| 1. Invisibility adds a lot of options, improved invisibility also adds +4 AC and saving throws, the shadow summoning spells get better with levels and can even summon trolls which are unkillable without fire or acid.
2. Web is a level 2 spell that works usually better than horror.
3. "dispel magic" can even be cast by clerics, it's no big deal having the cleric dispel instead of the mage, but no one can cast "mirror image" for him.
4. The tarnished sentries are nearly the only ones where you might benefit from this spell. At this point of the game you can just use a few summons until they run out of ammo or send your cleric with "entropy shield" to absorb the thrown axes.
5.+6. Fireball has also the advantadge that you can make your characters immune to fire damage easily which opens new tactical options.
Including TotL you reach about 15,000,000 XP during a normal game, so in a normal party of 6 even a single class mage will only reach level 16 at the very end of the game. I soloed HoF mode with a cleric/mage and he never needed to use skull trap. Disabling and summoning spells are far more useful than direct damage spells in HoF mode.
7. The shadow summoning spells are more useful are the globes. When facing high level mages there are better things to do than making one character immune to low level spells. I never bothered to cast those spells.
8. According to the description "Death spell" seems to be only for low level monsters and I don't want to waste high level spells for them. If this spell also works on bosses, which I doubt, you are right. "Free action" also gives immunity to paralysis, lasts longer and is a level 4 spell, soul eater yields only skeletons if the victims die from the little damage dealt and 3 HD undead aren't powerful.
9. Finger of death is as easily to resist as chromatic orb. Both spells take the victim out of combat for the whole battle (no battle lasts 13 rounds) if the save is failed.
10. The offensive abilities aren't very good considering it's a level 7 spell.
11. Did you read what PfE does ? It's far more useful. My parties had always PfE 10' cast on them, giving them immunity to charm spells, +2 AC and +2 all saves. The only situation where MB would have been useful was vs hopelessness spells, but when the party members have less than 1,000,000 XP each they don't benefit from a spell which needs a caster with 2,250,000 XP to cast it. Even then PWB would have helped more and the cleric could easily turn them.
12. You only get 2 level 8 spell slots near the very end of the game, just too precious to waste them for something else than PWB.
13. I know how the rolls work, do you ? Since illusionists get granted 16 and abjurers only granted 15 they can exspect to get slightly better rolls average.
You cannot distribute the rolls as you want, illusionists can't lower dex beyond 16 while abjurers cannot lower wis beyond 15. If you have 28 points left to distribute for dex and wis together the illusionist can have 18 dex and 10 wis, while the abjurer has to take at least 15 wis and can't take more than 13 dex. So the illusionist would get +4 AC and +2 ranged thac0 compared to a little useless lore bonus for the abjurer.
I once created a fighter for dualing to mage with stats like 18/00-18-18-18-10-4. For being able to dual to abjurer I would have had to cripple either strength, dex, or con.
If you want a pure mage you can also get the gnome bonusses when taking illusionist, like 19 int and +5 in two saving throws.
If you have a party with bard or another mage, he can't protect the abjurer by casting mirror image or blur for him.
Last edited by kmonster; 03-30-2007 at 08:21 PM.
Reason: of course 19 int
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