Uhtred of Bebbanburg said:
I'm trying to play a battlemage type character but I kinda need the armor.
There are a few armors that don't negate (but don't add much) to magical ability, check here, under Enhanced Magic:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,276440.0.html
There are also some with a middle ground, mail shirts, I agree we could use a few more armor types though just for varieties sake across the board. Mage gear and warrior/mage gear, but I wouldn't want the balance to change too much.
It stops you playing a full warrior AND full mage. If I put on archmage gear I am getting a bonus 31 to magic (not including the staff). If you want to be more of a mage but still with some warrior abilities, I recommend the healing ring and vampiric sword, far from the best sword in the game it is still good, and will heal you every hit, and it'll put you in the thick with your troops. If you add some faith (even if you don't plan to be a full cleric) just for the emergency heals or cursing the enemy, you won't go down much with archmage gear on. The healers ring helps too, and a unicorn regeneration helps even more, that way armor is less of a concern (all this takes many levels to achieve however). You could instead go for the really high armored horse and an additional 12 armor on gauntlets but I do prefer the extra healing when trying to be a true mage/warrior hybrid.
Your other option is to use even more armored gear, twilight armor, with less magic bonus gear. Which makes you more melee or cleric, less mage, but still with mage options. So you can tweak your build to suit, that's one of the things I LOVE about this mod
I am not sure on the staff bonus, I always assumed as long as it's in your equipped slots, like the gear then you get the bonus, as every spell takes it out of your hand almost.
If I could ask for anything else, and I know I offer a lot of suggestions but that's merely excitement at loving this mod
It'd be some weapon that drains or recharges mana while equipped, maybe something I could use instead of a shield (very low coverage 1 but very high durability so it doesn't break mid game easily), forcing me to choose a shield or the extra mana.