I used to like to make mages very weak, low health and low defense. Now I feel that playstyle makes me too nervous, so I'm debating what defense to give my full mage (by that I mean non-weapon using). I can't decide, because there are advantages to all the possibilities. Flesh spell only mage allows you to wear robes and be fast, but the downside is you waste time and magicka casting the flesh spell. A combo of some armor + some clothes can allow you to wear dragon priest masks and still feel like a mage, but you still take alot of damage. Full armor is the best protection, but makes me not feel like a mage anymore. Using a shield can be fun, but makes you want to put more points into stamina which you could use for magicka. Please let me know your choice in the poll.

Just max enchanting. After that you can have daedric + the same enchants and even better ones one. The only reason cloathes are a good option is because of the enchantment, which you can't make early on in the game. flesh spels arent bad, the only thing i hate is that sometimes i don't have enough magicka to recast and then i'm defensless in the middle of the battle. Everything is viable tough.

Probably not going to max enchanting. That's 8 perk points I want spend on other things. My characters rarely get past level 40.

I voted cloth + flesh spells, but generally speaking I don't play "pure mages" anyway. That was my last pure mage character and I really don't remember what my 1st pure mage used. I like battlemages and spellswords.. armor, weapon and spell.

For a pure mage, I rely heavily on Illusion and conjuration for my defense... that being a good offense, that is. I also like the mage armor boost with no armor worn, and I find it really replaces armor quite nicely.

I personally think (did not try, could be wrong) that heavy armor/light armor + enchanting is the best way. Because you can have 500 max cap armor rating, and have all the enchantments you need. There are two thing i hate with flesh spell. First is that sometimes the enemy gets a jump on you, and you are too late to cast it. The second thing is that that a lot of times in the middle of the battle, the spell runs off and i'm standing there defensless. But then again everyone has his style

I am not partial to playing mage characters, at all. I pretty much always play a Rogue type wearing Heavy Armor (Sneak 100 + Muffle enchanted boots). And an awesome bow, Archery 100. Best defense against mages is to kill them way over there. If it gets up close an personal with a mage, I carry an assortment necklaces and rings that will max my magic defense for whichever brand of Magic the mage is using, Shock, Fire, Cold. Add the Aura Whisper Shout and it's quite easy to prepare for an encounter with mages (or any foe for that matter) well in advance.

Generally speaking, by the time mages could be a problem, the PC has at least one Follower. And when fighting foes, Followers tend to get between the PC and the foe. Usually that's annoying, having the line of fire blocked. But when fighting mages, the Follower usually becomes a "lightning rod", drawing all of the mage's attention. This allows me the opportunity to slide to the side and pour arrows into the opposing mage(s).

Mages hardly ever cause me any difficulty.

The thread is actually about playing defense as a mage, not defending against mage enemies.

I've played two pure Mages in Skyrim so far. My first Mage wore enchanted robes she got during the College of Winterhold quest line. My second Mage wore unenchanted street clothes.

For a "Pure Mage", I like cloth with flesh spells. But do not forget about wards! These come in handy whether a Mage wears cloth or armor. This also allows for a Mage to totally skip the smithing tree and its decision (light or heavy side, or both?).

I think I may have played 2 "pure mages" in all of my games, thus far, though I may do another one fairly soon

Most of my mages are hybrids, though. They wear light armor and use weapons like bound sword/bow. Combined with the other part of Conjuration, it makes for a fairly formidable character

On my pure mages, I don't use any armor, other than flesh spells.

I did combine it with a shield on a couple of mage playthroughs, but in the end, having both my character's hands free for spellcasting, suits me best.

I used flesh spells until i discovered that dragon priest masks have armor raiting, even the ones from Dragonborn DLC. The thing is that as soon you have 1 armor rating, perks that increase flesh spells effect don't work. Now i'm trying a Heavy armor Sorcerer build. I figured that as long as a max enchanting, i can have the same enchatment (mage clothes) and even more on daedric armor...soo why bother with flesh spells? Oh and before you say "then don't wear dragon priest masks" i will say to you that they just look cool, especially mirrak's

Wards count as a shield for the purpose of the poll, right.

I'll go spell and shield, i.e. wards.

Do you use wards for defense against physical damage with no armor or flesh spells?