Playing an Imperial battlemage. Heavy armor, Destruction, Restoration, One-handed, a splash of Alteration and Enchanting and mayyyyybe some Alchemy down the road. Oh, and I carry around a bow too, so a bit of Archery.

Currently low level, and I've been using the Mage stone. I intend to keep that for awhile.

But I'm drawn to the idea of the Apprentice stone. Since I'm not wearing robes, the Magicka regen is slower than it could be. I can use wards and enchanted gear to partially offset the Weakness to Magicka penalty.

Is the Apprentice stone just a death sentence? Or does anyone actually use it and find it an interesting or at least viable option?

it can be, unless you pay attention. Against a dragon priest it's doom... so learn to pick up passive resist items and some pots

I figure if I really get into Alteration, that'll negate almost 1/3 of the weakness from the stone. Slap on some resist items and I might be looking at around 50% weakness, which is more livable I'd guess. From there it would be just a matter of micromanaging potions, which is kind of a hassle.

I'm also raising Health (not making a glass cannon mage like I usually do), so it may have less of an impact.

But I guess what I'm asking is, does the benefit of increased regen. really have an effect? I think I can find ways around the penalty if the bonus is worth it.

There's a quest that rewards you with 15% permanent magic resistance too. I think the name is 'Book of Love' and it starts in Riften.

Apprentice stone is NEVER worth it. you can enchant the regen onto armor fairly early and the weakness is not worth it in any way.

Yeah, I hate to say it but the Apprentice is really not worth it as-is. I had a long-running character who was an Apprentice and it's still difficult even with 50% magic resistance and up, especially if you're a vampire. That said, if you're looking for a challenge, it can be interesting -- makes you play very defensively. But the increased regeneration doesn't make much of a difference and the weakness is difficult to deal with.

Perhaps the Atronach?

I played a mage with the Atronach some time back and really liked the effect. The biggest knock against it was that it would often absorb your own summons and cause them to not appear, but the Unofficial Skyrim Patch fixes this bug.

Nah, I'm not interested in the Atronach. I know it's awesome mechanics-wise, but I just don't want to go there... it's *too* good.

Well, it'll be awhile before I'm in the Apprentice neighborhood anyway; I'll stick with the Mage until then, and maybe go with something else instead when I feel like it.