So in the latest Alteration perk list, there is a perk named "Mage Armor" with the following description:

"Protection spells like Stoneflesh are twice as strong if not wearing armor. (3 ranks)"

What I wonder is whether a shield is considered armor... I expect (and hope) that it's not, and that using a shield will still allow the Mage Armor benefit. I think this is fitting given that shields have their own perk tree, and I'm pretty sure they don't have light/heavy descriptions.

Thoughts?

Shields are considered armor. And I'm almost positive that, yes, they do have light/heavy.

I think it's the type of skin altering armor spells that it effects. Like the first spell will be Oakflesh, second more powerful version will be Stoneflesh, ect.

Edit: nvm, misunderstood the question.

Hmm...perhaps when the Creation Kit comes out my first order of business should be making a shield of armor value 0, perhaps that would trigger mage armor.

It would still be classified as armour though, wouldn't it?

The good news is that perk aside, stoneflesh stacks with armor. So I guess we can always just not take that perk, but instead take the light armor perks and go for a light-armor mage...

Perhaps, it's possible their equation was if(armor_rating == 0) //allow mage armor benefits

True, but the nature of this perks existence, and the fact that it has three ranks, which may go up to "four more times effective", tells me that the base oak/stoneflesh magnitudes will be weak. If I put those three perks into light/heavy, I could increase the shield's armor rating by 60%, but that seems fairly useless being that it's just a shield.

Another option is that I could enchant shield effects onto my robes, but that would assume that a "shield" enchantment even exists, which I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.

Yargh...this throws a wrench into my robe wearing shield/shock character.

The shield on the mage has another drawback; given it makes you "armored", it slows down your mana regeneration, which is fastest when using no armor...

However we know theres a spell that summons a shield-type force field you can block with... surely that doesnt count as armor.... MAAYYYBE block perks work with that? If so....

Whoa! I've never heard of this! Did you see this in a video? More info pls.

Perhaps there's a bound shield spell that does this from conjuration??

Ward (restoration) blocks 40 dmg or 40 magic dmg, perk to absorb magicka when blocking spell dmg

Yes, I saw a shimmering, transluscent shield in a video, round shaped, and I dont think it was a conjuration "bound shield" but rather an alteration protection shield spell, but i could be wrong. Given how bound weapons are translucent too, it might have been a Conjuration bound shield. I cant for the life of me recall in which video that was, but I definitely saw it.

Whether Conjuration bound armors count as "armor" in relation to mana regen and that Mage Armor perk is a very interesting question in itself. In Morrowind, it used to count as Unarmored and made Conjured armor pretty kickass. Then Oblivion made it fairly useless. A return to the good old days perhaps? Best case scenario, if we can use bound armor/shield without penalties and it works with the Mage armor perk, and the appropriate armor/blocking perks work normally, I see some pretty tank-ish mages in the tea leaves.

I guess if I'm handling my shield properly, and it's fully perked at 100% more effective, I shouldn't need more physical protection. I was planning on putting all my level bonuses into magicka and stamina...hmmm

I think I may have solved my dilemma: In past elder scrolls games, once a spell is cast the active spell effect never changed. Since the only "armor" I was planning on wearing was the shield, I bet I could dual cast stoneflesh, and since I wouldn't have the shield equipped then, the Mage Armor bonus would apply. Then I could hit a hotkey to get back into the spark/shield layout and the mage armor perked stoneflesh spell would still be active.

Whilst gamey, if that works, more power to us

Especially given a dual cast armor must be better. Not sure if more potent or just longer lasting, but good nevertheless...

Then again its entirely possible that the second you equip your shield the extra bonus fades. If it doesnt, people would just hotkey an armor suit and equip that too, wouldnt they?

Hmm, I didn't think armor could be favorited...just hand equips. Yeah it may be that they have special logic in there, but I'm 75% confident that it will be like other TES games in that once the spell is cast, the effect doesn't change through the duration. Of course up until yesterday I was confident that a shield wasn't considered armor this time around, so there goes my street cred.