So I've been gone for several months for work/school reasons, but now school is ending for a month, and while I still have work, I can play Amia again!

I'm wondering, because lastnight my friend and I went grinding for a half hour on Amia (and died horribly, twice), how are wizards able to kill epic level enemies, including other player characters? I honestly can't remember how to play an effective wizard.

Before you say "hellball" or "greater ruin", let's assume that I either don't have those yet, or I'm fighting a group of people (and thus greater ruin won't help much). How does a wizard kill a group of beholders, illithids, vampires, or angry Cordorians? How can he do it if he's got a fighter or two with him, to be the meat shields? The only thing I can think of is maximized chain lightning and wail of the banshee (and hope the enemy has bad saves, which epic level monsters never do), and this is why we died lastnight at beholders and illithids.

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Osiris Masud

Simple solutions are GR on big bosses, using Epic Mummy Dust as your brute force, buffing it and your familiar, then hiding with invis healing them and casting offensive spells when needs be.

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Is GR better than hellball, and if so, why? Also, which mummy dust summon is usually the best?

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Osiris Masud

GR set to Construct will do a lot of damage to a lot of bosses (As well as Maximus, who is undead). Hellball is a good AoE spell against a horde of regular mobs if you suddenly get double spawned on, but GR is more desired and more useful over Hellball.

I'm going to give you a Roleplayers answer to EMD: Pick the summon you think best suits you.

But generally Construct the the most used and most versatile.

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Mage battles are my favorite battles inherently. Often times I think it relies on a great deal of interpretation, the ability to be creative on the spot when it comes to what spells your wizard must use to survive and win a duel. Time between spells and what to prepare, what not to prepare is most always essential, If you cannot possibly counter-spell your opponent, you need to make use of time in a big way. Now obviously you are always going to have the upper-hand if you ambush your enemy such as a monster group, you may summon a black blade, and cast invisibility, which allows you further time in cloak. But I think efficiency and creativity matters.

That isn't to say there is one good kind of wizard over another. I generally dislike generalists or universalists, because they can sort of fudge their 'focus' to make themselves all consuming. However mages who specialize do tend to take away some great RP benefits as well as access to more unique spells of their design that work in their school or study. I like specialists a lot and encourage spell focusing in a single school. But even they cannot be all powerful all the time.

Lately my Enchantress has had to fight enemies whom have no deliberate weakness, enemies who come in large hordes, or enemies in which she is effectively powerless against. Mind spells only go so far for the master enchanter, but in lieu of this discovery, I found she has had to rely on other strategies to take down such foe. This is where creativity plays a big part. If compulsions are not going to make ends meat here, what can I use? Well... take a basic inventory of the spells you use most often, always have a variety on hand but keep your heavy cards in your sleeve, even if you don't use them! Many times when you think the battle is done, you may be wrong! And exhausted most of your spells in round one. Don't panic, have contingencies.

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MuseReader: Aiseth Nosdivan- Master Enchantress

If you have a fighter/summons with you, the most effective way for your group to prevail is if you memorize spells to make them stronger. Some monster types (even epic ones) also have vulnerabilities to certain elements or rely heavily on one of them to kill you.

As for your question about PvP, casters on this server have the luxury of being able to request custom spells. If you feel that your spells are lacking in general(even as a specialist) you can try to request custom spells that will make your life easier. I have seen some players do that and have spells that are very effective in PvP.

How many DC's are required for most custom spells? I have several that I could think of that'd be fun, but I only have 2 DC's I think.

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Osiris Masud

It varies, there is more information about that in the sticky thread on the request board. Making a request or two is something I highly recommend later on as it can be very good for character development as well as making you a bit more versatile.

Hellball: The caster creates a ball of energy that does 10d6 points of acid, fire, electrical and sonic damage to all targets in its blast radius. The caster is subject to the damage from the spell if caught in the blast. The level 5 spell energy buffer is capable of completely absorbing the average damage from a hellball even with a failed save.

Greater Ruin: The caster deals 35d6 energy damage to a single target.


The one which fits your character the best.


Maximus is a Construct afaik. It used to be a subject to Crumble spell, so unless they've changed it, it's still a construct.

PS this all can and should be found out IC. Do not know how to defeat Illithids? Ask around. Do not know if Greater Ruin or Hellball are better? Ask around. Finally, it all comes to practice. You learn the flaws of each spawn. For instance Yuan-ti Mystic could have a high will save but a low fort save. Then you use that to your advantage. As for Beholders, you do not go in there unless you have a group which knows what to do and how to fight it. Even the most experienced Beholder hunters can often slip in there, as one misfortunate save and you are gone. They are probably in the top three if not two hardest areas on the server.

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Crumble is an awful spell as it is (and druid only anyway!)

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