Light armor or Enchanted clothes?

[Theificka]

With my character, an illusionist sniper, I rarely come upon situations that cause me to be harmed, so would it be more effective to use enchanted clothing, or light armor?

If I were to choose light armor, I want to use the light side of the smithing tree to get to dragonscale, which would waste some perks. But it would protect me in some of the unavoidable fights that are bound to happen, where I just use magic.

If I were to choose enchanted clothing, this would give a wider range of options, and let me get into the Enchanting tree like I want to, but can't afford the perks. + I would be able to choose from a wider range of styles for my character, but at the cost of armor loss.

The pro-con list is just off the top of my head but then again I can use Alteration for armor...

I'm preferring the clothes at the moment, but I'm still having trouble making up my mind.

[noobishlord]

I have a preference for Light Armor on my mage-like characters. Alteration armor always seems to end at just the wrong time, and the pain afterwards, both from mana cost and physical pain before the cast can be released, is never fun.

That said, clothing weighs a whole lot less, thus is a lot quieter without the needed Sneak perk, letting you avoid fights far easier, and getting into sniping position. I'd still go with Light Armor, though, for when the going gets tough. And dragon attacks. Hard to sneak into those random things.

[JoeyDestructo]

clothes, I find that it makes the game more challenging with an armor rating of 0

[Talamare]

Enchanted clothing is pretty trash

Just get Enchanting and Enchant your armor (even with the Alteration Skin x3 perk)

[Evil-i]

One simply does not wear a bathrobe, showercap and flip-flops for slaying dragons.

[Gallus]

One simply does not wear a bathrobe, showercap and flip-flops for slaying dragons.

You can in skyrim. At least until they patch the game to make it hard.

As for the OP question, I feel that Alteration + enchanted cloths would be viable, if they made the skin buff last longer. As already said, it always ends up falling off mid-combat. So right now, imo, light armor is more viable and less tedious then alteration.

Easy fix will be to make the skin buffs last longer (5-10 minutes at least). This way you can stay protected with little or no tedious micromanaging.

[Musicman247]

I use enchanted light armor. Best of both worlds.

[azuarc]

I believe very strongly that passive bonuses, even if slightly lesser in effect, are always better than activated bonuses. I say take the light armor.

[Archea47]

Do you move faster in clothes? And I believe as has been said that clothes help sneaking.

[JamBS]

One simply does not wear a bathrobe, showercap and flip-flops for slaying dragons.

Speak for yourself. I wear my flip-flops any chance I get.
I would go for light armor, you never know when you may need it.

[RavenCeV]

I'm considering a similar character build with clothes, a stealthy psychotic Altmer illusionist. How essential are enchantments and what should they be?

[Belthazor]

I'm considering a similar character build with clothes, a stealthy psychotic Altmer illusionist. How essential are enchantments and what should they be?

Well, you'll be dual casting a lot of the adept and expert level illusion spells, so I recommend as much fortify illusion enchantments as you can. If you also invest into Alchemy, you can reach 100% cost reduction with only 3 items, actually, by putting the regular Fortify Illusion and the Fortify Illusion + Mana Regeneration enchantments on the armor, which doesn't allow a lot of other good enchantments, anyway. For any other items, enchant as you see fit. I like some sneak, lockpicking, pickpocket, damage and resists.

Personally, I prefer to use Light Armor on characters that shouldn't get hit much. If you're playing halfway decent, it won't make a difference whether you're wearing armor or clothes, since you won't get hit anyway. I just prefer armor "just in case", but mostly because I haven't really found any really good looking clothes yet. I guess mods will change that eventually.

[MichaelTh1rte3n]

Can we still enchant clothes and rings to damage the wearers? I am thinking of leveling pickpocket and enchanting for a dark enchanter build... Please say we can!!!

[Belthazor]

Can we still enchant clothes and rings to damage the wearers? I am thinking of leveling pickpocket and enchanting for a dark enchanter build... Please say we can!!!

Nope, sorry. But isn't there a perk in the pickpocket tree that allows you to poison them?

[SirMonz]

Can we still enchant clothes and rings to damage the wearers? I am thinking of leveling pickpocket and enchanting for a dark enchanter build... Please say we can!!!

Nope, sorry. But isn't there a perk in the pickpocket tree that allows you to poison them?

Yup, the poisoned perk at level 70 pickpocket allows you to do so. Really funny going into a town and dropping a frenzy potion into someones pocket and watching the down beat them down lol.