I'm Destruction primarily, with a side in Restoration because that 25%/50% magic regen perk is like wearing a free piece of magic gear that helps me.

I will delve into Conjuration eventually but the problem with that is, any kind of summon drains my a third or so of my mana right as the fighting begins, and since you only get experience for summoning while in combat... It's just not very practical for me right now.

If you want to be a mage with no weapon skills and armor, Illusion is the most powerful spell school.

You can use soul trap or a lower level summon like summon familiar to level it up.

Aye, I've already been reading up on the tips.

You can cast "soul trap" on a dead creature, and it levels conjuration.

Destruction on it's own, is incredibly weak in Skyrim. Investing in another school of magic such as conjuration will pay for itself at later levels.

Don't forget that in the early stages of the game you won't be fighting many enemies that are too tough for you too handle with a simple fire spell...as long as you don't venture too far from the starting point.
Frenzy and calm spells can and do work wonders. Frenzy IMO works best if you can remain undetected, which is why I have previously stated that the sneak skill is a good skill for a mage with little health to invest in.

How does one not get hit? That's impossible. With a mage almost all points have to go into magicka so that the character can actually cast enough spells to get through a battle. This means that health is always going to be on the low side, which in turn means that you better have some kind of protection------and that means you better be able to cast the best flesh protection spells you can buy.

I guess you could just cast an atronauch and run out of the dungeon or well down the road from an outdoor battle and then come back and do it again and again and again*. But some bosses and other combatants will follow you all the way to the door of the dungeon and be there immediately when you re-enter. In the outdoors some will follow you until your stamina runs out and they catch you. And it's not likely you'll run away from an ancient or elder dragon.

Illusion and Restoration aren't absolutely essential but Alteration is.

*What a horrible way to play the game.

Yea you can level up to 100 in about an hour doing this. As for a mage you could try what I do. I have max conjuration with my back up magic school being restoration. I also spec out block to max and carry a shield. I summon my 2 pets, set my companion loose and just let them do the work while I remain protected.

Yeah, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Illusion is a very powerful school and with it you can pretty much control anything within the game, its very useful to get out of tight situations where your mage is surrounded. Frenzy, then muffle and invisibility are your friends.

With a high enough sneak skill, invisibility isn't really necessary (although nice to have) but muffle does come in really handy regardless.

I've had calm spells get me out of a few jams that would've spelled my doom had I not had that in my inventory.

If you do not use much sneak but have more of a focus on illusion, and other schools of magic then its more useful but I agree invisibility does real nice to supplement your sneaking skills.

Calm is also really useful to get out of a bind I have used that and fled the battle and then I came back with full magic and slaughtered the opposition.

So how far away is too far away from the starting point? And how many levels are you suggesting one stay there??

I was not aware of the spells that were available to me until I had died 1000 deaths by level 9. I explored willy nilly and met MANY enemies that were too tough for my firs/frost/shock spells. A conjured ally is essential if you want to feel free to explore anywhere you please early on.

People seem to mention Alito around the late teens to the early twenties is where a steep difficulty curb is. Conjuration or illusion will help you get passed that, but level up your destruction and as soon as a more powerful spell is available get it.

I usually hang around the general area (Helgen/Whiterun) for about the first 9 or 10 levels, then start working my way out a bit more as I continue to level up. That's a method that I started using in Fallout 3, and it's served me well since then.

IMO Winding up at Labyrinthian at level three is probably going a bit too far from the starting point in the early stages of the game.

EDIT: Also, what Otheral said. As soon as you start seeing those more powerful spells, grab them., you will need them.

Are the spots around Helgen and Whiterun lower level?? I did not know that.

Maybe that's why I don't remember anything that happened there.....

In this game I think Conjuration is much more powerful than Destruction.

I just did enough in the area around Whiterun (plus the run up to Hjaalmarch) to get the 3rd unrelenting force word, kyne's peace, and aura whisper. Then a little dilly dallying in the Rift, then straight to the College to do its quests. Just explored a few of the locations along the way to getting through that part of the main quest and to get to Riften and Winterhold. You get Lydia fairly early that way, and the familiar summon spell was enough protection before that. No need for any skin spells or healing spells at those low levels. Rememberr with no armor you VERY agile and can jump out of harm's way many times, too. If you spend a lot of time exploring and leveling without focusing on destruction your damage output will not keep up as well. Just saying... That's why I didn't use much of illusion, restoration or alteration (except enough to get a couple of the magic resist and mage armor perks).

You do not necessesarily need a back-up with Conjuration. Cast your summon (familiar, atronach, etc.) spell and then summon a bound bow. You have distractions/tanks and ranged damage all in one school of magic. Bound bow is a way more magicka efficient method of delivering damage than any destruction spell.

No matter which magic school you use, you must keep your spell level higher than the mobs you are killing. You'll reach a point very quickly where the summoned familiar or zombie will just die, while you are trying to kill the mobs.

On master level, with robes, no bows or melee weapons, a health and stamina of only 100...i've played the entire game to level 63 using Illusion as main skills, and Conjuration as the second highest (combat) skill. Lots of Sneak though.

Make the mobs kill each other with rage/frenzy type skills...when there is only 1 left, summon a atronach or a zombie and blast it. I never get above Adept level of Destruction, and stayed at Apprentice for most of the levels.

With only 100 health, on master level, enemies kill you in 1 hit. Stay hid. Destruction will just get you killed much of the time. Use Illusion and Conjuration.

I would go for either conjuration and destruction or destruction and illusion.both illusion and conjuration gives you time to fire your destruction spells from a distance.

Well, no one says you have to play on master or limit your health to 100. If you are setting those limits for yourself, then you probably do need some other magick school to back up conjuration. But for us ordinary folk who play on adept or expert and who put at least 200 into health, it is certainly feasible to rely primarily on conjuration, provided you use the bound bow spell. That spell alone is way powerful with mystic binding, being equivalent to exquisit daedric, plus with the top perk in that branch of the tree you can send summoned creatures back to Oblivion with one shot.

Plus you get 24 arrow damage, even better. It's definitely a powerful spell. Also it levels archery very quickly because of the high damage. The only problem is that, to me, it's a weapon and I don't let my pure mages use weapons, even conjured ones. That may be unnecessarily restrictive but I feel it takes the challenge out of pure mage play.

I get that. I play my Altmer mage that way. He only uses bound weapons occassionally against mudcrabs and wolves and such just to toy around with them, but never uses them in real combat situations, so he is not leveling them or relying on weapons in any way. My Dunmer nightblade on the other hand uses bound weapons all the time, but no other weapons.

I would disagree. Although my current mage hasn't gotten into the late game, really high levels, I've used mainly Destruction and Conjuration. I've trained up Alteration with Tolfdir, but maybe 1 out of every 50 or so fights do I even think of casting a flesh spell. Most times with a follower and my summons and impact (have arch-mage robes and fortify destruction enchantments, not -100% though) I rarely have trouble in a fight. but I do sometimes die if I'm not careful and I don't have to resort to running away and hiding while my Atronach does the work.

On another mage I used Illusion quite a bit with sneak and destruction. If I get attacked by multiple enemies I can calm or fear some away while I work on others.

You can play a pure mage in a number of ways so try different styles and see what you like.