I'm playing Gothic for the first time, and am trying to play without spoilers for the most part, but I have skimmed a bit about classes, and I want to join New Camp and become a Water Mage. I realize this is a ways down the line compared to Fire Mage at old camp, but I'm fine with that.

My question is, can I get away with spending skill points on 2 hand without screwing myself out of the necessary points needed to max mage skills? I want to be able to learn all six circles, even if I need to save up a large amount of points, but I don't want to spend a single point on weapon skills if that would prevent me from doing that.

I figured New camp would let me skip the 30 points for 1h so I could master 2h straight away, but the 70 point requirement for that seems steep enough that it might get in my way. Will it? Also, when I do go mage, how important is it to spend points on mana? If there will be plentiful restoration items and I can get away without it, that'd be sweet. Ideally I could see myself with just hunting skills, 2h maxed, and all mage skills if that would fit onto a max level character. The rest of the skills seem largely superfluous, as I'm fine with save/loading on lockpicks, etc.

Thanks

In Gothic you get enough skill points to max out one and two handed weapons and still get to the sixth circle of magic.

You don't need to invest any points into mana though, because you will find enough potions that increase your maximum mana to around 160, which is enough.