Okay, so I've been wanting to try this, basically a semi-pacifist run where my character is both a bard, and a mage (but only uses support magic and/or illusion magic to drive enemies away with the exception of undead. A white mage, if you will).

A few things I have planned:

- Character will not use weapons. Only fists as a last resort.

- As stated before, character is a bard with defense only magic: Will buff up allies and use debuffing on enemies. (In other words: Restoration, Alteration, and Illusion (primary). So heavy reliance on followers and such.

- Does not extend to undead. But here, restoration only.

- Character is not the dragonborn, so no screwing around with dragon-related mods.

- Character is either a stormcloak or imperial soldier (will use Imp or SC start), basically a spy of sorts though primarily a healer.

With that in mind, here's what I have so far for mods (Not the only mods, but so far the ones worth mentioning)

- Apoc spell pack

- Alternate Start (as I mentioned before, Imp or SC Start) Skyrim Unbound... giving that a try.

- Become a Bard (of course!) + Anduniel songbook expansion

- CBBE

- Skyre

- EFF + Follower Live Package (like I said, this character will be reliant on followers)

- INIGO (ditto)

- Tame the Beasts of Skyrim II

- Colorful Magic (might not be necessary since its mostly destruction magic, but I have it on mostly for the restoration stuff)

- http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35339/?

- http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24491

- You are not the dragonborn (which means no dragoncombat, no deadly dragons, no world eatter beater, etc)

Here's what I could use yet:

- A bard appropriate outfit (CBBE Compat please), Otherwise I'll wind up using either Imperial robes or Stormcloak robes mod.

- A better alternative to Support Magic?

- Anything else?

Since you are a mage do you plan on doing stuff with the college?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33213/? has a bard outfit. It's vanilla but I guess you could use http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49015/? to convert it.

Guess there's a reason you didn't mention Vilja? She seems like a fitting follower as she has a bard quest line and the main quest of course also includes bard elements. Interesting NPCs also has a bard follower.

If you're completely set on not being a Dragonborn, you can hard block the main quest using http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=169372128. With Live Another Live, you run the risk of starting that in motion with its NPCs or with going near Helgen, whereas with Unbound you can completely disable dragons. Plus, like LAL you can immediately start in the civil war.

I would advise using it instead of "You are not the Dragonborn" which has not been updated with the latest 1.9 version of the game.

Maybe maybe not.

Considering it, but probably not.

I'd still give him a weapon. I mean, even Friar Tuck was supposed to be a skilled swordfighter! Characters such as mages and bards would be lightly armed as a secondary form of defence, just in case all else fails. Your bard might even be suited to having a bow, and daggers would be crucial for any adventurer, not just for defence, but also for basic survival purposes.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93908954 is a mod MisterSneak and I created quite a while back. The concept of the mod is to make playing as a support character more viable. It's only on Steam Workshop, but you can just subscribe, copy the files, and unsubscribe.

Well, thing is I'm playing as a Khajiit (Well, Dagi Raht... yes, I still have that mod, and yes it also has the unarmed bonus) and Khajiit kinda sorta have their own weapons built in.

Most of the time I notice my unarmed as a khajiit is higher than if I was using a one-handed weapon anyway. Plus skyre has some interesting Unarmed perks...

Ahh, I see...You mean they have "I'll scratch your eyes out!" built in weapons? Anyways, I've just had a short look at my new D&D guide to Arcane Power, that coincidentally has a full in-depth section on bards inside. It says you can have bows and even swords if you like. But if I went for a sword I'd choose something more suited to a bard's personality, something like a http://www.coldsteel-uk.com/store/ribbed-shell-swept-hilt-rapier-88chr-full-1.jpg, a http://www.hpfc.org.uk/Graphics/Weapons%20and%20Clothing/Sabre%20Diagram.gif, or maybe a Japanese sword like the http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130329190843/walkingdead/images/3/3c/Katana-nagai.jpg. Although, I'm guessing the Katana has too many connections with the Blades, that is unless you say that your character discovered the weapon, maybe inside a Blade temple ruin? And here, http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Bards should also prove useful, as should http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Bard_Spell_List, especially if you're into mods and modding.