Mage (class)
The Mage (Japanese まほうつかい mahoutsukai, lit. "magician") is one of the character classes available to players in the Wizardry series of games. The Mage is one of the first two magic-using classes, capable of using powerful attack and status effect spells, as well as certain weakening magic; their only catch is that their physical stats are the weakest of all classes. The Mage is the equivalent in Wizardry of a common fantasy archetype in several role-playing games, the Magic-User or Wizard.
Class Description
The Mage is one of the basic character classes available to players upon character creation. Despite being one of the first magic classes available to the player, the Mage doesn't hold considerable importance to the group, mostly because the best recommendation for beginner classes is to create a Priest. The Mage can only equip very limited armor, most usually staves and robes; however, because of their lack of equipment they could hold a large amount of items such as scrolls on earlier games.
However, the Mage's main ability is that of learning and using magic spells. The Mage learns a wide variety of spells to damage the Hit Points of enemies. At first, the Mage only learns spells limited to a single enemy in a single group; eventually, the Mage gains spells that affect specific groups of enemies, and eventually spells that affect all enemies. As well, they learn spells for lowering the Armor Class and accuracy of certain enemies, lowering their chances of hitting allies and raising the chances for allies to hit them. Mages have very few spells that work outside of battle: amongst the best known is Dumapic/Wizard's Eye, a spell that presented the dungeon map for a brief amount of time. This spell is considered crucial because earlier games didn't had a map option, and thus the player relied on making maps via graph paper or relying on memory. The Mage also has a slight amount of status-inflicting spells, most notably to cause sleep (Katino/Sleep) and the large amount of instant death spells (Makanito/Asphyxiation and the enhanced Lakanito, Lokara and Zilwan/Astral Gate) The Mage also acquires the ability to conjure monsters to fight instead of the party (Socordi/Conjuration)
Llygamyn Saga
In the group of games that compose the Llylgamyn saga (Wizardry I to V, excluding Wizardry IV), the Mage is one of the easiest classes to access at character creation, with its minimum requirements. All Mages learn to use at least the two basic Mage spells (Halito and Katino) and are capable of Dispelling undead since the first class. As the character gains levels, it learns spells of higher level (essentially, a Mage learns spells from a higher spell level each two Mage levels), and acquires bonus spell points for spells of lesser spell level.
To become a Mage, the character must achieve the minimum stat requirements:
- I.Q. 11
Because of their high IQ, Elves are the absolute best choice to become Mages. Humans are the closest class that favors Mage, but only because it has one extra racial point of IQ compared to the rest of the non-Elf races.
Dark Savant Saga
In the group of games that compose the Dark Savant Saga (Wizardry VI thru VIII), the Mage gains a decent amount of Weaponry skills, including Wands & Daggers, Spears and Poles, Slings, Throwing weapons, and Bows. Mages still have the difficulty of equipping weaker armor, although the Robes gain a slight AC boost; however, there are unique Mage items around the dungeons that may support them. Mages, being the class that focuses on the use of Thaumaturgy, gain the highest growth rate for the skill; a Mage can reach the highest level in Thaumaturgy with little effort, by simply using spells over and over again. The effectiveness of the spells is provided by the use of Oratory, so even with the heightened growth in Thaumaturgy, spells still may fizzle every now and then.
To become a Mage, the character must achieve the minimum stat requirements (VI & VII/VIII):
- INT (Intellect) 12/60
- DEX (Dexterity) -/55
Perhaps as a striking aspect, Elves are surpassed in this game by Faeries as the racial choice for Mages. The Felpurr and the Mook also favor the Mage class, and require little assistance to become one. In Wizardry 8, because of the Dexterity requirement, Felpurr and Mooks give way towards two classes that usually tend to eschew the Mage class: the Gnome and the Hobbit.
Duhan Saga (Tales of the Forsaken Land/Wizardry Alternative)
In Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land (also known as Busin: Wizardry Alternative in Japan) and their sequels, the Mage (here known as Sorcerer) remains similar to earlier incarnations of the class. Mages are capable of learning all spells of its class, which retain their aspects of destructive and weakening magic. Closer to the Dark Savant Saga games, the spells now have levels of their own, increased by means of the use of Magic Stones, the same items required to learn the spells. As always, an Elf will naturally incline towards the Sorcerer class.
A point to consider is that Sorcerers in this game usually have a nefarious appearance, and their magic is inclined towards an evil influence.
Template:Wizardry Classes