A very good and versatile build, +1 from me.

Played this, and had a blast! Probably most fun build that I played till now. IAlso viable if you hate Enchanting grinding, for armor I just used Archmage's Robes+Boots, Mage's Circlet, Gauldur Amulet and a Magicka Ring I found. Worked amazingly, at lvl 38 I defeated two Draugr Deathlords and a Draugr Scourge, simultaneously, without a follower. I just love the Paralyze spell :D

Coming off the back of first expert level play through with your paladin build, Im now thoroughly enjoying my current play through with this. Historically, I've avoided necromancy as I've found it impractical when compared to it's attronach cousin. Thankfully, this build doesn't rely too heavily on having a summon constantly present in order to work and as such is allowing me to enjoy a slightly different experience and challenge, resurrecting what's available.
I've never made much use of wards to protect from magic or simply avoiding physical damage in the past, preferring instead to heal damage taken and negate with armour and/or shields. In fact it wasn't until recently joining the forum that I realised it was even a viable option to do so at close range. So, to reiterate, getting a very different and enjoyable play through. Plus 1 and my thanks.

I ran a build similar to this, the only difference is that I used a bound battleaxe and heavy armor gauntlets and boots. It's a great build, this one looks fun too, might have to try it out

HI i recently went through a playthrough of skyrim, I liked the game alot but found once I  past level 12 I got bored of my charcter. WOuld htis be  a  good build to try out for a beginner at skyrim? Also I don' ahve any DLC

Ok thanks it looks fun I just didn't know if i needed a c tDLC use it. 

Quick question about soul cairn summons - am I right to assume they are cast like regular summons? And as such, do they clash with absorb magic effects?

Yeah, they work pretty much the same as the atronach ones. You've only got 15% absorb and when I played this guy on Expert (my third character) I did just fine without any summons.

Very handy info to have, cheers.

Seems interesting :D Gotta try it on Master. Last time, I played something close to this but with Heavy Armor instead of Alteration.