Noob Question: Magic and Stealth

[Tomha]

So I played Oblivion and Skyrim, and always enjoyed using spells instead of weapons. When Skyrim was new, I tried combining Stealth and Magic cause the idea of a Sorcerer Assassin that could fade in and out of shadows and bombard you by surprise sounded awesome.

So Oblivion had Chameleon that you could abuse, and Skyrim...ehh it didn't work as well but you could get that Silent Spell perk and really mess them up with Frenzy.

I just grabbed Morrowind to play for the first time, plan to not really use mods beyond a controller one and maybe an unofficial patch to keep it stable. Would a Sneaky Mage be a viable build? Or should I really invest in a weapon skill?

[Cortes]

Considering how the skills in morrowind work and how "easily" your spells can fail early game where your skills are not that high, you are probably best of with a weapon skill in Minor Skills as a back up.
I'd go for Short Blade. If your initial Conjuration skill is high enough, you start the game with Bound Dagger as a spell and that gives a bonus on your Short Blade skill.

Also, you really need Illusion (starting spells) and Sneak (because of how it works) in Major skills.

[theo]

Magic in Morrowind is more viable and diverse than in Oblivion or Skyrim. It is going to work.
However for playstyle you have in mind Illusion would easily replace Sneak.

[WingedKagouti]

Originally posted by Tomha:

Would a Sneaky Mage be a viable build? Or should I really invest in a weapon skill?

If you're prepared to take some time powering your character up, it's a solid build. Stealth is quite powerful in Morrowind and beyond certain enemy types Magic is great. But you will need a backup plan against Hungers unless you're going for Sneak + Conjuration, since they're immune to most magic. Many bosses as well as daedra also have Reflect on top of their magical resistances.

Chameleon in Morrowind is one of the ways to really break the game.

If you want to go sneaky mage, I recommend Short Blade as a backup skill for use with Bound Dagger (as mention above). Just be aware that it's likely going to be far more effective early on, which may drag your focus away from the magic.