just forget about the hype and technicalities, don't explore the menus before you actually travelled on foot a bit, just walk around for an hour without following the quest line (you will not be penalized you can fast travel back using the map after). Enjoy the beauty of the game and get comfortably immersed and then start playing for real. You will not be disapointed, you can actually wander in cities and listen to gossips and hear rumors (not just through dialogue selections) that will lead you to quests or secret places, there is a big attention to details.

Was done in Oblivion. You could also gain Unarmed there once by staring at the two sparring fighters on a lawn near the Arena.

like a boss :)

Before I get this tomorrow, I just wanted to ask if there is any race in particular which is better for a stealthy kind of character who goes for ranged attacks (not sure if I will focus on bows or using spells) in combination with backstabbing?

(I seem to remember the cat-like people were the choice for that in Oblivion.)

well if im correct you can choose them as well in skyrim.

Khajit and Argonians. I

Argonians: (stealth magic)

+5 light armor
+5 sneak
+10 lockpicking
+5 pickpockets
+5 restoration
+5 alteration

Special power is histskin which allows you to regenerate health 10x faster for 60 seconds (stacked with potion it can almost act as unlimited health for a minute.
50% water breath and disease resist

Khahjit: (stealth fighter)

+5 one hand
+5 archery
+10 sneak
+5 lockpicking
+5 pickpocket
+5 alchemy

Special power is cat claw which gives you 4x unarmed damage (can be good when brawling for money in inns)
Night Eye improves night vision for 60 seconds (can easily be replaced by cheap spells and potions)

Thanks a lot!

Exactly the info I wanted.

My sneaky Khahjit mage isnt ideal then :-P

Though better than my heavy armor sneaky wood elf in morrowind

I am playing as a wood elf archer. She is a kick a## stealther. In reality, you can choose just about any race as the level up system is very flexible and the racial bonuses are not as key past the few first levels. Just use stealth alot (you appear to need to be hiding from something rather than stealthing about for no reason) and use your bow as often as you can (or your spells). For bow, you need to level up enough to get the power to zoom in and then you need to put points in stamina. I am level 13 with over 50 stealth and 47 archer. I have a 10% stealth necklace. I can hide in the shadows while enemies run a foot by me and can shoot with great accuracy from quite a distance (and can slow down time to boot). I noticed my character becoming quite stealth proficient by level 7. Of course my character is weak at melee distance, but I am now building that up.

Make sure you take a trip to the stones before you are going to travel through caves, caverns or old forts and the like and choose Thief for the stealth bonus. Keep it for selling your stuff for the speech bonus. (You will understand this when you play as you pass the stones early on assuming you follow the story to the first town.)

I love wood elves, but if you prefer cats, go for that race. It won't matter much past level 4 or 5 IMO.

Tell me about it, I have an argonian vampire two hand hammer stealth with alteration skills. I am now level 32 and with vampire weakness to fire and non sense skill choice I can no longer kill dragons.

If I can give you an advice be careful when increasing your skills because I have 70 enchanting and smithing which are awesome at making gear but at the end of the day my combat skills are not on par with my level

Ahahahah... At night in a big city you get +20 points in an hour. Even 90 to 100 is a breeze.
Thieves have lockpicking practice room with one Master lock there.

Plus, if you find one of the guardian stones you can get a once a day invisibility cast.

If you plan on going through dungeons I recommend not to increase it too fast. In reality you can just save and load if you fail. If you put too many points you will level too fast and actually affect your fighting ability (if you were planning on fighting in the first place). I make sure I get 1-2 points per level and thats it.

The big thing about lockpicking is that one of the perks (at 70 points) allows you to increase carrying capacity by 100. Which is HUGE for any type of mage/thief hybrid that did not increase stamina.

That's pickpocketing perk. BTW, Steed stone grants the same effect. Oh, and there's a pocket space boost from Thieves' Armor.

I'm doing quite well without fighting because the Thieves' Guild has DOZENS of small jobs like burglaries, forging the balance books, etc. Most of that stuff just happens to take place in the cities and involves steady coin and no fighting. And that's not even their main quest line. Dark Brotherhood on the other hand doesn't have those mini-assignments, but joining gives you gloves (I think) with bow damage boost. And no-noise boots. You can get quite a badass outfit combining the sets of both guilds.

Yeah, really not trying to tell you how to play :)

I have also noticed that the quest type really adapts to the skills you play. After joining the bard's college and increasing speechcraftI was presented with a few quests that involved negociating with people.

I try not to count on stones too much, I use the lady for 15% speed in all skill gains.

Here is a list of permanent bonuses you can get from quests

Agent of Dibella, 10% melee damage increase to opposite sex, Temple quest: The Heart of Dibella
Agent of Mara, 15% magic resist increase, Temple quest :The book of love
Ancient Knowledge, 25% armor if you wear a dwarven set amror, smithing skill increases 15% faster (badass this could save you 5000-1000 gold if you are increasing this skill using vendors), Side quest, unfathomable depths
Assassin's aegis, 25% armor bonus if you wear the whole dark brotherhood armor set, dark brotherhood quest: Sanctuary
Dragon infusion, takes 25% less melee damage from dragons (does not save you vampires from firebreath), blades quest: dragon research
Eternal Spirit, while ethereal you recover health 25% faster (ethereal is a dragon shout that turns you invisible), greybeards quest : meditations on the words of power
Force without effort, stagger 25% less and enemies stagger 25% more, greybeards quest: meditations on the words of power
The fire within, fire breath deals 25% more damage, greybeards quest: meditations on the words of power
Gift of Gab, speech skill increase 15% faster, bards college quest`tending flames
Nightingales aegis, 25% armor bonus if you wear all nightingle armor set, thieves guild quest: trinity restored
Prolwer's profit, chance of finding more gems in chests, thieves guild quest: no stone unturned
Sailor's repose, healing spells are 10% more effective, dungeon quest: what lies beneath
Sinderion's serendipity, 25% of producing two potions instead of one when using alchemy, side quest: a return to your roots

holy buckets how much time do you have in? :P