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I am thinking of making a temple follower who rises high, and then is corrupted by the heretics. I thought it would be fun to make a younger Aranea Lenith. (Yes I know, Outlander born )I would base it on her Skyrim build (elemental Mage with Distruction, Restoration, Alteration, Conjuration. )
I've played a night blade type, unarmoured, but not pure Mage. Any tips on Mages? Are they survivable?

I've played mage types at max difficulty, Dead is Dead and had no problems, so yes very survivable.

Some players grind up their magic skills with simple 1 second spells to gain levels quick. I prefer a more profitable approach. Make custom spells for "Summon Ancestral Ghost for 12 seconds", "Trap the soul on target for 10 seconds" and "28 points of Fire damage on target". Cast these in sequence and you can fill a Common or better soul gem for use with Enchanting or for sale. That takes care of Conjuration, Mysticism, Destruction and eventually Enchant. For Alteration and Illusion, try swimming around the island while invisible. Restore Magicka from potions should keep you going and improve Alchemy. Finally, summon a weak creature like a skeleton and use it as a sparring partner to improve Restoration. Good luck!

Thank you! Hey, you forgot running to boost flee.

As a pure mage, I would definitively try to play a female Altmer and aim for 100% reflect to negate the penalties. Since I adore playing with maximum challenge, I would even go for lowest possible endurance (30) and play maximum difficulty. This requires you to employ alchemy very intelligently and use invisibility ring(s) along with a ton of high tier scrolls. It Would definitively be very fun and challenging. If you prefer a more plausible option, people tend to lean toward the Breton because of the initial boost in resist.

I had a quick go with Aranea (second name is Ienith too!, I not L) . She is of course, a dunmer.
Atronach.
I found this a struggle, but will try again. I chose this magic sign because of added protection, hoping to wear robes not armour.
I had trouble with fighting her ancestral ghost and not dying , and getting recharged enough to cover the cost of a healing spell. Does this just need practice???? To be honest, do followers of the Temple use their ancestors as sparring partners?

I am coming back to her now, starting again with a survival mod , so that will be the first chapter before she starts on the Pilgrim Way.
I will take alchemy as a minor, with the hope of getting to Solstein sometime with access to a second cheap Restore Magick berry. And make potions to fund her RM ones.

Aranea as a full mage in Skyrim wears a robe. Here in Morrowind, should I give her some armour until she survives a mudcrab?

I am playing her for the story, I'm not in any hurry to get to Red Mountain, but eating crab meat would be nice.

If you want to go as a full mage with the Atronach star sign, you're also going to need to be very good with alchemy in my opinion.