Just wondering how viable Sneak is without perks? My new character is a conjurer (bound weapons + minions) so I don't need to stay stealthed for a fight, just long enough to get the jump on someone.

Absolutely, I only recently took perks so I could get the 3x damage bonus with the bow. If you've got the Muffle spell or boots with a Muffle enchantment, sneak perks are almost a waste.

I'm playing on master I need all the stealth I can get, those forsworn find me quick.

I agree, you can get by without.
But I do like my extra sword and bow damage though, only using 3 perks in Sneak to get to the improved one handed and bows.
My sneak is 95 and I can pretty much sneak up on verything with just muffled boots to counter my armour.

I keep meaning to put points in it but havent yet with no problems.I use it to start combat with a poision arrow and then close.If you plan on getting up close and personel it would probably be helpful

My sneak skill is around 50, and I only have the first perk, because I took it early and wanted it for sniping with my bow. I can get right up to enemies without them noticing, even vampires, and recently picked up some Dwarven boots of Muffling

Perks only make you better at what your skilled to do. You are still skilled. No skill set needs any perks for a character to be successful in this game.

my DiD level 18 character is a thief and before she started taking perks wasn't being seen by npc's.

the perks are not needed.

I only took the first perk in sneak early on. I probably could even have gotten by (with my Nord warrior) with no perks. Even unperked sneaking will help you get the jump on somebody at the start of combat. Working at night helps; if you're gonna take on some outdoor place like a bandit camp, start things off after sunset and go from there. It'll help you with the enemies that are outdoor.

Even indoor it'll aid in helping you get the first shot at unprepared and unaware enemies. Haven't any of these bandits ever heard of giving an alarm?

need muffle in someway.

^This

Also... if you're a conjurer... you wearing cloth or armor?

Cloth makes it almost automatic. Won;t get you in melee range, but it will let you get the drop and start a fight on your terms.

Yeah, admittedly these days I'm using some steel plate boots I found that have muffle cast on them.

How does muffle work with sneak, anyway? It doesn't make me move absolutely silently, regardless of the description. People have heard me move before even when I'm not in their line of sight.

it just reduces penalty for wearing armor I think.....

My heavy armour wearing orc w/o muffle or any sneak perks still manages to get quite a few sneak attacks in with her bow. Draugr (who must have the worst senses in Skyrim) she can usually get a melee sneak attack in.

I can't be a successful Blacksmith without Perks.

you can't craft but you can improve standard weapons & armor just fine.

That doesn't make me a successful Blacksmith.

Yes and no. You won't be crafting the higher-level stuff, but a blacksmith with no perks but 100 skill will be able to improve iron armor to the point where it's better than even ebony armor unimproved. And as others have said, you can hit the armor cap with any armor through improvements, so you could hit the armor cap in maximally-improved iron armor, with high skill but no perks.

My point was that a successful Blacksmith is one that can make more than just Iron and Leather gear.

Well, granted, in a sort of commercial or role-playing sense. I was just discussing it in a game sense.