Reminding me on basic playing - troll mage

[Petoften]

I decided to try a troll mage for the regen.

Haven't played for a bit, and logged on to level 8. There was a lemure. Basic 'trash' creature.

I tried meleeing it and it worked, but took half or more of my HP.

A second lemure appeared and I tried magic missile (still only have the first spellbook) and it takes maybe 5 missiles to kill.

While doing that a third appeared. I was having to phase door to not get killed and barely managed to kill that second one using all my mana.

I'm phase dooring and waiting for recall on the third.

That sure seems a lot harder that I'd think things like that should be and I'm trying to remember basic stuff how to kill things like that better.

[Estie]

Everyone wants to stay away from lemure hordes, not only troll mages; while the warrior can just plow through them, and yes, that is an advantage, its still pointless.

Picking your fights is the recipe of success for all classes and mage is best equipped to do that because he gets the most information from the red book detection spells.

[Pete Mack]

Yep. Until you can reliably cast several lightning bolt spells, or have a nice stack of light rods, or have an uber bow, stay away from all mobs as a mage. You need to either take several at once, or conserve mana, or both. As a warrior, you need to be able to defeat (frighten or kill) all members of the mob in one or two turns. (There are exceptions, notably weak hounds and wolves, where you can pick off individual monsters from the safety of a doorway.)

[Petoften]

If the answer is 'avoid mobs', then in the frequent cases mobs - like these lemures - see me and come after me, what's the preferred approach?

Phase door doesn't get me far - it's just a sort of emergency move.

Is teleport the main method?

The others would seem to be recall and finding stairs. Of course, I'm going to have to kill some stuff to get xp to level...

[Derakon]

Recall and finding stairs, yeah. If the level goes sour on you then you need to find a new level. As a young mage you are not going to be able to defeat anywhere near 100% of the threats you encounter.

Attack wands, even Magic Missile and Stinking Cloud, can be very helpful for young mages. Since you have few SP and want to conserve them for Phase Door, having another reliable way to damage enemies from range is important. The elemental rings (Ring of Flames, etc.) are also helpful for their activations, as is dragon scale mail.

[Pete Mack]

Do not clear levels. Do consider the possibility of diving. If you are clever about picking targets, you should be able level up to CL 12 whilst killing only about 100 monsters total. In fact, you can play this game all the way to around CL 25 if you *really* dive, killing perhaps 10 monsters per character level. But you need to keep your powder dry, and don't waste effort on low-valule targets.

I note here that I once killed Bullroarer as a CL 2 mage. It takes luck to get get deep enough to do so without being forced to level up. But if you pull it off, you go immediately to ~CL8.

Under "funnies", there is a joke about running away as a mage.

http://angband.oook.cz/fun/mages.php

While this is true, it is more important to run *towards* monsters that will give you a lot of EXP very quickly. But mage is the very hardest class with which to clear levels. Stay well away from monsters you don't want to fight, and consider rings of the mouse for more stealth.

[Monkey Face]

Half Troll is one of the most challenging races for a mage since your intelligence is so low which means fewer spell points and higher failure rates. One of your major goals is to try to get your intelligence over 18/50 since that means a significant increase in mana.

You may want to consider a gnome or high elf until you get used to playing as a mage since they have much higher intelligence.

[Antoine]

Not to be rude but you’re going to need to stop posting the advertisements - the forum here is ad free.

A.

[Derakon]

Not to be rude but you’re going to need to stop posting the advertisements - the forum here is ad free.

A.

Who was this in response to? Was there a spammer whose post got deleted?

Half Troll is one of the most challenging races for a mage since your intelligence is so low which means fewer spell points and higher failure rates. One of your major goals is to try to get your intelligence over 18/50 since that means a significant increase in mana.

You may want to consider a gnome or high elf until you get used to playing as a mage since they have much higher intelligence.

Half-Troll mages are surprisingly viable. Yes, their SP total is poor and their failure rates are a bit high compared to smarter races, but regeneration regenerates SP in addition to HP, so over the long term they can cast more spells than races with larger pools but no regeneration. And the half-troll's STR and CON are both much appreciated by mages.

[Nick]

Who was this in response to? Was there a spammer whose post got deleted?

It was; the mods here are just too efficient.

[Pete Mack]

@Derakon--
I mostly agree with you about HT mage. But bad stealth for a mage largely cancels out the benefits from guaranteed regen.

[Chud]

I'm currently trying my first shot at a kobold mage. Might be a bit of a challenge combination, but so far doesn't seem too bad. A bit fragile, even for a mage.

[Estie]

Kobolds are stealthy and that can be utilized to the fullest by mages. I dont know whether I would call them better or worse than half trolls at maging; I think the advantages and disadvantages mostly balance out. Bad mages are orcs and dwarves, everyone else has something to bring to the table - even humans when xp penalties apply.

[Monkey Face]

Half-Troll mages are surprisingly viable.

I agree but they are probably not the best choice for someone first learning to play a mage.