Here's a character concept I've dreamed up but have yet to build (and may never, since im a casual gamer). Once again, I want to illustrate the fact that building a character from a skill-based system lends itself towards creativety, originality, and mitigates the whole treadmill issue since you are creating, not duplicating.
This might be a long one...
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My last character, Gerto, was to be a supreme fighter. Here, I wanted something close to the opposite approach, a powerful mage. Yet, I feel instead of just taking all the spells you can cram into a character (Or pressing "Wizard" as your class), let's look at what we really need to be effective and trim any excess fat. Ill try my best to describe what Im talking about in detail since most of the readers have little to no clue as to the specifics of M59. Unless you want to go and sign up and find out the best way 
What differentiates a Pure Mage from most other characters is that these PMs use Faren as their attack school as opposed to Weaponcraft. In my mind, to make this type of character effective, you need to address two issues, mana and defense. Without weaponcraft, you typically take a beating from melee attacks since you can't really avoid attacks. With Faren, you have a limited amount of attacks, linked to your mana, unlike melee weapons which are essentially limitless in the amount of times they can attack.
Mana: The main way to get enough mana to make sure you can last any type of fight is to learn Jala 6 and crystalize mana. Crystalize mana lets you sing a song that stores your mana into a crystal linked to your character that when used replenishes your mana bar. I want to go a different route though, I feel six levels of a school is not worth this one spell. We are not going to learn Jala 6 and instead use those levels to learn some defensive skills and spells. In its stead, we are going to join Princess faction and get her shield. This faction gives you a bonus to your mana regen and makes your Faren spells stronger and cost less mana. Now, a normal Cess shield might not be enough mana for an especially long fight, so your first priority after building this character is to get a high a rank as possible with this shield. That means killing some other players with opposing faction shields. Or have a REALLY REALLY good friend willing to take a death for you. Until then, you will have to show some discipline in how much mana you use.
Defense. The typical Pure Mage defense is a strong offense. The typical build allows you to either get Gaze of the Basilisk or Armor of Gort as the main defensive spells. (Gaze I've mentioned before as Molly has it. The spells paralyzes anyone who attacks you for a moment, basically halving their attack rate. Gort is the tantamount armor buff. Both are high level and are in different schools.) Instead of agonizing over that decision, I am going to get both since we have some levels to throw around. With some more of those Jala levels, I am going to get Weaponcraft to level 2. Now, those two levels are not for any weapon skills, we are NOT going to be attacking with weapons. They are for Block and Dodge, which will come in handy. With Gaze/Gort/Block/Dodge, plus Cess also gives a dodge bonus, we are going to have the best defense we can without a full load of weaponcraft. And remember, a good offensive for this character is also a good defense.
Schools and Spells:
First, Faren to level 6. This is our damage school. All kinds of ways to hurt people. Fire, Ice, Lightning; touch, short, and long range; single effect, group effect, and wall effect. You name it, Faren is dishing it out. This school also has the resists for its own attacks, protecting me from other Faren mages, and a very necesary spell, Winds, that is an area effect spells that snatches arrows out of the air in mid flight. Vital defense versus potent archers.
Then, Qor to 6. Qor has a great set of debilitating spells, such as enfeeble, blind, and hold, that will help give me control of a fight. There is also some acid-based damage spells for anyone crafty enough to protect them versus my faren spells. With 6 levels of Qor and Faren, I've pretty much gathered every magic-based damage spell worth having in the game. Qor will also provide me with vital defense in Gaze.
Kranaan to 5. Kranaan is the prototypical utility and buff spell set. Spells to increase defense and offense, dispelling and discording magic, and detection magic. My second line of defense.
Riija to 4. This school is a tough fit for this build, violating my whole concept of only getting what I need. I really only want 1 spell, Dement, as many of the other spells are redundant or obsolete in my current skill set. However, Dement is a vital part, it is a single effect spell that severely weakens your opponents spell casting ability. While my main weakness might be to a well armed fighter, Dement is probably my best bet for a defense against a similiarly minded mage.
Finally, Weaponcraft to 2. At the cost of 5 intellect, the addition of block and dodge is practically a bargain basement sale. Dodge is effective since I wont be wearing armor, and block will be so as well since I will be lugging around a Princess shield for the spells perks.
I'll list my prospetive stats with a grain of salt, since it might not mean much to someone outside of M59. But I'll preface them with the fact that you can only have 200 points and I'll highlight some sacrifices I made:
Strength 40 - For carrying a boat load of spell reagents AND armor, so If my spells are not ineffective, I can use my touch spells and wear some armor and try to go toe to toe with someone.
Intellect 50 - For learning a boat load of spells and skills
Stamina 50 - For a boat load of hitpoints. I don't have any way to heal myself, so every hitpoint is going to count.
Agility 1 - I've given up trying to avoid damage from weapons. I am going to rely on my spells and some careful thought to avoid blows.
Mysticism 50 - For a boat load of mana, vital to this character
Aim 9 - Just a wee bit for when I need to use a touch spell. Touch spells are based on Myst and Aim, so combined I have good stats for them.
Since I've yet to build this character, I dont have alot of concrete battle plans, but here's the thought process:
Offense is Faren's domain, splash spells for in close, (fire and lightning)bolt spells for long range. Qor is your "good offense is good defense school", using blind and hold to keep your opponent incapactited. You also want to try to cast a touch spell before the fight and hold one Jewel of Froz so if you get demented and/or are under an Anti Magic Aura you cant get rid of, you can still deal damage. Touch spells basically allow you to attack in the typical sense of walking up to someone and bashing them in the face, whereas the touch spell goes off and ignites them or spits acid at them. Their advantage is that their power is determined at the time of casting, so if you lose your ability to cast, but have a touch spell cast prior, you can still deal out damage. Jewels of Froz tie up your hands to increase touch spell damage, but that wont be an issue since I wont be using weapons.
Defensively, you need to counter what your opponent throws at you, either forcing him to change to a less effective mode of attack or forcing him to fight less effectively through your counters. Against melee attacks, you are going to rely on Gaze and/or Gort and enfeeble to slow down their rate of attack and damage per second. Against bows, Winds is your best friend. A strong winds cast will keep those arrows grounded. Against magic attacks, Gaze and Gort wont help much, so you need to Dement them and cast your elemental Faren resists, as well as carry a ring or potion of acid resistance. And of course, blind will keep you completely safe, but can get very mana intensive.
Somehow this is all more fun then when I played EQ and clicked "Druid" and followed the same path as thousands of others. Or when I played Shadowbane and "chose" my skills. In M59, you can get any skill or spell, there are no classes to railroad you into a certain path.
