I don't want something overkill or anything, I just want something that will be able to get me from point A to B, from little to no hassle at all. Also, this is kind of my first character, so some advice on my building my character and gearing him up when I create him would be nice.

You probably want a mostly fighter build to start, since it's the easiest to play, with a touch of magic or stealth to give you a few other options. An Imperial or Dunmer is most flexible, but a Nord, Orc, or Redguard will make a better fighter if you decide to stick pretty much to the basics. Birthsign of The Lady gives a rapid hitpoint advance which is hard to match, and also a bit of additional personality boost to tone down some of the local "hatred for the outlander", and is good for a "first time player". Agility as a Preferred Attribute will help hit things and block (blocking is automatic in MW, not player controlled), but isn't that big a deal to increase, so that's a matter of personal opinion. Luck is very slow to advance, and affects almost everything, so it may be the best bet for one of the two slots.

Take at least one weapon skill as a Major, and if your race gives a bonus, use that weapon skill if possible. With a racial bonus and a Major skill boost to the starting value, you should be able to hit stuff fairly often despite the pathetic starting condition of the character. Most importantly, USE the weapon that you're skilled with, or it's going to be a frustrating beginning while you flail ineffectually at the strange local wildlife. Hold the attack button down until the weapon is fully "charged", otherwise you're just taking weak jabs and doing minimal damage with each swing.

One armor skill is highly recommended (pick one that suits your character concept), preferably as a Major, although you could probably get by with it as a Minor. I'd also suggest either Marksman or Destruction for a ranged attack (Mysticism can also be used at a distance to absorb an opponent's health). Beyond that, it's all a matter of what kind of character you want to play. There are going to be as many opinions about the "perfect build" as there are players, but it's not all that important. Morrowind allows you to take on the game at your own pace to a greater degee than most, so it's hard to make a "wrong" character as long as you cover the basics of attack and defense.

I almost always play battlemage. This is my usual build:

Race: Breton
Sign: Apprentice
Specialization: Magic
Favorite Attributes: Strength and Intelligence

Major Skills:
Long Blade (or your melee weapon of choice)
Restoration
Destruction
Medium Armor (or your preference again... just not unarmored. lol)
Alteration

Minor Skills:
Alchemy
Illusion
Mysticism
Block
Mercantile

I have no clue if this is actually good or not, but I've played easily over a dozen characters with this (or very similar) builds, and I've never had trouble. The only major downsides to this set up is the slow speed and very low hit chance. You might want to switch one of the favorite attributes to agility, and/or one of the skills to athletics to make up for those problems. Also, I don't personally like conjuration, that's the only reason it isn't in there.

In terms of efficiency the above build isn't all that optimized. For example as a Breton you get a sizable conjuration bonus, so you're letting it go to waste from personal preference. With block as a minor skill, low agility, etc. it's probably a skill that's difficult to level up and has trouble being useful.

But the great thing about Morrowind is that efficiency doesn't have to matter. You can for the most part make any character you want to and have fun playing it, even if it's not the 'best' or more 'efficient'.

Addendum: Of course, the OP is looking for a 'good build for a new player' so I guess I have some obligation to give him an optimized build. First of all Kovacius' advice is pretty good, and you should generally follow it. If I were to give you a straight out build though:

Race: Imperial or Dark Elf (I'd prefer Imperial, but Dark Elf has some useful hybridization stuff too)

Favored Attributes: Strength and Willpower (Strength because you'll hit harder, Willpower because it governs how likely it is that a spell cast will succeed. This is of the utmost importance for someone who won't be magic focused, to get the most out of your mana and comparatively lower magic skills)

Birthsigh: Can't go wrong with The Lady. Also consider The Lover for the agility bonus and useful paralyzation spell. I would avoid the three magic signs - the only one that I feel would really fit well for a battle mage is The Atronach, and it can be difficult to manage for a new player. Better to do a simple, extremely useful sign like the two I mentioned.

Major Skills:

• Long Blade (or your preferred weapon skill, but Imperials have a longblade bonus so you'd be ahead of the game
  
• Heavy Armor (From a purely roleplay perspective, heavy armor tends to be a little more Western while the medium armor is almost exclusively Dunmer or Orcish in origin. And light armor might be too light)
  
• Destruction (obvious)
  
• Restoration (Heals are good to have. If you play as a Dunmer you may consider dropping this and instead grabbing Mysticism and use Absorb Health as your heal b/c of Dunmer Mysticism bonus)
  
• Alteration (Would be my preference for its interesting utility, and shield spells. But you could use 'Block' instead. You won't have enough magicka to use all three schools in tandem for awhile without a magicka birthsign)

Minor Skills:

• Speechcraft (Great skill to have, especially if you don't have Illusion as a major for its charm spells. Imperials get a bonus
  
• Mercantile (Another great skill for obvious reasons. Imperials get a bonus)
  
• Enchant (Battlemagey. You might also be relying on enchanted items quite a bit. You could even swap out Enchant to be a major skill if you REALLY wanted to emphasize enchanted items over your personal skills)
  
• Athletics (Some people say having athletics as a Major/Minor levels you too fast. I disagree, and the inconvenience of running ridiculously slow outweighs downsides, in my mind.
  
• Mysticism (If you don't have this as a major then definitely take it as a minor. Its teleportation spells alone make it worth it, but it also has some great utilities like detect [x], telekinesis, and powerful absorb health spells)

I played a Battlemage my first character, my sign was the Steed actually, not sure why it was kind of a dumb choice

He was a Dunmer
He focused on Long Blade, Acrobatics, Heavy Armor, and Destruction, those were my highest level skills and he did fine, it was a pretty fun playthrough

Would it be wise to choose a Nord for a Battlemage? I mean, I don't want to sound like I'm not listening to advice or anything, but Imperial's just a very generic choice, I hate that. Also, there's apparently this Iron Shardaxe that I've just discovered in Seyda Neen that could really give me a head start as a Nord. So, what do you think?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Races

The main reason you wouldn't want to use a Nord is that their Intelligence is an abysmal 30, so you'd have very low magicka to begin the game. Plus, their only bonuses are in combat skills. So really, they aren't suited (stats wise) to being Battle Mages at all. They're meant to be straight up warriors.

Now that said, there's nothing saying that you can't be a Nord battlemage, if that's what you want to do then have fun. It just won't be as easy. Dunmer and Imperials both have the most diverse skill sets, and most well rounded stats, which are important to any playstyle that wants to mix a combination of Warrior, Mage, and Thief archetypes.

I made myself a Nord Battlemage. He seems pretty okay actually, he's more combat-focused than magic-focused. I only put Destruction and Restoration in Major, because I can see how I'll be using those a lot. Then, I put Alteration and Illusion in Minor. I'm actually having fun with this.

Change that. Sorry, I know this thread's has been going on for too long now, but it seems that my Nord Battlemage has failed miserably when I sent him to that bandit cave near the Silt Strider. So guys, I'm considering an Orc Battlemage now. I mean destruction, alteration, restoration and mysticism are governed by Willpower. It would only seem logical to choose an Orc since he seems to have the best willpower rating in the game. They've also got a good strength which reinforces the "battle" part of battlemage and they also have pretty high endurance as well. So what do you guys think about an Orc battlemage, and if you think it's a swell idea then can you give me a build? I'll try going through Morrowind as an Orc battlemage this time, and I fail again, then I'll just go pure warrior with maybe just alteration and restoration. Oh by the way, I've made this decision by looking at Ravenius' link. Just in case you'd like to give it a look.

I guess in an odd way an Orc would be better, but in my opinion still not the best choice. It's the 30 starting intelligence, coupled with a lack of magic skill bonuses that's deadly to both Orcs and Nords, though at least Orcs are a bit ahead of the game with their willpower.

Though, keep in mind that just because you died in the cave next to Seyda Neen doesn't necessarily mean that your character's bad. The mage in there can fry just about anyone in two spells if you aren't careful, it's the other two in the cave that you should judge yourself by. Also make sure your fatigue bar is full before each fight, and take advantage of your restoration magic to heal yourself too!

Ironically I took out the mage very easily, because I had the Atronach sign, but the bandits deeper in the cave got the better of me. Anyways, I've had it with being a battlemage. Can you please give me a build for Orc warrior, with "a little touch of magic"? What I mean is, I don't want to be a complete brute, I want him to be using magic like alteration and restoration.

I'm surprised you lost to the others in the cave. Did you buy decent armor and a weapon, as well as make sure that your fatigue bar was full? And don't be ashamed to walk back to the front of the cave to rest/heal before taking on the next fight.

Frankly magic is a little tricky in this game, and it may be best if you didn't try to blend it so much, or at least try different races if you insist on magic. But here you go.

Race: Orc
Birthsign: The Lady (for serious, use it. It's an amazing sign)
Favored Attributes: Agility and Strength

Major Skills

• Axe (The one weapons bonus Orcs get)
  
• Medium Armor (Orcish Armor is 'Medium' armor, and if I was an Orc I would want to use it. Otherwise go Heavy Armor, Orcs get a +10 to both Medium and Heavy Armor
  
• Restoration (You'll be able to get 1 or 2 heals off, which is all you'll probably need
  
• Block (Consider block, as Orcs get a pretty sizable block bonus, if you can stand not using a two handed axe)
  
• Speechcraft (Useful all around)

Minor Skills

• Armorer (Orcs get a huge bonus to Armorer, so take advantage of it to repair your stuff)
  
• Mercantile (Get the best prices for your loot)
  
• Athletics (Run faster)
  
• Acrobatics (Jump higher)
  
• ? (Might put block down here if you just have to have Alteration. Generally though, always put your magic skills in the major category when you do a hybrid character. That way you make the most of your limited mana by making them easier to cast)

I think he could try picking an orc female instead. She is more suited to be a mage. Orc females start with 40 points of intelligence. Although their personality and willpower stats are lower, but the difference is marginal (5 points less per each). The Lady birthsign can easily cover issues related to having low personality. Orcs also have a 25% bonus for the resist magicka. This is can be used offensively and defensively. Some artifacts, diseases and even the Berserk power make you more vulnerable due to their side effects (red icons). Magic resistance decreases their magnitude and it nullifies them fully if you reach 100%.

This is an excellent point, but who wants to play an Orc Female? Haha.

I've never made a female character in TES, but I guess I shouldn't have assumed the OP feels the same way. Its true, males and females have slightly different stats, and often a female character has higher intelligence than the male counterparts, as in the case of Orcs.

Actually, I don't want to sound sixist or anything, but I never like playing as a female in a game. It's not that I have anything against females, but the developers usually make them look like "eye candy". Most of the people who play females want to get boners while playing them, that's why I dislike females(in -game).

Here's a build that I've made from all the advice that I've taken on this thread:

Race:Orc

Birthsign:The Lady/The Atronach(they're both incredibly useful for an Orc, the Lady being for its personality bonus and the Atronach for the magicka and spell absorption, but I can't decide which).

Specialization:Combat

Attributes: Strength, Willpower

Major:
Axe(honestly, I keep hearing from veteran players in other forums how long blade is the best weapon type to specialize in, but it's axe which I get bonus in so I guess I'll just go with that).

Heavy Armor

Block

Restoration

Armorer

Minor:
Alteration

Mysticism

Speech craft

Long Blade

Destruction/Enchant(unsure)

As you can see, this build doesn't really look so "professional" or anything as I'm unsure about some of the decision, but I think this build kind of suits me more. Although I'd like it if you could give me some constructive criticism over how I can improve this build. It's actually supposed to be a warrior kind of build with a "tiny focus" to magic. It's just that magic's such a big part of this game that it would be a waste if I didn't specialize in any. Also, the thing is that I like sort of "long-term" builds. What I mean is, builds that have things that I will meet in the game in mind. I know that sentence sounds confusing, but I want a build that would be "designed" for the game. I know that the game allows me to do anything I want, but I want a build that would kind of breeze through the game, because it has important factors within the game in mind. Basically, I want a build that's carefully calculated to fit the game, so that I don't go while playing "Oh no, I should've specialized in that instead". Sorry for the long wall of text, I sometimes overdo myself when it comes to typing.

Longblade as a minor is a bad idea, you'll be using axes so best case scenario is you don't ever utilize your longblade skill. Worst case is you try to level both longblade and axe, gimping both.

Also I think that's too many magic skills in minor category - you'll see pretty quickly that it will be difficult to cast them if you don't start with as large a bonus as possible. The Atronach is nice, but the lack of mana regen can be difficult for a new player to deal with. Plus, if you say you won't focus on magic it seems like a waste to me.

I'm a little late to this conversation but I agree with the Breton suggestion. A Breton/Atronach makes the best battlemage because of the fact that you can always make up for low weapon skills as the game progresses but you can't make up for the extra magicka and resistance you get with a Breton. I would (and did) make this:

Breton/Atronach
Strength/Endurance
Combat
Axe, Restoration, Destruction, Conjuration, Heavy Armor
Alchemy, Enchant, whatever...

Pick up a bound axe spell right away and you're done; this is easy mode at the beginning when you need it.

I won't focus on magic, yes. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I'll rarely be using it. In fact , I think that I might max a few useful magic schools like alteration and such. It's just that the game has so many choices that I can't really decide. It's either be a master at magic, or be a master at melee, but for some reason I can't have both. Also, I know that it kind of sounds incredibly wierd when I say it, but I actually like how Orcs look in the game, and I don't get how's a Dark Elf better than them at being a "jack-of-all-trades", when clearly if you go to UESPWiki, an Orc has more balanced stats.

http://morrowind.inventivegamer.com/tools/chargen/?character=2,8,5,1,1,3,7,4,1,16,2,12,15,26,6,11

I suggest a rethink, because your Orc will have to invest a lot of time or money into training to get the magic skills up to sensible casting chances. There is a difference between dabbling with magic on the side and just wasting magicka. Speaking of which, you basically have none, so the Lady (from the example in the link) is out and with Atronach you really need better casting chances. I'd stick with the Orc, however, to avoid being too cookie-cuttery.

IMHO and YMMV apply.

Okay, here's a build that I thought of:

Race:Dark Elf(a very hard decision that I had to make, because Dark Elves are so generic in this game, but it's the only race that I'm stuck with I'm afraid).

Birthsign:The Lady

Attributes:Strength, Intelligence

Specialization:Combat

Major:

Long Blade
Destruction
Heavy Armor
Block
Restoration

Minor:

Marksman
Alteration
Mysticism
Enchant
Alchemy

Hope you guys like this build more than the last one that I've did with the Orc. Also, please tell me your criticism(even if it's filled with insults and sarcastic remarks, I still want to hear it). As well, it'd really help me if you could tell me how "far" does this build go in terms of being a good build.

From personal experience, if you take Marksman as a minor skill you'll often forget to use it because archery can be frustrating in this game - arrows only rarely recover, and you get a lot of 'misses' early on.

Other then that your build looks fine I guess. The reason Dark Elves are better than Orcs is partially because of Dunmer bonuses to Destruction and Mysticism, and partially because the Orc 30 intelligence is devastating. If you'll notice, most of your magic schools are governed by Willpower - this means that even if you level up your magic skills, you'll still be really hard pressed to find intelligence skill-ups to give you a decent x4 or x5 modifier to Intelligence for when you level up. So, not only do you start behind the curb with 30 intelligence, it's that much harder to get intelligence higher.

But you could just try your Orc build and see how it works. And don't give up so easily either, I've died in the first cave a lot of times too, I just reloaded and was a little more careful. In fact I'm pretty sure that the character I beat all three main quests with died in the first cave as well, and had a chronic rough start.

The beginning of the game is unforgiving and somewhat annoying, it's not supposed to be a walk in the park, but once you gain a few levels you'll notice that you're getting stronger, and eventually nothing will stop you, one of the reasons I love this game, it's balanced well, you can't expect to be a master of a weapon when you never touched one and the same with magic, it adds realism to the game

Okay, you suggest me a build then. I know that you said my build's fine, but I want you to tell me like your final decision in the same way that I did(race, specialization etc.)

I've given you like three builds, pick one and run with it.