HI guys,

so i want to make a breton battlemage role play character but I am having a hard time deciding on the skills as well as the armor i will use...i want to go with light armor but am not sure if it will work out.

every time i use light armor it feels like i may as well not have it on at all, any advice for using light armor? which light armor is best?

i've had lots of different characters but every time i try to make a breton battlemage im never satisfied...any ideas??

Well, provide us with your current build, and we'll tweak it to make it better.

Perfect Amber Armor is the strongest of all light armors, I believe. You can only get it with Shivering Isles though, and must be around level 20. The other Amber armors are abotu the strongest possible armor you can get at that level.

specialty: magic

attributes: strength, intelligence

skills:

1.illusion
2.destruction
3.restoration
4.conjuration/athletics
5.block
6.heavy armor
7.blade

birthsign: the lady

level 23 for perfect amber armour.

First - light armor is fine, and eventually gives you just as much protection as heavy. In the early game in particular though, you have to be conscious to not just stand there and get hit, since it doesn't provide much protection until you get your skill up a ways. LIght armor characters need to depend more on mobility and less on protection.

For the build:

I'd almost certainly trade off intelligence for endurance. Bretons get plenty of intelligence as it is, and it's probably the easiest attribute to increase. Endurance is vital early game, and particularly for a character who's going to be fighting up close.

I'm not sure about the specialization, but I'm shying away from magic. Spec really should be picked at the end rather than the beginning, since it depends on majors, so I'll come back to that.

Illusion, destruction and restoration are all fine.
Conjuration is pretty good. It can increase a bit quickly if you use it a lot, but the high level summons are worth it, in my opinion.
I wouldn't pick block. Again, a lightly armored character is better off depending on mobility than on protection. You're better off moving away from attacks than blocking them.
Heavy armor? Was that supposed to be light armor? I definitely wouldn't pick heavy (other than as a placeholder in a majors as minors build, which I assume you're not doing). Light armor would make sense though.
Blade's fine.

I'd tend to swap block for armorer, but otherwise it seems fine. As for specialization, the first thing I'd wonder is if you're planning on using other magic skills a fair amount as well. If so, then magic would be okay (though that'll tend to make conjuration a bit more difficult to manage). Otherwise, I'd tend toward a stealth spec. That'll give a boost to light armor (and sneak and security and so on) and keep your magic skills from increasing so quickly that your battlemage becomes a mage. I'd even consider a combat spec, for the bonus for blade, though that would leave light armor a bit too slow and would potentially make armorer a problem.

The Lady is okay, I guess, but willpower really doesn't count for much early in the game. I'd lean more toward the Warrior (to make up for the Breton's penalties) or the Mage, just because extra magicka is always a good thing.

Ok so Breton Battlemage? Two of my favourite things together as one, Breton's and Magicka. I currently have a level 36 Breton Battlemage (Custom Build) that I've just put down for after a long while of playing her. I'm a very serious Roleplayer and have thought about taking this character over to one of my RP's. I'll break down my build for you a bit at a time and you can see what you like and change things of you want.

Specialization: Magic - Only real choice here for a Magic user. I've known people take combat instead to increase combat skills, however I prefer Magic.

Attributes: Endurance & Willpower - I favor being able to withstand a high amount of punishment and normally wade into the middle of the fray with this character hence Endurance. Willpower I take to increase my Magicka regen but this is just personal choice. I normally use spells that drain me a large amount so a higher regen helps me. Also you can never know how much Magicka you are going to use at anyone time so the quicker it refills the better personally.

Starsign: I would use either Mage or Apprentice it depends on how you want to play. I use Alchemy quite alot although its not one of my major skills so I use Attronach. If you feel confident then Attronach is a lot of fun although if you are new to Magicka based characters Mage or Apprentice is better. Just remember that Mage is just a straight Magicka increase while Apprentice also gives you weaknesses to Magicka.

Skills:
Heavy Armor: Personally prefer being able to take several very large hits. Remember that you can't cast a spell while you are swinging a blade or have been silenced by an unknown source. Prefer to be prepared.
Alteration: Shields 'R' Us. Shields and Magic Barriers for every occasion. Always helps to be prepared just incase.
Conjuration: Conjured Allies and Weapons for me to use. Battlemage to me would use a conjured weapon by definition.
Blade: Prefer bladed weapons myself. Helpful to have a Combat based skill. I always conjure a bladed weapon, you could use a blunt weapon instead if you want to.
Block: Always helps to block an incoming attack with a shield.
Restoration: Help me up all the way. Fortifying skills aswell helps a lot in the long run.
Mercentile: Personal choice, I normally always take it. Take it for Roleplay reasons.

Like I said I play a combat heavy Battlemage but thats my personal play style. You could prehaps swap out Mercentile for either Alchemy, Illusion or Destruction it all depends on how you want to play a Battlemage. If you want to be close combat based then I would think about either Illusion or Alchemy. If your thinking about playing at range you could prehaps use Destruction instead of Mercentile while taking Marksman instead of Blade. Light Armor would prehaps go better with that build though. Heavy Armor if you want to wade into combat though is better then Light Armor when you start getting to higher levels.

Euisa Tatheth sends her regards and hopes to teach you some more about herself if you ever get the chance to meet her at the Arcane University.

If it feels as if light armor is like no armor that is because at low levels that's actually rather true. Each point of AR blocks 1% of damage so 5 AR blocks 5% of the damage you'd take. Which means that you still suffer 95% of the base damage.

Another interesting thing about Armor Rating is that the higher it is, the more you benefit from increasing it. For example increasing you AR from 0 to 25 will reduce the damage you are taking by 25% (you take 75% damage instead of 100% damage). But increasing your AR from 50 to 75 will reduce the damage you're taking by half (you take 25% damage instead of 50% damage)! And if you have 85 AR you take 40% less damage than if you had 75 AR.

All that said, once you get the mastery perk Light Armor becomes as strong as Heavy Armor, although Heavy Armor is still more durable and degrades slower. Note the example of increasing armor from 50 to 75? That's how much your AR increases when you go from 99 Light Armor skill to 100 Light Armor skill if you're wearing a full suit of Glass armor. That's right, if you're wearing Glass armor 100 Light Armor skill is actually 2x as good as 99 Light Armor skill! So Light Armor is perfectly viable in the long run, but if you plan to engage enemies in melee your early career will be much easier if you use Heavy Armor instead.

Here is the build I use for my Breton battlemage:

Birthsign:
The Mage

Specialization:
Magic

Attributes:
Endurance- An absolute must, as this brings up your health.
Willpower- Speeds up your Magicka regeneration.

Skills:
Destruction- For obvious reasons. This is the battlemage's primary way of dishing out the hurt. Also, very easy to increase.
Conjuration- Another easily-levelable skill. Also, as someone mentioned above, the higher-level summons (such as Xivalai and Spider Daedra) make it worth it.
Restoration- I rarely use this, mainly just for when I am out of potions. However, this allows you to get spells for some awesome enchantment.
Illusion- This is really a hard call, but this skill will allow you to turn invisible, calm a target you don't think you can beat, or make a powerful enemy go insane.
Alchemy- For potions and poisons, which you will definitely want a lot of as a battlemage.
Light armor- You are right on this one, definitely a better choice for a battlemage.
Blade- Only for use in a tight spot, but is there for when you need it. I suggest getting it pretty high up as soon as you can.


Equipment:
Amber Armor (SI only); Umbra

Enchantments:
Ah, yes. This is where we get to the bread and butter of the battlemage. Umbra, the sword, allows you to soul trap enemies, which is necessary for enchantments. With this sword, provided that you have a Fortify Magicka and Fortify Health spell, you can accelerate to the highest tier of Oblivionees in just a few hours. From there, it's all gravy. If you get Perfect Amber armor, and then enchant each piece of the set with Fortify Health and Fortify Magicka as high as you can, your Breton will be a walking powerhouse. Black soul gems are advisable, but Grand soul gems will work as well.

That's basically all. Good luck!

Shadow out.

Some tips from a Legion Battlemage Captain :

You can always compensate Light Armor with Alteration and a nice Shield effect at low levels....once you level that skill, you'll pretty much hit the 85-Armor limit of the game with Glass (or Amber) armor and all the perk-bonuses you get. That doesn't mean that Alteration stops being useful for a Battlemage after that: Shock/Fire/Frost Shields are always good (combining Shield+Resist Xxxx all-in-one), Open spell speaks for itself, as well as Water Walking/Breathing, and Feather is always good to carry extra bounty. Plus, it's easy to level up.

Destruction is obviously a must. Mysticism is also unvaluable if you want to detect enemies, and (at higher levels) being able to Reflect/Absorb spells, which is useful against spellcasters, Liches and Xivilais, as well as massively Soul Trapping in order to recharge your magickal weapons. Restoration should be a must, too. Not only for being able to cure yourself, but also to pump up your Magicka reserves with Fortify Magicka spells. Besides, Absorb Health counts as one of the most powerful (maybe even over-powered) spells in the game.

And don't forget to level up your Armorer skill up to 100, wheter it's a major skill or not. A good Warrior is a self-sufficient one

You really cant screw up a Breton.

For the combat side of things all you need is Heavy Armor and then either Blade or Blunt. For the magic side, Destruction is essential, then just choose another 4 magic schools of your choice.

That's kind of my take, too (after trying to start a Khajiit and a Dunmer and quitting them in boredom/frustration).

I made a Breton who was intended to have a dual focus on combat and offensive magic. I personally chose the Combat specialization over Magic because I knew that I'd be using Destruction and Restoration a ton anyway, and I wanted to max HP and carrying capacity as quickly as possible (which meant leveling Block and Blade more quickly for the +5 Endurance and Strength bonus each time I leveled). I actually chose to go with Light Armor over Heavy Armor because I like to be able to move more quickly, and I love the way Mithril Armor looks with those blue Mage's Hoods. Enchant a set with Fire/Frost/Shock shields and it's still going to get to max armor rating anyway. I went with the Apprentice sign, but for greater durability, Mage sign probably would've been wiser. (To be honest, though, it's been rare that I've gotten into a combat situation I can't get out of by just paralyzing, freezing, or immolating everyone around me, and having tons of magicka is good for that.)

My one regret is taking Illusion as a major skill. I used it all the time to Paralyze enemies, Charm vendors and quest-givers, and cast minor Light spells so I could use a sword and shield at the same time. I was constantly leveling sooner than I meant to, and usually with a big bonus to Personality (which is useless to me because I hate the Speechcraft mini game and just Charm everybody into telling me what I want anyway). It's really easy to level by just casting Light repeatedly as you walk around. I recommend focusing on majors that let you boost your Endurance, Intelligence, Will, Strength, and Agility first (probably in that order, but Bretons aren't super agile to start with, and it's good to get that up even just a bit so you're not constantly getting staggered in fights) .

That's why my Battlemage hasn't Illusion as a major skill, and why he's honor-bound to use only two spells from that school: Light and Invisibility (and the last one NEVER in combat or exploration-adventuring, only when outside and to avoid nuisances).