Having read a few threads I have been inspired to try the hardest difficulty level.

I am sure there are a few pitfalls and i dont want to have to start again having gone down dead ends with my build.

Here are my initial thoughts;

Primary; Archer, Sneak
Melee Back Up; Sword & Board
Armour; Light

Thoughts; I believe specialisation will be key, based on the above i will need to throw perks at Archery, Light Armour, Block, One Handed and Sneak. Thats doesnt seem very specialised. I could drop the shield, go dual in melee and therefore lose the blocking element. Is this a better idea?

Other thoughts;

I'm assuming smithing to a high level will be advised/essential?
I dont want to enchant, but I will pick up the improve enchanted items smithing perk. Is this ok?
I would assume I should be levelling health every time but I will need some stamina for the melee element?
I will not steal. I assume thieves guild would be pointless?
I'm assuming you cannot effectively sneak in Heavy Armour?

Any other tips or advice?

I thank you!

it'll be hard at start, moslty because of the sneak and light armor. I have pretty much your same build for my second char, you will need a follower and use him/her as a meat shield if the sneak goes wrong, this is how I managed to survive. Now I'm around lvl35 and don't need a follower anymore...

also try not to level up too fast with smithing and enchanting, you will find yourself against more powerful enemies because of the level-scaling but you'll still have crappy equipment...no good, it's really important that you level up with the skills you really need (archery, sneak, light armor, one handed)

smithing is powerful
yes, there are unique items you can improve to a degree, and you could always find a good weapon already enchanted
you don't need that much stamina, depends on how many enemies you fight at a time. standard attacks work too
dunno
haven't tried

You'll find it easier to specialize initially in either 1h/block or sneak/archery - trying to do all 4 will make you weaker until a fairly high level. Nothing wrong with that if you don't mind the occasional death or reload though. Light armor is fine either way. Either way you don't need much stamina. Around 1 stamina for every 3 points of health is fine. 2h warriors are the only folks who really benefit from a lot of stamina.

• As a sneak archer you'll be fine, seriously the only downside is its sometimes tedious.
  
• Smithing on a sneak character isn't as important as alchemy for damage health poison or paralyze
  
• Level stamina too you'll want to line up your archery shots and holding your breathe drains stamina PLUS you'll get a bonus to carrying weight. I take only as much health as i need so that I'm not getting one shotted by enemy archers
  
• The thieves guild would be against your morals because you have to steal
  
• You can sneak in heavy armor with muffle but you won't need it, your entire class is based on killing your enemy before they can see you or before they can get to you.
  
• Take the atronach stone or to help vs. enemy mages, your biggest concern with this class is ranged enemies.

If you are going to sneak get illusion up till you can use silent casting and prepare to spam the crap out of muffle! It is very useful for stealth. Casting Fury on a group of bandits id fun too!

Make sure you level your blade and light armor as much as your archery. Being a stealthy build is good but sooner or later you WILL get caught and you WILL get killed on Master without a GOOD means of dealing damage up close and dealing it fast. Duel wielding may actually be better for you than sword and board because chances are you just stealth shot something and it lived. Now you need to take it down fast because it has about 1/2-1/4 of its health left and the duel power attack does wonders for dealing quick substantial damage.

You may want to put points in alchemy and prepare poisons in case you think the enemy is too strong for your sneak attack alone to completely kill.

I agree with this dual wielding is probably a better fit than Sword and board plus you can use the same damage health poisons that you use on your bow.

IMO the most fun stealth archer build: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#77828

I played a stealth archer as my first character on Master difficulty. Here's some advice: Forget the sword 'n board back up. If you want some extra fun, wear only light armor (or none at all) and don't perk it. This way, stealth isn't advisable it's essential. If you're seen, you have two options: Run or die. It's a blast.

Perking all three crafting trees can make the game too easy, as you'll end up one-shotting everything very early into the game. For this build, I enjoy alchemy to specialize in poisons. Nothing like a Frenzy poison shot into a group of enemies , as for Smithing it's NOT essential at all. I only view Arcane Blacksmith as "essential," and that's the only perks I take. I don't touch Enchanting. I also tossed in the "poisoned" perk in pick pocketing, which opens up a whole new set of strategies.

Taking the points out of Smithing and Enchanting leaves enough extra points to make you a viable dual-blade assassin as well, for when you want to mix things up. Due to your light/no armor, you won't be able to backstab in a group of enemies so it doesn't feel as OP as it would if you were well armored. This makes you truely feel like an assassin-- having to focus one (and only one) target.

EDIT: I also played this build with plenty of restrictions-- most importantly NO magic. NONE whatsoever. Trust me, it's a lot more fun

EDIT 2: Your question about health/stamina: You'll want mostly stamina for the "slow down time" perk on archery. Even with a large health pool, you won't survive much with my build if you're seen.

Yup, leaning towards this, having the ability to open up a can of whupass when things get up close & personal is appealing.

As another post said- sword/board + archery is 3 trees, so it will be a little more difficult at the start, but doable- i suggest getting the "slow time on power attack perk" in block asap.

Smithing- you can either specialize in a tree side (light or heavy) or get arcane smith, i would suggest one or the other- unless you like getting one shotted b/c of terrible armor rating, having low damage weaponry, or having to choose between enchanted gear or smithing mundane gear and then enchanting it yourself(which will be crappy unless you perk enchant.)

Ive found devoting your first 5-8 levelups for health boosts help avoid early deaths on master. As others said stamina is required if you are needing to zoom in and breath hold all the time.

Light armor is better for a stealth build (and in the end game just better) you will get your weight reducer armor perk 40 point sooner which is much much earlier, and you can skimp on the stamina better with wind walker.

Alchemy can be important for sure, for invisibility pots or marksman damage increases or whatnot. Poisons also will be good, until you get your sneak bow perk and a decent damage bow- then you will find yourself either wasting poisons- or using them alot less.