I have always loved playing as a pure wizard, and the occasional melee is always fun. So, I was thinking of combining the two and playing as a battlemage. Here's what I have so far:

Race: Breton
Attributes: Intelligence, Strength
Birthsign: The Mage
Specialization: Magic

Blunt
Heavy Armor
Alchemy
Alteration
Destruction
Conjuration
Illusion

Now, I was wondering how you guys usually build your battlemages, for they seem to level quite slowly, in my opinion :shrug:. But, I was also thinking of swapping out destruction for another warrior skill, for isn't destruction redundant with blunt? And it takes a while to level up... Or, what skills should I use in general, as well as attributes, birthsign, etc...? All of your help would be greatly appreciated :foodndrink:.

I'd replace strength with endurance as a favored attribute. You'll need the extra health early on. I'd also replace alchemy with mysticism, since alchemy will level fine as a minor. Yes blunt and destruction can seem redundant to have both, because at high lvls you can cast some pretty devastating spells, so theres no need to use a weapon. You could replace blunt with restoration, which can be used for offense and defense. Absorb health is better than any destruction spell because it damages your enemy and heals you, the only annoying thing is you can only cast it on touch and not on target.

But the thing is, I want to combine at least Heavy Armor and Blunt and support them with Magic... Therefore, I'm thinking of shying away from the whole destruction bit...

That would be more of a crusader then. A battlemage mostly relies on destruction with melee as back-up. You'll at least want some way of damaging enemies with magic, so if you dont pick destruction, at least pick restoration so you can use absorb health.

Speaking of Restoration, do you have any tips as to leveling it? For the past 5 years, restoration, in Oblivion, has been one of the hardest skills that I've had to level :shrug:... But, I guess I'm sort of going for the type of "Battlemage" that they have guarding the Arcane University grounds... A warrior with very strong magical support.

If you use restoration as a primary form of attack it will level pretty fast. Or just cast a healing spell after every fight.

I try to stay out of major skill selection discussions, so my comments pertain to what you might want to use, not recommendations for major skills. The skills don't care if they are major or minor. Lol.

What do you intend to use for a long range attack? I see several possibilities:

- Marksman. Duh.
- Destruction. Duh.
- Invisbility. Disappear, close the distance and bring your blunt to bear; in effect your body becomes a ranged weapon.
- Command spells. Commnand your distant foes to thin their own ranks until one remains. Then command him to report to you for a good blunt beating. Versus foes in their mid 20's (level) you will need 100% spell effectiveness for the command spells to work. You can wear no armor (not battlemagey at all) or consider capping your character at level 20 so your command spells at 95% will work since you'll never see those foes at the mid 20 levels.

Restoration makes a fine weapon, but only really at melee range. Resto will level from healing even when you are at full health. Use your basic weak healing spell to heal so it takes lots of casts. When creating custom combo spells, the spell belongs to the school of the strongest effect. It is possible to manipulate combo spells to be from any one of the magic schools with a little bit of cleverness. This can be used to make custom spells that you use a lot that can help control which magic schools level up when you use them.

One of the beautiful things about a battlemage is the synergy between magic and weaponry. A weakness to magic + soul trap spell at the start of almost any fight makes any enchanted weapon so much more effective! :foodndrink:

Your Breton with Mage birthsign is the classic super battlemage combo. Are you sure you don't want a Bosmer? Lol.

So, you'd go with no armor at all, eh? :tongue:. And, I do love my Bosmer... And they indeed have been the focus of most of my characters... But, Bretons may be my second favorite race :foodndrink:... But, thank you all for the advice :icecream: .

Actually, I'd go with my other solution and cap your character at level 20. That way full heavy armor with a 95% spell effectiveness will cause no problems for the 'mind control' spells. Again, all this is assuming that you want to use those types of spells. :foodndrink:

Hmm, that is true :foodndrink:.... I think that's what I'm going to try :tongue:...

Oh neat! I think the idea of a battlemage with no direct ranged attack is cool! Use illusion to bring you to your foes or them to you. :toughninja:

It sounds like you have a great plan! Here are the skills my battlemage uses the most. I chose too many as major skills, so he leveled up very quickly. That made for some difficult times.

Blade
Block
Armorer
Destruction
Conjuration
Restoration
Alchemy

He wears a mix of heavy armor, light armor, and enchanted clothing, shedding armor as more enchantments become available. He’s a Nord born under the Atronach, so he needs the alchemy for magicka and remembers to use his Woad.

Ranged attacks are destruction, then he summons an ally and goes in swinging. He always carries an invisibility potion in case he should ever have to *cough* run away. Things can get hectic in those sigil towers. I can’t imagine doing it without conjuration, but as Acadian pointed out, illusion solves a lot of issues.


ETA: I see you have conjuration. :blush: Never mind.