I wish I could replace 'failure' by 'power' in the title, but when I use 6 touch spells before a single rogue dies...power is not the word that come to my mind. My main problem is that my enemies resist my magic more than half the time. Rogues, Spellswords, Orcs and even Bats all resist like crazy. Is that supposed to be? Can I do something about it?

I thought having 90 Intelligence (x3 mana), 70 Willpower and 50 Destruction would be enough to let me deal with more than 2 puny monsters before resting... Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (except the blast-my-own-face-with-spell-absorb tactic)

Edit: Oh, and my fireball that can't hit anything at medium/close range isn't exactly helping my cause. It does work at long range, but aiming becomes extra difficult.

Edit 2: Nevermind. I just more than doubled the intensity of my attack spells. Monsters still resist often but when a spell gets through, it usually kill them now.

If you use range spells, make it area at range. The single target at range spells tend to go right through enemies. Since range spells are so expensive you may want to stick with touch spells for a while.

Playing a pure mage requires a bit of skill with the spellmaker, maximizing damage and minimizing magicka cost; you need to tinker with it a lot to get the most bang for your buck. Always keep in mind your level, and use the per level part of the equations to your advantage. You should also consider reworking spells every few levels; a spell that was good at level 3 could be made more efficient at level 6 or 8 or so. Also, it's a personal choice, but I also prefer the more powerful spells, and continuous damage is a wonderful effect. Use it well

Having a high willpower is paramount; it affects how difficult your spells are to resist and also how quickly you replenish your own magicka when you rest. 70 is pretty good, but you should work on getting it maxed as soon as possible.

Yeah, I'd say for a pure mage that you should drop your agility, speed, and personality to raise your willpower, intel, and luck.

I didn't know Willpower worked the offensive way too. Good to know. I'll also check continuous damage again.
Stat-wise, I think I did okay. Although I could have lowered Personality a bit more... but I like having positive npc reactions.

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.