Help a noob build a Wild Mage?
Ruse
Member Posts: 23
Awhile back a couple of real life friends of mine and I decided we were going to play through Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 multiplayer. One of us had played it a long time ago, two of us never had. Then we heard about the Enhanced Edition, I added something to my Christmas list, and we decided to wait!
With the game almost upon us, I wanted to go ahead and get a build together. I know enough to know it's easy to screw up a character, but I'm completely DnD illiterate. Pretty much the only abbreviation I understand is what UMD is, LOL. So I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of a good, detailed, Wild Mage build.
Stuff like, "I'd take a few levels of X" or "You should take X feat" doesn't ... really help me. I need a breakdown of, "at this level, choose this feat and put your skillpoints in prance, pirouette and frolic" type thing. It doesn't need to be an uber powerful build for me to enjoy it, but my Neverwinter Nights build attempts left me sobbing in a corner and turning on godmode. So, just ... reasonably un-gimpy.
TL;DR: I need a detailed Wild Mage build! I'd prefer to keep it pure and her alignment will likely be chaotic evil. Slight preference for elf because I found a cool custom portrait I liked, but I'm flexible there. I enjoy conversation skills ... but if they're smart, nobody will let my gal do the talking, LOL.
Any help would be very much appreciated! EDIT: And yes, I realize this should cause occasional chaos. That's exactly what I want.
With the game almost upon us, I wanted to go ahead and get a build together. I know enough to know it's easy to screw up a character, but I'm completely DnD illiterate. Pretty much the only abbreviation I understand is what UMD is, LOL. So I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of a good, detailed, Wild Mage build.
Stuff like, "I'd take a few levels of X" or "You should take X feat" doesn't ... really help me. I need a breakdown of, "at this level, choose this feat and put your skillpoints in prance, pirouette and frolic" type thing. It doesn't need to be an uber powerful build for me to enjoy it, but my Neverwinter Nights build attempts left me sobbing in a corner and turning on godmode. So, just ... reasonably un-gimpy.
TL;DR: I need a detailed Wild Mage build! I'd prefer to keep it pure and her alignment will likely be chaotic evil. Slight preference for elf because I found a cool custom portrait I liked, but I'm flexible there. I enjoy conversation skills ... but if they're smart, nobody will let my gal do the talking, LOL.
Any help would be very much appreciated! EDIT: And yes, I realize this should cause occasional chaos. That's exactly what I want.
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During character creation, I'd boost your mage's Intelligence and Dexterity and give her a proficiency point in slings. Intelligence affects your chances of successfully learning spells from scrolls and the max number of spells per level you can learn. High Dexterity (15+) improves your Armor Class (the lower the better; it helps you avoid getting hit) and your ability to hit things with missile weapons (like slings!). I recommend slings because you want your mage far away from the front lines, and slings are more convenient to use than darts—you can put the bullets in your quiver slots, which means less micromanaging.
Strength will come in handy for carrying loot, so don't completely neglect it. Wisdom is useless for a mage except in a few situations (Wish spells, a little bit of extra Lore). Charisma is useful for getting better shop prices, but only the party leader's Charisma counts.
Don't give your mage more than 16 points in Constitution. Only fighters benefit from that much Con.
I'm going to leave spell selection to the experts. :P You might want to look at this thread for tips on building mages in general and this one for how wild mages work.
Abilities:
-At least 10 or 11 STR just to carry a full set of equipment for all of your equip slots.
-High DEX: 16+. If playing Elf, 19 DEX, no excuses!
-16 CON for maximum HP. Only warrior classes benefit from more CON. I would tell you about the "shorty saving throw bonuses" from high CON but the none of the 3 short races (Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling) can be Wild Mages.
-18 INT, no excuses!
-WIS is a dump stat unless you plan on actively using the two Wish spells, in which case I would suggest 15+. WIS also gives a Lore bonus at 15+; makes it easier to identify items without merchants or spells.
-CHA is a dump stat as well. Though shops give you a 5% discount on prices at 16 CHA and 5% more per point after that to a limit of 25% off prices at 20 CHA.
-Wild Mages count as specialist mages for the purpose of more spell slots. More chaos! Wooooo!
Combat:
-When saving spells for baddies that just aren't worth a magic missile, use slings, darts, and throwing daggers. High DEX and magical slings and bullets will decrease your THAC0 even more so that you can reliably hit enemies despite Mages' high THAC0.
-Wild Mages play just like regular mages except for three major differences.
1) Every spell they cast is modified in caster level - up to 5 levels higher or lower.
2) Every spell they cast has a 5% chance to become a Wild Surge. This can either be pretty awesome, potentially game-ending, or it won't do anything useful.
3) Wild Mages get 3 spells that no other class does that are specifically made for Wild Magic, explained below.
-Nahal's Reckless Dweomer is a level 1 spell that lets you cast ANY spell that you know, not just ones you have memorized. It also has a casting time of 0 so you can even cast it while the game is paused.
You could cast a level 9 spell at level 1 if you wanted to, but something so ludicrously...reckless will usually spell disaster for you, AND your entire party if you're not careful. At higher levels, NRD can be used to reliably cast high-level spells. A favorite tactic is to use it to cast Wish and then select the option to restore your spells as if you just rested for 8 hours.
-That said, using NRD is unreliable at best and extremely dangerous at worst. Memorizing some Chaos Shield and Improved Chaos Shield spells (level 2 and level 7 respectively) will help improve your chances of getting favorable rolls on the Wild Surge table which can be found here:
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Wild_Surge_Table
I think that's about it for Wild Mages. Tactics and spells are up to you though I know other people would have advice for that. But Project Image is THE BEST SPELL EVARR
This community is exceptionally helpful. Thanks for all the detailed info, guys. I've got some reading to do!
EDIT: LOL. I can just see me losing all my gold and asking my friends to buy me things. I'm pretty sure they're not going to believe me, rofl.
Basically it summons a clone of you with all the spells you have memorized and all the stuff in your weapon slots, quickslots, and special abilities. It cannot attack directly but it can still cast all of your spells, at no penalty to you besides the initial level 7 spell that created the Image. You wont be able to move which means you'll need another character to scout ahead or summon a Wizard Eye, either before your Image or have your Image cast it. The spell ends if you take damage or if the Image is dispelled by True Seeing/Sight. Having the Image cast Spell Immunity: Divination should prevent that from happening.
The spell is subject to EXTREMELY cheesy tactics - Im talking aged cheddar here. If the Image becomes polymorphed it is able to attack directly, most notably by the Mindflayer form which drains INT every hit. If an enemy hits 0 or lower INT, they instantly die, but you wont receive any XP from it.
Set up 3 Project Images in a Chain Contingency with the firing condition set to Helpless. Cast Project Image again, and you will become Helpless. The contingency will fire, causing 3 more clones to spawn. You have now quadrupled your spellcasting firepower! OMFG
You should roll an elf, because they're pretty awesome. And the Con Penalty doesn't hurt mages since you don't need more than 16 Con.
Wisdom is important for casting the Wish and Limited Wish spells so the genie doesn't screw you around but that's not til BG2.
This is for Limited Wish, with 16 wisdom you get the option: "I wish that spells I have cast would be restored, that I might cast them again."
This restores a spell of level 1,2, 3 & 4.
This basically means, since Wild Mages can cast Dweomer for endless spell recovery - for as long as they don't negatively surge and lose the spell. And for full cheesiness, Simulacrum, despite its level reductions, does not prevent the Dweomer from casting spells higher than the maximum level the Sim can cast; including their own Limited Wishes (since you *know* them, just couldn't ordinarily cast them).
Since Wish has a more powerful version of spell recovery (essentially: recover everything), so long as the Wildmage and his clones have enough Dweomers to spam Wish as long as it takes for the option to come up, and can reliably negotiate for the best options....
Well, there you go, infinite magical firepower thanks to wisdom.
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/Main.htm
The guide helped me a great deal when I played with a sorcerer few years back.
Else I might wanna install BG2 instead, which I was about to do anyway and just check. But asking first doesn't hurt ^^
And do the 5% count for the basic spells - in case there are one - too?
[sounds noobish after playing nearly any black isle rpg *eg*]
Work like a Wizard, not a Sorceror.
Get the Bonus Spells a Specialist Wizard gets.
Has wild surges instead of a forbidden school.
Can try casting any spell they know using a level one spell slot, even if they can't cast spells that high yet.
I'll surely try Neera in BG:EE.
Personally I'll take another mage in the party, slightly focusing the wild one on damage and the other one on dispelling/breaching. Worked well in BG II, though is probably unneeded at low levels.
Oh, and one of the wild surge effects restores all your spells as if you'd rested (just like with Wish, but only effects the caster)...it's fairly rare at low levels since it's up near the top of the chart, but very possible. (A Wild surge rolls 1d100 + your adjusted caster level + chaos shield (if active) + Improved chaos shield (if active) and then checks that chart...so the higher your level, the more likely you'll get beneficial surges)
For stats...IDEALLY, 18/18/16/19/18/whatever (Friends stacks and 3 castings will give you all you need for your buying pleasure, and BG2 has an easily acquired ring that sets charisma to 18 while worn).
More reasonably, 11/18/15/18/15/whatever (assuming you're not gonna share the manuals, otherwise 16 con and 18 wisdom)
If you're not soloing, you don't need str as much, so you can just go with enough to carry your own gear. 11-14 is usually decent.
Dex, just max it...stray arrows and all that.
Con, 16 is the maximum a non-warrior type can benefit from (the Con manual can be acquired immediately after leaving the prelude, so if you're not needing to share it with a friend, just leave your con at 15 if you're having trouble getting decent rolls, or move some extra into str (personally never put a stat lower then 10, but do whatever). If you were say a dwarf or half-orc though (obviously not a mage, but if say a single class thief, or cleric), starting with 19 would allow you to boost to 20 and get natural, albeit very slow regeneration.
Int, increases your chance to learn spells successfully, and increases the number you can know per level (19+ has no limits. Gnomes can get that naturally, but if you have 18, you can boost it with a book later), Intelligence also plays a part in determining your list of responses when using Wish in BG2. Has a minor benefit to lore as well.
Wis, useless, save for a minor lore bonus, and being vital for good wishes in BG2 (18+ recommended). Unlike the other books (1 each), there's 3 copies of the wisdom manual in BG1.
And charisma....is junk....friends (a lvl 1 spell) stacks, each giving 6 charisma. Also, if you play with a party just stick a paladin in the first slot of the group. In 2 there's an easily acquired ring that renders charisma a waste of stat points unless your class requires a high minimum (enchanters, paladins, druids, bards). (20 is the maximum usable amount for shop discounts)
Stre: 8
Dex: 19
Con:16
Int:18
Wis:6
Char:8
+1 on sling
start with magic missiles
Also, magic missiles is a horrible spell, Sleep would've been MUCH better...lightly damage 1 enemy vs effectively killing a whole group. Also you can get a free scroll of magic missiles almost immediately after leaving the starting area. In a pinch Spook would've been nice, as I don't think any scrolls exist for it in BG1 (it's got a nasty save penalty and can effectively remove just about any enemy from the battle for 3 rounds...a big life saver indeed)
The sling is ok I guess, for BG1 anyway....strictly speaking Darts are the best ranged weapon a mage could use because of the ridiculous amount of attacks..but they're fairly annoying to deal with due to low stack sizes and the fact you burn through ridiculously fast. The main issue with slings is you'll never have more then 1 base attack, and even counting the extra damage from enchantments and bullets, darts or even throwing knives (especially if you're quite strong) will be better..especially in BG2 (there's a pleathora of returning daggers, one of which is brokenly powerful, and a easily acquirable returning dart.)
8 stre
15 dex
16 con
18 int
10 wis
8 char
??