Oldie/Newbie question on Mages

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I've re-installed the game on my computer after about what seems like 10 years since I last played it.

I wanted to try something different and a half-elf ranger didn't cut it as different enough.

I've always been very much of a tank-dependent player so I wanted to play it with a mage. I'm trying to figure out which sub-class is coolest. I've not found a good resource that instead of telling me what spells I wouldn't be able to use, it tells me the schools and I can't figure out if Evocation is the same as invocation and vice-versa. Essentially I want to make sure my choice doesn't stop me from say having Magic Missile.

Also, I can't bring myself to play it as evil so I'll likely be neutral good, but does alignment affect any of the mage classes? i.e. can you be a Good aligned necromancer? seems like you shouldn't.

 

Yes you can play as an good necromancer or for that matter as any mage kit with any alignment. And yes Invocation is the same school as Evocation. If you want to be able to use Invocation spells such as Magic Missile and Fireball but want the bonus spell selections of being a specialist kit I would recommend a Conjurer, as they can use spells from all schools except from Divination which in my experience is the weakest school, just pack some scrolls of indentification and clairvoyance and you'll never notice the missing spell selection.

 

Yes, Conjuration is a nice specialisation, you lose only Divination. Which is not much. Have a bard for identifying things. Other divination spells are not used frequently anyway! (you can live without them)

Choose your spells carefully. Magic's balance vastly changes with levels, for example, magic missile will not do much in lowest levels (1d4+1 dmg to one enemy, bleah, throw darts instead!), whereas a single sleep spell can disable a huge group of lowly enemies easily! In highest levels, sleep spell never works (as you face toughest enemies) but MM is almost always useful and much more powerful! (10-25 dmg is nice!)

Also be sure to find and get mage spesific items. I hear there is one secret mage item somewhere around in early BG1.

Wands are also your friends, a lowly mageling can easily cause massive destruction with enough charged wands!

In combat, try to stay at the back, and hurl your spells. When you are out of spells, use a good ranged weaponarts are great as they have natural 3 attacks/round. Sling does more damage but you get a fixed 1 attack/round. Throwing daggers are better, with nice enough damage, and 2 attacks/round. NEVER, never wade into melee unless the enemy is hopeless. (held, paralysed, asleep etc.)

This is the generic advices I can give to a newbie mageling. Have fun!

 

Conjurer is very nive. You do lose detect invisibility which is a very handy spell. You also can't use spells to ideintify things so you'll spend quite a lot of money on identification unless you have someone else to cast that spell.

Illusionist is also a good choice. They lose necromancy spells, but the only good necromancy spells are skull trap, which is more or less the same as fireball, and vampiric touch, which isn't that important.

I think Diviner is a decent specialty too. You lose summoning spells, and several OK spell, but nothing critical.

Mirror image is THE critical spell for mages. Allows you to survive all sorts of enemies. I agree that aleep is very useful for most of the game. Even in the late game you'll run into groups of enemies that it can take out (giant spiders for example). Blindness is much more useful than people give it credit for - as long as you stay away from the blinded enemy he will just stand there until you kill him. Chromatic Orb is significantly worse than in BG2, because the enemy can save against the damage part of the spell. Slow and web both work wonders in Baldur's Gate.

 

I have to agree, in BG1, if we are talking about low levels, necromancy spells suck. Vampiric touch is very weak and pretty much useless in low levels. Skull trap does same damage as fireball, but fireball is easier to use as it has a longer range, so it should be more effective in BG1 IMHO. (it definitely packs quite a punch in ToB though!)

So go for illusionist, and make yourself gnome, for better saving throws! Gnomes gain bonuses to their saving throws vs wands and spells, which is very nice, don't you agree? And you will be a cute little short jolly fellow with a funny beard!

 

• You can ALSO play a NORMAL mage ...

... It is sad enough that near allbody, now, want to play a specialist only to have the bonus of one spell / level, pfff !

It is possible to live and grow WITHOUT that bonus.

— To be very weak at start, [ and have crucial choices, as hesitate beetween choose to memorise a Sleep spell to add to the attack/defense potential of the party, and the Armor spell which last near-all the day to gain a better Armor Class ! ] is NOT a unpleasant sensation !

You will be MORE happy when you will grow to 2nd Level, at end !

(And, clearly, you will be able to memorise ANY type of spells without fear ...!)

 

Even as specialist mage you'll have to use your sling more than your spells for most of the game, and as pure mage you get even less spells.
Roleplaying a mage who hardly casts any spells ?

Specialists also have the advantadge of getting better rolls at creation, illusionists get granted 16 dex for example.

 

— No, Kmonster, I don't agree with you.

• Yes, a mage will use MORE his sling (or his throwing daggers !) that spells at the begining of the game ...

... And, you know what ?
It's GOOD. That ALSO participate to construct the delicate atmosphere of starting Sword Coast, and the feeling that all isn't given "on a silver plate" !

• More : when you release, for example, a "Sleep" spell, you note and feel all the importance of the moment, if this poor spell is ALL your power ...

— Where is the problem ? ANYWAY, you KNOW that you are going to grow more and more powerful !

— Wait to BE more powerful to then enjoy the others pleasures !

Added Note : You know, kmonster, me also, sometimes, have the care to relax, releasing spells as a insane machinegun : I perfectly understand that. But, for that, I go playing to DIABLO 2, [ on-line or not ], and then I choose a sorceress with freezy ice-powers, or a necromancer with bone-missiles, and I start to fire 2 missiles of ice or bone by second until my mana is exhausted, and I renew this attack 5 secondes later, finding too slow the mana regeneration !

... But Baldurs Gate, it's Baldurs Gate. It shoud be a sin to be impatient in a so marvellous game ...

 

The best thing about a "pure" mage is that you can (if you own ToB) import him into BG2 as a Wild Mage.

 

— I don't own ToB.

By the way, what IS a "Wild Mage" ?

 

Wild mages are mages with a certain chance to mess up their spells. The casting of a magic missile can have a cow falling on the caster's head, a gender change or other more or less useful things for example.

 

And as Klorox mentioned, Wild Mages are only available if you have ToB. They are another mage kit, they get +1 bonus spell per level but they do not have barred schools. However, they are afflicted with wild magic. Check this thread to learn what wild magic is capable of doing!

http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/10/5802.html

Also, get ToB if you can! It completes the saga after all. And you should have HLA (High Level Abilities) and play Watcher's Keep! (the best dungeon ever created in a computer game, IMHO)

Back on topic...

@lokibeat

If you have ToB and plan to continue playing, pick normal mage, if you also think you can live with the measly one spell per day at the beginning. You can then switch to Wild Magi when you enter SoA. Or, you can have TuTu, to play BG1 with BG2 enhancments, this way you can play as a level 1 Wild Mage from scratch! (which can prove to be quite fun! Imagine you summon a demon accidentaly when you try to cast a Sleep spell on your avarage kobolds! Fun! )

 

Mmmm. I see ... Wild Mages are fun to see at others, it's true !

... But I am less chaotic than you, Silverstar, and I wouln't have a SO random system in the life of MY player character (who are often True Neutral, as I am myself).
However, it would be very tempting in some situations ...
I would like, for example, have some demon suddenly summoned while I am in the fight with that brute, the death-gazing nabassu Aec'Letec ; I think that watch the two big muddle-heads kill each other while I am quietly slaying the priests all around the pantacle would be refreshing !
A good start for my party, to make the Victory Merry