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250 · 03-16-2001, 01:19 PM

mage

most people claim mages to be the best class, being a mage-lover myself, I certainly wouldnt disagree. however, if we refuse the face the reality of it, we will have to live in an abyss which we rightfully deserve.

when come to disucuss what class is the best, there has to be a principle, there has to be a circumstances, and there has to be a limit. The first thing to understand is, Bioware TRIED so hard to make every class equaly fun, and they succeeded in doing it. Are they all balanced? not really

the cicumstances is, BGII. the limit is: 2,950,000 exp

mage's dispel is not as good as cleric. (i am not saying it is not useful, of course you can kick low level asses with it) but while cleric can reach higher levels, mage's dispell will no longer be as effective as cleric. (read the descriptions of dispel. a base of 50% and -10% per level from you target, so if your target is 5 level higher than you, you will have no chance to dispel)

mage has no HP. (heh, you can make up with protections, but a weakness is a weakness)

mage's damaging spells are weak. (that is what contigencies are for, but you wont have too many of them) lets face it, with the incredible magic resistence your enemy has, you can do only little damage to them

mage's lower resistence spell is too weak (only 30% at max level) I say give it a base of 30%, and +1% per level. that sounds more like it

mage's protection against magical weapon's duration is too short, give it 6 rounds+.

most of mages' spells can be reflected by cloack of mirroring. (you know the pain if you duel)

most cloud spells are weak, only incrediant cloud and withed horrid is good. but they take so long to cast that they are nearly useless (no, you can cast on NPCs and kill them, but it still is useless, because a smart AI script would just order the dude move out of the area. taking advantage of AI doesnt mean it is usefull)

time stop/imprison... I would discuss this, but this is getting way too cheap. there is one kind thing that ruin the game, it is something cannot be countered. it is essentially same as cheating. (think about, there is nearly nothing you cannot imprison, one would just run around with a sim carrying 5 imprison scolls and kill everyone)

if a mage got put on a protection from magic scoll, you can consider him dead.

last, mage's stoneskin/mirror image DOES NOT protect against weapons like crom faeyr, flail of agies, wave helber. ANYTHING does extra dmg (like +1 fire, +1 acid) goes through stoneskin/mirror image. (actually, I dont hate this one, this one is reasonable)

03-16-2001, 01:19 PM	#1
250 Horus - Egyptian Sky God Join Date: March 4, 2001 Location: either CA or MO Age: 43 Posts: 2,674	mage most people claim mages to be the best class, being a mage-lover myself, I certainly wouldnt disagree. however, if we refuse the face the reality of it, we will have to live in an abyss which we rightfully deserve. when come to disucuss what class is the best, there has to be a principle, there has to be a circumstances, and there has to be a limit. The first thing to understand is, Bioware TRIED so hard to make every class equaly fun, and they succeeded in doing it. Are they all balanced? not really the cicumstances is, BGII. the limit is: 2,950,000 exp mage's dispel is not as good as cleric. (i am not saying it is not useful, of course you can kick low level asses with it) but while cleric can reach higher levels, mage's dispell will no longer be as effective as cleric. (read the descriptions of dispel. a base of 50% and -10% per level from you target, so if your target is 5 level higher than you, you will have no chance to dispel) mage has no HP. (heh, you can make up with protections, but a weakness is a weakness) mage's damaging spells are weak. (that is what contigencies are for, but you wont have too many of them) lets face it, with the incredible magic resistence your enemy has, you can do only little damage to them mage's lower resistence spell is too weak (only 30% at max level) I say give it a base of 30%, and +1% per level. that sounds more like it mage's protection against magical weapon's duration is too short, give it 6 rounds+. most of mages' spells can be reflected by cloack of mirroring. (you know the pain if you duel) most cloud spells are weak, only incrediant cloud and withed horrid is good. but they take so long to cast that they are nearly useless (no, you can cast on NPCs and kill them, but it still is useless, because a smart AI script would just order the dude move out of the area. taking advantage of AI doesnt mean it is usefull) time stop/imprison... I would discuss this, but this is getting way too cheap. there is one kind thing that ruin the game, it is something cannot be countered. it is essentially same as cheating. (think about, there is nearly nothing you cannot imprison, one would just run around with a sim carrying 5 imprison scolls and kill everyone) if a mage got put on a protection from magic scoll, you can consider him dead. last, mage's stoneskin/mirror image DOES NOT protect against weapons like crom faeyr, flail of agies, wave helber. ANYTHING does extra dmg (like +1 fire, +1 acid) goes through stoneskin/mirror image. (actually, I dont hate this one, this one is reasonable)