I am trying to decide between a spellsword or a pure mage.

I never smith - can't stand it. I am willing to do some enchanting. But no alchemy - I can't stand it either.

My questions are for play at higher levels (I haven't gotten too high yet b/c I want to find the perfect build to enjoy and then play the whole game)

I've noticed that Draugr Deathlords can one shot my mage at level 28 even with 150 armor and 150 health.

However my 20th level spellswords armor is only 120 at the moment - so there isn't a huge difference and his health is currently 200.

I lean towards magic or at least a half-magic character - so my main question is: what level of armor/health do you need to survive against high level enemies like the deathlords?

If it is too high (300+) then I see no point in trying the spellsword b/c he won't have enough mana to do much and will be 'average' in both weapons and magic b/c of splitting time/effort between the two.

However if heavy armor (what I wear) without smithing/alchemy reaches sufficiently high levels (my heavy armor is currently 44 skill, and I am wearing full plate - the plate which comes after dwarven) and my armor is roughly 120 or so (no shield b/c I like casting spells and switching back and forth).

I hope I'm making sense.... lol...

I was suprised the Draugr Deathlord at level 28 could one shot my mage with 150 armor and 150 health b/c that seemed at least average to me for most characters that aren't straight melee or stealth.... any hybrid is going to be a mix which keeps totals lower.

So: Pure Mage b/c either character is going to get one-shotted at high levels (30+) or a spellsword - in which case please give me suggestions on how to make him more effective.

I don't want 100% reduction to spells (I'll go up to 75%) b/c it feels like cheating. I am a hardcoe roleplayer and hate grinding or exploits of any kind. I don't mind using in-game efforts and normal enchanting/disenchanting. It is personal preference that I simply don't like alchemy and smithing - at all.... it bores me to death.

So thoughts? Help?

http://skyrimcalculator.com/#49649 is the build I'm working towards with my Spellsword. I've just been going 2/1/1 (magicka, heath, stamina) every time I level seems to work fine for me. I enchant the armor to reduce some magic cost and boost magic resistance. I'm not to OCD about it though I guess.

there are more magic hybrids then just the spellsword that you can choose from. im currently playing a nightblade and its the funnest class ive tried so far. i only started him recently so hes about levl 5 now but he is still fun at that early levls, and later on in the higher levls with learning new spells he owns. baciacally think of an assasin usuing alof of magic to help him sneak around better. take out enemys more swiftly and skillfully and if you are ever in a situation where they are about to begin f*cking your anus with multipal maces you can always pit them against each other to forget about u while u sit back. watch the mahem and bloodshed and pick the remaining enemys off.

another alternitave is to make your own magic hybrid class. for instance my next class i will be trying will be a custom made deathknight to how i think a deathknight in skyrim should be played.

i have some links to the nightblade build i use if u would like them, just ask

If you don't want smithing or alchemy, that's fine. You can still get a tremendous boost in survivability from using heavy armor. If you don't want to use zero (or near-zero)-cost casting gear, then avoid destruction for the most part. You can do very well with a minimum of Magicka and magical perks by relying on Conjuration. The minimal perk investment in that school will free you up to perk heavy armor and one-handed (or two-handed, whatever you like), and you will get more bang for your buck in terms of magicka efficiency by conjuring atronachs (and later, Dremora) to de-aggro tough enemies (like high-tier Draugr). If you use Bound Sword as soon as possible to be your main weapon, and conjure allies when feasible, then you will level Conjuring quickly, even without the Mage Stone active, and then you can get ready access to higher-level summons that will give you the edge that you need to survive in every fight at even high levels.

At the soonest opportunity, I always go for the Atronach stone, because it gives you +50 magicka and 50% spell absorb just for touching it. But there is a bug in the game where you can absorb atronach summons with the spell absorb effect, so I play with a mod that fixes that. If you are on PC, there is no reason not to DL it:

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3352

After that, I typically level H/M/S with a 1:1:1 ratio, and never concern myself with casting gear, as Atronach summoning does not require heaps and heaps of magicka to do. If you play a Breton, then combining your 1/day racial power with the Atronach stone makes you 100% (there is no cap) "spell absorbent" for 60 secs, and this is how you fight
As far as Enchanting goes, use gauntlets and boots to boost your one-handed (or two-handed), and the rest of the slots can be used to bulk up your defense against physical and magical damage to keep you alive. Since you won't be using smithing, you can make up for it by developing your enchant/combat perks, and it will be more than enough to get you by... even on master.

-Loth

PS I never use alchemy either... too tedious for me.

400 armor rating and 200 hp (level 65 atm) and i'm not getting one-shotted by Draugr Deathlords on adept (default) difficulty. The worst is 3 shotted by those Ebony bow Draugr archer, but it give me more than enough time to heal myself.

I have a legendary dragonscale (no enchanting/alchemy exploit), but no perk in light armor at all. I suppose if you do get perk in light armor (+100% armor rating and +25% from set), instead of smithing tree, you could achieve similar armor rating.

Get your armor perk up, and 80+ in armor skill, and you will be fine on adept.

Some data:

With 100 heavy armor skill + all perks in HA tree to boost AR + 4 max enchants (+25) of fortify Heavy Armor (not using a fortify enchanting potion, but have 100 enchant skill and all perks) + NO smithing improvements:

Steel Plate ends up being 454 AR. Throw in an Ebonyflesh spell, and you are barely under the armor cap of 567.

Daedric armor ends up being 563 AR, so you hit the armor cap (or close enough) without any smithing, as long as you develop everything else and don't use a potion to enhance enchanting. Obviously, using an Enchanter potion will make the numbers go up.

-Loth

Lothario - that last post was immensely helpful in deciding - thank you!!!!

Thax - I appreciate your feedback as well b/c of the specifics.

And, of course, I appreciate the rest of the comments - but those two in particular were what I was looking for ......

Much appreciation!