SpellCaster on 30/1/2003 at 09:13
I had played the game almost till the end: I was looking for one last missing Akbaa stone when my PC died in a rough way. I lost all my data, including Arx savegames.
After some weeks I managed to get it back up and running, so I restarted the game from the start, using my knowledge from the previous game to decide what to do.
I was quite satisfied with my mage character, only this time I decided I'd drop object knowledge in favor of even more magic and ethereal bond. Constitution would also stay a bit lower in order to give the bestkick possible to intelligence.
This hardcore mage did quite well so far (just stormed the crypts and passed the Sisters' test) but some kind of unbalance was even more evidenced than before.
On the attack front, why should a mage use any spell other than fireball? Ok, magic missile works well for mice and goblins. But for serious enemies a fireball deals a lot of damage, is area-based - so can roast many a foe at a time - and uses a moderate amount of mana.
I really tried to force myself to use something else, but even higher level spells such as incinerate, fire field, magic trap only managed to get me into trouble by wasting a lot of mana with far worse results. So I just stuck with fireball, and to hell with it.
On the defense side, a very high magic defense could be very nice, but I find it stupid that a single, non-attack spell can frustrate it the way that curse does. A lich can throw me fireballs, lightning bolts, poison clouds, and I'll probably have the time to react and survive, thanks to high defense. But if he curses me, I immediately go down to [have to check] just a few hit points, I believe less than ten, and a slap on the face takes me down. So, if a curse-paralyze combo is a death sentence for anybody, why do liches bother to use other spells at all? I'll use my next level bonuses to raise my constitution over 10 in order to gain that handful of extra points that can make me survive (I've previously found that a constitution of 13 works fine) but it still puzzles me, and I consider it a bad design scheme.
In most fantasy systems, bless and curse can give some extra punch that helps in tight situations, but they never take over this crucial role in a fight. While I appreciate someone going against conventions, in this case it remains a better idea in my view.
Cheers,
Spellcaster
