Thanks, Librari! The way I played it was sort of as a double agent, infiltrating Harkon's court from within. Accepted his "gift", did his mission, killed a few vamps in his court, got through the Soul Cairn, cured myself, and went on to kill Harkon and never look back. I never identified as a vampire though, and I think it worked out pretty well that way. Totally worth it for the ring.

If you're dead set against becoming a vampire even just for a few quests, I'd probably use a ring to Fortify Magicka or Conjuration at lower levels, and switch to Fortify Magicka Regen in the endgame. Your best bet is probably just generic magic apparel, which can be bought at Raidiant Raiment in Solitude. Maybe try using the Blessing of Julianos to keep your Magicka pool up a tad, or throw in some Elsweyr Fondue if you can find the ingredients.

There really isn't any ring that comes close to Erudite, but by combining the Julianos Blessing with Elsweyr Fondue (when needed) and using a basic Ring of Recovery would go a long way toward making up for it.

Interesting role play ideas... I want to be a 'white' or 'light' or 'good' or however you choose to call it wizard. I guess I can avoid doing some of the side quests to hold back on the evil.

I was looking at the equipment and realized the Gauldur Amulet looks really out of place with all that green. What do you think about using the Necromancer Amulet instead?  I think I just might.  25% Fortify Conjuration and 50 magicka is a big help!

Hah, I thought you were gonna go with a "good" orientation? The Necromancer's Amulet is about as far from that as you can get!

Functionally, I don't see why it would break anything. Personally I think that stunted Health/Stamina Regen is too steep a price to pay; I'd rather have the Gauldur Amulet's +30 attributes across the board with no downsides. But if you're also not using the Ring of the Erudite, that extra Magicka and Fortify Conjuration from the Necromancer's amulet could help you out.

For what it's worth, I don't recall any visual issues with the Gauldur Amulet. I'm fairly sure it's not visible at all; its mesh lies underneath the glass set IIRC. But yeah, by all means, use it if you prefer. I feel builds are just templates, baselines for anyone else to take and do with as they please. I don't expect everyone to copy this word for word -- I'm happy to hear you're interested in playing it at all, and I love hearing the changes you're thinking about making!

Nothing wrong with putting an artifact to good use!  I've used it to cast Flame Cloak at level 2 before.  That's not evil, it's smart!

I'll probably use a little bit of both then, if it's not visible at all!  I never had any problems with the stunted regen when I wore it playing Mason's Sorcerer.  Stamina is for warriors in heavy armor, and health is managed by amber crystals!

How important is Alteration?  You never even mention what it's used for in the build, so I'm guessing flesh spells?  What kinds of armor rating values were you getting with & without your flesh spells after getting glass armor and light armor perks?

Not super important. I did use it primarily for Flesh spells (mostly just for tougher fights -- dragons, bosses, etc.) and also for Transmute. From a roleplay standpoint, transmutation feels like a pretty relevant ability to the character and it's also a good way to get some coin.

Not 100% about AR. I'm pretty sure I had it so that without Ebonyflesh, I was definitely below the AR cap. I forget if I was high enough to get to the cap with Ebonyflesh ... Should definitely be doable though, if you're trying to reach the cap.

It also depends whether you're in end-negative (helm) or end-positive (crown). You take a fairly significant AR hit in end-positive mode, when you consider the 25 hidden AR and the loss of Custom Fit. Flesh spells are definitely more useful when you're wearing the crown compared to the helm.

Yeah, I guess there's the hit from taking off the helmet.  I was just wondering, because it seems like the one thing I might tweak about the build is smithing my own glass armor!  Not just because I don't want to wait till level 36, but also because I think having to make my own suit makes it feel more special than "I found this on some punk elf."

I bought my armor from blacksmiths. Best way to guarantee the enchantments you want. My helm had Magicka Regen, boots had Stamina, gauntlets had One-handed. I forget what my cuirass had, but Health Regen, Destruction, or Light Armor all all great options. I don't recommend Magicka Regen on anything other than the helm, in order to ensure your Regen is properly stunted in end-positive mode (i.e., while wearing the buffed crown).

Smithing your own armor would definitely give you better physical protection, but I personally didn't think it was worth the grind, or having two crafting skills. Plus, you'd lose out on those high quality end-game enchantments.

That said, it would certainly be defensible for an artificer such as this to invest in Smithing to some degree. If you do go that route, let me know how it works out!

I think I will!  Librari has always been an artificer, and making jewelry out of mined gems and transmuted ore just makes sense for the character.  It also fits with learning how to forge crystalline armor!