ah, bach. ok. if you're using the autolevel scheme for earth elementalist, you won't be getting any points put into skills. the points automatically go into stats and magic. you can only master magic (once you get 5 points in a discipline) and all the masters are in tulla, which you are a long way from. however, even the autoleveler will only take you up to about l24 or so before you top out. the game was set up so you could take, at the least, a major and minor "career path". dodge isn't a bad skill for a mage, however i went with persuasion. fun skill, that; opens up lots more dialgue and lets you have more followers. stay away from tech skills, obviously. you could also go with bow, throwing (keep to boomerangs and such, no techie stuff). i have the autolevel up scheme for earth elementalists if your interested in where your points are going.
remember that in order to be an apprentice in any skill, you have to have 1 point already in it. 3 for expert, 5 for master. no one will teach you until you have at least that. plus the level before it taught. in other words, to be a master, you have to be an expert first; you can't go straight from apprentice to master.
magnus autolevels smithy and mechanical. check the schematics for those two skills and see what stuff you need for it. i wouldn't hoard a ton of crap unless you've got a house (which i would get if i were you). after that, just keep all the junk in a couple of chests/drawers and if you need 'em - hey presto!. most of the stuff he makes can be sold for a decent penny. oh, i have his autolevel scheme too if you want. he just goes to 4 on those two and then goes max hp, str, const, max hp, str, const.....
any other questions?
