So I wanted to make a legitimate mage character this time around in Oblivion.

I was planning on making a mage with primary skills of Illusion, Destruction, Mysticism, and alteration

For this build, which birth sign is better and why? And which Race is better and why?

I think I would go
Breton with the apprentice birthsign.

To maximize your magicka you could go with Altmer with Atronach. I, however, kind of find it annoying not to have magicka regen with a pure magical character. You must rely on potions and stone to recover.

Altmer + Apprentice = suicide against magic users, since Altmer are already have a weakness to magic.

Altmer and mage is the "safe bet". You don't get as much magicka, but you get only the Altmer's "weakness to magic"

Breton is more fun I think, as they can be more diverse, but start out with less magicka. Breton with Mage birthsign is the absolute safest bet. Breton with Apprentice is pretty fun and doesn't make you feel "too powerful".

For a first-time mage, I strongly recommend Breton and The Mage. 100 extra points of magicka, 50% resistance to magic and no penalties at all.

All the other standard mage builds (Breton + Apprentice or Atronach, or Altmer + any of the three) get more magicka but have some penalties. I think it's best to avoid those penalties the first time around and just learn the ins and outs of playing a mage. When you've got that down, then you can start experimenting with some of the other builds.

If you're new to Mages, then I definitely suggest Breton under the Mage birthsign. The magic resistance is a godsend.

But I personally prefer to use The Apprentice. It's more of a challenge, and you get a bigger magicka pool.

Breton for anyone wanting to be a Solid Caster. Altmer if you want to be a bit more of a Glass Cannon.

As for birthsigns Apprentice if you want a challange with a slightly larger Magicka pool otherwise Mage. Only take Attronach if you are planning on taking Alchemy as a Major alongisde it and you can keep those Restore Magicka potions coming in.

I agree with all the advice above. My own summary is not very different:

Breton + Mage. Simple, solid, effective, safe. Can become immune to magic by gathering items to augment the Breton's natural 50% resist magic. Ideal for less experinced mage players, yet also wonderful for experienced players as well. Much to like about this combo.

Altmer + Atronach. More powerful but not as simple. By gathering items to augment the atronach's 50% spell absorption, you can become immune to magic. The synergy of how atronach can compensate for the Altmer's weakness to the elements is potent indeed and results in a very strong mage that has great magicka and defense against magic. One downside is that garnering 50% spell absorption gear is harder than the Breton's quest of gathering 50% resist magic gear. Another challenge is stunted magicika; with experience and knowledge, this can become as simple as any other minor logistical chore your character does. Keeping your blue topped off is not hard, just another simple task to manage.

Altmer + Apprentice. Loads of magic and loads of weakness. This mage is a classic glass cannon for those who enjoy such a challenge (and there are many who do).

Any race / birthsign combo can be a mage, but the above three point out some of the key considerations.

Apprentice is what you want if you want a mage character that relies only on magic, however that is difficult since you are vulnerable to it not to mention that you can only use it. If you aren't using any mods it probably wont be hard at all. So its probably best if you take the Mage birthsign or Apprentice, atronach is something else, its for hybrids or players with experience. With apprentice you should be more careful but you have lots of magicka which will make you very powerful. Destruction and Restoration if I am correct would be the arts of magic that use most magicka. Besides thouse two there would be Mysticism and Illusion some of their spells use lots of it too.
Also I don't find Atronach to be very useful for mages since self targeted spells can be absorbed which can result in getting you killed in some situations.But it has its strong points on absorbing reflected and absorbing incoming enemy projectiles

Breton with Mage Sign is the easiest mage to play.

Breton with Apprentice is a bit more challenging, because the increase in magicka comes at the price of cancelling out the Breton's natural resistance to magic.

Altmer with Mage Sign is of about the same difficulty as Breton/Apprentice, and similar in strength.

Altmer Apprentice is recommended only for the experienced mage player. It is a very difficult build to play, especially at high difficulty slider settings. This is a very fragile "glass cannon," which will not stand up to much magical attack. This type of character must rely on stealth, and must master Illusion Magic in order to survive.

Breton Atronach is most powerful offensive and defensive build in the game, bar none. A Breton Atronach is immune to magical attack, and has enormous reserves of Magicka. The power is offset by the need to manage magicka, so this build is not really recommended for a first effort at a mage character. Still, if you're willing to learn and use Alchemy, it is a manageable build, and a lot of fun to play. This is a good "Battlemage" build.

Altmer Atronach is another build recommended for the experienced mage player. The character is not as weak to magic as the Altmer/Apprentice, but the magicka management combined with the Altmer's fragility make for a challenging character.

Personally I went High elf Atronarch for the simple fact that you get the most amount of magic upgrade with this choice I can use potions for restoring magic and health. I also am increasing my blade and block but didn't put it as a major skill. (With high elf you get +100magic Atronarch is +150 so thats 250 added to magic right off the batt not bad.

With Atronarch it's not difficult to keep Magic topped off at all if you know what ingredients to find and gather alot of them to make a bunch of your own potions this saves money and gives you an unlimited supply to use in battle so your magic or health never runs out very handy skill Alchemy is

I am with all the above who suggest the Breton/Mage combo for the first time pure magician. It is a very forgiving combination, making it easy for a first timer to get their feet wet in the magicka pool.



I do love the Altmer Apprentice. It really is not as difficult as it first sounds. You just have to take Mr. Miyagai's advice: "best defense, no be there." If you are good at dodging, then being hit by magic is not something that is going to happen very often, if ever. Fire and Frost spells are slow-moving, so easy to get out of the way of. It is only lightning that can be difficult to avoid. When I did it however, I needed neither illusion or stealth. Instead http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/subrosa_florens/oblivion/Oblivion520.jpg used lightning spells for distance attacks, summoning, and an axe for that personal touch.

Breton with the atronach sign.

The difficulty comes in when you're up against an enemy who reflects spells. That's why Illusion spells are the safer way for mages to deal with them, because you won't be affected by a reflected Command spell.

Mage works fine for Lothran in Oblivion and Atronach works fine for Karl in Morrowind so I′d pick one of those

The easiest is Breton with the Mage sign. Excellent magicka, magic resistance and no real downside.

Altmer Atronach or Breton Atronach is also very fun. But the Atronach is tricky at lower levels for a first time mage. Atronach is one of my favorite signs and I'm playing an Atronach character right now. But if you are not familiar with magic it can be frustrating. So for a first mage I recommend a Breton Mage

Apprentice weaknesses are not worth it, unless you purposely want a weak character for the challenge. You can have plenty of magicka with any character. 200 points is enough to cast any spell you can buy in the game if you have enough skill. Costs to cast spells go down dramatically as you get more skilled.

Also a few times the Breton Apprentice combo was mentioned. That combination makes no sense from a purely stats perspective. Because an Altmer/Mage has just as much magicka as a Breton/Apprentice but with fewer weaknesses.

Thanks for all the great advice! From the advice above I think i will take a stealthy approach to magic with an Altmer apprentice!

Interesting choice! If you play it right, the weakness is completely void as you won't be getting hit by anything. After all, how can you hit what you can't see?

Based on your user name you must do this:

Altmer
Male
Far right age slider
Silver full length windblown hair
Brown Eyes
Apprentice Birthsign
All Mage skills and attributes

THEN YOU WILL HAVE:

http://www.take180.com/image/56l94b

Personally Im not a mage, just the greatest alchemist in cyrodil