Request: offensive magic spoilers

[Lipa]

I would like to get a few hints about offensive magic.

I’ve been playing with this character (Hwi Noree, Level 30, Mage level 7) for a while now (I’ve never played a magic-oriented character before), and until recently I hadn’t have much trouble. She can cast a powerful Magic Missile (21), and her Spellcraft skill is currently at 22.

However, bad things have begun to happen (and I’ve only reached dungeon level 20), and my heroine started to die quite a lot. The problem, of course, are all the magic returning monsters, and some of the others with an unusually high HP status (more than 50.000). I try to run away from the former, and sometimes engage in combat with the latter. But I don’t always prevail.

And now I’m desperately looking for some useful offensive spells:

I’ve been fiddling with the summoning a bit, and it’s fun! But I have yet to try all the possibilities. Can you help me with some tips about which monsters is best to summon?

As to the other offensive spells, well, I’m very unsure. For example, I don’t know how much damage a certain elemental spell does. Acid? Nexus?… I’m confused… Can you suggest a powerful offensive combo?

Any others tips for a magic user (especially offensive tactics)?

Thanks a lot!

[nork]

All damage spells do 1 damage per power level per character level, or...
(Spell's power*character level)*(1+(spellcraft*.06)= damage

The main thing with the elemental spells is what is the monster vulnerable or resistant to. Also some flavors of spells have added effects. Light will light the area; force will stun; nuke can polymorph, things like that.

Another thing to remember is don't just rely on direct damage. Mages can do things like slow monsters down; make them easier to hit; make them miss more; summon damage fields, and lots of other effects. Being a good magic user is to know what is best for the occasion.

For example, If you run in to a magic returning boss try using a damage field and running it through the field (fields do not return damage, but you need to be in line of sight for them to work). Or try reducing it's to_hit and AC then just walk up to it and killing it in melee.

Hope this helps, I have a lot of ideas with mages and the nasty things you can do with them.

Nork

[Variaz]

As I said in the magic users poll, I have raised the bonus of spellcraft from 6% to 20%. Much better, but I wonder if it's too much... Only testing will tell. I don't want Elemental spells to suddently become so strong that peoples will no longer use Alteration.... hmmm... and for Conjurations, I just realised that Elemental Fields are now much deadlier with a 20% boost... Oh well, I will see how it goes.

[Lipa]

(Hello again! I’ve been away from seriously playing New Angband for more than three months (busy, busy, busy… ), and now I’m slowly getting back in... Anyway, my lovely Hwi is pretty much where I left her, and now it’s time to continue her adventure.

A few more questions about summoning:

Which monsters are best to summon with the Summon Kind spell?

Which monsters are best to summon with the Summon Specific spell?

I assume that different monsters are good for different tasks. I’d love to read some thoughts and suggestions about this!

[Variaz]

This is a hard question to answer... While NewAngband 1.8.0 will have a whole lot of different monsters, the current 1.7.1 doesn't offer that much variety in term of difference between each type of monsters. BR_FIRE is the same for all monsters, and so are every spells and breaths... Monsters can only have between 1 and 4 attacks, and they're not that varied... In 1.8.0, as you have already read, it's going to be different!

That said, for Summon Kind, dragons is probably the best choice. Tough, strong, can use breaths... can't go wrong with those. Now, for Summon Specific, you have a couple of choices here... it's hard to tell actually. Summoning a monster that can summon other monsters can be very good if you're specializing in summoning creatures. You can pick a weaker monster and summon many, or summon one, big monster. Like, you could go for 5 Mature Red Dragons, or go for 1 Great Wyrm of Power, depending on the situation. I can't really give you much more tips for now about Summon Specific... experiment with it, and find what you like! Try finding a strong monsters that suits your character!

[nork]

I have to agree with Variaz. The most universally useful creature type has got to the the dragons (D not d). If you are looking for a singular powerful creature a dragon will fit the bill. If you are looking for a creature that will summon more things for your army dragons can do that for you too. I would say the next best are the demons (U).

Personally I think if you want to get in to the summoning game you should get a few levels in monster mage. That way you have lots of options of what to summon, at least once you see some one else summon them first.

Nork

[Lipa]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I got interested in summoning mainly because my character needed something to help her fight powerful magic returning monsters, and dragons indeed seem to work fine! However, I don’t intend to specialize in summoning; not with this character.

Anyway, thanks for the help again! And look out for an update in the DITL forum soon...

[OmniNegro]

Once you get either ~50 wisdom or ~300 mana you can summon Dragon Callers.

This is probably the best way to get a nice army of dragons.

It actually costs far less to summon one of these than to summon a single Mature Red Dragon, yet they summon six at a time!

[zekk]

I was thinking of starting a celestial wisdom caster, and the possibilities sound great.
Should I put more skills into spell casting or the specific types, and does ___ adept/expert affect wis casting?

[OmniNegro]

I'm not sure I understand the adept/expert thing, but I know that for a wisdom caster you don't need mana and you would likely get better results putting points in leadership and summoning casters to slaughter everything for you.

For a general answer to the question about spellcraft or specialized schools, I would say put them in spellcraft at first until you decide what you want to specialize in.

I think it's a good idea to put some points in throwing at first so you can have a way to kill weak magic returning creatures without serious risk to yourself. (Throwing powerful weapons that you will not use is a great way to kill ranged casters that return magic.)

I advise anyone who has not already done so to read through the files in the /lib/help/ directory.

[zekk]

Getting a high enough skill in a specific elemental type reduces mp cost by 25%, then 33%, then finally 50%. does this affect wisdom casting too? for instance, being able to perfectly cast a 100 mp spell with 75 wisdom and 25% reduced mp usage.

[Variaz]

The bonus is when you create a spell, so if you create a new spell, it will cost less. This will apply to wisdom casting too!

[OmniNegro]

So you are saying that increasing the specialized spell schools will make the spell cost less when you make a spell so that in-turn it will be more likely to succeed when you attempt wisdom casting and would still cost less when using mana to cast. Right?

[Variaz]

The wisdom casting chance is based on the spell's cost. The higher the spell's cost, the higher it is to wisdom-cast it. So if you get a lower casting cost, it will obviously be easier to cast using wisdom.

[zekk]

Some confusion, under the priests ability improved wisdom casting in the text file, it says that normally, for every point above 5 wisdom you get a casting strength of +5. so, with 7 Wisdom I can constantly cast a spell that costs 10? :/