MC mage

[timothy trotter]

i have heard that bad things can also happen as a result of a wild surge. i take it that the duration and the effect of those would be increased too? creating a larger peril for the party?

[masteraleph]

Originally posted by timothy trotter: i have heard that bad things can also happen as a result of a wild surge. i take it that the duration and the effect of those would be increased too? creating a larger peril for the party?

Nope.

The wild surge effects are based on a roll of 1d100. As a general rule, the lower numbers are more bad effects than good, and the higher numbers more good than bad. Chaos Shield and Improved Chaos Shield add automatic bonuses, skipping over many of the bad results.

[timothy trotter]

how often do these surges ocur? it would be quite annoying if they kept coming up when you didn't want them to.

[thetruth]

how often do these surges ocur?

Every time a Wild Mage casts a spell there is a chance of 5% that a Wild Surge will occur.
Also with every spell you cast,you receive a message: "Casting Level : +5" or "Casting Level : -4" or others (the number is random), that determines at what level the spell is cast.

For example: a 15 level Wild Mage that gets the message "Casting Level : +5" ,will cast the spell as if he was at level 20.


But what makes the Wild Mage really powerful is his Nahal's Reckless Dweomer spell (NRD).
It is a Level 1 (!) spell and when you cast it you can choose to cast ANY spell from your spellbook, whether memorized or not, including 10 level spells !And this only for the cost of one First-Level spell !

But :

a) At low levels there is a high chance that the spell will not be cast.Gets better in higher levels.

b) EVERY time you cast the Nahal's Reckless Dweomer spell, a Wild Surge will occur (100% chance).

Note : The NRD spell is cast instantly and does not count towards your one spell/round limit (like a free permanent Improved Alacrity).And can be cast with the game paused too.

There are many strategies that involve this spell.
One of them: Use the NRD spell 3 times to cast any spell you want from your spellbook.With the 4th NRD cast Limited Wish and (provided that you have high WIS) ask the Djinni to restore your spells.With the Limited Wish you always get this option and it will restore up to 4 of your spells.In this case it means that you will get the 4 NRD spells you used back and you can do it all over again !

And you can have some amazing Wild Surges - some examples:

- Finger of Death or Wail of Banshee with NO save
- Dragon's Breath - spell cast twice !
- Double Length Timestop
- I feel refreshed (replenish spells)

Of course there are "bad" Wild Surges as well.
Luck may have everything to do with it, since it's when he gets lucky that the Wild Mage becomes unstoppable.But if you are at a high level and with the Chaos Shield cast beforehand, the chance of getting a "good surge" is quite high.

IMHO the Wild Mage can be one of the most powerful characters in the game,although probably not the most appropriate for a No-Reloads game [img]smile.gif[/img]

[timothy trotter]

thetruth. thankyou that was most imformative.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Once Wild Mages gain the ability to cast Spell Sequencer, they become pretty powerful.

Unless of course... in an ironic twist, they surge on casting the Spell Sequencer. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[ZFR]

just a small question about wild mages...

is the +/-d5 to casting level capped at 20 too?

So if a 17 level mage gets +5 is it considered 22nd level or 20th?

If it's capped then it sucks a little, because at level 20 you can only go down.

[Morgeruat]

Area effect stoneskin is a pretty nice one as well (give it to your entire party)

[thetruth]

is the +/-d5 to casting level capped at 20 too?

It should be, although I am not sure.But I think it can be tested.

Once Wild Mages gain the ability to cast Spell Sequencer, they become pretty powerful.

Hehe yes.And if you want to be 100% certain, you can put 3 I. Chaos Shields in a CC.
Then you can start every single battle casting 6 Dragon's Breaths in the first round without having to worry about wild surges.
Although it takes away any challenge from the game (not that there was any for the arcane spell-casters ).

[timothy trotter]

i think dragons breath is a touch over powered, how it doesn't effect party members, maybe they could take half damage or something. when i got them i used them too much and sadly made it a bit easy. my 2 bob