I have been thinking on building a spear using character. I plan on making him a Nord Atronach. One decision I need to make is on what armor type to use. Heavy offers the best defense but is less mobile, and from what I understand spear users benefit from good mobility. Light armor is another option but I feel it may be too little protection for a melee character. There of course is medium armor, but there isn't really any decent armor in that class for later on. I of course could mod the game in the CS to change that. I would probably make Adamantium armor better but also more expensive, or work on Stalhrim (I think it is medium) or royal guard armor.

I am just wondering if anyone has personal experience as to which armor works good with this setup.

I think I will use destruction for ranged attacks because it blends well thanks to the MW code patch that lets me fire a fire ball without changing weapons like you would need to for a bow.

Acrobatics would also be a skill I would go for so I can be more mobile and able to jump out of reach. I would want restoration for healing and my trusty custom stamina spell so I don't get tired while running, and would want alchemy to restore my magicka since I have the atronach sign. I would go for armorer since it levels slow, and enchant for the same reason.

Then I would need to choose betweeen security or alteration for unlocking things and would still have one last skill to choose. Maybe mysticism for teleporting or athletics for faster movement


I would also like to make it known that I am using GCD which makes the need to balance my skill set based on governing attributes not needed. So skills are chosen only by what is most useful.

I've made a couple of Nord spearmen with GCD and like to use both light and heavy armor. Heavy for helm and gauntlets, possibly for cuirass as well (good artifacts available) and light for the rest to save weight.

edit: with GCD, if you want to use destruction, you'll want to take as many magic skills as you can since the racial stats for a Nord can leave you with a pathetic amount of magicka even with Atronach. For example, with all 8 magic skills and spear and light armor, you'll have a starting magicka of about 140. If you take just a couple and a combat specialty, you may end up with only 50-60 which isn't enough.

just did a quick test... with restoration, alchemy, destruction, enchant and alteration, you get 108 starting magicka - not too bad.

Since you recommend a mix of light and heavy I think I will go for medium armor. I plan to make it viable by raising Adamantium Armor's armor rating to 65, or maybe 70 and raise the durability proportionately, and also raise the price to make it less obtainable since I have the official Adamantium armor plugin that adds the armor to many merchants. 65 rating would be right in the middle of glass armor at 50, and daedric at 80. I may go for 70 to match the helm of tohan that tops off the set.


So I think it will shape up like this:

Nord

Atronach

Agility
Intelligence (both are low to start with a nord)

Magic spec. (Nord has combat racial bonuses, and combat skills raise faster)

Spear
Medium Armor
Armorer
Destruction
Alteration

Acrobatics
Alchemy
Enchant
Restoration
Mysticism

Still unsure about whether enchant and alteration should swap places. Enchant raises slower, but Alteration starting higher would help me get into locked chest and doors easier sooner.

Restoration levels well since whenever I run I cast a 30 second restore fatigue magnitude 5 to keep my fatigue up.

Alchemy is easy to level, as well as acrobatics.

I may also want to swap destruction and mysticism. Mysticism is pretty much for teleporting which benefits from a higher level.

If anyone has suggestions for adjustments to the above setup please let me know, or feel free to tell me if you thing it is good.

I happen to be playing a melee Nord with GCD right now. I think he's gonna be the first character I end up beating all the expansions (and first to beat Bloodmoon) with.

I recommend downloading http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=6783 and using medium armor. Using AIM:

-Bonemold is 16-18 (depending on type), which beats the 12 of Iron and Chitin and 16 of Steel.
-Orcish is 40, which beats any light armor except Glass, beats Dwemer, and comes in just behind Nordic Mail.
-Stalhrim is 55, Adamantium is 60, and Royal Guard/Indoril are 65. Ebony is 65, Her Hands is 70, and Daedric is 80.

I was going to say that medium looks almost too good, but Daedric is Daedric, and Glass is super-light and very enchantable. Medium will still offer loads of protection without the insane weight, though. Wearing mostly Orcish at the moment, I've got enough capacity for an Ebony shield, a bell hammer, and a 54-weight katana and I can still carry around a decent amount of loot.

Another reason you'll want to not take light is because GCD is pretty brutal on your hp. I've got 2 strength-based and 2 endurance-based skills as majors, and at level 15 my hp is only 176. My strength/endurance are still hovering around 85. Hopefully spear, medium armor, armorer, and acrobatics together will give you enough, but GCD is especially unforgiving on hybrids.

Quick, small suggestion:

You actually have picked a few good magic skills that will nicely balance out the underpowered medium armor. Plus, don't forget about the ice armor, available on solsteim.

I play spear w/ medium armor a lot, actually. Spear are long and you can attack from a distance without being touched when you get the hang of it. So, defense isn't the biggest deal. You'll have to play offensively. Just charge at fools like a madman.