Beginner's Guide to Playing a Mage

Why Play a Mage
''Note: There are no true classes in Asheron's Call. However, characters generally stick to one form of attack: close-combat (Warrior/Melee), archery (Archer/Missile), or offensive magic (mage).'' Mages are usually considered the hardest or most challenging class to play. Combat is more complex than melee or missile combat, with a variety of spells available with numerous effects. Mages must be adept at managing their secondary attributes - Health, Stamina, and in particular Mana, which can be handled with various life spells that restore an attribute, transfer points between two, or steal from opponent. Mages also have to manage their components - if they run out, they are unable to cast their spells. However mages have many advantages. They have access to all 7 damage types, along with the no-type life spells that deal damage directly to health, without being reduced by protections. Mages have a variety of ranged attacks - some built for speed, others for damage, and others to arc over obstacles. Mages are also the only characters able to deal damage to multiple enemies with a single attack with their Area of Effect (AoE) ring spells, or their multiple projectile walls, blasts, and volleys. Magic attacks also completely ignore the protection values of shields and armor.

Disadvantages

 * Magic skills come at a high credit cost. This means that mages may not complete their templates until much higher levels than their melee or missile counterparts. They also have less free credits to take secondary skills such as lockpicking.
 * Due to the more complex combat and the need to properly manage components and secondary attributes, mages may be more difficult to play than a melee or missile character, especially for a new player.

The Magic Skills
There are five magic casting skills and one other skill directly related to casting. Here is a brief summary of each skill. Void Magic is an offensive magic school, it allows you to cast "Nether" spells that damage the target. This includes spells that damage and weaken over time such as corruption, curse and the corrosion spells, but it also has nether versions of spells similair to that of war magic. This includes nether arcs, rings, streaks, bolts and blast spells. War Magic is an offensive magic skill. It is in most cases what defines being a mage. It has access to all 7 damage types in a variety of attacks, from single bolts to rings to massive walls of projectiles. War magic is the highest damaging skill in the game, but also has a long wind up to cast the strongest spells. Life Magic is essential for a mage. With it, you gain the ability to manage your health, stamina, and mana via spells. Without it a mage would be force to exit combat mode and chug potions whenever their secondary attributes were running low. Life magic also has the ability to increase your resistances to the 7 damage types, increase the resistance of your allies, and decrease the resistance of your enemies. In addition, you with life magic you can heal yourself and others, as well as harm your opponents with drains and spell attacks caled Martyr Bolts. Creature Enchantment effects attributes and skills. With it, you can raise or lower the attributes and skills of yourself and others. Item Enchantment effects the properties of items such as weapons and armor. With it you can make your own or your friends' armor and weapons stronger or weaken the shields and weapons of enemies. Item magic also has a branch of spells known as Planar Magic - also known as portal magic. With it you can teleport yourself and summon portals for others to ease in travel. Mana Conversion reduces the amount of mana you consume with a spell. While it has no other properties, this singe one makes in invaluable to have on any magic using character.

Attribute Importance
Mages have two primary attributes that all magic skills are based on: Focus and Self. Because of this, mages enjoy more flexibility when assigning their innate attributes. Strength is not very important for mages. It allows them to carry more components and wear heavier armor without becoming so easily encumbered, but none of their primary skills rely on Strength. Endurance is fairly important for mages, and especially important for martyr mages. Higher endurance means more Health and Stamina. For mages, stamina is important because you can use it to recharge your health and mana during combat. For Martyr mages, your damage is based on your current health, so the higher the better. Coordination is important for mages who take melee defense, but is otherwise not important. If you choose to take melee defense, higher Coordination will improve your skill and help you evade melee attacks, greatly reducing the damage you take in combat. Coordination also helps with secondary skills like Healing. Quickness is not very important for mages. Even for mages who take melee defense, it is better to invest in coordination, since it effects numerous other skills. Focus is very important for mages. All four schools of magic, along with Mana Conversion, are based on Focus and Self. Self is the most important attribute for mages. Not only are all their primary skills based on Self, but so is their mana.