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Planescape TormentMage starter build, any suggestions? (8 posts)(8 posts)
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Posted May 07, 2012
Hi guys, I dont mean to troll ( if you see it like that) and im sure there might be posts related to this, but !. Does anyone know a good starter build for a Mage? im dumping all my points in Int and Wis. I want to be a "paper bag" Mage, is this the right direction to take? Also is there any essential magic choices I should take as way of a starter build? I hear Death bolt is good :,)

I just completed the game as a fighter, and oh my god, i have to play it again from a different angle, I've checked gamefaq's, google searches and the such, but there is no finer opinion and information pool than that of GoG!!!

If this has already been explained then please link the thread and delete this one, if not id love to hear your comments and feedback!
Posted May 07, 2012
You're a long way from Deathbolt, and it isn't really a useful spell compared to other high-level ones. ;)

Basically, you have to learn every spell you can get your hands on. That means sparing no expense for new scrolls, looking everywhere for new learning material and obtaining new spells through dialogue (eg. with Ignus, Dakkon, Fhjull, Ravel,...). Apart from a few basic buffs that will help you survive in combat, you'll probably want to take crowd-control spells. I liked Blacksphere, Confusion, Ignus' Terror, Cone of Cold,... Anything that works on a large number of enemies, since you'll fight large groups most of the time.

The basic strategy is to send your melee party members (Morte is indispensable) ahead while you damage and incapacitate enemies from afar. If an enemy approaches, run away. Using these tactics, my TNO rarely died. I only had problems in the clockwork maze dungeon because the enemies were largely immune to my spells and there wasn't enough room for maneuvering. But thankfully, that part is purely optional.

One thing you might be frustrated with is that you'll need to rest fairly often to replenish your spells available for casting, and there are many dungeons that don't allow resting. So be prepared to backtrack and even die every now and then, and use those spells sparingly. Playing as a mage is very rewarding because high Int. and Wis. scores give you the best dialogue options, which in turn yields the most information and experience points. Good luck!
Posted May 07, 2012
Also, don't use Ice Knife. In fact, beware of Ice Knife altogether, including when other people cast it (Cranium Rats like to cast it, don't know of anyone else). Anyone who gets hit with it, friend or foe, gets a -2 THAC0 penalty, forever. And there's no way to dispel or cure the penalty, and the bug is hard-coded into the engine and hasn't even been fixed in any of the various fixpacks. So... BEWARE!

Also, the Missile of Patience spell you can get from dialog with Dak'kon is a totally worthless spell at low levels (it does 1 damage). Then, at level 8, it becomes a respectable damage dealer, but not great. At level 11, it becomes a static gun platform that can level an entire room full of enemies by itself, and can fire lightning bolts almost as fast as you can click your mouse. It's the only spell I ended up needing in the final dungeon on my mage character.
Posted May 07, 2012
You don't need more than 12 int at the start. The first mage specialization bonus at level 7 grants +1 int, the second at level 12 +2 int and afterwards you will buy and wear the mage specialization tattoo which grants +3 int as side effect, 18 int is already perfect.

18 int and 19 wis are required to learn all the spells Dak'kon can teach you, you can use the +1 int talismans to raise it to 18 temporarily if you don't want to wait so long.

Consider taking the first 6 levels as fighter first to get 1-10 instead of 1-4 hitpoints at level up, both level 7 and 12 must be reached as mage first to get the big specialization bonus. Eventually you can spend extra 32,000 XP for fighter after reaching mage level 12 to get the extra half attack for fighter level 7.
Use the proficiency points to specialize in the weapon type mages can use, you can switch to fighter for this and switch back to mage immediately afterwards.

Pumping up con will yield the most powerful character but you don't have to. If you want to play a vulnerable paper bag keep con at the minimum, 19+ wis is essential but you can pump up int just because the high numbers look good to you. You can also pump up cha, it definitely won't help you in combat, you should be skilled enough to beat the game with minimized physical stats, switching to mage ASAP and never switching back.
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bevinator: Also, don't use Ice Knife. In fact, beware of Ice Knife altogether, including when other people cast it (Cranium Rats like to cast it, don't know of anyone else). Anyone who gets hit with it, friend or foe, gets a -2 THAC0 penalty, forever. And there's no way to dispel or cure the penalty, and the bug is hard-coded into the engine and hasn't even been fixed in any of the various fixpacks. So... BEWARE!
Death cures this effect IIRC. So dying can be very useful for TNO and his party members sometimes. But I wouldn't use the Ice Knife spell either.
Post edited May 07, 2012 by kmonster
Posted May 07, 2012
Heh I fixed Ice Knife couple months ago (I really should just release update). More details here:

http://www.shsforums.net/topic/44808-known-issues-v41-post-bug-reports-here/page__view__findpost__p__529321

See below if you'd like to manually patch it. I won't be patching peoples exe like the WS crash thread so if you really want to have this figure out how to use hex editor (or wait for update to fixpack). :p

40. Fix timer not being set on "Ice Knife" THAC0 debuff when the dagger explodes immediately. This prevents the THAC0 debuff from lasting effectively until NPC/PC died. Now it lasts 3*caster_level in seconds.
search: 6A 81 6A 00 8D 55 FC
replace 2cd: 8B 0D 6C F9 96 00 8B 91 06 35 00 00 8B 8A A4 0E 00 00 8B 55 BC 0F BF 82 2A 03 00 00 6B C0 2D 03 C8 8B 55 BC 89 8A 06 03 00 00 6A 81 6A 00 8D 55 FC 52 8B 45 F4 50 8B 4D EC 51 8B 4D BC E8 1F 5B EC FF 85 C0 74 49 68 00 10 00 00 6A 01 6A 03 6A 01 8B 4D BC 8B 81 4E 01 00 00 50 8B 91 4A 01 00 00 52 8B 81 46 01 00 00 50 E8 87 8F FE FF 8B 4D BC 8B 11 FF 92 98 00 00 00 6A 3C 8B 4D BC E8 3F 01 00 00 C7 45 F0 01 00 00 00 E9 8D 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 4A 00 8E 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 9C 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B0 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B0 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 4A 00 8E 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 A0 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B4 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B4 00 00 00 C7 81 10 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 81 52 01 00 00 00 C7 41 6E FF FF FF FF EB 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
replace 4cd: 8B 0D 1C E8 96 00 8B 91 06 35 00 00 8B 8A A4 0E 00 00 8B 55 BC 0F BF 82 2A 03 00 00 6B C0 2D 03 C8 8B 55 BC 89 8A 06 03 00 00 6A 81 6A 00 8D 55 FC 52 8B 45 F4 50 8B 4D EC 51 8B 4D BC E8 9F 59 EC FF 85 C0 74 49 68 00 10 00 00 6A 01 6A 03 6A 01 8B 4D BC 8B 81 4E 01 00 00 50 8B 91 4A 01 00 00 52 8B 81 46 01 00 00 50 E8 87 8F FE FF 8B 4D BC 8B 11 FF 92 98 00 00 00 6A 3C 8B 4D BC E8 3F 01 00 00 C7 45 F0 01 00 00 00 E9 8D 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 3A F0 8D 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 9C 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B0 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B0 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 3A F0 8D 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 A0 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B4 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B4 00 00 00 C7 81 10 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 81 52 01 00 00 00 C7 41 6E FF FF FF FF EB 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Post edited May 07, 2012 by scientt
Posted May 08, 2012
Being a single class mage for me was not rewarding so I switched it up by having the NO also being a fighter with good stats really good wisdom, intel and good charisma and Con. This is just my prefarance I had fighter primary class and wizard second so I had a weapon bonus on edged weapons and alot of health more then a pure wizard, then switch back to wizard to level up wizard to learn spells and increase vital stats and switching tattoos.
Posted May 08, 2012
Charon121, thanks for the suggestions regard skill acquisition from those characters and I'll keep an eye out for area effect spells! Hah and yeah, lots of resting, lazy TNO.

bevinator, thanks for the heads up about Ice Knife that seems like it could become a problem. Missile of Patience sounds good in the long run, thanks for that suggestion.

kmonster, Ill follow your advice on this starter build, great help with all the buffs and tattoos, some vital information here thank you!

scientt nice one for that, ill look into sorting that out!

Thanks for all your advice! Im going to start this new adventure now so wish me luck! :D

+rep for all you guys
Posted March 20, 2013
avatar
scientt: Heh I fixed Ice Knife couple months ago (I really should just release update). More details here:

http://www.shsforums.net/topic/44808-known-issues-v41-post-bug-reports-here/page__view__findpost__p__529321

See below if you'd like to manually patch it. I won't be patching peoples exe like the WS crash thread so if you really want to have this figure out how to use hex editor (or wait for update to fixpack). :p

40. Fix timer not being set on "Ice Knife" THAC0 debuff when the dagger explodes immediately. This prevents the THAC0 debuff from lasting effectively until NPC/PC died. Now it lasts 3*caster_level in seconds.
search: 6A 81 6A 00 8D 55 FC
replace 2cd: 8B 0D 6C F9 96 00 8B 91 06 35 00 00 8B 8A A4 0E 00 00 8B 55 BC 0F BF 82 2A 03 00 00 6B C0 2D 03 C8 8B 55 BC 89 8A 06 03 00 00 6A 81 6A 00 8D 55 FC 52 8B 45 F4 50 8B 4D EC 51 8B 4D BC E8 1F 5B EC FF 85 C0 74 49 68 00 10 00 00 6A 01 6A 03 6A 01 8B 4D BC 8B 81 4E 01 00 00 50 8B 91 4A 01 00 00 52 8B 81 46 01 00 00 50 E8 87 8F FE FF 8B 4D BC 8B 11 FF 92 98 00 00 00 6A 3C 8B 4D BC E8 3F 01 00 00 C7 45 F0 01 00 00 00 E9 8D 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 4A 00 8E 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 9C 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B0 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B0 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 4A 00 8E 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 A0 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B4 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B4 00 00 00 C7 81 10 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 81 52 01 00 00 00 C7 41 6E FF FF FF FF EB 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
replace 4cd: 8B 0D 1C E8 96 00 8B 91 06 35 00 00 8B 8A A4 0E 00 00 8B 55 BC 0F BF 82 2A 03 00 00 6B C0 2D 03 C8 8B 55 BC 89 8A 06 03 00 00 6A 81 6A 00 8D 55 FC 52 8B 45 F4 50 8B 4D EC 51 8B 4D BC E8 9F 59 EC FF 85 C0 74 49 68 00 10 00 00 6A 01 6A 03 6A 01 8B 4D BC 8B 81 4E 01 00 00 50 8B 91 4A 01 00 00 52 8B 81 46 01 00 00 50 E8 87 8F FE FF 8B 4D BC 8B 11 FF 92 98 00 00 00 6A 3C 8B 4D BC E8 3F 01 00 00 C7 45 F0 01 00 00 00 E9 8D 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 3A F0 8D 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 9C 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B0 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B0 00 00 00 0F B7 0D 3A F0 8D 00 8B 55 BC 8B 82 A0 00 00 00 D3 F8 6B C0 18 8B 4D BC 8B 91 B4 00 00 00 03 D0 89 91 B4 00 00 00 C7 81 10 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 81 52 01 00 00 00 C7 41 6E FF FF FF FF EB 27 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Sorry to necro post, but I'm trying to work on the hex edit solution (modding would mean I'd lose days of progress), but I can't seem to decipher these instructions, but upon searching for the search string, I can't find anything 2cd. Could you please explain what I'm doing wrong?
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Planescape TormentMage starter build, any suggestions? (8 posts)(8 posts)
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