As a mage is there a downside to wearing light or heavy armor? Do they enchant the same strength.. will my casting suffer?

well i would think but for me i dont see any down side to wearing heavy armor. i. love. ebony.

There might be different enchanting properties, but your regen is the same in combat no matter what your stats are, so the biggest benefit of mage's robes is nullified when you're in combat anyway. It's hard to beat the final robes you get at the college, though, just because of the spell cost redux. Still, they do get boring on the eyes after 20 levels.

Can heavy or light armor carry mage enchantments like +magika and -spell cost?

Yeah. I have Dragon Armor enchanted with minus Destruction costs. It's pretty nice with dual enchants.

What people often forget is that a true mage needs his perks for the schools and can't invest into heavy armor if they do.

Yes you can do a mage in heavy armor, but a true scholar will focus on the magic schools

You don't need armour to play a mage.

Between Impact stun and pets, you will just never get hit.

Level 48. Master difficulty.

Of course, that means there's no real downside of using heavy armour. It just feels very un-magelike to waltz around in plate though.

Contrary to Oblivion, I do not think there is a spell penalty for armor in Skyrim. You can wear whatever you want, though the Mage Armor Alteration perk is intended specifically to let you wear cloth.

False. I don't know how many times I have read this false statement, the magicka regen speed bonuses do work in combat. Test it yourself

I use both, enchanted light armor boots and gloves, archmages robes and a dragon priests mask. All enchanted for more mana and mana regeneration. Mana regeneration works on combat too btw, but its just 33%? of the out of combat regen.

I′m curious who first stated that magic-users in the fantasy-genre can′t wear plate armor and stuff; especially in Elder Scrolls, where Mages using Armor was one of the most exciting and "fresh" things in the series, back in the good old Morrowind days.

This is such a one-dimensional way of thinking, it really starts to ...well. It′s becoming annoying. No offense intended, however.

Pure Mages don't wear armor. If they do, then they are a Battlemage.

bump

Currently playing a battle mage, Conjuring as main Magic tree, followed by Restoration and some illusion, then 1 handers ( i use dual Bound swords) + enchanting

Wearing light armor to stay Mobile ( longer sprint etc etc) and its soooooooooo much fun

It seems to me that the Bound weapons with some +dmg perks are better then current Physical weapons available?

just shelved my true mage

sick of getting my [censored] handed to me Stoneskin is wimpy Mage alteration armour compared to some light armour

& your magic never gets strong anuf to damage High Lvl monsters un like thers that wipes ya out in 1-2 fireball hits if your lucky & thats with stoneskin & warding magics

Now im trying a Thief EPIC Fail in the makeing till they fix the bow attacks

lol should give up & play the Nord Thug as required by the game lol

you should give a battle mage a try, once you get the mana/magica to summon 1 creature and 2 bound weapons in 1 go, its pretty epic feeling + the Bound weapons look awesome

Heck, in the older games several of the basic classes had both heavy/medium armor and magic schools.

I'm talking Battlemage and Sorcerer mostly, but it was there.

You don't specifically need armor with the Alteration armor spells and the mage armor perk, but you'd have to recast the spells alot.

Since the game screws you out of the bonus regen as soon as you enter combat there is no point in not making highly enchanted armor to suit your mage.

Wearing armor will mean you can take a lot more hits. But robes usually have enchantments that make it easier to cast spells.

What I do is I wear light armor most of the time but always carry my robes with me in case I need a little extra kick in a tight spot.

So very true. People tend to forget these things. This is the Elder Scrolls play however you like. A mage in heavy armor is a Battle Mage one of the most powerful and interesting classes ever in this series.

Is magika regen the only enchant that wont go on armor?

No you can put fortify enchantments on too.

Does "Spellblade" ring any bells?

It would be nice if someone from Bethesda would confirm this. It has been repeated so many times I know I thought it was true.

Light Armour is the way to go as a mage I've found and Glass armour definitely looks very magey. As it's light armour you're light on your feet as well which is great for the kiting you need to do as a mage in combat.

My current setup has -25% destruction spell cost enchants on helm, necklace, ring and armour which means my destruction spells are completely free. The only thing I'm using mana for is healing and conjuration. In addition the armour means I'm definately not squishy. There really is no good reason to use robes over armour unless you like the aesthetics and enjoy dying to random arrows from archers. Keeping a 1:1 ratio of health to magicka is good I've found as well. I've maxed out smithing in addition to wearing a helm, ring, necklace and gloves enchanted with +25 Smithing skill (+100 smithing skill total) when I upgraded my gear which means I've got a massive amount of armour as well.

My enchants:

Glass Helm: -25% Destruction spell cost and +62 Magicka
Glass Armour: -25% Destruction spell cost and +62 Health
Glass Gauntlets: +25 Light armour skill and +62 Magicka
Glass Boots: +37% Shock Resist and +37% Frost Resist
Necklace: -25% Destruction spell cost and +19% Magick Resist
Ring: -25% Destruction spell cost and +19% Magick Resist

Before you get to 100 enchanting or glass armour you'll just want to prioritize destruction spell cost reduction enchants on elven armour (Can be crafted or looted from Thalmor). Work at leveling enchanting and smithing at a steady pace and improve your gear when it's economical or necessary.