Good for nothing mages!

[Calsiumus]

Ahhh I hate mages!!
no affence to you "mages lovvers" but I hate mages I mean when you are a mage yourself you suck big time but when you fight a mage they ´kick ass!!...
Arghh...

[Wilbur]

Are you soloing? What spells are you using?

Early in the game mages do suck, yes. However, once you are later in levels, say 4th or 5th, you will begin to realize a small extent of their power. The reason enemy mages are always dominators is because they are almost always a higher level than you. Otherwise the game would be no fun, as you wouldn't need any strategy.

Magic Missle: Becomes a pretty good spell after you get your third missle.

Fireball: Very good spell, effective as soon as you get it for dealing large amounts of damage to entire partys. Loses it's effectiveness in BG2 in my opinion, though.

Mirror Image: Good spell, especially at low levels when enemy thaco's are low. It gives quite a bit of casting time. This can be seen by the use of the mage Zordal at the Naskel Carnival who, without this spell, would be an easy kill.

Armor: Don't neglect to cast this spell on your mages. It last for several hours and makes them much more difficult to hit.

Web: A third level spell, but it is a good opener for party-party combat as it can halt several enemys in their tracks.

Agannazar's Scorcher: Only a second level spell this deals out 3-18 fire damage. Not bad.

Horror: Another very good spell that can disrupt several enemys at once.

Invisibilty: If you don't have a good thief, this can easily take it's place for scouting purposes as most of the time in BG1 there will be nothing to detect you.

Knock: Another thief equivalent spell it opens any lock.

I could go on and on, but most of the other spells require you to be fairly high level to cast and take a long time to procure the scrolls. Scrolls is another problem with mages in BG1, they are not very common. Go and visit Thalyanter (sp?) in high hedge however, and you will find he has an excellent selection of third and lower level spells. Be ready for a fight though, or you can just run past and talk to him several times.

[I wish my name was Baggins]

What?!?!?!!? Mages?!?!?!? Useless?!?!?!?! Oh sir I beg to differ. Only rookie mages have difficulty contributing to the general welfare of your party but as they get stronger then they can flat out wreck stuff.

[Ar-Cunin]

lvl 3 spell: haste - the ultimate 'party-booster' [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Horatio]

I love the lightning spell. Great if you're soling, it'll kill nearly anything. If you're with a party, there's always the risk that you'll hit Minsc in the butt and fry his brains.
I agree, fireball does lose its potency in the sequel. I just liked going into a bandit group with haste, then casting 3 fireballs before they even hit me.

[Telchar of Nogrod]

When you are against enemy mages, you have to disrupt their spellcasting and keep on disrupting them. A real key to doing well in this game is lotsa, lotsa ranged attacks. Even my lead tank has a backup ranged attack. Let the enemy come to you when you are low level and sometimes later on as well. An important exception to this is when the enemy has archers as well. You must engage them in melee to make them change weapons. Most of the time I have my mage use a sling; but, against other mages when I'm out of MMs, I even use darts. With three attacks per round, it helps disrupt enemy spellcasting. Bottom line, you shouldn't have one battle plan against every type of opponent. You must adapt. Paul Maud Dib "I will bend like a reed in the wind" Of course, you will be able to develop a one strategy fits all, but only after some gametime experience.

[Caramon Majeure]

I used to think the same thing Calciumus, but I found that making sure to use scripts for your mages, (So you don't have to worry about casting everything) helps a lot. Now I keep two mages (one is a T/M) in my party at all times.

[andrewas]

You *again*?

Thats SoA, IWD and BG1!

Anyway, I replied to you in SoA and I aint C&Ping it here. Besides, here you have a (small) point until you get to level 3 or 4.

[pritchke]

Have you ever hunted a Basilisk without a mage? They will turn an entire party to stone before you get off the first volley of arrows. Now include a mage in your party and have him cast protection from petrification on even one of your guys and the poor basilisk doesn't stand a chance. Carry a mage when you hunt Basilisk.

[ryaldin]

My primary weapons for All my characters, are ranged weapons. Of course I'm stoked when I pick up a good melee weapon, and am able to outfit a party with the best gear, but alot of my proficiency slots go towards bows and slings as well. I just find it more useful to shoot everything that moves. With the exception of you average commoners, flaming fist mercs, and a few merchants here and there, I pretty much fire as soon as possible, not even bothering with the whole 'tank' theory. Of course, there are guys in my party who are still good with melee weapons and will clean house if someone actually makes it to my party, but with 4 to 5 archers letting loose of arrows, and mage pulling some celestial strings, my swords, axes, spears, hammers and quaterstaves don't see much action.