Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks Building a Mage?

Just finished my first game and the PC's were a Cleric and Ranger. The only real issue I had was with the cleric, which I wish I had just gone with a pure Sword and Shield tank. But now I know. The Ranger was my high perception, crafter, blacksmith, ranged attacker. Added to those I use the Knight and Mage NPC's.

I want to build my own mage now, but the only experience I have with them is the NPC. I have figured out that Rain spell I used a lot as well as Healing, so I need those schools of magic, but there comes the question, how much?

I know you can't max out all the magic schools, but I figured one point in each would at least get me some of the needed basics, and then max out the schools that have the 'must have' higher level spells. But what are those?

For those experience in playing a mage, how would you build one up? Note I do plan on buying the 'books' and those points will be going towards building the mage.

Bonus question, does perception help mages? Does it allow you to strike with spells enemies that are farther away?

Thanks.

I will repost what I said in another thread:

I would say, put one point in each school. The way that you can increase your chances to have lots of points for your spells would be to use the "Hall of Secrets" and the other vendor (I forgot his name) that allows you to trade 1 Talent point for 10 skill points. Take only the Talents that you need (which should not be too many with a mage) and trade the rest for skill points. I can not tell how the endgame will be with a non-lone wolf mage, but with my (LW) mage, I have the following:

2 schools at level 5 (fire & air)
3 schools at level 4 (water, earth & Witchcraft)

My defenses are good (at least 3 in each) and I have both blacksmith & crafting at 5. Loremaster is at 4 (trying to find some good to get it to 5) My resistances are over 100%, which is great because I can use the fire spells and sit in them, while the enemies take damage & I heal. My character is currently level 18.

btw: as far as I know, perception doesn't help mages. There is a Talent that increases your distance by 2m and it is called "Far out Man" (I think)

Well I know to get the talent that makes you immune to Fear. The final boss cast that spell every other turn. Thank goodness I was immune.

I noted that some higher level spells would do friendly damage. I don't know if that is a bug or not, but it made many of the high level spells useless to me.

What low level spells are 'Must Haves' and what high level spells should I be looking for?

For me, the high level spells (end game) were lackluster. The 2-3 that I personally enjoy and were good are:

1. Chain Lightning
2. Meteor Shower
3. Death Punch

I was immune to Fear through the Spiritual Trait.

Also, you can see here my character: http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/570022771407814132/CBD2EAD3B6B49A81A297BF91992015D4898F7112/

You know I went through the game without ever crafting a scroll. In fact the only one's I ever used was the Rain at the very beginning and resurrection a few times. I never sold any and had my mage NPC carrying them all ... just because. Other than resurrection they seem kind of pointless.

Is there ever a Resurrection spell you can learn or is it scrolls only?

I see your mage just met Cassandra?

The reason why crafting scrolls is useful is because you can make Magic Unlock scrolls.

There is a Resurrection skillbook.

If you are afraid of Fear, increase your Leadership, which grants immunity from fear to all the other party members.

Mages are best when you use your main chars for them, because there are not enough useful talents for casters and your other party members are not able to trade talents for ability/attribute points.

Pure mages are easier to respec than other classes, since you can craft their scrolls and skilllbooks if they don't show up in the stores.

Perception are wasted points on a mage, since the +INT books will give you a heavy attribute malus.

When it comes to dmg/AP mages will fall far behind the other classes when it comes to single targets, but they are very good at keeping enemies locked down or dealing AoE damage.

I also was not really into the crafting & blacksmithing. I mean, I took them to level 5 (+2 base, +1 talent, +2 gear) to play around with them. I also used the Rubies to take my resistances to 100% and Tenebrium & wetstone to boast my weapons. Other than that, I never bothered with crafting.

At some point in my playthrough I did find a spellbook for Resurrection, but with playing 2 LW, it is (imo) pointless to learn.

You are correct, I just met Cassandra and killed Ahru for the achievement before I left for holiday. After I come back from holiday I will continue playing and preform the other achievement that is associated with Cassandra.

A solid mage as of my experience ( 5th playtrough now, 2 on normal and 3 on hard difficulty, some full 4 men party, some Lone wolves) :

Attributes: max INT, some speed and CON ( for Lone wolf/Glass Cannon you have to invest heavily on CON).

Talents: (7 usually- 2 at the beginning, and at 3, 7, 11, 15, 19 lvl): Far Out Man, Leech, Know-it-All ( take when base INT=15). Picture of Health & Weather the Storm- (non mandatory if you are rich and buy/find many rubies and essences) . For Glass Cannon- Lone Wolf and Zombie.
Later you can exchange talent points for abilities points. (For melee or ranger there are always useful talents.)

Skills: (marked with ! are mostly used)

Pyrokinetic- Flare, Small Fireball !, Summon Fire Elemental (rarely useful). Non mandatory: Infectious Flame and Meteor Shower.

Hydrosophist- Heal, Rain, Ice Shard, Strong Regenerate, Piercing Ice Shard !. Optional: Restoration.

Aerotheurge- Teleportation, Blitz Bolt !, Invisibility (one char with invisibility is enough), Lightning Bolt. Not mandatory: Chain Lightning.

Geomancer- Midnight Oil (somewhat useful), Boulder Bash !, Deadly Spores ( for Zombie talent), Summon Pet (spider).

Witchcraft- Oath Of Desecration !, Bloodletting (for Zombie/Leech), Blind !!!!!, Summon Armoured Undead Decapitator, Soulsap !( strong skill for the Final boss), Death Punch (biggest dmg from a mage but very rare use). Optional: Drain Willpower.

Ability points: 2-3 in every magic school, 5 in Man at Arms (non mandatory if you are rich and buy/find many rubies and essences). If two lone wolves- 5 leadership. Crafting- leave it for the str or dex char. Rest- in willpower and bodybuilding.

From the middle of the game, if not earlier, your physical dmg dealers will out-damage your mages if build properly.

If what I did can help you decide...

I started with a knightish type + mage duo. First playthrough so i didn't really knew what i was doing and wanted a paladin + pyromancer type of duo. First of all, the paladin idea was a terrible one, and i suggest you go with a pure man at arms build instead if you wan't a warrior type (shield or 2 hander, that's your choice),but that's another story.

I started the game in hard so what's described below seems to work. I'm level 21 currently and about to enter the source trial or whatever it's called.

I build the mage with geo/pyro. It works really well at the start since midnight oil helps you control the map when you're in combat (blocking enemies, protecting allies, etc..) and boulder bash later on does the same + knocks down. You can also set both on fire to create a smokescreen to prevent casters to hit you from afar or just to burn the hell out of them. The surface you can cover with multiple spells is huge so most of your combat will rely on covering the map to block enemies. (hint: you can cast midnight oil before a fight and engage straight afterwards and it will remain there. I managed to get up to 3 before a fight but in this case the first one you casted dissapears after 1 or 2 rounds)

Also, the fire elemental is quite nice to have just as a punchbag for enemies, setting your oils / poisons ablaze for you, etc.. The spider from geo can also be useful for fire resistant enemies but i honestly only summoned it once or twice in my whole playthrough.

Not mentioning the huge damage / aoe you have early game. Late game is a bit meh in single target damage but the AOE & control are still amazing.

The downside is that without resistances, your melee characters will be very annoyed by the fire / oil everwyhere since it prevents them reaching enemies. But it does work if you play it smart. Even if you're trying to keep enemies in place with an oil / fire aoe, you can hit one or two with those spells, which then won't be stuck behind the aoe and still come at you, as enemies usually ignore these aoe's if they are already affected by it.

I basically kept madora (built as pure str/speed man at arms) and my main paladin near the casters and obliterated everything that came close. The paladin served as a heal/buffbot with some stuns etc. from man at arms.

I also used Jahran as a henchman, mage build, hydro+aerot, to cover all elemental magic schools. This helped alot with teleport/feathers, because you can drop enemies far away if they're too close or get them close to you / your melee if they're stuck in our behind your pyro/geo's aoe's. He also healed obviously, and could help with stuns, and rain when the whole map was covered in fire due to my main's abilities

About mid/late game, i added witchcraft to the main mage for ressurect, death punch and invulnerability because i took glass cannon and it's kinda hard to combine with pyro (when you don't get instagibbed, you end up suiciding a lot before having 100% fire resistance :D).

I went full vitality/strenght with my main knight once i had enough int to heal correctly and avoid missing most of my spells. He ended with 5 in man at arms and 3 in hydro.

And for madora... a pure strength/speed man at arms with a two hander is just amazing single target damage. She just melts through everything at this point (the game is getting very easy late game). If you want to make her even more OP, combine with aerothurge and slap some INT and with teleport & ligtning strike, you don't even have to move or charge anymore. But even without she is beast.

You can't really add witchcraft earlier, at least for those spells i mentioned, since they are lev 16-18.

I have tried all "classes" to lev 4-5 before deciding to use this combo, and geo+pyro seemed like the most fun combination.

NB: forgot to add that pyro & geo have amazing buffs. Haste + perception for pyro (also useful out of combat) and chance to hit / protection / elemental resis / poison immunity for geo.