Hi! Like the title suggest I would like to try make my lvl 27 fighter character use more magic. Why? Because I got bored slicing and dicing all the time. So here is some info on my character:

Lvl 27 Nord

Primary skills: One-handed weapons (lot of perks invested already), Light armor (some perks invested), Block (some perks invested)

Secondary skills: Archery (some perks chosen), Sneak (only one perk), Healing (two perks) Alchemy (only one perk), Smithing (advanced smithing - no intentions to progress this skill any further).

I already have couple of perk points in store. I also have something like 28k gold so I'm thinking of going to see some trainers

Which school of magic should I choose? Illusion would go nicely with the existing skills but I wouldn't want my character to be all sneaky type - he's a proud Nord after all! Destruction is fun but it's a hard job to train it at this point (it's hard to kill Bandit Plunderers with basic flames). Alteration... well I've never really used alteration. Any experiences on this school of magic? Conjuration could also be nice and easily used to support my rather physical character.

Does anyone any opinions on this?

Why not just start again as a mage? You can always go back to your warrior character if you feel like a slicing and dicing session.

I would go Conjuration and some destruction (pick on element) or alteration (healing).

Since you have some points invested in block you could go shield and casting to begin with. If enemies comes to close you should be able to block their hits while blasting them with flames/ice or lightning until you level it up a bit.

Conjuration is nice since you can either raise dead or summon "helpers".

I know that. It's just that I like this character

And also because I just started out with this character. I wish to play through the main quest and all the DLCs again and level up at least lvl 60 so I'm trying to create a character I truly like. I just thought this one could use some magic to spice things up. I'm not trying to create a powerful (maxed out) character so I have no problem if some of the skill progression is 'wasted' (like I decided I don't want to level smithing anymore because having alchemy and smithing makes vendors useless). This is more like a role playing character who uses bow and sneak to hunt animals just because he (and I as a player) likes hunting (and eating venison, yam!).

You could go with cloak spells in destruction. They are good for fighters. Train destruction to apprentice. Then the fastest way to level it is using runes. You can find a fire cloack spell in the north if you want to get it early.

Thanks for the tips. I think I'll try the shield/destruction combo. I have actually never tried it before. It would go nicely with the combat mods I'm running. I don't really want to take any hits since even bandit outlaws will easily kill me with 2h weapons.

By the way, I'm also considering to play as a vampire for a while. I am planning my character would suffer greatly from vampirism and is struggling to keep the evil inside him at bay. But I have a question: Can I turn into a Vampire Lord if I get the vampirism from a random vampire, lets say in Movarth's lair? Or do I need to get the vampirism from a Volkhiar vampire? I don't feel like siding with the vampires in DG quest so I'd rather catch vampirisim by "accident".

Good thing with destruction is it's quite easy to train. Just run from Markarth to Whiterun and flame every critter you see on the way. Should raise your destruction quite good!

Well, from what I know VL is a "gift" from two specific characters, so I think you need to visit the Volkihairs for that purpose (unless there is a mod that allows it of course ).

Don't forget the option to make a skill legendary and free up all the perks. Maybe you can free up the One-Handed tree and rapidly build up your chosen school of magic.

The main challenge, it seems to me, is having enough magicka. You've probably been investing in Health and Stamina for a fighter so you're magicka may be low. Maybe you can level more quickly if you practice both magic and enchanting? Don't forget that dis-enchanting items builds your enchanting skill.

Good luck!

Have you got Arcane Smithing yet? If you have a coupla perks in light armor and advanced armor then you should be able to put together a pretty decent AR with Scale provided you wear a helmet. If you have stock enchanted equipment and are unable to smith it due to Arcane Smithing not opened than you need to ditch that stuff, enchant some armor - fort magic regen or fort health on chest. Fort weapon skill on boots (only offensive enchantment you can use there).

If you are going to go vampire it would be fitting to take Illusion because they get additional 25% effect on spells which is very handy. I wouldn't say it is cowardly to use a clever craft like Illusion, as you are often outnumbered and the spells are much like shout/Tongue powers anyway. Also, undead have no honor, use muffle, sneak shot bow till they find you, dual cast a couple of firebolts then draw steel, very fun. That said it may be tricky to try to get alteration, destruction, and illusion all going. I would suggest get an oakflesh to use and just keep casting that for a while (until it is about level 50) and just take the novice perk and that should help your AR with above advice until you can develop Destruction and/or Illusion. It is easy to anticipate areas where combat is and cast oakflesh before you get into combat so you will get a lot of magicka back before it slows regen in combat.

You'll either want to create some Fortify Destruction gear or get some that you can smith.

As for becoming a vampire you can do that at random lairs, there is one west of Whiterun in a cave next to Sleeping Tree camp. There are some in the burrow outside Falkreath and at Mara's Eye pond next to Morvunskar. What I do when I want to get vamped for RP is go to a lair, put skill on apprentice, then kind of piddle around in combat til you get the disease, replace dif slider, and then I pretend I get real weak and sleepy from the sanguinas disease and just lie down and sleep at the nearest location or wait until I get vampirism. Then carry on about business and look for a cure later as preferred.

Hey, thanks everyone for all the advises. I just played with this character for couple of hours, wandered around Solitude and cleared some caves. Wolf Skull Cave was a great place to do some target practice and since my character has a high frost resistance and the mages there used mostly frost spells, I got to do some ranged spell dueling. I also decided to go with conjuration, since the conjured creatures can distract enemies when I need to face multiple melee opponents.

The court wizard in Solitude also trains Destruction, so I got to increase my Destruction skill a good 16 levels. It was much easier than I anticipated, and now my Nord can actually hurt someone with his ice spikes... or at least throw so many of those they start to hurt. I think I'll focus on frost magic, mostly because of role playing reasons.

That's a good point. I will be using my sword but my archery was much higher than I remembered. So perhaps I can make that a legendary skill at some point.

Luckily I have found very good enchanted items for this purpose. I also already used the Atronach stone because of the magic resistance. I realized this standing stone power suits my character quite well, because my playstyle will probably be to use magic to weaken the enemy and then enter melee - so the decrease of magicka doesn't matter that much.

Ok, that's what I thought too. I don't really want my character to become just an ordinary vampire when there is so much sinister option available I need to think on this though. I wanted the vampirism to be a contradiction on my character. After all, he's a guy who don't loot draugr corpses or burial urns because he thinks it's dishonoring the dead. It would be hard for me to see him in Volkhiar clan.

What's his views on cannibalism? There is certain people in the Markarth area that can introduce him into a new way of living so to say..

Like Hannibal Lector would have said: I'm having an old friend for dinner!

If you want to power level destruction for a bit until you can cast some of the more level appropriate spells, get the mage stone and put the lover stone on the aetherial crown if you've got it. That's a 35% boost to learning speed. The advantage to having lover stone on the crown is that you can take it off, sleep in a bed for the rested bonus, then put the crown back on for the lover stone bonus resulting in a potential 50% boost. Ordinarilly you can't get rested bonuses and the lover stone at the same time, so some people feel it's an exploit. But if that doesn't bother you and you're not a werewolf (which would mean you don't get rested bonuses anyway), go for it.

Oh, Volundur (the name of my character) hasn't been in Markarth yet. Perhaps he will check the Hall of the Dead there and we'll find out his culinary taste

Say, that's not a bad idea. I haven't got the crown yet, but I need something to do at the moment (I rigged Dawnguard to kick in at level 40, and I'm still level 30), so I think I'm going to get it.

Another good way to increase magic resistance is to do the Agent of Mara quest out of Riftin. It doesn't fit my current assassin PC, but I've done it with other builds in the past. It's pretty simple, just need to walk around a bunch.