I recently got Oblivion and have been enjoying it quite a bit, but my problem is that I can't seem to build a pure caster character that does as well as my more melee inclined characters. So in an act of desperation here I am asking the forums.

I have a hard time accepting anything but the Mage astrological sign, and apparently this is bad because I won't have a lot of Magicka later on?
I'm not really sure how to use Alchemy to its fullest, I really don't know what plants do what, what I should be looking for, or where the important plants are either.
Will I need to be a master of creating spells in order to be successful?

Any tips and tricks people can offer would be greatly appreciated!

The Mage sign is good since it offers 50 pts Magicka, so I wouldn′t call it bad. However different races are more suitable with different signs but I never bothered with that. A Dunmer with the Mage sign works fine for me at least.

Alchemy is interesting indeed and here you can make up for low Magicka reserves. You can make very powerful potions eventually but nothing stops you from making potions early on either. Finding what plant that goes with what can be tiresome, however I found it only intriguing and now I know many recipies by heart and so will you if you keep it up. It really isn′t that hard, just give it time and take it easy and before you know it you′ll recognize more plants in Oblivion than in real life

Think.

You can't run full tilt into combat with a mage. Utilise detect life, invisibility etc. This will help you remain unseen. Giving you time to plan your course of attack.

Illusion. This magic school is supreme. Command your enemies to fight at your side? Frenzy an entire mob? Oh hell yeah. Using Illusion to it's fullest should leave you only ever having to dispatch one enemy, usually with low health. And that's without going into the typical Illusion spells (invis. Chameleon, etc).

Conjuration. I love this. Summoning beasties is hugely fun, and mightily helpful.

Restoration and Alteration. With this you can buff your summoned creatures, and keep them at top health. Not to mention being able to shield them.


My main character uses no damaging destruction magics, and fares fine (she's a pure Mage, gimped with low health and a weakness to magicka).

Think outside the box, and you'll do well. Destruction magic is very, very powerful, but it drains your magicka very quickly. Whereas a less direct form of attack is far more conserving of magicka.


That said, I love to have a big Magicka pool, so I went for a Breton Apprentice (also for the weakness).

I chose mage, but ended up not using much destruction spells at all, so I Regret that alot. I only really used my sword and Sheild. I am also too far in to start again, however I have been fine! Do the signs and classes make a HUGE differnece or just a bit? I have only just started, and I am a Breton Healer with mage sign, yet never really use magic other than illusion... Is this bad later on?

Planning to make a Theif and Mage later and wojt make he same mistake twice..

To make a pure mage, it will be easiest if you start with either a Breton or an Altmer, because they get a magicka bonus. The appropriate birthsigns will be Mage, Apprentice, or Atronach.

Breton is easiest, because of their magic resistance, and with a Mage Birthsign, should have enough magicka to keep you going. If you feel like taking more of a risk, you could go with the Apprentice Birthsign, and have a character with a great magicka pool, but weakness to magic.

The Altmer is a little trickier; they have enormous magicka, but weakness to magical attack makes them harder to play. They do all right with the Mage Birthsign, and appropriate shield spells. They are very vulnerable with the Apprentice Birthsign; only take this combination if you are looking for a "glass cannon."

The Atronach Birthsign adds a further twist. It can offset some of the Altmer's natural weakness (or make the Breton nearly immune to magical attack), while offering a huge magicka pool, but it forces you to rely on alchemy, welkynd stones, ayleid wells, and spell absorption to replenish your magicka. I like the Atronach sign for a mage, because I've become accustomed to using alchemy effectively - you only need two commonly found ingredients, both of which can be combined by the novice in alchemy, so alchemy does not have to be a major skill for a mage.

So... A Breton with the Mage sign is a good safe choice. Apprentice if you're feeling frisky.

An Altmer with the Atronach (and a bit of micromanagement) for a truly powerful choice. Altmer with Apprentice if you have a death wish and like to blow up everything in sight. :wink_smile:

I think there is lots of good advice above. Mirocu is right. Alchemy can be very helpful. To learn more about recipes you can go here: http://www.uesp.net/oblivion/alchemy/alc_calc.php

Count Lauriel is right in that you want to think. Learn and think about the differing schools of magic and how to creatively use them. Immobilize your foe and sic a conjure on him or maybe a lightning bolt. Think like a mage. While your character is studying at the Arcane University, you can be pouring over the arcane knowledge about magic that is available in UESP wiki.

Glargg is very right in recommending a Breton born under the Mage. That combo is simple, forgiving and durable - good for any player, but ideal for a player who is newer to mages.

Imho, the spellmaking and enchanting altars are the most powerful items in a mage's arsenal, regardless of character build. Once you have access, making your own spells, and enchanting clothing more than make up for any weakness compared to melee characters, and there is fun to be had messing with 'out there' spells. Experiment and enjoy.

Pure Caster.


Altmer
Apprentice
Then the mage default class.


Alchemy is FTW!

Do we have so much in common? Sabarel is also a Breton Apprentice, I choose this for the Weakness's over the amount of Magicka.

I'll point this out now that Alchemy very early on can cause you to fly up levels if your not to careful and you will have to watch this unless you want to get over powered to early on. Zak will disagree with me on taking Alchemy out if you are new to the game, Although I know how strong it can be I choose to take it out of my major skills and swap it for one that wouldn't level as quick. Hence I took Mercentile. So I'll talk you through my custom Magi class that is the same as the basic Mage class except for the swap of Alchemy for Mercentile,

Alteration - Very strong school of Magic when you use alongside Conjuration. Elemental Shields to raise your resistance to elemental spells for a short period of time. Shield yourself and your summoned creature with a basic Shield spell reducing the amount of damage you take. Opening of locks without wasting any lockpicks. Feather spells for increasing your total carry weight. There could be other uses for it but these are my main uses.

Conjuration - Summon powerful creatures to your side to help you out. I use this school an awful lot and it was the first of the six magic skills that I mastered.

Illusion - Frenzy on the right enemy can cause a lot of trouble causing it to rip its friends apart. Although most of the time you will encounter enemies on a solo basis Illusion can still be fun. Invisabilty on yourself along with Nighteye can allow you to sneak around dungeons or sneak up on an enemy. I mainly use Illusion magic to sneak around or run away from a fight really quickly.

Destruction - Your standard cookie cutter damage spells. Hurling fireballs is how people think of Mages and this school does just that. My biggest and hard hitting spells are in this school but it is also one of the schools I use the least.

Restoration - You would think it would be pure healing spells? Restoration at 50 and you can start to cast fortify spells. These will increase your base stats for a short period of time or you could use it to raise your health pool if you think that the next fight is going to be hard. You can also use Restoration magic as an Offensive Magic school if you choose to do so. Drain Health is a powerful spell when used the right way.

Mysticism - I don't really use this school much except to trap souls. There are other ways to use this school of Magic though. Detect Life can be very useful a lot of the time. It will put a colourful corona around an enemy allowing you to see them earlier, I have an enchant that does this for me. Soul Trap your enemies into Soul Stones when you kill them to be able to enchant items when ever you want. Telekinsis I find can be a lot of fun, mainly againest Goblins. I'll drop something on the floor like a bowl or something and start moving it around the room. I'll normally cast invisabilty on myself first and then start watching the Goblins chase it around the room.

Well I hope some of this helps I won't put why I use Mercentile instead of Alchemy as thats for my own reasons.

I don't see the problem that people are having with Alchemy as a major. It seems to me that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, for a mage.

If you're playing a Breton, Argonian, or Altmer with Magic as a specialization, Alchemy starts as a major at 40. You have access to two alchemy effects, and you only have to raise Alchemy by 10 points (which accounts for raising your character by only one level) in order to reach Journeyman. At that point, you have three alchemy effects for each ingredient, and can make potions like Invisibility. (Invisibiity at level 2!) From that point, you're only making the potions you actually need, so the skill only advances as fast as you want it to.

A Bosmer can actually start with an Alchemy of 45, and thus can have journeyman potions available at level 1.

And even if you were to spam Alchemy at early levels, it's only going to push your character up by five or six levels, which is hardly enough to imbalance the game if you're playing as a mage.



Conjured creatures are good distractions, but are poor substitutes for your own offensive skill unless you are playing at a very high difficulty setting. Conjuration's Bound armor and weapons are an under-appreciated feature of the skill, I'd say.



Illusion works that way, but it's also one of the most powerful offensive skills in the game. Command (which is more effective at handling groups than Frenzy) is a powerful offensive weapon. Frenzy, in my opinion, is more useful at getting an NPC to attack you, so that the guards and other NPCs will be on your side.



Drain Health is a Destruction magic. I think you're referring to Absorb Health, which is indeed an excellent offensive weapon (it only works at short range, so it's an On Touch skill.)

Sorry I did mean Absorb Health not Drain Health.

I also add that that is the way I use each school and it comes down to each player in their own right on how they wish to play. I've had so many people bug me after they've leveled 4-5 times with Alchemy right away at the start so I normally suggest people don't use it as a Major until they know what they are doing with it. Plus the OP said they hadn't been playing very long.

My Conjuration is normally there more for a safety net now. I used it a lot leveling up so that I would have a better chance of coming out of fights.

I had forgotten about Command and yes I normally use that one aswell. However I only use Illusion Magic when I'm out numbered a bit now. I use Command on one target and frensy on the other as 9/10 times it just causes them to just stand there and rip each other apart.

Well, a Breton Mage is just far too overpowered in my opinion. A lot of my reason for choosing the Apprentice was actually roleplay based. Seeing as Helena is loosely based on my best friend, and she's born in July, which corresponds to Sun's Height on Nirn, which in turn corresponds to The Apprentice.

It just happened to have some rather handy side effects

No problem - I just wanted to be sure we had accurate info here.

Agreed that it's a personal choice about the alchemy. I think the problem people have is that they either spam away at it without a purpose (we don't have to make a potion just because we have the ingredients for it) or they try to use it as a way of making money. The nice thing about alchemy is that you can actually control how it levels, because you can decide when to use it.

I tend to play a lot of off-beat mages, usually with some weaknesses thrown in to counterbalance the strengths (a pure mage is far too powerful, in my opinion.) I've recently started an Altmer Atronach Alchemist: Her only magical major is Alchemy, and she has no other offensive skills as majors. She's now at level 5, with Alchemy in the mid-60s, and her blade and marksman (her poison delivery system) are in the mid-teens. She uses novice-level Destruction and Restoration spells to fill in with the poisons and buffing potions. She can easily take on anything she's seeing at this level. She wears no armor.

Alchemy is extremely powerful.

I took it for RP reasons aswell, I see Mages as having a lower resistance to Magic hence why they can use it, and I've always love Breton Lore.

Glargg I agree I only wanted to put up correct infomation. I was writing it at work with my boss walking around the office so I sort of had to flick between windows for a while to write it. I plan on trying a new Battlemage setup when I get a chance to aswell. Her Majors will be Restoration/Conjuration/Mysticism/Light Armor/Blade/Speachcraft/Mercentile so when I start her I will let you know what she is like.

right now i'm playing an altmer apprentice, good magicka pool, very powerfull, but extremely vulnerable against anything magical. his majors are restoration, conjuration and marksman, the rest are fillers that i won't use, so his level is capped at 21. i'm also training the other magic schools since he is an arcane student but he is not interested in using all of them. but he will probably use most.

altmer with apprentice birthsign is very good if you want to play a magic glass cannon.

One of my current characters is a Dunmer pure mage using mainly Restoration (Absorb Health) for offense. She maxed out Restoration at about level 12 and uses a custom spell that combines Fortify Magicka with Absorb Health so she can cast it continuously. With a few Dispel potions in reserve in case she gets Silenced, she can handle just about anything. She often summons a Clannfear as a "ranged" attack and does Alchemy for profit. Those two helped her max out Intelligence around the same time as Restoration (which gives Willpower). She hasn't quite maxed out Willpower, as she rarely uses Destruction, and only uses Alteration on locks. Her use of Illusion is minimal, just casting light spells.

She does have a small Magicka boost from the Mage birthsign which was useful to start her out, but gets much more from enchanting her clothes etc with Fortify Magicka Sigil Stones, and has upgraded her outfit a few times so everything gives her +50 per item. Wears no armor for 100% spell effectiveness, but her health absorption rate is more than anything is inflicting on her without any defense. Liches are a bit of a problem (spell reflection) but the Clannfear keeps those busy. Her nemesis seems to be Gnarls, who repeat their Silence spell as soon as she dispels it, so she tries to keep a Clannfear ready when she's in their territory.

If one reads the first post, OP is inexperienced with mages and asking for help buiding a mage that can be as powerful as his more familiar melee characters. He is new to mages and wants a powerful one that is easy to play. If you look that up in the dictionary, there will be a picture of a Breton born under the Mage birthsign.

Perhaps, in time, he will come back and say, "Okay, I got this mage stuff down real well and am looking for more challenge." I submit that would be the time to start discussing things like glass cannons, Altmer Atronachs and Altmer Apprentices.

Just sayin'. :wave:

Jup, sorry. You are totally right Acadian. For a safe and easy mage go for a breton with mage birthsign and try to get the mundane ring as soon as possible. You'll have 100% protection against magic. (some might say it's overpowered.) You could even make a breton born under the apprentice and offset the negative effects of the birthsign with this item. And this will give you more magicka. (I don't know what level you need to be to find it.)

if you don't have enough magic later on, try to get your willpower as high as possible so it recharges fast and make alchemy your best friend. use it to make restore magicka potions.

That's really it though, in essence, and all good advice subsequently. Just have fun, the pure mage is the most difficult class to play but most rewarding.