I'm thinking of playing around with a stealth character. A sneaky wood elf who will uses a bow and daggers to loot and steal whatever he wants.

Just curious for other people who have played similar style characters, how fast did you make your way to riften? Did you go right away? Hang around river wood a bit? Hit up whiterun? No right or wrong just curious what others did....

On all my characters I usually let them hang around Riverwood/Whiterun, and then they gradually migrate towards the area which their role play is centered around.

I just go to Whiterun/other major holds and rob all the businesses.

My current character (2nd one) is stealthy. I immediately jumped into the DB, and finished the final main guild quests last night. It wasn't easy to do with a low-level character who couldn't take advantage of the benefits the other guilds offered - especially the Thieves Guild - but the challenge made it feel really fun and rewarding.

I still haven't joined the TG with either character, and probably will play through that guild next. Freelance thievery is pretty fun though...

did the same with another character of mine and also freelance is fun.

After I was aware of the option, I did some abused orphans the greatest favor of their lives and amazed a little boy with my powers of precognition! lol. Honestly if you want to kill something quietly the DB armor set is the best in the game for the task. Especialy once you get the Assassination perk. x30 damage ftw?!! lol. I do theives guild primarily for access to the Nightingale Hood (DB masked cowl doesn't cover orc, male or beast race faces), and only later in the game as the enchant on the Nightingale Blade and Bow are both leveled. Mehrune's Dagger is an absolute must for me. even if its only a 3% chance, there is still the possability of one-shotting anything in the game with that weapon.

I went right to Riften I wanted to make some money by being a theif when I got there I mess up on the first job lol my high elf learn his first lesson.

I love the stealthy approach too, its kind of thrilling. I am doing things super slow with this character. This time around I am trying to max the character out before getting too far in the main quest. So far I am at 74 and have yet to do the thieves guild and visit the thalmer embassy. Getting all your skills to 100 but only perking your favorites forces you to play character roles you wouldn't normally. I have 98 heavy armor (almost done with this perkless outfit! yay) and 100 2 handed weapons , 100 shield and more, all the stuff I would never use. Cant wait to climb into my favorite ancient assassin outfit and equip the twin deadric swords ha ha!

I never hang around one area at the start. There are just too many saber beasts that need to feed on my low level character to sit around the house

I'm thinking I might hang in riverwood/whiterun gain some experience and then find my way to the DB. After making a name for myself with them and free lancing whatever loot I can get my hands on, make my way to riften.... Maybe some main quest stuff in between but not too much!

I have a char similiar with yours.
He stealthy wood elf and used bow to kill from afar.
He usually hang out in Riverwood and Falkreath before goes to Riften. Cause he just like looks of Riverwood and forest of Falkreath.
He's one of the my favorite characters.
My suggestion is to enjoyed your characters, and you'll love them. No matter how long your playing with them.

Honestly, I would recommend using a Khajiit. They get nice starting bonuses to many skills your going to use: +10 Sneak, +5 Alchemy, Archery, Lockpicking, One-Handed, Pickpocketing. Night-Eye is extremely useful, in both RP and functionality and can be used as often as you want. Bosmer do get the better starting Archery score, but the lack of a Night-Eye spell makes them less appealing to me. Haven't actually bothered getting the Invisibility spell either, got potions / Shadow Stone / Shadowcloak of Nocturnal for the off chance I'm spotted. Don't need Quiet Casting to use any of those.

I would recommend at least speaking with Jarl Balgruuf first, as this will make the Whiterun Influence quest extremely easy. After that, it's off to Riften to join, then I went and did enough 'Fishing' jobs to do all the Influence quests (For the +100 carry cap. perk), then did the questline. Personally, I do TG before DB due to the DB would give the characer a mentality that is sometimes voiced by bandits: 'You're easier to rob when you're dead!' Then again, you could RP a character that has gotten tired of killing, but doesn't want to make an honest coin.

Side note: Mehrunes Razor only has a 2% chance of instant kill, not 3%. I'm very glad that the Dragonbone Dagger in the Dawnguard DLC is fashioned after it as well. I don't like how the animation seems to use the blunt side of the Daedric Dagger and Blade of Woe to slit their throut. I also hate that the Blade of Woe has such a useless enchantment. A skilled assassin doesn't even take damage, so the health steal is wasted.

Oh, and don't forget to visits Angi in mountain south of Falkreath.
She will give you The REAL training in Archery.
It's good to raised up your skill before head up to Riften and hunting on the way.

Every time I see your sig it makes me happy. I just got Stabbity Stabberson as a follower last night. Tonight we're going on a stabbing spree!


Sometimes during a contract quest for the DB, I would do the job and run out of there like a chicken, leaving all the great loot behind. Don't make the same mistake I did.

I don't remember how fast my day one character made it to Riften, sadly. Gutslit took a bit to get there. I used to just use carriages to get to all the holds, but don't anymore.

for fun, consider pickpocketing + Alchemy. I've never laughed harder then when i slipped a frenzy poison into that dark elf hating bigots pocket over in windhelm. Seriously, wandering the grey quater drunk as netch and shouting obscenities every night? Guy had it comming! lol. Also an intersting way to kill Grellog.. the kids will beat her to death and then start praising the darkbrotherhood!

I really want to RP this character. Do some things I have never done before in Skyrim. My last character was an Orc warrior, so this will be a nice change of pace. I look forward to being a rogue type wood elf who uses a bow and daggers, steals everything, and try alchemy for the first time. (Nervous about this, don't know how hard it is) For RP purposes I don't think I will smith or enchant and def. no magic.

Even if you don't invest in smithing, the wise rogue always keeps their knives sharp. lol. And their tongue sharper still!

Care to explain further?

Keep atleast a fine edge on your weapons and gear. takes no real smithing skill and every little bit helps. as for keeping your tongue sharp. Speachcraft. Often overlooked because it's seen mostly as an RP device. It'll make it easier to bribe, persuade, and intimidate to suit your characters personality and is key to quickly amassing vast sums of wealth as that sharp tongue of yours garners ever better prices. The dark elf behind the bar at the blackbriar meadery has a persuade option you can abuse over and over again to level your speach up. Just ask about Maven and choose the persuade option.