Hey i would really like some advice on how one would train a pure mage high elf efficiently. meaning that my minor skills will be proven useful later on in the game. and if anyone could tell me some great strategies on having a mage, which spells to pick, armor, classes, etc. i would really appreciate it. thanks! (I'm only using a high elf for a race because thats what i want to master)

High Elf Apprentice FTW.


You want robes and take all the mage skills (go pure) as long as you collect the right spells for your level and do mages guild you will be fine. Alchemy is BAWSE

Your avatar was hilarious....

To the person who asked the question, what kind of mage do you want to play? You mentione armor, so not a pure mage right?

If you're a mage, you don't want armor. Armor is bad.
I had a High Elf, Mage
He was hands-down the most powerful character I ever created. Also the only one to make it to level 50. I had to retire him, he was too powerful. I owned everything.
If I recall correctly:
Destruction
Restoration
Conjuration
Marksman
Blade
Acrobatics
Illusion

He never needed a weapon. Staff and hands.

Let me first admit i've not actually played a pure mage character yet, but i've played and read plenty to give some good tips.

Birthsigns:
Wouldn't the Atronach be a better choice than the Apprentice? 100% weakness to magica sounds really dangerous especially if you run into a lot of casters (necromancers, conjurers, vampires, demora mages) early in the game before you've had a chance to build up an arsenal of protective spells and clothings. the spell absortion of the atronach is better than any defensive spell you'll come across early game and then late game you can easily create the spells and enchantments necessary to overcome stunted magica. If you're reinforced with restore magica scrolls and potions, you'll probably have a better time than if you were trying to wait on your magica to recharge itself on its own anyway.
Personally I find the more involved gmaelay to be more enjoyable and engaging, otherwise Oblivion is just a big hack 'n slash fest... or rather, cast 'n blast... in the case of mages. Anyay, if you're really against having to maintain your magica like that, you can go with the appretice and work towards the artifacts with http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Ring_of_Namira http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Saviour%27s_Hide http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Spell_Breaker as soon as possible. Add in the Spelldrinker and you should be good to go.
Then again, if you go with the Mage birthsign, you can skip on the negative effects of either of the above birthsigns, then you can follow the tips http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Magicka to still get your total magica up to a rediculously high level (900+)

Leveling:
Ok, that's enough about birthsigns. as far as making a really powerful mage, other than just using a high elf, try following the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Efficient_Leveling guidelines. Basically, you use some non-desirable skills as your major skills, ideally these would be ones that you rarely use but are easy to level/grind. For a combat char, it's easy to grind magic skills with lots of little "on self" spells, for a mage, you could choose some skills from a school you will rarely use and then add in some oddballs, and make use of the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Increasing_Skills#General_Combat_Strategies if you need to grind a combat skill. When you play this character, you monitor your "primary" skills closely, i.e. the ones you actually use and want to get good at. you make sure to get as close as possible to having exactly ten level ups of your choice skills per attribute. For example: if you start with... i dunno, let's say 30's for your majors (the skills you rarely, if ever, use), and 15's across the rest of the board, and you want to get +5's on INT, END, and WIL, then you could get conjuration, alchemy, destruction, armorer, and block all up to 20 before grinding any of your major skills until you level up, assign the +5's and proceed back to regular gameplay. This really only requires intermittent monitoring as you play becuase the skills system are, for the most part, blaenced. You will probably hit those magic 10 skill increases at about the same time if you're using the skills you planned to. You don't even have to have exactly 10 skills increases under each attribute, and you can grind a bit to even them off if needed, then all you need to do is grind for like five or ten minutes to level up and you're good to go. You just continue this, aiming for particular attributes each time and planning ahead. Because you're getting the most out of each attribute increase, you're probably going to grow quite powerful even by level 2 or 3. Additionally, this will maximize your total levels gained. If you choose your major skills as throw away skills that get a mimimum of racial bonuses (easy with races like Altmer and Redguard that are geared at a single type of combat) then it should be fairly easy to get your character up to the true maximum level of 55 without using any exploits. Personally, I like to make a spreadsheep to keep track of my progress, but it would also wok if you want to juswrite down your starting and ending skill levels for the skills you want to focus on each time around... or even just try to remember them! as long as you stay pretty close to the magical 10 skill levl increases under your desired attribute each time, then you should be just fine. There are more than enough possible skill levels to cover and slop, you just might have to grind a bit late game on a lesser used skill to even out the numbers.

Gameplay:
Make the most of alchemy and enchanting. Even if your mage is primarily a caster, weapons like shortswords, bows, and daggers can make for great vectors to deliver really monumentally destructive poisions or enchantments. Also it's worth taking a few minutes to look through the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Quest_Timing suggestions. Most of these should be obvious to a seasoned player of Oblivion, but there are some good tips (don't worry, it's short and has minimal spoilers)

max level is some where between 40 and 55. plenty of time to max out. some magic skills you may not want to max out. restoration for one. illusion is very powerful. command humanoid and command creature. can't wear armor once your level reach about 23. and of course destruction has strong attack spells. in the beginning conjuration is very useful. once you reach level 15 or 20 you might think this spell group less useful. alteration is also very useful in the middle. then you will have to decide to use magic for offense or defense.

many mages carry daggers. cast invisibility, strike with poison dagger then cast invisibility again. very effective.

I wouldn't suggest Atronach for a pure mage. Magicka management becomes too much of an issue. I'd use Apprentice (yes, even with an Altmer) for a "glass cannon" type of character, or The Mage for a less-challenging character.

The Atronach is less of a problem for a weapon-wealding magic type, because you can use enchanted stuff. Likewise, if you plan to rely heavily on Alchemy, it becomes an option for the pure mage, but there is still a nuisance factor.

I agree on glargg's conclusion.

This is my opinion and that's all it is - one player's opinion. To me there is a roleplay aspect here, as well as a certain logic:

Atronach is for those who don't mind getting hit in order to help top off their magicka. Mages don't like to get hit. Therefore, atronach is not a good sign for mages.

Now, since spellswords, nightblades, paladins, warriors and many hybrid charaacters like to get hit, atronach makes a superb birthsign for them.

I have happily played many atronachs in the past. My current character is a glass cannon mystic archer who goes to great lengths to not get hit. She asked me to let her try the atronach (via command console on the PC). It wasn't hard at all for her, but she absolutely hated the idea of going out of her way to get hit to top off her blue. She begged me to change her sign back to mage. Lol.

I'll third that opinion on Mages and Atronach not going well together. You don't want to have to check your inventory for a restore magicka potion every time you cast a spell. A melee character doesn't care, the magicka pool is just for casting healing spells when you run out of potions. Any other spells you use are enchanted onto weapons or clothing and don't cost any of your pool (Soul trap on your weapon, Detect life on a ring ... ) A mage is casting spells all the time and wants that regeneration to keep flowing, even when the enemy isn't using any spells in return.

A weakness to magic is quickly overcome with the right enchantments to clothing (not armor, as it drops your spells' effectiveness) - I'd suggest not wearing robes, as they occupy two clothing slots, and give you less defense, until you get powerful enough not to care. But the cost/benefit of Apprentice is unclear. The main benefit of the extra magicka is early on, before you can gather Fortify Magicka boosts from Sigil Stones etc. but that's also when the weakness is most felt, before you can offset it with Elemental Shield enchantments. You'll have to choose between magic-boosting and magic-warding enchantments for your limited slots, at a time when you need all you can get for just one of those, and probably end up holding back on the boosts just to stay alive, which may leave you in the same place as if you picked another sign.

I agree completely with you. The "benefit" of the Apprentice sign is to give adequate magicka reserves to a sturdy Race that normally wouldn't make the best mage, like a Nord, or to create a "glass cannon" Altmer (a challenging but fun character type.)