Whats the best possible mage in Morrowind?

[DNMR The Galavanting]

I'm mainly curious on race and artifact.

[Central]

High elves have a much higher magicka count than other races, making them very powerfull if used right. Their downside is that they are also very weak to magic themselves.
The bretons also get a magicka boost, although it is much lower than the high elf boost. They do not suffer from those weaknesses of the high elves though, making the breton the safe choice.
There are other races that can go for mage but besides some skill boosts (like dunmer +10 destruction) they do not have a boost to magicka itself.

[The Flying Rodent]

Probably Breton with Atronach sign, but that sort of depends on whether you're running with Magicka regen mods or not.

Altmer gets a higher Magicka pool than Breton (extra 150% added onto Intelligence score, so 150 + 100 = 250 Magicka at 100 Intelligence), but at the expense of weaknesses to elemental and non-elemental magic (50% to Magicka and Fire, 25% to Frost and Shock). Breton gets only 50% added onto intelligence score (150 Magicka at 100 Intelligence), but no weaknesses plus a 50% non-elemental Magicka Resistance , which can quite easily be increased to 100% with items such as Cuirass of the Saviour's Hide.

100% resistance to Magicka is surprisingly useful, in that you can cast Damage/Absorb health spells or enchantments with no fear of being damaged via Reflection, and you're also immune to 'any other negative effect', including damage attribute, blind, etc. Some players will cheese the 100% Magicka resistance to make full use of the Boots of Blinding Speed early in the game.

Atronach is probably the best sign to take, as it gives a large Magicka pool boost (200% added on), at the expense of Magicka not regenerating naturally. This can be easily overcome by Alchemy, and the 50% spell absorption from the sign can also be used to 'regenerate' Magicka using certain shrine bonuses.

If you have a real-time magicka regeneration mod installed however, then Atronach may not be such a good choice. The Apprentice gives a 150% boost to magicka, with a 50% added weakness, which cancels out the 50% resistance from Breton.

TL;DR

IMO, the 'best' mage would be: Breton/Atronach if playing vanilla, Breton/Apprentice if playing with real-time magicka regen mods.

[slayor3000]

If going pure mage, I go High Elf (Altmer) with Atronach sign. Get the Cuirass as stated above at an early level, you can be unstoppable.
Do not worry that much about stunted magicka as you are joining the Mages guild - 40 Magicka potions free to use from level 1. By the time you need that you should be high enough in Alchemy or start doing Temple quests and use the shrines.
As soon as high enough in skills make custom spells which can make your magicka last longer, also pick up some enchanted damage rings early.

[Stealth-Boy 3000]

Originally posted by The Flying Rodent:

Probably Breton with Atronach sign, but that sort of depends on whether you're running with Magicka regen mods or not.

Altmer gets a higher Magicka pool than Breton (extra 150% added onto Intelligence score, so 150 + 100 = 250 Magicka at 100 Intelligence), but at the expense of weaknesses to elemental and non-elemental magic (50% to Magicka and Fire, 25% to Frost and Shock). Breton gets only 50% added onto intelligence score (150 Magicka at 100 Intelligence), but no weaknesses plus a 50% non-elemental Magicka Resistance , which can quite easily be increased to 100% with items such as Cuirass of the Saviour's Hide.

100% resistance to Magicka is surprisingly useful, in that you can cast Damage/Absorb health spells or enchantments with no fear of being damaged via Reflection, and you're also immune to 'any other negative effect', including damage attribute, blind, etc. Some players will cheese the 100% Magicka resistance to make full use of the Boots of Blinding Speed early in the game.

Atronach is probably the best sign to take, as it gives a large Magicka pool boost (200% added on), at the expense of Magicka not regenerating naturally. This can be easily overcome by Alchemy, and the 50% spell absorption from the sign can also be used to 'regenerate' Magicka using certain shrine bonuses.

If you have a real-time magicka regeneration mod installed however, then Atronach may not be such a good choice. The Apprentice gives a 150% boost to magicka, with a 50% added weakness, which cancels out the 50% resistance from Breton.

TL;DR

IMO, the 'best' mage would be: Breton/Atronach if playing vanilla, Breton/Apprentice if playing with real-time magicka regen mods.

This

[Teralitha]

Khajiit