For instance, yesterday night on my first quest (the golden claw|) it was 1AM (game time and real time as well ) I went in the mountains to look for this claw and knowing i will meet bandits on way I was sneaking all the time, walking by the road trying to be hidden as much as possible. Plus it was really snowy and dark so I felt safe sneak walking this way. But It didn't stopped there. When I entered the cave system I was still sneaking 90% of the time being overly cautious.. I love role playing and my char is a archer - thief wood elf so maybe that's the main reason for my sneaking obsession but I was thinking if I use it all the time then my sneaking will sky rocket really soon - making my char gain faster levels and before I even have decent fighting skill I will have to fight harder mobs..

Sneaking is fine and all, but when you can't sneak up on dragons and expect to kill them in one shot.

The great thing about the sneak perks is that they can make up for whatever perks you're missing out on in the other trees. So even with the lack of say full overdraw for archer, you still will be doing alot of damage due to sneak attacks. Either way everything will catch up, play the game how YOU want to play it, dont worry about how tough it will make the game, you should welcome a challenge. When the time comes where it's overwhelming, re-evaluate how you enter a fight, or when you've been discovered by an enemy, how you take the next steps in combat. Good luck and have fun :]

I dont think that's what op was. askingor implying. Op: sneaking only skills up when you are successfully sneaking around people or creatures who can detect you or when you land a blow while sneaking

I 100% sneak in dungeons, but rarely outside!

You'll be fine so long as you're sneaking around dungeons and not just practicing it on random wildlife or town guards.

It's challenging to backstab a dragon, but it is possible.

Sneaking only goes up when there are NPCs (friendly or hostile) nearby. So even if you were sneaking 100% of the time, you'd only be gaining experience for like 10% of that time, especially when dungeon crawling and even less so when sneaking outside on roads and such (~5%). On top of that, this xp gain is pretty low and therefore levels you slowly. Most experience in sneak comes from succesfully landing sneak attacks and, most importantly, preventing or losing aggro by staying hidden while landing said sneak attacks.

Because of this, your sneak will actually level along quite well with your archery skill for instance. Since sneak attacks raise both your sneak and the used combat skill.

And if all else fails, as has been stated above, the sneak perks are pretty great in that they add multipliers to your sneak attacks if you take them. So if your sneak does level too fast, you can actually use it to your advantage still. It certainly shouldn't cause any problems for you.

I sneaked a lot as well, be careful with it. I ended up having sneak too leveled which meant I did pitiful damage to anything unless I managed to get a dagger backstab. Abandoned that character, weak as [censored]. God bless the leveling system.

Your sneak skill only increases if there's someone around that can see you if you're not sneaking.

I thought sneaking all the time would really increase the skill fast, but after reading up on the skill, I learned that sneaking if there's nobody around doesn't do anything for your skill level.

I did the Golden Claw quest, with a lot of running back to town to sell stuff, and was sneaking through the empty cave where I had killed everyone, thinking it would level really fast, but not so.

Good Luck.

ive started using a DW dagger thief character now i dont realy have any reason to not sneak the assasin's blade perk has made what would be long battles and instan kill

I do myself sneak alot when I'm not playin on my High elf (Altmer) mage.

I remember when I first time cleared Bleak Falls Barrow, I literally walked the whole place checkin every corner. And when I saw that giant spider coming down, I charged out of room and hided behind corner and sneaked back to spider and killed it.

It's actually good to sneak dungeons, cause you might accidentally activate a trap if you run and don't sneak at all..

I'd like some clarification on how your sneak skill levels up. Does it only level up when attacking enemy while in sneaking mode or sneaking around where enemies are about?

I sneak around 90% of the time as well, and never had any trouble with my damage. My sneak was always higher than the damaging skills but it was never a problem.

If you're having trouble just brew some health pots (brewing those hardly increases your alchemy level btw) and use those. Or just play intelligently

I love sneaking and knifing people in the back. Taking them out one at a time and dragging there bodies into the darkness.

I've managed to sneak up on a dragon and kill him in one hit.

Good advice above. But...

You are probabaly sneaking too much in game if you find yourself doing it in real life too.

I was at work early yesterday and was walking down a still darkened hallway when I noticed I was deliberately softening my footsteps. Curious, I thought. Then I heard the sound of a footfall and ducked into the alcove by the Xerox machine. In a half crouch I watched one of my coworkers pass by. I realized that I could scare the bezeebus out of him if I wanted to. I chose to let him go. Sneaking is power. Do I sneak too much? No such thing.

Just take training in a combat skill when you get back to town if you're feeling a bit weak. That's what i'd do

lol nice

anyways thanks for the replays people. so no harm in sneaking.. that's good to hear.

How does your Wood Elf racial ability work for you? Is it just as worthless as mine? I thought my wood elf was awesome, until I went to a friends, watched him play his Orc for a bit, he hit his Berserker Rage, and hammered a dragon down in 3 hits. The Wood Elf ability allows you to stop animals and animals only from attacking you.

I always sneak in dungeons. I try to find the darkest spot where I have a clear view of what lies ahead and try to snipe enemies from distance. I also love the new ability to distract enemies by throwing an arrow to a hard surface. The arrow will ricochet and the enemies will go there to investigate (pretty dumb... I would run for cover!)

This may not be a popular opinion, but I think that the whole skill tree and perk systems in vg's as a whole don't require the precise scientific approach that people like us (highly intelligent and detail oriented ) tend to imagine is needed. I have a friend who is more into the run and gun type games and I lent Borderlands to him. He was over half way done with it when I asked him how he had been spending his level up points in the skill tree. He didn't even know what I was talking about . He neither knew that there was a skill tree nor cared. Admittadly, Borderlands is a quite different type of game, but I agree with the posters who say "Have Fun And Play However You Want Too." And that is exactly what I intend to do.

Ditto.

You have to get lucky. But if the bastard chose to roost on the ground, you can definitely score a killing blow.

i find myself sneak rolling through dungeons if im in a hurry and want to avoid a fight