So I was thinking about rolling a mage. The rules are no armor (besides Alteration spells and perks of course) and no enchanting. I am playing on custom difficulty setting where I deal normal damage to enemies and they deal double damage to me. So, first of, race.

I am pretty much set on Altmer because of the extra magicka, with Breton a second choice of course. Offensively, is it better to go with Shock, or combine Fire and Ice? I'm saying this because I know of those dragonpriest mask which boosts elements, but those will conflict with my Mage Armor perks, correct? Not to mention that Shock is the most expensive magic type. Having Fire and Ice both perked will cost a few perks more, but I can alternate between them against dragons who have weakness to one of the elements and everything else.

Now, I'm not sure about defensive side which also affects apparel. Is it better to go with Resist Magic Perks + Lord Stone + Agent of Mara and Robes of the Archmage or with Spell Absorption (Miraak Robes, Atronach Stone, Atronach Perk). This way my mana pool and offensive potential would suffer because I couldn't wear Robes of the Archmage or Master Destruction Robes and I wouldn't be able to summon, so I'd rather go with the first option. I'm also going hard with Restoration for Wards and Healing, so I'm hoping I will be able to take a few punches.

For the rest of the gear :

Head : Mage's Circlet

Neck : Gauldur Amulet

Ring : Ring of the Erudite

Gloves?

Boots?

Any good gloves/boots out there for a mage? That will not interfere with my no armor gameplay?

You are brave! Cool!

I can't offer much helpful advice, as I have never rolled a pure mage.

However, I strongly suggest focusing on Fire, Frost, and Shock, obviously focusing fire to undead foes, frost to warrior foes, and shock to mage foes, for obvious reasons.

Mastering those schools, and using them specifically against the enemies weakest to the 3 "heads of the trinity", will cover most of your offensive bases.

Funny, I just made an Altmer today that I am leveling without enchanting. The only skills Im using are destruction, conjuration, alteration, and restoration. Im currently at level 33, putting most of my points into magicka, but I boosted my health up to 250 because enemies were starting to really hit me hard.

I am wearing archmages robes, archmages boots, Morokei's mask(100% magicka regen/faster shouts), a ring I bought from radiant raiment that reduces destro spell cost by 22%, and the amulet of akatosh(25% magicka regen, I need to upgrade this). The mask does break mage armor perks, but I dont have them yet so its really good for now. I havent found any good enchanted items for boots/gloves slots.

I mostly just cast fire spells, and when I get low on magicka I bust out the conjured sword and healing in my offhand. I try to always keep a minion in the fight, and always have my alteration armor up. Even with almost 450 mana I can run out fast casting destro spells, but my magicka regens really fast even in combat so once I get low, I can use the bound sword and let it regen while casting whatever else I need on the offhand.

I perked for fire and frost spells, because I like those elements, but to be efficient, you can perk only shock and kill pretty much everything with it. I like fire mostly though because I feel like I am always killing draugr. I also have a few perks in conjuration tree, alteration, and restoration.. mostly just to reduce casting costs of spells, and to make my bound sword better.

Been a while since I rolled a mage, but from what I remember I maxed out Illusion and Conjuration, casted Invisibilty, and let my Dremora Lords go to town on any of my enemies.

Equipment that increases magicka and regen are pretty much must haves, and don't forget to put points in stamina. You're gonna be doin a whole lotta runnin.

Especially against dragons.

- gloves and boots: archmage boots; they have a high resist shock enchantments. Radiant Raiment's got unentchanted gloves and boots. I recommend investing heavily into enchantment.

- another point: magicka reduction or improve magika? If you want to go allrounder (which I recommend), improve magicka. Choose magicka reduction-gear if you prefer to focus on a particular school.

- I prefer hoods over circlets and generally dark clothes. My pure mage wears adept hood, master robes of destruction and black gloves and boots from radiant raiment (self entchanted).

For the necklace you have Gauldur's Amulet. I think that Savos Aren's Amulet would be better since it gives you 50 Magicka rather than 30. While the GA gives you 30 extra Health and Stamina, you won't be getting hit as often, so that Health is really that much. Neither is Stamina.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9286/?

I'm sure that will prove most useful to a console user.

Who said my comment was directed towards a console user ?

Why do PC players nevver account for a console player?

Anyway, I've recently rolled a pure mage character, but I've not implemented a no armour policy. Though I have not used any armour that I didnt get on my way out of Helgen and even they are only boots and bracers. Eventually I will get rid of them, but they have saved my life a few times, so it is debatable, especially since I am doing a DiD playthrough

I don't think that's true or at least not intentional. It's not always obvious who is on which and if you're a PC player and have a PC solution, you offer it if you think it may help. Probably we should all add a sig line to make it clear what we play on.

No enchanting?!?!? Really? For a mage? That is nearly impossible. Or do you just mean no grinding enchanting? I cant imagine a mage playing without any enchanting.