Medievia - Do You Dare Enter?

Help for Mages

A Mage is basically a very powerful offensive attacker who can devastate enemies with a wide variety of spells, yet cannot take much damage in return at a low level.. A Mage has to consider the spells available and the enemy faced - then work this into a strategy. Often this strategy will be the same for many situations, but slight variations will occasionally be needed.

All classes, especially when thinking of single class characters, work better in a formation than solo - yet this is most applicable to the Mage than any other class. Clerics can heal themselves, Thieves and Warriors can both use Meditate to regenerate their Hit Points moderately quickly - other than healing potions, regeneration items and rest, you have no recuperative powers. In a formation your job will generally be to sit at the back and throw spells out in relative safety.

Once you get the Manashield spell at level 19, you will be able to solo without the best of them. Especially with the mana kickback that you receive when you deal the deathblow. Until then try and get into a formation with someone and stay out of harm's way - you do not have the Hit Points to do otherwise for many levels to come. Fortunately a mage has several spells that are invaluable for a party's success, so you should be able to find someone to adventure with.

Equipment

Your main weakness is your low basic Hit Points so make sure you attempt to obtain a decent amount of Hit Points from equipment. A second priority is Armor Class, as a better Armor Class is invaluable in avoiding losing those Hit Points (once you get the Shield and Stone Skin spell, this becomes less priority). Mana is your third priority - you can afford to have lower Mana than Hit Points in the early stages of your career. Often, though, you will find it easier to obtain Mana equipment than anything else. Saving Spell equipment is not as important as it is for other classes as you have the best natural base Saving Spell of all. As far as Hit Roll and Damage Roll equipment goes, looking for equipment that reduces these but improves other statistics, is not a bad idea. A Mage's melee effectiveness is never great, even when you have a good Hit Roll and Damage Roll.

Stats

As with a Cleric, your spells cost you Mana to cast. Initially the casting cost is high but this drops as you achieve more levels, eventually down to the level quoted in the HELP SPELLS file. With every level you gain you will have more spells available and each combat spell will do more damage. Each spell you practice will cost practice points, but to reduce the risk of fumbling a spell cast you need to practice a spell until it is perfect. Having a higher Intelligence reduces this risk even further.

Spells

The spells a Mage has available need to be treated correctly to get the best use out of them. Not every spell is as useful as others are, but we have a small guide to some of the more notable ones here. For more information or a complete list you can refer to the help file while you are in the game. There are many offensive spells for mages, and you can skip a few of these in between levels, but the utility spells will help you throughout your career.

Combat/Offensive Spells

Magic Missile - is the only spell you have available on your first level. This spell is a very useful combat spell for low level mage, but can also come in very usefully at higher level as it has a useful side effect against an opponent with Phantasmal Images.
Chill Touch and Burning Hands - are the next offensive spells you will have available. Each does a bit more damage for the mana expenditure as they go up the spell levels, but this is not always a good reason to practice them. Your first few levels can go by quite quickly and a lot of spells can become redundant, so choose your spells carefully. To decide on whether a spell is useful or not, you have to read the help file on that spell - the ones you should be practicing are the ones with auxiliary effects. Of the two spells above, only Chill Touch has an effect like this as it has a chance of dropping the opponent's dexterity.
Bolt of Lightning - is the next available offensive spell. This spell has a chance to miss the target, but take note of the bonus for wet weather - double the damage is nothing to ignore in later levels, considering it will cost less mana. It is certainly worth your time practicing this spell - even without rain it is nicely effective.
Color Spray - another spell with an auxiliary effect . The damage is not reduced by a successful save vs. spell (like most other spells) and it has a chance to blind the foe. This will become your main combat spell for many levels to come.
Fireball - do NOT use this spell while indoor, or you will roast yourself and your party members. Also this spell is weakened when there's a rainstorm.
Frost Shards - is the next available offensive spell that is notable, since casting Fireball might be a risk to you and your form when used indoors.
Shockwave - the ultimate general purpose Mage offensive spell for higher level Mages. This is the best offensive spell available to a mage.
Malediction - often a rarely used spell since it uses a lot of mana in one bolt and leaves you moderately defenseless - it is best used in a situation where it will finish a foe. Requires a focus item to cast.
Chain Lightning - a good one to have for the same reason as Lightning Bolt, except that this one attacks all mobs in the room.
Acid Blast - the all-purpose combat room spell for most damage.

Defensive Spells

Shield - a bonus of -20 to your armor class.
Stoneskin - a bonus of -35 to -60 to your armor class depending on your level.
Manashield - a mage's lifeblood. It allows you to literally convert your mana into your hp, allowing you to take no physical damage until your mana runs low.
Fireshield - this spell will make you take a damage in full, but deflect half of the damage you take back to your opponent.
Energy Drain - when this spell is successfully cast, it allows you to drain your opponent's mana, movement points and vitality, and gives you an equal amount in mana intake. You can only cast this spell when you have an evil alignment.
Phantasmal Image - a very useful spell for delaying the onset of incoming damage in a fight and essential when expecting a backstab. It can be countered, however, and it does come with a goodly amount of lag when cast - so if you want to flee and cast it then try going a few extra rooms away for additional security.
Teleport - not being there is the ultimate defense, and casting this spell takes you far from the fight. Although uncontrolled, it can be cast at nearly any time.
False Footing - the caster is able to change the terrain, making it much more treacherous to walk across.

Auxiliary Spells

Plague - an essential spell for use when combating the tougher opponents. Strength loss and up to 30% Hit Point loss is a very nice combination. Best used at the start of a fight, or even before when it will not initiate combat unless the opponent resists it.
Suffocate - the victim loses movement points and will regenerate breath significantly slower for a short period, depending on the caster's level.
Curse - another spell that is purely depilatory. Best used on opposition spellcasters as the chance to fumble a spell is increased heavily.
Weaken - useful against melee mobs, since it reduce the strength of your opponent, it will reduce the damage done to you.
Sleep - useful only against mobs that are below level 20. It is frequently used on trade runs to avoid prolonged confrontations with Baenlyrs or Sunsprites.
Fear - useful to send a foe running, but it does mean that they can return while you are recuperating. Use in conjunction with either a fast escape in the other direction or a Room Shield to prevent their return.
Invisibility & Mass Invisibility - very useful for trade runs. One works for a single target, the other for all in the room (including mobs). A reasonable number of mobs cannot see invisible players and thus it can invaluable for either escape or just for avoiding annoying opponents. The higher the level of mob, the more likely they can see invisible players.
Levitate & Mass Levitation - not often an issue, but when it is it really matters. Some areas are designated as being water areas and you need this spell to go into those rooms. You could always use a raft in your inventory to mimic the effect, but these spells weigh nothing.
Refresh & Mass Refresh - invaluable for trade runs, but can also be used to assist a friendly warrior or thief if they are relying on meditation to recover their Hit Points.
Channel - mana from other members of the form will be redirected to the caster. Typically no mana will be lost, but sometimes the resulting mana may be off by one or two mana due to the delicate energies at work.

Utility Spells

Identify - an unglamorous spell, but one that the average adventurer will be stuck without. Similar pieces of equipment can have wildly varying statistics, so it is essential to find out if the piece of equipment you have just looted is better than what you already have.
Detect Invisibility - these will help you see invisible mobs, players and objects. You might want to keep these spells on all the time, you never know when you're going to find an invisible dc in a corpse.
Minor Creation - used to conjure up a limited number of items. Rafts can imitate the levitation spell, quills and paper can be used for messages in the middle of a foray. Perhaps the best use for this, however, is in conjunction with a thief and as a source of traps to prevent foes from becoming too troublesome.
Shield Room - prevents mobs (apart from dragons and some trading Mob Faction elements) from entering the room. Best used to protect yourself whilst you and your group recover from a fight.
Conjure Elemental - used to conjure an elemental, the type of being that will appear depends on the type of elemental stone used.
Alchemy - used to create potions and toxins from certain types of plants.

Strategy

There are a few strategy you can use when you are soloing as a mage, here is a guide on how to work several of your spells in combat to aid your adventure in the land of Medievia.

The main way to defeat an opponent as a Mage is by depleting their abilities and thus increasing your chances of survival. Weaken is a fairly minor spell on its own - repeated castings do not accumulate strength loss. Couple it with a successful Chill Touch and the strength loss begins to mount. Add in a Plague (and that potential for up 30% Hit Point loss) and you can nearly guarantee any weapon-wielding mob will shortly drop its weapon and thus be unable to bash you (which prevent you from casting your spells). Use Color Spray until they are blind and you can expect them to hit less often. Dispel Magic their own Fireshields and Sanctuaries; use Magic Missile initially to remove Phantasmal Images for little cost.

For direct defense a Mage can cast Shield and Stoneskin. At later levels, the Manashield spell becomes your lifeblood as it allows you to take a lot of physical damage without actually hurting you, until your mana runs low. Combine that with a Fireshield so that your opponents take damage back when attacking you, and Energy Drain (to keep a lot of mana in your reserves) then you can become impregnable for a while. In that time period, you have to pound the foe with sufficient spells to take them out before they can do significant damage to you.

Also, note that a Mage gets Mana Kickback - if they are the one to deal the deathblow to an enemy, you receive Mana back dependent on the alignment difference. When fighting solo you should have no problem with this, but in a formation you are less likely to be able to arrange it. The mana kickback that you get will also allow you to keep going for a while, without actually having to rest or sleep to gain the mana that you used.

Help for mages from our players