Illusion is great for archers / sneaky types, good or bad... you may spare the townsfolk, but with a higher skill level one well placed frenzy spell from a veeeery far distance is able to clear a whole bandit fort courtyard on its own, its simply great, also calm and pacify are great,, especially for wildlife, also for enemies i usually spare wildlife, pacify on wolves ,bears, sabre cats works perfectly... Illusion is really fun
I find it equally fun to just summon 2 dremora lords and have them let loose on a bandit camp while I sit and watch. Combined with the staff to summon a dremora and a companion decked out in legendary enchanted armor, it will be plenty fun. You people are starting to convince me though. After doing research, I found it will be possible to reduce 2 magic schools magic cost to zero and still fortify the one handed, bow damage, and stamina regeneration skills to the levels I wanted. Combined with the shadow bonuses it will be no problem. Lot of extra perk points to spend... will have to give it some thought. (do have plenty of points)
On a side note, it's annoying how these forums always seem to require re-logging in all the time. Tedious and completely pointless. Nobody's going to steal my account.