Post by Adonnis on Sept 1, 2006 19:29:14 GMT -5
dizzarian.com/acmages/
The opal template was actually created by a character named Opal who I believe resided on Frostfell. The template is somewhat a mix between the og and battlemage characters who like the power of enchantment yet also love the raw killing power of war magic. This character allows for extreme killing power with specialized war magic and at the same time specialized creature enchantment is ideal for buffing with level 7s. So what’s the disadvantage? Life magic will be trained, not specialized, so it will cost more exp to raise and get to the range of casting higher level spells. Luckily with the help of creature buffs and a solid focus/self, this won’t be much trouble at all.
Break It Down:
Specialized : Creature Enchantment (creation), War Magic (creation)
Trained : Mana Conversion (creation)
Progression : Life Magic (level 16), Item Magic (lvl 35 at the soonest)
Attributes:
There are several different concepts floating around about what starting attributes should be seen here : dizzarian.com/acmages/Essays/StarterGuides/Battlemage.html .
60/50/10/10/100/100 is my personal recommendation. 100 focus and self is a given for any non-gimped mage. Strength is an attribute, that although not directly related to any “mage” skills, is very important for the life of a mage. Any mage who wants to be able to hunt for a reasonable amount of time without having to recomp or be burdened will want more strength. 60 Strength will allow the character to wear some decent leather/hide armor as well as carry enough components. Endurance is another stat important to a mage, especially this character. Stamina is directly proportional and Health is 1:2 to Endurance, so a mage will need these for casting stamina to mana, health to mana, and just plain ole surviving. When it comes to quickness and coordination, once again I point to the above link. Dizzarian clearly explains why quickness and coordination are not vital to a mage and how one can get around this small obstacle.
Leveling:
Start out by learning spells Levels 1-2. Learning a range of war, creature self and other should be more than enough to get you at least one level.
Next work the Academy Levels 3-4. Newbies can gain a couple levels here with ease, especially in a fellowship.
After the Academy, work the Explorer Society Quests Levels 5-6. This link : ac.warcry.com/compendium/quests/index.php?action=display&id=30&wt=1&pf=#walkthrough will give you a lot of the info needed. If you have a character that can provide you with a mattekar coat, leather leggings, etc, then don’t worry about the armor. Instead focus on the wands and jewelry that you can attain to enhance your skills. Yes, you have creature enchantment, but you are limited with your mana tank currently. Note: make sure you get a life mastery wand so you can learn and cast stamina to mana I.
Levels 7-10 Once you get tired of the Explorer Quests, I would suggest Mayoi or Eastham beach. Mayoi was my personal hunting ground for a while with a couple of my mages. The location is ideal for selling loot to buy comps and there is a mage near town as well as the master mage just down the beach. Golems, shreth, shallow sharks, gromnies, etc can be found around here. Warning: As you do not yet have life magic, I would recommend hunting here with a friend or having lots of healing potions available.
Levels 11-16 These levels will seem like torment to you. You really want life magic and are at a point where you want to kill higher stuff, yet you do not have a reliable method of healing and getting back mana. My best recommendation is find a friend who is starting out a new character and fellow with him. If he is a melee, great, let him tank monsters while you shoot from afar. If he is an archer, time it right so you both fire away at the monster and hope its dead before it gets to you. If the character is another mage, say an Og, then let him vuln and you kill. With the fellowship bonuses, this should not be too hard to attain and the pay-off is great.
Levels 17-35 Okay, so you got life magic and you feel invincible with your protection spells and vulns. Your next goal is item magic which can be attained at level 35 at the soonest. There are a few places where you can hunt and make decent xp at a reasonable risk. Hall of Metos provides several rooms of granite golems that can be good xp, just be careful you don’t try to take too many at once. Lugian citadels aren’t nearly as bad with the fellowship bonuses and make a decent alternative. Once you get in your mid 20’s, you might desire a larger source of exp to expedite matters. Two suggestions, but proceed at your own risk. Drudge lurkers, stalkers, and raveners provide good xp but also shoot nasty magic at you. Make sure you are protected if you try to take on these baddies at Dungeon of Corpses, Mountain Halls, or other locations. For the extreme risk taker, you can resort to Black Spawn Den. Buff your life and war magic, endurance, and armor and bludgeoning protections are a must. I would suggest getting hi base al armor that doesn’t burden you but offers more protection from these hard hitting mobs of monkeys. If you can lifestone at Ayan Baquar, there is a BSD reasonably near for those times when you meet your demise.
Level 35 attained If you are having so much fun in BSD dying, then you can continue and go for level 40 where you can attain your last skill credit needed to complete your magic skills. If you are fortunate to have gracious friends like I do, then you might seek a couple friends to take you to Marae Lessel and hope to find Railrea. If you kill this villain, you can return his loot to an NPC to gain a skill credit. This quest was a nice addition to Asheron’s Call and I would recommend you use it here.
Where do I go from here?
You have now been promoted to the title, Archmage. You are a full schooler now and much less restricted. With the addition of item spells you can buff armor, travel back and forth easier, and in general, level faster. Pick your poison and put that specialized war magic to use. Leveling will be a lot easier from this point on. As this character is very usable in player versus player, I now seek to gain healing at level 65. Some would rather take lockpick or leadership, its pretty much up to your playing style and what you want to do with the character. Either way, before you know it you will be casting lvl 7s in all schools, turning in olthoi pincers, and questing all across Dereth. Enjoy.
The opal template was actually created by a character named Opal who I believe resided on Frostfell. The template is somewhat a mix between the og and battlemage characters who like the power of enchantment yet also love the raw killing power of war magic. This character allows for extreme killing power with specialized war magic and at the same time specialized creature enchantment is ideal for buffing with level 7s. So what’s the disadvantage? Life magic will be trained, not specialized, so it will cost more exp to raise and get to the range of casting higher level spells. Luckily with the help of creature buffs and a solid focus/self, this won’t be much trouble at all.
Break It Down:
Specialized : Creature Enchantment (creation), War Magic (creation)
Trained : Mana Conversion (creation)
Progression : Life Magic (level 16), Item Magic (lvl 35 at the soonest)
Attributes:
There are several different concepts floating around about what starting attributes should be seen here : dizzarian.com/acmages/Essays/StarterGuides/Battlemage.html .
60/50/10/10/100/100 is my personal recommendation. 100 focus and self is a given for any non-gimped mage. Strength is an attribute, that although not directly related to any “mage” skills, is very important for the life of a mage. Any mage who wants to be able to hunt for a reasonable amount of time without having to recomp or be burdened will want more strength. 60 Strength will allow the character to wear some decent leather/hide armor as well as carry enough components. Endurance is another stat important to a mage, especially this character. Stamina is directly proportional and Health is 1:2 to Endurance, so a mage will need these for casting stamina to mana, health to mana, and just plain ole surviving. When it comes to quickness and coordination, once again I point to the above link. Dizzarian clearly explains why quickness and coordination are not vital to a mage and how one can get around this small obstacle.
Leveling:
Start out by learning spells Levels 1-2. Learning a range of war, creature self and other should be more than enough to get you at least one level.
Next work the Academy Levels 3-4. Newbies can gain a couple levels here with ease, especially in a fellowship.
After the Academy, work the Explorer Society Quests Levels 5-6. This link : ac.warcry.com/compendium/quests/index.php?action=display&id=30&wt=1&pf=#walkthrough will give you a lot of the info needed. If you have a character that can provide you with a mattekar coat, leather leggings, etc, then don’t worry about the armor. Instead focus on the wands and jewelry that you can attain to enhance your skills. Yes, you have creature enchantment, but you are limited with your mana tank currently. Note: make sure you get a life mastery wand so you can learn and cast stamina to mana I.
Levels 7-10 Once you get tired of the Explorer Quests, I would suggest Mayoi or Eastham beach. Mayoi was my personal hunting ground for a while with a couple of my mages. The location is ideal for selling loot to buy comps and there is a mage near town as well as the master mage just down the beach. Golems, shreth, shallow sharks, gromnies, etc can be found around here. Warning: As you do not yet have life magic, I would recommend hunting here with a friend or having lots of healing potions available.
Levels 11-16 These levels will seem like torment to you. You really want life magic and are at a point where you want to kill higher stuff, yet you do not have a reliable method of healing and getting back mana. My best recommendation is find a friend who is starting out a new character and fellow with him. If he is a melee, great, let him tank monsters while you shoot from afar. If he is an archer, time it right so you both fire away at the monster and hope its dead before it gets to you. If the character is another mage, say an Og, then let him vuln and you kill. With the fellowship bonuses, this should not be too hard to attain and the pay-off is great.
Levels 17-35 Okay, so you got life magic and you feel invincible with your protection spells and vulns. Your next goal is item magic which can be attained at level 35 at the soonest. There are a few places where you can hunt and make decent xp at a reasonable risk. Hall of Metos provides several rooms of granite golems that can be good xp, just be careful you don’t try to take too many at once. Lugian citadels aren’t nearly as bad with the fellowship bonuses and make a decent alternative. Once you get in your mid 20’s, you might desire a larger source of exp to expedite matters. Two suggestions, but proceed at your own risk. Drudge lurkers, stalkers, and raveners provide good xp but also shoot nasty magic at you. Make sure you are protected if you try to take on these baddies at Dungeon of Corpses, Mountain Halls, or other locations. For the extreme risk taker, you can resort to Black Spawn Den. Buff your life and war magic, endurance, and armor and bludgeoning protections are a must. I would suggest getting hi base al armor that doesn’t burden you but offers more protection from these hard hitting mobs of monkeys. If you can lifestone at Ayan Baquar, there is a BSD reasonably near for those times when you meet your demise.
Level 35 attained If you are having so much fun in BSD dying, then you can continue and go for level 40 where you can attain your last skill credit needed to complete your magic skills. If you are fortunate to have gracious friends like I do, then you might seek a couple friends to take you to Marae Lessel and hope to find Railrea. If you kill this villain, you can return his loot to an NPC to gain a skill credit. This quest was a nice addition to Asheron’s Call and I would recommend you use it here.
Where do I go from here?
You have now been promoted to the title, Archmage. You are a full schooler now and much less restricted. With the addition of item spells you can buff armor, travel back and forth easier, and in general, level faster. Pick your poison and put that specialized war magic to use. Leveling will be a lot easier from this point on. As this character is very usable in player versus player, I now seek to gain healing at level 65. Some would rather take lockpick or leadership, its pretty much up to your playing style and what you want to do with the character. Either way, before you know it you will be casting lvl 7s in all schools, turning in olthoi pincers, and questing all across Dereth. Enjoy.
