Strong points of magic?

[remen]

Mages are usually weak in the start, but when they grow they are the most powerful character in the game.
Does this rule work in Angband?

Warrior attacks are limited only by hit-points of monsters around. And they gain 4 of them per turn. But for the most creatures one hit is enough.

In cooperating to.
Mages attacks are limited by mana. They can cast only one spell per turn and in most cases one spell is not enough to kill a rat. They can't wear a good armor. And most creatures will kill them in close combat.

With all this sacrifices, what is the strong point of a mage? Will he become a more powerful with maturity or mages are just a weak class?

[ekolis]

Mages do indeed grow stronger later on

[LostTemplar]

Mages can destruct and teleport other at will, so no monster can threat them, and they can loot any vault.

[Derakon]

Mages are versatile, but they will never be able to match a warrior in terms of sustained damage output. The top mage attack spell does very consistent damage that's probably around 80% of what a warrior would do if that warrior hit with every blow (which in practice doesn't happen). The mage does, however, get the following advantages:

* 0% failure rate on his spells. Only the priest also gets this.

* The best escapes, including Teleport Other, Teleport Level, Banish, Mass Banish, and Destruction. Combine these with 0% failure rates (and confusion/blindness resistance) and the mage never has to get into a fight if he doesn't want to. Priests get all of these except Banish/Mass Banish, which are arguably the most useful.

* Excellent combat buffs -- specifically, Haste Self and Resistance. Rogues and rangers also get these, but the mage gets them sooner and can spam them more readily (for sustained buffing).

* Excellent magic device skill. Attack wands make a good supplement to the mage's spellcasting, since they get a damage multiplier based on your device skill. Nobody can match the mage's device skill.

* Reliable ranged damage. Most enemies in the game cast spells relatively rarely, instead favoring moving closer to the player, or using melee attacks if possible. The mage can stay at range and thereby avoid all non-ranged attacks, greatly reducing the damage he takes. Rangers have the second-best ranged combat in the game, and priests are good too, but the mage is probably still the best.

All that said, mages are certainly not an easy class to win with. If you were to plot each class's difficulty as a function of character level, the integral for the mage would be bigger than that of the warrior, I rather suspect. There's a lot to be said for being able to beat your opponents' skulls in while having a rather un-beat-inable skull yourself.

[remen]

Thanks for the replies.
Another question is related to armor.
Can mage carry more weight with the level up or does he just have fixed amount of kilograms depending on his strength after creation?

[ghengiz]

Thanks for the replies.
Another question is related to armor.
Can mage carry more weight with the level up or does he just have fixed amount of kilograms depending on his strength after creation?

The amount of weight one can carry is a function of strength, and although it doesn't go up automatically with clevels, it can be boosted with certain potions... so you are not constrained to the initial values of the stats

[Derakon]

There's two things going on here -- your absolute weight limit, and your encumbrance due to armor. The former slows you down if you exceed it, and you can raise it by raising your STR. The latter penalizes you 1 point of mana for each pound of armor you wear over 30, and there's no way to avoid this. Both are independent of class -- everyone has the same carrying capacity for a given STR stat, and everyone has the 30 pounds limit on armor.

Fortunately, as you level up and especially as you raise your spellcasting stat (INT for mages, naturally), you'll get more mana, so proportionally speaking, the encumbrance penalty is lower. You care a lot more about losing 10SP when you only have 20, than when you have 200.

[remen]

The amount of weight one can carry is a function of strength, and although it doesn't go up automatically with clevels, it can be boosted with certain potions... so you are not constrained to the initial values of the stats

But effect of a potion is limited in time. And potions can run out quickly.

[Derakon]

Er, no, you're not drinking the right potions. There are Potions of Strength in the game that will permanently increase your Strength score (and similar potions exist for all other stats). They don't show up early on though.

Mages definitely have one of the hardest starts in the game. If you're new, I usually advise you to stick to one of the more melee-capable classes (warrior, rogue, paladin) since they're so much more durable; you'll be better-able to survive and figure out how the game works. The mage has a much smaller margin of error. Of course, you should play what you like; just realize that Angband is not equally easy for all classes, especially not in the early game.

[remen]

Now planing with mage - a lot of fun!

It can use tactics.
Confusion of the first mob in the corridor and rays of damage.
Mass kill!

[remen]

I searched internet for detailed spells description but didn't found. Will be grateful if someone point on it.

[Derakon]

You can select spells when 'B'rowsing your spellbooks to get a description of what they do. That should be enough to explain most of the spells in the town spellbooks at least. What spells are you curious about?

[remen]

I was curious about fireball. Sometimes I see wands and rods for sale with spells which I haven't learned.

[Derakon]

Wands and rods don't necessarily correspond to spells you can learn. You can 'I'nspect them to see what they do, though, even if they're in stores. Er, it might be 'x'amine to look at store items. I forget.

There is a fireball spell in Sorceries and Evocations, though it's not all that great, if I recall correctly.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

Fireball in S&E is...OK, for a while, IIRC, because its max damage is better than the bolt spells. But, mana use and fail rates can be an issue, by comparison to other options you have at that point. There's also an issue that fire takes out more item types than, say, cold, so I'll often use Frost Ball instead of Fireball. YMMV.