Just a quick canvas of all you wizard players out there trawling the depths of Undermountain. Can a wizard hack it in lower levels or is he likely to get slaughtered... I was wondering especially because timestop isn't really useable on a server when it can be a bit of a lifesaver in a single player game.

<font color=skyblue>I personally would never take a pure magic user below...maybe...level 7. Beyond that requires me to have a sword by my side.
But maybe I am not a good user of magic. </font>

Have only come back UP from 10 (got there by accident!) with an escort and had my ranger/aa with me...it was TOUGH with two fighter/magic wielders so I suspect a wizard alone would have a lot of trouble.

Although it would be neat to have magic wielders in a party - I like the mix of classes in a party. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-12-2004, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

I've taken my sorceress down past level 12. it is difficult even at level 40.

It a given that she is a uber build so that helps.

Thanks for your replies everyone. Having explored the possibility more thoroughly I'm getting quite into the character. He'll get to the bottom, or die trying (which I suppose is probably the idea [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

Expect to hear the footfalls of my necromancer through the halls of Undermountain within the next few days. Halaster had better act quickly to curb his rise to power whilst he can, for it will indeed be a rise, and terrible to behold!

Ive taken a Local vault wizard all te way dowwn to level 13 and he was 34th level. Itt is possable you just have the play very smart and use your spells wisely. It also helps to load up on as many scrolls as possable.

I use 1 whole section of my inventry for scrolls with my wizarrds and clerics. I divide it into 3 sections, combat, defensive, and summoning collums. Then I load up on as many scrolls as I can afford use them in conjuctions with my spellbook.

If you take your time and are careful, you cane use a wizard on any level. Its all about powering yourself up, summoning allies and spell maagement.

Thanks Teri, I shall bear that in mind. It's encouraging to know you made it that far!

After many hours adventuring (and three absolutely fantastic roleplaying ones!) I'm now up to level 13 I believe. Starting to get more powerful spells, but am still absolute mincemeat if a powerful melee critter sets up shop next to me.

Great fun to play, but still too weak to solo effectively yet. My time will come...!

if your a mage then you really need to keep your buffs up.

Spells like Mage Armour, Mestils Acid Sheath, Shadow Sheild, Elemental Sheild, Death Sheild can all help you espacially when going up against melee characters. the thing about these spells is that if they hit you they suffer damage from all of these spells (fire, acid and sonic damage)

Mage armour and shadow shield both have no effect due to items already equipped. I keep the rest up, but the trouble is with so few hit points, one good swipe from a sneak attack or critical is all it takes, even through a stoneskin. The fact that they take 40 or 50 points of damage is moot when you're on your back ;)

But i've taken the scroll advice and doing much better with some decent summons to take the heat off.

Thanks for all your help

Get heavy armor feat and the enhanced dwarven armor +10 down in level 12.
That armor is a godsent for spellcasters. (and for anyone else for that matter)

Thanks for the hint Stig! One more level and I'll have hide in plain sight which should remove all my melee problems hopefully!

[ 10-15-2004, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

If your getting the heavy armour feat make sure you get Auto Still Spell 1-3.
That way you can cast in heavy armour and a tower sheild with out spell failure.

I believe Epic Mages get Auto Still Spell by default? Would this suffice?

I don't think they do. They may get level 1 auto still spell but that only auto casts still spells up to level 3 spells. If you want to cast all your spells in heavy armour then you will need all the feats.

Ah I see. I'm not sure whether I can see heavy armour and tower shield on my necromancer, or if I'll have the feats spare to take 3 auto-stills but thank you both for the advice. You're all too good to me :D
Just signed him up for Team IW, can't resist any longer ;)

[ 10-15-2004, 07:18 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

For those who wish to follow in my footsteps, this is just to let you know that level 11 was do-able solo from around level 33 for me. I'm not sure if it would have been possible without the extra AC and HP the Pale Master gave me however and access to Epic Mage armour. You really need your AC to be well over 50 to survive there as avoiding melee is virtually impossible.

Level 1 - 9 are all perfectly doable solo, and level 10 also with a little preparation.

Level 12 was not possible for me solo, even at level 40 - true seeing and uber enemies were just too much. I could survive for a limited time, but quickly exhausted my high level spells and would have to rest very frequently to continue on.

Those elite asassins are the worst - one second after opening a door, before I had even got a quarter of the way through my spell, despite being protected by imp invisibility, epic warding, epic mage armour, greater stoneskin, acid sheath etc etc I was flat on my back. I was taunted by the message that I had 1,000 points of damage reduction remaining [img]smile.gif[/img]

Taking a mage character into Undermountain is definitely recommended though: against most enemies the mage is surprisingly powerful. Having been escorted through levels 12 and 13, (thanks Voldo and Lord Mukasa! :D ) the mage is definitely powerful enough to still make a contribution to the party, especially against other mage characters. Plus it's great fun to play!

I found that my mage 39/fighter 1 (for the armor feats and such) did reasonably well down there, since he was also pretty capeable in melee.
And just noticed that the enhanced dwarven armor no longer gives a reduction to arcane spell failure chance, it's still an excellent armor, but now you need auto still III to use it to it's fullest.

Ah, well I ended up reaching max level and still having other feats I wanted, so there was just no possibility of taking still spell. Plus, according to the description for Still Spell, a stilled spell takes a slot one higher than normal which would've precluded the use of level 9 spells.

Toying with a dwarfen fighter at the moment - gave him a quick run around level 1 - so much more powerful than the equivalent mage leve it's almost untrue! I find the way his little legs propel him towards gigantic enemies (like those fire giants ;) ) rather endearing, so I think I might well build him up a bit.

If you want to really power up your dwarven fighter check out biowares Dwarven Wall build. I've built one and he is quite the little tank

You'll have to excuse my ignorance here, but if I take a load of levels in Dwarven Defender does my THAC0 (or whatever the 3ed equivalent is) increase in the same manner as would a fighter?

I assume my choices of feats would be restricted from those I could choose as a fighter?

And could a dwarf ever worship Torm in 'real life' or is that just impossible...

Replace the word Torm with a Dwarven god and your RP is safe.

Your AB is still calculated on the fighter attack table as well.