Rather then whine about Hearthfire, I think I'm ready to move up to master. Been playing a while on Expert, and other then the occasional 2handed wielding Bandit Chief or Dragon Priest that gives me problems, I pretty much rarely if ever die. Is it a huge difference or like in a few days I'll forget I even moved up to master? I played master on a few dragon fights at higher levels to keep it interesting, just wondering if its a huge deal at lower levels.

Also, what are the hardest and easiest builds to play on master?

Hardest I could think of would be a 2handed warrior. Watch out for mages and saber cats and put points into HP and Stamina. Take restoration on as a minor skill unless you want to be spending gold on potions. Btw, if you go with this build God help you when you run into leveled Draugr.

Good luck!

Yeah I imagine those Draugr with Ebony Bows are going to be MAJOR pains.

I imagine sword & board would be somewhat easy, and I think a full on wizard that uses all of the schools with the lord stone might be fairly decent at it to. Atronachs and illusion for distraction, aspect of terror to boost fire damage, and decent healing.

I always play on master. The biggest issue for me is the leveling pace of skills, any damage dealing skill levels much faster.

On adept for example, you need to cast a flesh spell before a battle. Exactly the same as master. But on master you need to hit them 2x as much to kill them, so destruction/archery/two handed/one handed level much faster.

You will have to be smart at lower levels against bandit chiefs, because you just can't get hit.

Yeah I'm thinking this is where a full on wizard might shine: Fury his bandit buddies, make him kill them, and then an atronach, raise his dead comrade to help you, and play keepaway using terrain and pelt him with destruction.

I just played on the normal mode "Adept" and I got bored with Skyrim. I restarted my chracter and also upped it to Master difficulty and I am having a blast with the game now. I actually have to think about things and prepare for some fights and cannot just blinding swing my sword and make it out without any real damage done to me.

Playing on master is definately the way to go.

Sword and board is a long, painful road to go through on lower lvls especially if you are going melee only (it'd be a good idea to take on archery as a minor skill). Block, early on, hardly does anything and most of the time you'll find yourself running away from most fights. If you take this build always keep your distance when taking on multiple bandits or else you'll get clustered and hacked to death Also learn how to juggle enemies! Bandit Chiefs are the only ones you have to worry about since they can kill cam you very easily early on. Blocking can be a bit tricky at first but remember to always block at the exact moment an enemy is going to swing so you can stagger them. When that happens hack away and when they regain their footing get back on defense.

Mages, especially ice ones, are the worst. My best strategy would be using Fus-Ro-Dah but don't use it the moment the fight begins or else they'll block it with a ward no matter what type of mage they are. Wait until they let up and try to dodge their projectiles in the mean time. When the ward disappears shout at them and once they are on the ground hack away until they are dead. If they still aren't dead after that shield bash + attack is going to be your best friend.

Pro-tip: With this build defense is much more important than offense. A high 1handed skill won't matter if your armor (whether it be light or heavy) isn't up to snuff. To save yourself a headache you could take on some Smithing.

I tend to be of the type that a block is a shield bash that hasn't happened yet. Good tips though.