It will get better as you level up, as you can get Mana per 5 second runes (or MP/5 per level) and mana masteries. You shouldn't need more than Philosopher's Stone and Frozen Heart for mana. There's no harm in backing out to the fountain, especially later in the game where you're not really laning much anyway. You shouldn't upgrade Philo stone for awhile as you get a lot of gold from that (Kage's Lucky Pick or Heart of Gold are also good options.)

alistar doesn't really need the sustain - because he's a tank he can stand to just go back and get mana

if you really want to fix this I suggest getting chalice of harmony early on

To be sure, on runes, once I hit level 20, I can buy tier 3 runes and basically get the best ones I can, no new runes unlock after level 20, right?

correct.

if you're having issues with life, don't get will of the ancients. ali doesn't do enough with his abilities to make it worth it. i'd always get FH for the mana and armor, and for HP i'd look at something like rylai's or sunfire cape. usually if ali's having a problem staying alive it's not his resists (depending on what he's building), it's his lower HP at high levels when he doesn't build hp items. same as amumu and rammus.

also, something i've been doing is to go with merc treads early (for the resists and tenacity bonus), then late game (after you've gotten more than enough cash from your philo stone) selling them and going with CDR boots, and upgrading to the miracle then. i often end games without switching over, though, which isn't a bad thing - you get CDR from frozen heart, and keeping a philo stone to the bitter end is a good way to ensure a consistent cash influx.

edit: dexie's right, though - when i don't get cdr boots, i go with shurelya's for the HP bonus and excellent active ability.

Upgrading the Philo on him to Shurelia's is what most people seem to do. Positioning is key on Alistar, and the active on it REALLY helps him.

Yep!

But in the meantime, fill out your rune pages with Tier 1. They are about half as good as tier 3, at 1/10 the price.

Well, I was saving points to purchase either Garen or Malphite. Didn't think Alistar would become my favorite of the bunch, so I should have at least 8000 points to spend the moment I hit level 20. Since there is also a lot of overlap between Jenna and Alistar's runes as far as I'm concerned, it'll be worth it to focus on my "caster" rune page.

So, what's the general consensus on Morello's Evil tome? I like how it works in the CDR and Mana regen as well as the AP, and it seems rather cheap compared to some of the stuff.

Last few games I went:

Philosopher stone, then build boots and morello, and then work on sheen, once these 4 are done, I test out new items.

What I also should try is going Philosopher stone, kage's lucky pick, then boots and deathfire grasp, and then progress as usual. Would help if I could remember to use my actives once in a while.

morello's evil tome is great on anyone building AP and who needs CDR real bad (Xerath)

it's even pretty good on some characters that don't need the MP regen (Vladimir)

if you're tanking, don't get a single AP item besides maybe abyssal scepter if your team is rocking. if you're going for AP tanky dps - which, to be honest, other characters do better at - then i'd build your boots and philo stone and then either go for AP items if you're rocking or tank items if you're not.

i even get it at the end of my galio build its great