I play Skyrim on PS3 and enjoy it alot. Been playing for about 100 hours, but never finished the main questline. There's one problem though. Sooner or later I always find I'm not happy about my character and I wan't to make a new one. I have now decided I'm going to create a new character one more time and then stick to it!

Archer is the playstyle that suits me best. Nord is the race I like the most (a hero of Skyrim should be a Nord). So he shall be a Nord Archer. Using no other weapons than a bow.

• As a Nord he's against magic (expect the ancient magic of shouting ) so he won't be using any magic school, so no restoration for healing. Also no enchanting.
  
• He will be the sneaky thief type and will probably join the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild. I'm in doubt about the Companions. Is he honorable enough?
  
• Main skills will be archery, light armor and sneaking. He will be using lockpicking, speech and pickpocket, but I probably won't invest perks into those.
  
• I have always used alchemy and he will too. But I have never invested perks into this or used it for anything other than money making. Should I use this for healing potions as I won't be using restoration magic? And should I be using poisons alot?
  
• I'm also in doubt about smithing. I will not be wearing elven or glass armor as it looks ridiculous, and probably not dragon armor either. I like the look of DB/TG armor or nightingale. So should I use smithing just to improve armor and weapons? Also I don't want the game to be too easy, so I have no problem about not taking enchanting. But will taking smithing still make it too easy?
  
• And how far should I go up in the sneaking tree?

Max out the sneaking tree.
You'll need a melee backup. If you want to be strict about roleplaying just limit yourself to a dagger and then decide whether you want to pay points into one handed or not. Why not take perks in alchemy? It's not necessary to take them all. In fact, it's the first few that are the most useful. Poisons can be critical to the archer at low levels. Smithing might not suit your rp style but consider the benefit of taking smithing up to glass so you can improve glass bows.

If you are not going to use Enchant, then you want to use Alchemy to make poisons for your bow. Sometimes, you need the edge.

You may want to add One Handed for those battles that are up close and personal, or take a Melee Follower that goes in close.

Take enough Smithing to be able to improve the armor or weapons that you use. Smithing by itself gives you the freedom to pick and choose any armor material that you want without worrying if it is the best or not. You can always stop leveling it or taking perks in it once you can improve the material that you like. You can't make a super uber weapon/armor with Smithing or Enchanting alone. It is the combo that can result in stuff that may be too powerful.

If you are not going to use Restoration, then Alchemy is the best way to get Healing potions. Unless you have lots of money. You will need some Alchemy Perks if this is your source of Healing for Battles.

I hope you don't run out of arrows..... you really should have a back up.

Thats cool. And also i used to have the same problem With just creating new characters all over again..

Since you have chosen to play a Nord, you will start at rock bottom (15) with your Archery Skill level. At the beginning of the game, do a lot of hunting and get that skill level up ASAP. Consider a One-Handed weapon for when your targets get in your face. Restricting him to just bows means tons of kiting. When you get to the Stones at the beginning, I suggest you chose the Thief Stone. Many of the other skills you named are covered by that Stone. Alchemy is a must have for Archers, IMHO, because of Poisons. When you can Slow a baddie by 50% and deal Poison Damage with your first shot, it is a big help. And since you won't be using Restoration Magic, Healing Potions are going to save your life more than once.

I've considered a similar character. I would be more like a D&D ranger though, using alchemy to mix poisons and remedies and not joining the Thieves/DB. I would also consider the Companions to be a werewolf for melee rather than using weapons.

As a Nord I would not find it far fetched that you were trained in basic arm to arm combat. They take pride in being a warrior culture after all, also in historic times archers were commonly equipped with short swords in case they had to actually fight which would happen sooner or later. If you are really against the idea then I highly suggest a companion who will act as your "tank" while you shoot from afar.


Correct me if I am wrong but I thought you were able to improve any material despite having the perk to make that type of armor? I never trained in black smithing but I still improved my Steel gear. I believe perks just increase how well you can improve then (fine, superior etc..)


Also the companions are not about honor. They are not the warrior guild of Oblivion. I find them to be more akin to blood thirsty mercenaries who work for coin no matter who the job is from or what they want. Though they prefer confrontation over sneaking so you still might not be suited for the companions, but I didn't really find them a "honorable" bunch.

I always keep creating new characters too, and that never gets old.
I dont have anything to add to the ops questions in terms of answers, but I just recognized myself in his post a bit

Your skills and Perks determine how much you can improve a material. If you don't have the Perk to make something with that material, then you can only improve it so much, even at a skill of 100. It is a way to fine tune this if you look at it that way.

I have a character just like one u are proposing.... is very doable. You don't need any melee, can survive with bow alone. 1000X yes on alchemy, sneak a must, get at least to muffle and 3x sneak damage with bow. Most all archery perks are useful/needed. Smithing..up to u, I took 2 perks so I could improve enchanted weapons

Thanks for all the advice so far!

The character I have played the most with so far was a wood elf sneaky archer. So I'm familiar with the playstyle. At the beginning I kept a battleaxe with me, just in case. But it turned out I never ever used it. So I got rid of it cause it was a waste of carryingweight and saved me the bother of switching weapons all the time. I also never had any problem with arrows or gold. With that character I used smithing and enchanting and that's what I regret, becasue after a while the game became too easy on master.

For the Nord I'm thinking about using 'free' archery training at the beginning from Feandal in Riverwood or that woman in some shack near Falkreath (can't remember her name). I will take the thief stone at the start and take the lord stone later on, cause I love anything that gives magic resistance.

Right now I'm leaning towards taking smithing so I can improve my bow and armor (with arcane smithing perk).

Btw, I don't like playing with followers, they fail so hard at following me and always get in my way in dungeons. I rather just play by myself.

And I'm thinking about getting both the blessing and amulet of Talos, cause the 40% cooldown reduction will make unrelenting force really useful for keeping enemies at a distance.

What I wonder about the sneaking tree is, is it worth it taking light foot, silent roll, silence and shadow warrior? In the archery tree I will take every single perk. With light armor I'm in doubt about how much points to spend in agile defender? I'll take custom fit as I'll be wearing light armor only, but I won't take matching set as I probably won't be wearing a set.

And what ratio should I go for when picking health and stamina points when leveling up? 60/40 in favor of health?

Silent Roll is of questionable importance but everything else in the Sneak perk tree is valuable. You could skip Shadow Warrior but it actually does work. As for where to pay your level up benefits I couldn't really give you a good ratio. I did find that those Stamina points were very dear up to level 30 or so. After that, with archery and light armor perks, Stamina is less of an issue. I would say build it up as quickly as practical to 300 or so.
Light Armor perks might be important to you... especially if you plan to skip enchanting and not really take advantage of smithing. Unhindered and Windwalker should be your goals... the rest of the perk tree isn't quite as critical.

Really though, for what you are proposing, you will have plenty of perk points for archery, sneak, light armor, and a few important ones into alchemy and one handed. Sounds like my build, actually. I just wish I could take back a few of the worthless ones I paid into other skill sets before I knew who I wanted to be.

lol expect

Illusion.

You don't need more than one point in Stealth, just enough to advance the tree. Once your sneak gets very high at all it is easy to stay hidden without any points in Stealth. You may want to get the triple damage perk on the right side of the tree.

As far as the other perks on the left side of the Sneak tree, I'd recommend that you consider stopping with Muffle. Light Foot just lets you be careless. I like sneaking slowly and carefully cause it makes me feel like I am sneaking and the sneak/running you can do with Silence just ruins the immersion for me. Shadow Warrior sounds cool but can feel overpowered and not that much fun in my experience. Only pick that if you want an ubercharacter.

I'm doing an archer as well using the same skills you are, plus enchanting and one-handed. I dual-wield when things get up close and nasty, and I definitely recommend that, unless you're planning on having a tank of a companion with you at all times. That way you only level one skill and not Block. Sometimes you just run into foes you cannot take down before they're in your face, so you'll need it if you're solo.

Alchemy is essential for poisons, enhance archery, damage magicka/stop magicka regen (taking out magic users), slow poison (for those pesky melee fighters) and damage stamina (for two-handers so they can't power attack you and you can sprint away to hide).

Sneaking, as already mentioned, is essential too. If you can get the drop on foes, they often go down before they even know you're there. When you get good enough you can even disappear out of combat if you end up in a melee you cannot handle.

I like enchanting because I like to customize my armor and weapons. I have one bow for Soul Trap, and a spare bow with Banish. My melee weapons have Dmg Stamina and some sort of Fire or Frost dmg. I prefer Frost to slow peeps down. I carry a ring and necklace for enhanced Stamina and Stamina regen (I use a lot of Stamina to slow-aim). For armor I use the Armor of The Old Gods / Saviors Hide / Thieves Guild Armor. They all provide some benefits to that playstyle and they look great imo.

I also use Conjuration to summon an ally in times of need. I don't like having a permanent companion, so I summon one when needed. They come in super helpful when you don't wanna get bumrushed by a bunch a bandits. Can't count how many times my Atronach has saved my hide. Plus, you can use summon bow if you prefer the astral weapons over regular ones. Personally I don't like them, but I do like raising dead bandits to fight their former brothers in arms.
Good hunting mate!

I have a Nord 2H warrior who is the same. No magic of any kind, not even for healing. My view is that alchemy is more akin to cooking and can be practiced by magic averse Nords. It is very doable to play with only alchemy for healing, especially with the auto health regen in Skyrim. You may want to put some points into Alchemy for better healing potions and poisons, but I would stop with 8 perks. Five in Alchemist, Physician, Benefactor and Poisoner. Better healing potions are probably not necessary, but it "feels" better to take one strong potion you made instead of spamming several weak ones.

*except for

Not everyone's native language is English.

Well I've played an archer type character up till around level 42 or something. And never used a melee weapon. I just kited anything that didn't die before it could reach me. But for this one I'm considering having back up daggers with me. Just now I had a try with daggers for the first time ever in Skyrim, and they'te actually pretty cool.

I won't use magic cause I don't think it suits a Nord and enchanting will just make the game too easy in my opinion. Seeing as I will also use smithing to improve weapons and armor.

Sounds like a good setup. I have a lvl 37 Nord warrior as well who hasn't cast a single spell yet. Nor has he messed with Alchemy or other witch craft. It's fun that way!

Note that, as a Nord, you'll be able to use your Battlecry power (once a day) to get enemies out of your face. This is arguably a better power for archers than melee types, as you can still shoot at foes as they run away from you. I only used it once with my primarily melee Nord.

I'm not sure if it only works on humans/elves, or on animals/monsters as well.

Just trying to think of some inherent advantages to choosing a Nord race for an archer, as their skill bonuses don't necessarily give you a lot.

Well you could say Nords are warriors and prefer engaging battle with weapons over magic. And a bow is a weapon.

But I've decided to use daggers aswell. Not because I think it's necessary as a back-up, but to be able to mix up the playstyle every now and then when just using a bow might get boring.
He will be a Nord assassin. Mainly using a bow, but not afraid of using dagger either.