Fate - tried a magician?

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I am trying to play a magician character in Fate. Currently about level
14, level 15 in the dungeon. Skills in the magic branches are 10/10/10,
magic attribute about 42, wielding a staff that gives 4 skill in each
magic branch and some casting speed increase.

I am running into a brick wall. Quest monsters with 6 cursed sword
companions, and there is nothing I can do to survive. Even with a
maximum 6 summons (timberowolves and cursed swords), and hasted, my
character is just running for her life, trying to get the odd scorcher
off on the chief monster, the odd slow and web and poison cloud but
sooner or later some stooge will get in her way, or they catch up while
she tries to re-cast haste or refresh a summons (takes waaaay too long
to cast) and she's a flat wee green chit on the floor. RIP.

What sort of strategy is successful in this situation? I don't know what
I could do better for a mage - did not invest anything in dex or str,
just magic, all weapon skills are artifact based because all went into
magic relateds, yet she doesn't appear viable at all (because she's not
up to stopping OR withstanding the monsters at this level, as I see it).
Certainly the offensive magic packs about as much punch as a slap with a
wet bus ticket.

Any thoughts, successful strategies vs. 'immune' monsters in this
situation?

cheers, -P.

By the bye, I've played an archer to about the same level, and that
worked quite well - summoned low level spiders to slow the approaching
monsters, then hit them with a heavy bow with lots of knockback. But I
got frustrated with the erratic (i.m.o.) difficulty of aiming the bow
into a melee of critters and hitting the one I WANT so I tried the mage
instead <sigh>.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 21:49:05 +1200, Peter Huebner <no.one@this.address>
wrote:

>I am trying to play a magician character in Fate. Currently about level
>14, level 15 in the dungeon. Skills in the magic branches are 10/10/10,

That's a mistake IMO; Attack magic is of extremely limited use, compared
to Defense and Charm. Too many things are immune to the various attack
spells.

>magic attribute about 42, wielding a staff that gives 4 skill in each
>magic branch and some casting speed increase.
>
>I am running into a brick wall. Quest monsters with 6 cursed sword
>companions, and there is nothing I can do to survive. Even with a
>maximum 6 summons (timberowolves and cursed swords), and hasted, my
>character is just running for her life, trying to get the odd scorcher
>off on the chief monster, the odd slow and web and poison cloud but
>sooner or later some stooge will get in her way, or they catch up while
>she tries to re-cast haste or refresh a summons (takes waaaay too long
>to cast) and she's a flat wee green chit on the floor. RIP.

Consider using a Town Portal to leave before you refresh your summons,
and also for a free complete heal mid-combat.

>What sort of strategy is successful in this situation? I don't know what
>I could do better for a mage - did not invest anything in dex or str,
>just magic, all weapon skills are artifact based because all went into
>magic relateds, yet she doesn't appear viable at all (because she's not
>up to stopping OR withstanding the monsters at this level, as I see it).
>Certainly the offensive magic packs about as much punch as a slap with a
>wet bus ticket.

You should have been putting all your skill points into either Defense
(for the best attack spell in the game, Ringing Blast) or Charm, for
better summons.

>Any thoughts, successful strategies vs. 'immune' monsters in this
>situation?

Concentrating solely on Charm made this level quite easy for my first
magic-based character. My current mage is mainly Defense, with a few
points in Charm for the meatshields, but relying on Ringing Blast for
all damage except against the totally magic-immune. A few points in
spellcasting for increased speed is also useful.

>By the bye, I've played an archer to about the same level, and that
>worked quite well - summoned low level spiders to slow the approaching
>monsters, then hit them with a heavy bow with lots of knockback. But I
>got frustrated with the erratic (i.m.o.) difficulty of aiming the bow
>into a melee of critters and hitting the one I WANT so I tried the mage
>instead <sigh>.

I heartily endorse Ringing Blast, with a side order of Cursed Blades or
Skeletons. Just keep them at bay with the blast, and give your summons
time to whittle them down.
--
Greg Johnson
Give your child mental blocks for Christmas.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 21:49:05 +1200, Peter Huebner
<no.one@this.address> wrote:

>By the bye, I've played an archer to about the same level, and that
>worked quite well - summoned low level spiders to slow the approaching
>monsters, then hit them with a heavy bow with lots of knockback. But I
>got frustrated with the erratic (i.m.o.) difficulty of aiming the bow
>into a melee of critters and hitting the one I WANT so I tried the mage
>instead <sigh>.

I got stuck on the cursed swords, too - in the end, I summoned 6
Cursed Swords of my own, and just teleported in and out of the
dungeon, as I needed to - the enemies don't regenerate, so you can
leave, heal, resummon, feed you pet a fish, and head back in.

--

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !

 

[nostromo]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

What diff you playing on Peter? If Hero or Legend, & if you've patched to
1.19, you may be SOL...:-/ You see, a new bug has been introduced by
accident in this version, where instead of lowering the chance a monster
will go for the player char from 30% down to 10%, they go straight for him
ignoring pets now. Makes a mage's life very difficult indeed 🙁
Travis (the lead dev) will be fixing that soon. Otherwise, I'd go with
Greg's suggestions. I myself am playing a melee/summoner in Legend diff & am
finding it quite challenging, to say the least. When I die I always pick the
"no penalties start 3 levels higher" fate, as with the reveal map spell (I
forget the exact name), you can be back at your body within 5 mins, which
leaves 25 mins to defeat the things that killed you & grab your gold...or
just grab & ruuuuuuuuunnn!!! ;-)

--
A killfile is a friend for life.

Replace 'spamfree' with the other word for 'maze' to reply via email.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

In article <t181b19ta2rh94pambmv1esep7s00ibn0q@4ax.com>,
nostromo@spamfree.net.au says...
> What diff you playing on Peter? If Hero or Legend, & if you've patched to
> 1.19, you may be SOL...:-/ You see, a new bug has been introduced by
> accident in this version, where instead of lowering the chance a monster
> will go for the player char from 30% down to 10%, they go straight for him
> ignoring pets now. Makes a mage's life very difficult indeed 🙁

I was playing that wee mage at hero difficulty. Played v.1.18 but even
so some boss-monsters tried to get straight at my character, the one I
gave up on in the end was some kind of wolf whith a crew of swords, but
I'd already seen some hags and one beholder/watcher do it before; would
not be distracted.

I've started a new character at legend level, put everything into
defense magic as advised and so far (level 3) it is working phenomenally
well. I got really lucky and picked an item with charm+14 as well, so as
soon as I get my magic high enough to start summoning better things than
spiders, I shall have a heavy duty retinue for early levels anyway.

> Travis (the lead dev) will be fixing that soon. Otherwise, I'd go with
> Greg's suggestions. I myself am playing a melee/summoner in Legend diff & am
> finding it quite challenging, to say the least. When I die I always pick the
> "no penalties start 3 levels higher" fate, as with the reveal map spell (I
> forget the exact name), you can be back at your body within 5 mins, which
> leaves 25 mins to defeat the things that killed you & grab your gold...or
> just grab & ruuuuuuuuunnn!!! ;-)

Erm, I discovered a bit of an expolit. Die, -> quit, go back to main
menu, -> continue and restart the level where you last came in - as far
as I can make out without losing anything or paying any penalty 🙂
One small mercy when you are first trying to find your way into the
game.

Think I will also follow the advice and have a ready made portal waiting
so I can scram if I have to - that should reduce my need for restarts by
quite a lot.

On another note, the distribution of luck is amazing in this game. One
of my early characters came across 3 Anvils, 2 shrines and 1 statue on
the first 3 levels, the mage who got splattered all the time only ever
got to see 2 statues and 2 shrines (no anvils) in 15 levels. My very
first character picked up a couple of highly enchanted items on level
one as quest items that, between them, made him a millionaire (they were
unusuable for him, plus they actually had really high negative
enchantments on them as well, but that seemed to _boost_ their monetary
value ;-P ).

cheers, -Peter