Max Magic Skill... too easy?

[NathanEschalon]

I recently finished my first run through as a paladin-style character. Now I'm trying out a pure mage. I still have a few questions even after reading many of the magey posts I've hunted for,

a) Seeing as tier 3 spells at casting level 6 requires only 31 Divination or Elemental skill, there's really no point in raising it beyond that number (including buffs) correct? I was hoping to get fewer resists or bonus damage or something tasty (like maxing weapon skill for melee types) but that doesn't happen right?

b) Similarly, raising Int or Wis beyond 25 (with buffs) is basically pointless aside from the small bump in MP per level and elemental/disease resistance. It's fairly easy to achieve +12 Int with items (two rings, a pendant, and a hat). I'm thinking I wasted the points I spent getting Int to 20 in the first place. The max spell number cap of Int/2 and Wis/2 can be annoying but I as long as I'm careful not to learn the useless spells or those redundant with Alchemy, then there's plenty of spell slots available with just 12 for each magic school. Is there any hidden Int check for determining spell resistance or anything like that??

Seems like I'm going to have plenty of attribute points to spend on getting perception to 70 for that 5 MP/tick!

Thanks for any input!!

[Randomizer]

Mages are one of the easiest character builds. They start off being able to hit monsters with spells and only have to worry about running out of mana and monster's resisting a spell.

1) There is no bonus or less monster resistance to spells by having a higher level.

2) I don't know about hidden resistance checks. I don't think there are any.

The game is pretty straight forward in that you should get a few different damage type spells and then pick the one that works best facing the monsters.

[SpottedShroom]

Yeah, you seem to have the gist of it. My usual mage build is start with Intelligence and Wisdom at 15 and put all your extra ability points into Perception. For skills, focus on either Elemental or Divination to get you through enough of the game to get to the trainer for the other one. Increase Int or Wis as necessary to learn new spells, and keep in mind you'll be getting an item that gives +3 to both.

You can always keep boosting Per for added benefit, but once you get to 31 in both arcane skills there's not much else essential to a pure mage. You can branch out into Alchemy, Cartography, Foraging, or other skills that are useful for all classes. Meditation probably isn't an optimal choice unless there's nothing else you can think of to take - you'll have no trouble getting to 5 MP/turn regeneration without it.