I keep dieing in modrons maze and really am not getting anywhere can anyone give me advise for tackling hard mode?

Try grinding on lower difficulties; if that doesn't interest you, just run past the random encounters as soon as you enter the room until you get to where you are headed (I am presuming the boss, since you are concerned with completing the maze on Hard mode). Also, draw a grid map.

There are a lot of defensive mage spells which can be cast beforehand.

What are your stats looking like? My character was a mage as well, but but he could put up a pretty decent fight (especially with the party to bail him out).

Regardless, you *can* run out of each room without killing anything; only problem is that if you are having to do that in order to survive after only a couple of rooms, you are probably going to get your butt handed to you should you stumble across the maze boss. This. Using magic is not all about nuking everything with offensive spells (although that can be damn satisfying); you need to also make effective use of your buffs and de-buffs, same goes for any other party members who know magic.