He's the real deal, what a mage should be. Everything directed and sacrificed for magical power. None of this "we're so bloody goody two shoes" AND WHY SHOULD HE WHEN HE CAN BLOW EVERYBODY UP?
Reminds me of Jaffar, (Disney Alladin), and to paraphrase the film;
Awesome cosmic power, ittle bitty conscience, wisdom and patience.
One of the best written characters in the game. So then they had to undermine the creation with that ridiculous epitath cuz' evil innit.
Mechanically, her ability to cast multitudes of Cloudkills (amongst other things) in BG1 trumps Edwin's extra level-appropriate spells, even with the wild surge chance. She also gains spell levels half the time, helping some magic. By late in the saga, she has very little chance of negative wild surges in any case, and a decent chance of positive ones. Her ability to cast a level 1 Wish compensates for Edwin's greater spell numbers overall. And being neutral means she can fit in any party with less problems than an evil character, with her only character conflict being with Edwin himself.
She's also way more interesting than him. And she has FOUR! Four voice sets! Ha ha! (Or maybe five, I haven't taken her through ToB yet.) Neera
Fighting for second place is Xzar (the original hammy voice acting king), Baeloth (the new generation hammy voice acting king), and Nalia (my favourite fantasy limousine liberal).
No ... By late in the saga, she has very little chance of negative wild surges in any case, and a decent chance of positive ones. Her ability to cast a level 1 Wish compensates for Edwin's greater spell numbers overall.
It's interesting how different people define "best". For me, waiting almost a whole saga until someone starts to shine can hardly be defined as "best". I use your, @Ayiekie, quote above as an example, so this isn't directed towards you personally.
This is also why I never dual after level 9, for me it only makes my char 'weaker' rather than 'stronger' since the downtime negatively affects my accumulated power over time. Let's say we can measure power in simple figures, lets say kills per day or whatever.
This example will be VERY SIMPLIFIED to the point of being almost non-applicable on the game but it shows how I value 'power' that maybe someone will find differs alot from theirs.
In this completely fictive example the one in the middle will have the highest total power but the late-bloomer will be "strongest" in the end, but the more linear one will be equally strong all the way.
This is the way I think when creating chars, normally I like characters being somewhat in the middle ground. Not the strongest from the first moment you start gaming, but also not the ones who takes the longest time to develop. Rather I like the ones in between, they might start off slightly weaker but then get momentum rather quickly and develop nicely.
it only makes my char 'weaker' rather than 'stronger' since the downtime negatively affects my accumulated power over time .
Actually, dualling at level 9 (the typical fighter->mage, for example) takes a very short time and just a couple of initial SOA quests, specially if you learn spells alone. So no real downtime there
This is also why I never dual after level 9, for me it only makes my char 'weaker' rather than 'stronger' since the downtime negatively affects my accumulated power over time.
it only makes my char 'weaker' rather than 'stronger' since the downtime negatively affects my accumulated power over time .
Actually, dualling at level 9 (the typical fighter->mage, for example) takes a very short time and just a couple of initial SOA quests, specially if you learn spells alone. So no real downtime there
Why did you edit out the part where I say I never dual after level 9, which ofc implies I know full well how easy it is? Are you building strawmen or was it just a misreading?
This is also why I never dual after level 9, for me it only makes my char 'weaker' rather than 'stronger' since the downtime negatively affects my accumulated power over time.
it only makes my char 'weaker' rather than 'stronger' since the downtime negatively affects my accumulated power over time .
Actually, dualling at level 9 (the typical fighter->mage, for example) takes a very short time and just a couple of initial SOA quests, specially if you learn spells alone. So no real downtime there
Why did you edit out the part where I say I never dual after level 9, which ofc implies I know full well how easy it is? Are you building strawmen or was it just a misreading?
Haha, nah, I just didnt see it. Even though it was in the same sentence! Oh well, I deserved that one, I suppose.
I vote Imoen because unlike most other mages, she has absolutely no downside. No upside either, but no downside. Sure, only one mage's disadvantage do I really hate (Dyna's lack of Enchantment spells,) but still...
Imoen does have upsides and downsides, being a thief/mage gives the party a free NPC slot not to mention large weapon pool and the ability to blend backstab with mage spells. her downside is less spell slots than the others.
Best mage -> Edwin Best NPC / You can only ever have one -> Imoen.
Comments
He's the real deal, what a mage should be. Everything directed and sacrificed for magical power. None of this "we're so bloody goody two shoes" AND WHY SHOULD HE WHEN HE CAN BLOW EVERYBODY UP?
Reminds me of Jaffar, (Disney Alladin), and to paraphrase the film;
Awesome cosmic power, ittle bitty conscience, wisdom and patience.
One of the best written characters in the game.
So then they had to undermine the creation with that ridiculous epitath cuz' evil innit.
Mechanically, her ability to cast multitudes of Cloudkills (amongst other things) in BG1 trumps Edwin's extra level-appropriate spells, even with the wild surge chance. She also gains spell levels half the time, helping some magic. By late in the saga, she has very little chance of negative wild surges in any case, and a decent chance of positive ones. Her ability to cast a level 1 Wish compensates for Edwin's greater spell numbers overall. And being neutral means she can fit in any party with less problems than an evil character, with her only character conflict being with Edwin himself.
She's also way more interesting than him. And she has FOUR! Four voice sets! Ha ha! (Or maybe five, I haven't taken her through ToB yet.) Neera
Fighting for second place is Xzar (the original hammy voice acting king), Baeloth (the new generation hammy voice acting king), and Nalia (my favourite fantasy limousine liberal).
This is also why I never dual after level 9, for me it only makes my char 'weaker' rather than 'stronger' since the downtime negatively affects my accumulated power over time. Let's say we can measure power in simple figures, lets say kills per day or whatever.
This example will be VERY SIMPLIFIED to the point of being almost non-applicable on the game but it shows how I value 'power' that maybe someone will find differs alot from theirs.
Power curve Power, ie "kills per day" or whatever Accumulated power
Linear 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 165
Progressive 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 169
Late-bloomer 6 6 6 8 8 8 12 12 12 14 14 14 16 16 16 168
In this completely fictive example the one in the middle will have the highest total power but the late-bloomer will be "strongest" in the end, but the more linear one will be equally strong all the way.
This is the way I think when creating chars, normally I like characters being somewhat in the middle ground. Not the strongest from the first moment you start gaming, but also not the ones who takes the longest time to develop. Rather I like the ones in between, they might start off slightly weaker but then get momentum rather quickly and develop nicely.
...
Plus the only mage powerful enough to produce a baby with a gnome...
(Gond knows how many times I tried with Imoen, Edwina Nalia...)
Best mage -> Edwin
Best NPC / You can only ever have one -> Imoen.