Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-201.68.123.221-20131218134843/@comment-96.32.225.78-20150325010922

Battlemages are battlefield controllers, which is why their focus is on Destruction and Conjuration. They wear heavy armor because there is a good chance some punk archer can headshot them given a moment's pause (to aim). The best battlemage concept you can get is a Thousand Sons sorcerer from Warhammer 40K; a dude in enchanted heavy plate summoning daemons (or undead, depending on your flavor) and casting down fire and brimstone on stragglers trying to get away from a conjured horde. To get in the mindset, you have to view the game like an RTS.

Spellswords are warriors with some arcane ability, nothing flashy but powerful enough to get the job done if they are opportunistic about using magic. Scrolls, enchanted items, magical staves and potions -- whatever is handy at the moment is what will be used to kill the enemy. The best spellsword concept I can find is Geralt of Rivia, from the Witcher franchise; though primarily alchemically based, he had enough pinache with magic to equalize a stand-off (between warriors) and enough agility to dodge attacks from mages so he can rip through them with his considerable bladework. To get in the mindset, you have to view the game like from an asshole's perspective: "Where can I hit them the hardest (given my inventory and spellbook) and at what time?" Basically, for the first 30 or so levels on Master difficulty, you are playing the Killing Floor: the Fantasy Edition.

And since someone mentioned sorcerers, I'll put in a little info on them as well. Sorcerers used to be defined by what the Atronach Stone now is, a mage with immense natural stores of magic but without the capacity to fill them naturally. Sorcerer's also used to be able to absorb magicka like a sponge (given a 50/50 chance of doing so) so as to recharge their stores and get  one-up over an enemy mage. That is why they are written to be covetous of enchanted items and weapons; why spend your own power when you have an item to expend? I haven't found a good example of them in popular culture be in order to be in the right mindset, you have to view the game from that of a magic user in Dark Souls; you have a limited amount of casts and few items to renew them, use them wisely.