I've heard it's best to dual at either levels 9 or 12. By that time, you're probaly going to be in Athkatla. Now how does a level 1 mage survive on his own? I'd just like some tips before I embark. Thanks in advance...

1. scribe scrolls
2. save some quests that do not require fighting
3. use scrolls

Spoilers,


beware


!!

Wands, bracers and potions for defence.
scribing scrolls and doing little quests for exp (you will be on level 5 in no time only because of scrolls).
Hit and run. Mostly running though. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Concentrating on important enemy- for example, you do not kill every shadow you go for kalah immidiately.
Doing circus quest right out of CI. Just buy stuff at ribalds ( choose spell "friends" and find familiar beforehand. You will get extra hp that way.).
Use slings.
Use darts.
Do not melee. Period.
Do not sell extra offencive/defencive scrolls that you have found. Use them on the enemy.
Use summons. You will be surprised but 2 kobold commandos are good. 2 of them took out the warden in Planar prison. By then he had only level 2 spells, but still an achievment.
Use spells like-hold person and emotion. Add summons and your enemies are ogre's punching bags!!
Do the sewers quest asap. Roughly 20000 exp points, to you alone!!!
That is all i can think about right now.
Oh, btw, use stonescin. ;)

Well, if you have lots of money, buy all the most expesive scrolls, as many as you can. Then scribe one, then delete it from your spell book. the learn it again. The delete. Its cheesey, but you'll get levels. Especially if you dual later on when ribald has dam near infinite "freedom" scrolls, which are level nine spells (1000 experience for each level of scroll scrobed) and give you 9000 exp, and only cost 300!

BTW, if you have ToB installed, the best level to dual at is 13.

BTW, if you have ToB installed, the best level to dual at is 13. </font>[/QUOTE]Actually, I've always found the L21/22 Fighter(Kensai)/Mage Dual classto be the best - far more powerful in a melee battle.

Keep EVERY scroll you pick up during the game (money is rarely a problem in a solo game) and use the scribe/delete trick for all of them.

I generally get upto level 11 simply from scribing scrolls, and a level 11 mage is decent enough to take against virtually any opponent if played carefully.

A solo game gives plenty of experience, so you should comfortably get to 8 million experience points before completing SoA and getting ALL of your abilities back... making you one mean...