Mage In Dragonfall?

[Xerkics]

I played a shaman in DMS and found it pretty underwhelming for the amount of points i spent on controlling spirit i could have maxed out a combat line and conjuring spells are underwhelming , i tried starting dragonfall like shaman but eventually just ended up going into street sam only keeping the bare totem.
So i was wondering has anyone played as pure mage in Dragonfall? Is it any fun? I assume you can get 3 points in smg as side weapon but other than that is pure mage doable? Fun?

[Wraith of Shadow]

Playing a human mage, and I can say once you max Willpower and Spellcasting they can be impressively powerful. A bit of a slow start, and I wouldn't bother with SMGs (to get even three points in it you need to spend a total of 18 Karma. Karma better spent on your spells), once you get powerful enough the mage standard attack will be better than any skill 3 SMG. Once you get level 3/4 Flamethrower you'll be hitting 90% plus of the time for up to 30 - 50 damage. I've downed more than one enemy in a single blast.

[Xerkics]

Sounds impressive, i guess thats the downside for not being able to use cyberware as well.

[Aranador]

to be honest - the best 'side weapon' would be a taser. You want some quickness so you can have some dodge so you can not die horrifically, so spilling a couple of points into ranged combat is not that big a deal - and since the taser is short range, you will generally have a high hit chance. One shot and they stop (for a round). Another good choice might be a grenade launcher.

But a strong mage has no need of a side weapon.

The tue limitation is that you can only have so many spells with you, and it is often wise to double up on some (for example, have both lightning 2 and lightning 3) so you can use your favorite type of spell more often - further cutting into your variety. You will also want a damage barrier - you see - you really want to stand on that mana line - you really do. But chances are it is right in the middle of a big shoot me here sign - and you are unlikely to have enough body, quickness, and dodge to want to stand out in the open without your shield spell. Then there are the great spells heal and haste. You surely also want an AoE spell right? And yet there are still more spells that would be nice to use. But you cant have them all ! Thank goodness powerbolt is a 'weapon' slot

[Asuzu]

It is kind of annoying to have to level quickness for everything jsut to access dodge...
Oh well

[crossroach]

I tried mage for a little bit out of curiousity (i dont like caster classes in general). It definitely doesnt feel as powerful as lets say smg builds, but i guess thats because you need to rely on your team mates a lot more. As in, run in, raise some hell, buddy throws a smoke on you or whateverthenameis shaman spell that negates targeting in a certain zone.

All in all, the mage class seems like a proper glass cannon.

[Kshahdoo]

Originally posted by Aranador:

to be honest - the best 'side weapon' would be a taser. You want some quickness so you can have some dodge so you can not die horrifically, so spilling a couple of points into ranged combat is not that big a deal - and since the taser is short range, you will generally have a high hit chance. One shot and they stop (for a round). Another good choice might be a grenade launcher.

But a strong mage has no need of a side weapon.

The tue limitation is that you can only have so many spells with you, and it is often wise to double up on some (for example, have both lightning 2 and lightning 3) so you can use your favorite type of spell more often - further cutting into your variety. You will also want a damage barrier - you see - you really want to stand on that mana line - you really do. But chances are it is right in the middle of a big shoot me here sign - and you are unlikely to have enough body, quickness, and dodge to want to stand out in the open without your shield spell. Then there are the great spells heal and haste. You surely also want an AoE spell right? And yet there are still more spells that would be nice to use. But you cant have them all ! Thank goodness powerbolt is a 'weapon' slot

Well, for some utility spells you have a shaman in the group. I so far manage to do everything with two members doing all the assault job - my mage and that troll woman (i've forgotten her name, heh).

Mage does a lot of damage. And he needs mostly only two stats: willpower and spellcasting. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to get some charisma, int, body, quickness and dodge as well. But he doesn't have to level them up too high.

[Danceofmasks]

Shaman is a little underwhelming, unless you're exploiting the AI with Shadow.
Mage, however, is damn good. Assuming, of course, you have high spellcasting and consequently some ungodly accuracy.

Personally, I like equipping Heal, Aim, Blindness, and 3 damage spells.
Rather than taking defensive spells, I find it's more efficient to simply wear the toughest armour you can find, instead of using actions and a spell slot.

It's hella amusing to be able to start a combat by getting hasted by a teammate, then immediately layering a fireball and a manaball over more than half the opposing forces.

[munkibowl]

My favorite spells are heal, blindness or mind wipe and high damage 1 AP or AOE 2 AP spells. Flamethrower is nice since you can cast it every turn, and it's really powerful. I'm not crazy about - AP spells unless I'm on a medium or large leyline. Let Deitrich handle the buff spells, but having 2 heals on the team makes a huge difference.

I'm playing a mage/summoner, with 0 points in spirit control, and 3+ points in spirit summoning to get me the creater totem which makes all summons within 3 of you have 0% escape chance when you assign them AP. This totem is pretty impressive, letting you control even the highest level summons for an unlimited number of rounds with max AP. You do need to recast the totem spell every 3 rounds, or you'll have to banish the spirit, since it's escape chance will be 100%.

The summons get you a 4 AP spirit to watch your back while you stand on that leyline in the open. Several of them have great defensive buffs as well as offence. That's a net gain of 3 AP for the party, along with a gain in versitility. Plus, Dietrich is also able to benefit from having his summon within your cirlce when assigning AP. I usually just summon one if there's a free one in the room, and carry 1 or 2 consumables for emergencies, but on missions that have you in combat movement throughout, you could keep a spirit with you from start to end as long as you heal it as it gets hurt.

Make sure to get hasted by Dietrich when summoning, so you still have the AP to use your powerful spells. Also it's important to be able to move around, since you can move over to the creature before assigning it AP, to make sure it's within your circle. The versatility added to your spellbook by these creatures, despite the 1 AP cost, it's still a net gain of 3 AP for your party's turn.

To be honest, the totem seems a bit unbalanced, since summoning isn't affected by cyberwear, and so for a mere 11 Karma any street sam can pull this trick as well. Plus you get the benefits of charisma if you choose to get to 6 in summoning - I think 6 is the highest level spirit in the game.

Obviously the running around or not moving the summon make the totem a bit incovenient, along with the need to cast it every 3 turns, but I think it's benefits outweigh it's costs.

[THAC0]

Whimps all of you THE NAD LAUNCHER IS PERFECT + Magic = GG SUCKERZ!

[Procrastinating Gamer]

Been using a pure mage, but with a slight twist - he's a troll. More for style and durability - style in the sense that you don't expect the guy built like a fridge to be able to melt you from across the room with a thought.

[Sol]

My mage uses a Datajack for one drone + cyberdeck.

I have a spell to cast every turn, +2 Drone AP. I make up personal AP loss through Jazz and having Dietritch use Haste on me.

[Agent.0.Fortune]

I have a couple of different characters going right now (and still haven't finished Dragonfall). So far a straight Human mages is hammer.

Unlike most other classes, a mage only needs 2 skill Willpower and Spellcasting. (however you will find some spells require minor points in intelligence and/or charisma).

With only 2 skills your mage can fast track to a high skill level, which means you will never miss and you will always crit. With Flamethrower (level 3) my mage is regularly doing 50 damage with 1 action point (no need to bother with ley lines).

Although my favorite tactic is to drop a fireball (level) on a small group and step behind cover (you may need a haste effect to pull this off). Then just watch their health drain as they run around on fire, until ultimately charging into overwatch.

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On a side note, I also have a decker/rigger who ran out of weapon slots (Rigs take 1 weapon slot, and a deck takes a weapon slot, which means no room for an actual gun). To alleviate that issue I am seriously considering branching into mage, so that I can use spells slots instead of weapons (the alternative is to spend a lot of points to get to ranged and close combat for weapon slots, but never be good with those weapons (due to multiple skill category requirements). Unfortunately, I take a 0.5 essence hit right out of the gate for a datajack, but I figure that combined with Mark Target, a heal spell, a flamethrower, and a utility spell, the added cooldown wont be a huge issue.

[Wraith of Shadow]

Originally posted by Agent.0.Fortune:

... Unfortunately, I take a 0.5 essence hit right out of the gate for a datajack, but I figure that combined with Mark Target, a heal spell, a flamethrower, and a utility spell, the added cooldown wont be a huge issue.

If you've already accepted the essence hit, you can get another 0.5 augment, round it out to one full point as it won't change anything. The Alpha Cybereye mod would work (+6% chance to hit).