[Evaluating Intelligence] 80 vs 100 Eval & Meditation

[Laina]

This is a PVM template only that I am probably trying to cram too much in but I still wanted to get some opinions. What I have is a mage/bard (magery, med, eval, music, provoke, disc, and peace) and 720 skill points from which to work.

If I drop eval and med to 80 so I can 120 the bard skills but add at least 25% SDI and 40% LMC, how much am I hurting myself? All my mages are always GM+ and honestly it has been so long since I have built a new template that I really don't know how significant is the difference between 80 and 100 for these 2 skills. Unfortunately, for some of the higher end monsters, those bard skills need to be 120'd.

My suit is not complete and in the end (who knows how long it will take) I am hoping to get some skill jewels to make this work a bit better.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Lynk]

This is a PVM template only that I am probably trying to cram too much in but I still wanted to get some opinions. What I have is a mage/bard (magery, med, eval, music, provoke, disc, and peace) and 720 skill points from which to work.

If I drop eval and med to 80 so I can 120 the bard skills but add at least 25% SDI and 40% LMC, how much am I hurting myself? All my mages are always GM+ and honestly it has been so long since I have built a new template that I really don't know how significant is the difference between 80 and 100 for these 2 skills. Unfortunately, for some of the higher end monsters, those bard skills need to be 120'd.

My suit is not complete and in the end (who knows how long it will take) I am hoping to get some skill jewels to make this work a bit better.

Thanks for your input!

Believe it or not the difference between 80 and 100 is pretty noticeable (especially if you have MR in your suit). Even moreso when you get to 120ish.

On one of my archers I decided to squeeze in 100 med instead of 80 and I've noticed a rather large change.

 

[Laina]

That is what I was afraid you would say...I guess it's back to the drawing board on this template.

Thank you though for your input

 

[Arch Magus]

Leave Eval at GM.

Let Meditation go I'm tellin' ya, just let it go. If it gets too uncomfortable the farther it goes, you can always easily raise it again. simple skill.

You can easily pick up more Mana regen and spell damage with gear.
What you have going is not so much a mage Nuke template, as it is a monster controlling template. mostly Invis's, heals, etc.

Find lots of mana regen items, keep your LMC at 40, and you'll be fine. with GM eval you'll still do good damage, and you can even find +skill gear if need be. Maybe a high skill Scrappers!? ooooohhhh, aaaahhhhh.

 

[Arch Magus]

That is what I was afraid you would say...I guess it's back to the drawing board on this template.

Thank you though for your input

Don't go back to the drawing board!
Your template is awesome, just let the med go. The music skills and eval are just too important.

 

[Chaosy]

Have you considered trying to find some +skill jewels to pump up your skills without having to drop any others? Having a good amount of med is important for mana regen, and eval makes a huge difference in spell damage.

 

[BajaKurgan]

Laina-
What server are you on?
I have some +20 Mage/Eval/Meditation spellbooks as well as some +13-15 Bard jewelry on Baja I could hook you up with.

This is what I'm running currently and I like it:

Provo 90 (120 with jewelry)
Disco 120
Peace 120
Music 120
Magery 110
Med 100
Eval 60

 

[Laina]

Laina-
What server are you on?
I have some +20 Mage/Eval/Meditation spellbooks as well as some +13-15 Bard jewelry on Baja I could hook you up with.

This is what I'm running currently and I like it:

Provo 90 (120 with jewelry)
Disco 120
Peace 120
Music 120
Magery 110
Med 100
Eval 60

Actually, I have just switched over to Baja I have been remaking a couple of templates there - this being one of them.

Thank you all for the very helpful suggestions - I am still trying to pound out this template. I was thinking that my main playstyle these days seems to be champ spawns. I find that my barding skills are pretty well useless in the lower end (aside from firehorn) but the mage is not quite powerful enough for the higher end (which is why I want the bard). I may end up soul-stoning the disco and peace and adding necro and spirit speak. I am still left with the same issues of trying to find jewels and such that give me the extra skill points but I almost think this is a little easier to build suit-wise.

My end template would need to look something like this:
100 necro
120 SS
110 magery
100 eval
100 med
120 provoke
120 music

I expect my biggest challenge to be finding the barding/LRC items. I'm sure one of the other skills combined with LRC would work too but the barding skills have been so slow to raise compared to mage group of skills.