[andrewas]

Vornae, IWD1 is a 2nd ed game. Therefore Cyril is correct, armour will screw up mage spells. Although with the way IWD works you can enter the inventory, remove armour, cast, replace armour and stand a fair chance of not being hurt. Elven Chain should be grabbed at the first oppertunity though, because this procedure gets very annoying.

And yes, after IWD diablo will seem childishly simple, but still fun in short goes.