Have any other Lurkers played Morrowind?

[kandrathe]

For me, being a wimpy mage takes more planning than being able to whip out your scourge and bludgeon the crowd to death. Not having yet played Tribunal or Bloodmoon, I've found that most of Morrowind's encounters are 1 vs 1 or 1 vs Few (3 or less). If the 1 vs 1 encounter is going to be tough, (i.e. like Ash vampire, Golden Saint, Dremora) I resort to some preparatory spells and an enchanted wizards staff. I think for a dedicated mage it is important to build at least one very good staff. My favorite for those tough melee creatures is an Ebony staff (cast on striking) With stats, IIRC, "Soul Trap" 10 seconds, "Weakness to Fire" 50 pts x 10 seconds, "Fire" 10 pts x 10 seconds. In any case, you need to find the right power/time balance. For me, one or two strikes of this staff is sure to kill and trap a golden saint or dremora. So if I see one, I use invisibility to walk right up close, and get one good smack in on them, then run away and avoid them. The golden saints will sometimes forego chasing you to cast a dispel, so as I see them preparing to cast I run back in and smack them right after they dispel. Switching to shield in between castings can help to deflect many blows.

Other strategies are to use invisibility to "case the joint", and see if there are any good cover locations from which you can cast. Many times a short duration levitate spell can put you up onto a ledge or even a rock, or by water walking you can get you a vantage point where you can hurl spells and quaff restore magicka pots in relative safety. And there are a ton of scrolls available. Now, granted that many of these things are available to all classes. But, then IMO, casting spells is just one skill, much like marksmanship allows one to shoot a bow. Another strategy I use is to use "Calm Humanoid" and "Calm Creature" to give me some time to prepare for the next barrage of attacks.