27 replies to this topic

[Altomar]

every time i play bg2 i use mostly warrior class (as main character) or paladin. after so many games i want to try something difference. i was thinking about mage but i don't know many thinks about this class.

q1 : is it possible with a mage (alone or with a small party of total 4) to slay someone powerful like a dragon (e.g. Firkraag) or to survive from a battle with giants?

q2 : is wild mage more powerful than a simple mage?

q3 : which one is more powerful in higher levels, a multiclass mage or a single mage? his spell do more damage or he just get a few more spells while gaining levels??

q4 : is it possible to survive in insane difficulty with a mage??

i want to try this character with many other mods together (all big mods and many smallers) so i guess the maximum level must be 40 or 50 that character can gain.

thanks for any help

[Choo Choo]

1: Yes, it is.

2: Wild mages can memorize more spells, but they also have a chance of a wild surge, which can be both beneficial or negative. (Once, it made me cast two fireballs instead of one, and once it turned me into stone, so yeah.)

3: Well, multiclass mages cannot reach as high levels as singleclass mages. So mage-wise, the singleclass mages are more powerful, but multiclass mages also have the abilities and strengths from their other class.

4: It is possible with all classes. You just have to use different strategies.

[Altomar]

thanks Choo Choo

i will try to start with a wild mage
is my stat ok for a wild mage? i believe that the most important is intelligence

STR - 12
DEX - 16
CON - 16
INT - 18
WIS - 10
CHA - 16

[Choo Choo]

Me being a dexterity nerd, I'd put strength down one point, con down one point and add those to dexterity for maximum AC. But yes, it seems fine.

[Jarno Mikkola]

I believe that the most important is intelligence?
STR - 12
DEX - 16
CON - 16
INT - 18
WIS - 10
CHA - 16

Yes to the question, but why go with CHA - 16, not bump it to 3, and 18 to Dex, Con and more to Str, as you are going to need them if you have any dreams of doing little soloing. As you'll soon get the Ring of Human Influence(CHA - 18), as soon as you get out of the Irenicus' prison, and enter the Circus Tent. That's of course, a power gamers oppinion.

[Choo Choo]

I tend to play BG1 - BG2 for continuity, and in BG1, you're stumped without a high charisma. But yeah, Jarno's right, drop the charisma.

[Galsic]

Sounds like you didn't consider sorcerer as an option, which I'm sure most people consider superior to any single class mage. Yeah, sorcerers might start out kind of slow, but it really doesn't take them to long to power up, and by ToB (or, perhaps, even sooner) they become quite degenerate, which is at least partly why I think they're a lot of fun .

As for wild mages, I, personally, don't care for that chance of a wild surge, but to each his own.

Edited by Galsic, 10 December 2007 - 02:51 AM.

[Solar's Harper]

Charisma is useful for weaseling your way outta tight situations (ie: paranoid Flaming Fist south of Beregost) when wisdom and intelligence fail, and sometimes you need it at around the above 10 level for it to suceed.

Also under the fixpack conditions, which properly fixes the Sorcerer class, Charisma and Intelligence are the Prime stats, anything so keep them high in such a case.

Merchants supposedly give discounts to people of higher charisma, I've never noticed this under normal conditions, so I wouldn't give it a boost just over that reason alone.

Intelligence for any mage class allows you extra slots, and increased magic potency, effectively allowing your mage to be a mage, infact it is recommended that all mages have a minimum of 17 intelligence.

Since I'll assume you'll have your character as the main speaker (due to being the leader, etc) I recommend again keeping it at a reasonable rate, but not excessive unless the above reasons also apply.

Strength is useful as we all know, but for mages it's less so, as ranged weapons will mainly rely on it for accuracy rather than damage. And mages should never engage in up close combat unless absolutely nessecary. (exception cases: Fighter-mage etc)

As far as Wild Mages go, it's really up to your playing style, and be sure to have plenty of saves on standby should things go wrong. (yes including summoning a fiend without protection from evil equipped, or CC's affore mentioned stone self problem... although your DEX and CON stats should help you slightly with saves)

Anyway, there's the end of my long post.
Hope you find your time as a mage most worth it, Altomar.

Edit: I'm about to fireball these typos! Really! I am!

Edited by Solar's Harper, 10 December 2007 - 02:52 AM.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Charisma is useful for weaseling your way outta tight situations (ie: paranoid Flaming Fist south of Beregost) when wisdom and intelligence fail, and sometimes you need it at around the above 10 level for it to suceed.

But the 'paranoid Flaming Fist south of Beregost' soldier is wearing my plate mail armor.
And then there was Ajantis(Cha-17) and Keldorn(Cha-18).

Also under the fixpack conditions, which properly fixes the Sorcerer class, Charisma and Intelligence are the Prime stats, anything so keep them high in such a case.

That's either, or. So you don't need them both, unless you are a druidic sorcerer, but...

Strength is useful as we all know, but for mages it's less so, as ranged weapons will mainly rely on it for accuracy rather than damage.

Where in the name of the unheaven did you get this, the damage and accuracy(thaco) is determine by Dexterity, not Str, the only thing that the Str does for ranged weapons, is to check if you have enough it to use the weapon.

[Kulyok]

When I bought Shadows Of Amn back in (2000?), I played sorceress for the first time - just because I liked the description. I guess I either don't know how to play a mage, or I don't need more than four spells from each level: in my games, a sorcerer beats every mage hands down. Even lvl30 Irenicus from the Longer Road with his eleven spells per level.

But the real weakness of a sorcerer is the unability to dual-class(let alone multiclass) - it especially shows in solo games. From my experience, a solo Fighter/Mage or a Fighter/Mage/Thief is ultimately more powerful in the end. (I'd say Fighter/Thief is the most powerful combination, ever, but that's neither here nor there).

Edited by Kulyok, 10 December 2007 - 03:45 AM.

[Altomar]

Thanks everyone for all these valuable informations.

I believe sorcerer is for more advanced players because you have to choose a few of the total spell a mage can learn. If i choose the wrong spells then what??? should i have to start again from the beginning ??

As for Charisma i put 16 because i read somewhere that it is important stat for every character in order to gain better prices from shops and get better rewards from quests.

What is a proper alignment for a mage? I see that you can get different familiars with the proper alignment. any advice? i mostly play with a good party.

Edited by Altomar, 10 December 2007 - 10:52 AM.

[Solar's Harper]

What is a proper alignment for a mage? I see that you can get different familiars with the proper alignment. any advice? i mostly play with a good party.

Any alignment is fine, its just the abilities of the familars vary with different alignments. Which you choose is really up to you. And familars really are only useful for scouting, and sometimes even that becomes redundant if a good thief takes lead.

So honestly, I wouldn't really worry about it. Since the familar is more likely to spend time in your inventory than anywhere else.

Possibly aside from the practical reasons, the only other reason why you'd want a familar, is so you always have someone to talk to (and if evil alignment, slap around and have the familar grumble)

Where in the name of the unheaven did you get this, the damage and accuracy(thaco) is determine by Dexterity, not Str, the only thing that the Str does for ranged weapons, is to check if you have enough it to use the weapon.

I had much the same question myself, but the manual says otherwise (for not only BG2 either). Anyways for any character I'd recommend the highest DEX as possible regardless. After all the one thing more important than Thaco is AC.

[Altomar]

Thanks Solar's Harper

I have one last question before start playing the game.
Is mage/cleric good combination since they are both casters so i can have both offensive and defensive spells or should I prefer a single mage??

[Kellen]

For some a Mage/Cleric is an excellent class. You'll be slightly slower in leveling your mage spells but you'll also be getting several cleric spells. (You also can't be a specialist or wild mage) If you prefer Aerie to Edwin (skills not personality) Mage/Cleric would be the thing for you.

[Jarno Mikkola]

I believe sorcerer is for more advanced players because you have to choose a few of the total spell a mage can learn. If i choose the wrong spells then what??? should i have to start again from the beginning ??

Actually you don't, you can errace the spells from your spell book, but the thing is, you won't get them back until you level up, so...

As for Charisma i put 16 because i read somewhere that it is important stat for every character in order to gain better prices from shops and get better rewards from quests.

Just what the ring of human influence is for! Although, if you have it on 17 or 18, you can use other items to boost it above 18, as with the ring it's impossible as the bonuses won't stack.

What is a proper alignment for a mage? I see that you can get different familiars with the proper alignment. any advice? i mostly play with a good party.

Is there any other choice than Lawful Evil. No! As we Imps say.

I had much the same question myself, but the manual says otherwise (for not only BG2 either). Anyways for any character I'd recommend the highest DEX as possible regardless. After all the one thing more important than Thaco is AC.

At the begining, yes, but at the end, the enemy will hit you even if you have -25 AC. Now try to And as it comes to the Thaco with ranger weapons, it comes from the Missile Adjustment(Minsk, Dex 16), not from the To hit.

Is mage/cleric good combination since they are both casters so i can have both offensive and defensive spells or should I prefer a single mage??

"Your ultimate weapon, Time Stop spell with the Harm is avaiting for you, sir!" And say, cheese!

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 12 December 2007 - 01:29 AM.

[Altomar]

Is mage/cleric good combination since they are both casters so i can have both offensive and defensive spells or should I prefer a single mage??

"Your ultimate weapon, Time Stop spell with the Finger of Death is avaiting for you, sir!" And say, cheese!

both cleric and mage/sorcerers have the same spell or am i wrong ? (Finger of Death)
if yes is there any difference? can i use from both cleric and mage so i can have more of the same spell?

also if i use this combination (cleric/mage) the most important stats are WIS & INT (18 to both i guess). what about the other stats?

Edited by Altomar, 11 December 2007 - 05:08 AM.

[Klorox]

Always, always, ALWAYS max your DEX out. It helps every single character you can make.

And go with a 16 CON.

[Solar's Harper]

Is mage/cleric good combination since they are both casters so i can have both offensive and defensive spells or should I prefer a single mage??

"Your ultimate weapon, Time Stop spell with the Finger of Death is avaiting for you, sir!" And say, cheese!

both cleric and mage/sorcerers have the same spell or am i wrong ? (Finger of Death)
if yes is there any difference? can i use from both cleric and mage so i can have more of the same spell?

Clerics and Mages both have access to Finger of Death, so long as a specialist mage (in the single class case) is not unable to learn necromatic magics.

And Jarno, I can assure you right now; Finger of Death is not always the wisest choice of weapons, and it'll never beat a tender beating on your foes either.

In the cases of no use Finger of Death, is definetely up against bosses who may only suffer damage from it (ie: Irenicus, etc) or undead enemies, who don't get as much a fright out of it as a Bhaalspawn player would... seriously, Bioware you twits, so many enemies can use it within a second (including the hell trials of TOB) and once they aim at the player's character, bam! Game over.

Area of effect spells (ie Fireball, or the priest/druid spell of firestorm) are very effective, particularly when the enemy is having trouble to manevour to where you are located. And as always, summon creatures including fiends (as long as you're protected from evil) can make rats like Bodhi easy sport.

Low grade spells such a magic missiles will never be out of date, and that goes especially for Chromatic Orb. As you level up, their effects can be near lethal to the minions that are not in groups and have lower magic resistance than other foes.

And lastly, I advise caution if you try a gnome mage/<insert class> as what you'll really be getting is the only multi-class specialist mage available only to gnomes in such a case. And as all good illusionists are, unless you've got a very good way with luck and knowledge of the field of combat. Then you're probably better off as no gnome multi class mage.

Phew, I hope no one died from that big boring monologue of mine.

[Jarno Mikkola]

both cleric and mage/sorcerers have the same spell or am i wrong ? (Finger of Death)

ups, the spell is Harm, not Finger of Death.

Ah two automatic hit's, and he was dead.

[Solar's Harper]

Not quite Jarno, even in a fixed version of BG2, I'm still seeing Finger of Death; any alignment cleric.

It's at the last level of their arsenal.