Pure mages, at your stations.

[Muad'dib]

Ok, I am curious all ye who play a pure mage. Do you wear armour? And if so, what type do you wear? Heavy or light?

[hecktik]

well, i don't have oblivion, but in morrowind my character is a mage. i leveled up my unarmored skill because it's just better to dodge a blow completley rather than absorbing some of it's impact. plus not wearing armor allows me to steal more goodies from npc houses.

[Muad'dib]

But unarmoured isn't a skill in this, so i'm wondering if it would be prudent to wear armour...

[hecktik]

then carry some light armor, that way you can carry more items.

[Muad'dib]

Another thing i'm curious, i'm thinking of going without armour, so i'll have something like......

General Information:
Max Level: 45.5
Encumbrance: 200

Health: 60
Magicka: 210
Fatigue: 155

Abilities:
Resist Magicka (constant: 50 pt. Self)
Shield (daily: 50 pt. Self)

Attribute/Skill Stats:

Intelligence: 55

Alchemy: 35
Mysticism:40
Conjuration: 40

Willpower: 55

Destruction: 30
Alteration: 35
Restoration:
Illusion:40

Personality: 40

Illusion: 35
-------------------------
Like in Morrowind, will I get a spell for destruction, a spell for alteration, a spell for, ah you get the point. Basically, if I choose to go pure mage, will I start out with a lot of spells to accomodate my character?

[hecktik]

sounds like a plan. if the magic is like morrowind you should buy the cheapest spells for basic effects (fire damage/ levitation, etc) and then by having the basic 'elements' of spells you could make a huge range of custom spells without crowding up the spell list with hardly useful pre-made purchasable 'mixed-element' spells.

[Muad'dib]

Good idea, I hope it works out well for me. As soon as I complete the questline for the Dark Brotherhood with my current character, i'll do a mage and go through the mages guild. Then i'll do a Nord, with combat skills and go through the Arena and Fighters guild.

Then i'll wind up completing the main quest with all three

[darkhelmet]

Athletics is sort of the new unarmored... you get a dodge skill.

And no spellmaking... unless you get into the Arcane University.

[lordblade]

Armor hinders your spellcasting. Making spells less effective, cost more, and prone to failures.
Even light armor does this, though heavy armor has much higher penalties.

There are a lot of sweet robes and such though, which don't count as armor.

[eek]

If you're good with whatever armour you use, it doesn't affect spellcasting quite so much, IIRC.

[Bloodcast_Wench]

I'm an Argonian level 5 Assassin of the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild by the name of Black Tip (female, black darkred skinned) and I've got Shadowmere the horse and a buttload of gold from burglaring

[lordblade]

Some spells though are better than what you can make yourself.

I have a couple of spells which do over 100 damage... even though when making your own spells... 100 is the max.

[Mistress.Nairakarn]

newbiezilla said:

Ok, I am curious all ye who play a pure mage. Do you wear armour? And if so, what type do you wear? Heavy or light?

My pure mage character doesn't wear armor, just a robe. (I'm still just wearing the plain brown robe, you get near the start), and it's a High Elf born under the Apprentince, I simply choose 'Mage' as a class, non-customized and he is still very effective.

Are you having problems without armor? If you are, I'd say all you'd really need, is some good Conjuration summonings, with lots of health and a large size to destract enemys, Illusion for the sake of turning invisible when in danger, and maybe Alteration which I haven't really tried yet, despite being level 13+, it can cause shield spells and I imagine it would work just as well.

My step father said, Alchemy is very powerfull and combined well with magic to, but I haven't tried it yet, since my High Elf's will power, magic regeneration rate, and total magic are so high, I haven't needed it yet.

[Twitchmonkey]

Just get an unarmored mod.

[pilaf]

darkhelmet said:

Athletics is sort of the new unarmored... you get a dodge skill.

[/IMG][/quote]

Nope...Acrobatics, not Athletics, and it's not worth it to level that for a pure mage. Just wear robes and block with your staff and you'll be fine.

[darkhelmet]

And Alteration. My spell "Shield of the Emperor" gives max armor, when stacked with other shield spells. ;D

[TheStranger]

darkhelmet said:

And Alteration. My spell "Shield of the Emperor" gives max armor, when stacked with other shield spells. ;D

Basically, yeah.

[pilaf]

A "pure" mage and some Battlemage builds do fine unarmored. Also healers.

Sorcerors, Battlemages and Spellswords should wear heavy armor.

Nightblades and some Battlemages should wear light armor. Also, Witchhunters (although not so much a mage as an archer/assassin with magic support).

[melchior1]

nairakarn said:

newbiezilla said:

Ok, I am curious all ye who play a pure mage. Do you wear armour? And if so, what type do you wear? Heavy or light?

My pure mage character doesn't wear armor, just a robe. (I'm still just wearing the plain brown robe, you get near the start), and it's a High Elf born under the Apprentince, I simply choose 'Mage' as a class, non-customized and he is still very effective.

Are you having problems without armor? If you are, I'd say all you'd really need, is some good Conjuration summonings, with lots of health and a large size to destract enemys, Illusion for the sake of turning invisible when in danger, and maybe Alteration which I haven't really tried yet, despite being level 13+, it can cause shield spells and I imagine it would work just as well.

My step father said, Alchemy is very powerfull and combined well with magic to, but I haven't tried it yet, since my High Elf's will power, magic regeneration rate, and total magic are so high, I haven't needed it yet.

alchemy is slightly *cough* way broken in Oblivion, unlike in MW you cannot fail to make a potion, which if you have it as a major skill, makes alchemy the fastest leveling skill in the game my alchemy was at 100 when all my other majors were at or around 40, and since ingredients are so abundant to thieves, and since enchanting(though crappier than MW) lets you jack up your merch skill, my alchemist/thief is now rich

[Kained But Able]

The Enchanting in OB really pissed me off. More expensive items should be able to hold better enchantments. And the enchantments you make yourself all sucked anyway.

[melchior1]

th3undon3on3 said:

The Enchanting in OB really pissed me off. More expensive items should be able to hold better enchantments. And the enchantments you make yourself all sucked anyway.

I agree

[Hunessai]

If you don't have skill in an armor type, wear it anyway, and primarilly rely on magic, you're screwed. Low skill in the armor means less spell effectiveness. Instead, focus on Alteration and Shield spells.

[Mysterious Dr D]

No armor on a pure mage for me, I use the red silk robes from Rindir's and mainly use shock and Illusion spells.

[Osama Bin Laden]

I have the robes of the Work King on my mage. Enchanted ofcourse. He does us a heavy armor helm though, from the Fighters Guild quest line, and a claymore. He has 70/100 Heavy Armor though, so I dont have to worry too much about the helm ruining my casting.

[Zann]

I can't imagine using anything other than my sword. I'm so in love with Goldbrand.