I never am able to make a mage, whenever I do, I always end up using swords or bows anyway, even if I do manage to use magic for an extended period, I only ever use destruction, because I never really have good chances to use Illusion or mysticism.

I was wanting to make a schoalrly Alchemyst character, but am not sure what skills I should take to maximise, and make sure I use magic.

I prefer a pure mage.

I use summon spells to distract enemies.
Shield spells for protection instead of armour
Healing and fortify health spells to keep myself alive.
Light and night eye instead of torches.
Unlocking spells instead of lock picks. Invisibility and chameleon for stealth.
If I want to poison an enemy I summon a bound weapon then apply poison.
I use Alchemy for potions and poisons.
Detect life to make it easier to see where enemies are.
Soul trap to keep my staff recharged.

I find that I use magic for almost anything and if I really do need a physical weapon for anything I summon one.
I find that all my magic skills increase in level regularly

Wow I like that!

I never really find mages truly enjoyable until I finish the mages guild and have access to spell creation. Then I can create spells how I want and my magic is much more effective.

Go ahead and take a weapon skill then, whatever kind of melee weapon you naturally gravitate to. As soon as you can, get a bound spell for that weapon and stop carrying a real one, so you're fighting with conjuration. Each time you summon your weapon, you're also leveling the skill that summons creatures to fight for you, if you want to start doing that too. Then get an on-target destruction spell (I like lightning because it hits fastest) and use that instead of a bow.

Alteration comes up loads and is basically an alternative to security which happens to do a couple other things. Put your best unlock spell on one of your quick keys and use it every time you find a locked chest in a dungeon. Non-thief characters run out of picks (at least mine does), but magicka comes back. In practice, this is one of the things I use most, even though I don't really play mages so much.

I don't know about you, but I am constantly spamming my best healing spell because I'm too impatient to find a safe place and use the wait dialog, but I want my bars full. So there's restoration. Another thing I do with pretty much every type of character is cast charm on every single shopkeeper I use. Between a good, pretty cheap charm spell and some equally cheap bribery, you'll never need points in personality or speechcraft. And then since you mentioned alchemy, make potions for everything. Not just restore health, which I find is actually the thing it's worst for. Make night-eye to replace torches without making you visible, detect life so you know what's ahead of you, chameleon, cure disease so you aren't constantly becoming a vampire on accident, shield to balance things out when you sacrifice armor for spell efficiency, and loads of poisons for any time you use a weapon. Alchemy levels quickly, can make you pretty much invincible, and unless you have an economy fix installed anything you don't need can be sold.

So that's six schools of magic and a weapon just from what I think is a pretty natural way to go about playing the game.

What race are you thinking of using? I pick one of the three following, Breton, Altmer or Dunmer.

For a birthsign, pick one of the magicka boosting ones. The Apprentice is my personal favourite, but the weakness can be quite the challenge. However, since you're an Alchemist, perhaps The Atronach could be of use?

I recently tried to play an Alchemist. She didn't make it very far, down to my restartitis.
Her build looked something like this:

Alchemy, Illusion, Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Mysticism and Restoration.

So all the magic skills. Once you have the right spells (you'll be able to afford them through Alchemy), and access to the Arcane University, you'll do fine. Don't worry about Alchemy making you level too fast, you can counter that by making epic poisons or potions.

All of the above advice is brillant and a fantastic place to start. It all depends on what sort of Magic Character you want to play.

Close Combat Based: You will want to use either a Breton or Dunmer using either the Mage or Attronach starsign. You will use mainly Conjuration to summon yourself allies and weapons. Restoration will also be useful to fortify abilites and restore health/fatigue. Alteration would also be used in with this build to allow for Magic Barriers along with the ability to open locks. Of course don't forget that Alteration will allow you to walk on water and breathe underwater. Remember to take either Blunt/Blade/Marksman depending on what weapon type you are wanting to use. I use Heavy Armor with this spec aswell for a bit of extra protection in combat. Alchemy also works very well with this spec for both Restore Magicka Potions along with Poisions.

Traditional Offensive Caster: Dunmer, Breton or Altmer work well for this build and any of the 3 magic based starsigns aswell. Destruction will be your main school of magic here, almost a Fireballs 'R' Us build. Alchemy to keep your Magicka pool high along with Restoration to fortify Magicka. Normal clothes are usually worn with this build to allow for some extra carry weight as foes will not normally get close enough to hit you. Don't forget clever use of Conjuration can mean Bound Armor and allies to help you out when you need them. Alteration for back up shields aswell just incase.

Supporting Caster: Any of the three races already mentioned is good for this along with any of the 3 Magicka based starsigns. Illusion and Conjuration will be your main Magic Schools this time round. Use Illusion to Charm/Calm/Command your foes to attack each other. Conjuration will mainly be used to summon allies to you and to fight for you. Alteration to buff your conjured ally up and make them nearly impossible to kill. Also don't forget Restoration to heal them up as they take hits aswell.

They are a few of the ways that you can play a Magic user. There are several others but these are the ones that are most played. Don't forget aswell that Illusion can be used as a light source and Mysticism can be used to Dispell adverse effects on you and your Allies. Mysticism also comes in useful for distracting enemies and for recharging any of your magicial weapons. Illusion also provides you with Invisability that will allow you to run and hide if you ever do have problems with a larger group.

Just an observation (I tend to restart a lot too, so it's for what it's worth...) I see entirely too many magical skills for an Alchemist there. My Alchemist Melodia (menioned in the favorite characters thread) has only Alchemy as a magic-based major skill, and all the rest of her majors are non-fighting skills. This forces her to actually use Alchemy to survive.

I'd suggest that an Alchemist should have only perhaps one other magic skill, and that it should be something with effects not available through alchemy (Mysticism or Conjuration, for instance.) The reason is that, quite simply, an Alchemist's first impulse would be to apply Alchemy to a problem, but the presence of skills like Destruction and Restoration would lead to the temptation to turn into a Mage.

No harm in having some combat skills; I chose not to, but I was looking for that extra challenge.

You make a valid point. Perhaps that's something I'll try. I just figured that an Alchemist who's sister is the Arch-Magister of House Telvanni would have some knowledge of magic. However, it makes more sense to do it the way you did.

I'll ponder on this and see what ideas pop into my head. Thanks!

This is my exact build for my mage Plus I used High elf and Atronarch very good combo strong mage once you get leveled up.

If what you want is to do a pure mage, you're definitely doing something wrong...I play as a Battlemage, which CAN use weapons, and I still make extensive use of spellcasting. Destruction (obviously), Mysticism (Detect Life is always useful, and Reflect/Absorb Spell is invaluable against spellcasters and liches), Alteration so I can unlock and improve my shields, Illusion in order to have Light and Invisibility (although I only use it in exteriors and while I'm travelling, to avoid nuisances; my char is too proud to use it in combat or ambushes), Restoration, because Absorb Health is utterly powerful, and Restore Health is basic, and so on....(and that only talking about Vanilla spells). The only school I never use is Conjuration, by RP limitation.

The thing is that you probably think that any spell not used offensively is useless. But support magic is extremely useful AND powerful. Hope I've given you some ideas

I don′t think you′ll have any problem using magic. In Oblivion it′s almost impossible not to cast any spell

As others have said, Destruction is an obvious chice. But Conjuration along with poisoned weaponry, shield spells and pre-battle Restoration spells are very good ways to ensure you not only win the fight, but also that you′ll use plenty of magic in the process.

Pure Mage is the best but if u hace fighters stronghold u can get a sword that gives u a spell

cool, thanks everyone