I'm playing Oblivion for the first time. Well, not really first time, I've played for an hour or so a few months back but that doesn't really count.

Anyway, I'm planning on playing a battlemage. Sword, shield and destruction magic. And conjuration if it's in this game, I'm not sure about that yet. I'm not sure whether to go with light or heavy armor on this one. I tend to go light. In Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim I've usually played light armor but I'd like to know what experienced Oblivion players think is the best way to go.

Thank you. (:

I'd say go with whatever suits the character. At low level you can easily offset the armor difference with magic or alchemy, and at high level your armor skill makes both types equal (except heavy is more durable, requiring less frequent repair.)

I like light armor, but if you want to stay true to the Battlemage class, heavy armor would be the way to go.

battlemage, then heavy im thinking that you will get alot of damage but whatever your character preffers i guess

Well, the Battlemage class doesn't have either form of armor as a Major Skill.

I think people often think of the Sorcerer class when they talk about battlemages.

The Battlemage class doesn't have Heavy Armor as a major skill? That's surprising. I'm also certain Morrowind's Battlemage class does.

Oh well. Just pick whatever armor you prefer. I vote Light Armor.

You're right: Morrowind had it, Oblivion doesn't. Oblivion also got rid of the Battlemage Shield spell.

Yeah, the default classes are mostly useless. The Spellsword's a good one though.

For a Battlemage I'd say heavy armour every time.

Unless your character has a reason to wear light armour.

Thanks all, I think I'm going light. I don't like to be slowed down and since Glargg said they both offer similar defenses on higher levels I think I'll be fine with light. (:

Light Armor. Especially if you grind it to Master rank. If you wear pieces of armor that are all light, you gain more armor rating.

Thanks Raging Ghost. (:

And all the others who bothered to answer my question, of course.

The "NPC Guard Battlemage" class has Heavy Armor as a major, but the default Battlemage player class doesn't.

I'd go for looks and image - and that is very subjective. Pick what you think would better suit your character. Aside from looks, the only real diff at higher levels is, as glargg mentioned, durability. So if you take lots of melee hits, then perhaps heavy has a minor edge. But again, go for looks! In Oblivion, you can get enough armor rating with no armor at all to make a Daedra wince anyway. If you're not familiar with what the armors all look like, here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Armor#Light_Armor_Images

I admit that regardless of major skill assignments, I tend to associate battlemages with heavy armor. Although there are numerous inconspicuous battlemages in the game (Boderi Farano for example), the most visible ones are those that are referred to as battlemages and help you during one of your Mages Guild recommendations, during a couple other MG quests and guard the Arcane University; they all wear heavy armor. I'm not trying to make a case for that, simply sharing the impact that had on my perceptions.

Exactly what I do. Lothran looks awesome in leather boots/greaves together with Saviour′s Hide and along with his white hair it′s pure win

Have a few pieces light and a few heavy so you level up both.

This, exactly. My current character moved to Cyrodiil from Morrowind (for reasons not relevant to this topic) and had intended to join the Imperial Legion once arriving. To his dismay, he discovered there was no way to join the Legion in the heartland of the Empire! And apparently all legionnaires here are Imperials; Dunmer need not apply. But he's pretty handy with a spell too, so he became an aspiring Battlemage. He wore only Heavy Armor until recently being handed a very special cuirass that happens to be Light Armor. So he wears a Light Cuirass along with his other pieces of Heavy Armor. The cuirass gets damaged quickly in battle because he's not very skilled in Light Armor, but otherwise it works out just fine, and his identity as Hero of Kvatch is more meaningful to him than a few armor rating or encumbrance points.

What's this 'very special cuirass' you mentioned? I'm going light armor so I'd like to get my hands on some sweet sets. Right now the only decent set I have is the Arena Grand Champion light armor. I'm only level 3 (is it just me or is leveling a LOT slower than it is in Skyrim?) so most of the armor sets I find are fur and leather.

He's probably referring to the cuirass which you get as a reward for saving Kvatch. And it's light armor, yes but its stats are level-dependent too.

Yes it is that one. And even at the highest level it's stats aren't all that special, although it's a nice little boost you can enchant stronger armor easily enough. It's special for my character because of the way events played out.

In Oblivion only your Major/Minor skills contribute to your level. In Skyrim all skills contribute to your level. So in effect yes, Oblivion's leveling is slower than Skyrim's.

Forgive my confusion here. In Obivion, there are 21 skills. You pick 7 as majors and all remaining 14 are minors. That is, major + minor skills = all skills. So, 'only your Major/Minor skills contribute' is the same as saying all your skills contribute. Bear in mind, I don't play Skyrim, but I certainly live and breathe Oblvion. Can you help me understand what you are saying?

He's probably mixing it up with Morrowind, which had major, secondary and minor skills.

Sounds like it. As you only level up with Major skills in Oblivion it has to be slower than Skyrim which apparently uses all skills to level up with.

It depends how you play. The fastest-leveling character I've ever played in any Elder Scrolls games was when I played my Mage in Oblivion a couple months ago, using the stock Mage class. She was level 18 before I'd finished the recommendations. Afterwards I estimated that she had gained approximately one level per hour of play. On the other hand, my Skyrim warrior, using mainly three skills, took 50 hours to reach level 20.

Yes of course. But I assumed if the player used all seven skills in Oblivion compared to using all Skyrim skills.