Virtues or Druidic?

[subzero22]

I'm thinking of selecting the Virtues Axion but I don't know how often you can get cursed as I just started this game today. If it's where you get cursed every chance the game can then I'm thinking of going Druidic for my make character. Unless you guys think it should be something else other than those two.

[ManusDei]

Only some monstres can curse you (specters for example).

You have very few chances of getting cursed, but if that happens... it's really a pain.

If you are a close combat fighter, Nefarious is really good.

[subzero22]

Ah ok well what about a mage? and How do you stay away from enemies as I seem to only be able to stay a couple steps from them it's like walk, walk, walk, shoot, walk, walk, walk, shoot that's if you don't kill them when they get close to you.

[Vroqren]

Yeah, unfortunately, Eschalon handles magic differently than other games I play. You can't ever really hide behind something and cast spells, the enemy will just walk around to attack you. Playing a mage was hard for me, but that's only because I'm more of a melee guy. To be honest, if I were you, I'd be an atheist. They have no outstanding bonus's, but not having the possibility of being cursed helps a ton. The downside is that priests and clergy's across the game can't heal or bless an atheist. The religion is really your choice, and just determines a minor aspect of the game. I suggest you choose the one that gives you the boosts you want most.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

For a mage, Druidic is very helpful later in the game as it maximizes your mana refresh rate in the sections where you're outdoors (and there are some big cool battles outdoors), but it can be tough early on as there are a number of underground places where you can gain early XP and Druidic slows your mana refresh there. Playing a mage as a type of sniper, it's really not hard to avoid getting cursed, though.

[subzero22]

ya I'm level 2 and have:

12 STR
8 DEX
10 END
14 Speed
15 INT
15 WIS
15 PER
10 CON

Alchemy 1
Divination 3
Elemental 7
Cartography 1
Lore 1
Meditation 1

I've been reading the in game tips on what effects what and so far I think I got a good build going. Although I just read the manual and it said mages should have a weapon as a secondary. But I want to make a pure mage and try not to use weapons. How is unarmed skill in this game as I might use it?

Also does armor effect your spells any? If not I think I'll put some points in light armor. I also run out of mana so quickly.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Not a bad start, but where did you put your attribute points in character creation? You have no stat over 15. You know that you can reroll (press the little image of dice on the character creation screen) until you get better stats. For a mage, you'd want to be sure that your INT and PER are both 14 for an optimal roll. Other stats are less important. And you want to raise your PER as much as possible as quickly as possible (and perhaps add a little Meditation to speed up Mana regen rate).

In terms of armor, it has no negative effect on your spell casting EXCEPT that you have to watch how much weight you have in your hands (shield, gloves, weapon). You cannot cast in combat if you have too much weight in your hands. You can increase that capacity with increased STR (and CON, I think, but that may be just Book II). With pure mages I generally don't carry anything in my hands except gloves.

[Painted Lady]

One of the most fun play-throughs for me was a pure Mage (no weapons, not even Unarmed Combat). However, that was not something I tried until I had been through the game a couple of times.

In looking at your stats, I am struck by how high your Speed is relative to the other possibilities. If that was due to the roll of the dice, that's fine. However, please don't waste points when you level up on Speed - it only affects melee fighters, and them only marginally. Concentrate on Perception for your Mage.

Also, if you do add Unarmed Combat, one bonus is that you can bash open chests without worrying about breaking a weapon in the process.

[subzero22]

If I remember correctly these were the orriginal stats from the roll. I didn't know you could reroll lol.

10 STR
8 DEX
8 END
12 Speed
12 INT
12 WIS
11 PER
8 CON

[Sameen Shah]

heyyyy I am so junior in that i am still on level 2

[subzero22]

Well so far I'm now level 10 and only died 5 times. 3 of the times was because I was being dumb. But now that I got portal I think I'm going to die a lot less.