Alas, Illusion spells are only lifesavers in modded games. In a non-modded game, the Necromancer ranks high on the solo list, being the second-best Specialist Mage after the Conjurer.

I can attest that the lack of illusion spells made finishing SOA with tactics mod on hard very difficult for my solo necromancer - though with the advice of Dundee, Alson, Daan, Rataxes and a few others, I finally made it through - when I finish TOB I think I might try a beastmaster, or perhaps a pure fighter.

Living with out Illusion is tough, but, not impossible. One needs only to muster a blistering amount of offense to compensate. Something a Necromancer does rather well. What I would not want to live with out, and, this is just me and my play style, is Divination. I love Wizard Eye. I like Far Sight. With my tactics, I simply can not live with out these spells. True sight, know alignment, all of which are actually some what useful. Yes, Paladins have detect evil, but, a Paladin is not always in your party. It's more then a gaming aspect, it's a role playing aspect as well. I like knowing what is ahead, or, launching a full scale invasion of horrible summons from far away, knowing where to place what because I have things like Far Sight or Wizard Eye to scout the way. I like the fact that my mage can be 2 or 3 screens away and causing hellish amounts of chaos and destruction. I like it even more because it is at these moments, he is indestructable. In the art of war, best way not to be killed is to simply not be there. This is why Illusion can be lived with out. This is why a Necromancer rules all, but, a Conjurer is rather useless. Who needs mirror image or stoneskins... A good mage should never even be seen period. All the enemy should know is at the moment, a small army of skeletal warriors and maybe a nishruu or something else along those lines is coming for them. And they should die, never once knowing why. And said mage should be watching the battle from afar, through his pet Wizard Eye, laughing his arse off, and be thinking of more important things, like world domination or maybe getting himself a nice tower some place so he wont be bothered so much.

Frankly speaking... to label any of the Mages as useless is baseless, as all of them are capable of the highest order of cheese and can easily solo the game one way or another.

It just boils down to which school you use the least when it comes to deciding what type of Mage you want to use.

The main reason why the Conjurer is the general crowd favourite is because there are so few good Divination type spells in the game that you will barely miss them.

A Mage may be safer by not being in the battle but... the game rarely affords you that luxury when it comes to boss fights. In most cases, an invisible Mage plus a few Skeleton Warriors can walk around as though his/her grandfather owns the place, but come a boss fight, your Mage has to enter the fray whether he/she likes it or not.

Illusion spells are among the most powerful spells in the game, and should not be underestimated. Project Image is so powerful as to be almost broken, while Simulacrum is a close second but slightly inferior in the spellcasting department.

Mirror Image protects from area-of-effect spells which is nuts, and Mislead grants the caster undispellable invisibility when used correctly. A Thief/Mage can backstab continuously undisturbed for two minutes if he/she uses Mislead... ...

To learn more about Illusion spells, and the other spells, check out the website that is linked in Alson's signature. You may learn a few surprises. ;)

Oh don't get me wrong... As I have stated, I LOVE Illusion spells. I know all about the cheese and life saving potential. Nothing like playing with somebody's mind. Illusion and Enchantment are two very powerful schools. I was just mentioning that with my playstyle, I can make do with out Illusion.

As far as Mislead goes, Mislead turns Bards into Gods on the battlefields. Mislead has a great singing voice :D

Just doing my best... :D
I hate the Emerald Dragon avatar, though - the Red Wizard of Thay was much better. Well, more reason for me to keep posting. [img]smile.gif[/img]

OK, thanks for the clarification. I stand corrected, then.

[ 01-07-2003, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]