I wanted to start roleplaying as a Imperial Crusader, and was wonder what the people on here think the ideal build for one is.

Things like perks, skills, bow or no bow, sword or mace? That kind of thing.

The Knights of the Nine from Oblivion. The Divine Crusader is the ultimate Crusader

All i can imagine is hvy armor, no bow, greatswords, and smithing. Imperial side of the war.

I'd say that you should major in heavy armor and speech, one handed (mace), alteration, alchemy, and restoration.

To pop locks you'll need to use some spells/powers though...

Too bad they took out the open spell :/

Also what heavy armour would be best? I'm thinking steel plate or something like that.

If you go to UESP you can look for the premade classes they used in Morrowind and Oblivion. There's a Crusader class for both of those games. You could use that as a base for ideas, anyway; some of the skills would of course be different, or absent altogether.

But I'd say heavy armor, block (maybe), 1-handed (mace), restoration, speech... maybe destruction. That's a good starting point, and will certainly be effective.

But builds aren't usually so important. What is more important I find is to think about what kind of character you'll be, and what quests you will do. Otherwise you'll kill stuff for a few hours and then get bored.

For a Crusader, the Imperial questline could be good... maybe. I would definitely make Solitude your home base. There's all sorts of action to be had up there; just head on over to the Blue Palace and see what jobs you can get. Meridia's shrine is in the area, too. Elisif the Fair is a good person to think of as your liege lord.

Heavy armor. one handed, block & restoration. Enchanting & smithing for support.

For range I'd have archery but not as my primary form of attack.

In later levels I'd perhaps level up sneak (once heavy armor is perked to weightless)

other could be alchemy.

I would put too much into magica though. I'd level up in health and stamina.

warrior stone for majority of levelling.

On my crusader I used one handed sword, restoration magic, destruction (fire against undead, lightning against humans/beasts), the left side of blacksmithing (for steel plate which imo is the most crusader looking armor), heavy armor, enchanting for magicka regeneration and finally a bit of illusion for calming opponents and avoiding bloodshed.
I ignored shields and used wards just cause it felt more realistic to a crusader. Although it's way weaker it was fun and worked just fine.

I'd go for a mace as a weapon, since they seem like a "good person" weapon.

Alright Patti, I highly reccomend http://www.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim?d=00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000011111111121000000000005000111001111110000511111110000000000000000005011113: It's basicaly a templar holy knight crusader build. Think of it as a defensive battlemage. You use wards instead of shields for example.

I tend to have my crusader something like this:

Main skills:
One or two handed. Melee is the main way of dealing damage.
Restoration.
Heavy Armor

Side skills:
Destruction. Using Impact with the apprentice spells id most prudent. You will not have the magica to use it as your main damage dealer, but with impact firebolt, ice spike and lightningbolt can be good ranged stun effects.
Block.
Smithing

I either divide health/magica/stamina equally or I go for having 1/5 levels in stamina and 2/5 in magica and health.

I base this build on the Crusader class from the last two ES games.

As for equipment I would go with Steel Plate armor and steel weapons(skyforge preferably, unless you use blunted weapons like me).

One handed, block, restoration, heavy armor, archery if you want it, and unlike what someone else said, don't ever sneak. You're a crusader.

Basically a pretty much by the numbers sword & board build that turns undead too.

Crusader is too broad.. I used Daedric boots and Gloves with a Robe and a Criclet on mine and I still owned just about everything with Dragonskin and Mass Paralysis. In early lvls the slow mace attack speed is just rough to deal with, so I swtiched to a silver sword at level 2 or 3. I had to do the companions far enough to get it. But For the Crusader look I was going for it was the best weapon for it and it hurts undead more so it worked out well aesthetically. How you go about it depends on the image you have in your mind about it. Then just take the skills to match and you should be pleased with the outcome.

One-Handed(Mace), Heavy Armor, Restoration, Smithing.