What should a mage wear?

[Charlemagne]

I always dress my mages in robes and hoods, only light armor on hands and feet for some marginal protection. But how useful are these novice and apprentice and etc. robes compared with the protection of wearing some armor? I mean is 50% or 75% or whatever increase in magicka regeneration really meaningful? Or for that matter 12%, 15% or 17% reduction in cost for the spell school of your choice?

Supposedly, in combat (which is when it really counts) you regenerate 0.99% of your magicka per second. I imagine that 0.99% is based on your natural magicka (without increases due to items). So, say my mage has 200 base magicka, he regenerates about 2 points of magicka per second. He has a 100% magicka regeneration robe, that gives him 4 magicka regen per second. Most battles only last a few seconds, say 10. So he gained 20 magicka from using his robes...

Now he could have been wearing a chest armor that game him say 38 armor. This plus the 25 hidden base armor from the piece gives him 63 armor, times 0.12 about 7% protection against damage. Which will shave off from a typical strong blow of 40 points, about 3 hit points. Less from smaller blows. Not impressive either. Of course if he has high armor skill his armor will become really protective, but supposedly mages will prefer to invest their skill and perks in magic.

Of course, there is magical armor to consider. This will give you the best of both worlds. But for some reason, armor doesn't seem to be able to give you those high percentages of regeneration and discount that robes have. Armor is better though at giving you straight magicka bonuses which in the end may be more useful than magicka regen. I mean when you enchant stuff yourself.

I know I'm comparing oranges and pears here, but what do you prefer to dress your mage with, and why? In the end, maybe it's not very relevant and you can choose what looks prettier :-)

[Big Boom Boom]

You know you can enchant armour with both -% Magicka usage AND -% Magicka usage + % Regenerate Magicka?

[Perfect Hatred]

I wear Fine Hat, Fine Clothes, Fine Boots, Gold Diamond Necklace, and Gold Diamond Ring. I am a suave, wealthy vampire wizard.

Once you max out Enchanting you wear whatever you want to wear because the gear's innate stats become irrelevant. Even more so if you have an Enchanter's Elixir. Even more so if you are a vampire and you have the Necromage perk from the Restoration skill tree.

Honestly your skill levels in everything but Enchanting start to become irrelevant when you are a Necromage vampire. With the Lord Stone active, Ebony Flesh cast, and a ward up I fall something like 37 points from the armor cap. I switch to my set of archery enchanted clothes and suddenly I am an extremely effective archer with a 232% archery damage bonus.

If you don't want a bunch of enchants then just use Illusion. It is equally effective at all difficulty levels and you can get by using it without any enchanted gear. With the right perks your Illusion spells will effect almost every enemy in the game with the exception of dragons.

[Charlemagne]

Yes, but the % you get even with mid-level enchanting and perks is always far less than what robes that you find or buy have. I suppose at 100 skill and with all perks (haven't got there) maybe you can achieve it, or close to it. Or maybe robes are intended to be stronger in magicka for balance.

[-Zimbi]

I have a battlemage in full heavy enchanted armour, never used robes even in lvl1, that way i got used to what my abilities were and how effective they are. When i got to higher lvls with 100 enchantment, My heavy armor was alot more effective then master robes.

[Perfect Hatred]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

Yes, but the % you get even with mid-level enchanting and perks is always far less than what robes that you find or buy have. I suppose at 100 skill and with all perks (haven't got there) maybe you can achieve it, or close to it. Or maybe robes are intended to be stronger in magicka for balance.

The Master robes aren't bad. They're just not as good as what you can make yourself.

Magicka Regen as a whole is irrelevant and should only go on gear that can't take a more useful enchant. You only regenerate Magicka when you are not charging or casting a spell. In a fight you're better off with gear that reduces the cost of spells from a school of Magick or Fortifies Magicka. Both of those enchants increase the number of spells you can cast in a combat situation before you run out of Magicka. Magicka Regen only helps when you're running away because you are out of Magicka. Even then you would probably be better off with enchants that reduce spell costs and your base Magicka Regen rate.

[Shin Dan]

honestly, it's an rp thing.
eventually, if you master it, alteration can give you a spell that allows you to ignore 80% of all incoming damage, making the robes better for wearing as this effect is probably boosted by the "no armor" perk.

[Perfect Hatred]

Originally posted by Wolf Banderson:

honestly, it's an rp thing.
eventually, if you master it, alteration can give you a spell that allows you to ignore 80% of all incoming damage, making the robes better for wearing as this effect is probably boosted by the "no armor" perk.

80% damage reduction is the cap. You can't get anything boosted beyond the cap. That's why it is called the cap. Doesn't matter whether you get there with armor, spells, or both. You're not getting more than an 80% damage reduction.

[so nice gamer]

Originally posted by An Invisible Hand:

Originally posted by Wolf Banderson:

honestly, it's an rp thing.
eventually, if you master it, alteration can give you a spell that allows you to ignore 80% of all incoming damage, making the robes better for wearing as this effect is probably boosted by the "no armor" perk.

80% damage reduction is the cap. You can't get anything boosted beyond the cap. That's why it is called the cap. Doesn't matter whether you get there with armor, spells, or both. You're not getting more than an 80% damage reduction.

Yep. You can get a value that's higher, but the game will still only take 80% as the damage reduction. Same with armor. You can surpass the cap, but every armor rating over the cap will offer the same amount of protection as armor that meets the cap exactly.

[Big Boom Boom]

Originally posted by Wolf Banderson:

honestly, it's an rp thing.
eventually, if you master it, alteration can give you a spell that allows you to ignore 80% of all incoming damage, making the robes better for wearing as this effect is probably boosted by the "no armor" perk.

80% of all physical, not all damage.

[NostalgiaVivec]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

I always dress my mages in robes and hoods, only light armor on hands and feet for some marginal protection. But how useful are these novice and apprentice and etc. robes compared with the protection of wearing some armor? I mean is 50% or 75% or whatever increase in magicka regeneration really meaningful? Or for that matter 12%, 15% or 17% reduction in cost for the spell school of your choice?

Supposedly, in combat (which is when it really counts) you regenerate 0.99% of your magicka per second. I imagine that 0.99% is based on your natural magicka (without increases due to items). So, say my mage has 200 base magicka, he regenerates about 2 points of magicka per second. He has a 100% magicka regeneration robe, that gives him 4 magicka regen per second. Most battles only last a few seconds, say 10. So he gained 20 magicka from using his robes...

Now he could have been wearing a chest armor that game him say 38 armor. This plus the 25 hidden base armor from the piece gives him 63 armor, times 0.12 about 7% protection against damage. Which will shave off from a typical strong blow of 40 points, about 3 hit points. Less from smaller blows. Not impressive either. Of course if he has high armor skill his armor will become really protective, but supposedly mages will prefer to invest their skill and perks in magic.

Of course, there is magical armor to consider. This will give you the best of both worlds. But for some reason, armor doesn't seem to be able to give you those high percentages of regeneration and discount that robes have. Armor is better though at giving you straight magicka bonuses which in the end may be more useful than magicka regen. I mean when you enchant stuff yourself.

I know I'm comparing oranges and pears here, but what do you prefer to dress your mage with, and why? In the end, maybe it's not very relevant and you can choose what looks prettier :-)

ware some light armour with fortify magic and also rings and neclaces with fortify magic on

[Cloud]

I don't like the basic look of mages with robes n stuff. IF you want to wear something wear light armor and enchant it..you're a mage after all right? Also depending on your mod preference you WANT to get light armor. I for example love immersive mods and one if Frostfall. Light armor like fur is best to survive the harsh winters in Skyrim.