I'm interested in getting my Smithing to around 60-ish and get the Arcane Blacksmith perk so I can improve my artifacts. Currently at level 22, this character is "played normally" meaning that I haven't grinded anything, pretty well-balanced character and heavily role-played.

My Smithing is currently at 45 - again, this is through normal play. Now, I have collected a crapload of gems and ingots from my adventures and I am well capable of just grinding only Smithing straight to 60 (or more) but then my other skills (which I worked so hard on to keep balanced) would get left behind, and my character's leveling pace would get messed up, not to mention I hate grinding.


Now I'm looking for suggestions. I am not asking about role-play questions; I got that covered. I will deal with how my character manages to improve his Smithing to 60 and justification that has to come with it.

What I'm asking is what everyone thinks is the level that my character "deserves" the Arcane Blacksmith perk... I know this kind of contradicts the "just play" philosophy I'm going with this character but a little planning is inevitably required here so I don't overshoot improving Smithing too much per character level.

It used to be that the "just play" thing worked at lower levels - I did get my Smithing to 45 out of necessity. But opportunities for that are slowly running thin for my current game, I am finding that I am straying further and further away from the necessity of that skill (I actually gained 2 levels without touching that skill at all) so I will have to artificially create a solution that is RP-friendly... but as I said, I don't want it to go too fast. Hence this thread.

What level is a good level, in your opinion, for me to get Arcane Blacksmith?

Since it is RP, it depends really. If you're RPing some blacksmith so far who knows a thing or two about enchanting I think you could go for AB perk at your level. But after you do, I would advise you to slow down drasticly with it for a while and wait for 40+ level.
Yes I know you said you don't need RP advices but it is hard to advise withou mentioning RP in your case

But yes I think you could go for AB, you will level up few more levels when you get it to 60. Being 25-ish level is more then fair to have one skill on 60, at least by my opinion.

My rule of thumb is no crafting skill should ever be higher than my main combat skill(s)....works pretty well for me so far

I'd start by crafting a new set of armor, and a new set of weapons, and then improve them all. Give them to my companion, then craft another entire set (and improve it) for myself. Even if I already had more powerful stuff, I would still do this, but rather than keep it, I'd sell it.

Then I'd craft high-end jewelry (anything that isn't a plain gold or silver ring or necklace) and sell those to court wizards in exchange for soul gems, or to general merchants in exchange for... whatever. If I'm not opposed to enchanting, I'd use any purchased soul gems to enchant all the crap I need to sell, otherwise, those gems are necessary for recharging my magic weapons.

To make up for the boost in Smithing, I would use all my profit to buy training for my primary skills.