I like the outfit I got from Hercine and would like to keep it. But I'm afraid of lvl'ing smithing to fast. I know that the armor rating will increase on the outfit as I lvl up...but I think it's only to a certain point unless I "improve" it.

What do ya'll think is a good way to get the smithing enchantment perk, W/O lvl'ing to fast?

Improve or make X amount of weapons/armor per lvl that the character is at? I've been making/improving weapons and armor but never buying anything to do so... but I noticed even their that I could cause myself to lvl to fast.

I really do not want to end up with a charatcer thats to hard to kill but I also don't wanna get one shoted cause she's to weak.

And unless their is another way to go about it, It doesn't show up on the disenchant list. Cause I thought about improving a different leather outfit and enchanting that.

You have a game, you have save load, you have some spare leisure time. How about actually trying yourself? For once?

This forum is full of questions about obscure things. For example: "What happens if I do %activity_name%?" Have you, I don't know, tried doing it?

Level up the skills you'll be using in your combat style to the point where you want your smithing to be, then bring your smithing in line by levelling it up. There are other skills that you can level up too fast that give you a hard time combat wise, such as sneak.

Thank you. that's what I needed to know

If you level Smithing along with your character, then you won't unbalance things. I got about two Smithing Levels per character level. OK, some character levels I got 3 or 4 Smithing levels. But I did not max out Smithing until my character was in the upper 30's. By that time, my combat skills were way up there too. So, I was making the armor and weapons that went along with my character level and the enemies I was facing.

Thank's, that tell's me i'm alittle over where I might wanna be on smithing ( not by more than 5 or so) but... time to go kill a dragon or 2.

I do something along these lines. I never quickly level up any skill. I certainly do not power level any skill, power leveling a skill is a very boring process. I take my time and craft items depending on my skill level and my roleplay value based on what I want my characters skill to be.

You need 60 Smithing to take the Arcane Blacksmith perk, which is what you'll need to upgrade the Savior's Hide. Depending on what level your main combat skills are, you might be fine to take some time off to train smithing.

You can use the "Mage Armor" perk of clothes and robes to give you a pretty hefty defensive rating. Look it up on Google to find out how to use it and more information.

My two main combat skills are 2h, at 77, no training and I've only taken the "perks" when I am 10 points over what it needs, and Archery with training and taking the "perks" soon as I can, it's at 32. I am absolutly horrible at it, but I wanted a ranged weapon. Character is at lvl 28.

Light armor 46, alchemy 42, smithing 46, I take the perks for these. Speech 47, lockpicking 39, I do not take the perks for those... the rest of the skills are in the teen's and 20's with restoration being the highest at 26 as I dragged Lydia around for a bit.

btw I even practice with the bow where ever their are targets near where I am... if this were real life I'd have 77 with the bow and be dragging the battle axe across the ground!!! lol

I would constantly look out for iron ore and iron ingots and other materials too. When I got home in Whiterun after an adventure I'd do some smithing, making some iron daggers and upgrading my stuff as best I could. I would buy iron ore from smiths (cheap) too and smelt it myself. Just a little at a time as I went.

I also ended up going to a dwarven ruin as part of the mages guild quest and that set me up with a LOT of dwarven metal to smelt and recraft. I made myself and Lydia Dwarven armor when I got to that smithing level.

Of course once you get all the way to 100, there is a never ending supply of dragon bones and scales to use in crafting armor.

I have brought four toons up to the mid 40 level and am still trying to answer the level balance question to my satisfaction. In each run through I end up eventually dissatisfied with my choices and I restart with a modified approach. Usually I feel I have leveled something too far. The great thing about this game is one can play the game one wants - it just takes a bit of time to find what one wants. And each run through can be a completely different experience - just start by heading in a different direction on the map.

In this run through I am playing master difficulty and am at level 14 in leather (superior) and am really enjoying it. Started towards Riften then Dawnstar. My main emphasis is archery, sneak, light armor, and one-handed. I dabble a little in alchemy, speech and smithing. I unenchant neat things with an eye towards possibly enchanting in the future. Though I think magic is evil, I have found I have a knack for it. I know nothing of this dragonborn myth and will have nothing to do with the thieves guild, dark brotherhood or deadric princes. The civil war ... I will have none of it. I do not train. I travel alone. I find and make only what I need. Kynareth is more to my liking.

So now I am mainly scouting locations. Doing small forays and either pressing ahead or falling back. One time I was on a hill overlooking a mammoth taking to task two sabre cats - all powerful creatures. Normally I would have quietly walked away. But from my perch I could see the surrounding area and there were just the three creatures. As soon as the big cats were dead I fired at the mammoth using an ancient nord bow that I had picked up in some cave. Strategically using the hill to keep the mammoth at bay I plied it with arrows. Darting in and around the crags using the behemoth's size to my advantage. Some forty iron arrows in all. It was great fun!

With one of my other toons I would have brazenly ran up, fired a few shots from my powerful shock enchanted legendary glass bow ... or staffed up a flame atronach ... and have been on my way thinking nothing of the entire incident.

With a little experimentation Skyrim will let you play the game the way you want to play it ... that and pc mods .

I guess that's what I'm really looking for balance, I don't want her to become "god" like by the time I hit lvl 40 or 50 really.

It took me 5 try's last night to kill a deathlord, not my record by any mean's, a sabre cat can take me down, and really I like that fact. A group of bandits or forsworn is a real challenge.

To me it's just no fun if their isn't a really GOOD chance that I'm gonna die. But to do that I know I need to find the "right" balance of skills, why I asked the question in the first place, my 1st run through I really never did any smithing. After reading alot of the posts I realized it would be very easy to over-do the smithing, or sneak, or enchanting or alchemy.

I supose if I didn't want to keep the Saviors Hide, then I wouldn't worry over much about it. But I do and I need to make sure It doestn't get to the point it is under-rated, by to much.

BTW.. my RL hubby says the outfit is wishfulfillment... I wish I could wear something like that and not be snickered at. He's partly right, In my 20's I had a Holloween costume along those lines "sheena, queen of the jungle", leather, feather's and fur. 22 year's later... I'd look better in mage robes...lol