Battlemage Help

Newo Turgon · Post by **Newo Turgon** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:17 pm

I'm creating a Battlemage, this is what I have so far. I've got 11 skills, but not sure which ones I want.

Race: Breton
Class: Battlemage (customized)
Specialization: Magic
Favored Attributes: Intelligent, Strength
Skills:
Long Sword
Heavy/Light Armor
Destruction
Mysticism
Alteration
Alchemy
Conjuration
Illusion
Enchant
Restoration
Block

Should I go Heavy or Light Armor? advantages and disadvantage of both plz.

What would you suggest for Major and Minor skills?
Any other skills?

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:34 am

The heavy vs light armor debate has already been covered repeatedly in these pages. Try using search, and you'll be able to read through stacks of it.

For the rest, I have to first ask: which do you intend to emphasize? Magic, or melee? If you haven't played before (and I suspect you have), you should know Morrowind rewards melee and penalizes magic, at least for quite a few levels--by which time you can avoid spellcasting by either making potions (alchemy) or buying them. If you intend to be an in-their-faces type throughout, I'd go with heavy armor. There's a lot of it in the basic game that's good, and it's easy to come by. Protects a lot more. If you want to hold back and cast from a distance, moving away when attacked, go the light armor route. Easier to get around, and allows you to carry more, mages being packrats by lifestyle choice.

If you're on a PC and have a good deal of RAM, consider mods that add more armor, and maybe a home with a teleport ring. That way, you can always ring back, and not concern yourself too much about the weight you carry around.

Newo Turgon · Post by **Newo Turgon** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:46 am

I know magic is penalized, but I'm going to emphasize magic.
Using magic first, then moving in for melee.
I'm thinking heavy armor, and if I went that route, how necessary would block be?
Oh, and I play on x-box, GOTY version.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:11 am

Not to criticize, but it's too bad about the xbox thing, because one of the best Morrowind modders just released a mod that allows casting while a weapon's in play--just as in Oblivion. (One of the few things Oblivion got right, IMO.)

If you're emphasizing mage abilities, block can still be useful, but I would suggest making it a miscellaneous skill that you pay to train up much later on. Besides, you can always raise it by just preparing a shield and jumping in a river. Allowing yourself to be bitten all over by those bad-tempered fish is great for developing armor and block skills.

Actually, your build isn't that different from my last (current) one. I *did* put block in the top group, but otherwise, we're alike. The hardest part was working up mage skills. I won't use the console to build those up, so it meant sitting around periodically and shooting off endless cheap spells to raise my character's abilities. As a result, I have a pretty powerful mage who also wields a mean sword.

Newo Turgon · Post by **Newo Turgon** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:13 am

anyone have suggestions for which skills should be major and which ones minor.
Thanks fable for your help

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:30 am

I would put long blades and armor in major, as well as alchemy, destruction, and perhaps alteration. Illusion is nice, but you can afford to build it slowly over time. The same applies to restoration, which will go up, anyway, as you use it to heal. Enchant can be minor, too, or even miscellaneous. You won't need it until much later, and it can be raised by then simply through masters.