If it's a choice between cheating a little (mage -> wild mage) vs. restarting the game, by all that is holy GO AND CHEAT!
I'd never give myself items or gold or stats or experience points... that makes the game feel like a waste of time.
In the end it's up to you. Decide what is essential to the game and never, never, never cheat on that. But everything else is valuable only in so far as it makes the game fun, and wild mages are very very fun!
-- Nifft