Allright let me explain, after leveling up my 2 handed Nord warrior up to lvl 35, I decided to start a couple of new characters to check what the other skills were worth.

And...let's just say I'm pretty unsuccessful... raising up my illusion or my sneak skills just doesn't help me at all against ennemies, is it me or the only way to pla yeither a mage or thief would be first playing as a warrior and level up the usual weapon/armor/smithing/enchanting/alchemy combo combo first? But then by the end of it you would be pretty much whatever you want.

I mean, even if I wanted to roleplay an assassin or mage right from the start I just don't see myself doing well for a very loooong time...

Correct me if I'm wrong but this crossbreeding version of the Fallout/TES gameplay mechanics just leaves you practically with nothing to work on, you can't properly roleplay or make more that, what, 5 different builds?

Bethesda, either stick with one mechanic or the other, but no more crossbreeding garbage please, now we are stuck for 3-4 years with this ugly leveling up system...

I've played 4 mage characters to 20. So yes, it's quite doable.

Yeah I guess I may be a bit wrong about mage, can't never go wrong with conjuration.

Yes, my first (and only) character started as a thief from the very beginning. My combat strategy was to use archery and sneak everywhere, until my sneak was high enough to get close with daggers.

It was a bit challenging in the beginning, but now I one-shot everything with sneak + 30x damage backstabs. Good fun!

Just ditched my Orc Warrior in exchange for an Argonian Thief. Level 13, Major Skills 1H, Light Armor, Archery, Sneak; Minor Skills Lockpicking, Smithing

Works fine on default diff.

I used the Bow a lot as I was working on equipment, but now with the Dark Brotherhood/Thieves Guild armor I am doing fine ranged or melee.

first thing I did in this game after the intro was go to Falkreth and steal a bunch of stuff from the Jarl. Didn't get caught.

Wasn't able to fence it until later though once I joined the thieves guild.

Master Level -1st play through was a hunter/archer, (some sneak but not all the time) Unrelenting force takes care of melee guys that get close, you have to really pick your targets and get the archers/mages first in sneak mode otherwise you'll get one-shotted. (no companion and no summons)

Master Level 2nd play-through Destruction/Alteration Mage I had to use a companion/summoned familiar in the beginning, you still have to keep enemies away but mage armor/resistance is very helpful so you don't get instantly killed by archers/mages

Masters is very difficult for any play-style that doesn't use exploits

My first character I was playing around with all the skill/archetypes and found that sneak is pretty much awesome from the get go as long as you pair it with archery. Basically even at low sneak levels you are able to deal double bow damage and as long as you go through dungeons in sneak mode it will raise fairly quickly (I had to stop sneaking because I was leveling beyond my combat skills so had to pick a focus)

I played a mage up until Whiterun and there is a lot more mobility involved but it seems quite doable.

My first character wiss a pure destruction mage and my second is a sneaky archer (becoming assassin eventually). I play on Master for my Assassin and I haven't ever used Smithing, Enchanting or Alchemy. I just use all loot that I find because it's much more rewarding. I have to hope I find new armor/weapons and when I do it's a burst of happiness. I'd say stealth is the easiest though. Sneak levels really fast without the Thief Stone. My mage was my first and I played it without knowing about a difficulty but I just used items I found/given and I only wore robes for role-play.

Using no exploits on Master is fun and challenging

Funny thing, got a lvl 31 Archery Argonian, got 61 in sneak, haven't found yet the time to put a perk in that tree...

I also did pretty much exactly this. Bow early on with a dagger from when something made it to my face. Now I cut throats.

Ha! Those are my first two characters too!

I'm now working on a Nord Shaman and magic is useful so far.

The Dark Brotherhood's Shrouded armour gear given to the player upon initiation gives bonuses to bow damage, silences your movement and doubles critical damage. And getting inside the DB guild takes all of 30 minutes tops. That's all you need really, since fortify 1 hand enchantments don't work for daggers and you can get *30 multplier without enchanting a single thing. Daggers are only affected by Armsman perk, but there's no urgency to get base damage up too high. As for bows, you might want to consider getting damage up via enchantments and definitely perks, but if you're sneaking and sniping from far you can always try again if it doesn't one shot the mob.

Mages on the other hand...

Illusion is amazing if you get the right perks and don't out level it's spells early on.

Frenzy and calm will make almost all human/animal enemies cake regardless of difficulty settings. Especially once you've got quiet casting.

Conjuration is also amazing once you get Dremora Lord. Bound Bow is also excellent if you take Mystic Binding. I play a mage/thief sort that uses mainly illusion, conjuration, and archery(w/ a bit of sneak+muffle+invis once I get it). Most enemies can't even touch my character.

I started with the idea of using sword + destruction mostly but I kept getting killed. My character morphed into one that mostly used sneak + conjuration. Sneak to the nearest corner and conjure something. Wait till it is killed then conjure another. Keep doing that until all opponents are mostly dead then finish them off with bow or sword. Works very well even at low levels. Sometimes if your sneak is not very good you have to conjure then run away until hidden again then sneak back and repeat.

I play a level 50 thief, started on Master from the beginning.

Sneak-Dagger on Master, never had any real problems except for dragons (at the beginning).
After that it was a walk in the park
So yes it's doable.

Been just fine with a Destruction/alteration mage until the 1.2 patch

Just doing it up to the Bow Sneak Damage bonus perk.

I think Mage is probably the easiest to level up

Especially since you can heal enemies.

I like to cast fury on two NPCs, and keep them alive with healing hands to raise restoration. It's kind of an amusing "I AM IN CONTROL MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" thing...

I played as so-called "pure" classes - a thief, a mage, and warrior - and I was able to play them all within their respective scopes.

My suggestion is to go straight to the appropriate guild for your character build (or the one most closely associated with your build). After you go through most of the quest line, you should be sufficiently powerful to go out and hit the rest of Skyrim. It may be helpful, if you are a thief, to go track down the Dark Brotherhood and join them (if for no other reason than to get the complete set of armor).

it is a simple matter to play a mage at early levels, a thief needs some planing to be really effective but it is very simple too

Doing a thief currently, but am not doing anything main quest related. Just going through the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood and a few Daedric quests. Not having to fight dragons increases my lifespan considerably.

Atronachs are your best friend, chap. As soon as an enemy sees me I drop my frost atronach right in their path, usually puts 'em on their knees. Then an ice spike to the chest to finish them off, I have 100 conjuration with 68 destruction with no trainers involved. I mean in the beginning I even had a fire atronach bring down the basic dragon..

Also when you can tie in another follower as support, such as when I used lydia (RIP) it was 3 of us against any enemies although with the atronach movement speed and lydia's AI it was usually 1v1 for about 10 minutes..