Building the Ultimate Thief -- Help?

[Souperfolder]

Hey guys, I'm trying to create the 'Ultimate' thief. I've spent a good bit of time coming up with what I think to be the best build for a magical, stealth-oriented character, and this is what I've got so far.

Race
Bosmer - Has decent resists, the bonuses to stats are really useful which will keep my total level low.

Birthsign
Thief - It should be pretty obvious why Thief looks good to me; it gives 30 attribute points, 10 to speed and agility and 10 to luck, which can only receive +1 per level anyway. I'm debating between Thief and Atronach though. Will the amount of levels from choosing the Atronach be made up for by the gain in magicka / spell absorption? I'm not concerned with stunted magicka; Alchemy will be a major skill.

Specialization
Magic - Provides the most skill-ups to my stats

Favored Attributes
Endurance - Should be obvious
Luck - Mentioned above

Major Skills
Blade - My main combat skill; I'll be using poisoned shortblades for the most part
Alchemy - Gives access to a wide variety of potions / poisons
Alteration - Replaces security on top of adding water walking, feather, etc.
Illusion - Replaces speechcraft on top of supplementing my sneaking abilities
Mysticism - Telekinesis + Detect life; Dispel will be useful for clearing Night Eye when it gets annoying
Light Armor - This one's iffy for me, Alteration sort of covers this, and it weakens my spells. I like the aesthetic of armor > clothes but if there's a more optimal option (restoration?) I'd put it over Light Armor
Sneak - Should be obvious

My goal is to use this build for Max Difficulty, but of course it should work on any. I know Conjuration's really good for Max Difficulty but it felt really lame to me so I left it out.

How could I make this build more optimal?

[BetaB17]

First, what have you considered for your desired gear during the low, mid, and higher level ranges? Considering getting prime equipment early on and maybe even through the most of the mid-range certainly would make you more optimal I recall an enchanted glass helm not far offcoast from Anvil that may be of interest >_> then again the DB's armor isn't so bad either if you don't mind blood*

:

I tend to aim to multitask, especially during an early play. I often exploit situations if only for clever gain. So while joining the DB and the Thieves Guild seems obvious to do in one go.. I always walked away with a silver sword, a prized horn, and plenty of loot to sell for profits Recall the 'pirates' in Waterfront that would attack if you carelessly walked on board? There is also an imperial guard nearby that can easily kill any early player if you dare to challenge.. And lastly there is a Unicorn in Harcane Grove who turns aggressive when a weapon is brandished though he/she can be used as a mount <_< if you hadn't put the three together, let me explain If you manage to take the Unicorn to Waterfront and leave him near the boat on the road, while the guard is nearby, simply walk on the ship and soon a frenzy shall follow The 'pirates' would brandish their swords, triggering the Unicorn and also the guard. All you have to do is never brandish your own weapon and jump upon the boxes and wall for safety, while everybody else murders one another. Usually the guard is the last standing, and while he's weak just finish him off. Afterwards, collect the loot and make sure to grab the horn, stash away, then willingly turn yourself in. Plus, who can ever say they saw a Unicorn kill a ton of 'pirates' in the Imperial City before, huh?

As per traits and such, the only major flaw with a Bosmer is height especially when a thief.. bc I clearly call doing just that.. only to find stealing from the top shelf to be the greater challenge And while it would be biased to suggest an Argonian.. I really find the female Khajiit to be for fitting. While not exactly fitting the whole mold, you do however gain Night eye, while the greater power in most situations outclasses the Bosmer's. The birthsign for Thief truly benefits from the luck in my opinion while the Atronach own benefits may undo it, though stunted magicka shouldn't be a burden of concern if you have other means to supplement or exploitations. As per the skills, fairly standard, though I understand the hesitance for conjuration. In the subject of armor, restoration should easily be unneeded if you keep mindful of your alchemy, this can also tie in with what I said prior. All in all, it sounds pretty solid, though in truth alot of this boils down to your own skills and tendencies, so I wish you the best of luck

[Goldbrand]

As for the atronach idea, it depends on your playing style; Alchemy, although extremely powerful, doesn't have a great early game so if you want magical effects you will be using spells. Illusion spells for any race other than a high elf really take a lot of magicka to use, and as someone who uses things like charm and chameleon spells a lot, it would cripple me in the early game pretty bad. However, if you're not such an avid spell-slinger as me even as a thief and are sure that you will get enough potions as generated in the world, then it may prove a better choice for the late-game. On a flip-side I suppose, not having any magicka constantly is a good reason for you to be stealing from alchemy stores, it has its merits in an rp sense.

[Souperfolder]

@BetaB17 Height is something I didn't consider at all lol. Looking on UESP height also affects movement speed; bosmer moves 9/10 as quick as most other races. Maybe I'll change that, thanks!

@Goldbrand I'm only really trying to plan for late game, I've been playing a few years and I think I can figure out the early levels, even w/o magicka. I'm sure that Atronach will make me overall more powerful, but if I choose it I'll be gaining a few extra levels from dropping The Thief which'll make enemies more powerful in turn. I'm not sure which one is 'better'.

[Dreadark]

In Oblivion I always go for Khajiit for thieves. And I normally only take one or two mage skills such as alteration and mysticism. I normally don't use alchemy as a major skill because I find as a thief it can be easy to make gold to buy potions by selling items to fences. I also use Speed and Agility as a thief. Athletics and Acrobatics is nice for moving around fast, although not necessary. I also ALWAYS take marksman. Early game it can be hard to get up close for sneak attacks so bows can be really useful.

That's just what I use personally but then again I like to play casually a lot.

[Chicken Slayer]

--Only Bosmer males are short and slow. Females have normal stature and movement rate. Altmers are extra tall.
--Max difficulty won't affect thieving. It only affects the in:out damage ratio.
--What benefit will you get from having Blade as a major skill if blade damage is irrelevent at Max difficulty?
--Luck benefits all skills (except Athletics and Acrobatics) at 40% of the extra points, so start big if you want a benefit (thief birthsign and +5 luck = 15 total extra, will add six hidden points to your relevent skills.)

As minor skills, you can work Sneak up to 100 in the tutorial, and Illusion up to 100 as soon as you buy a cheap spell to spam. Then you will be the Ultimate Thief, but the game will totally suck because the challenge is gone. You can also break the game by getting ten quick reknown points and going to the Jones stone for its spell.

The way a major and minor skill set benefits you depends entirely on how you choose to work with the skills and how you want the game to progress. I like Sneak as a major skill because at 25 it works well for the little I need it early in the game. I use it progressively more as I get to higher levels where enemies are more likely to hear me and attack. If I wanted to use it a lot for pickpocketing and walking around, I would build it up to 25 in the tutorial and then pick it as a minor skill.

[Cununculus]

I prefer a Khajit thief due to the night vision, but also I would go for security as well.
More a lockpick-collection-carrying-thief.
Though I wonder how he stays stealthy with all these tools