Leveling help... start with lower skill better?

I have been playing as a warrior type, but find I love the stealth play better. (Same in Oblivion). I am restarting, but am wondering if it is better to start with lower skills in stealth areas than higher. An orc assassin would have to build more skill points in sneak than a Khajiit would. Would that result in a higher level at the end? I can seem to find if this would really matter.

It wouldn't make a big enough difference to notice. Just pick whichever race you would like the most for that playthrough.

But in theory would it result in more levels? I am now level 10 to get to the same point that a Khajiit would start with at level 1. So does that mean a Khajiit would in theory get 10 less levels over the course of the game?

Bretons make the best stealthers. Actually, Bretons make the best everything. Go Breton or go home!

When you have a higher skill level, ranking a skill gives more next-level progress. For example :
A Khajiit is at level 25 and an Orc is at level 15. To get from level 1 to 2, Khajiit will have to level up once or twice. Orc will have to level up three or four times at least.

In the end, it will be equal. Just note that if you play a race with a sneaking boost, you'll end up leveling just sneak slowly in the beginning if you're focusing on just raising sneak, but you'll level up in big chunks (going from 0 percent EXP to 25 percent at a time). In the end, it's all equal.

The thing you DO need to look at is racial ability. In my opinion, Khajiit's Night Eye is next to useless. Visibility is not that bad in the dark. Orcs, however, have access to Berserker Rage, which multiplies damage by 2x. This will be VERY useful for both backstabs and archery at low-medium levels, as you can add it to the sneaking multiplier. It won't really matter, end-game, because you'll probably have all of the sneaking buffs and dual enchanted weapons and such.

On a side note : Orcs have buffs to Heavy Armor. While most good Sneakers don't wear heavy armor, there IS a perk that lets you do it silently. Orcs also have a +5 boost to One-Handed, so if you're making a Stabby McStabberson character and you want the damage buff, you might want to consider the Orc.

Khajiits have both +5 One-Handed and +5 archery. They also have +5 Locking-picking and Pickpocket, so if you want a Criminal archetype, Khajiits will have a more solid early-game.

no one seems to have given the simple straight answer, which is no, no matter what the max level is 81, which is all skills at 100, this does not and cannot change due to race or any other factors.

But OP probably does not want to use ALL of the skills in the game. If you do not use ALL of the skills in the game, making your character a jack-of-all-trades, you will NEVER hit level 81 and will be stuck at a level cap.

but this is his question, and the answer is:

But he probably won't be ranking all skills to 100.

"in theory" is in theory, what are you failing to see? his original question was answered by butcherpete, which lead to him asking a theoretical question, which i answered. whether or not he wanted to get to the max level allowed makes no difference, he simply asked if his race affected what that level was.

I'm done with this thread. I really don't care for pointless arguments.

I didnt mean to start a flame session people...

If I am pretty much just using stealth skills, sneak, archery, pisckpocket, some 1 handed, etc. then at the end would one be a higher level? So if I played the game the exact same way with a Khajiit and then exactly the same way as an orc, not trying to max all skills, at the end would one be a higher level?

You would level up one skill an extra 5 times, after around lvl 6ish that's not even enough to level up once...

i didn't notice any flaming... we just happened to have different interpretations of your question. pete's original answer is still correct, the starting bonuses to skills aren't big enough to cause a difference in level between races.

Unlike in Oblivion where each race had these pretty big level gaps in skills, Skyrim made it pretty moderate.

A wood elf has I believe 20 or 25 Archery, whereas a Nord only has 16. It makes choosing a race, solely on personal preference, rather than a necessity to pick the race best suited for a specific playstyle.

this has a lot to do with the absence of attributes like strength, etc., since they played a very important role in leveling and overall character building in general.

a bosmer has 25, and a nord has 15, i assume you mis-clicked the 6 button?