I will be playing an Altmer mage on Master. I love Destruction so it will be my main attack (I've made a pure before but unfortunately focusing on it alone isn't the best). I might try Conjuration as well since it seems fun but I had issues with it because I think Conjuration (especially reviving the dead to fight) is evil. And I was thinking of playing as a good character as I think it's more rewarding but to be a mage (with Conjuration) and as an Altmer seems like I'm leaning towards being evil.

I will focus on the 5 magic school trees. I will only use gear that I find or am given from a quest and I'll probably focus on finding Magicka Regeneration and Destruction items. I like to think I am a glass cannon even though destruction isn't super strong so I will be adding all my attributes into Magicka. I might add perks to Enchanting once I have mastered the 5 magic trees as enchanting seems to be a side Magic skill and I do want to be the master of magic, but I'm afraid even just using that skill will over-power me so I might just give it a miss.

I'm thinking this as my build: http://au.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/create?d=0000000000000000001011111111111111110110001111121212111111111011111112001013111113
I don't know what Perks are actually useful and which are pointless or which to get first. I usually play for role-play so I like to master everything in Destruction and most perks in all other magic skills. I left most dual casting out of the trees because I think they won't be helpful but I don't really know as I have only played a little bit of a pure Destruction Mage.

What alignment would fit this characters description as I have trouble deciding on whether to be pure good, neutral or bad ect. I thought it would be cool to side with the Thalmor even though they're evil but I can't so I might ignore the civil war.

Thanks for the help.

I'm not really good with figureing out the alignment, but your mage could, set out to distroy all the dragon priest's by whatever mean's are nessasary. Start off as a "goody goody" and maybe slowly go down the road to evil, but not realise that fact.

Doing those quest's/questlines that would be concidered good and then get a liking for power or just slowly get corupted.

I don't know bound sword/axe is a good way to start off conjuration w/o summoning something "evil". Also gives a reason for alteration or illusion.

Just throwing out Idea's I guess.

Maybe play as a good person but do what ever you have to complete the task. Like killing a murderer but saving more lives in the future. Greater good? Or maybe do both good and evil which I find hard to do as I usually play as either goody two-shoes or evil to the core.

If you are reanimating bad guys to fight for you I don't think it's entirely evil since they tried to kill you first and so your punishing them.

Maybe play as a person who does anything he wants. He may help someone and then the next day kill someone. You do whatever you feel like doing and you're so powerful that no one can stop you.

I like that idea that will be the RP for my next Mage character.

I think you should play more on the good/neutral side but how you complete the task is however you want. So you get things done but how you do it is not necessarily a 'good' way. Or maybe just do whatever you want, like help people and kill people.

This is an interesting question. How good is "good"? Your character definitely won't be demonically evil, but will he commit any foul deeds at all? What degree of evil is defensible? Could he be idealistically evil (doing something evil which he believes is right) or simply instrumentally evil (doing something he knows is evil in order to achieve something for the greater good)? Or will he be someone who will never hurt a (butter)fly or bend the rules for personal gain?

Playing different kinds of characters is fun, because you don't experience the whole game in a single playthrough. I tried to join the Thieves' Guild with my good mage, but he svcked at sneaking. Guess I'll have to make a thief some time.

For a good mage, the College of Winterhold is obvious. The Bards' College could work too, as well as the Companions. Killing necromancers/hostile mages and Dragon Priests is great fun. Could you do any daedric quests, or do you consider daedra lords too evil? Lots of freedom here. Good luck!

I made an Altmer mage for my last character and I couldn't love him more. He was probably my most efficiently leveled, too (level 59 in 25 hours) and I make him a sort of chaotic neutral alignment. I roleplay him as an ex-Thalmor general so his destruction, light armor, and one handed are superb. That being said I always target the Thalmor, and in the case of the Markarth dwelling Thalmor agents I killed them outright in front of the Jarl, and subsequently killed all of the guards that attacked me, making my bounty in the reach tremendous (about 25k), but elsewhere relatively static. When it comes to picking an alignment I like to first pick the character, and the alignment should come naturally. However most of my characters seem to end up evil XD

I have just recently played my pure evil assassin. He was killing anyone he liked for his own desires. If someone insulted me I slit their throat. I did the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood and a few side quests and a lot of random exploration. He was my evil character and I enjoyed killing innocent people and doing the two guild quests but that is all I could find that was evil to do.

Now I want to make a good character (I am actually thinking of making an honourable dragonborn warrior for my good guy who does the main quest and helps people for free).

But I'm stuck on my mage. I prefer to be good as I find there is more people to help and it's rewarding. But if I play a mage that focuses on all schools especially Conjuration and summoning dead I feel evil when I try to be good. I am thinking I might help people whether they pay me or not but how I help them is out of the question. I do what I must to succeed in helping people. If it means summoning the dead to fight I will do it. All for the greater good maybe. I don't know, but I wish I could join the Thalmor as I could role-play something different, but if I do evil things all the other people who want help will have to be ignored. I just cannot decide how I should play the character.

I want this to be my main character as it's my favourite playstyle. I want to do most things in the game as I haven't tried the main/civil quest. I might leave it to my warrior instead though since I can't figure out how I can play him.

I just can't think of how to role-play his alignment.

I think play as a neutral/good character. You help people but how you complete the task is your choice. If you summon the dead to protect you while you kill the enemies do so. If they don't accept how you've helped either ignore them or kill them. At least you were willing to help them. You're using the dark arts to help the good.

That sounds good. Use the dark arts to help the good.

all altmer are chaotic evil

My next character will be an evil sword/archery assassin in Penitus Oculatus Armor but with the Dark Brotherhood hood.

Kind of like an imperial who went all corrupted and turned on them.

Plus, haven't played a Sneaky in a long time.

"Alignment" is a made up idea with no place in modern gaming.

You shouldn't be asking yourself, "Is my character good or evil?" You should be asking yourself what his history is and what his motivations are. Why is he in Skyrim? Why did he learn summoning magic? How does he feel about the daedra? How does he feel about necromancy? What is he trying to accomplish? (No, "doing lots of quests" or "levelling up" don't count.) Why on earth would an Altmer hang around this godforsaken frozen wasteland? There's got to be a reason he's here. Start with that.

Once you answer these types of questions, then you will know how to react naturally when something happens in the game. Maybe you will find that your character doesn't care if some jarl offers a bounty on a giant on some mountain. It's not good or evil to refuse that quest, it's just something you choose to do or not. Who died and made it your job to solve everyone's problems? But there will be a lot of things that come up along the way that your character does want to get involved in. Do the quests that he has a reason to care about. Walk away from the others.

Does your character believe that dead bodies have no souls? Then maybe he has no reason to feel bad about reanimating them. Some people might call that "evil" but to him there's nothing to get all worked up about. Does he think the daedra are nasty jerks who spend too much time tormenting mortals? Then maybe they deserve to get summoned and forced to fight for you.

I'd go with a neutral mage so I'm not hit with the moral dilema of "is it wrong to reanimate this bandit's corpse. . .?"

I am trying to think like this but I am finding this character hard. I want to help people but I want to be able to cast whatever spells I want. I want to do everything. I want to work with the Daedra but I want to help random people as well. I kind of want to be neutral. I'm not the best with making up a background.

I don't know why an Altmer would come to Skyrim unless they're working with the Thalmor. But I can't join them unfortunately. The reason he learned summoning/conjuration is to become the greatest mage possible, I want him to be a master of all arcane arts. I don't think Necromancy is bad because if your using it to help the good, what's wrong with that? Only problem is when I think of an Altmer I think they're more evil especially with the Thalmor. I think role-playing a good Altmer won't fit in with Necromancy and the Daedra.

I have some ideas, but since I'm at work I can't take too much time fleshing them out right now. A couple quick things:

YOU want your character to cast all spells so he can be totally sweet at magic, but that's not a good character motivation. Why does HE want to get good at all schools? Why does he want to be so powerful? Is he just power crazy? Does he have something to prove to someone else? Is there a great evil back home he needs to learn to fight?

The other thing: not all Altmer love the Thalmor! Just like not all Nords are Stormcloaks and not all Americans love George W. Bush. Maybe your guy thinks the Thalmor are jerks giving elves a bad name. Maybe he wants to fight the Thalmor so elves and humans can reunite like in the old days of the Empire. Maybe he actually came to Skyrim to try to change the humans' minds ... because pretty much everyone in Skyrim hates the Thalmor, and elves in general.

Just a couple ideas, hope they inspire you a little

I like these ideas, thanks. Maybe the reason I want to be all-powerful is to stop the Thalmor and unite the Elves and Humans. I want be a good person and prove that not all Altmer want domination or whatever evil aspiration they have. The only problem is that I think that Conjuration/Necromancy will conflict with this as I am raising the dead to fight. And also I wanted to do Daedric quests as well.

I don't know how can I prove Necromancy or Daedric aren't evil to those who consider it evil.

Sounds like a decent personality is taking shape!

... And this sounds really interesting. Your character doesn't consider it evil, but other people might and he cares about their opinions. Will he only cast Conjuration when nobody else is around? Will he do it in the middle of a town like nothing is wrong? When the humans freak out, imagine what your character might say to them to convince them it's OK. Or imagine that they're waving pitchforks and torches and get the heck out of there! Imagine conversations with your follower (if any). Do you think you could change his mind? If not, maybe you'll end up having to say "We'd better part ways" even though the game doesn't force you to. Playing along with consequences that you just make up can be such a fun part of role-playing. It's OK that you have no idea how it will work before you start playing. Let it evolve as you go, and write a story in your mind that makes sense. Who knows, maybe when your army of zombies saves the town from giant spiders, you'll change some minds.

Keep in mind that race and skills do NOT dictate alignment. Lawful good necromancers, while rare in the extreme, are still possible. It would even be conceivably possible to make a good Thalmor character that believes in Elven supremacy, but thinks that this means that Elves should rule and lead with benevolence instead of dominance. It is actions and beliefs that result in alignment, not what you are born as or what profession you pursue.

Why would you want other people to tell you what alignment to choose? It's one of the few things you get to choose roleplay-wise in this game. Granted some quests will pigeon-hole you into certain alignments like, say, the main quest.

I'm going to play like I said before "I want to be all-powerful is to stop the Thalmor and unite the Elves and Humans. I want be a good person and prove that not all Altmer want domination or whatever evil aspiration they have." I think Necromancy is fine because I'm using it to be good. Although some may see it as evil, I'm using the evil power to stop evil, fight fire with fire I suppose. I still don't know about the Daedric yet, but I'll just enjoy the game and see how the character plays out. If no one will accept my help through my dark arts I'll probably turn out on them and kill people instead. Who knows. It's my game and adventure to take so I better do that.