So, I am thinking of starting a new character in my modded game for labor day weekend and cannot decide between a Dunmer mage with the Mage birthsign or a Xivalai with the Atronach birthsign.

I have not played a no-armor robed mage in my modded game (other than my test character when I first installed my mods) and I want to create a mage to find out how they play in my modded game (which includes Universitatas Arcanorum, Supreme Magicka, Midas and the mages guild quest mods by dreamed1 and David Brasher).

I am using COBL balanced races for the playable Xivilai race, so he would start out with a big magicka pool and 75% spell absorbtion, with stunted magicka and some weaknesses added into the mix (50% weakness to magic and 25% weakness to normal weapons). The Dunmer would have a much smaller magicka pool but very fast regeneration (both Dunmer race and the Mage birthsign get a regen bonus from COBL balanced races) and 50% weakness to shock along with Dunmer fire resistance a few other weaknesses.

So the gameplay decision is stunted magicka (with spell absorttion) vs fast magicka regen and the roleplay decision is whether there is any way to work a Xivilai into a mages guild roleplay. I am thinking there may be since the vanilla game shows the mages guild using dremora as couriers, so maybe there is a way that a Xivalai became an accepted member of the guild. Maybe he's not even there by choice, but being forced into it or something.

Anyway, I wondered if the community had any thoughts about the choice between these two race/birthsign combinations, either from a gameplay or a roleplay perspective.

For class, I am thinking of just going with the standard mage class, but am open to suggestions there as well if people have ideas for how a particular class might work well with one of these races.

What? No poll? Kidding.

I'd vote for the Xivali. MMm. I spelled that wrong. X i v a l a i. There. No, that's still wrong. X I V i L A I. Yeah, I'd go for that one, just because it seems a little more unique to me.

If it's raining on Monday, I may just create a new character as well. My druid guy. Need a name for him though.

There I added a poll. My first one ever. Honestly, I never knew how to do a poll before but it was not that hard to figure out.

Thanks. Any idea for how to explain why a Xivilai is able to wander freely across Cyrodiil during the Oblivion crisis? Or why he would be attacked by his fellow dremora? I am not sure I want to mess with the CS to make him part of their faction, or maybe you can do that with the console set faction command. In any event, am not sure I would want to make other Xivilai friendly to him and as I understand the lore, the various clans of daedra don't always get along, so being attacked by other daedra might not be hard to head cannon. But I would need to come up with a head cannon for why a Xivilai was cooperating with the mages guild and going against other daedra, while being allowed to travel freely throughout Cyrodiil.

Yeah, names are hard. I need one two. I like your and Glargg's idea for an outlaw druid.