Any advice on how to NOT play a thief?

[Cloud]

Sounds weird right?
My issue is I almost ALWAYS play a thief or a thief hybrid...I can't get away from it though.
But I am sick of playing with light armor and the basic cookie cutter sneak/light armor/onehanded combo....have tried the archetypical warrior which was boring as hell. The mage who runs in magic blazing wasn't that interesting either though.
Anyone got any fun character builds I could try out not involving sneaking around?

[ⓀⒾⓦⒾ‰]

bind your sneak key to your shout, wear heavy armor and always carry a torch.

[22b3]

I play as a battlemage. A mage who runs in, does loads of damage with magic, and survives hits because of the armor you'll be wearing. also you can try this[www.nexusmods.com] mod. I use it for my stealthy characters and never have i felt such a challenge. A rewarding one but a challenge. Raiding a house or stealthing through a bandit camp has never been so hard.

[Trigger]

become a bard, farmer, hunter, merchant

[Kan]

I am the same as you, I tried the warrior and mage after my first run through as a thief/assasin and found myself reaching for the sneak + bow everytime.

My comprimise which took some getting used to was being a warrior with main as 2 handed weapon and when fights got tough or there was too many enemies I would opt for shield and sword.

I ALSO had a bow as a tertiary weapon and only used it in situations that called specifically for it. There are times in the game where attacking at range is the only way - ie dragons.

Warrior is very fun and worth getting used to - rather than crouching down for that 3x damage bow shot eventually you find yourself charging in like a boss shouting bring you pritty face to my axe.

[Brandybuck]

I played a heavy armor 2H sword wielding Nord on my second playthrough. No sneaks, no bows, just stereotyped Nord. I just ran in and hacked things. Great fun. Then I went back to sneaking on the next character.

[mpd1958]

I just try to balance it out, sneak when needed but like to go crazy with sword and shield. Have good armor (light or heavy) yor choice, enchant it as much as possible, same with shield and weapon and GO TO TOWN on the bad guys. If you are at low level have plenty of potions. If you do it right you get some really great action and live to tell about it.

[Solomon Hawk]

A good warrior in heavy armor .. sword and shield.
I got my smithing up so I can upgrade my armor and weapons to "legendary".
But still, you'll have your hands full with some challenges. Especially with those draugr death lords.

[Bigbazz]

One of my playthroughs I installed a Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic themed mod.... Which really didn't change much of how the game was played other than being able to craft a Lightsabre, and use force push. The lightsabre is initially weak and you might find yourself going back to swords, until you become strong with the force (light/dark side perks) and force push is powerful but expensive on magic. Later when you're strong with the force you can craft a better Lightsabre and increase damage with it via perks (and weapon skill). You gain more skills and spells as you level.

I mostly ran around using force push and my lightsaber in the other hand, surprisngly awesome to be honest with you. Immersion breaking to have a light sabre but the skill trees are not overpowered and work well with the game.

I guess when you're at the dead end point of making the same characters it can help to shake things up, I have 2 thief classes (one dagger and one bow), and a 2handed heavy armor dude (too slow.. didn't feel for it) and then my Jedi Guardian, it really doesn't step on too many toes within the game and it really is quite fun.

[Skyrimnut]

Shield mage. Oh boy, are those fun. The bash of a heavy armor build, the light show of a magic build, and carrying no weapons, only a bow for mounted combat. I started with an Imperial one and enjoyed it, but recently I switched to a Khajiit as they really don't possess the skill boost for this type of build and I thought it'd be a hoot to play the race that way. It's a different way to use a race that is typically played with "sneak".

[big poopy pants]

Maybe you could try being a farmer for example. Heljarchen Farm is an AMAZING mod for that. That's what I'm doing right now with my character; I travel for "business" purposes and visit farms.

It's a lot easier to change the way you play by roleplaying. I tend to always be a thief, too. This is the first time I'm trying not to be one haha. Good luck! :]

[Cloud]

Actually kind of liked the Battlemage idea...will probably try that one out with my own spin. Always wanted to be a two handed warrior but never had the chance. Maybe run around with a one handed and two handed combo, heavy armor, Destruction and Conjuration(mostly necromancy then).
Would really fit....recently saw the Undeath mod and thought: hey I want a character that fits to that. A warrior would be stupid(duh since when do warriors fight with magic?) and a pure mage was never my kind of playstyle nor does a thief fit.
But a battle mage is fine =)