I thought wild mages worked to harness wild magic on purpose, but Neera just seems to be a bad mage

PugPug

Right? I thought they sort of knowingly drove with rocket fuel in the gas tank, so to speak.

But Neera talks about having problems with focus and making mistakes, like she just doesn't know the difference between regular unleaded and nitroglycerin.

Aristillius

Yeah, I have wondered about the same thing. Isnt Wild Magic more intuitive rather than logical - sort of like sorcery?

Wanderon

I don't know but the term WILD Magic would infer something more along the lines of untamed and/or uncontrollable to me...like a wild animal or a wild storm

Calmar

I think in Neera's case the wild mage class is meant to represent her being a somewhat clumsy, unlucky young spellcaster who doesn't control her magic perfectly, not someone who delves into the depths of wild magic in a scholarly way. Wild mage is simply the only class that can make mistakes.

Jalily

Aristillius said:

Yeah, I have wondered about the same thing. Isnt Wild Magic more intuitive rather than logical - sort of like sorcery?

Wanderon said:

I don't know but the term WILD Magic would infer something more along the lines of untamed and/or uncontrollable to me...like a wild animal or a wild storm

On the contrary, wild magic requires much more study than normal magic to pull off. @mlnevese wrote an excellent post about it here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/93459/#Comment_93459

Personality-wise, it would make more sense for her to be a Sorcerer, but as @Calmar pointed out, the Wild Mage class allows her to make "mistakes."

mlnevese

hey thanks @Jalily

just to add to that huge post, the term Wild Mage was initially used by mages who disapproved of Hornung's and other Wild Mages' experiences either because they thought they were too dangerous or believed the Wild Mages had no control on what they were doing. To their despair the Wild Mages actually decided to adopt this name.

That is far from truth. As I mentioned in the other post, high level Wild Mages had a lot of way of controlling their surges, to the point of total immunity. Their enemies were not so lucky when the wild Mage decided to make all magic in the area to go wild

Luigirules

So...Neera's a ditz?

KidCarnival

Luigirules said:

So...Neera's a ditz?

Yes, but it has nothing to do with wild magic.

Kaltzor

So, all in all, Neera is a wild mage, not by choice but by not knowing how magic works and goes for "close enough"?

CaptRory

Keep in mind she's coming into the game as a level one mage. With a specialty in randomness. The way it is presented in game, is that Wild Magic is something you're gifted/cursed with and that it isn't understood as its own discipline yet. She didn't even complete her normal magic training because she set another student on fire.

It is like, she knows what she's trying to do, but doesn't always quite find her way there.

Mordeus

Wild Magic is more advanced in 2ed p&p. At higher levels you can actively choose what surge you want to use, you can create wild magic zones and you can summon vortex of unstable magic.

BG only took two of the very early spells and didn't introduce the more controlled forms of Wild Magic.

lunar

Wild magic actually requires a lot of study and research, and it required an INT of 17 to be specialised in wild magic. This shows how difficult it is when compared to a regular mage, a mage can have 9 INT and still function. (Abeit with only one or two spells he learns throughout his career)

And wild magic had some powerful high lvl spells, wild mage additions mod for bg2 does a fine job adding them to the game.

To me becoming a wild mage is a councious choice. You don't become a wild mage because you can not control your magic or are clumsy at it. You delve into the secrets of the magic and chaos, study even harder than a regular mage and try to make sense of what is seen as pure, uncontrollable chaos to most people. Since it is uncharted territory and a new art, you are bound to make some mistakes somewhere, it is pure chaos after all.

Lord_Tansheron

I've always seen it as a trade-off situation: you tap into wild, nigh uncontrollable powers and try to mold them to the desired result. If you're good enough, you have a LOT of power at your disposal, more than a "normal" mage would. But sometimes you're not good enough, and things go awry. It's a risk, but you take it in full knowledge of the potential rewards. And as you get higher in levels, you also get better at controlling things.

dawnlance

It would be rational to give wild mages certain rewards for high intellence, for example, to help them control the surge.

mlnevese

A p&p Wild mage had many other abilities, such as having a chance of controlling the outcome of any random magic item that never was translated into BG.

lunar

mlnevese said:

A p&p Wild mage had many other abilities, such as having a chance of controlling the outcome of any random magic item that never was translated into BG.

Yes, a wild mage could control wand of wonders and, to a limited degree, Deck of Many Things. Seeing these items exist in Bg2, I wish wild mages could have a special bonus when using them.