...Forbidden weaponry: Everything (he can still punch, though, even though it's technically forbidden). 3x Int Magery. I fought and ran my way through the first dungeon. Even rats and bats had a significant chance of saving versus my spells, but that was fine, I was only first level. And I managed to killl a couple humanoids, so go me.

Took the hints on UESP, made a cheap training damage spell, bought time in an inn, raised my Destruction to 90+, then decided to do a quest for the mages' guild. Save-loaded till I got one I could fullfill in town, because I had a bunch of letters in my pocket and I wanted to "start" the main quest, even though I'd wait a while before actually starting the main quest. Just didn't want to miss out on the deadline.

Well, things were different at 5th level and 90+ Destruction, alright.

Now *everyone* saves versus my spells.

Every time I try to play a non-weapon mage in Daggerfall, I end up hating playing that way. And I love Daggerfall. So...

...How do I shot magic?

Ok, seriously, how do I actually do damage? Instead of having all/most enemies save versus my spells?

Willpower isn't just a measure of your chance to save against spells; it also reduces the chance an enemy has of saving against your spells. It's really important.

And also be careful how you power-level; Daggerfall uses a lot of level scaling, so you'll run into issues if you're not prepared for higher level enemies.

A few pointers:

-Play defensively! When you're dependent on your magicka reserves for everything, you can't just mow down everything in your path like a warrior. Technically, the only things you have to kill are quest targets; you could use Invisibility, Chameleon, Pacify, or something else and just walk past the rest. And don't forget defensive spells like Shield or Elemental Resistance. Killing things won't level you up, casting spells will.

-The only canned spells you need are Open and Sleep, for Mages Guild quests. For custom spells you actually use, I suggest spells with a low base magnitude/chance and high per-level magnitude/chance. They'll be much more useful over a longer period of time (although as your skills improve and you level up you can make more efficient spells, especially chance-based ones like Open).

-Have an "area around caster" destruction spell just for when enemies are directly under you. It'll knock them back so that you're not standing on top of them if you enter an area from above.

-If you want a free and easy disadvantage, Critical Weakness to Paralysis is your friend. Just a 5 magicka Free Action spell is all you need to completely bypass it.

I started with base Int 75 and Will 75. Int is now 100, and will is 80~.

Oh, definitely. I've played a lot of Daggerfall; just not mages with no weapons, much.

Good point; in hindsight, I could try this quest again with a better spell.

Yeah; the sleep quest is a good source of cheap faction rep. Although for some reason I can't recall ever getting the "case the open spell" one, and I've gotten enough rank before to access teleport. Good point on relying on level-scaling in spells.

Saw that in the hints on UESP.

Or be a High Elf. Immunity to Paralysis and Critical Weakness to Paralysis is very broken. But I decided not to cheese for this run.

Edit: It could be I just don't know how to use magic properly, what with either playing warriors, or warmages who mostly use magic as support for weapons.

I made an AoE "Burning Fireball" DoT spell and that meditating archmage was very safe, although my health wasn't. I actually had to kick the last nightblade to death. Fortunately, they got hung up in a door.

So...I guess the question is, "How do I use magic properly in Daggerfall?"

...Actually, thinking over my RPG history, I mostly don't play wizards of any sort.

Yeah, a mage's worst enemy is another mage - they'll be more likely to save against your spells and generally be a huge pain in the ass. In that situation, when you've got to clear a room and you don't have a chance to rest up, maybe try spamming cheaper destruction spells. If one is saved against it's not as great a loss, and I think it's more magicka efficient. If you're going to pull out an expensive AoE spell, you have to be sure it will do the job.

There aren't many options for restoring magicka without resting - I've never actually used potions extensively, but I think "Restore Power" is the one that restores your spell points. If you can get access to a Potion Maker, it would be handy to have a few of those in a pinch. A Spell Absorption spell is a gamble, but it might help.

I never bothered with playing a High Elf, just because casting Free Action is so damn easy. I just take the critical weakness and cast the spell whenever I get paralyzed.

To be honest, I'm not sure the game was designed for a completely non-melee character - even the pure mage class has Blunt Weapons as a minor skill. Not to say you shouldn't try, just that it'll be quite a challenge.

Sounds good. And mages have less health, anyway, so big AoEs would probably not be necessary.

Problem there is getting recipes and all the ingredients.

Fair enough.

I'm fine with that.

Some questions:

1) Is it Save vs. All Spells, or Save vs. Some Spells?

2) Does Disintegrate leave a corpse? Logic would say "No", but this is also the game I've seen underwater bears and tigers (no lions) in.

3) Ways to prevent enemy spellcasters from spellcasting?

4) Good spells to have "always up"/ready?

There are many things about magic in Daggerfall that are broken or don't work as expected. If my memory doesn't fail me desintegrate will leave a body to loot and you can use Silence to prevent your enemies from casting spells.

"4) Good spells to have "always up"/ready?"

No matter what experts say about Fireball this is the king of all spells in Daggerfall. Nothing can best a tide of successive fireballs cast from a enchanted item. It's almost like cheating.

That's what Silence is for. It's an offensive spell designed to prevent enemy mages from spellcasting. It works that way in Morrowind, too.