How to raise mana?

[Lipa]

Well, I was playing a warrior until level 17 or so, and then I switched to priest (I want to learn some of the abilites of the class). The problem is that my mana (spell points) is still at zero, like it was when I was a warrior. How do I raise that? I have intelligence and wisdom only at 8, so perhaps this is the problem? Or do I need a certain item? Perhaps I must be high enough in class level?

Thanks in advance!

[divinefistoka]

what armor are you wearing, if its heavy enough, and your int is low enough, you wont see any mana. Do you have any if you take all the armor off?

[Lipa]

WHOA! That was fast! (BTW, what time zone are you from? It's 10:25 here in Slovenia...)

Yes, you were right! I took *EVERYTHING* off and my mana climbed to 30. That will do the trick in town - now I'll be able to identify - my main reason for being the priest.

Any ideas of how to raise mana with full armor on? I probably need a special item or higher stats...

Anyway, the problem is solved - now I can identify! ;D

Thank you!

[divinefistoka]

i live in georiga USA, eastern time zone, dunno the +\- GMT amount.... its 4:30 am here. but im on a funny schedule. i sleep from 7 am to 4 am or so, and get online between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM this time, and i get offline between 6:00 am to 7:00 AM. Odds are now, that i started working, i wont be on utnil 10:30 pm... at the earliest. probalby later then that. And im here all night, every night, and i check for new messages every 15 minutes or so.

(BTW, would it surprise you to learn all that time online is spent on a 56k dialup modem? Thats the reason for the weird schedule, so i can use our only phoneline without disturbing others.)

AS for the mana problem, well... a rod helps some, and they are ultralights so if you get a good magic rod (ive found a tweakable one with 40% to life and mana) weild it. plus, its definitly worth raising rods skill to 15 anyway, at which point crystals have unlimited charges), so even a mage can do relatively well with this.

Intelligence stat being boosted will help a *LOT*. (I like being able to dientify as well, and until i put points in elmental aura, i liked summoning, mostly the 'U' and 'u' and 'd' and 'D' types... hehehe but now i jsut end up slaying my own pets. But great spells for any character are identify, and cure bleeding. those by themselves will aid any character immensely. bleeding is all too big a threat in newangband. and some mild attack spells dont hurt either. But fro your mana, jsut put some points into intelligence, and find items that boost intelligence (i dont *THINK* that wisdom affects mana, but im probably wrong, i jsut dont remember seeing a difference when i boosted wisdom... speaking of whcih, raise yoru wisdom. To at least 15. More wisdom = more skill points when you level up.)

Thats really about all i can say.

[Variaz]

Wisdom raises skill for every 20 points, so raise it at 20, not 15. The reason for this is that enlightment and a strong spirit allow you to become a master at various arts... Now, that brings a question: should intelligence be the stat for skill points? After all, more intelligence = you learn more stuff. Should BOTH stats be used?(probably not). Should both stats be combined into ONE stat?(like, a Mind or Spirit stat?).

[divinefistoka]

my mistake with the wisdom. I had a spare skill point left that i didnt know about, and saw 3 after a level up when i had 15. Sorry lipa.

As for what stat, thats a toughy... if you do it with intelligence, then mages will get an edge with a pretty much guaranteed extra skill points. If you do it with wisdom, they have to pick and choose stats. But im sure theres a disadvantage i dont see yet to using wisdom as well.

[Variaz]

That's why I didn't give skills to intelligence, otherwise Intelligence would give too much benefits, mana AND skills. I guess I'll keep Wisdom for now.

[riftor]

Please combine wisdom and intelligence into one stat. I've always found it counter-intuitive for a character like a priest to have a very high wisdom and no mana to show for it.

[Variaz]

"Spirit"(as it would probably be called) would become a "super stat", because it will give precious skill points, but also mana...hmm... a little too much.

Instead, I have plans for a new prayer system, that would allow you to cast spells without mana, based on wisdom, but with a chance of failure if your wisdom is not high enough. Then, the priest would have one of their abilities changed into a prayer-boosting ability, that would make prayers more effective. Hmmm... wisdom based magic would be fun, and more balanced than combining intelligence and wisdom into one super stat! And some classes that are mostly melee, but have good wisdom(Monk, Paladin, Justice Warrior), could really benefit from this as well!

I must think how these spells will work though... You probably won't have full control over what kind of spells you get, like you have with wizards and intelligence-based casting. It's still something to think about... And then, the option of combining the two stats is not entirely rejected either, so... there's much time to think about it! Ideas? Suggestions? Speak your ideas folks!

[Lipa]

I think that Intelligence and Wisdom should stay separated, the way they are now. And I think it makes sense, too, since each of these two stats represents certain characteristics: Intelligence affects general ability to learn and remember spells. Wisdom, on the other hand, has more to do with experience and learning skills.

IMHO, learning spells is *not* the same as learning skills. These are two different kinds of learning. The first is “Intelligence-based”, the other is “Experience-based”.

Imagine a dumb, totally unintelligent Orc. Now if you start hitting him with a club, however, he’ll eventually learn to avoid your hits (i.e. learn agility skill), even though he’s dumb as hell. And this comes from Wisdom! Wisdom and Intelligence *are* different characteristics!

Bottom line, don’t splice them!