I’ve played the game 2-3 times conventionally, using swords etc. I was curious if anyone ever tried toplay through using only magic for combat? There doesn’t seem to be any real offensive spells til level 2, so I would think it would be rather difficult unless you could get a wand or staff or such.

I was thinking you could be a ranged weapon/ mage until you got to level 2 to get offensive spells. Anyone ever try this?

I'd guess that Spark would have pelted the enemies to death with rocks and Iolo likewise with bolts by the time I would be able to do anything useful with a spell.

Are you intending to play without party members?

If only it were possible to cast Kal Lor in reverse, to summon LB to your side in combat.

Well I saw a 30 min speed run with just the avatar so I thought maybe I don’t need companions.

I assumed I start as a level 1 avatar, so I figured I’d make a run to the Cove cyclops cave to get a fire wand. Nicodemus should have one too

Well, evidently the avatar starts out at level 3 so he can do offensive spells once he gets his spellbook and some reagents. I ended up bringing along Iolo and Spark for now since they use ranged weapons.

Well, then, the challenge should be to turn on debug mode and hack the Avatar down to level 1 at the start of the game so you can't use Fireballs and have to put up with casting Fireworks at your enemies for a while.

I imagine it'd be quite a pain, playing only as a mage and without companions. Constantly running out of mana and wands running out of charges (with the exception of the low damage dealing magician's wand).

I don't think you'll have a good time, unless you turn the Power Avatar/Wizard Mode cheat on.

In Exult you can stop combat and cast a spell before everything is over. Combat in U7 sucks :)

I can't deny that, unfortunately. ;)

Well, after completing isle of fire, I was able to get my mana up to 30. That means about 15 fire blasts til no more mana, 7 lightnings, 5 explosions. That plus the cost of reagants does make the mage avatar a rather expensive proposition. Once mana is close to drained, means returning to the magician's wand (which doesn't run out of charges, but only has a damage of 3).

The larger problem becomes the 30 mana limit, and with no way to recharge mana. A ring or potion of mana regeneration would go a long way to make the mage avatar practical. As it is the avatar does his spells for a few combats, and then is out of juice. At that point: time for sleep in whatever dungeon or outdoors you're in, to get mana back.

The only thing I can think of to make it more practical is to get the avatar up to a higher level and then get something like magic storm or mass death: Just a few points more than lvl 5 explosion, but gets the job done and finished.

Maybe mod the game to make mana costs proportional to equipment weight? So wearing only robes would let you cast basically unlimited fireballs and what-not. Combined with (faster) mana regeneration, could make mage-play more fun.

Maybe such a mana limit doesn't make sense at all; after all, there's not even a transient "stamina" limit on the use of mechanical weapons. You can swing a halberd all day and not get tired.. what gives.

Whenever I play any Ultima game I try to give my Avatar a solo-mage bent, but in U7 it is pretty difficult.

Obviously the mana limit (as you found) is pretty tight, but even worse is the cost of reagents vs the actual usefulness of damage spells. Because it's harder to get money in U7 compared to the previous games (without cheesing gambling, that is) if you're relying on Fireballs in the early game you're going to be out of reagents quick and without a good source of money to buy more. So for the early game relying on martial combat is a necessity.

Plus even when you get spells more useful than Fireball, like Death Bolt, they're still often let down by the Avatar's abysmal aim. Nothing is more frustrating than watching your mana and reagents being quite literally thrown into the wind as the Avatar fails to Death Bolt an enemy less than 3 yards away.

So until you get Death Vortex I'd say your best bets are actually Energy Mist -- which deals a huge amount of damage with no need to aim -- and Magic Storm. Magic Storm is especially useful for killing things like dragons through walls! The big problem, of course, is even surviving until you can get those.

Another spell that's sometimes useful is Charm. The amount of time the target is on your side can vary wildly, but a good charm spell can rapidly turn the tide in your favor -- in particular I have a fond memory of an entire squad of guards being taken out by one of their own. Paralyze can also be useful if you're willing to beat your target to death or pelt them with wand blasts.

Theoretically I guess you could also make an archer/mage hybrid, since enchant only effects arrows in this game. Not really sure how effective that would really be though, and obviously it's not a "pure mage" anyway. Though, really, even a "pure mage" is probably going to have to bash some heads the old fashioned way.

That's just my ramble-y 2cents. U7 is my favorite in the series but it is unfortunate that my preferred "class" is really gimped compared to U6 and Underworld. Alas, no game is perfect.