Hey guys so I thought I would make a new character today. He is going to be an adventurer/mage type who wields a blade and doesn't use a shield. He wears only regular/enchanted clothes with the exception of a hood or leather helm for when it rains. for the skills I was thinking blade,destruction,conjuration,restoration, and illusion. But that's all I could think of at the moment, so any ideas for some good skills? I also need help picking a sign as well lol, I usually go with the ritual but I don't know how well that would fit with this character.

For a good Birthsign for a mage, a lot depends on your character's race. If a Breton or Altmer, basically any sign will be all right, but for other races you might consider boosting Magicka by choosing Apprentice, Mage, or Atronach. You'll need a decent magicka pool if you're going to be relying on magic for fighting.

Trust me lol I have done a playthrough using atronach and it was not fun at all. I think that I may just go for the apprentice birthsign any ideas for skills? I was thinking of adding alchemy and speechcraft to the list

Take Atronach if you like a challenge!

Gah im stuck between atronach and the apprentice lol xD btw I was either thinking of being an imperial is that a bad idea for a magic/blade user?

Sorry if this sounds like a newby post but all my other characters have been warriors/knights so I have little knowledge of magic :/

Atronach is not really a general mage choice. It's fine for the Alchemist-type mage, who is going to be exploiting Alchemy anyway.

It's possible to do a magic-user of any race, with any birthsign. The problem will be magicka management, unless you choose a high-intelligence race with some kind of magicka boost (either racial or birthsign), since Magicka is based on Intelligence.

There are other ways of boosting Magicka. You can wear items enchanted with Fortify Magicka or Fortify Intelligence. Also Fortify Willpower (assuming not the Atronach sign), because high Willpower makes Magicka regenerate faster. Also potions that do those things can be helpful.

Destruction is the big Magicka expense. Without a large magicka pool, you may run out of magicka before the fight is over. My successful Destruction Mages have been Bretons or Altmers with a magicka-boosting sign, and have still needed Fortify Magicka in some form.

If you use Conjuration more, and let a summon fight for you, your magicka will tend to regenerate before the summon spell runs out. Same is true for Illusion; spell effects tend to last long enough for magicka to rebuild. Conjuration and Illusion work well together; if you have enough magicka, you can cast "Summon Clannfear" (for instance) and then "Invisibility," and effectively disappear and watch the fun.

I say Apprentice. Though if you do end up going Atronach, put alchemy as a major skill. You will need to use a lot of potions and go into an ayleid ruin every once in a while to get some welkynd stones.

Now as for skills, alchemy would be a good idea, though it will level you up pretty fast. Since you are not wearing armor Alteration is very good because it has a shield spell and the unlock spell can come in handy.

edit: Oh and as for your race. It doesn't matter, however it is better(though once again not required) to go highelf or breton.

Lol and here I was thinking that illusion was only going to be used for light spells completely forgot about invisibility xD I think im sticking with imperial because I need a race that would be balanced in sword and magic and tbh I think imperial might be the best choice(although playing an altmer might be lots of fun ). As for birthsign im still leaning towards the apprentice, I just don't like the fact the magicka doesnt regenerate.

Thanks for that Im thinking I will do alchemy and Alteration as my last two skills

Alright thanks for the help guys Going to start a new game now.

Illusion is the most powerful magical "school" of all. It has two spell effects that are so powerful that they can "break the game": Chameleon and Command.

Command turns enemies into allies. You can cast it from a distance on one of a group, and then watch as they kill each other.

Now command sounds like something my character will enjoy using lol xD thanks again for the help