If your playing a Rogue 60/40 health to stamina ratio if your going to use magic 60/20/20. Add some Archery skills , Archery is VERY powerful in this game. That's if you don't want to change styles completly, if you do you will probably need to start a new game and rebuild from the ground up.

The big advantage to alchemy is it doesn't interfere with dual-wielding

The big downside is qty of potions.

If you never fast-travel and walk everywhere... you could pick up enough ingredients that alchemy would be viable consistently and regularly. If you fast travel, you'll prolly have to try and buy up ingredients....

You can also get magic enchantments on your gear to assist with magic damage resistance.

And while yes... alteration has some deep perk requirements... it could also be well worth it. He can skip Mage aromor out of hand (he uses light) and dual-casting isn't really required either.

That leaves 5 if he wants to go all the way to Master, 3 for Magic Resistence, 1 for Atronach, and 1 for Stability. And you don't even need all of that even. Adept level is only 3 perks, and would allow him to boost his armor rating by 80 on demand. That would allow him Stability (so a single 1 hand cast lasts full duration of most fights) and Magic Resistance (30%) for 7 perks in total. (counting the cost reduc perks).

That's not too shabby for a 7 perk investment.

Alternatively... he could skip Magic Resistance and gun straight for Atronach which is like 30% dmg reduc on it's own. Take up to Expert (4 perks) allowing EbonyFlesh to boost his armor by 100 on demand (when needed) stability is worth 1 perk since he's there, and Atronach is only 1 perk for a total of 6. The downside here of course is that he'd have to get it to 100 before seeing magic reduc. Trasmute and Telekinesis makes that relatively easy though.

Speaking of..,.. someone mentioned a trick of using Telekinesis to throw a necklace/valuable between bandits who would then fight each other over the item. Haven't tried it but I've been meaning to....

That is awesome! I wonder if it works. Finally a use for that spell. Other than thieves who use it to steal in plain sight, I have never seen a use for that spell. I mean sure, my Atronach mage in Oblivion used it to recharge his magicka, but I have never seen the point of using it to "throw" something since it would hardly do any damage. But bandits fighting over a valuable necklace, that would be better than a frenzy spell.

Yah... just heard it from someone on here. I tried it once, but I failed to land it anywhere near notice lmao so just snuck in and got my backstab the ol fashioned way.

Been meaning to play around with it some more. No idea if the dude was just trolling, or full of it, or what.

Level 20ish is easy to get to. I recommend starting over, plan our your character from the beginning. Create a custom "class" rules, restrictions, and pre-planned perks. (i.e. see my signature for the Cleric.)

I've successfully built two custom classes so far, the "Smuggler" which I made twice (I originally bought Skyrim for the PS3, and played until level 45 when my save files got too big and the game became unplayable. I also hit 45ish on the PC version before taking a Skyrim break for the Old Republic). The Smuggler was a stealth archer (Master difficulty) with specific rules. Only a few of which were: No magic of any kind, not even learned. Light armor only with no perks-- so if I was seen I had two options:: run or die. I ended up leveling both Smithing and Enchanting too high, and the game became too easy.

My second (and favorite) class is the Cleric (signature)-- heavy armored mace/shield specializing in Restoration and Alteration armor buffs. I have a whole host of rules for this character, and I've found that the more restrictions you play with, the more enjoyable you'll find the game. Good luck!!

He said he's playing on expert. Level 23, probably doesn't have his perks in the right places (yet?), so I can very well see how he could run into problems. He's probably not enchanting - that could help by increasing his damage. And if he doesn't switch out weapons and armor to higher level stuff he gets from drops, he could fall behind fast.

One last thing, if he levels non-combat skills that then level his character up, his combat capabilities will not level up. However, the enemy will not only increase in level, but their combat capabilities will increase, and he'll fall even more behind.

Thanks for all the replies.

I do use enchanting and smithing but I cannot enchant or smith the DB-armor.
In my main hand I have a Schimtar (fine) with fire enchant and in the off-hand I have a Dwarven dagger with cold enchant.

I've just recently started doing enchanting and smithing so I have invested 1 perk in each of the trees.
I do alchemy as well.

I have spent perks in one-handed and dual-wield. My one-handed skill isn't very high. Light armor isn't very high either but I did spend some points there, for example extra armor if fully dressed in Light armor.
My sneak is over 80, that particular skills seems to level too quick. I must sneak to get the sneak-attack (which almost always is a one-shot, even on Giants) so I cant really just stop sneaking because I can't handle myself when crowded.

Probably bad leveling compared to teh expert gameplay, especially if you're lv 20+ sneaker. If you feel like it start a new one, but I'm pretty sure you could get some balance back with smart perking in next few levels.

Sounds like your problem in a stand up fight is your one handed and your light armor skill is not very high. Since you already have points into dual wield, I'd stick with that rather than going two-handed or sword and board. My advice is go find some weaker opponents and fight them to get your one handed and light armor skills up and perk those trees. On the One handed tree I would just perk Armsman and the dual wield branch. On the light armor, pretty much take everything. The Unhindered perk is great for when you are sneaking and Windwalker will help your dual wield power attack when you are not sneaking.

For smithing, keep practicing your craft until you hit 60 and then get Arcane Smithing, so you can start smithing enchanted items. That should let you smith the DB armor. In the meanwhile, you could always get some unenchanted Scale Armor or something and smith it so you will have a better armor rating when you are practicing your swordfighting and put on your DB armor when you are sneaking. You can smith the Scale Armor and then enchant it with something useful, like fortify one handed. If you smith it first, then you end up with enchanted smithed armor even without the Arcane Smithing perk.

You might also try using two swords when you are fighting instead of sword and dagger. They say that having a dagger in the off hand increases the speed of your attack, but for me, any increased speed is outweighed by the decrease in reach. You have to be a lot closer to hit with a dagger and for melee combat, getting that close can be trouble, especially for a dual wielder that has no blocking ability and has to rely on dodging to avoid blows. I prefer using two swords for melee and two daggers when I am sneaking.

EDIT: Post deleted. I was misreading the UESP. DB armor is smithable, according to the UESP.

^You need Smithing @ 60 with the arcane smithing perk tho... which he doesn't have.

And... btw... I recommend he works towards. It will give him a good armor boost.

As mentioned... go out in the wild and let mudcraps just beat on you... or some low level bandit. Let your Armor rating raise up a bit.