I have a few questions regarding Enchanting and magic, whose answers will help me plan my future characters.
1) Can you enchant non-armor items? For example, cosmetic items (shoes, gloves, etc.) that aren't classified as Light/Heavy armor, but occupy an armor slot. I ask in particular because my third character will be one that is a heavy magic and One-Handed user, and I'm considering the use of the Mage Armor perk, where your armor spells are more effective if you wear no armor. So I'd ideally wear a robe and gloves/boots/hat that aren't considered armor, but are enchanted. If that's not possible, I'll just wear a robe and light armor in the rest of the slots, which will change my perk allocation.
2) I believe Fortify (magic school) enchants just reduce mana costs, but would Fortify One-Handed (for example) still increase my damage if it raises my skill past 100? Can I even raise my skill past 100 with enchants? I ask because I would have to choose between:
A) enchanting for better stats/damage while taking mana cost reduction perks, or
B) enchanting for mana cost reduction, and getting two schools of magic (with the two enchants/item perk) reduced to 0 mana cost while being limited to 100 (normal max level without enchants) for my One-Handed skill and missing out on Fortify Health/Mana/Stamina enchants.
The answer to this question would also determine where I would allocate my stat bonuses on level-up. I won't dump a ton into Mana if my two main schools of magic are going to be cost-free with enchants.
Fake edit: I also realize after writing this that I can enchant four pieces of equipment with the mana reduction enchants, and still have two pieces left over to boost stats and One-Handed. I guess the question still remains, however. Would it be more viable to boost my damage/stats as high as possible, while enchanting just enough to make magic usable? Or should I just enchant away mana costs and use the leftover slots for damage/stat boosts?
3) I noticed that a lot of Illusion spells have a level cap. Would I have to worry about this at high levels? I plan for this character to be played entirely on Master difficulty, and I want to min/max it as much as possible within the build I'm going to be choosing, since I plan to make this character the one that completes everything (and eventually hits max level) - the "perfect" character. If Illusion is a huge part of my survivability, am I just going to get smoked at high levels if enemies level-scale with me and eventually are not affected by Illusion spells? Or do they only scale until a certain point? If they stop level scaling eventually, do they stop within the range that allows them to still be affected by Illusion spells?
4) This is overall gist of my thought process:
The character I'm trying to model it after (Aizen in Bleach, for those who are familiar) wears a robe (i.e., no visible armor) and uses a one-handed sword. His special ability gives him the power to create illusions and control others' senses, which translates well enough to Illusion magic. He is also very well-versed in other types of magic and is a deadly physical fighter in all aspects, but the illusion ability and his swordsmanship are his strongest suits. This is why I planned to focus on Illusion and One-Handed while also investing in other magic schools (Destruction, Restoration, and Alteration mostly) to cover the rest of his abilities and also increase survivability.
Basically, my character would be a magic-user that is very deadly with a one-handed weapon while using (Illusion and secondarily Alteration) magic to avoid/reduce damage, since he's wearing a robe - and possibly no armor at all if I can enchant cosmetic items in the other slots. Would this be viable on Master difficulty throughout all level ranges and against all the game content if the character is built properly? I plan to get all necessary perks in Smithing (for my weapon and possible non-chest-slot armor) and Enchanting.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I'd really appreciate any help I can get with any of these issues. I just want to make this character the best it can be.
