The fresh mage of Belfalas

[Kodiologist]

I just got two-shotted by Tselakus the Dreadlord on DL 40. I was warned by the level feeling, but man, not having see invisible is a killer.

[Derakon]

Gnomes have good magic device skill, which couples with the mage's innately strong magic device skill to make attack wands even more powerful. But mostly, they have good INT without the heinous EXP penalties that high-elves have.

[Pete Mack]

Yes, almost certainly. Cestuses are a bit heavier than leather gloves.

[Kodiologist]

Oh, that's odd. Perhaps I got the message for having a total equipment weight that's too high and misread it as the message for wearing gloves.

[Pete Mack]

Cestus of free action absolutely are OK for mages.

[Sky]

Half-troll mage is surprisingly effective. It might sound dumb, but it works.

[Kodiologist]

Innate free action does sound nice. Funny thing is, right now I happen to be wearing two things of free action (sandals and gloves) just because they had the best AC so far. I found some caestus of free action earlier, but they don't get the exemption from CUMBER_GLOVE, so I left them on the floor. :/

[Monkey Face]

A little late to the party here, but in answer to your original question, High Elf and Gnome are probably the best classes for mage. High Elf starts with see invisible which is nice and can also start with more mana than most other classes. Biggest drawback is slow level up (as you noted).

Gnome has innate free action which can be very useful. I can't remember, but it might also be able to start with a 3rd mana point. It's penalty for leveling up is much less than the High Elf and probably worth the extra compared to a human. Biggest weakness is lack of strength. You need to be careful not to get slowed by carrying too much.

[Pete Mack]

Spells work differently. Damage is based on spell type and monster level, not HP. Ibun will give you a tough time unless you have a low fail rate on acid bolt. Mim resists everything, so you are stuck with archery or very high level spells. He will heal magic missile.

[Kodiologist]

I'm looking at Ibun, Son of Mîm, and he has 820 HP but can only "produce fire bolts (80)". Do spells get a lower fraction than breath weapons, or do they just work differently?

[Pete Mack]

It is a fraction of the monster's average maximum HP, with a hard cap. For the base 4 elements, the fraction is 1/3 and the cap is 1600. For poison, it is 1/3 and 800. For everything else that shows on the character chart it is 1/6 and 400-550. (400 for light and dark; 550 for nether; 500 for everything else.) For unresistable elements, max damage is 200.

The actual damage is the same fraction of the monster's current HP, so when the monster's health is down to 5 stars, it is doing 1/2 nominal damage.

[Kodiologist]

I see. adj_con_mhp makes for kind of the opposite of a diminishing-returns effect, then. Weird.

A question about monster recall: how do I interpret the number after a breath weapon or spell? Is it a fixed amount of damage, or the mean damage, or the maximum damage, or something else? Does it account for player characteristics, like resistance?

[Pete Mack]

The main effect that investing in CON in the early game has is that you spend less time in the late game looking for Potions of Constitution. That's really about it.

This is packing a lot in to one sentence. *If* you are diving, reducing the number of turns you are at low CON reduces your exposure to instadeath from breath attacks. This is the real benefit of investing in a little CON.

[Derakon]

CON bonuses are multiplied by your level, so in absolute terms the same CON adjustment makes 50 times more difference at level 50 than at level 1. That's part of what makes CON less relevant in the early game. But just as important is the fact that the amount of bonus you get from gaining +1 CON when you have >18/150 is substantially higher than the amount of bonus from gaining +1 CON at 18/50 or 15. The table is here. Some samples from that:

If you have a CON of 10 and you gain +1 CON, then you get an extra .05 HP/level
CON of 15 and gain +1 CON gives .25 HP/level
CON of 18/50 and gain +1 CON gives .25 HP/level
CON of 18/100 and gain +1 CON gives .5 HP/level
CON of 18/160 and gain +1 CON gives 1 HP/level
CON of 18/190 and gain +1 CON gives 1.5 HP/level

CON of over 18/200 no longer gives extra HP, but that last point is worth more than the 8 points that take you from CON 10 to CON 18.

The main effect that investing in CON in the early game has is that you spend less time in the late game looking for Potions of Constitution. That's really about it.

[Sphara]

Wobbly is right there. I cannot do the math how Constitution increases work but basically it works like this:

EARLY GAME
You get Constitution increase from 16 to 17 early game, it gives you about 2 maximum hitpoints more.
You get Strength increase from 16 to 17, it noticeably increases your carrying capability.

LATE GAME
You get Constitution increase from 18/50 to 18/70, your maximum hitpoints raise between 20 to 40 points depending if you're wearing CON-boosting items.
Strength increase from 18/50 to 18/70 barely has noticeable effect unless you're lugging lots of stuff with you (backup weapons, armor, truckloads of ammo).

For a warrior, there may be a different case if STR affects the amount of attacks you get in one turn. But as long as we're talking about mages with low HP and powerful spells, its CON all the way.