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"Sorry, some kind of error has occurred: Comments must be less than 18000 characters in length."
I've just finished doing a run (thought still ongoing) where I make a support mage and experiment to find what they are capable in all aspects of game progression through hard mode (only improved enemies stagger/knockdown resistance is a contributing factor of change for a pawn's combat abilities on hard mode). From what I've seen in my own gameplay and replays from others that rented my pawn, a mage pawn for either support, dps, or a mix is still doable and to some degree better than a sorcerer if you're more concerned with support in healing, debilitations, or fast dps spells that knockdown or stagger. While a sorcerer does have these fast-cast attack spells, you'd likely not be relegating a sorcerer to just those weak spells when you have access to the mega spells. This aspect of mages being locked into fast and moderate spell charge time is one of the keys to why they are of benefit even in late game.
In terms of skills, I discovered (through the helpful input of Karathrax and others) that a skill like Spellscreen is most likely tied to a battles threat level and how much danger the arisen is in. When threat level changes into something more intense than the standard battle (either from fewer pawns, the lost of a pawn, major loss of health, low level compared to enemy, being out numbered, etc., your pawn's start using stat boosting items and skills (including intentional triggering of augments tied to increased stats at critical HP). Both my pawn and a rented pawn (both with 75% or more bestiary knowledge) would only use Spellscreen during intense battles and normally only as they ended but occasionally during them (which was great to have at those times). Since most people do many quests and find themselves at high or average levels and always have three pawns with them, these high threat level battles are not common and the skill with see very little use (unless you like to adventure at low level, keep only a main pawn, or only one rental pawn). With this understanding, I tend to think this skill is best reserved for an arisen play mage since they are smart enough to realize that when you're still at a much higher level than a cyclops surrounded by hobgoblins or female bandits, that this skill is still needed given the massive damage these things can still do on hard mode.
In terms of augments, there didn't seem to be any amazing ones that were needed to make that truly amazing at what you want them to focus on. Just the normal stuff like Articulacy and Conservation. If you're wanting a mage that won't be interrupted often, then take Gravitas to boost their stagger/knockdown resistance while charging. I noticed a small change in spell interruption frequency with just this and a more noticeable change when combined with two ogre bones. With the rings and Gravitas, the mage seldom stopped their spell unless they were going to be hit by something like a dragon or other large monster. Small and medium sized creatures would rarely scare him away.
If you're looking for a mage that can really punch a baddie with a fireball in the face, you will want Emphasis. With just this spell, High Ingle and High Frigor are still able to stop lunging grim goblins, geo saurians, and other non-large foes. Even with large creatures like chimera, they will still fall from just a few well placed spells. Mind you, this is in combination with strong staves like Cast Stone, Unfetted Claw, and Frigged Finger. I run with Unfetted Claw (3 star) and just Emphasis and still see good results on hard mode's improved stagger/knockdown resistant enemies. If you really want some punch, you can also equip two Barbed Nails for +100 stagger/knockdown power each. This will be a compromise between the ogre bones. Haven't tried one of each yet since I really want my mage to run for safety as little as possible.
When it comes to healing, the community and myself are generally split on the benefits and deficits of Anodyne and High Anodyne. While Anodyne has a small spell charge of 5 second (without Articulacy or Wyrmking's Ring) it doesn't heal for much HP (650 total). It is able to be cast fairly frequently though but you will have to stand in it and risk taking more damage as a stationary target (something you can't do on hard mode or BBI). The High versions takes 7 seconds to charge (5 for the first level, and 2 more for the second). The heal rate while in the area of effect (AOE) is stronger than the low level version and can heal more health (1350 not accounting for gradual gains from the target-fixed gradual heal effect). If you run this with Beatitude, you'll be healing for a total possible of 2160 HP. That's not bad and when taking only one or two hits that drastically lower your health but keep your faded, white, recoverable health at a high point (near or close to max overall) this is a pretty good trade off of just 2 more seconds of cast time if you need a top-off after battle and have a health gauge around 3,000 or more.
http://dragonsdogma.wikia.com/wiki/High_Anodyne
High Halidom is also very useful if you are like me and don't like carrying around heal items. While the spell never saw much use in Gransys, it got much use on BBI as a lot of foes can debilitate you multiple times over. Having someone around that could remove torpor, blindness, and silence in a few seconds is great (helps be more immersive as well since you won't be opening menus all the time, though you could just do as Kara does and set healing items to hotkeys while still using a controller). In general, I don't see this as a needed skill outside of BBI since most debilitating enemies in the main game will have grass or other items in their zones that will cure those single debilitations. This skill mostly shines when you are fighting creatures that can cause multiple debilitations and you don't want to carry or burn through you healing items as much.
http://dragonsdogma.wikia.com/wiki/High_Halidom
High Grapnel is an interesting skill with some limited use by pawns. While it's not limited to threat level like Spellscreen is, a pawns use of it seems limited to their bestiary knowledge for the target they are fighting. I haven't tested this skill on normal mode but on hard mode it is fairly limited in its application. According to the wiki, it can hold large enemies in place such as condemned goreclopes and dragon's (cursed). So far on hard mode, I've yet to see this actual hold anything in place larger than a saurian. This skill seems to work off of stagger/knockdown resistance and power and given how strong that resistance is in hard mode, it's questionable how useful this skill is outside of normal and easy mode. That said, it will still greatly slowdown anything it cannot hold, making it easier for you to evade or continue attacking fast targets like frenzied chimera. It will also prevent spells from being cast on the held target (regardless of holding or slowing them down). This can make fights with chimera/goremera and weight/litch/dark bishops much easier on top of the fast that spectral spell casters such as litches will also be pulled out of the sky and to the ground for the group to attack (probably the most useful aspect of the spell in hard mode). This spell does suffer from a short range of attack though. It isn't super short but the tendrils that grab onto foes only reach for a length comparable with the length of a chimera head to tail. Monsters that also move fast may easily dodge the skill as well and pawns seem unable to predict movement and lead-a-shot. Once attached to an enemy it is rather helpful and satisfying to see them struggle against their constricted confines while you and your team destroy them. Use this skill with caution on a pawn. It can be marvelous but not as much as you might have hoped on hard mode.
http://dragonsdogma.wikia.com/wiki/High_Grapnel
When it comes to debilitations, the mage doesn't bring much to the table. But what it does bring with High Silentium and High Blearing cover enough of the basic debilitations to still be of help. Successful use of these on a pawn mage are highly dependent on the pawn's knowledge. Without good knowledge, the pawn will fire these off at random and may be trying to debilitate something that is resistant to that debilitation and thus are wasting time and energy. On a pawn with good or great knowledge, these are wonderfully powerful tools that work in many ways better than High Grapnel to incapacitate a foe and allow the team to close in for the kill. Probably the most useful of these two skills is High Silentium since creatures weak to blind (like cyclops) will still flail around randomly and can still hit you for strong damage. This is almost detrimental since a non-blind creature is more predicable in their movements and thus easier to handle. Silenced foes are still just as predictable but you are removing one aspect of their arsenal, and against spell casters, you've basically removed them entirely from the battle. In order to make good use of these, you'll want to have those ogre bones and Gravitas so you're pawn stays as close to the targets as possible given this spell has an AOE around the caster and is not projected like Halidom or Anodyne.
When set up with attack spells, the faster the cast time the more helpful a mage is. Since most mages aren't going to have the naturally strong base stats of a sorcerer, you don't want to focus on a mage being a dedicated attacker for damage, but instead dedicated on stagger/knockdown. Their staffs still pack a punch when enhanced and late game staves when enhanced are on par with sorcerer staves (thou slightly inferior in stats, it's negligible) when it comes to stagger/knockdown. I think High Comestion has more knockdown power than High Ingle but the time it takes to cast them makes me prefer Ingle's rapid charge time and just throw in Emphasis or some Barbed Nails for a fast projectile that has saved, and continues to save, millions from leaping goblins, wolves, and other baddies. I normally prefer at least one fast charge attack and one medium charge attack to ensure I have something with a lot of punch. High Frigor is great as it will knock down a lot of stuff and many creatures in late game (including goreclops) are weak to it. If running into BBI, you'll probably want some lightning as creatures like Garm and Elder Ogre are sturdy beasts but feign to lightning. Since a mage does not have access to High Fulmination, you might want to take High Brontide as it's the best you got in lightning attacks that can hit hard on something that's relatively slow or not likely to dart around too much. High Frazil can be helpful in a few situations as well; fighting Eliminators being one of them. Since eliminators are weak to both ice and freezing and are relatively slow, you or a pawn could easily stand near them and freeze them with High Frazil (though other methods of attack may be better options).
For elemental enchantments I don't recommend more than two at a time. Because AI selection of skills is always randomized, a pawn with more than one elemental spell (attack or buff) and max foe knowledge will still have a small chance of using a skill that is either neutral or ineffective against an adversary. I've seen this happen many times to myself and others when traveling with a spell caster that has more than one elemental buff (having max knowledge and using something as stupid as Dark Affinity against undead while having access to Fire Affinity). Multiple enchantment spells can still be great but do be aware that you face the chance of a pawn not using the best one when it really matters. On a side note, Holy Affinity is generally the most preferred due to its application with the Focused Bolt core skill (Though all enchantments with Focused Bolt are enjoyable to watch and have strong homing abilities and side effects).
I don't find gear to ever be an essential part of a good pawn or arisen. With careful planning and preparation, a well crafted team or character can easily make up for level and gear deficiency. That said, if you aren't concerned with your character's looks (or it suits your desired look) something like Adept's Robe or BBI Cursed Gear with the self/group heal ability would be preferable to a mage or sorcerer. Many people think that these healing gears are a replacement for Anodyne but I disagree with the notion that these are to instead work alongside the spell. These healing items heal very slowly and most players don't intend to stand around for 10 or more minutes after every battle in BBI. These are best for those that want to have some way to increase healing beyond bleed damage (that white part of the health bar) and are a great adjunct to Anodyne (making the un-upgraded spell still relevant and possibly more relevant than its High counterpart).
On a side note: just because something is called "Adept" does not mean it has passive heal. Only the Adept's Robe has passive group heal (but not to its wearer). The Adept's Hat provides longer lasting spell sigils (similar to how Beatitude increases duration of Anodyne and Halidom, but for all spells that are cast like these including Lastitude. The Adept's Mantle has no special qualities at all. It may be possible to find these with added qualities but the one's found by unlocking the Moongem Doors in BBI have the qualities I've just mentioned.
On the topic of Inclinations, unless you want a healing machine, you'd best keep Medicant in the third inclination slot or lower. You're probably aware that a primary Medicant will cast Anodyne the moment anyone is hurt. This is generally annoying and unwanted, In secondary position, they heal when someone is at 3/4 health. This can be good if you want a healing focused mage that will still attack, debilitate, or buff when everyone is in good health. In the third position, they will heal when a character is at 1/2 health. This is still helpful as taking a lot of small hits in a mob won't cause the mage to stop their attack too soon. If you push Medicant out of the top three inclination slots (4th or lower) the mage will heal when a character is at 1/4 health. I find this to also be acceptable if you're like me and willing to live a little dangerously and really don't want your mage to stop attacking unless truly needed for healing. From what I can tell, mendicant's position does not affect Halidom. A mage with Halidom will only cast it when someone is debilitated.
Utilitarian is pretty great for a Mage as it is centered around team efforts and team support. This increases the frequency of buff spells (including Spellscreen) and is what you want if you are running a mage with focus on elemental enchantment and debilitations. While strong bestiary knowledge isn't needed to encourage this behavior it is recommended as they will be more likely to choose the correct enchantment when equipped with multiple enchantment types and they will be more likely to chose the correct debilitation.
For attack oriented inclinations, you're best with Challenger and Mitigator. If you have very good bestiary knowledge then Utilitarian is another good attack related inclination (as it is great in the primary slot for any vocation and pawn with strong knowledge), but Challenger and Mitigator are going to be your main go-to attack inclinations here. Stay away from Scather as it not only favors physical attacks over magic, it also incites a pawn to ignore team tactics and they get much closer to enemies when they charge a spell (resulting is a greater occurrence of interruption). No amount of Ogre Bones and Gravitas will save a mage from a chimera's attack (they will always move out of the way).
Mitigator is generally preferred for a damage per second (DPS) mage since they normally don't have amazing damage output and are best able to kill small stuff like goblins and humans. This can still be helpful since fewer enemies is a great help and a pawn with the appropriate elemental attack will make short work of any small or medium sized target.
Challenger will make them shift their focus towards a much more broad and diverse category that is "ranged attackers". This blanket statement used by the developers is very vague as it includes not just enemies mages and archers, but also anything that can attack you at range. This includes all goblin and hobgoblin variants (throws stuff), all harpies variants, chimera/goremera, spectral spell casters, all saurian variants (spites stuff), and more. This is pretty good as removing ranged threats is helpful but since it includes spell casters that are resistant to magic damage your already weak mage attacks won't do much of anything to them. I prefer Mitigator over Challenger because of this but it doesn't make Challenger a terrible choice.
For my own pawn, I prefer this set up.
Staff - High Ingle/High Frigor/High Grapnel/High Silentium/High Halidom/Holy Affinity
I will generally swap High Halidom for High Anodyne as needed.
For Augments I use...
Augment - Sinew(Ft)/Conservation(So)/Preperation(Ma)/Emphasis(So)/Gravitas(So)/Articulacy(So)
You may want to swap out Sinew for Beatitude if you aren't going to have them carry a lot of stuff like healing items or random loot. Preparation could also be swapped out for Beatitude if you're not going to use enchantment spells or Spellscreen. Since a mage has a lot of permanently enchanted weapons (including ones with Holy element) you wouldn't be missing out on a good Focused Bolt by foregoing buffs. I wouldn't recommend removing Conservation as even with stamina well over 2,000 the aggressive nature of my mage pawn saw him becoming exhausted near the end of combat. With conservation he was able to rapid fire spells for attack, debuff, buff, and heal and still be standing with stamina at the end of long battles in BBI.
My chosen inclinations are (in order of Primary on farthest left) Utilitarian/Mitigator/Medicant/Challenger with Challenger and Medicant being jockeyed from 3rd to 4th and back as I need more aggression and less healing. If you aren't using anodyne at all, then you may want to keep Medicant at least in 3rd since they will still use group healing items more frequently (and spring water starts to seem a little lacking compared to a Kingswarish herb by end game or a 3,000+ HP character).
I am currently lvl 185 with strider pawn.Will take him to 200 and will reroll a fresh game not long after that. For me this game is all about the pawns. My current pawn seems to have lost some of his aggression,tho at the current lvl it dosnt matter to much.
The reason for my post was I have had the same mage since lvl 107 but she her self never went up.While there are alot of mages on offer for hire i always seemed to go back to that lvl 107 one.
The other big question is what to make my mage.Elf,Goiblin,Dwarf,Giant :)
Are you just curious about what most people consider a good mage or what you should look for in a mage pawn for rent or building one up? Most experianced player's (the majority of those still active) seek out sorcerers over mages because they want the stronger magic spells and are annoyed by the seemingly slow and weak healing spells of a mage that can't come close to matching the damage of a sorcerer. Because of this, I don't see many mages after 40 or 60 that keep getting used or updated. I've only found one that is REALLY good and it's locked at level 40 (most likely there to help people at mid and end game normal mode).
Currently im running ,
Assassin me :)
Strider my pawn
Mage
Sorcerer
My strider pawn could probaly be ok as support mage,but I think i will reroll and make him from scratch.
After he has hit 200
My last pawn was an indepth run/look at strider pawns. I did a debilitation support build (aneled/rusted weapons) that turned out to be insainly powerful even with rusted weapons at 3 star enhancment. I'm thinking about doing a long essay on strider now (since i just got done playing arisen thief strider) and might end up doing an in depth look and write-up for all vocations. Will probably just make them into guides here.