

There is third one which harmonizes really good with the Thief playstyle and that is Imperial. You dont have any bonuses to skills you will use but you have the Imperial Luck ability which lets find you more gold. Its a matter of choice but I found it more fitting for the Thieves Guild

That and the Calm ability actually could work really nicely. Thanks.

If you want the highest "bump" to your sneak to begin with, Khajiit. The racial bonus provides +10 at character creation. If you want other options, there's Argonian, Bosmer, Dunmer, and Khajiit. All give a bonus to "thieving".

As for Imperial per the previous poster? Heh... don't get excited over the "bonus gold" It's mayyybe... 2-3 gold per chest/urn/etc. Played an Imperial and wasn't terribly impressed with the "Luck". You'd do 1000 times better by finishing "No Stone Unturned"

ah yes forgot about that completely