I can see Jonny now...

:fires sequencer:
"No! You must embrace your power! Your potential!"
:fires another sequencer:
"You can be the God of Murder! Why do you so waste your power?"
:activates contingency:
"Damn you! Fight me already!"

*shrugs* Sometimes I just leave them like that. I'm not really that interested in loot.

Teleport field is a wicked spell! It suits a chaotic neutral wild mage. As does Sphere of Chaos.

Yes, that is an extremely useful, and underrated, spell.

*sighs* Pretttttyyy colors.

If you like pretty colours, try Prismatic Spray. That is a HIGHLY underrated spell, and is enormously effective against groups.

Cloudkill is a great against mages, mainly because of its spell disrupting properties.

But Cloudkill has never been underrated, so that's not a valid option I'd say. While at it, though, why not advertise Friends? It always helps to buy something cheaper, especially in the earlier stages of the game before you acquire the Ring of Human Influence.

Um, friends stacks with the ring of human influence, and your discounts get better at the highest charisma. Friends is massively underated. I like grease and hold monster too. I almost always have invisibility purge memorized, because it does come in handy. Haven't much used polymorph other - might have to give it a try.

Which Hold Spell should i use on a troll???

Well... if Lvl6 spells are not an option, then Hold Monster( Lvl5). Emotion:Hopelessness( Lvl4) works great against Trolls too. Web( Lvl2) is an excellent low-level choice, if you have access to Free Action or plan to pelt them with ranged weapons.

<font color=plum><font color=red>Domination</font> is definitely one of my favorites. Nothing like taking control of an opposing fighter and having HIM attack the party mage. The fighter should have enough hit points to suck up the spells the mage throws, and he will take down most of the protections before he gets killed. Then your party is facing a naked mage with no fighter to support him. :D

When I solo, this my primary tactic for taking out Illyich and crew. Illyich and Karamazov are especially susceptible to being <font color=red>Dominated</font>. Since Rasputin and one of the others usually shows up with Illyich, I simply <font color=red>Dominate</font> Illyich and let the three of them fight it out. When things go perfectly, they usually end up killing each other. When things don't go perfectly, the survivor is usually too weak to resist a timely <font color=yellow>Fireball</font> and a hail of arrows and sling bullets.

<font color=white>Skull trap</font> is another favorite of mine. You don't have to send the caster that far ahead of the party to place it between them and the enemy. Then attack the enemy with a <font color=yellow>Fireball</font> and ranged weapons and they will run straight into your traps as they rush to attack you. I've also noticed that <font color=silver>Stoneskin</font> seems to offset a LOT of damage from a <font color=white>Skull trap</font>.

I am trying a solo bard (Skald kit) and I had a horrible time trying to beat the Improved Druid Grove. I did alright until I met that group of Druids and their animal familiars. The druids had protections against <font color=yellow>Fire</font> and <font color=cyan>Cold</font> pre-cast - so <font color=yellow>Fireballs</font> and <font color=white>Ice Storms</font> had no effect. They also didn't do much damage to the animals. I finally discovered that 3 <font color=white>Skull Traps</font> would kill ALL 10 animal familiars and put most of the Druids and "Badly Injured" or "Near Death". But in order to hit the entire group with the traps, I had to run right into the middle of them. I used <font color=silver>Improved Invisibility</font> to sneak through the group and get near the bridge leading over to the buildings. Then I cast my first <font color=white>Skull Trap</font> into the middle of the group. That one normally wouldn't hit me, but it would cause them to come charging towards me - and I would have to set the next two traps off right behind the group, so I got caught in the AOE as well. But the two traps wouldn't even take me down to half of my hit points, so I think the <font color=silver>Stoneskin</font> absorbed some of the damage. Either that, or I just got really lucky on my Saving Throws. :D </font>

Personaly I like to Dominate the mages instead of the fighters, then lob their own AoE spell's at their own feet, such fun, and just before the charm wears off have them cast an acid arrow into themselves so they can't cast..

Skull trap, fireball, and lightning are all 10 out of 10 for solo mages. However, I never use them if I have party members. Too much fiddling about is usually required, and I have to send my mage ahead of my fighters, which usually = one dead mage.

Taking a cue from Dundee I have experimented with the Greater Malision + Emotion + Slow sequencer.
Very destructive when used right, everyone in a mob is either asleep or slowed right down and easy to pick off.