Oops! Me neither: Gimped out Khajiit mage. Destruction for bringing the pain. Alteration for protection, knowing where my enemies are, and that wonderful Paralyze spell. Illusion to keep me quiet, unseen, and for softening up the really big, really tough mobs. Restoration for healing and letting the undead know who's boss (plus that Close Wounds + Respite combo... quick heal/infinite sprint? Yes, please) And of course Conjuration cause I likes my Atronach buddies Keep calm and mage on ;D

Hey guys. I'll address the question on race. Something that I noticed most never brought up was the saving of perk points as a Breton. Following the magic resist route, one can easily magic resist cap without perks in magic resistance as below: Breton racial (25%) + lord stone (25%) + agent of Mara (15%) + craf skill enchant magic resist (25%). Note that since Bretons receive boosts in alchemy, potions crafted can be used to buff magic resist effects when levelling enchanting to the desired level for resist. In Essence, these above racial, stone and magic effect combo will save 3 perk point from the alteration tree which can be used to augment others talent faster or bolster effects. The other benefit these additional perk points may provide largely depend on the play style of the Mage, more useful in earlier to mid game as by Late game, all levelling Ris usually tapered to the same plateau. A classic wizard may want to focus more points on crowd control (illusion: kindred Mage, aspect of terror perk)) and bolstering his magicka regeneration (restoration: regeneration perk) in mid game. Similarly, a war Mage might spend more points on bolstering survivability (alteration: stability perk) and conjuration (summoner, atromancy perks) mid game and focus on his destruction spells in parallel with the arcane implements he wields (soul siphon perk) These are just some of the examples I can think of by saving these 3 perk points. My 2 cents.

I'd love to see a bunch of different peoples' takes on a pure mage for each race!

And I would agree that Altmer are right up at the top.  For me, it's really a coin flip between them and Breton.  

Very cool.  I like the synergy between necromancy and frost magic (but I guess I wasn't aware that raised undead became frost resistant).  

A Turning, fearing pure mage is a neat theme!  And with frost magic to slow down the routers, it would be pretty effective too. 

I could see a Khajiit mage dipping into Sneak too.  It's be interesting to see how Khajiit as a race would use magic, or approach the 'pure mage' question.  Illusion dovetails nicely with their stealthiness and a cautious approach.  Quiet Casting would be a must.  And Detect Life/Undead (silently, no less) allows a Khajiit mage to be a true hunter!  

Y'know, fear would be a really fitting Illusion line for Khajiit to follow, given their ability in Oblivion (and Morrowind?) - they had an 'Eye of Terror' power which you could use to send foes running!  

So a Khajiit mage sneaks in (muffled), uses Detect spells to sniff out threats, casts Invisibility if necessary, then whips up some Atronachs, aided by Destruction magic.  Sounds like fun!

Great points.  

I am especially interested in the perk-saving aspects of this, because a pure mage who wants to use as many schools/effects as possible has to be careful not to "overbuild".  That's not a problem for some players, but not everybody wants to get to lvl 60+.  So I'll be looking for perk efficiency, for sure.  

Yeap. From what I've seen the "Basic" build structure will emerge around lvl 30.
lvl 40 provides optimal "core" gameplay mechanics of the build.
Lvl 50 is usually the finishing off, sorta like Whipped cream and cherry.

Good luck for your build man. Personally, i'd be rooting for you to go for a war mage... not many of them around.

Thanks.

Please feel free to post your own War Mage ideas!  

In another day or so I'll do a second discussion focused on skills & perks.  That will be the real meat of this, obviously, so I hope you'll join in.  

I find myself always overplaying and overpowering my Breton(s) by getting the Lord stone, 3 levels of magic resist, Agent of Mara, and the racial for a whopping 95% magic resist (yes, I am aware that is probably over the cap). Become a werewolf as well and you have disease and poison resistance too.  This is useful on almost any character class.

Since Breton's are a fan favorite and are so common, would you consider the Altmer instead? It is really the pure mage race in lore. Bretons can do so many things, but the highborn ability works best with the largest magicka pool possible.  Just think - with the atronach stone there is 100 free magicka.  It would be interesting to build magic resist or spell absorption without the Breton racials too, and might inspire me away from my racial play crutch.

Finally, would you consider vampirism a racial choice? If playing Altmer the 25% boost to illusion might change the very nature of the playthrough, as you start with Fury.

I am being tugged in the Altmer direction, honestly.  There's a lot of discussion of mechanics here, but for me it often comes down to style or aesthetics rather than practicality. :)  

Bretons are described in the game manuals as comfortable with the "mercurial" forces of magic.  They strike me as the "so brilliant he's crazy" - or vice versa - type of wizard.  You could also argue that their racial abilities help enforce that idea, since their protection against magic means they can punch way above their weight and still come through in a fashion that may look mad or very lucky to anyone else.  I took a lvl 1 Breton through Fort Amol the other day; my natural MR and Dragonskin were basically the only reasons I got through there alive.  There's something appealing about that trope.  

I like viewing Altmer as planners.  While everyone else is playing checkers, High Elves are playing 3-dimensional chess - and they're 7 moves ahead.  An Altmer wizard is going to have to plan ahead for that Fort Amol raid, a bit more than a Breton would.  There's something really appealing about that, too.

Vampirism is a good point, and I think I'll address it in the next discussion.