Do you think Alteration is for necromancer & vampires that use magic?

Some of you may say, "no. They use the undead to defend themself, so there is no need for Alteration", but is that really true?
If you think roleplay'wise.. shouldn't a vampire and maybe a necromancer be able to Detect Life\Detect Dead and those spells are found in the Alteration school.


And when when when fighting dragons ... as a character that only wear cloth & use Destruction, Conjuration & Illusion to fight and live.
I sometimes feel a bit fragile without any armor that Alteration could perhaps provide or there is Restoration but that is out of the question for a character.
Also there arn't always undead around to be summoned. Then perhaps the armor you get from Alteration is a good way of living?
Because I don't see a summoning elemental beings from another plane very vampirish!?

So is Alteration (lore & roleplay wise, however you put it) for a necromancer / vampire?
Please share your personal thought on this, if you may. Thank you!

Yes. Mage is a mage and he/she should use every aspects of the magic.

Yes, for a vampire I would go with Conjuration (raising undead) and Illusion (invisibility, mind spells) and Alteration (paralyze, shielding).

Thanks for the quick replies, appreciate it.

Would a vampire or necromancer with Destruction use Fire, Frost or Shock mostly? in your opinion, of course. I like to hear your opinion!

That's the beauty of Elder Scrolls, you can play any class and character in YOUR vision. You don't have to rely on D&D definitions and limitations of classes.

But, to answer your question, I would argue that yes, a Necromancer would use Alteration.

My Necromancer (closer to a Shadow Knight, as I use dual wield swords and Heavy Armor along with Necro magic) uses Alteration (in past games, Mysticism) for Detect Life, as well as Soul Trap (well that's Conjuration this time around). I do agree that a Necromancer would be able to "sense" the souls of others, and be able to detect them.

I also don't see how a magical barrier to protect him from damage would be out of character for a Necromancer. Alteration is one of my favorite skills in Skyrim.

EDIT - To answer your other question (right above mine), I believe it's more traditional that a Necromancer would use Frost magic over Fire and Shock.

But again, I'd say, play the character to your vision.

Well Vampire has high resistance to frost type of spells, so in a way I guess it would make sense to use mostly Frost magic if your a vampire.
But a old powerful mage knows how to use frost, fire & shock. Cuz some enemies are highly resistance to frost, so it would be handy to know how to use fire type spells or shock.
Especially a vampire mage you would think he is old and seen alot of combat so he would know every and each trick you could possible learn.