I'm thinking about playing a pure mage, ( no armor, robes only yadda yadda yadda). Ive done it before but as a well rounded mage, being that I use every school. Id like to try something different this time and only specialize in two maybe three schools. Id like to know what everyone who's played like that does, what kind of gear, standing stone, how do you distribute your health amd magika points, and so on.
Id like to focus on restoration and alteration. What would you do for a third? Ive done conjuration like theres no tomorrow so im thinking illusion. Destruction is just......eh
Ideas?

I also need to point out that I play on Ps3 so NO MODS.

Well, the thing about alteration, restoration and illusion is there is no direct way to damage enemies. Not all enemies are affected by illusion (until you get the perk) and even if the enemies are affected, how do you dispatch the last guy standing? High level restoration will damage undead but not anything else.

So, if you go with these three, how are you going to finish enemies off and how are you going to deal with combat while you get your skills up? Seems like you will need at least some destruction or conjuration, unless you are planning on using weapons. I suppose you could try to get your hands on a destuction staff early on, but then you are going to need to fill a lot of soul gems . . .

Anyway, I am not sure what the answer is, but I think that is the first thing you should think about with a build like this.

Like that, you lost me.

My no melee mystic archer only uses a conjured bow - so I actually think of her as a 'pure' mage. Conjuration gives her helpers plus direct damage (bow). Illusion thins crowds, calms, terrifies and enhances stealthiness. Alteration lets her control the battlefield by knowing where foes are (detect life). She doesn't use the other magic schools - no destruction (bow is her damage), no restoration (only uses potions she finds for any healing), no enchanting (mystic bow is already enchanted). The only other skills she really uses are archery (for the bound bow) and sneak. Lord standing stone (magic resist). Bosmer race. It's a toss up whether you'd call her a mage that uses bound bow for her damage or an archer that uses magic to back up and support herself. I find her a very fun class though as long as you like a slow, methodical and sneaky playstyle. If you think mages shouldn't sneak or have the skill to support effective use of mage-conjured weapons, then she wouldn't fit the 'pure mage' template.

I like the mystic bow idea. I was thinking about bringing a follower with me until I get the bow.

Bound bow is a pretty good spell, when you take the bound weapon perks. Since you played conjuration before, you could certainly limit conjuration to bound weapons and soul trap, and play primarily a restoration/alteration/illusion mage. This would solve the issue I mentioned above about needing a way to damage enemies directly.

I do like this idea although I am concerned about playing a mage who needs to drop his bow to do any other magic? Although I really do like the idea of using Paralyze and a Bound Bow as a horrible 1.2. blow.

Well if you are using a bow and magic you should become a shadow Mage and focus on illusion magic, conjuration and maybe a little bit of alteration magic. It's not a bad idea ehh?

Yes. The hand micromanagement of having your bow disappear from your left hand simply to cast a candlelight spell with your right hand made mystic archery totally silly for me when using a real bow. Thankfully, the bound bow solves the problem as it is itself a spell. And the bound bow looks very cool as well in my opinion.

If you want to focus on a more "support" style mage (as it would seem you are, seeing as your primary schools are alteration and restoration) then I could make a suggestion you may be interested in.

something i like to do when i use a school of magic is use only a specific part of that school (IE: Destruction - only Ice magic, or Alteration - only armor magic, etc).
With this in mind, and the fact that I'm assuming you want to play a support character, I would pick up one of the followers who can't die (wiki the list, i forget them all), and pick up Illusion - only buff/support magic (not control magic, fear, fury, etc).

so now you send your comrade (and pet?) into combat while you occupy yourself by healing them, buffing them, and crowd control (in the form of paralyzing, and ash-shelling enemies)

could be a blast, but will be a pain in early gaming.
Id suggest keeping all your magic spells in your favorite list, and have healing hands as well as one of the paralyze-type spells, as your two hot-keys.

Also I'd suggest a Bosmer (for the Animal Call ability, so you can occasionally add some more allies into the mix to help out your comrades)

If you need any more inspiration for characters, maybe my Random character generator ca give you some inspiration. Check out my thread Random RP Character Generator.

For me that was a negative of the bound bow spell, not a positive because of the magicka cost of the bound bow spell. Bound bow is a moderately costly spell, and I found it too limiting to have to recast bound bow just to be able to cast a simple spell due to all the magicka you waste by doing that. I know you can handle that with enchant but then all your conjuration spells become too cheap magicka wise. I love archery in this game but ended up going back to a real bow for this reason.