Advice for Casters?

[Atmosphere]

Only murder if you get caught. (Yay amnesia)

And, on the plus side, the part of the Helmite's job is making sure the Hands stay in line. There's a reason Esmond got the nickname the "Executioner".

Spoiler: More than a couple Lefties went byebye.

I'm not entirely sure of what Esmond's story is but it could very much of gone the other way for him. Being a big scaly man might not help as much as being a noble. :P

[Firemind]

Oh! I didn't understand this at all. I thought it was 2-hour timer AND you had to find a safe rest area. Resting in safe rest areas/ taverns is unlimited. Got it.

This is actually a pretty cool sounding system then.

Thanks for explaining it!

[Bloodriki]

Yes, so long as you rest inside a tavern/rest area I believe your timer is only 10 minutes.

As in ten minutes later, you can return to that same cavern and rest again.

[Kitsunestume]

Oh! I didn't understand this at all. I thought it was 2-hour timer AND you had to find a safe rest area. Resting in safe rest areas/ taverns is unlimited. Got it.

This is actually a pretty cool sounding system then.

Thanks for explaining it!

Nope, don't need both! Either/Or
Having extend and persist can still make a bundle of difference in dungeons and general events though.

Yes, so long as you rest inside a tavern/rest area I believe your timer is only 10 minutes.

As in ten minutes later, you can return to that same cavern and rest again.

Not quite: you can mini-rest once every ten minutes outside of a designated rest area to heal a percentage of your HPs equal to Survival mod plus level. It doesn't regain spells, but can help get a bit of extra health back before busting in a new room. This basically means that Rangers and Druids (and other maxed survival classes) can easily regenerate half their health every 10 minutes, compared to the couple dozen HP for the rest of us. Price of specialization.
You can rest infinitely within a rest area.

[Kitsunestume]

[back-to-back-posting. Consolidated]

[Vaelek]

I'm not entirely sure of what Esmond's story is but it could very much of gone the other way for him. Being a big scaly man might not help as much as being a noble. :P



I'm not entirely sure

I got that.


The OOC warning is there, the Hands don't walk around doing dumb things because there are angry people that judge them for it. It's a good warning for all mages, particularly those that want to play one with an interest in advanced necromancy. But, really, you don't need to summon a death knight to win at Sundren.

Wail of the Banshee, man.

[Firemind]

I'm not planning on building pure mage, going Hand, or doing necromancy. I generally gish and I've never been huge on summons other than Animal Companions.

Buffs are critical for gishs though. That is for sure.

[Valhalla]

Word of advice:

In PvP especially, spreading your buffs out will go a lot further than buffing yourself to the sky. A lot of characters have UMD and quite a few of those folks have enough to use Mordes Disjunction scrolls (or can just cast it themselves).

Even if it wasn't the objectively correct decision, hitting a self-buffer with a Mordes is it's own humorous reward.

In PvE, though, self-buffing is pretty damn effective!

[Elusa]

I've seen some evil DMs place dispel magic traps. Those are fun.

[sonuvalich]

I got that.

Wail of the Banshee, man.

Nope. 4th level, hr/level spell completely negates WotB. Because LOGIC!

Even without deathward, as an epic necromancy focus my WotB DC is somewhere in the low 30's. The people I'd want to use it on are mostly paladins and fighters, so that fort save is not a big risk to them. Using it in PvE can be fun, but I generally use a spell that doesn't cost gold per cast for routine monster huntin'.

The point on death knight is you can handle some tough fights with a well-buffed one, especially because they are crit immune. I have tried the Colibrites with the gate-summoned balor and it was dead in 5 seconds to crits. The free death knight tanks it much better, allowing the wizard and his posse to dish out the damage needed to down the spawns.

If you choose to go solo into areas, for whatever reason summons make your life much easier. That being said, it is an RP server and it is much less boring to take some friends, if you can find some. As others have said, your role is often better served buffing a fighter-type to be amazing and then invis yourself or hanging back with a crossbow or something. Yes, it sucks to let someone else take all the glory...but it sucks more trying to go it alone. I find the best balance is mem some combat ending spells for bosses or situations that get out of hand, and use the other slots to make your melee/ranged buddies really badass. You simply cannot be a sustained DPS character, so adjust accordingly.

[Vaelek]

Nope. 4th level, hr/level spell completely negates WotB. Because LOGIC!

Even without deathward, as an epic necromancy focus my WotB DC is somewhere in the low 30's. The people I'd want to use it on are mostly paladins and fighters, so that fort save is not a big risk to them. Using it in PvE can be fun, but I generally use a spell that doesn't cost gold per cast for routine monster huntin'.

Sure, if we're talking solely about PvE then Wail is best left for bosses that don't have immunity to death effects. But Mords + Wail has a history for being the combo wonder in PvP because it's delicious thick gravy.

And before the Triad and Helmites picked up magic DR, GIsaacs. But that's history now. As for the save, low to mid thirties (I believe this was around the same number for my epic level wizard) is actually still great. I guess if you're fighting solely high fort classes, as you say... They also have a one-shot kill spell catered to their weakness (will). I forget what it's called, but it has a forced emote of *Screaming in pain* or some such. Gutwrench?

[sonuvalich]

They also have a one-shot kill spell catered to their weakness (will). I forget what it's called, but it has a forced emote of *Screaming in pain* or some such. Gutwrench?

Wrathful Castigation.

My fort save comment was tongue in cheek because it seems I am always getting into hostile shouting matches with paladins and Drake.

But I agree with most of your points!

[zypherman]

Yes, it sucks to let someone else take all the glory...but it sucks more trying to go it alone.

Let the meat shields get all the glory, they get to be heros, you get to be GOD when you play a wizard.

[thaelis]

Extended buffs and polymorph Troll is the most useful tactic in any extended outing, even in a party. Offensive spells are only viable for bosses and Pvp as assuming you used half your spell slots just on self survival buffs you'll only have enough dmg potential to kill 2-5 spawns depending on your level.

Once you gain Shapechange demon everything is a walk in the park, especially if you're an EK (boo!). I think you can even cast GMW on your claws if you feel cheesy.