i see that some feat has become available that allows 5% reduction for spell failure whilst wearing armour for each slot (3 slots in total to collect). Is this worth pursuing to better protect my wizard ?

regards

R

My opinion: No. And don't bother getting more Armor Proficiency either. It's just not worth it when you could be getting the feats that make your spells tougher to resist. Also, there're lots of magic items that'll help protect your mage. Of course, the best protection is one or two bodyguards to hack down whatever goes for your mage.

Madrigal is quite right. Armor for mages is silly. Spell proficiency is far more important for spellcasters. You'll find suitable protection for mages as you go through the game. Elytharra, for instance, has bracers for sale that your mage can wear.

I've found that, most of the time, keeping spellcasters in the rear keeps them out of trouble. Also consider protective spells like mirror image and protection from arrows. That's why they're available ;)

<center>Nightowl2</center>

"when you could be getting the feats that make your spells tougher to resist."

okay ... i haven't spent any feats on the spell specialisation though yet 'cos i cant even work out what spells are in teh various domains so dont knwo what to choose (evocation, necromancer etc..) ... is there a chart somewhere ?

you need 2 slots for armored arcana to be able to wear leather armor. It gives you 2 AC. But there's lots of bracers of defence. I found a bracers +4. it's equal to a leather armor +2. forget about the armored arcana and focus on EVOCATION + NECROMANCY + ENCHANTMENT (if you have a bard, let the bard focus on enchantment and wizard will get the necro and evo)

"EVOCATION + NECROMANCY + ENCHANTMENT "

yeah .. but is there a spell list for these ... im not sure i use any of these spells.

Hmm, might be worth it though to take one level of armored arcana, the 5% it gives would let you use a small shield, some of which are very cool.

Feats are more precious outside the fighter class. You don't get all that many, so it's important to choose wisely. I've never bothered with armored arcana for my sorcerers. For one thing, they're always using two-handed weapons (staffs and bows).

Enchantment spells are mostly of the charm/dominate type. I don't bother with these in normal modes, but they have been quite helpful in HOF mode (along with summonings).

Evocation is mainly for damage spells, such as fireball, delayed blast fireball, Melf's Acid Arrow, Meteor Swarm, Lightning Bolt, etc.

Necromancy is for things like Horror, Skull Trap, Flaying, Horrid Wilting, etc.

The annoying alphabetic list of spells does tell you to which branch of magic each spell belongs.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

There *IS* one suit of armor I found that a wizard can wear with 0% chance of spell failure however I won't spoil it for ya - just keep a lookout ;)

Yeah, but don't get too excited....that armor doesn't show up until very, very, very far into the game. Pity they didn't put it somewhere earlier.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

I`ve kinda liked being able to throw some Armor on my mage and my sorcerer.

With Armored Arcana and such... I havn`t had ANY spell failures. Or any lack of feats or skills...

Finally I have some magic users that don`t get there ass kicked every time a critter gets to close to them...

I`m almost done with the game... and didn`t run into any problems at all....

Same here, the first feats my mages get are ALWAYS armoured arcana. I've found that my mages are usually targeted anyway, so I NEED protection. Just my way of playing i guess

Strange. My mages have not had many problems with being targeted by the enemy, except in cases like the Hook Horror cave, where you're often surrounded by the critters (of course, by then, my mages go in with invis, so it's no trouble).

Maybe it's party formation? I almost always use the 2 by 2 arrangement, with mages in the rear. It's worked well for me in all modes of play.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

Just a note, melf's acid arrow is conjuration. If you want to know which type of spells you use most, just go to your spell book, right click on the spells you are using, and take a look.

I never used armored arcane. I tend tohave my mages start out with 18 or better dext, then use bracers, rings and robes to protect me.

I tried giving an armor to my mage, to see how he would do with one, but he fell to the ground. ;)

I agree with Luvian. (GASP!) I have suits of armor that my Sorcerers could LIVE in. But I dont think they would like the smell of Half Orc. Besides thats what bracers and amulets were MADE for. And who wants to wear anything but robes when they raise your stats so much. I had a robe that raise Cha and Int by 4 EACH. I wouldnt trade that for ANY armor. Besides being invisible (even post patch) is the best armor an Arcane Spellcaster could ask for. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I agree with the not bothering to use a suit of armor, but think a small shield would still be cool - and it only has a 5% spell failure chance, so one level of armored arcana would cancel it out. For those times your mage does get pounced on in melee, it couldn't hurt.

Somewhere within the game are a couple of suits of drow armour...
VERY nice stuff. AC +8 or +9, -0 to dex bonus and 0% casting failure!

Yeah, I had a mental slip there; the acid arrow is a conjuration.

The only drow armor normally in the game is Drakkas Chain, but you don't get that until you're in the Severed Hand. Quite nice for either a mage or a thief, since no proficiency is required. If you add Ribald from the Ease of Use mod, a similar suit is available (if you can afford it) at the start of the game.

<center>Nightowl2</center>