Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General I feel so useless as an elemental mage :/

It's just the inflated prices of spells; if you look at physical abilities and then compare the AP cost/damage to spells you'll see that spells generally are 1AP more in relation to AP Cost : Damage ratios, but if you factor in Elemental Affinity it balances out - Fireball + Searing Daggers ~= 2AP physical ability in damage.