Not on my first playthrough, no. Maybe a Breton mage later on... We'll see.

*brohoof*

Already played a pure alteration mage a few times. Nothing new really.

I'm making a pure Breton Mage, first go around, but I'm leaning towards some staff fighting, and some stealthy skills, like sneak, speech and alchemy.

No I can't live without my sword.

So I'm going to be a Battle Mage like in Oblivion.

I will be playing a completely pure mage on my first playthrough, no physical weapons whatsoever, spells only baby.

The problem with pure mage is conjuration, which allows you to use weapons and armor, thus bypassing the "I am not a fighter" argument.

eg: A pregen class mage can be played like pregen class sorcerer

This presents a dilemna, as pregen magic classes without conjuration could be played as more "pure" then a pregen mage using conjuration heavily.

Perhaps a better question is, will you use a magic user without armor and weapons to get maximum spell effectiveness?

I am going to RP that my evil breton mage from Oblivion had gotten into some trouble following the events of that game, so he came up with a powerful magic spell to escape into the future.

Unfortunately the spell was so draining that he lost all his power, and had to start back out at level one.

But yes I will be playing a pure mage.

I'll make an orc mage, with a mace that has absorb magicka on it.

Nope; I'm going assassin/mage.

you won't need lockpicking as a pure mage.

And yeah that'll be one of my characters. Magic looks way too cool in this game to not play a mage. It's always been kinda meh in the Elder Scrolls games IMO

I am planning a pure mage on my first play through. I think I will skip conjuration, as it seems more suited to a battle mage, and work on alchemy instead. I am not sure about race until I can see the racial bonuses but I am leaning towards altimer (increased magicka regeneration?)

That's the thing, though.We don't even know if there is a penalty to your magic applied while wearing armor that you're unskilled in, I haven't seen any proof of such a mechanic so far.It had better be or something similar or I'm gonna be pissed.I don't want to have to wear heavy armor just so I don't feel like I'm missing out on an advantage over my enemies when I play as a pure mage.

I wish I could make my mage look like the one on the cover of this http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51l4BxpHNTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg but no capes :sadvaultboy:

I definitely am. I'm kind of tangled up in which race to pick, but I'll definitely be a mage. I don't think I'll use Illusion though, or at least I wont put perks in it. It's too indirect and I'd rather save it for when I play a thief character. What I might do though is invest a little in one-handed or two-handed in case magicka is tight or silence is plentiful.



This seems like a good solution though, and if I can get my hands on some good staves I might take this route instead. It's just, I don't want my mage to be scrawny. If I was raised in Tamriel IRL I'd train for melee fighting and endurance. Even with magic I'm going to occasionally take a hit, or need to run, and if I've never trained for it I'm toast. Plus, how am I supposed to believe I made it to be a master magician without ever doing something strenuously physical, like melee combat? My mage is going to be ripped =p

my second or third character will be a pure mage.

Since they cut out Magicka bonus for Bretons I guess I'll have to use an Altmer to be a mage :sadvaultboy:

It'll probably be my second or so playthrough. Robes and daggers only with Magic out the whazoo

That's my plan! Worked well for Morrowind and Oblivion. The only real concessions I take are usually a host of enchated swords (for when I run low on magicka or become silenced) and in Oblivion I took light armour simply because the robes looked so.... bad. Ordinary clothing looks pretty cool so far in Skyrim, but the light armour is also really well done...

Thats exactly what I'm hoping to do on my first play through. Ideally I'd like to be a real wilderness expert, equally adept with blade and bow alike.

yup, i'll play pure for the first time ever

Not right away, but I'm definitely looking forward to playing as a pure mage - never done it before, or even had spell wielding as a very big focus before. But the dual wielding system makes it look like so much more fun to me this time.

Yes my first play will be a pure mage archetype and I will mostly be a Conjurer/Summoner.

I will be. I have always played mages and I'm sticking to it.

I would love to play a mage with light armor, but it's annoying about the penalty, so I am undecided. The times I have played pure mage in other games have left me frustrated that I can't enjoy most of the good loot/rewards I get because they are armors or weapons.

What penalty is that? Also are the racial perks for Bretons known?