I want to start a hybrid mage. Already decided to go Breton, light armor, and use destruction, restoration and conjuration. But I'm still undecided which weapon is better to support my spells.

Is it better to go one-handed so I can have a weapon always ready to swing, or should I go dual casting then change to a two-handed weapon when the magicka is low? Also, I decided to not use any crafting skills with this toon, so I won't be able to stack spell cost reduction enchantments. Is there a problem with this for a hybrid, or will I for example be able to cast a few strong spells and then go melee?

Ye olde bump!

I'm having the same dilemma. To complicate it even further, I can't decide which race and armor to use.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

If you are going with Conjuration, why not just use a bound weapon? They are better than what you'll find throughout most of the game, especially if you don't go for smithing and enchanting. You'd still have to settle on the type as they do use the relevant weapon skill. 1H is a good choice, I feel, especially as you get the book very early in the game. This would leave your other hand free for a spell.

I'm doing something similar, though my character is more of a stealthy warrior/assassin that uses conjured weapons and a healing spell when he goes 1H against mobs outside of stealth. Daggers can be conjured for backstabbing, and a ghostly bow for dragons or situations where I rather snipe than get too close (rooms full of mages). This requires a few perks in Illusion for quiet casting. From Restoration, I get the magicka and stamina regeneration when healing, and of course the heals. Balancing stamina/magicka/health is tricky and I mostly go by feel. So far I have not put points into magicka, but it would often be more comfortable if I did. I'm still trying to gauge how much stamina I really need as 1H is much easier on the stamina than shield, and there*s regeneration from Restoration and +50% stamina regeneration from the Light Armour perk.

As for races, I really only play Khajiits, which is not the theoretically best pick, but in Skyrim I feel it doesn't matter as much as it may seem.