My ideas are:

Archery (obviously)
1 Handed
Sneak
Light Armor



Torn between Alchemy and Smithing. Don't want to do both and become OP but sort of want them both for roelplay aspects. Smithing to be able to improve leather armor to the fullest and make and create thigns from the animals you kill. Alchemy in order to make potions from ingredients gather, and then using one (or both) of these skills to make a living. Possibly go for Dark brotherhood (hunting humans, as dark as that is)

What do you think in terms of quests/skills/items/roleplaying ideas?

I'm playing with same idea....u don't need smithing perks for leather, I chose alchemy instead. Very fun to play and works well without being op

I like the look of it all to be honest, and to be fair it's a pretty popular way to go for a Hunter/Ranger type build, as for the Alchemy or Blacksmithing, I would choose dependent on your race, As a Bosmer i took Alchemy as i am out in the wilds 90% of the time gathering ingredients and such.

i always hunt when travelling. If i see a deer ill chase it and try kill it with my Ka Po Tun Katana, If that doesn't work out comes the Daedric bow and Hello to some fresh venison chops for dinner.

I can spend hours just walking around in the wilds looking for the weeks supply of food

If you just play naturally without trying to "grind" either skill, I think Smithing and Alchemy will not make you OP. They are a good fit for the character. With Smithing, just focus on improving your weapons/armor when you can, not on crafting dagger after dagger. With Alchemy, do the same - try out ingredients, but focus on making potions/poisons that are of most use to you.

It's a very feasible build - my only question would be, what do you plan to do for quests, if anything? Wandering the wilderness can be fun, but you may want to set up a home base eventually, and quests help your existence feel a bit more meaningful.

A hunter should never need to chase his game, your arrow should have pierced its flesh before it even knew anyone was there

I agree with all this 100% AND for a home base when and if he chooses to set one up, the Alchemist Shack South West of Riverwood is perfect. Or a tad closer to civilisation, Anise's Cabin.

I'd go with Alchemy over smithing, but I would put one point into steel smithing (and maybe one point into Arcane) and forego some of the higher tier alchemy perks. I don't think the perks beyond Benefactor/Poisoner to be that useful on the Alchemy tree.

There are no smithing perks that improve leather armor, but you can put one point into steel smithing to get the perk to improve twice as much both Ancient Nord bows and Hunting Bows. A Hunting Bow is arguably the best bow in the game (some would argue better than Daedric) because it smiths to twice improvement with the steel perk and its fast draw speed gives a well smithed Hunting Bow a DPS that is on par with a well smithed Daedric.

Something I considered (and decided to go for) was necromancy... I know I know, it's offputting for a ranger...

BUT I'm looking to thrall a couple Bears

If there was a way to make them followers short of Thralling them, I'd do that...

In the meantime (until I get to 90 conj) I just use atronachs to level it.

Anyways... Archery on it's own is enough to see you through the game

I would level smithing, but only perk into Steel and Arcane smithing.

Alchemy I'd perk 5/5 on the first tier & grab Benefactor, and ignore the rest.

well im not hunter. I just prefer to attack my FOOD, its not a game for my character it is his food and i like to attack my food with either Claws Or Melee. Although sometimes i do the Creep and Greet with an arrow lol

I also agree with the sentiment that you don't need to grind any of these skills, just hunt when you want, either sell the pelts to a wandering hunter or smith them into something useful or valuable to sell or whatever feels natural. I have a similar character (fur/leather armor and bow, supplemented by alchemy), who is also using the Alchemist's Shack as a home base. I never grind hide bracers or iron daggers, but instead either make things to use or try to maximize resale value based on the ingredients I have at hand.

Damn son, sounds like some Conan the Barbarian style hunting right there, bet theres nothing left of the animal after you are finished with it

well... there is a tiny bit of meat left hahaha I enjoy the hunting with a bow tho, I think bethesda really made archery even more awesome in this game

Want to take smithing but not be overpowered? Do what I do and only use a long bow, and roleplay that it's your father's bow or some other such justification. If you want more firepower you can use a hunting bow which can be upgraded all the way to legendary. Oh, and don't take sneak because it's grossly overpowered and makes the game boring. Archery + slow poisons is very fun and effective. And you're taking one handed as well so you'll always have a backup.

Yep, primarily i have my Bow drawn and an arrow at the ready, but i also TRIED to focus on duel wield Daggers but they end up getting neglected for Archery

Any safe container in the alchemist shack? That place is great.

I read anything stored in there is safe and dosen't disappear but i haven't as yet left anything myself, I assume IG only you and the Alchemist that left the journal had found the shack, and the Alchemist is dead somewhere, I actually headed out and looked for his corpse or proof he existed once for hours lol :/

Didn't find him...

I'm not concerned about thievery, more about the cell reseting and then you losing all your stuff.

If anyone knows for sure, I'd like to know. It's a great place for such a character.

EDIT: Found this on UESP

"The end table next to the bed doesn't respawn. This makes the Alchemist's Shack a nice place to use as a base.
Testing the resets for the Alchemist's Shack has shown that the outside barrel and the inside barrel do reset and so do the items in the shack, meaning if you move items from their spot or take them they will respawn in their original spot. However, the moved item will not disappear meaning you can duplicate the original items. Also note that the satchel does respawn. If you put ingredients in there, for example, you will lose them after a period of time."

Might actually use the place and then perhaps eventually move to Riften (feels like a more hunter/alchemist house with a door that goes also directly outside) with a character build like this.

My main character at the moment is a Khajiit hunter/woodsman. Archery/light armour/one handed/sneak/alchemy.

I've found I really lean heavily onto alchemy, without the utility of spells to help fill out the gaps in the fighting style - healing, resistance, magicka damage.

I've also stuck with more traditional looking armour. No one blends into the wilds wearing shiny elven armour!

Just the endtable. Everything else, including the plants outside and the ingredients in the barrels and on the shelves respawns eventually.

Does your Khajiit hunter cast any spells ever? Mine uses some magic on occassion, but I am not perking any schools of magic or putting points into magicka. But I have a Nord warrior who is anti-magic and never casts any spells. Only potions and resting for healing. Its definately a viable playstyle.

Yah, Riften house is nice... you even get a garden out of it.

Longbow? You are a purest. I had to go with a hunting bow cause you cannot get a lot of damage from a longbow, but I like the way they look and feel.

One handed? I'm Khajiit so I have claws for backup.

Sneak? Been there, done that. Not doing it with my hunter for the exact same reason. Though it is tempting to perk it jsut enough to get the 3x sneak bow damage, especially if I stick with a hunting bow.

My archer is doing a mix of a lot but he does not go up the whole skill trees. Archery all of course but sneak I don't get light foot, silent roll, silence, shadow warrior or assassins blade. I'm playing on master so I'm using blacksmithing, alchemy and enchanting.

I use the Alchemist Shack as a Base of operations so to speak while out in the field, and make permanent residence in Honeyside in Riften, I dont own any other house in Skyrim, I just use stagecoaches to get from A to B.