Help a noob, please (mage build)

[FreyaMaluk]

It's not that clear to me what points should I invest in which category... Can someone help me a little here??

Another thing, Duncan has no equipment or weapons after the dock's mission, is this normal?

[cirion]

You'll mostly want to invest in Willpower and Spellcasting. You should also invest some into Body for survivability. (Especially if you're new to the game, it will give you more of a buffer if you make mistakes during combat.) Bring Charisma and Spirit Summoning up to 3 to unlock a totem.

Mage is one of the simplest and least karma-intensive builds. Once you get Spellcasting up to about 7 or so, you might want to start branching out into other trees to become more well-rounded. By that time you should have a better idea of what you'd like your character to be. You might pick up Qi Casting for the nice passives, Conjuring for additional spells, Charisma to unlock more etiquettes, Dodge for more defense, whatever.

Your companions usually don't carry gear while you're in non-combat maps, so I wouldn't worry about Duncan's guns if you're in Heoi.

[FreyaMaluk]

Originally posted by cirion:

You'll mostly want to invest in Willpower and Spellcasting. You should also invest some into Body for survivability. (Especially if you're new to the game, it will give you more of a buffer if you make mistakes during combat.) Bring Charisma and Spirit Summoning up to 3 to unlock a totem.

Mage is one of the simplest and least karma-intensive builds. Once you get Spellcasting up to about 7 or so, you might want to start branching out into other trees to become more well-rounded. By that time you should have a better idea of what you'd like your character to be. You might pick up Qi Casting for the nice passives, Conjuring for additional spells, Charisma to unlock more etiquettes, Dodge for more defense, whatever.

Your companions usually don't carry gear while you're in non-combat maps, so I wouldn't worry about Duncan's guns if you're in Heoi.

Thanks @cirion.... I'm indeed a newbie... so yeah.... I have no idea what I'm doing...
These tips are very useful, thanks again.

[frdnwsm]

A mage is one of the best profession choices for a newcomer in both Dragonfall and Hong Kong, simply because none of your fellow recruitable crew members in either game fall into that profession. If you want a pure mage in either game, you need to hire one if you don't play one yourself. Also, mages are pretty simple to build. Willpower and spellcasting are the prime stats to increase.

Now, there is a LOT of variablilty regarding secondary spells. You may want to grab some buff spells, like Haste 1 or 2; you need slots from the conjuring spell tree for this. 3 ranks of spirit summoning gets you access to a totem; I'd recommend Leopard or Bear. Totems appear next to your spells in availability, but don't actually take up a spell slot.

You don't want to get really cybered up, since losing essence drops your number of spell slots, but I'd recommend getting 3 ranks of cyber affinity; this increases your essence to 7, letting you get some minor cyber while still keeping your 6 spell slots unchanged. I strongly recommend the jolt alert (no essence loss) and the Shiawase Magnetic arm ... total immunity to grenades for loss of 1 essence. A huge benefit.

Note that this more advanced cyber isn't available right away; as with most items that you can buy, Ambrose doesn't offer this for sale until you have 3-4 runs under your belt. Other merchants have similar quirks re availability of their merchandise. This includes the more powerful spells from Crafty.

Getting a few ranks in a skill like thrown weapons unlocks a third gear slot, which you may or may not find useful.

I'd suggest getting 5 ranks in body to pump up your HP; that way you don't fall over dead whenever some enemy scores a lucky hit or two on you. You need a body of at least 3 to get those 3 ranks of Cyber Affinity in any event.

A well rounded mage will carry a mixture of both offensive mage spells and buff spells to cast on other party members. Firebolt, Manaball, Haste, Aim are all good staple spells. One often neglected spell is Blind; this takes 2 AP to cast, but it's a way to totally screw a powerful enemy for 2 combat rounds. You can even blind robots/mechanical foes ... like gun mounts and tanks.

Charisma of 4 with specs in corporate and security is a useful secondary skill, allowing you to avoid a couple of combats. Charisma of 5 is useful in certain scenarios late game, in Prosperity Towers. Remember, you get karma (usually) for achieving goals, not just killing enemies. If you can accomplish something without combat, all the better, you will save money by not using BuMoNa kits and medikits.

[frdnwsm]

General hints: Always talk to everyone after every mission. Sometimes this unlocks side quests, sometimes this is mandatory for certain endings. And it's always fun to learn about other characters; many have amusing background stories. This is actually a cross between a game and an interactive novel; if you hate to read, you won't like the Shadowrun game series.

[FreyaMaluk]

Thanks

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

A mage is one of the best profession choices for a newcomer in both Dragonfall and Hong Kong, simply because none of your fellow recruitable crew members in either game fall into that profession. If you want a pure mage in either game, you need to hire one if you don't play one yourself. Also, mages are pretty simple to build. Willpower and spellcasting are the prime stats to increase.

Now, there is a LOT of variablilty regarding secondary spells. You may want to grab some buff spells, like Haste 1 or 2; you need slots from the conjuring spell tree for this. 3 ranks of spirit summoning gets you access to a totem; I'd recommend Leopard or Bear. Totems appear next to your spells in availability, but don't actually take up a spell slot.

You don't want to get really cybered up, since losing essence drops your number of spell slots, but I'd recommend getting 3 ranks of cyber affinity; this increases your essence to 7, letting you get some minor cyber while still keeping your 6 spell slots unchanged. I strongly recommend the jolt alert (no essence loss) and the Shiawase Magnetic arm ... total immunity to grenades for loss of 1 essence. A huge benefit.

Note that this more advanced cyber isn't available right away; as with most items that you can buy, Ambrose doesn't offer this for sale until you have 3-4 runs under your belt. Other merchants have similar quirks re availability of their merchandise. This includes the more powerful spells from Crafty.

Getting a few ranks in a skill like thrown weapons unlocks a third gear slot, which you may or may not find useful.

I'd suggest getting 5 ranks in body to pump up your HP; that way you don't fall over dead whenever some enemy scores a lucky hit or two on you. You need a body of at least 3 to get those 3 ranks of Cyber Affinity in any event.

A well rounded mage will carry a mixture of both offensive mage spells and buff spells to cast on other party members. Firebolt, Manaball, Haste, Aim are all good staple spells. One often neglected spell is Blind; this takes 2 AP to cast, but it's a way to totally screw a powerful enemy for 2 combat rounds. You can even blind robots/mechanical foes ... like gun mounts and tanks.

Charisma of 4 with specs in corporate and security is a useful secondary skill, allowing you to avoid a couple of combats. Charisma of 5 is useful in certain scenarios late game, in Prosperity Towers. Remember, you get karma (usually) for achieving goals, not just killing enemies. If you can accomplish something without combat, all the better, you will save money by not using BuMoNa kits and medikits.

Thanks @frdnwsm... that was a very good intro full with cool details. Thank you very much.

One more question....
Any suggestion about which spells I should buy?
I have 2231 Nuyens. I was thinking: Life Syphon I (750), Lightning Bolt I (600), Flamethrower I (300), Haste I (Shaman, 400), Acid Bolt (Weapon, 200)

[di eshor ribly]

The Focus: Strip Armor spell is a staple in my mage's repertoire. It strips 3+ (gotta love leylines) armor per cast, adds 1 AP for the following round (free strip armor per turn basically), and has a 1 turn cooldown. If you stand on a medium or heavy dragon leyline you can strip entire groups of enemies within 2-3 turns. They become squishy targets immediately after.

Wild Aim and the Focus: Life Siphon are pretty good too. A random aim buff (up to the entire group on leylines), and a life steal + 3 turn health regen.

After those three spells I'd suggest a little offense. Flamethrower, Fireball, or Chain Lightning work well here. Just don't rely on the AP damage spells in the Extended Campaign.

If you decide a little bit of shamanism is in order there are three spells I would also suggest:
Mist (+evade chance and movement for target), Haste (obvious), and Mana Charge (create a leyline on demand).

Personally speaking, I prefer my mages to bring the thump, so my spell loadout is usually Heal 2, Focus: Strip Armor, Flamethrower (highest rank), Fireball (highest rank), Chain Lightning (highest rank), and Wild Aim. If I'm not throwing out mana bolts as a default attack I like to pick up a little health, Dodge, and some Cyber Affinity for the Spurs or Hand Razors. Sometimes I'll switch out Wild Aim for the Mana Charge to really lay down some pain.

[cirion]

Originally posted by di eshor ribly:

Mana Charge (create a leyline on demand).

Have they fixed this spell? The last time I checked, it didn't seem to do anything in Hong Kong. It creates the FX for a leyline, but doesn't seem to actually reduce cooldowns or boost power or anything. (Works great in Dragonfall, though, it'll be nice if it's fixed in Hong Kong.)

[frdnwsm]

At the game start, you only have 4 spell slots; more unlock (up to 6) as your spell casting skill gets better. Also, game cash, while adequate, is limited, so you will want to budget. Other things than spells you will want to buy include gear ... you can get your armor up to 8 by buying better (expensive) garb, and bring it up to a full 10 with the right items.

Initially I'd suggest Haste 1, Aim 1, Flamethrower and Fireball. Two buff spells, one area effect spell and one single target attack spell. Later on, you can get more varied spells. I mentioned Blind, Strip Armor was mentioned ... both of these are useful, but early foes don't have that much armor or hugely devasating attacks, so they aren't needed just yet. You also have Powerbolt 1, which oddly enough takes up a gear slot and not a spell slot, as a last ditch attack resort if all your other stuff is on cooldown.

More powerful versions of spells either have a greater effect (Aim 2 has a better hit % increase than Aim 1), or else have a lesser cool-down time, (Heal 2 vs Heal 1), so they can be used more often. But you need more spell casting skill in order to be able to use those.

You can also spend cash buying gear for your fellow crew members. Duncan, for example, uses that one crummy gun the whole game. I bought him a sniper rifle, so he could pot mages, conjurers and riggers at long ranges. Remember, if you kill a rigger or a conjurer, their drones and summoned creatures go poof as well.

Any gear you buy for this purpose goes into your cache after each mission; you can assign it again at the start of each run. Both Duncan and Geichu can use the shock glove, for example ... which can ony be bought during the Wampoan murder investigation run, btw. The tailor there also has Armor 4 garb available, so bring some extra cash along ;)

[frdnwsm]

Oh, and WIld Aim was also mentioned. This is a nice spell, but you can't buy or research it on your own. You can ONLY acquire it by doing a Matrix run during The Dig mission, and only if you bring Is0bel (or another decker) along. There is a Matrix access point in the basement which you can access in order to get this ... preferably AFTER all the combat is over.

There is a lot of paydata on quite a few runs that you can grab and sell for extra cash, but you need a decker along to get it. Matrix runs are tricky and I suck at Simon Says, so I just blunt force all the data access points, which means I end up fighting a lot of Black IC. Luckily, Is0bel and her deck are up to the task.

Unfortunately, bringing Is0bel along means gimping your crew's meatspace combat ability somewhat. Her accuracy initially with her grenade launcher is SO awful, she is almost more of a danger to the other crew members than to the enemy. She is a bit better with her slivergun, but this is essentially a pistol which means poor accuracy at anything other than short ranges.

Later on, her ranged combat ability goes up to 7, and you can replace her sliver gun with a smartlink mid range firearm, which makes her a much better fighter.

[frdnwsm]

General rule of thumb. Johnsons lie. Johnsons always lie. They are, after all, hiring you to do stuff that is illegal. Sometimes it's a little lie by omission ... "Oh, did I forget to mention that those relics I wanted were guarded by CREATURES FROM HELL? My bad; sorry about that." Sometimes it's blatant treachery "There has been a change of drop-off plans; but don't worry, I'll make sure that you get everything you deserve". Umm, yeah, riiight.

On the other hand, sometimes the least likely encounters can produce allies; vampires, ghouls, other shadow runner teams ... so be open to the possibilities.