Mage question/s

[Cruel Justice]

Was thinking of playing a full mage next playthrough on hard and just had a few questions if one does not mind.

1. Can mage spell's crit? If so, what contributes to this? Was looking at the karma list, and nothing pointwise mentions of increasing spell crit chance.

2. When full spellbook is unlocked, how many spells can one hold?

3. What in all do the leylines do?

4. Do any spells other than Power Bolt (I think?) go in weapon slot instead of spell slot?

5. Does straight up dmg mage work on hard, or is it advised to go for crowd control spells like confuse or the AP reducing ones?

6. Anything worth dipping into karma wise minus quickness/dodge/body?

7. This is more of a general question, but what is the highest armor one can equip in the game? I currently can purchase 8 armor, was wondering if any hit the cap of 10?

Thanks all.

[Phat Pidjin]

1. Yes, and that'd be either the CHA/WIL or the secondary lines, can't recall

2. 6

3. Make for bouncy bouncy deathy goodness

4. A few, they're listed under "weapons" so easy to spot

5. Crowd Control spells are advised, Blindness is king, and you def want Armor as well

6. Get some CHA (no more than 6) and grab a Totem since they cost only 6 Karma, you'll want some body ofc, and maybe a hint of int for the convo options

6b. Forgot to mention, you need INT and CHA for some spells, so you'll def wanna buy a bit there.

7. Think it was either 9 or 10, but the 10 won't have skill bonuses.

[Cruel Justice]

Thanks for the reply Isaios

[Phat Pidjin]

6b. Forgot to mention, you need INT and CHA for some spells, so you'll def wanna buy a bit there.

[SpiralRazor]

You can deal a lot of damage with a mage, Flame deals base 30, but be careful of hte large ley line spots...the spells will bounce to party members if youre not careful.

You do indeed need some Int and Cha for some spellcasting spells...i think max is 4 on each. You can however skip those particular spells if you wish.

[Cruel Justice]

Definitely good to note, would suck to find out when it is too late. Would you happen to know which spells these are that have these requirements? Or perhaps it is something I can check by scrolling over them in the shop?

[Phat Pidjin]

You'll see it in the shop, aye, and no, I can't recall, since I started my mage out with INT/CHA at 4 XD

[iCarus]

the only other spell that goes in weapon slot is Acid Bolt
It deals reduced damage but in turn grants Poison DoT
However, its ToHit and crit are determined by CHR and Conjuring, instead of WIL and Spellcasting (So a Shaman weapon)

The Leylines (also referred as Dragon Lines) grants uncontrollable damage bounce, which means it can hurt teammates that are near an enemy -- ESPECIALLY Gaichu, I almost killed him once with a 24 Crit bounce from Manabolt

They also grant faster Spell CD on Med and Large spots.

[Cruel Justice]

Thanks both for the replies. While I won't be able to check the INT req's for the spells since I have high INT as decker/shotty, I can at least check the CHA req's being as I am at 2 :P

[TheBasque]

5. Yes, my current combination of spells are heal, AIM, fireball II, Fireball II (expanded), Mana Bolt III(the spell that has incredible accuracy, not sure if that's the right name). It's highly effective, I am having no issues on Hard, if anything it's too easy, I have yet to lose a fight or be killed and I am roughly 3/4's the way through. Loving the game though!

6. Heck yeah, I upgraded my body all the way up to 6 at the very beginning of the game, and I haven't looked back since and kept it there. I dump the rest into Will, CHa, and Dex->Shotgun(though any weapon would work), and im sure there are other things you could add to besides weapon that could make it a viable build. For me though, I've had no problem with this set up, I don' t have a lot of dodge but with 6 body it doesn't really matter. He's a tough character, like a surgeon with his shotgun, and capable of hitting anything or anyone from any range due to his spells, second only to snipers and grenadiers.

[SpiralRazor]

I made the early game mistake of putting points into ranged weapons during character creation.

Dont.....you wont need to fire a single round after the first couple missions. Eventually, i even stopped using the Powerbolt spell as well.(sold it) but it does make a good backup. I went with a total control based mage, Lightning, Lightning 3, Mind Wipe, Blind, Confuse. You can get decent - Ap spells early on and expand from there...if you take enough AP damage, your character gets stunned. For end game, i bought Flamethrower for the 30 damage and started using the Wild Aim spell as well....AOE +15% to hit is umm..pretty good.


In reality, there are lots of different combos working purely with spells that you dont need to shoehorn yourself into a "best" config.

The fetish that gives you +1 will and +1 spellcasting is totally worth it...Most of my spells have a 99% to hit even through cover and long range, elven caster.

Btw, i tended to avoid AOE damage spells as I use melee kos and Gaichu as tanks...if however, you have gobbet as a usual character, you can do AOE mage since the spirits are good tanks, and she replenishes her fetishs each run).

[Cruel Justice]

My current playthrough uses shotgun. Finally, a game that gets shotgun right! So tired of games where if you aren't almost point blank you won't hit a thing. I guess they all use birdshot.

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2.) 6 but also as the guy said above, you'll want to get a totem which will act as a 7th spell slot. I personally went with the Fish totem which decreases your chance to be hit with my mage. On my adept I chose the snake which is +1 damage and extra 5% chance to hit enemies.
3.) Not all dragon lines make spells bounce, some heal. I think it depends on the size of them (larger ones make them bounce, mid heal, small add functional improvement/cooldown).
4.) They're pretty much shaman/mage base attacks for when you have nothing left on cooldown. You can only get the acid spray if you're shaman. Power bolt is what you want!
6.) You'll only need 3 or 4 int depending on what spells you want, I went with 4. Charisma is just insanely useful at all portions of the game and totem is great, especially since now some of them just offer passive benefits. Also, the summons can be useful on occasion, just drag them into a pile of enemies and who cares if they break or their buffs on your team.
7.) Fairly certain all end game armors are 8 but different items will augment it. Cyberware/mystic adept armor skill/armor spell.

[Cruel Justice]

Yeah, I am getting close to the end of the game, only some side missions to clear out then on to the point of no return, so I figured 8 armor was the highest. It is good to know for sure.

Thanks again everyone