Ok, so after a mere 100 hours or so played with 3 different chars in Skyrim (highest is 33 sneak/archer), I have all kinds of questions about the mechanics behind how combat, weapons, perks, and 'hidden' factors work together in the game. I've probably spaced out a big chunk of them, but I'm sure they'll come to me later on. For now, here are some of them:

1) Critical hits- are they double damage, like most other games crits?

2) I see there are perks for some attack skills that give you varying +crit percent amounts- for archery, swords, maybe others I haven't noticed yet. Is acquiring those perks and building them up the *ONLY* way to get any critical hits from any of your weapons? Or are those crit perks just adding on to a basic, 'hidden' critical hit percentage that all weapons have, but isn't shown?

3) *If* all weapons can get some percentage of critical hits, does a successful attack from stealth with any weapon give you any bonus to your crit chance or strength? (not counting the x-damage-while-sneaking multipliers bows or daggers get from respective perks).

4) The 'power' attack you get from holding down the attack key before a weapon swing- what extra percentage of damage does doing this provide? 50%? 100%? Other%?

5) Is there any 'chance to miss' mechanic factored into combat, or is your hit rate entirely up to your own mouse accuracy with melee and ranged attacks, and being close enough for your melee weapons to make contact?

6) Will a mage's 'warding' spell block some physical damage too, or only magical damage?

And on and on.... but that's enough questions to start with

This answers most of your questions

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Combat

Thank you for the link, did answer quite a few of my questions. But the one I'm still most curious about, is whether any critical hits ever occur for weapons in the game, other than swords after you've chosen their critical hit bonus perk? If you go with maces or axes, will you never, ever, get any kind of critical hits, under any circumstances? And does magic ever crit?

The dagger's stealth perk damage bonuses I do not consider a classic 'critical hit', since they are a fixed +damage modifier that is entirely dependant on your stealth state, and do WAY more damage than a 'normal' crit would. Same for the x3 bow perk from stealth.

Edit: interesting... i just saw a blurb while loading my Skyrim save, that said "ANY ATTACKS [my emphasis added] will do extra damage, if you are in stealth and undetected." So I'm guessing that's similar to the mechanic in FO:NV, where all undected stealth attacks are a guaranteed crit? I'm guessing magic attacks fit under the 'any attacks' umbrella, too?