Mage - some tips?

[LordGrey]

As the topic says this is a Mage thread.
I've been playing Mage for some time now and is at the third chapter. What my mage does is just hanging back and letting my tanks take care of all the baddies. So, do you have any advice on playing Mage? What spell should I use and for what? He isn't exactly a fighter

Thanks.

[trux]

there are literally endless strategies for mages to use. Of course he/she's not a fighter and should NEVER be used as one (with the exception of using the spell Tenser's Transformation.)

A mage's primary purpose is to aid the party with their magic while also protecting themselves. I always play mages and their first priority is to protect themselves, at all cost.

Mages can be used to split up the enemy party, eradicate the defenses of a party, call forth demons and other creatures to aid them or just flat our demolish the enemy with power magics.

What spell should I use and for what?

This is a difficult and very open-ended question. Your goal as a mage should be to use ALL your magic in different ways for best results. Just thoroughly read the description of every spell you get and try them out whenever possible. This is the only way you'll learn which spells are the best to use at which times.

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trux

[Robin, Thief of Hearts]

Hmm, I'm a thief, not a mage. But here are some hints.

1) Use level one spells Chromatic Orb and Magic Missile
- to hit anything quickly.
- to hit enemy spellcasters before they finish casting. This disrupts them. Spoils their spells.

2) Use low level spells Web & Slow
- to entrap and make sluggish any dangerous opponent. Slow is great for groups!

3) Use Invisibility
- to conceal yourself, and you may then sneak about, scouting ahead.
- to hide a Thief that cannot hide well. You can then send him out to do a Backstab!

4)Use Party enhancing magics
like Haste
- to run like hell (ok, ok I'm a thief) from superior forces.
- to enhance the rate of fire of your archers & slingers.
- to allow your heavy warriors to close fast and begin hacking.

5) Use area effect spells-
Like CloudKill or Fireball to hurt a big group of enemies.
Like Greater Malison to prep an enemy group for special attacks that they can save against. ( eg Cloudkill! )

6) Use Summonning -
To get damage sponges - monsters that distract the enemy into not hitting your party.
To get additional troops for combat.
To get special forces. Undead critters are Mindless, and immune to Psionics, for instance. Fire Elementals are very useful, immune to normal weapon damages.

7) Use Self Defense.
Stoneskin goes up instantly. It can save your puny butt. Don't ignore simple defenses like Mirror image, and Blur. They really make you hard to hit. Advanced Illusions like Shadow Door are good too.

8) AntiMagic.
You are the only thing between your muscle bound goonies and the enemy mages. Break their defenses with Breach! Rip away their spell illusions with TrueSight, expose them with Invis-Purg, and so on. You are the master of the Arcane. So go study!

[WizWom]

Personally, I, too, get bored with the "ooh, I cast a flame arrow this round" that most mages end up doing. It can be effective, casting your combat spells - flame arrow, acid arrow, fireball (early, when the monster are away from the party), chromatic orb (the unlisted effects are NASTY), magic missile (when you have 7 or eight they kill quickly), chaos (when the enemy is in your midst and numerous). To counteract this boredom, and take care of the typical enemies, who are so much below you, I start off as a fighter, and dual-class at a favorable level, like 7 or 9. Now, you can hit better (L9 ftr = THAC0 of L18 Mage) and you can wear and weild a lot more - helms, shields, armor (in a pinch, when all spells gone, or the Bladesinger Chain +4 very late in the game), swords, etc. Plus you get a bunch of hit points, because you started as a fighter & get the high con bonus for those levels. For 64000 exp, it's a great idea. Not quite as good is dual-calssing from a thief.

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WizWom - Wandering Kernel of Happiness

[Lifetime]

I just want to applaud Robin for his excellent post up there. I havent read anything like that to make me rethink the uses of common spells before.
Well written and informative mate!

Oh and some other things.. spells like Disentegrate and Flesh to Stone might sound cool for the instant death thing, but most of the creatures you'll need it for are either nearly immune, or carry items worth salvaging that will potentially be destroyed by using the above spells. Spells worth using are Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, which does not damage your party but does craploads of damage, and Finger of Death, which can be very useful to take out tough baddies.
And I've forgotten, but I believe that Power Word:Kill issint as potent as it is in Planescape or Icewind Dale, so don't rely on it. In fact, most of the lvl 9 spells are pretty weak, so your best bet would be to use Black Blade of Disaster, Timestop or Spelltrap.
(this taken into consideration that you'll be using the expansion or have an XP cap remover)

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Why?

[Ged]

Mages are usually most effective casting 'area effect' spells such as cloud kill, fireball and chaos - these can damage larger numbers in one go where fighters can only take on one at a time.

Unfortunatly some of the most usefull spells when 1st and 2nd level such as sleep are useless against monsters that you meet at 7th.
A particular favorite at the moment is Melf's Minute Meteors, it goes against what I have just said but it does some good damage and doesn't miss - a great way of helping your 'tanks' without gettin hit.

Mages can fight - just make sure you have stoneskin or whatever protections. You could even wear plate armour and fight - but you can't cast spells but. as a last resort...

[Istaron]

Well, mages can fight pretty well between your archers, not only casting spells on your enemies. Mels Minute Meteors works great! Especially when you fight golems.
Finger of Death is the best spell one can use, followed by Animate Death (Skeleton Warriors). Magic Missile is also super, though only for removing Mirror Image or disturb a wizard casting a spell.

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We call him Bobby Corwen

[Avatar]

My Mage is the best fighter!!!!

It uses a tactic at high levels and I name it the Wizard Slayer.

It casts time stop...
Kills all spell casters (high AC) and then dumps some horrible spell on the melee people.

Ofcourse this Mage is dual classed from a fighter and dual welds the Flail of Ages+5 and Crom Faeyr+5

[DonkeyWan]

Yeah, I'd like to congratulate Robin too, nicely put and neatly organised, vgood for a newcomer. I suppose one other section to add would be some heavy hitting spells to take down real baddies (like finger of death and so on), but as the hope that the newbies will have learned by this level, I suppose its not that important.

[oldbittercraig]

**golf clap**