You see, I'm an avid fan of the Elder Scrolls series. There is not a single Elder Scrolls game in which I've played at least one stealth character, one mage character and one melee character. However, I've done the same with TES V:Skyrim and unfortunatley; it didn't turn out to be so fun as I thought. Firstly, the mage character would have a very slim chance of survival against ANYTHING(yes, even against mudcrabs), then the stealth character.

The stealth character was able to hold himself more than the mage characte, but I've been spending a lot of pints in Sneak perk tree and over what? Over nothing! Sure that 15x damage modifier for daggger sneak attacks is neat, but have you ever used it? You probably didn't. The reason for that being that enemies keep apearing as random encounters, i.e. they see you before you see them.

The melee character was the only one who was durable enough, powerful enough and pretty much gave me ease while trying a variety of skills throughout the game. Now this is based solely on my experiences playing throughout the game, so it isn't nescassarily targeted towards someone. If you've had different experiences than me though, then feel free to post!

I've played both a mage and thief char above lvl 40, a warrior char only to lvl 18. I agree that the mage is a paper doll and that there's no other strategy than to cast/run/heal, rinse and repeat. The mage - even at lvl 45 - is a woosy.

In my experience the thief/sneak character is the strongest and easiest to play, primarily because of a high archery and sneak skill, combined with an enchanted and improved daedric bow.

My warrior has to improve a lot to become that powerful. Maybe it's my style of play: raise a big 2-hander and charge in... bummer, 2 archers and a mage at the back... horrible death coming up...

Illusion, Conjuration, Sneak, Archery combine pretty well to make everything pretty easy. Sneak on it's own is great, combine it with Illusion's quiet casting, muffle, invisibility and mind affecting spells and you're in complete control of most encounters. Anything left after you've turned things against eachother can be taken down with dremora lord(s) or a bound bow from relatively safety. My character rarely gets touched , and can kill most enemies without them even detecting him.

So I'd say Mage / Rogue hybrid wins. I think sneak+archery or illusion+conjuration on their own are probably stronger skill combinations than a standard melee build.

I also think the thief/stealth class is the most powerful. I dunno about you but with that modifier plus makes me oneshot even the most powerful opponents. If I stay undetetected, which is not a hard thing to do with max sneak and some minor stealth gear, I bring down almost every foe instantly.

Dude. You cannot be serious.

Magic is definently not as viable as in previous games, but I'm up to level 19 now with a stealth based Khajitt,

It depends on what kind of quests you do, the Companions quests for example, are a lot harder to do as a theif than the DB quests. Maybe your playstyle is just naturally pure warrior?

Not getting to use the 15x modifier? Wow your doing it wrong... And stealth includes archery so ...(Well not really but you can use it)

I have played all three now pretty extensively. Mage is by far the more difficult especially at lower levels and I think this stems simply from the fact that you have very little access to the different spells you need. There certainly isn't anywhere near 85 different spells. They were obviously including each upgrade and each different elemental type in that number. They are also pretty much stuck in the same looking outfit for the entire game. The developers certainly don't like mages.

My nightblade character was the easiest by far, but ultimately it grew kind of boring as it was too easy. Calm... sneak... slit throat for almost every encounter except dragons. Currently playing a shaman like warrior character who summons up two bound swords each combat and its the most fun I have had so far. Warriors definitely got the most love in development.

I have 3 characters. Assassin/thief, pure mage, and a melee warrior.

They all sneak. Personally, I don't use my perk points for sneaking, speech, and other skills like that. I prefer to put them in archery, light and heavy armor, 2H, etc. Skills that increase your damage output, and reduces the damage coming in.

Why would you not sneak as a mage or a melee warrior? You want to kill the enemy as fast as possible, and sneaking gives you the opportunity to get the first blow/spell in.

This. When sneaking you always have the initiative, and sometimes positioning yourself properly before combat is important. It's also very nice outdoors so random mobs don't jump you.

As for the x15 perk: unless you're playing a hardcoe assassin, I wouldn't recommend using it because backstabbing everyone you will end with 100 Sneak but pretty much nothing else(leveling up one-handed seems to be based not only on damage but amount of hits as well).