Okay this is for those of you who forgo the use of traditional weaponry in favor of the magical arts. Now i want to know what school of magic you use, destruction, conjuration, alteration, enchanting, illusion or restoration. Also i want to know who among you wield staffs to enhance your powers. Also do you wear robes or enchanted armor ? Please share your thoughts.

My mage uses Destruction most, and have some restoration to back it up. I go head on, no need for that illusion talk. Then most often I use a sword with that, like olar's oathblade or glass sword. He also likes to carry a staff off magelight, to bring up that Gandalf feeling.

Staffs help me at lower levels, but now my mage is level 60 some, and I haven't found staves very useful. I wear master robes, enchanted jewelry to lower cost and dragonborn masks. Destruction is probably my favorite, although conjuration is probably more powerful. Basically, restoration and illusion get too weak at high levels (healing still is fine, but I only need fast healing), alteration helps with the armor and detect spells, but that only needs some much skill points in it. For the most part, I focus on blowing things up and summoning dremora or atronachs.

I use all the schools of magic when playing my mage. However, I avoid Necromancy and only invest my perks in shock magic for RP reasons. I wear robes on a regular basis, although I may use faction armor when appropriate. I use Destruction staves and cost reduction gear. I also carry a dagger and a sword and specialize in 1H and sneak because I wanted my mage to be a bit like Gandalf. However, I rarely use those weapons.

I'm more of a defensive/support type Mage so my favorite schools are: Alteration, Restoration, Mysticism (Yes, I still count it as a school of magic), and Conjuration.

I like using Calm on enemies, then walking into their midst and setting of a Fire Storm. Anyone who survives has to deal with my Frost Thrall and Storm Thrall. It's fun to be a mage in Skyrim... not as good as Morrowind's spell creation, but it's good.