I'm currently having a blast with my first toon, a female Khajiit Adventurer/Spellsword. However, I'm contemplating three other characters, one of whom will be a Mage.

Could those of you who have played Mages offer some advice? I'm looking to use all schools of Magic, and I'll carry a generic sword as a last means of offense during my early game. No, I'm not Roleplaying a strictly Magicka Pure Mage initially, although I'm going to try and steer that way as I grow stronger. I will be wearing Robes and jewelry. I'd like to try and blend Destruction with Conjuration, both with Bound Weapons and summoning allies and resurrecting fallen enemies.

I'm basically wondering what your experiences have been in the following areas:

1. Upon Leveling Up, are you focusing on increasing Health, Magicka, Stamina, or a mixture?
2. Are you using Enchanting to boost what you're not Leveling Up instead?
3. Have you been successful with Destruction-focused combat, or is mixing in the other schools during Mob and Boss fights more successful?

I know from several friends that play as Mages that they can be a diverse and powerful but tricky character to successfully play. I'd simply like to hear everyone's thoughts on their experiences and what advice you would offer based on them.

Thanks in advance. I know this is like the one millionth "How do I build a Mage?" topic.

For the RP people, here's a little bit of character information. I always try to tie them into Cyrodiil someway, to bridge the 200 year gap between Oblivion and Skyrim.

Name: Arkved
Gender: Male
Race: Undecided between Breton or High Elf
Alignment: Evil (uncertain about Lawful or Chaotic)
Faction: Order of Arkved's Light
History: In the years following the Oblivion Crisis, a clandestine and small order of Mages formed the Order of Arkved's Light. The Champion of Cyrodiil, performing a task for Vaermina, came across a Mage named Arkved, who stole the Daedra's Orb. The Champion returned it, but in the process, he enchanted a set of White Robes, and named them Arkved's Light. They have since been lost, but the Order seeks to retrieve them. They believe the enchantment allows the wearer to enter into Oblivion and it's assorted Daedric specific realms, and allows the wearer to become invincible while there because of a Light spell that clarifies the darkness of certain Daedric realms. The Order wants to summon Arkved's spirit in hopes of learning the Robes location, to use it for their own nefarious purposes.
It's believed that Arkved's remains, and the Robes, may have been moved to Skyrim. The Order has sent it's youngest but most promising member to quest for the Robes and any information of their location. They have named him Arkved as part of a secret and mysterious initiation ceremony, and to also serve as a guise if he is questioned as to his motives. The name serves as a cover story that he is an ancestor of Arkved, simply seeking family heirlooms.

Or something like that. Again, it's all still working itself out in my head. Thanks again for reading. :foodndrink:

The biggest difference between Breton and Altmer is how you want to play them. Breton are more defensive, with natural magic resist and Dragonskin to absorb enemy spells; whereas Altmer are more offensive, with +50 starting magicka and Highborne for massive magicka regen.

I played breton for my mage. He's level 53 now. I'm playing a thief now but here is what i did for my mage. Not the most super efficient build but this was my first full playthrough and I was learnign the system. My next mage will be wiser with perks.

Main skills: (all to 100)
Dest (All cost reducers (probably didn't really need those but oh well), Dual cast, stagger, improved fire x2, improved ice x2
Alt (Only fully perked skill tree, all perks, this tree is what keeps you alive + paralysis)
Conj (Atronach side only for me, no undeads. I think I took the cost reduction perks, which I shouldn't have. I did not take the master cost reduction perk because I don't like the master conj spells)
Enchanting (Middle tree only, I took the master perk)

Minor skill:
Restoration (it's about level 70 I think) (Perks = Novice cost reduce, Improve healing effectiveness, mana regen x2)

Stuff that just levelled:
Pick lock
Speech (Actually took a few perks here to be a wandering sage and trader)

Two schools I levelled to get to level 50 for the achievement: (No perks and I don't even use these skills. If I had to do it all over again I think my character would have been basically done at level 43 and I would not have levelled these two skills)
Illusion
Alchemy

EDIT:
This guy doesn't wear armor, he doesn't even have a weapon, and he never sneaks because he's the Archmage and he lights stuff on fire if it messes with him and sneaking is for Bosmer.

Thanks for the responses so far. :foodndrink:

Ahab, how did you go about choosing Health, Magicka, and Stamina? Why? Did it work? If not, how come?

Is Breton's Dragonskin and High Elf's Highborn once-a-day powers, or can they be used at will?

I'm mostly concerned with the Breton's 25% Magic Resistance versus the High Elf's +50 Magicka.

And then of course there are the beginning Skill boosts. I'm leaning toward High Elf in that regard, simply because of the complete focus on all schools of Magic and Enchanting, as opposed to the Breton' Speech and Alchemy.

Decisions, decisions! Gah!

The two powers are once-per-day affairs. IMO, Highborn is very much superior to Dragonskin for a mage character, essentially giving you unlimited magicka for a minute per day. I definitely found the Altmer passive bonus more useful than the Breton bonus in the early game, and the difference was irrelevant in the late game, since you can easily compensate with enchanted gear.

I wouldn't concern yourself too much with the starting skills. They level out extremely quickly, and I think it could even be argued that having irrelevant starting skills is actually better, since it allows you to reach a higher level before you have to branch out to keep advancing.

Altmer are also 8% taller, move 8% faster, and jump 8% higher than Bretons, which is a pretty big hidden bonus (since if your mage playthrough is like mine was, you'll be spending a bit of time backpedalling from ill-advised encounters).

So, all told, I'd definitely choose Altmer for a mage character, unless you have supervening RP reasons to choose differently.

Good thread!

Any chance that someone out there might be able to answer the question of taking Magika vs. Health vs. Stamina? I'm thinking to take a mix of 80/20 Magika/Health, but would love to hear the voice of experience.

Yes, I'd like to hear other Mage's choices as well.

I went with the Altmer. I'm having a blast so far, although I've only been to Riverwood. But getting there was fun!

I'm planning to enchant a ring, necklace, boots, hood and robe with various abilities. Among them will obviously be Health or Magic, but I'm thinking Health for at least the ring and necklace. I already found a Hood and Robes that have Magic enhancers. Later on I'll consider resistances to Magic for those pesky Hagravens, Warlocks, and other magical nasties.

Khajiit unarmoured mage here, I always pick magicka on level up, given a choice, I'd run first.

I didn't want to make a new thread so quick question, how would a battle mags who where's heavy armor level up his MHS?

Altmer robed mage here too. I''ve gone 60/40 magika health. I levelled up sneak way too fast doing bounties for the Thane of Markarth gig and now I'm way too underpowered to take on a lot of dungeons. I'm doing the College quests now and I feel like I'm catching up. There's lots of sweet magic based loot in those quests.

Thanks joe. That's good to know about the Bards quests. :foodndrink:

How are you feeling underpowered? Is it from leveling Health/Magic against your style, or did Sneaking just break your style because you leveled too quickly and other skills took awhile to catch up?

For my pure mage build I got my stam up to 200 for the extra carry weight + extra stamina for sprinting in terror... er strategic retreats. Of the remainder I've put about 60% into magicka and the rest into HP. One thing in Bretons favor is as a pure mage you can combine it with alteration perks and the blessing of mara to basically laugh in the face of enemy spell casters and use your amulet enchant slots for other bonuses instead of magic resist.

As far as spell schools go, destruction is a bit weak but can be boosted via alchemy somewhat and alteration is surprisingly more powerful than I thought at first. Paralyze is a game changer and can really turn around fights against tough enemies like Briarhearts and Deathlords who can and will one shot you. I don't really have much experience using Illusion and I've found Conjuration to be a royal pain in the rear due to bad pet AI in dungeons but they can both be pretty effective schools to use if you have the knowhow/patience.

Edit: For Battlemages I found the Steed Stone was really helpful and that you don't really need a whole ton of HP once you get yourself into your endgame armor set. About 200-250 HP should be more than enough if you make it to the armor cap. From there dump the rest into magicka, you wont really need the extra in stamina since the steed stone removes the penalties for wearing heavy armor and you can go toe to toe with the toughest baddies due to your high armor.