Mage build
 

Can anyone tell me a good mage build, I know my character isn't new or anything but I just want to know of some stuff I could do for him to possibly make him better. he is a fire/ice mage atm I can't tell the skills and such since i'm unable to log on due to downloading issues.

But let me know whats some equipment and such I could hunt for?

There are several typical builds to a mage, the two most prominent ones being

fire/water, and
fire/death/whip

while other combinations such as death/earth, air/fire/water, and air/death has been known to work

Typically, all mages use evocations to some degree, hence most train 7 or more evocation at high levels, some going as far as 14. Another common trait is the use of the mana shield spell, an enchantment of spirit.

Typical fire/water mages depends heavily on the fireball and blizzard spell, while some occasionally seek aid from other evocations of fire and water such as frost wave, firebolt, icestorm, firespray, and firefrost.

Here's a typical skillset for a level 20 halfling with access to no items:

20 fire
20 water
7 life
7 evocation
8 lore
1 enchantment
1 incantation
2 strength
8 meditation
6 to a weapon skill of choice

Some very desirable items (in order of availability): wizard's cap (mage guild-only item), ember/glacier weapons (mini quest prize), shield of power/shield of art (miniquest prize), elite wizard robe/ring of enhanced protection (quest prize), imperial crown of samhoc (no longer attainable, but still in the market), amulet of the falcon (lq prize) amulet of the gauntlet (lq prize), and of course, the ever elusive rings of omnimagic (lq prize)

And the insanely rare: sokoban wizard items (no longer attainable and very rare), amulet of morgos (only 4 in existance), and fancy red gloves (people think they don't exist), Ruby/Amethyst/Sapphire Platemails (they don't exist...)

I have personally seen a ruby platemail with my own eyes, and yes they do exsist. But they are very rare, and bungle to boot. So they aren't worth their price.

25 Fire
25 Water
10 Meditation
8 Lore
8 Life
14 Evocation
5 Spirit
5 Merchant

10 meditation will become 20 at the highest rank in the Mage's Guild. The 5 spirit will be 7 (enough for a good mana shield) once you have an imperial crown and shield of power.

my mage is lvl21 these are his trained skills

Earth Magic 5 (5 trained)
Enchantment 6 (5 trained, 1 magic effect)
Evocation 11 (10 trained, 1 magic effect)
Fire Magic 19 or 20 (19 or 20 trained)
Healing 8 (8 trained) (I don't know if I should keep this much healing)
Life Magic 10 (9 trained, 1 magic effect)
Lore 5 (5 trained, might need more)
Meditation 16 (8 trained, 8 natural ability)
Water Magic 16 or 17 (16 or 17 trained)

My equipment is semi useful I guess but other migh have different opinions so let me know.

Lightweight Elven Boots of Agility +8
Lightweight Elven Cloak of Agility +10
Amulet of Death Protection
Elven Wizard Robe
Ring of Invisibility
Fancy White Gloves
Imperial Crown of Samhoc
Unicorn Horn
Ring of Greater Regeneration

btw I haven't played for awhile, what does the omni rings do?

Rings of OmniMagic give +1 in all elements. However, they also take away 20 or so HP.

Omni rings give SP also, not sure how much though.

23 fire
24 water
7 life
11 lore
12 evocation
10 meditation
6 spirit
3 healing
4 merchant

gear
ring of life magic
ring of life magic
shield of power
ember whip
rest agil gear

Is that your characters build blackbeard?

If I go off all that that tampers with my resist spells does it not?

No, no they do not.

I'm not sure what you mean.

I mean that if I go off the build blackbeard posted then won't that affect my resist spells? Since with no earth my resist petrify wont be strong enough, Does enchantment not do anything to resist spells effect or time length?

The resist magic spell what exactly does that resist? Does it resist all magic spells or certain ones? I never understood it since I never used it.

With 0 earth trained, my conjurer's resist petrify spell has never been so weak as to let me be petrified. I can be fighting in a room of medusas, stonewinds flying everywhere, and still never get petrified. With 0 earth, you have a 40% resist, which apparently is enough (sometimes it's 44 with my shield of power). If you're still sketched out about it, you could get SoP + x2 rings of earth magic + amulet of earth magic for a 56% petrify resist; 4% less than a scroll's 60%.

Resist magic makes you take less damage from spells such as magic mine, destruction, and...I think that's it. It's pretty much only useful in PvP against death mages like Salkand.

well i know 0 earth magic is decent up to medusas and such but i was talking with someone in game about rding and he told me he would not rd with me unless i had at least 5 earth magic so young purple dragons and mariliths did not stonewind him. so thats why im so skeptical on the matter.

I've fought mariliths too (not many, but still have fought them) and I can stand right in the middle of their stonewind. I may be getting lucky with them though, who knows. As for young purple dragons, I have no clue, I've never had a build that I could RD confidently with. I know they don't petrify past scroll resists, but I'm not sure about 0 earth. If anyone has any light on the situation (read: solid proof from experience) please contribute.


I also have a question of my own; How much death ray resistance would a level 22 with a D-Pro ammy have against a reaper? I know reaper's death rays can kill anyone below level 25, even with DPro. I also know that snake whips give 5% death resistance, and I want to know if that 5% resist is enough to make me invulnerable to their DR.

On the petrify matter; it would seem I unknowingly lied to you. I actually have max petrify resist, because my +1 Mail of Grael gives me 85%. So, when I cast resist petrify (which is totally unnecessary, 85% resist to it more than enough) I actually have 120% :p .

Case and point; try for at least 60% resist (this is what scrolls cast) because I know from experience that you'll be safe with that.

Shhh, don't let them know valuable secrets like that.

AD's and OLs (orca liches) can still petrify you with a 40% resist, although most monsters can't.

I think resist magic helps a little against dragon breathe too (although I don't recommend running into a Wyvern nest with only resist magic though). Also, I find it a bit odd how life magic training helps with resistance against death magic (it makes sense, but other resists aren't like this). When you cast a fie resist it's a fire spell, yet it tells you that you feel a puff of cool air (fire isn't very cool, it's kinda' hot, actually, lolz). I'm not complaining though, just saying.

The puff of cool air protects you from the heat. It's like casting "Portable Air Conditioning" on yourself. Likewise, resist cold casts a puff of warm air on you, to insulate you from the cold. Insulation protects you from electricity, "fleshy" (rubbery) keeps you from turning into hard, rigid stone, etc.

So, I have three questions left now:

1) What is the minimum amount of petrification resistance needed to be immune from every monster's stonewind/petrify?

2) Like death protection, does making HoF/level 25 also give innate petrification resist? I think I heard someone say this when discussing the ring of enhanced protection.

3) How much Death Protection does DPro Ammy give, and how much do you need to be immune to reaper's death ray below level 25?

Yeah I get that part. I'm just saying that a fire spell creating a puff of cool air doesn't make any sense; shouldn't resist fire be a water spell?