Mage(Mage)
| CoffeeMUD |
|---|
| Administrator Builder Player |
| =CoffeeMUD Player Information= | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basics | Info Commands Socials Combat Groups | Character | Stats Races Classes Abilities Expertises Achievements |
| World | Deities Areas Property Quests Clans Triumphs | Items | Items Crafting Ships |
| ==CoffeeMUD Classes== |
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| Bard Cleric Commoner Druid Fighter Mage Thief |
| ===CoffeeMUD Mage Classes=== |
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| Abjurer Alterer Conjurer Diviner Enchanter Evoker Illusionist Mage Transmuter |
How to Play
I will preface everything by stating that this is all written from the viewpoint of a single person. For some context, I am Tickitok, at time of writing I have played CoffeeMud for about 7 years give or take, and in that time I have primarily played Mage and its subclasses. That being said, I am not anywhere close to the ultimate authority on how to play mage, nor do I feel at all qualified to properly handle all the minutia that comes with such. Mostly, I am writing this because there was literally no text under the How to Play section for mage, and that seems tragic to me.
With that out of the way, let's start with the basics. Right from the start, the mage class begins with a couple powerful spells and too little mana to properly use them. Keep in mind that ability costs, such as mana costs and movement costs, begin high at the level they are available and taper to a more reasonable amount with later levels. In this instance, a new mage will find it difficult to cast their two most powerful spells at level 1, those being MAGIC MISSILE and SHIELD. If your Mud has certain features enabled and default stats, a mage will be completely and utterly unable to even cast magic missile twice in a row, so a young mage needs to learn to be crafty with how they approach combat.
First, there are ways to gain more mana before you even gain your first level, as well as several other advantages that one can leverage before combat. Using train, a character can increase their intelligence which will allow them to gain much more mana in the long run, or if they're particularly desperate, they can train their mana directly. I don't recommend training your mana in most cases, as the rate for 1 train is only 20 mana, which is awful, but it is useful to know that it is an... option. Another option one can consider is joining a clan. Many clans have bonuses to mana and damage and other such things. An important thing to note here is that you gain the bonuses even if you are merely an applicant, so if interacting with others isn't your thing, you can still apply to an inactive clan that has the bonuses you're looking for and leave once you have enough mana at a later time. Another idea is to spend points in character creation on dexterity and strength so that your character's melee damage is more reliable, although this does mean that you won't have as many points in wisdom or intelligence which should both be maxed as soon as possible.
Second, during combat at higher levels, a mage should always pay attention to the spells that allow them to avoid damage entirely, or to end the fight quickly. Mages have low health, but is the best at dealing large amounts of damage on command, and has by far the best tools for handling opponents. Spells like SHIELD, BLUR, MAGE ARMOR, and FLAMESHIELD are options that help increase your armor and stay reliable even in later levels. Speaking of which, at higher levels spells like HOLD, NIGHTMARE, and TIME STOP can keep you from taking damage entirely.
As for damage, what most mages, and myself, agree is the best option is to use one of the many 'Weakness to' spells (WEAKNESS TO GAS, WEAKNESS TO ACID, WEAKNESS TO COLD, WEAKNESS TO ELECTRICITY, WEAKNESS TO FIRE) and then use a spell of the corresponding element. For example, using WEAKNESS TO ACID followed by ACID ARROW. This does a LOT of damage to most targets, and because of the relatively small amount of setup compared to other classes, allows you to level quite quickly.
A few further tips for fighting mobs: extend your battles beyond combat, use as many buffs as is practical, and keep in mind that mobs have similar mechanics to player characters. I'll go over these in more detail. Mages have very little health, but this point is moot if you are wise about how you go about combat. A practiced player will sometimes learn that players can regenerate faster than mobs by sleeping in between battles, meaning you can flee before death and come back later to finish the mob while they're wounded. An experienced player, however, knows that ranged spells don't immediately initiate combat. It takes a small bit of time before the tick ends and the system places you both in combat, which leaves the player with a window, a very narrow window mind you, of time to leave the room before combat begins. REVERSE GRAVITY helps with this as it flings your target up into the air, and thus out of the room, ending combat and giving you time to heal. These ideas allow you to extend battles beyond combat.
'Use as many buffs as is practical' is rather self-explanatory. There's a large spell list, and I do NOT have nearly enough space here to talk about each of them. Keep in mind that nearly all are good, some are better, and that ultimately the choices you make are yours. You might not have enough mana to regularly cast all of your buffs while solo, so if you play solo, it might help to shorten the list of spells you apply to yourself.
Finally, keep in mind that all mobs follow most of the rules that you do as a player. I know it seems obvious once it's stated, but you have no idea how much this applies to, and how little people regularly apply this knowledge. For instance, did you know that mobs also have their own set of Autos for them to toggle? (For those who don't know what Autos are, type 'Config' sometime while you're on the mud. Each of those flags have a help file and are quite useful to know) This knowledge seems innocent enough until you realize that Automelee is one of those Autos, meaning that if you can control them you can toggle on or off whether they engage in melee combat, and GEAS can allow you to do just that. There are many more applications like this, and many more applications that have yet to be discovered, so be creative!
'But what if I have to fight a player!', I hear some say. Fear not! The mage comes prebuilt with some of the most powerful PVP abilities in the game. First off, it goes without saying that spells like GEAS, NIGHTMARE, TIME STOP, and HASTE are very useful against other players, these spells are perhaps some of the most powerful abilities in the game, bar only a few. But! Mages have a few more tricks up their sleeve in case these don't work! MUTE and SILENCE can keep most magic at bay. Silence being the stranger of the two, as it affects the room, and thus can't be resisted. Even if you yourself are somehow unable to cast verbal spells, there are quite a number of non-verbal spells, although I'll be honest, I've no idea which. HEAT METAL is great for dealing with heavily armored opponents, TOURETTES can make bards swear both in-game and out, DELUDE is just... a really nasty thing to do to Druids or Clerics, DETECT HIDDEN makes most of the Thief class' abilities entirely invalid until level 30, and barring all of that, you can always just IMPROVED POLYMORPH them into something harmless. Like a cat, or maybe a flower. Flowers are nice.
I could also go into all of the utility spells and ease of life spells that Mage has, but that would take FAR too long, so let me just sum things up here. Mage is a powerful class, and by extension its subclasses as well. This power comes at a cost, though, and early on in a Mage's career they might find it difficult if they don't get creative. So, get Creative! You have the power of the cosmos at your whim, if you only know how to apply your knowledge. The beautiful thing about this class is that it gives you so many tools to use, but it's ultimately up to you to use these tools. I've made many recommendations, but the truth of the matter is that there are just SO many things that you can do, that it's difficult to describe exactly HOW to play. I've tried to give you ideas, but these are honestly just pieces of the puzzle. How the big picture looks is up to you.
Other Online Resources
Multi-Classing Options and Effectiveness
Notes
- The SIT and SLEEP commands help recover missing health, movement and mana more rapidly between combat.
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