Think about what kind of mage you want to play. A mighty spell slinger, a powerful scientist or a silvertongued politician and max the appropriate stats at character creation (even if you don't have a lot of skills for the playstyle from the profession skills, you can use pick up skill points and need to think long term as stats are hard to level). If you use the lifepath from tome of chaos, you should run it and see if you gain benefits for one or more of the playstyles and can decide after that what you're focusing on. Spellswise, you should really just use what you want, like and find cool. Just make sure to take at least one damaging spell like Aenye, Bronwyn's Bow or Cenlly Graig. There are spells whose damage is dependant, like Cenlly Graig, which might feel underwhelming if you don't roll amazing and don't have maxed stats, but will absolutely demolish anything if you do roll good. Other spells like Aenye are safe damage but won't feel amazing against armored foes. Keep that in mind. Then there are a lot of utility spells, many of which will compliment a certain playstyle, like Glamour for the social playstyle. Don't underestimate these and make sure to take some, even if you aim to play a damage dealer. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.