So i want to make some sort of sneaky Assasin and/or thief character. I figure Alchemy, Sneak, Pickpocket and Archery i should max at least? Most of the one handed perks seem to be designed with the idea of being a melee fighter not a sneak, so not sure if those are good or not for this kind of character. I suppose the 15x bonus from sneak is good enough so i won't need one handed perks, but i have no idea really. xD Any tips appreciated.

Oh and i personally think Lockpicking perks seem useless as i can pick locks just fine on my mage, so i didn't even bother bringing it up. xD

Depends on whether you want to be terrifying silent death or hilarious terrifying silent death. If the latter sounds amusing (at least for assassinations) then I suggest going for alchemy skill, creating frenzy poisons, and using pickpocket perks to make targets commit suicide by guard.

I would recommend against taking pickpocket perks, because most of the items that characters carry around with them aren't great; mostly food, a few pieces of gold, and cheap jewelry. You'll want to use light armor, as some fights will be unavoidable no matter how good your sneaking is.

Suicide by guard does sound funny though.

Up close and and personal is how my contract killer does it. I invested in perks for the Ebony Blade and I sport the Ebony Mail (just as good as light armor for sneeking). I also took perks in Smithing (up to Ebony), Sneak, Enchanting, Alchemy, Heavy Armor, and Block (non shield perks).

Does Heavy Armor's Juggernaut affect Ebony? I swore I saw a bug where somehow Ebony Armor didnt interact with some of the Heavy Armor perks correctly, but I am not sure which ones, or if I am just flat-out wrong.

max out the stealth tree shadow warrior + assassin's blade + max one-handed dmg= instant death
IF u want further it up a notch take the crafting perks later on when u higher level an make better weapons

Not at all. I stand right in front of enemies and they cant detect me. I dont even have to walk slow.

Everything in Archery is worthwhile, barring Hunter's Discipline. Same goes for sneak. One-Handed... I would just put points into Armsman (+20% damage per rank), and the dual-wield perks if you're going that route.

Basically, focus on Sneak until you have the 15x dagger and 3x bow perks, get into the Dark Brotherhood as soon as possible to get the Shrouded Gloves (30x sneak attacks!), hood (25% sneak), and boots (silent steps, same as the 70 sneak perk), Pick some locks in the companions place in Whiterun to get a Dwarven Dagger and an Elven Bow, and you're in business. Your bow is your best friend, but your dagger will help you take care of the things with a bit more health.

Got a little off-topic with the item list.
Anyway, Sneak:
1 point in Stealth (5% is not worth a whole point. Gear can give you 15-35% per piece)
Backstab all the way through Assassin's Blade
Muffled Movement.

Then, One-Handed for the +% damage.
Then, Archery for the rest.

Fill out the rest as you see fit, but, that's the order I put 'em in, and it has worked out fabulously for me.

Horhey,

No what I meant is that I heard that Juggernaut, the one that increases the armor rating, was bugged with Ebony. So you would get more armor rating out of any other heavy armors, but not ebony. I wasnt referencing any interactions with sneak al all.

Alright, so.. something like this i imagine would be good then?

http://skyrimcalculator.com/#13346

Nah, I smithed it to Legendary and it's up to 228. I havent smithed it with fortify smithing, fortify enchanting and fortify alchemy yet.

these are my perks at max level:

alchemy:9 perks alchemist 5/5, physician, benefactor, poisoner, concentrated poison
illusion: 4 perks up to the quiet casting perk
alteration: 3 perks up to adept alteration (for the detect life spell and the fact that i wont be setup w/ 100% reduction w/ db armor and other armors i like)
enchanting: 8 perks 5/5 enchanter, insightful, corpus, extra effect
smithing:6 perks arcane black smith, then right side up to daedric
one handed: 11 perks 5/5 armsman 2/2/ dual flurry, dual savagry, fighting stance, savage strike, critical charge
archer:14 perks 5/5 overdraw 3/3 criticatl 2/2 steady hand then up to quick shot
light armor: 4 perks, just up to wind walker for the stamina regen
sneak:13 perks the only fully perked tree
pickpocket: 3 jsut up to the poisened perk (its very useful in situations that you don't want to get caught)
lockpck: 6 perks up to unbreakable lockpick (non essential, just a convenience perk set, jsut had 6 leftover points after 81 didnt know what to do w/ and was tired of breaking a load of pcks on master lock and running out lol)

and im a breton w/ the lord stone and did riften temple quest for the resist's....

Cool. Thanks!

i have a level 47 dagger assassin/thief, completed the game on master difficulty with ease.

perks are:
illusion 11 - all perks except master illusion and dual casting.
light armor 3 - armor upgrades, for when fighting dragons and other bosses you can't sneak up on.
sneak 9 - all perks.
one-handed 9 - fighting stance, 4/5 armsman, dual flurry 2/2, dual savagery. all these perks are really picked up to help against dragons.
smithing 6 - right side of tree, up to daedric to craft bow and dagger.
enchanting 8 - 5/5 first skill, then right tree up to double enchanting.

illusion benefits you greatly with crowd control for when there are more than one opponent, but the biggest perk is invisibility which you get at 75 skill. some people seem to think you're no longer an assassin if you dabble in magic, so it's up to you.

Yeah its really just for the hilarity of being able to murder people and imagine the guards having to write something like:

"Bob the beggar suddenly went crazy and started punching me. Against this grave and immediate threat to my life and the lives of my fellow professionally trained, heavily armored, and well armed guardsmen - I had no choice but to use lethal force and chop his head off with my axe. "

If you need the perks elsewhere then I'd go for "amusing" things like that one last. Still, being able to sneak - paralyze poison by pickpocketing someone can be useful if they're blocking your way as you try to sneak but you're trying to avoid initiating full on combat yet.

http://skyrimcalculator.com/#13346

This is what I'm running around with currently; I can practically one hit anything when sneaking

Also recommended is the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests for money and armor etc

I use 1 Blade of Woe (Legendary) and 1 Daedric Dagger (Legendary) both of which have absorb life enchants on them; I hardly ever die even in face to face confrontations

the crazy thing is once you get muffled in the sneak tree ( let alone the silent running one at 70) you can effectlively sneak in heavy armour like dagger across the neck close.