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After gaining some experience in the game with rogues I'm more and more tempted to start playing again with my favorite class: the mage
DISCLAIMER: this post pretends in no way to be an in depth analysis but rather a source of ideas to spark a discussion, with the aim to help players new to the mage or that consistently send them too early to the grave (like me). Input from experienced and/or knowledgable players is not only welcome but asked for
. This stems from the fact that I find the "official" angband guide to be not that helpful.
Some thoughts on them (from a diver perspective)
In the past the main problems I've had were:
1) low hitpoints
2) low carrying capacity due to stat allocation (INT,CON,STR - in that order of importance)
3) blindness and confusion screw you, especially at the beginning
4) scarce killing power
5) inability to level up without huge risks due to the very low damage output (see previous point) at lower dlvls
For the positives (apart from their inherent awesomeness
):
6) early access and low fail rates for excellent detection spells (and all spells in general)
7) relatively early access to awesome spells (teleport self, teleport other, haste self)
8) high magic device
9) high spell points (pretty obvious, but might as well state it)
Point 1 can be addressed with very careful play, which is paramount with mages (as my endless deaths taught me)
Point 2, is a relatively minor annoyance in the early game, and can be addressed without too much hassle at later stages
Points 4 and 5 are the real deal breakers - i have been thinking a bit on ways to "overcome" them, here are some thoughts:
- relying on wands and later rods/staves found in the dungeon is crucial, I used to discard them all too easily - particularly wands of light and wonder (which i still think is underpowered)
- a decent longbow (ie enchanted as early as possible) is also crucial; xbows are too heavy
- in the past I have mainly played with high elves, for their stat bonuses (not to mention see invis.) - but the huge exp penalty (200%) only aggravates point 4, impacting negatively consequently on point 6. The solution would be to play as a human; see invis is not that hard to acquire, and detect invisible is probably available early enough to the mage; faster leveling while diving means you are better equipped for anything, the negative being low stats - maybe too low? Gnomes are the second obvious choice, Free Action being an excellent thing to have
Advice? Thoughts?
DISCLAIMER: this post pretends in no way to be an in depth analysis but rather a source of ideas to spark a discussion, with the aim to help players new to the mage or that consistently send them too early to the grave (like me). Input from experienced and/or knowledgable players is not only welcome but asked for
. This stems from the fact that I find the "official" angband guide to be not that helpful.Some thoughts on them (from a diver perspective)
In the past the main problems I've had were:
1) low hitpoints
2) low carrying capacity due to stat allocation (INT,CON,STR - in that order of importance)
3) blindness and confusion screw you, especially at the beginning
4) scarce killing power
5) inability to level up without huge risks due to the very low damage output (see previous point) at lower dlvls
For the positives (apart from their inherent awesomeness
):6) early access and low fail rates for excellent detection spells (and all spells in general)
7) relatively early access to awesome spells (teleport self, teleport other, haste self)
8) high magic device
9) high spell points (pretty obvious, but might as well state it)
Point 1 can be addressed with very careful play, which is paramount with mages (as my endless deaths taught me)
Point 2, is a relatively minor annoyance in the early game, and can be addressed without too much hassle at later stages
Points 4 and 5 are the real deal breakers - i have been thinking a bit on ways to "overcome" them, here are some thoughts:
- relying on wands and later rods/staves found in the dungeon is crucial, I used to discard them all too easily - particularly wands of light and wonder (which i still think is underpowered)
- a decent longbow (ie enchanted as early as possible) is also crucial; xbows are too heavy
- in the past I have mainly played with high elves, for their stat bonuses (not to mention see invis.) - but the huge exp penalty (200%) only aggravates point 4, impacting negatively consequently on point 6. The solution would be to play as a human; see invis is not that hard to acquire, and detect invisible is probably available early enough to the mage; faster leveling while diving means you are better equipped for anything, the negative being low stats - maybe too low? Gnomes are the second obvious choice, Free Action being an excellent thing to have
Advice? Thoughts?
)
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