This is a mixture between a character build and a role playing idea.
I had seen characters who changed over time, but none whose change was based around age, so this character has 3 basic stages: young, adult, and old age. You end up using all skills and abilities, covering the 3 basic types of play; and can also be seen as a way to organically raise your character to as high a level as you want, something not really possible in most builds. It can also let you experience a lot of the different threads and potential of the game if you want to do a lot in one go.
Thanks to Ben C for his advice on making this suitable for posting.
Approximate levels are: 1-20 is young; 20-40 is adult; 40-60 is old age. A more hard core version using the full potential 
available is 1-35; 35-62; 62-81.
Backstory
I played as a Breton who was living near Bruma and whose family was slaughtered by bandits. After wandering around the wilderness I was captured by the Imperials and my journey began. Any character has to start off young and with limited resources for this to work and be realistic.
Stat distribution
2:2:1 is probably the most sensible as you will be using 
health, magic and stamina over the course of the build, but stamina is used in fewer skills.
Skills
All skills available are used by the time you have reached old age, and you learn different skills at different ages depending on the play style at the time. Skills which you learn and focus on in later life cannot be used before you start learning them, but skills you learn early on can be used later if needed.
Appearance
If you have Dawnguard then there is an option to change your appearance, which should be used at least twice, more if you want. Start off fresh faced, then add scars etc. to show events during the game, and slowly age your character as you progress.
Important note
Levelling and placing perks in enchanting and alchemy are the most important as you will be using everything and these give you the most powerful effects for the entire time. These skills are the basis of The Utopian build which aims for sheer power, and are necessary here to allow you to change your major skill set without losing too much performance.
Here are the details for each of the ages, along with an explanation for why I made them as I have.
Constant
- Restoration
- Speechcraft
- Conjuration
- Lockpicking
These skills will be used constantly and use will not vary a huge amount as they are all important in one way or another. Restoration is obvious in that it is always helpful to be able to heal yourself; Speechcraft will be used all the time as whatever type of character you are, you need to buy and sell; Conjuration provides a distraction and damage aid, can start off as a child’s imaginary friend and develop into something more potent; and Lockpicking is used to open chests wherever you find them.
Young
Major skills:
- Alchemy
- Pickpocket
- Enchanting
- Archery
- Sneak
As a young person in a foreign land I think it is extremely unlikely that you would start off with much combat. In order to survive you would probably turn to thievery if you could not rely on charity, which is shown by pickpocket and sneak. Enchanting and alchemy are simple continuations of studies before coming to Skyrim as they are constructive, but smithing is not included as you are not yet physically strong enough. Archery is for hunting and allows damage to be done if combat is unavoidable, especially with poisons and enchanting to increase damage. There is no armour because you are a child and will therefore wear clothing.
Standing stone: the apprentice stone; or one of the levelling stones- all are consistent with someone still learning. Meanwhile the tower stone is helpful for thieves.
Shouts: animal allegiance; aura whisper; become ethereal; disarm; Kyne’s peace; throw voice; whirlwind sprint.
Magic: use all schools available.
Play style: mainly you will avoid fights; you do not seek them out. If forced to fight a conjuration as a distraction followed by archery, or simply running away are the best options as very few of your skills are directly for combat. Joining the thieves’ guild and doing a fair amount of hunting are role playing options which will also boost used skills, along with studying enchanting and alchemy.
Adult
Major skills:
- Two handed
- Block
- Smithing
- Heavy armour
You have come into your prime and your strength, and therefore want to use it to its best effect. These skills are all strength based, and can be seen as a natural evolution from being forced to avoid combat as you were too weak- now you relish being able to stand toe-to-toe with the enemy, both dealing and taking heavy blows. This is a basic warrior build, with minor skills to enhance it and allow a little freedom.
I became a werewolf via the Companions quest line during this stage, as it gels well with the main focus of this build, and gives another way to tackle an area.
Standing stone: The Lord; the Lady; or the Steed Stone.
Shouts: disarm, dismay, elemental fury, and unrelenting force are probably the most suitable.
Magic: as you are a physical warrior you should avoid using magic, but restoration can aid you and together with enchanting can make something close to a Paladin type build.
Play style: as the consummate warrior this is a good time to do the Civil War and Companions quests, and you play as if every enemy in the game is challenging you personally and you are delighted to respond. You have a small amount of ranged combat ability from archery as a minor skill, but engage in melee combat whenever possible, using a high armour rating and shield to keep you alive until you get there.
Old age
Major skills:
- Destruction
- Illusion
- Alteration
- Light armour
- One handed
Now the strength and dexterity of your body has begun to fail, you turn to your mind to help you survive and begin to use magical skills in everything you do. Destruction is for getting rid of your enemies before they can get close, while illusion and alteration respectively let you avoid and strengthen yourself for physical confrontation. Light armour is because you are now too weak for heavy armour, but slow enough that you need protection for when you can’t escape. Finally one handed lets you use your magical skills while letting you do close range damage, and when augmented by previously learned skills can be formidable even before you level it.
I made my character into a vampire, as he raged against the weakening of his body and eventual death, and vampirism let him avoid that and added another element to both combat and role playing. Also the lack of regeneration during the day shows slow recovery in old age.
Standing stone: the Atronach, the Serpent, the Ritual or the Shadow Stone.
Shouts: call dragon, call of valour, drain vitality, fire and frost breath, ice form.
Magic: this is the mage section of his build, and with three magical skills as major skills, along with those you already knew lets you use all your magical potential.
Play style: now you are aging it is preferable to avoid direct melee combat, and you are primarily a mage so a focus on magical skills is needed, but you are now a master of every skill so play like you want.
Images are from UESP, links- 1 2 3 4 5 6
This is a mixture between a character build and a role playing idea.
I had seen characters who changed over time, but none whose change was based around age, so this character has 3 basic stages: young, adult, and old age. You end up using all skills and abilities, covering the 3 basic types of play; and can also be seen as a way to organically raise your character to as high a level as you want, something not really possible in most builds. It can also let you experience a lot of the different threads and potential of the game if you want to do a lot in one go.
Thanks to Ben C for his advice on making this suitable for posting.
Approximate levels are: 1-20 is young; 20-40 is adult; 40-60 is old age. A more hard core version using the full potential available is 1-35; 35-62; 62-81.
Backstory
I played as a Breton who was living near Bruma and whose family was slaughtered by bandits. After wandering around the wilderness I was captured by the Imperials and my journey began. Any character has to start off young and with limited resources for this to work and be realistic.
Stat distribution
2:2:1 is probably the most sensible as you will be using health, magic and stamina over the course of the build, but stamina is used in fewer skills.
Skills
All skills available are used by the time you have reached old age, and you learn different skills at different ages depending on the play style at the time. Skills which you learn and focus on in later life cannot be used before you start learning them, but skills you learn early on can be used later if needed.
Appearance
If you have Dawnguard then there is an option to change your appearance, which should be used at least twice, more if you want. Start off fresh faced, then add scars etc. to show events during the game, and slowly age your character as you progress.
Important note
Levelling and placing perks in enchanting and alchemy are the most important as you will be using everything and these give you the most powerful effects for the entire time. These skills are the basis of The Utopian build which aims for sheer power, and are necessary here to allow you to change your major skill set without losing too much performance.
Here are the details for each of the ages, along with an explanation for why I made them as I have.
Constant
- Restoration
- Speechcraft
- Conjuration
- Lockpicking
These skills will be used constantly and use will not vary a huge amount as they are all important in one way or another. Restoration is obvious in that it is always helpful to be able to heal yourself; Speechcraft will be used all the time as whatever type of character you are, you need to buy and sell; Conjuration provides a distraction and damage aid, can start off as a child’s imaginary friend and develop into something more potent; and Lockpicking is used to open chests wherever you find them.
Young
Major skills:
- Alchemy
- Pickpocket
- Enchanting
- Archery
- Sneak
As a young person in a foreign land I think it is extremely unlikely that you would start off with much combat. In order to survive you would probably turn to thievery if you could not rely on charity, which is shown by pickpocket and sneak. Enchanting and alchemy are simple continuations of studies before coming to Skyrim as they are constructive, but smithing is not included as you are not yet physically strong enough. Archery is for hunting and allows damage to be done if combat is unavoidable, especially with poisons and enchanting to increase damage. There is no armour because you are a child and will therefore wear clothing.
Standing stone: the apprentice stone; or one of the levelling stones- all are consistent with someone still learning. Meanwhile the tower stone is helpful for thieves.
Shouts: animal allegiance; aura whisper; become ethereal; disarm; Kyne’s peace; throw voice; whirlwind sprint.
Magic: use all schools available.
Play style: mainly you will avoid fights; you do not seek them out. If forced to fight a conjuration as a distraction followed by archery, or simply running away are the best options as very few of your skills are directly for combat. Joining the thieves’ guild and doing a fair amount of hunting are role playing options which will also boost used skills, along with studying enchanting and alchemy.
Adult
Major skills:
- Two handed
- Block
- Smithing
- Heavy armour
You have come into your prime and your strength, and therefore want to use it to its best effect. These skills are all strength based, and can be seen as a natural evolution from being forced to avoid combat as you were too weak- now you relish being able to stand toe-to-toe with the enemy, both dealing and taking heavy blows. This is a basic warrior build, with minor skills to enhance it and allow a little freedom.
I became a werewolf via the Companions quest line during this stage, as it gels well with the main focus of this build, and gives another way to tackle an area.
Standing stone: The Lord; the Lady; or the Steed Stone.
Shouts: disarm, dismay, elemental fury, and unrelenting force are probably the most suitable.
Magic: as you are a physical warrior you should avoid using magic, but restoration can aid you and together with enchanting can make something close to a Paladin type build.
Play style: as the consummate warrior this is a good time to do the Civil War and Companions quests, and you play as if every enemy in the game is challenging you personally and you are delighted to respond. You have a small amount of ranged combat ability from archery as a minor skill, but engage in melee combat whenever possible, using a high armour rating and shield to keep you alive until you get there.
Old age
Major skills:
- Destruction
- Illusion
- Alteration
- Light armour
- One handed
Now the strength and dexterity of your body has begun to fail, you turn to your mind to help you survive and begin to use magical skills in everything you do. Destruction is for getting rid of your enemies before they can get close, while illusion and alteration respectively let you avoid and strengthen yourself for physical confrontation. Light armour is because you are now too weak for heavy armour, but slow enough that you need protection for when you can’t escape. Finally one handed lets you use your magical skills while letting you do close range damage, and when augmented by previously learned skills can be formidable even before you level it.
I made my character into a vampire, as he raged against the weakening of his body and eventual death, and vampirism let him avoid that and added another element to both combat and role playing. Also the lack of regeneration during the day shows slow recovery in old age.
Standing stone: the Atronach, the Serpent, the Ritual or the Shadow Stone.
Shouts: call dragon, call of valour, drain vitality, fire and frost breath, ice form.
Magic: this is the mage section of his build, and with three magical skills as major skills, along with those you already knew lets you use all your magical potential.
Play style: now you are aging it is preferable to avoid direct melee combat, and you are primarily a mage so a focus on magical skills is needed, but you are now a master of every skill so play like you want.
Images are from UESP, links- 1 2 3 4 5 6
