Hi, I am new to Morrowind, and I am wondering if it is possible to play a pure mage, no sword swinging for me, I want to be a Dark Elf with a nice robe who likes to use his magic to do the talking, I was thinking of having unarmoured as a skill as I wont be wearing any armour and Destruction.

It isn't really that hard, however the dark elf isn't a particulary good race to do it with however. Generally the most important thing you'll need the highest multiplier you can get for your magicka that you can get. So you need something like the Breton or High Elf combined with a good sign.

The other useful piece of advice that I can give is that you'll need to be good as summoning.

[ 10-16-2004, 06:25 PM: Message edited by: Seraph ]

Thanks Seraph [img]smile.gif[/img]

One thing you should do as soon as you can is make some new spells - the default are rubbish. When you can cast Drain Health 100pts 3s then you're laughing. At a lower level, a chameleon spell is a lifesaver (doesn't have to be anywhere near 100%) and will often make melee opponents walk right past...

Ok thanks Shamrock [img]smile.gif[/img]

P.S how does the points work, like one spell will do fire damage for 15 - 30 points, but I do not know how much damage that is.

That'll be enough to kill random wildlife I should have thought. The monsters level with you, so initial spells should serve you fine until you hit higher levels. You may want to lay off exploring tombs and the like for a little while though.

'Points' are points of health - you can get a rough idea of the damage by right-clicking and moving your mouse over your red health bar which will reveal your detailed HP status. Obviously a rat will have many less HP than you, a barbarian probably significantly more.

Levitate is also surprisingly useful - fighters can't hit you when you're 5 feet above their heads ;) Well worth investing in a bow at first or the bound longbow spell, because you'll struggle to cope with just your spells at the beginning (at least that was my experience).

Practice your primary skills whenever you can. Just walking through the countryside casting random fireballs will mean you become more skilled, so if you're on a long journey with nothing better to do, that might not be a bad idea.

I ended up downloading a couple of mods to rebalance the mage class, allowing your mana to slowly recharge being the main improvement. I found this kept the difficulty more similar to the other classes, as I thought mages were very weak and the game therefore too hard. Having said that, I'd played through the game a couple of times first - if it's your first game, then definitely don't touch them - play it as the game is meant to be played. Plus it was before I was told the levitate tactic and discovered how useful chameleon was ;)

Above all, avoid letting anything with a weapon get within 50 feet of you ;) Levitate, destroy.

PS Don't use fire on Dunmer (the grey-skinned elves) - they're rather resistant to it. It will earn you a quick death. Took me ages to realise why they weren't dying... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-16-2004, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

Nice post Shamrock, I will heed your advice thanks :D

i'm actually starting a pure mage myself but i've played the game long enough to realize the value of alchemy. not only can alchemy earn you a few bucks, but it will allow you to create some potent and often needed potions. since your mana/magicka is critical to casting spells making potions that restore it are your friends.
also, since your most important statistic is intelligence than you might as well practice alchemy too.

Ok thanks Too Darkpark [img]smile.gif[/img]

Good luck with your pure mage!

I got to Balmora Mages Guild, signed up and have made my first spell, its 50pts fire damage for 50ft and is a ranged spell, though they call it target, I was really impressed when I stood on a mountain and tried it, targeted a nix hound, the whole place blew up was so funny :D

I chose the Dark Elf after all, the breton and high elf look wimpy to me [img]smile.gif[/img]

Chosen all the magics, unarmoured, alchemy, mercantile, maybe forgot some but my favourite skills are Intelligence and Will Power, my class is Magic, and my sign I have picked is The Atronach, I found out you can refill it at the temple, also I think I picked up some potions from the mage guild chest, that restores magicka, I have 150 magicka at the moment and having a fun time [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Thanks all! :D