Ok, I'm not sure cause I've never used a mage as my main character. However - Can you effect EVERY battle you and your allies come into? I don't see how. I don't see how you can keep enough spells to be affective in every battle. As a Fighter I'm for sure, 100%, very important to me and my Party. I don't see how being a mage you can be so important. Have any of you used a Mage as your main character throughout the game? Was it as powerful as a Fighter would be? Please tell me cause I'm thinking about playing through both main games and expansion packs. Any info will help.....

WELCOME TO THE BOARD!

anyway, you are correct. mages in BG1 tend to be relatively weak compared to those in BG2, they just cant memorize enough spells. there is a ring of wizardry lying outside the FAI though, that usualy helps matters. it doubles your 1st level spells - and magic missile is one of the most useful right up until the very end of ToB, so its definatly gonna be usful throughout BG1. if you rest more often so you always have spells available, then you can at least be useful more often.

i woudnt take more than one mage in a BG1 party - compared to 3 for a BG2 party - although i am tempted to create a six-mage party just for kicks. obviously not all pure mages.

and you should stick a high end sling on a mage - +2 if you can get it. since they tend to stand back they are in the best position to pelt people with stones. a staff for hand-to-hand, although thats a last resort.

Many here have soloed as mages.

I think mages aren't used in every battle because they are like the heavy artillery. They personally possess lots of firepower, but not much defense. Not really necessary to cast spells against a couple of goblins, just throw darts or sling stones, but against the bigger, badder enemies mages are invaluable!

Good points, good points. Have any of you played the whole game [BG(TOSC)] & [BGII(TOB)] with just a mage? I've done it with a fighter and it was great the whole way through. And yes mages they are the "heavy artillery" in the big battles. I wouldn't be without 1 and 1/2 magi in my party. That's been my average.....God! I'm a dork. Anyway, I guess if I were to do so the game would have more of a 'team feel' cause the first time around my fighter killed EVERYTHING. I got a really good starting roll :) I did NOT use an editor by the way.

Playing a mage as your main character is lots of fun. Kind of tough in the beginning, but it's not as though you have to wander the countryside all by yourself avoiding gibberlings. You take on Imoen right away, of course. Then Xzar and Montaron to help you defeat Tarnesh, the assassin at FAI. Then at FAI you can replace them with Khalid and Jaheira.

It is true that a mage plays a support role until they get enough spell slots and high level spells. Although don't forget the use of wands. With the wands they're damn near as powerful as a fighter.

I tried soloing as a Mage once, but just got sick of him dying all the damn time. There's only so much you can do against enemies with Magic Resistance, and slings just don't cut it. By the way, there IS no +2 sling in BG1 / ToSC, at least not as far as I know. Do you mean the +3 one?

I didn't find Mages to be all that important to my game in BG1, except for some spells like Haste. I'd rather have a Multi- or Dual-classed Mage than a True one. In BG2, though, I think it'd be best to have a Multiclassed Mage, and either a Sorceror or Fighter->Mage.

The next time I Solo, I'll be a Mage/Thief. At least that way, I'll have a HALFWAY decent THAC0. My solo Mage actually took damage against a RAT.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SixOfSpades:
The next time I Solo, I'll be a Mage/Thief. At least that way, I'll have a HALFWAY decent THAC0. My solo Mage actually took damage against a RAT.<hr></blockquote>

Your mage must REALLY have sucked then.

I have soloed BG1 with a mage. But I don't think it is possible to do it first time. The key is to pick and choose some of your battles, and use wands wisely. And the ring of wizardry outside the FAI really helps.

Actually, the Mage I started to Solo with was the best Mage I've ever seen....Half-Elven Conjurer with a total of 96 stat points. (That's an average score of 16.) He was actually pretty darn good--for a solo Mage--but having such a terrible AC and THAC0 was pretty much the kiss of death for him. He did fine looting the Ankheg cave north of the Friendly Arm, but those Sirenes and Flesh Golems were too much for him. (I kept trying to kill them, for that yummy EXP so I could get more spells, but my pitiful THAC0 made the Darts of Wounding useless.)

I have NO idea why that rat managed to hurt him. I've never seen it before or since.

I've never soloed with a mage (or any other class for that matter), but I'm finding with my four specialist mage, cleric, mage-thief party that you have to rest all the damn time! The upside is that there is some bonafide excitement in the battles, even the routine ones. I mean I barely make it by the skin of my teeth in some of these fights. So far I have picked my fights very carefully right along the Trade Way. I just reached level 2, and rep and cash continue to grow at a good rate. But as I said, because of the low number of spell slots and the need to sleep all the time it is rather slow going. I really do like playing with these mages though. I'm playing Dark Side and really look forward to when they're casting level 6-9 spells (well, as high as I can get them anyway).

"And the ring of wizardry outside the FAI really helps." - I saw this quote from a previous poster. Where is the ring of wizardry outside the FAI ?

It is outside of the FAI wall on the southern (front) side, under the first bluish colored pine tree (like a Christmas tree) that you come upon if you walk due east from the gate. It is very small, so you have to move your cursor very slowly and carefully around the base of the tree. The coordinates are x=2555, y=3759 (hit the L key to display x, y coordinates of your cursor).

i played my main character mage and i was looking foward to using animate dead (seen a friend use it at a high level for skeleton WARRIORS)but the bastard stopped getting levels just before, i knew the spell and all, just needed to memorize it and then i just stopped at 89000 exp, and the scroll only makes normal skeletons which just suck

In BG2 skeleton warriors become available at level 15. (since dynaheir (my mage) is an invoker i never checked the BG 1 version). anyway, thats _way_ beyond the BG1 cap, even with TotSC. But they do rock when you get them.

If you get a mage to get minor globe of invulnerability, then enemy mages are practically dirt you can walk on because in baldurs gate1, all the spells (i think) except maybe lvl 4 are nothing to globe of invulneribility.

heh, forgot to answer, mages freakin rock! If it wasnt for Xzar and all his spells, I would have never gotten past the Battle Horrors at the end of Claokwood quest. He just ran around the room, turn around melf, magic missiles, agganzar, or some other spell I would never have beaten it cuz it was so hard. Now, if a mage(Xzar) can beat up two Battle Horrors, they can kick anything buttocks!

The battle horror story was about XZar, who IS a mage.

Mages are brilliant. They are without question the most powerful characters. You can be anything you like while being a mage. Feel like being a fighter? Cast Tenser's Transformation. Want thief skills? There's invisibility and knock. They're just great, so versatile and interesting.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Biggs Antillies:
i played my main character mage and i was looking foward to using animate dead (seen a friend use it at a high level for skeleton WARRIORS)but the bastard stopped getting levels just before, i knew the spell and all, just needed to memorize it and then i just stopped at 89000 exp, and the scroll only makes normal skeletons which just suck<hr></blockquote>

You need to add Tales of the Sword Coast then! That increases the cap to 161,000 (making it possible to reach mage level 9 and thereby getting one level 5 spell slot) and gives you a bunch of new spells (for both wizards and clerics). It also gives you four new quests/areas and more advanced weapons and armor.

At the very least, even without ToSC install the XP cap remover or the level 50 rules pack.

Gnome! Necromancry spells aren't that importain in BG1 except ghost armor. Gnomes get extra spells! With armor and mirror image at level 9 my gnome could solo enemies just use magic well soloing... fear and such are extremely powerful spells if used right.

I am a solo Mage/Cleric, and I'm doing pretty well.
You can hold persons, entangle them then cast spells.

Also, if you're not a mage and cannot use the Ring of Wizardry, it's worth 9000 Gold. A good thing to have on your way as a warrior for buying good equipment.

Then you got the Ring of Protection. It do help your armor, and you need all of it as a mage.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Worm:
...fear and such are extremely powerful spells if used right.<hr></blockquote>

The wands of fear and sleep would be indispensable when soloing, I would think. Watch about 95% of an enemy hoard attacking you turn yellow and collapse in a dead faint!

Do tell. I found myself carting some Sleep scrolls around when I got jumped by a big knot of Ogres, Ogre Berserkers, Ogrillions, and Half-Ogres (I guess it was their Pledge Week or something). One Sleep spell later, there were about 3 of them left standing. The corpses were in such a small pile, I just had to take a screenshot. [img]smile.gif[/img]

For a Level 1 spell, Sleep ROCKS. At least against low-level enemies--too bad there's no Improved Sleep that's tougher to Save against....or is that already covered by Emotion-Hopelessness?

Yes indeed, wands of sleep paralyzation are very useful when you are fighting low level (but still dangerous) enemies.

What I would like to know is where exactly can you get minor globe of invunerbilty?

I played all the BG1 + TotSC with the multiclassed MAGE/CLERIC ant it was fine. I think the battles are not so easy as with meelee char. but are definitely more funny. I dont like the hack'n'slash type of play. So i think its possible to play BG1 + BG2 with the MAGE, just try and you find out your self.

I've played through, Bg Tosc and IWD, HoW without using a single mage or even a multiclass one, or a bard. I've done just fine. between the potions, wand, and necklace of missles, wand of heavens, and ring of energy i've managed to cover everything that a mage can do. It left more room for tank characters (5,all but my thief) I just plow through baddies most of my battles don't last long enough to even use a mage and some of the better spells, i started this all on a bet and i like playing without a dominate spellcaster. I may seem a little too hack and slash for some, but i enjoy it, my cleric/ranger has enough spells to keep it from being like that.

(bg2 though, i wouldn't advise without a mage or two)