<center><font color=blue>Skill Discussion.</font color=blue></center>
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Magery.</font color=00008B>[/list]
Yes, well, lets start out with discussing magery then, shall we? Afterall, this
IS the mage board /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif
The main thing about this discussion will be to see how high its really worth raising magery. I'm sure most of us want to save skillpoints, or even gold, so this will go into detail telling you why you won't have to raise your magery to 120.0 and expending the better part of 10 million on a scroll.
First off, this page at guide.uo.com is vital to the discussion. It tells us precisly what the breakpoints for casting mage spells 100% of the time is. This is a good thing!
Second off, its equally vital to understand that magery, since Age of Shadows, doesn't add a danged thing to damage on most spells; in fact, the only damage increase you'll see is on the spell
mindblast*. There are a few other factors as well, but they're not important for now.
Now, the far majority of your spells being cast will most probably be level 7 or below. From the link above, we can see that 7th circle spells will be cast 100% of the time at 106 magery. Of course, 106 magery doesn't add much in terms of 8th circle spells, but you most likely won't be casting them all that much.
There are, of course, a few other reasons to raise magery higher than 106, besides casting 8th circle more flawlessly. The ability to poison an opponent with the poison spell is dependant entirely upon your magery, but, keep in mind that if you have a weapon skill, odds are you'll succeed more in hitting your opponent than passing his magic resistance, so find a weapon with the infectous strike special move. Of course, this isn't an alternative for wrestler mages, so they should take magery as high as they can afford simply for the poison spell. Another thing is heals -- they heal more the higher magery you have. But, the difference is minimal. The maximum points healed you'll ever see on a greater heal spell, for instance, is
approximately magery/2; meaning 106 will heal up to 53, whereas 120 will heal up to 60. So, again, not a winning point at all. You can buy a
lot of ginseng for greater heals for the amount of money a +20 magery scroll costs.
So, the conclusion is; unless you rely heavily on magery to do your poisoning chores (pvp), or rely heavily on 8th circle spells (pvm), the need for higher than 106 magery is abysmal at best, unless you have skillpoints and money to spend.
*:
Mindblast damage: (Magery+Intelligence)/5 + (0-4) (whomever added this formula to the FAQ update thread deserves credit)
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Evaluate Intelligence.</font color=00008B>[/list]
The damage source of a mage. This is your tactics. Without it, your spells will do a pitiful 4-10 damage. Magery isn't offensive without this skill, unless you rely on summons and poisons.
<if
anyone has a spell damage calculator, Id appreciate a ton adding it here to show the true effect, rather than just observations>
The only observation is that evaluate intelligence is well worth every last point you can put into it. 115 evaluate outranks the entire effect of GM inscription (10% spell damage increase), so its
the most effective way to add spell damage on your mage.
Another effect of evaluate is the ability to bless and curse people. Yes, believe it or not, this is based on evaluate. With 0 evaluate, you'll bless for 1 point for 1-5 seconds at most. It isn't worth it without evaluate.
Buffs and debuffs are based on these formulaes:
De-Buffing stat spells: 8 + Eval Int/10 - Resist /10 = Percentage reduction (whomever added this formula to the FAQ update thread deserves credit)
Buffing stat spells: Eval Int/10 +1 = Percentage increase (whomever added this formula to the FAQ update thread deserves credit)
For instance, a grandmaster scholar weakening a 90 strength, 90 resist opponent would look like this;
8 + 100/10 - 90/10 = %
18 - 9 = %
9% of 90 strength is 8.1, meaning, he'd lose 8 points in strength, bringing him to 82.
A note to add here : curses are currently bugged (and have been since Age of Shadows was launched) in that they subtract hitpoints wrongly. In the example above, the opponent would have 95 hitpoints to begin with, and he would be down to 87 hitpoints if the spell wasn't bugged.
However, how it does it is like this;
The 90 strength is reduced to 82.
Hitpoints are recalculated from 82 (82/2 + 50 = 91).
Curse effect is subtracted from the new hitpoint calculation, eg, 91 - 8, so he's down to 83 hipoints.
This is a bug, and will hopefully be fixed!
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Meditation & Focus.</font color=00008B>[/list]
One of the most commonly asked questions post Age of Shadows is "does meditation and focus stack, and how?". Fortunally, Lamb666 was able to figure out how it works precisly. So, I'll just copy/paste what he found out /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif Of course, he deserves full credit, I'm just spreading the word.
To calculate your mana regeneration rate, use the following:
If Meditation is less than GM: N = Meditation * 3 + Intelligence
If Meditation is GM or greater: N = ( Meditation * 3 + Intelligence ) * 1.1
If wearing meditation blocking: N = 0
Mana/s = ( N / 40 ) * 0.1 + 0.2
The Table below shows different medi/int and what speed of regen you can get.
<pre>
Meditation Skill Level
X | 80 90 100 110 120
---------------------------------------------------
50 | 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
60 | 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
I 70 | 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.3 1.3
n 80 | 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.3 1.4
t 90 | 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
100 | 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.4
110 | 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.4
120 | 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.5
</pre>
Every 20 focus counts as a mana regeneration item.
Each mana regeneration item counts adds an extra 0.1 mana/s.
So for instance 120 meditation and 125 int gives N = (120*3 + 125) * 1.1 = 533.5
Truncate(533.5/40) = 13
13*0.1 + 0.2 = 1.5 mana/s
And, for easier access to the numbers (seriously, who wants to sit here adding numbers? /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif),
Kharn of these boards wrote a very nifty
Mana Regeneration Calculator, so feel free to use it to find out your optimum mana regeneration rate based on focus, meditation and mana regeneration items.
And, just to add my own twist to this part of the discussion as well (/php-bin/shared/images/icons/blush.gif), its worth noting that the necromancy spells can also add to mana regeneration; in my testing, lich form adds 1.3 mana/second to your regeneration, whereas vampiric embrace adds 0.2 mana/second, which, of course, makes both of them attractive if you have the necromancy skill already. The shadow wisp familiar is another method of adding mana to your pool, even if it isn't on a "per second" basis, but more in spurts. At most I've been able to figure, it adds
approximately 0.1 mana/second at the lowest karma level.
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Magic Resistance (and why we laugh at those who dropped it with Age of Shadows /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif).</font color=00008B>[/list]
What? You think magic resistance is useless? Well, I guess this won't interest you at all then . . .
Debuff spells are based directly on evaluate vs magic resist (as outlined above in the evaluate discussion). With 0 resist, you'll take up to
20% reduction in stats from a legendary scholar. Want to talk abysmal horrors and their 200.0 evaluate? You're looking at an astounding 28% reduction! Still not convinced?
Poison spell is based directly upon magery vs magic resist. At 0 resist you have 0% chance of resisting poison. Meaning, you'll be poisoned as soon as someone glances at you.
<again, if someone has a formula for figuring out how poison vs resist works precisly, post it!>
Is it getting to you yet? No? Well then, what about this? Mana drain, is again, based on evaluate vs resist. At 0 resist your mana pool will be
completely drained for a full 4 seconds, whereas at 100 resist you'll lose around 40 from a grandmaster scholar. Of course, then there's mana vampire -- mana vampire is extraordinarily simple to calculate: (casters evaluate - targets resist) is transferred from targets mana pool to casters mana pool. What? That 100 mana you just had is now mine. Think you'll live on?
Paralyze is another outstanding example! Again, evaluate vs resist. Its simple as well, and appears to have a slight modifier at the end (such as +2 seconds added). If you have 0 magic resist, prepare to be a sitting duck for 10+ seconds. Lovely isn't it?
Of course, this is totally barring the necromancy spells blood oath, mind rot and corpse skin, which has their duration directly dependant on your magic resist. And then there's the dreaded pain spike which has its damage calculated in part based on magic resistance.
And then there's the last small benefit of magic resist. It adds to your "natural" resistances, meaning, it adds to resists across the board (physical, fire, cold, poison, energy), although, it does not stack with armor.
How much it adds is determined by
these formulas:
Below 40 Resist, your minimum resistance is 0.
Between 40 and 100, your minimum resistance value is (Skill * 10) - 400) / 15.
Above 100 skill, your minimum resistance value is (Skill + 100) / 5.
If you've read the whole thing, did it impress you? Did it make you think twice about thinking resist is useless? Good, that's why its here /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif A finishing note is that many of us mages or necromages will never fear someone without resist in pvp. If any of this hasn't convinced you, fine, suit yourself. I'm not one to complain about another resistless target running around /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif (phew, I never have to type out the effects of magic resist again! yay me!).
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Melee Skill vs Wrestling Vs Anatomy Vs Parrying.</font color=00008B>[/list]
Alrighty, one of the most controversial subjects since Age of Shadows is this. It should be noted here, that this discussion mostly involves pvp, as avoiding being hit in pvm isn't a big deal since most monsters are slow as dirt (more on this later).
Firstly, I'll shove yet another link out there :
Hit/Defense chance calculator (whoever wrote that, please step up and get the credit you deserve?). It should be noted, however, that it isn't
entirely correct, in that it adds together the chance to dodge and the chance to block (read on, you'll know what I mean), despite them being two different calculations. That being said, its an excellent toy at any rate /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
Second off, we'll have the whole anatomy + evaluate thing again. Yes, sorry, but too many people still ask about it, so its getting added here!
In the past serious mages have always wanted wrestling to prevent being hit in melee (since they have no weapon equipped when casting spells). When you dodge a hit, your spellcasting isn't interupted, thus its necessarry to kill anything that will melee you.
However, Publish 16 changed this a bit. It is now possible to dodge melee hits without having wrestling, but instead having anatomy and evaluate intelligence. The formula for defensive wrestling effects of the anatomy/evaluate relationship looks like this:
<pre>(Anatomy skill + Evaluate Intelligence skill + 20) divided by 2 </pre>
What this means is, at 100.0 evaluate intelligence and 100.0 anatomy you have 110.0 effective defensive wrestling. It also means that you only need to boost one of the skills to 120.0 to receive the full 120.0 defensive wrestling.
Note : The Anatomy/Evaluate intelligence relation does not give you any effect whatsoever in offensive capabilities. Thus you will not be able to hit your opponent (wether to interupt or to start spellcasting), and you will not be able to activate paralyzing blow and disarm modes. If you wish either of these things (disruption/special moves) you're gonna have to pick up wrestling.
Another thing to note : wrestling and the eval/anatomy relationship is in no way cumulative. Do not pick up all 3 skills thinking you're gonna be impossible to hit. The only one you'll have in effect is the higher of the two.
Evocares quote on the subject on the old and closed
www.uo.com message board; unfortunally the original thread is lost, but what he stated was saved:
<blockquote><hr>
As a quick note, the actual formula for "dodging" a swing with anat/eval is: (anat+eval+20)/2, capped at 120 max. So, a character with 120 eval, 100 anat (for example) actually has a full 120 "hit evasion" ability
<hr></blockquote>
Now!
The chance to dodge a hit (meaning, you're not hit at all) is the same for all types of melee skills or the anatomy/eval thing, as long as the skill levels are equal. 110 swords = 110 wrestle = 110 fencing = 110 archery = 110 macing = (100 eval + 100 anatomy). So, unless you're really really strapped for skillpoints, or just plain lazy, there's no reason to pick up anatomy/eval, cause the other skills have more benefits.
The main reason, other than dodging, for picking up a melee skill is special moves. Special moves add a whole new level to a mage, and can be great! However, you do have to keep a weapon armed to have an effect of them, which means you'll want a one handed spell channeling/no penalty (more on this later) weapon, and if you're disarmed (barring any bugs) you're in trouble. However, in this case the pro's outweigh the con's, in my opinion. Adding special moves to the arseneal of a mage can be truely terrifying, and is very interesting to play as well.
Wrestle is, in my opnion, best used on parry mages, as they'll want to have a hand free. On any other mage I'd rather have freedom of special moves rather than the two (paralyzing blow and disarm) used by wrestling. Other than that, feel free to add this skill to your template, whichever reason you have. There are no con's to the skill at all, other than not being able to use "Use Best Weapon Skill" weapons (since its not a weapon skill). Its pure gain.
Archery, well, of course, adds a ranged attack, and a few limited special moves. If you ask me, this skill is best used on a tank mage (with tactics/anatomy) for added damage, as its fruitless having a two handed weapon armed without being able to do any damage with it. Save this skill for the tank mages.
Now, parrying. Does it substitute any of the above? Absolutely . . . not. However, as a mage you have to keep in mind that you already have the anatomy + eval thing going on wether you want it or not, meaning that at gm evaluate you have (0 + 100 + 20)/2 = 60 defensive wrestle. Add in parry's skilllevel * 0.3 chance of blocking and its very close in being equal in terms of avoiding damage. Also worth noting that parry drains mana from your opponent if you manage to block a special move.
All in all, its pretty much personal taste what you want on your mage -- more offensive options, or passive defensive options. If you want
my opinion on the matter, always always pick up a melee skill/wrestle/anatomy before picking up parrying. There, I said it, hate me! /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif Besides, its all too likely that parrying will be nerfed sometime in the near future *tries to look innocent*
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Alchemy, Inscription & Poisoning.</font color=00008B>[/list]
<font color=8B0000>Alchemy</font color=8B0000> on a mage template only really has one purpose; it adds to the effectiveness of the purple potions (explosion potions); it
was one damage/10 skillpoints prior to Age of Shadows, but none seem to have figured out just exactly how much it is now (if Test Center was running, I'd go find out for you all /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif), so if you have something to add here, toss it in; either here, the alchemy forum, or through PM; inquiring minds want to know /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif
Also, worth adding in this discussion is a link to an UOAssist macro for throwing potions so they hit your opponent instead of hitting the ground; only thing to be wary of is that it may interfere with spellcasting, so if you utilize this/these macros, prepare to get blown up a few times before you get the hang of it /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif The most commonly used explosion macro goes like this (snipped from the old FAQ; thanks to Guildenstern for saving it);
<blockquote><hr>
The All-In-One exp potion macro - originally posted by Vidala
This macro will essentially "double click" the potion, hold it for a few seconds, and throw it at your last target where it should explode instantly. The delays are a bit tricky to do this as it depends on your connection, but once you get it down in the general area it's a lot of fun This is only a macro to throw one PP, so if you wanna do your suicide bomber stunt you're gonna have to do it manually or figure out a UOA macro for that ;p
<font color=8B0000>*Record* </font color=8B0000>
1. Double-click PP (PP = Purple Potion).
2. When the cursor appears to select a target, hit Escape. Let the potion go off.
3. Double-click another PP, and toss it anywhere on screen (ground or person).
<font color=8B0000>*Stop Recording </font color=8B0000>
Your macro should look like this:
Use Item
Target
Use Item
Target
Now to do the "after macro editing". It's very easy and painless.
1. Change the two "Use Item" lines to "Use Item Type" (right-click it) (lines 1 and 3).
2. Change the second "Target" to "Target Last Target" (lin 4). DO NOT CHANGE LINE 2!
3. Add a delay after the first "Target" between line 2 and 3 (it should appear between them). To do this, highlight line 2, click the "Delay" button on the left side of the UOA interface, and insert the delay in milliseconds. Start with a delay of 3200. Depending on your connection, play around with it. If the potion is thrown too late and it explodes on you, reduce the delay time by 50 or 100 milliseconds. If you play the macro and you see the potion land on the ground, then the delay is too short; try bumping it up by 50 or 100 milliseconds. Toy with it until you reach perfection. I often have to change it from a day-to-day basis, since some days I'm laggier than others.
Last but not least, be sure to set whoever or wherever you plan on throwing the potion at is set as your last target.
Enjoy
<hr></blockquote>
Copy/paste's of macros that throw 1, 2 or 3 purple potions in a row; essentially same as above.
<font color=8B0000>Inscription</font color=8B0000> is most known, now, for being an offensive skill -- yes, this does seem strange to many of us oldies as it was a mostly defensive skill from UO Renaissance all the way till Age of Shadows.
I'm going to, once again, ship you off with another link to the
Scribe Forum FAQ which lists most of the benefits of inscription on a mage.
And, despite what Nadia may say (/php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif), protection
does add -2 faster casting to whomever uses it, so yes, the spell is worthless with or without inscription. Sad to say that is so, as this spell was the #1 reason for many of us oldies to add inscription to our templates /php-bin/shared/images/icons/frown.gif
<font color=8B0000>Poisoning</font color=8B0000> hasn't changed all that much since AoS, other than actually having a use now. Although, its fairly limited in its application. Firstly, yes, I'm going to throw you a link on the official method of determining which level of poison is
cast with the poison and poison field spells.
Here you go, just note that its 100% chance of casting deadly poison rather than 10% as listed on that page. Essentially, this makes the skill useless in and by itself on a mage. "But we can cast deadly poison" I hear people say. And my response is always "So?". Deadly poison isn't all that useful. It hits slower than lesser poison which means its easier to cure with the spell "Cure", and the damage on it still bites. So, clearly, that's not the reason to pick up poisoning.
However, if you have a melee skill, poisoning suddenly takes on a whole new look. For one, if your melee skill and poisoning add up to 200.0 points (or more) you get a -5 mana reduction on all special moves. That's pretty good in itself, cause you can keep reapplying poison to your weapon and do infectous strikes for 10 mana (1 mana more than the spell which is flimsy at best). It also has another effect, namely, raising poison levels done with infectous strike one level (based on a percentage; being equal to poisoning skill, so even 0.1 poisoning means an 0.1% chance of inclicting a higher level poison). What this means is that you can inflict level 5 poison. Unlike deadly (level 4) level 5 can actually be scary, partly because it does damage the second its inflicted upon the target. So, with 100.0 poisoning, you'll be infecting your opponents with level 5 poison for 10 mana a pop. Now, that's worth it. However, on a wrestle mage or eval/anat mage, just forget it. It isn't worth it.
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Necromancy & Spiritspeak.</font color=00008B>[/list]
I'm not going to add much here, as much have pretty much already been said. Adding necromancy and spiritspeak adds another level to your mage -- this time, in form of 16 new spells, and a new form of healing (that'll heal through anything). Although, most of the forms are fairly useless to a mage in combat (with a few exceptions), there are quite a few spells that have a lot of uses. Strangle is probably the most useful one of them, as it'll interupt your opponent and can be removed with nothing short of remove curse. Pain spike is a great finisher to any arsenal, and seeing as it only costs 5 mana, its always a great bet. Mindrot will make it very hard for an opposing mage to kill you as his spells suddenly cost more mana, and corpse skin will add damage to your fire based spells (of which necromancy has none) provided your opponent doesn't have over 75 fire resist (it lowers fire resist by 15). Poison strike is another good spell for a mage, as it adds the elemental damage he himself lacks, and wither is just alround good, especially vs those pesky paladins /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif
All round, necromancy is a great addition to a template, even if it does leave you lacking in the scroll department. Its virtually impossible to build a proper scrolled necro mage so keep that in mind before walking the path.
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Chivalry.</font color=00008B>[/list]
I bet many of you didn't see this coming?
Well, chivalry does actually have a few uses for a mage, particularly in pvp. You should always aim for 105 chivalry if possible, as it will let you cast the key spell, holy light, without failing. Holy light casts in half a second, has a 3 tile range, and even if the damage isn't outstanding, its great for interupting. On top of that, it has remove curse for the pesky strangle users (hey, at least I'm not biased /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif), and divine fury which can add to your weapon with 10% swing speed increase. And, of course, it has the best curing spell in the game.
Another spell that's pretty ideal for a mage is the spell "Dispel Evil"; since you, as a mage, will be aiming for 105 chivalry already, this is perfect since the spell is partly skill level determined (only chivalry spell that is), so there's no excuse for not using it. What it does is push away monsters that get too close to you, so if you're surrounded by spawn, or that no-good artifact parry mage just invised himself, you simple toss on a dispel evil, and all the critters scatter to the 4 corners of the world; pretty danged handy /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
So yes, despite what many think, chivalry does have uses on a mage, just don't expect to gain anything from using enemy of one or consecrate weapon /php-bin/shared/images/icons/crazy.gif
<ul>[*]<font color=00008B>Stats (not per say a skill, but deserves discussion).</font color=00008B>[/list]
While stats aren't exactly skills, they're still important for a mage due to what they add. In part because of the derived stats, in part because of what they really do for a mage. So, lets go through them.
<font color=8B0000>Strength:</font color=8B0000>
This is your hitpoints, your carrying capacity and your damage with a melee weapon (if you have one).
Hitpoitns are calculated with this formula :
(str / 2) + 50. Basically, what this means is that your strength score should always be even. If you have, say 93 strength, you'll have the same amount of hitpoints as if you had 92. Was of points that could be spent better really.
Carrying capacity is calculated with
this formula : (str * 3.5) + 40 - 14 (base weight). While not the most important feature of strength for a mage, its still extremely useful for a pvm mage as you'll need to haul around some loot /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif
And lastly, there's the damage bonus on melee weaponry, defined by (str * 0.3) (add 5% for above 100). Definently not the most important for a mage either, and in fact, many warriors skip out on this to up their stamina and mana levels as well.
So, the most important function of strength for a mage lies in hitpoints; you'll probably want to have at least 80 strength for this alone (80/2 + 50 = 40 + 50 = 90), unless you have items that supplement your hitpoints (eg, hitpoints through armor).
<font color=8B0000>Dexterity:</font color=8B0000>
This stat basically only determines 2 things in all of UO. How fast you heal and your base stamina level.
Which, of course, means that if you're a healer mage, you'll want to bump your dex to heal faster <sorry, no exact numbers here, and with test center being non-existant>.
And then there's stamina level which only really matters if you have a melee skill or archery (or, if you prefer, upping wrestling speed (Weapon speed of wrestle is 50). As always, use
this calculator to determine just how much stamina you need to swing at a certain speed; don't waste points in dexterity by overcompensating too much though. Of course, you can also bumb your swing speed by adding stamina through armor.
There's one final thing that dex determines; and that's the damage of the necromancer spell "Strangle";
however, strangle damage is based on how much of a percentage your current stamina is compared to your max stamina, meaning, its actually far better to have a low base stamina to avoid taking lots of damage vs. strangle.
So basically, for all mages except tanks and healer mages, dexterity is a moot stat. Keep it at 15 so you have a bit to run on, and be able to push through people if you go to Felucca often. Other than that, its not worth points.
<font color=8B0000>Intelligence:</font color=8B0000>
The primary attribute for mages, and not for no reason at all, even if it is the stat that actually has the least effect; it determines your mana level and gives you a damage bonus on mage spells.
Basically, you determine your mana level by looking at your int; 1 intelligence = 1 mana point. Mana can be further boosted through armor, but intelligence can only be boosted through jewelry and artifacts. There's a difference, despite what some people may think.
Intelligence adds 1% spell damage increase for each 10 intelligence;
this is intelligence, not mana, and therein lies the major difference (other than curses affecting stats rather than derived stats). Adding 48 mana (max, without artifacts) through armor doesn't mean a thing for spell damage increase, whereas adding 16 (max) intelligence on jewelry is guaranteed to give you at least 1% spell damage increase, and possible 2% if, for instance, your intelligence is 125 (125 (12%SDI) + 16 (1%SDI) = 141 (14%SDI)).
So, for mages, intelligence is pretty important, specifically if you rely 100% on your mana/spells for offense and defense; unless you're a tank or a healer mage, odds are you'll want to bump this to 125 and try the best you can to stack spell damage increase alongside it.
- was lucky with my brace), although not great but still should get a mention.