Alright, so I've been trying to come up with an idea for a more unconventional magic-centered class for my play-through of Morrowind.

The general idea in my head is to created a wandering-holy-man/enchanter-artificer of sorts. But I'm all torn up over how to construct my class. I want both a character that fits the image I have in my head, but also one that will survive.

To give an example of what I mean, I have entitled my yet-to-be created class "Dervish", based on the alternately beggars, mystics, dancers, and warriors from the mystic Sufi branch of Islam. I picture him (or her) similarly to the images on this wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervish . That is, dressed in robes, carrying a staff, halberd, and/or an axe of some sort. Probably with a book or begging tin of some sort. And plenty of magical trinkets to pawn off or use in tough situations.

As a magical class, I imagine the character to stay away from magical skills like "Destruction" and "Conjuration" and "Restoration" in favor of "Enchantment", "Alchemy", "Mysticism", and "Alteration". And largely using Mysticism and Alteration through the enchantment of objects, like jewelry, scrolls, clothing, and perhaps even some clutter.

At the same time, through a role-play perspective, I'd like the character to be something of a world-wise, charismatic leader who draws followers, and is skilled in barter and speechcraft.


So, I need your help on this. Am I running this character in too many directions? What element should I focus on? What race-custom class-birthsign would you recommend? Major skills - Minor skills?

And...are there any mods you might recommend?

Sounds interesting. My first thought would be a Breton/Lady sign. Breton gives you a little extra magicka and magic skills and Lady gives personality and a little more health.
If you will depend a bit on Enchantments, you won't need a magicka boosting sign.
So:
Breton/Lady
Strength/endurance
magic
Majors- alchemy, enchant, mysticism, restoration, weapon of choice. (restoration is really helpful but if you hate it, take alteration here)
Minors- mercantile, speechcraft, alteration, athletics, unarmored.

I agree. A Breton (“Passionate and eccentric, poetic and flamboyant, intelligent and willful, the Bretons feel an inborn, instinctive bond with the mercurial forces of magic and the supernatural…Bretons are good magical characters, more interested in using magic for their own personal use than hurting others.” From the Wiki)

Sign-The Lady or more appropriately “The favor of the Lady” sounds good.

Endurance and luck for favored attributes

Stealth for specialization

Majors
Light Armor (Bound armor from the spell is actually light, so you can make an enchanted item to give you armor and then just wear Dervish clothing otherwise.)
Long blade (Even Sinbad had a sword.)
Sneak, athletics and security (Obviously)

Minors
Enchant and alchemy (the only two magic skills that you need really)
Speech craft, mercantile and acrobatics

Thanks for the comments so far.You've been helpful in getting my ideas organized around this character.

As I consider though, I do encourage more people to post their own opinions on this matter!

Thanks,

EDIT: Update!

I'm still sweating over the particulars, but I found some nice mods, including a mod that allows one-handed halberds (which also puts one-handed halberds under the long blade skill), Magical Trinkets of Tamriel (which adds what it says it does), Cloak Collection (which also adds capes and robes and stuff) and an Enchanted Renaissance which changes the enchanting system to be more potent, but gets rid of recharging items in favor of soul trapping recharging. I'll only use it if I find Morrowind's default system to be inadequate. Also found a flying carpet mod, so maybe I'll give that one a go.

Sounds great. I've played several characters that use their wits to solve things rather than their weapons. It keeps you thinking. If you use alchemy without any buffs it is still a solid way to create wealth. Talk to everyone and put a little gold in their pocket. I make it a goal to get as many NPC's dispostion up to 100 as possible. This will max speech craft very quickly and helps with several quests. Good Luck!

Why not trying one of these http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=8025 http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5586? I'd think they would fit in very good. With http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7363 you could even wear such clothes.

Those are some great mods there, Sister! The M'Harjaan race especially fits the character I want to design (Mysticism, unarmored, enchant...). But I dunno if I want to stray into new races yet. I'm a fan of lore and I'm not really sure where to fit them in. I originally considered an idea to have them be Redguard with Left-Handed Elf (the ancient Redguard enemies from Yokuda) blood in them, which would explain the proficiency in both sword and magic. Their culture would also fit well into Hammerfell (which has heavy Indian, Turkish, and Arabic influences).



Everyone seems to have a good handle on the character. He would definitely be someone to rely upon guile to make his way around. He's very cunning, and he knows how to manipulate people. But he's also fundamentally good. People follow him because he's helped them or they believe his teachings. He's generous and charismatic, but also self-aggrandizing.

A short background I'm working on:

... Fortunado arrived in Cyrodiil, with high hopes in the future. Unfortunately he rather quickly found himself on the wrong side of the law when he was arrested on charges of illegally selling and bartering on the streets of the Imperial City without registering with the Office of Imperial Commerce. Rumors mingling about the city at the time, however, spread the story that these charges were based on a minor technicality only, and that the real motive for Fortunado's arrest were accusations of heresy against the Nine Divines. After spending some time in prison, Fortunado was officially pardoned by the emperor himself, thus marking a turning point in Fortunado's long stream of bad luck, and transported to Morrowind...