New to spellweaving - Template review

[Guest]

So I am new to spellweaving, but I think I have a pretty good understanding of it. I am having trouble picking my template, so I figured I would post them here and see what people thought, and try out the more favored of the two. (I am hoping to be more of a Doom player with this character, just to give you an idea of what I am going for)

Here goes!

Template 1 - Arcanist Archer

100 Archery (with hunters headdress, so it will probably be 115 with a powerscroll cause I am cheap like that)
100 Tactics
100 Anatomy
90 Healing (100 with enhanced bandages)
120 Spellweaving (once I get the scroll anyways)
100 spirit speak (110 with talisman)
65 chivalry
40 necromancy
For a total of 715 skill points (8 months until I am 4 years)

With this template, I was planning on running Wraith form for the mana leech, and with archery to help me, I could leech all the mana I needed, and use curse weapon to leech some life if I needed. I would probably send out a natures fury or two before attacking anything, so i shouldnt need to leech health.
Still have no idea on how I am going to do stats/equipment, so any input there would be wonderful.

Template 2: Spellweaving Bard-ola

120 music
120 provocation
120 discordance
110 magery
120 weaving
100 spirit speak
and a few extra points somewhere (any suggestions?)

This guy would focus mostly on using summons and provocation to kill monsters. I would use wraith form for the mana leech i could get off of word of death (assuming I would have a particularly high focus before heading out)
but I havent really messed with spellweaving, so that is just a shot in the dark.
Stats - probably max int, will probably go with a human character for the mana regeneration, then run a 100 lrc/mr suit to help with the lack of med/focus. Dex will probably be 10 and the rest in STR, unless I need dexterity for something?

Well, go ahead and tear them apart! I am ready for some criticism

Hopefully my understanding of the skill is what I think it is, but I will blame any problems with these templates on ignorance

Thanks for your time!

 

[imported_Farsight]

I don't see any problem with your first template. As long as you stay in wraith form, you shouldn't have mana issues. Depending on what you're planning on fighting though, 120 spell weaving may be too much. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason to have spell weaving over 100 is for the more reliable word of death, and as an archer, WoD is simply a time saver, and it doesn't usually save much time at that.

Your second template is similar to my bard. I just have resist instead of discord and meditation instead of spirit speak. But now that I'm getting better, I'm about to remedy that, adding in discord. I usually team up with a tamer and between her pets and my nature's furies and energy vortexes, bad things get killed quickly. My spell weaving is only in the 80's though, as I haven't felt the need to work the template higher simply for word of death. I also find essence of wind so much more useful than wild fire, but that's really a personal preference.

I think you would be better served with a different skill than spirit speak for the bard. Perhaps something in the meditation area if you don't have massive MR armor or even the other bard skill if you do.

But with magery, provoke and spellweaving, my bard can handle all champion spawns alone, all the way up to (but not always including) the champion. Teamed up with just one tamer, I haven't found a spawn that they can't handle.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for some insight!

I know for sure I will need to get to at least 100 SW. Mostly because if I remember correctly, a person in my guild made it to 120, so in order to even help him (and myself) with an arcane circle, 100 skill points is necessary.

So, say I had 3 or 4 other spell weavers with me in doom gauntlet... considering the amount of time it will take to make it to 120, and the number of people I will probably be hunting with, would anyone suggest more than 100 points in it? Maybe 110 for 75% chance of success with WoD?

I understand what you are getting with on the second template. I was just thinking of the leech with wraith form itself for spellweaving instead of thinking about the power of all of the other skills. In addition... getting provocation and discord up to 120 are enough to make one go insane

I have yet to actually go out and test spellweaving to see how I enjoy the spells on a group of monsters, as I was pretty much gaining spell weaving on my mage character to help my guildmate. I have a new character spot open, so I thought what a better way to free up some space on my mage than to make a template that would be focused on using spellweaving

Anyone else have some suggestions for me?
Much thanks and a happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

[Guest]

Now I am thinking about it... and I am clueless about how much intelligence should be enough in wraith form... I have an archer now that I think would be perfect for the build I was thinking of... mostly because she has most of the skills where it is as, and I could just soulstone spellweaving over once she does the quest...

As of right now, her stats are as follows:

STR: 115
Dex: 105
INT: 30

Now, this is without any equipment. I figure that I can boost dex quite a bit (8 on a ring, 8 on pugilists gloves, 8 on hunters headdress, and if I can find a way to get one... 15 on jackals collar.)

39 extra dex (47 if I got a +8 bracelet with 15 HCI), I could easily take down dex at least 10, and strength was just that high for gold (I hate to send out gold when I could hold double before I sent, but I am accumulating so many translocation powders training my warrior, that wont be a problem....

Would 60 intelligence be enough for a wraith form archer with 100+ spirit speak casting wod on a dark father? I could probably go a little higher, if I can find the right equipment... and I could start to rely on dex/str pots too... so I could take them down even further. Any suggestions?

Should I change my archer into an elf for the extra mana?

Thanks!

 

[imported_Farsight]

Now if we're specifically talking about the DF, I have to amend my advice a little bit. As they have a ton and a half of hit points, you should be prepared to need at least two (if not more) words of death, and you should be able to cast them reliably. That means extra points in spellweaving can help a lot.

My experiences (thus where my first advice came from) are mostly in killing the lesser of the really big things, where two or three people casting WoD once usually kills it from 30%.

That being the case, the extra 20 mana from being an elf can be a god-send, as well as any mana increasing items you have. WoD usually costs 50 mana, but with a pair of good mana reduction items (I use totem of the void and rune beetle carapace), that cost goes down significantly. Still, I would suggest having a pool of more than 70 mana as well as good mana regeneration.

 

[Guest]

Thanks again for your response... I think I should be able to swing at least 60 int. and then the elf bonus should put me over 70. I will work on getting the equipment together after I see how she does. She probably will not be a soloing character, so her resists will be high, but probably not perfect.

Thanks again for your input