PC video game where you are a mage

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Martimus
I like taking pure wizards in NWN and NWN2, especially with the overpowered spells after level 20. Being able to summon a Dragon to fight for you, or better yet turning into one was pretty awesome. I played both games through with a warrior first, then a pure wizzard second. I had more fun both times with the wizzard. It actually makes the game easier, because you can usually kill the opponents before they even get close enough to hit you.

What made wizzards even better in those games is that skill points are distributed based on Intellegence, and a properly build wizzard has very high intellegence. This meant that I could max out my skill points every level on the skills that were most important to me. Something I could definitely not do with the warrior class.

EDIT: Playing as a pure thief was probably the most fun though. Only because you have to sneak around and avoid most of the fights, because you would get your ass handed to you in most of them. Setting up traps down a hallway for the enemies you have to kill was a fun excersize too. You could only really play the modules that gave experience for completing missions though, because otherwise you rarely level up.

i like wizards for the ability to have a lot of different spells, but it seems like high level sorcs > high level wizards. but maybe i just never played the wiz right

no, its true... sorcerers are wizards with twice as many spells per day AND can dynamically switch between their known spells, they are just limited in their known spells... this could be a big deal if you use dozens of sourcebooks for hundreds of spells... but when there are only a few GOOD spells to take every level and a bunch of junk, the sorcerer is much better.

But all the spells have their purpose. I like having my Sorceror with my party, but I prefer to be a Wizard. I can do everything, plus I have all the skills I want. Sorcerors are limited by having their spells controlled by Charisma and not Intellegence. Having the high Intellegence helps me be a master of not just spells, but lore and crafting as well, and I still have a few skill points left over to master something else. Sorcerors are nice for laying down a bunch of spells though, and help with their buffing spells for the rest of the party (since they have more of them).

You can be a pretty darn powerful mage in NWN and NWN2. More powerful than a fighter. It takes multiple times to kill some of the hardest sorcerors in the game as a fighter (you have to get lucky and have them not cast certain spells), but you can get through the toughest fighter pretty easily as a wizzard. You only run into trouble if you run out of your buffing spells and haven't won the battle yet. But then, if having a wizzard in this game was a "I win" button, what would be the point of the other classes?

 

[alcoholbob]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: Astrallite
Let's take something like stoneskin--it blocks X # of attacks. It does not differentiate between a high level monster or a million little ninjas. NWN2 is a low level marathon. The expansion, MOTB, is still a low level marathon, its just they send waves of generic low level monsters with 1,000HP instead of 20 with unrealistic saves. In other words, they simply CATERED to fighters which is highly unrealistic. This wasn't a mistake. The same guys who worked on NWN2 made marathon games like Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2. They simply had no idea how to balance the game. They tried to make a Diablo game with D20 rules, which is not designed for 300-style battle against waves of enemies.

Wrong.

Stoneskin:
This spell grants the target creature damage reduction 10/adamantine. The spell absorbs 10 points of melee damage per caster level, to a maximum of 100, before collapsing.

Greater Stoneskin:
You gain damage reduction 20/adamantine. The spell absorbs 10 points of damage per caster level, to a maximum of 150, before fading.

Premonition:
Premonition allows you to see a few moments into the future. This grants you damage reduction 30/adamantine; the spell absorbs 10 points of melee damage per caster level before collapsing.

(Premonition being an extremely powerful spell)

I was referring to what it was like in BG2, what would happen if you didn't have the proper balance. I apologize for the confusion--I should have made them into seperate paragraphs.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: Martimus

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Martimus
I like taking pure wizards in NWN and NWN2, especially with the overpowered spells after level 20. Being able to summon a Dragon to fight for you, or better yet turning into one was pretty awesome. I played both games through with a warrior first, then a pure wizzard second. I had more fun both times with the wizzard. It actually makes the game easier, because you can usually kill the opponents before they even get close enough to hit you.

What made wizzards even better in those games is that skill points are distributed based on Intellegence, and a properly build wizzard has very high intellegence. This meant that I could max out my skill points every level on the skills that were most important to me. Something I could definitely not do with the warrior class.

EDIT: Playing as a pure thief was probably the most fun though. Only because you have to sneak around and avoid most of the fights, because you would get your ass handed to you in most of them. Setting up traps down a hallway for the enemies you have to kill was a fun excersize too. You could only really play the modules that gave experience for completing missions though, because otherwise you rarely level up.

i like wizards for the ability to have a lot of different spells, but it seems like high level sorcs > high level wizards. but maybe i just never played the wiz right

no, its true... sorcerers are wizards with twice as many spells per day AND can dynamically switch between their known spells, they are just limited in their known spells... this could be a big deal if you use dozens of sourcebooks for hundreds of spells... but when there are only a few GOOD spells to take every level and a bunch of junk, the sorcerer is much better.

But all the spells have their purpose. I like having my Sorceror with my party, but I prefer to be a Wizard. I can do everything, plus I have all the skills I want. Sorcerors are limited by having their spells controlled by Charisma and not Intellegence. Having the high Intellegence helps me be a master of not just spells, but lore and crafting as well, and I still have a few skill points left over to master something else. Sorcerors are nice for laying down a bunch of spells though, and help with their buffing spells for the rest of the party (since they have more of them).

You can be a pretty darn powerful mage in NWN and NWN2. More powerful than a fighter. It takes multiple times to kill some of the hardest sorcerors in the game as a fighter (you have to get lucky and have them not cast certain spells), but you can get through the toughest fighter pretty easily as a wizzard. You only run into trouble if you run out of your buffing spells and haven't won the battle yet. But then, if having a wizzard in this game was a "I win" button, what would be the point of the other classes?

Also, keep in mind that in the D&D universe, skill points are based off INT scores. This gives Wizards (Mages) a much bigger advantage over Sorcerors based on CHA. Also, Wizards get higher-level spells more quickly. You will find that Wizards take longer to get powerful as a Sorcerer because of the small number of spells at lower-levels, but they eclipse and significantly outpace them in the long run.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Also, keep in mind that in the D&D universe, skill points are based off INT scores. This gives Wizards (Mages) a much bigger advantage over Sorcerors based on CHA. Also, Wizards get higher-level spells more quickly. You will find that Wizards take longer to get powerful as a Sorcerer because of the small number of spells at lower-levels, but they eclipse and significantly outpace them in the long run.

I agree with you, but I honestly thought that was what I said. I must not be very good at portraying my point, so I am glad that you backed it up with more elegant words.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

An oldie, but a goodie, in Divine Divinity mage is the ultra-power class. They beat the crap out of tanks.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: Martimus

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Also, keep in mind that in the D&D universe, skill points are based off INT scores. This gives Wizards (Mages) a much bigger advantage over Sorcerors based on CHA. Also, Wizards get higher-level spells more quickly. You will find that Wizards take longer to get powerful as a Sorcerer because of the small number of spells at lower-levels, but they eclipse and significantly outpace them in the long run.

I agree with you, but I honestly thought that was what I said. I must not be very good at portraying my point, so I am glad that you backed it up with more elegant words.

LOL.

This is really turning into an "uber-geek" thread. Not suprising, I guess, when the title contains the word "Mage" and "PC Game" together.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
An oldie, but a goodie, in Divine Divinity mage is the ultra-power class. They beat the crap out of tanks.

i wouldn't know, the game was just not good.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Martimus

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Martimus
I like taking pure wizards in NWN and NWN2, especially with the overpowered spells after level 20. Being able to summon a Dragon to fight for you, or better yet turning into one was pretty awesome. I played both games through with a warrior first, then a pure wizzard second. I had more fun both times with the wizzard. It actually makes the game easier, because you can usually kill the opponents before they even get close enough to hit you.

What made wizzards even better in those games is that skill points are distributed based on Intellegence, and a properly build wizzard has very high intellegence. This meant that I could max out my skill points every level on the skills that were most important to me. Something I could definitely not do with the warrior class.

EDIT: Playing as a pure thief was probably the most fun though. Only because you have to sneak around and avoid most of the fights, because you would get your ass handed to you in most of them. Setting up traps down a hallway for the enemies you have to kill was a fun excersize too. You could only really play the modules that gave experience for completing missions though, because otherwise you rarely level up.

i like wizards for the ability to have a lot of different spells, but it seems like high level sorcs > high level wizards. but maybe i just never played the wiz right

no, its true... sorcerers are wizards with twice as many spells per day AND can dynamically switch between their known spells, they are just limited in their known spells... this could be a big deal if you use dozens of sourcebooks for hundreds of spells... but when there are only a few GOOD spells to take every level and a bunch of junk, the sorcerer is much better.

But all the spells have their purpose. I like having my Sorceror with my party, but I prefer to be a Wizard. I can do everything, plus I have all the skills I want. Sorcerors are limited by having their spells controlled by Charisma and not Intellegence. Having the high Intellegence helps me be a master of not just spells, but lore and crafting as well, and I still have a few skill points left over to master something else. Sorcerors are nice for laying down a bunch of spells though, and help with their buffing spells for the rest of the party (since they have more of them).

You can be a pretty darn powerful mage in NWN and NWN2. More powerful than a fighter. It takes multiple times to kill some of the hardest sorcerors in the game as a fighter (you have to get lucky and have them not cast certain spells), but you can get through the toughest fighter pretty easily as a wizzard. You only run into trouble if you run out of your buffing spells and haven't won the battle yet. But then, if having a wizzard in this game was a "I win" button, what would be the point of the other classes?

so a sorcerer is a better spell caster but a wizard is a better crafter and theif? yes, but not really worth it...

And as for NWN1 and 2 you obviously know how to build a powerful caster, but lack on building a powerful fighter. If your fighter isn't doing 30-60 damage per hit and hitting the wizard 3-5 times per round than your fighter is built wrong. And if it does that stone skin isn't gonna help you.

 

[VinylxScratches]

Be a Bard in a D&D game.

 

[taltamir]

bards are suprisingly good, their arcane magic can heal, they have bardic song, they are mediocre fighters, their arcane spells are of higher power per level (aka, a level 6 or 7 arcane wizard/sorc spell is a level 4 bard spell, compensating for bards only having 6 levels) and they cast spontanously.

oh, and they can wear armor without spell failure

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
An oldie, but a goodie, in Divine Divinity mage is the ultra-power class. They beat the crap out of tanks.

i wouldn't know, the game was just not good.

Many people disagree with your taste. I liked it just fine.

 

[mmnno]

So...Diablo 2?

Torment was a D&D game and being a mage wasn't any worse than being a fighter. In fact, I can see playing through the game leveling up entirely as a mage as soon as you get the chance, but I'd think fighter/thief would be much harder. Also the spells were great.

 

[sactoking]

Originally posted by: mmnno
I'd think fighter/thief would be much harder

I don't know about a true fighter/thief multi, but straight fighter is easy. Just put every ability point into Constitution and you'll easily get to 25. With a Con of 25 you have way too many HP and can regen almost as fast as you get hurt.