Keeping a mage hero alive?

[croft]

Playing as a mage hero even the morons in the houses at the very begining can, and have killed me. So I guess the only way to keep a squishy mage alive is to skip everything till you have a full party? What about the newb killer at the friendly arm? No way squishy is taking a bouble magic missile to the face and walking away.

[fauxpas]

I'd focus on darts as unless I'm completely misremembering, you can find "returning" darts but I don't remember any "returning slings".

[Whirl]

The trouble with slings is that not only are they pretty weak, but you won't find much ammo for them, as hardly any enemies use slings. So if you want magical bullets, traditionally you have to buy them yourself, while there are plenty of enemies who do drop magical arrows. Therefore you have to buy magical bullets yourself.

Of course, Wizards can't use arrows. I suppose they need at least one hand free.

While still not common drops, Darts and Throwing Daggers are slightly more common pickups, meaning you won't have to worry about running out. They work just as well as missiles.

A warning - mellee combat isn't good, right, but if any of a group have arrows, they WILL use them on any character at a distance if they aren't occupied, and Mages are depressingly vulnerable to missile weapons.

[Eisenfell]

croft님이 먼저 게시:

I tend to use slings because being in melee seems bad.

slings are totally okay , the problem is they only give 1 Attack per Round and also count as Missile weapon so you dont even get any benefit in the damage type , while throwing daggers give you 2... and darts 3 attacks ... as i allready said , mages have the worst to hit (THAC0) progression in the game , so you rather want to fling as manay attacks as you can while not throwing a spell and hoping atleast some damage comes around.

in baldurs gate 2 you even get a very nice +3dart who returns to the users hand at every throw. and 2 Possible magic throwing dagger with the added oddity of having 2d4 damage instead of 1d4 ...doubling the possible damage on a hit, they also return after every throw.

until then you have to work with the normal stuff.

[wendigo211]

A melee mage works well for the first couple of levels in most D&D games because, if you use your spells right, you can have a really low AC for a level 1 or 2 character and there isn't a huge difference between fighter and mage ThAC0 at those levels. If your PC mage has an 18 dex (and a PC mage should have an 18 dex, 18 int and 16 con), after casting the Shield spell your mage should have an AC 0, which is really good for a low level character. At higher levels, thanks to spells like Mirror Image, Wraithform, Stoneskin and the higher level versions of the Armor spells, mages are invulnerable in melee combat (although they might as well use a ranged weapon for higher ROF). On Legacy of Bhaal difficulty, my mages are the only characters who can tank the overpowered enemies.

As for sling vs. dart, why not use both? It's not like mages have a ton of stuff to spend thier proficiency points on. I tend to use a sling against enemies I have a low chance of hitting (no use in wasting ammo) and darts against enemies I can hit. The only problem in BG is that ammo for those weapons is a really uncommon drop outside of Durlag's Tower, so you have to keep buying it. Skeletons occasionally drop throwing knives and darts, but I don't think any enemies drop bullets. BG2 gives you more options, but by then your mage is a high enough level that he should be casting spells most of the time anyway.

[Whirl]

I like using wands against mages, anyway. Enemy Mages tend to be about as squishy as your own, and if you can get to them before they cast Mirror Image (every frikkin' time! Every enemy mage seems to have it in their book!), they're pretty much meat for the roasting spit.

I prefer wands, when I can get them. You can get cursed everything else in Baldur's Gate; it kind of surprised me that there aren't cursed wands, even though they're the only magic item you can't use without identification.

[DnD Detective]

fauxpas님이 먼저 게시:

Shield, Find Familar, and NPCs are your friends.

Shield is especially useful against Tarnesh since it blocks magic missiles.

[PancakeWizard]

Stupid question probably, but you're not playing him in the lead right?

[croft]

Ajantis, Khalid, Branwin Jaheria Imoen and my mage in that order.

[Whirl]

I forgot to add, there's a ring of Wizardry just outside the Friendly Arm Inn in a tree. It won't help you until you've rested, of course, but honestly, Tarnesh is barely literate and just another thug to take great pleasure in topping.

[fauxpas]

And don't forget the Ring of Protection you can pick up in the forest directly south of the Friendly Arms Inn as well right after meeting Eliminster.