What mage specialty is best (or is generalist best)?

[krunchyfrogg]

I'm trying to build a perfect party (for me, I know everyone's will be different to suit an individual's playing style). One of my characters is a mage, and I'd like to know which specialty is best, or if a generalist mage is actually best.

In my party, I do have a bard to handle any spells that would be restricted by a specialist, if this makes a difference.

I have Heart of Winter installed, which restricts mages more than the original IWD game.

[Black Swan Gauntlet]

You have just started a firestorm.

The truth is that it's a matter of personal opinion, and this very question leads to long debates between different members of these forums (primarily NobleNick and Dundee Slaytern, IIRC.) However, here's my advice:

If you want to play as a specialist mage, be an Illusionist. This is the best specialist mage class. You can play an illusionist as a gnome, thus gaining the +1 Intelligence bonus, and the two schools that you are blocked from are not as important as some are. However, I should warn you that certain random items will greatly effect whether your bard can do well as a spellcaster.

[Azred]

In lower-level games like BG1, a specialist is better because you get an extra spell slot per level. In higher-level games like BG2 or IWD (especially if you have HoW/TotLM/AB) always go with a generalist--diversification is more useful than specialization. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

[NobleNick]

Originally posted by Black Swan Gauntlet: The truth is that it's a matter of personal opinion, and this very question leads to long debates between different members of these forums (primarily NobleNick and Dundee Slaytern, IIRC.) However, here's my advice: If you want to play as a specialist mage, be an Illusionist. This is the best specialist mage class. You can play an illusionist as a gnome, thus gaining the +1 Intelligence bonus, and the two schools that you are blocked from are not as important as some are.

Pegged, LOL!

Actually, Dundee and I came to somewhat of a consensus: I agreed that a Generalist is probably a better choice for single Mage parties on high HoF difficulty settings; and (IIRC) Dundee admitted that a Specialist might give more mage power for the normal game. And, yes, krunchyfrogg, having a Bard can make a big difference for some in whether or not to specialize. For me, the addition of a Bard into the mix makes this a no-brainer ---> for Normal game/expansions: Specialize!

Agreed with all the rest of the above. Illusionist is -THE- specialist school to take if HoW is installed; because it gives you all the important schools, especially Evocation, Illusion and Conjuring.

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!


[ 10-12-2005, 03:05 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]

[krunchyfrogg]

Cool, thanks guys!

BTW, my mage will be a dualclassed guy, but he is starting off as a thief and does in fact have the dexterity to dual into an illusionist.

I just checked something out (which makes the illusionist even better IMHO): the only 9th level spells are both conjuration/summoning spells (which the illusionist can cast). This is great, because 9th level spells are the only ones bards can not cast, so I should be able to cover every spell in the game!

[Kyrvias]

I presonally favor diviners over any other specialization, as the bard can handle any summoning spells plus some special beserkers.

[ister]

Transmuter is basically identical to Illusionist isn't it? My personal opinion is that generalist is best, but it does depend a lot on playing style. Illusionists and Transmuters lose out on abjuration. If you tend to play melee based parties this is a big loss, because you miss dispel magic and protection from normal missiles etc.

I like the cleric/illusionist (or transmuters) combination for this reason, the cleric side covers up some of the shortages of the mage side. But I still think that the generalist is more useful.

[krunchyfrogg]

Coming back to this game... I'm not really sure the bonus spell on a main mage from being a specialist outweighs the opposition schools.

For instance, I went with an Illusionist, and I think missing spells like Dispel Magic, Skull Trap and the multiple Shadow Summons really hurts (my backup mage, a Bard, doesn't have too many free slots for all of these spells)!


(gratuitous bump!!!)

[ 01-04-2006, 09:44 PM: Message edited by: krunchyfrogg ]

[Aerich]

With a bard and a cleric, you should be able to cover dispel magic. Skull Trap is merely a reduced-radius, delayed-blast fireball (albeit magic damage) with no damage limit. It's a loss, but not a huge loss. Shadow Summons are easily replaced by other mage summons, a cleric's animate dead, or with druid summons, so that's no biggie.

Don't sweat it, just pick the right mix of spells for your party as a unit, not for each individual character.