I have a staff that gives me +4 in defense, and a dwemer shield that gives me +7 in defense. The staff just looks a lot cooler when I wield it, plus, I'm a battlemage, so it kind of fits me.

Also, as a battlemage, should I go with no armor or with heavy armor?

Generally a staff is a weapon that gives you a long range attack. A master of block can reduce incoming damage by 75% when blocking with a shield; he reduces it by 50% if blocking with a weapon - still a pretty good return in my opinion for those who block with staves, bows or daggers.

As far as armor, if you expect to get hit, you may want some protection. Although the game portrays battlemages as wearing heavy armor, I would submit the choice of heavy, light or magically enchanted clothes is up to you.

I don't feel at all constrained by TES ideas of what a battlemage is. In my game, a battlemage is a mage who blends the synergy of magic with a conventional weapon, and the type armor is not a defining factor. Since my little no melee mystic archer deftly blends magic and bow, I oddly enough consider her to be a variant of battlemage in some ways.

armour limits your spell effectiveness, so if you concentrate more on spells clothing or robes enchanted with shield would be better.

But in the end, for me anyway, it all comes down to roleplay. Battlemage who wouldn't really use a shield? Use your staff instead. You'll have more fun playing the way you want to rather than playing the way you should.
I play a mage and I wear leather armour because it looks good on her, simple as. Screw stats and effects, I'll have a better time playing her this way :wink_smile:

Huh? No, I'm not using the staff as a weapon, I have my sword for that. I have it as my shield, so I still have the short range of a sword. I have the staff in my left hand, and the sword in my right.

And yeah, my character looks bad ass with the heavy armor he's wearing, just like I imagine how he would look like. I'm not gonna bother wearing a helmet though, because I like to see his long wavy hair... I guess when I get my heavy armor up, I'll have less magicka restriction.

A Battlemage is a mage that specializes in Destruction, with melee as back-up. Most of them do wear armor of some kind, but it isnt a defining part of the class. My Battlemage character just wears a heavy cuirass and then clothing for the rest. Thats the most you need as a Battlemage. You shouldnt be clad in a full-set of armor.

Ah thanks, I'll take that into consideration. I currently only have a cuirass and pauldrons equipped. I suppose I could lose the pauldrons. Um, is there a robe I can wear underneath the cuirass?

how can you have a staff in one hand and a swordi n the other...? thats duel-wielding and hassent been usedi n oblivion , are you using a mod maybe - guz in vanilla a staff is double handed

to you question in the tital, there is no advantage for a staff over a shield, you will take less damage if you use a shield compared to a staff

also magika restriction dosent change,but then the more powerfull spell you use the more damage to a creature

one other tip : DONT play ss the game tells you too, roleplaying is a lot more natural way of naturally devoloping your chracter, si if you dont like the heavy armour ( i know i dont most of the time) but feel you need to wear it because thats what the game has told you to do, then screw the look and make your own choices!

cc.fisher

PS. nice horse arcadian ( or buffy the bowgirl i think ? )

You cant wear robes with armor, which is annoying because I think the ideal appearance of a Battlemage would be one that wears a robe over their armor. My reason for only wearing a cuirass is for RP reasons. The way I see it a Battemage that wears a full-set of armor looks too much like a warrior, I like to wear some clothing and a hood to appear "mage like".

I'm betting the OP has FCOM, OOO or some variant of one of those installed. As I use OOO, I am familiar with "staffs" as shields. And basically, OP, it's up to you and what visually appeals to you.

Also, if you use wrye bash, in the tweaks section you can set it so you can wear robes under a cuirass, I believe, or the other way around, I can't remember. I don't use it because it causes some nasty clipping.

Disregard everything I said. If you are going to use mods to change the game, it would be prudent to identify that before you ask your question. Most folks assume you are playing vanilla unless you state otherwise. :foodndrink:

Oh yeah, lol, I'm using FCOM. I thought the staff shield was in vanilla. And I'm afraid to go into my bash patch in fear I might screw something up, but I'll check it out.


EDIT: Hmm, I don't see the option to let you wear clothes underneath the armor.

There are a few mods around that have combo robe/cuirass outfits. A search for "Armored Robe" on Nexus gave a half-dozen hits, although a few of those were just adding AR to the standard mesh.

Making them a single mesh avoids the clipping problems. I did that for an NPC in a mod of my own, but I didn't make it playable.

This sounds pretty interesting. *strokes beard*
I do agree with some of the comments though, regarding armor, it's aways nice to wear a few bits being a Battlemage. With my Altmer Warmage, I took Light Armor over Heavy Armor. It makes more sense to me. It provides protection, while at the same time it doesn't contrict movement or fatigue my character in RP terms. Plus, while wielding a claymore, he takes his martial skill very seriously, so the more movement the better! I might check out this mod though-.. I'm intrigued. :3

Not necessary true. It could work the other way too. A warrior who is familiar with some touch damage spells as backup. It depends on how you want to roleplay or how you would like to build your character. However, generally, it is wise to use destruction touch spells in conjunction with melee... reduces the magika cost and maintain melee range

Well it could be robes over pants or something too. I couldn't quite remember I just know there's some adjustments in the tweak section for stuff like that. OH there's a robes show amulets and gloves show rings tweak too.

Yeah, the option was to show the clothes as well or something, no robes though. And I saw that option with the rings and the amulet, and I thought about using it. I don't know why they would make your clothes and robes hide your amulets in the first place.

I'd consider a warrior with magic support to be more of a Crusader/Paladin type. Battlemages are primarily magic oriented as hinted by the specialization and the fact that you never see any Battlemages in the Fighters Guild but theres plenty in the Mages Guild. They specialize in Destruction for the obvious reason that they are a Battlemage, as they use magic for battle. Most people assume that any magic/melee class is automatically a Battlemage which isnt true. Battlemage = mage thats skilled in battle.