New to Mage Class

[Mudd]

It's been 1.5 to 2 years since I last played... I think it was 4.1.0.

Had gotten pretty good with High Elf Ranger characters... and beat the game a few times without cheating. My last character was abandoned on DL98 - just got bored with the endgame and quit.

D/Led the latest 4.1.3 and want to give it a try with a Mage. Have forgotten most of what I knew. My style leaned more toward grinding down levels than the deep dive more experienced folks espouse these days.

Considering a Gnome Mage - welcoming any advise toward Race or even class on this fresh start.

All comments much appreciated!

[MattB]

Considering a Gnome Mage - welcoming any advise toward Race or even class on this fresh start.

My advice, fwiw, is don't choose a gnome.
Or a mage.
I've never won with either!

[Philip]

Gnomes are pretty squishy, and their stealth is decent. FA is actually less useful for Mages than most classes. I probably wouldn't go with a gnome, really. A hobbit only has marginally less hp (0.5/level I think) and has a bunch more stealth. The magical device skill is nice, but not vital.

I would probably go with either hobbit, high-elf, half-troll. Hobbit has good stealth, so if you want to use your detection and teleportation to avoid bad fights. High-elf has the best INT, good hp, and generally will be the best at your ordinary magely behavior, at the cost of a large XP penalty. Generally that penalty will work out to a level or two, so you'll still have better hp, mp, and failrates at the cost of slower access to spells, though towards the end of the game it will get quite hard to level up. If you get to that point, probably switch races, you'll understand how to play mages by then. Half-troll has bad INT but massive hp, good STR, and innate regen. Regen applies to spell points as well, so you'll have far more sustained power than you will expect from your relatively low mp capacity. Eventually, you'll have access to INT from gear and your mana will mostly recover.

Grinding will not work particularly well on a mage. You're better off detecting and killing targets of opportunity and covering a lot of ground.

[Mudd]

My advice, fwiw, is don't choose a gnome.
Or a mage.
I've never won with either!

lol! well hmmm there goes that idea.....

[Mudd]

Gnomes are pretty squishy, and their stealth is decent. FA is actually less useful for Mages than most classes. I probably wouldn't go with a gnome, really. A hobbit only has marginally less hp (0.5/level I think) and has a bunch more stealth. The magical device skill is nice, but not vital.

I would probably go with either hobbit, high-elf, half-troll. Hobbit has good stealth, so if you want to use your detection and teleportation to avoid bad fights. High-elf has the best INT, good hp, and generally will be the best at your ordinary magely behavior, at the cost of a large XP penalty. Generally that penalty will work out to a level or two, so you'll still have better hp, mp, and failrates at the cost of slower access to spells, though towards the end of the game it will get quite hard to level up. If you get to that point, probably switch races, you'll understand how to play mages by then. Half-troll has bad INT but massive hp, good STR, and innate regen. Regen applies to spell points as well, so you'll have far more sustained power than you will expect from your relatively low mp capacity. Eventually, you'll have access to INT from gear and your mana will mostly recover.

Grinding will not work particularly well on a mage. You're better off detecting and killing targets of opportunity and covering a lot of ground.

Good pointers... will look into Hobbit or High Elf... Half Troll is just too counterintuitive to me for a mage

[Mudd]

Gnomes are pretty squishy, and their stealth is decent. FA is actually less useful for Mages than most classes. I probably wouldn't go with a gnome, really. A hobbit only has marginally less hp (0.5/level I think) and has a bunch more stealth. The magical device skill is nice, but not vital.

I would probably go with either hobbit, high-elf, half-troll. Hobbit has good stealth, so if you want to use your detection and teleportation to avoid bad fights. High-elf has the best INT, good hp, and generally will be the best at your ordinary magely behavior, at the cost of a large XP penalty. Generally that penalty will work out to a level or two, so you'll still have better hp, mp, and failrates at the cost of slower access to spells, though towards the end of the game it will get quite hard to level up. If you get to that point, probably switch races, you'll understand how to play mages by then. Half-troll has bad INT but massive hp, good STR, and innate regen. Regen applies to spell points as well, so you'll have far more sustained power than you will expect from your relatively low mp capacity. Eventually, you'll have access to INT from gear and your mana will mostly recover.

Grinding will not work particularly well on a mage. You're better off detecting and killing targets of opportunity and covering a lot of ground.

i gotta say ... clearing levels is a hard habit to break.... 8^)

[Derakon]

Good pointers... will look into Hobbit or High Elf... Half Troll is just too counterintuitive to me for a mage

Give it a shot, seriously. Odds are you're going to be making a lot of attempts; mages die very easily, especially if you lack familiarity with the game. It won't hurt for a few of those attempts to be with "odd" races. You have to free yourself from a stereotyped mentality.

[wobbly]

I find half trolls to be the easiest mages. You're strong enough to be wearing actual armour & that combined with more hps helps you to not die everytime you land a phase/teleport next to a mob of large cats or the like. By the time spells get competitive with devices you'll of fixed the int problem. Just find yourself a pair of mouse rings, dive picking up a bunch of devices & drink !int like a junky. They can be pretty fun if you're into device blasting.

[PowerWyrm]

Half-Troll is quite easy as mage since you start with regen and low SP pool, so you're pretty much never out of SP. And you have the stat to sustain a few hits in melee. And you level up fast...

[Mudd]

ok ok alright already.. my next character will be a half troll mage... 8^)

[Mudd]

Took the advice to try a Half Troll Mage... just beat Sauron. Not quite comfortable enough to go after Morgoth but soon!

I assume it's typical end game strategy of Destruction, Mass Banish, Teleport other, etc. What spells should be primary against M?

Oh .. and exactly how many uniques are there? Can't recall exactly.
I have 91 slain ...94 known

[Derakon]

Mages against Morgoth mostly cast Mana Storm or use Wands of Annihilation.

[Mudd]

thanks! this run just took a twist... found the ONE RING after clearing out a graveyard on lvl 98.

[David Vestal]

My advice, fwiw, is don't choose a gnome.
Or a mage.
I've never won with either!

I've been trying for a mage win ever since I started playing Angband in high school, and yesterday I got my first mage win.

I graduated high school in '94. I will never again play a fucking mage.

[Derakon]

Congratulations on your win. I do hope you played other classes as well during that time!