Currently, I am a level 13 Dark Elf and I plan to focus on destruction, conjuration, sneak, archery, light armour, smithing and lockpicking.
(Note that this is a long post, with random questions crammed inside it. I appreciate everyone that will take the time to read and help me)
For those who don't want to read a large post, scroll to the bottom where I just compile the main questions asked in the post
I had this idea in my head of a character that will deal great damage from a distance (Sneak + Archery) and then proceed to cast spells when the fight becomes more close ranged (Destruction + Conjuration)
Unfortunately, it has not been working that well in game for me.

Here are some of my problems
- I run out of magicka too easily in longer fights against bosses. I take the perks which let me cast for half on both destruction and conjuration. I generally use flames on one hand and fireBOLT on the other as that seems to be the most damaging while being mindful of my magicka. I know double fireBOLT deals tons of damage but I can only use it a few times before I run out of magicka. I do have the robes that the college gives you. (the ones you get as a novice)

- I die alot. One big reason I chose conjuration to specialise in as I like the idea of my minions or whatever their called, to take the damage. I don't really have the chance to test that out yet as I'm still low leveled and haven't touched the conjuration perk tree. But can someone tell me if this actually works? And also, when my health gets low, I don't have many potions so I use my healing spell. This uses a lot of my mana and then I can't cast any spells. I find it difficult to maintain a healthy number of magicka potions. Can someone tell me a way to obtain a large number of them?

Is it better for me to use health potions or healing spell? I do not plan to invest any points into restoration.
Should I invest points into smithing? (By investing I mean putting points in the perk tree) I originally decided to invest points into smithing because I liked the idea of being able to use light dragon armour, but I decided to use robes instead because then I can put points into alteration which will give me armour bonuses and other very useful defenses anyway. So I'm at a dilemma between smithing or alteration .
I also wanted to craft a Daedric bow but I'm not sure if I need perk points in smithing to do so.

So overall, how can I maximise my magicka? (Items, skill combinations)
How to stay alive in battle
Alteration + robes vs dragon armour
Where to find lots of magicka potions
Can the things I conjure tank?
Do I need perks in Smithing to make a Daedric Bow

Health potions are better for you also this build is hard to work with.

You will be frustrated having to go into your favorites that often. Health potions are nice but I find alchemy annoying. You are focusing on too many skills IMO. Conjuration is nice for that additional meat shield if you go archery but you will run out of magicka way too fast if you start putting anything into health really. I am level 25 with my mage and with all of his items that add to mana regeneration (and yes I am talking about good items) he still runs out. It does regenerate fast though. Conjuration takes a lot of mana to cast and destruction is pretty weak. So if you try to use conjuration you will most likely have a lot of your mana already gone at low levels. It does get better if you keep focusing perks in the conjuration and destruction trees as they reduce costs and whatnot. I do think that you need to reduce your skills down to like 4 trees and focus on those first.

edit: Also, I would like to add that I started going heavy armor (thank goodness I didn't spend any perks) for my mage as a battlemage and started enchanting heavy armors but then once I got the archmage clothing I abandoned heavy armor. Morokei's mask (dragon priest) is nice for a mage as well and it is light armor. Focus on whatever adds to your magicka and magicka regeneration IMO. Don't focus on heavy armors

The skills that I plan on investing alot are destruction, conjuration, alteration and archery. I put a few points into sneak and light armour. Do you think lockpicking is worth it?
I've picked master locks before.. and i can always save before doing master locks in case I break too many. And if I do drop lockpicking, what skill should I invest in? I'm thinking enchanting.

bump

The perk I really like about like in lock picking is unbreakable lockpick but I havent spent any there yet because Im finding so many lock picks in game.

The best way to avoid being killed is being prepared to run away alot and be tactical with you magic and archery, by running away I mean back a few rooms, get your health and magika back up while hiding in the dark. I use fire rune alot and play thief like, sneaking around setting traps, picking off with arrows, letting my conjured creatures be my front men, I also make good use of my shouts, they are very handy in a tight spot especially if your magika is low. A good way to get sneak up is to sneak everywhere in game, at 71 the npc's really struggle to see me. Also use a companion to tank for you and they can carry your magika pots, they will drink your healing pots though.

Edit: I make alot of lower level magika pots and carrying them can be heavy but they do the job.

I am also kinda new to Elder Scrolls. I played both Morrowind and Oblivion but very little so I went into Skyrim kinda knowledge naked. I still am. Probably playing all wrong but I just enjoy it and I don't die often. It is usually because of my horrible mistake or well, just died.

I built a char that is total mix of two archtypes. You don't need to follow a strict routine wiki or other source says you do.

Anyway, I will tell you now to forget healing yourself in battles. Maybe some ES veteran will come and kill this statement but i found it waste of time. And also you cannot rely on "Where I can find tons of potions?" Instead do this:

1. Invest 1-2 perks into Alchemy potions strength. You will get 40% stronger stuff with 2 perks and invest into Physician or that other one for more powerful. IT IS WORTH IT. Now, when you travel the world you might stumble (either loot or vendor) on items like Necklace of Major Alchemy or some other 15%++ alchemy items. They might be expensive but in long term - WORTH IT. Now, when you put on those 1-2 items in your house you can make incredibly powerful Restore Magicka and Health potions. AND Fire/Frost Resistance potions. And any other...

This way you can make a profit and stock yourself with 50+ Restore potions and 30%+ Resistance potions very early in game. You will NEVER have to waste magicka on healing yourself spells. Instead use that magicka for Destruction you are rolling. Pop a potion when needed.

To answer some of your questions:

1. How to stay alive in battle?

-- If the battle is outside, you shouldn't die easily. Light armor will help you be much faster than opponents who might try to power pwn you. Just run around and slowly drain them with Destro. Cliffs, rocks, water, etc are your friends. Jump around them to "confuse" AI. Then shower them with Destro spells.
As a "caster type" you need a tanking follower. Your level, I suggest Lydia from Whiterun. Give her some nice weapons and armor.

-- If the battle is in dungeon, here you will die more often because it is 200% harder than outside. But again, powerful potions are your friends and follower can absorb lots of dmg intended for you. Use runes and cloaks:
Fire Rune: against melee folk. Serious damage and AoE.
Frost Rune: against melee folk but just stick to Fire
Shock Rune: against casters. Run into them if necessary =) but luring them back is safer lol...
Use Conjuration followers. Spawn in battle to gain skill faster.
Use magicka/health/stamina dmg poisons when you face a harder opponents.

You cannot rely on conjuration folk to tank. Especially in dungeons. They expire. Use a follower and conjurations for more dmg.

Yes, I might be a Skyrim newb, but in these 9 days I learned much stuff about staying alive and currently clear stuff without much trouble with these tactics. Ofc I die. But to a much lesser degree since I stopped playing healing yourself with spells card and learned that potions rule the Skyrim. I play on Adept diff. Never reduced or made it harder. And I find Adept quite challenging for me. If you think game is too hard, lower the difficulty.

I can take few screenshots of my char and potions to show you just how powerful this can be...

Thanks alot! Your play style seems to be very similar to mine. I do have Lydia and I gave her a greatsword and a set of dwarven armour. Also, I have decided to stop putting points into smithing, since the only reason I wanted it was to make bows but I'm sure there's some godly bow somewhere in the world of Skyrim.

Also, can you help me in alchemy? I am going to take your advice and take 2 points into alchemy, but I'm not sure how to make strong health and magicka potions.

Yeah. It is actually very similar. I just didn't focus onto Conjuration a lot. I level it through battle but to a lower degree than Destro, Archery and other "Main Focus" skills I want. Sometimes I even forget to summon the folk.

Anyway, a piece of advice. While Lydia will always choose 2hander to fight with (I guess cuz of higher damage), I suggest that you put her up with nice enchanted 1hander (frost or paralyze) and shield with magic resist or similar. BUT if 2hander works for you and she doesn't die then ignore this.

As for alchemy I explained how to get powerful potions. In Alchemy tree, first perk (Alchemist) is 1/5 stronger potions. When you invest 2 points into this, all potions you make in the lab will be 40% stronger. Also with another perk that is just above this (Physician ) you get 25% more power in potions that restore Health, Magicka and Stamina. So with these 3 perks you get like 60% stronger potions that restore H/M/S. This is already very strong.

So when you gather stuff needed to make Restore Magicka and Health potions go to alchemy lab (buy one for your house 500 gold) or some major city. Approach the desk and make the potions from ingredients.

BUT! As I said, check vendors for items with +15% Stronger Alchemy potions. I found necklace I mentioned above at Riverwood trader. It was 1900 gold but I payed off that back very soon with few potent poisons I sold. Now you have 75% stronger potions... If you want even stronger find another item similar to necklace. I have Eminent Orchich Bracers.

So now when you come into your house you EQUIP items that give +% Alchemy. They stack with perks. With equiped items approach the desk and mix the potions and get incredible results.

I've eaten all kinds of stuff and learned potions (mostly Magicka damage ones) I can sell for 400-500 gold with Speech Amulet to vendors. So you see, investing into the equipment that gives +% to a skill is always a good idea. Especially in Alchemy. But it is good idea in other skills because then you don't have to "waste" perks. Early on anyway.

I hope it helps. Try it out. First invest in these 3 perks and then find the equipment. Or if you see the item at vendor, BUY IT. 2000 gold for Necklace that does "nothing"? Hah, you will have trouble finding vendors to sell your potions because you will rob them of their gold so quickly with potions you sell.

So now with these 2 items you saved 2 perks and Alchemy does not have to be your heavy investment but you still get insane potions. But I still invested in Alchemy all the way in Potion potency. It is worth it. There are so many useful potions that you won't know what to make. Potion for everything - Picpocket, Lockpick, Carry, Poisons, etc...

You will find potions around the world, sure, but this way you will always have a source of Restore X or just profit from something you don't need but you collected the ingredient.

Thanks for the information on alchemy, I will follow these tips to make great potions.
But what I meant is what recipe do I use to make these strong potions?
Still, those tips will help me alot so thank you.

If you didn't know, you EAT ingredient to learn 1 property it gives. There is a lot of ingredients that give Restore M/H/S.

For example, easy Restore Magicka is:
1 Red Mountain Flower (you have these 100%)
1 Creep Cluster or Mora Tapinella mushroom. I bet you also have the mushroom. Creep Cluster can be found in tons south of Windhelm. It is area that is filled with geysers and "greenishy" water. Here you can also find Dragon Tongue plant for Resist Fire potions.

And look, the potency (power of potion) depends on the perks and equiped items you have at the moment you are making the potion. So follow the instructions above and with these simple ingredients you will get about 50-70 Restore Magicka.

So you see, all it matters how much "Potency Power" you have on you (either perks or equipped items). That alone determines the Potion Result. Example:

- 0 Alchemy perks, 0 alchemy equipment equipped during potion making = you still get the Restore Magicka potion. But it is like "Restores 15-20 Magicka Points"
- 3 Alchemy perks, 2 alchemy equipment equipped during potion making = you get powerful "Restores 60++ Magicka Points".

This "formula" applies to ALL potions. Either Restore, Resist, Poisons or whatever. The more +% Stronger Potions/Alchemy you have either in perks or equipment at the time of potion making, the stronger (and more valuable to sell) the potion.

Also, this is just basics. Potions can have up to 4 Effects. These are harder to learn and make (some easier than others) but these sell for a ton of gold.
I used a potion on Vokun priest... It had 3 effects. Drain 100% Magicka, 23 Magicka damage and 20 poison damage I think. He stopped Fireballing me quite fast.

I hope this makes it clear.

This solves all my questions. Thanks for your time.
Since you are helpful to me, I want to discuss the playstyle of the mage.
What I mean by this is how I would approach a combat situation.

For example in my early levels right now, I will cast the novice alteration spell to give myself armour, let Lydia take the agro and then hit them with flames/firebolt.
That's all I can do at the moment as I don't have access to the stronger spells.

With Alteration, Conjuration and Destruction, how would I approach a combat situation if I had the powerful spells and enough Magicka to support it?

If you want my opinion drop alteration and pick up enchanting. Don't take lockpicking unless you reaaaallllyy svck at it. For the most part if you are doing magick you won't be sneaking or using much armor at all. Don't invest in light armor perks as they just give you stamina regeneration bonunses and defense. Who needs defense when you summon atronachs to be your meat shield on top of having a follower attract attention? If you must have sneak then do that last. Destruction might even be a waste considering you already have an offensive ranged attack which is archery and you can't cast spells while shooting arrows. Too much time in the menus. If you went conjuration, archery, enchanting, sneak and one handed I can see that being better. It will take a while to get things leveled up and the three I would focus on first are conjuration archery and enchanting. When I get conjuration I don't really rely on armor at that point to be honest. Who needs armor when you aren't getting attacked? Sure, your atronachs will die on occasion but keep pumping points into Magicka and you can keep them coming as they die.

I agree with Killer here. I don't see much point investing in lockpicking if you are playing your style. If you invest in enchanting you can really benefit because of +Magicka and +Magicka Regen enchants. Also there are -% cost to Destro/Conjuration/Other spells. Really A MUST for a mage type char. Otherwise you totally depend on finding loot for your playstyle. You can reduce difficulty right now

Also, what Killer is saying, equip as much of light armor as you can to be fast and enemies cannot approach as easily even in tight dungeons. Summons and followers will make up for lost armor. Elven Armor with enchants is nice for you.

Where is disagree is that Destro is a waste of time. I use both Destro and Archery. Outside this combination rules totally. In dungeons it is not that good but it works if you use tactics. Retreat, set traps (runes), potions, etc...
While "Menu time" is not fun, it is your friend.

- You can kill Giants real easy for example. Mammoths are a joke. Soul Trapping stuff works like a charm.
- You can bombard some camp from Distance even with expensive Fireball until you get Adept perk. Half of enemies will be dead or totally damaged when you enter. Atleast ones that cannot heal themselves. I bombarded Forsworn camp in Whiterun quests for about 5min. Entered and cleaned up with lesser spells and bow. HOTKEYS!
- You can drain mage type enemies with shock. Runes are also VERY good in tight dungeons, etc.
- Do NOT rush. If you rush you will die constantly. Either wait for EVERYTHING to recharge after a battle or pop a potion. But in general take it slow. As a mage you need your magicka and health is not really high and rushing around will get you killed. Trust me, I know.

Skyrim is great for making the most of tactics and using your brain.

- Learn the enemy behaviour:
Melee will chase you constantly. Poisoned bow or some dagger or sword can be used to remove their stamina and do some damage. Risky but can be done if you time it right.
Ranged will... well shower you with arrows and hide. You also try to hide but ALWAYS first clean up melee enemies near you. They will kill you much faster than ranged.
Mages... they are dangerous always. Employ safe distance tactics here and usually you will need to pump out as much dmg you can because they use wards and healing. Enchanted Bows rule against mages.

Anyway, create your own tactics. Don't just rush into the camp or castle. Make a sneak attack with bow for double damage. Bombard. Review the terrain, etc, etc. Sometimes same tactic will work and sometimes you will have to improvise or make a new one. It's a free world.

Some tips:

- Craft yourself a nice bow. Enchant it with for ex. Take Frost and Stamina damage. (the frost enchant).
- If you want, make another bow with Paralyze or other useful attribute. I have 3 bows
- Activate Mage Stone and play like a madman with destro spells and push your Destro to 50. That is the critical point. Take Adept Half Magicka perk. But even Apprentice level is good (Firebolt, etc). But 50 is kinda critical if you go destro.
- With all this in mind, enchant the armor (or buy...) to maximize dmg output but also magicka value and regen. Try to balance it as you see fit. Put Speech amulet and buy a damn Grand Gem. Invest in your future.
- Gold is there to be spent and not hoarded unless you are saving to buy a house, horse or similar. Otherwise SPEND. You will get it back from loot and quests. Having 20k gold on you serves what purpose? But of coruse, always have about 2-2.5k on you if you see some good item at vendors. Anyway, I always have about 4k now on myself. Sometimes I go very low but I return it fast with loot or quests or selling enchanted stuff and potions. Gold won't save your life. but Grand Gem slapped on Amu or Ring for Major health or Magicka or magicka cost reduction for a magic school will help dramatically.
- Shout as much and often you can. Employ different shouts depending on situation but 3 word Relentless Force is ALWAYS good. You can knock a giant down for about 4 seconds. It also silences and interrupts mages when casting.

I can continue with this tips/tricks but I won't spoil the game totally for you. Just play and enjoy. Read the books (some are really fun and entertaining). Generally, enjoy the giant Skyrim world and try to be in RPG state of mind when playing.
If you have some serious issue I can try to help if I know how. Just remember this:

- Time is on your side
- Invest in the future of your char
- Forage. If you play Skyrim 5 hours a day, take 1 hour for gathering various stuff. From plants to hunting and mining. It is not boring and you will discover various stuff around the world while running around and collecting stuff.
- Do not use cheats of any kind. Never even if it really tempting or something small. Forget them. Use in case of a serious bug but that is a different story. Use some cheat even once and you have ruined the game totally. It's done. You will just continue to use them and eventually progress to mods that give you everything.

GL, HF