Mage Race

[ya.dingus]

Can't really decide.

Erudite any good with their cultural or nah?

Just stick to Dark elf for lazy hides when afk?

Gnome just because? Not sure.

Maybe just human cause being swoll is how to roll?

[Sajan]

Gnome for permanent wall vision, not needing to shrink to drop eye at zone in, and commanding a pet bigger than you.

[sajbert]

Stats don't matter to a mage.

- Stamina yields laughably little returns. High elves and their dark elf cousins have the least amount of stamina, closely followed by the Erudites. The difference between a dark elf with NO points in stamina and a human who went full stamina is a measly 77hp at level 60. The amount of times that will make or break anything are going to be precious few.

- Strength obviously isn't going to affect your combat ability in any meaningful way. As far as loot goes you can summon an endless supply of 100% weight reduction bags so str for a mage is less relevant than for other casters. Useful for lugging around coin and that's about it really.

- Agility is largely considered a trash stat. Unless you're an Erudite with 70 starting agi needing another 5 to avoid the penalty I've yet to see anyone recommend it.

- Unless you plan to melee with some proc weapon for NeXT LeVEL magician plays dexerity will not do anything more than make you OT hammer a bit faster.

- Charisma is useful for marginally better vendor prices, as long as you hit those breakpoints (76, 91, 104). As a mage you'll be doing a lot of vendoring and I believe the price difference from lowest to highest breakpoint is around 6% and as far as p99 goes that's a huge boost. I doubt anyone's gonna cast divine intervention on you otherwise there's that too.

- Even intelligence isn't the most important thing in the world as you can rarely just dump your whole mana bar onto a target like a wizard can (no root). Intelligence can also be capped regardless of how few points you put into it so for the absolute minmax it makes no sense to invest in but otherwise probably is the best stat.

So we can pretty much disregard the stats when picking a race for a mage What's left?

Erudites: 5MR, meh.

Dark Elves: Hide, less useful for mages as they have pets. Hide becomes pretty useless at higher levels too as more things start seeing invis. Ultravision, neat but infravision is OK and you can summon ultravision items anyway, eventually if you're nerd enough you will get proper truevision or ultravision items. If you ever play on a new server you never "need" to camp guise of the deceiver for 48hrs. Main issue with dark elves is that they have arguably the worst faction, that said it's also pretty sweet to be able to murder elves without feeling like you're ruining anything.

Humans: Stamina, but stats don't matter.

High Elves: Charisma, but stats don't matter.

Gnomes: Small size allowing you to wallhack which is convenient but not as useful as it would be on a class that has lulls. Note also that most races can see partly through walls if they sit and for males it's only during the seating animation. Small size allows for probing through doors without shrinking or using illusions first, minor convenience for most. However, being able to hide behind objects and COTH shrunk people to raid encounters is VERY NICE and largely why people would recommend gnomes.

IMHO: Pick gnome or if you know you're not gonna raid then a dark elf (preferably female) will do fine. Or you know, just pick whatever you think looks coolest because outside of raiding none of these things are impactful.

As for stats. It's hard to choose between nothing and nothing. Charisma would initially appear as the best choice but it will depend on your dedication and how far you wish to take your class. With crazy BIS gear you'll get items loaded with enough charisma to not have to concern yourself with starting points in charisma. It's also possible to trade out slots before vendoring, a Kobold Jester's crown (velious) and a Crude Stein will allow a gnome that went 0 points in charisma to hit max breakpoint. Before velious you'd have to swap in a whole lot more pieces though (E.g. crude stein, gypsy medallion, 2 x opalline earrings, 2 x golden cats eye bracelets = 6 slots total) which would cannibalize precious bagslots and possibly reduce your potential income.

Str dex or sta will serve you best from a minmax point of view once you have that end-game gear and out of those only sta will matter in a fight. Before that int (or charisma) will serve you best. That's why I'd go 25sta 5 str if I was a tryhard. If I wanted a smooth experience I'd go 25int 5 sta or if I was feeling cheeky 25cha and 5sta.

[Snaggles]

Yea gnomes are difficult to beat. As a raider not needing shrink and a bit easier to drop eyes. As a non raider easily seeing through walls helps you not walk into more npcs than you can handle (great since the class has horrid CC).

[Samoht]

Gnome, Brell, max out STR to start

You're welcome.

[Balimon]

Originally Posted by ya.dingus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Can't really decide.

Erudite any good with their cultural or nah?

Just stick to Dark elf for lazy hides when afk?

Gnome just because? Not sure.

Maybe just human cause being swoll is how to roll?

Here's what I have in my unfinished mage guide:

Races

Magician can be chosen by five races, here is the basic information for each race, and I will rank them based on a 10/10 scale for fresh start servers and mature raiding servers. Most of the races are comparable to each other, except for humans who have a large stat disadvantage, and gnomes wall vision. In the end, choose what you like to play and what you think looks cool, as the stats won't matter as much once you reach higher levels. Be aware that humans will always be behind intelligence wise and if you are creating a mage solely to be a coth bot, or you think it will be a coth bot in the future: ALWAYS choose gnome. You don't want to be using shrink pots on bots.


Dark Elf DEF

Faction Alignment: Evil
Racial(s): Hide, Ultravision
Starting City: Neriak
Playable Classes: Cleric, Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, Rogue, Shadow Knight, Warrior, Wizard
Experience Modifier: None
Armor: Medium, Small


Best natural vision, although with Summon Coldstone any race can see as well as a Dark elf. Built in hide skill of 50, it work's 35-50% of the time, and is useful for AFKing in weird spots, avoiding trains. Hide isn't the most useful on a mage sadly because it will kill your pet. Second highest starting int. Execelant noobie zone and access to Freeport, has a library in Neriak. Fashionquest is real here, and dark elves look fantastic. Fresh start 8/10, Mature Server 7/10.


Erudite ERU

Faction Alignment: Neutral
Racial(s): -5 Disease Resist, +5 Magic Resist
Starting City: Erudin, Paineel
Playable Classes: Cleric, Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, Paladin, Shadow Knight, Wizard
Experience Modifier: None
Armor: Medium


Highest starting int, and that bonus +5 MR is excellent! They start with 70 agility though, which is a serious handicap. Unless you put 5 points in at character creation you will have an AC penalty and often be running slower while encumbered until you get an item with +AGI on it. The noobie zone is pretty bad over all and most people have to take the boat to Qeynos, Erudin does have a library though. Fresh start 4/10, Mature Server 8/10.


Gnome GNM

Faction Alignment: Neutral
Racial(s): Tinkering, Infravision
Starting City: Ak'Anon
Playable Classes: Cleric, Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, Rogue, Warrior, Wizard
Experience Modifier: None
Armor: Small


The only small race available for Mage, this is invaluable for using COTH to invite people from the entrance of zones. (We will cover this later). Any race can be shrunk and perform the same trick, but only gnomes can do this at all times with superior wall vision. Decent int, excellent starting zone and access to a library make them a good choice at any point during the timeline. Fresh start 8/10, Mature Server 10/10.


High Elf HIE

Faction Alignment: Good
Racial(s): Infravision
Starting City: Felwithe
Playable Classes: Cleric, Enchanter, Magician, Paladin, Wizard
Experience Modifier: None
Armor: Medium, Small


High elf has decent starting int, the highest charisma, which is actually nice. You will make more money vendoring items throughout the character's lifetime and it adds up. Greater Fay and Crushbone are noob friendly and full of cash making opportunities. Access to the library in Ak'anon as well as the dwarf and gnome starting zones. High elf is never a bad choice, just maybe not the best choice, but style matters and they have it. Fresh start 8/10, Mature Server 7/10.


Human HUM

Faction Alignment: Neutral
Racial(s): None
Starting Cities: Freeport, Qeynos
Playable Classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Enchanter, Magician, Monk, Necromancer, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Shadow Knight, Warrior, Wizard
Experience Modifier: None
Armor: Medium


Lowest int, male beard fashionquest, really good starting locations in Qeynos or Freeport, but the libraries are harder to access. No night vision, play a human to be more unique or to enjoy the advantages on an early server, they get a decent fresh start ranking purely because Qeynos, the Aquaducts, Blackburrow and the Karanas are such a good place to play. Fresh Start 7/10, Mature Server 5/10.

Starting Statistics
RACE STR STA AGI DEX WIS INT CHA BONUS
Dark Elf 60 75 90 75 83 109 60 30
Erudite 60 80 70 70 83 117 70 30
Gnome 60 80 85 85 67 108 60 30
High Elf 55 75 85 70 95 102 80 30
Human 75 85 75 75 75 85 75 30


As a general rule of thumb going 25 int/5 stam is a strong choice for any racial choice or playstyle. It wasn't until deep into Velious gear that I began to regret choosing 25 int at creation on the first Green server. I chose Dark elf, with 25 int and 5 str, and it served me well throughout the entire timeline. It wasn't until I started getting NToV caliber loot that I started going over 255 int, and even then as a raiding mage you will want to be using a Manna Robe anyway which will limit your int. The point is that going 25 int is never wrong, or a bad choice. In fact it is generally the best choice available for most players.

For Erudites on fresh start server I highly recommend going 25 int/5 agi to cover that agility gap. If you don't have 75 agility there is a run speed penalty when encumbered and an armor class penalty. On a mature server you can use items to cover this gap and instead I would recommend str or sta instead.

If you are the neckbeardiest of the neckbeards and know for sure that you will be gearing this toon out at level 60 with NToV quality loot then you absolutely want to go 25 sta / 5 int. The extra hit points will make a difference later and if you wanted to cap stamina as well as int, it's much harder without the creation sta. I also recommend 25 sta/5 int for experienced players who don't plan on using the character for coth bot status, and are going to twink it. I'll explain more on this later.

Experienced players can also choose 25 int/5 str at creation or a mix of the two stats. Str is very useful on fresh start servers and will pay for itself many times over being able to carry more loot out of a dungeon or exp session. Be wise about this and only choose str if you know what you are doing and understand you will lose out on stats at 60 that you might want at that point.

Deities

In general it doesn't matter what you choose at all, because the diety specific equipment is generally pretty bad for most diety/race/class combos. Bertoxxulous has some decent black sapphire gear, but is it worth being hated by everyone? Agnostic is the best choice for a mage, the only choice for a coth bot, and in general the best choice for most players. If you like the flavor of a diety, or want to roleplay, or just like the idea of it. Go for it! It doesn't matter and in the end, having fun on your character is most important.

Creation Recap

I'd like to stress here that no matter what you choose your character will do fine, and at 60 you will hardly be able to tell the difference. Play what you like and have fun, don't let anyone tell you what's best for YOU or how you choose to play. That being said there is definitely a min/max approach here and if you want to know what is technically the best, or what I recommend, keep reading. A lot depends on what your plan is for the character, is it a first character on a fresh start server that will become a coth bot later? Is it just a coth bot? Is this your main through Velious? Is this character just a fun side project that you enjoy leveling? Have you the longest neckbeard and want to know the absolute best way to create the character? Also please note that Erudite's may need +5 agi at creation to hit that magic 75 agi number.


Farming toon for fresh start Green destined to be a coth bot:

Race: Gnome
Diety: Agnostic
Starting Stats: 25 int/5 str

Coth bot:

Race: Gnome
Diety: Agnostic
Starting Stats: 25 int/5 sta

Main character through entire timeline:

Race: Any
Diety: Any
Starting Stats: 25 int/5 str or sta

Side Project:

Race: Any
Diety: Any
Starting Stats: 25 sta/5 int or str

Neckbeard Project:

Race: Gnome
Diety: Agnostic
Starting Stats: 25 sta/5 int


TLDR: Play what you like the best and don't let other people tell you that min/max is the only way.

[ya.dingus]

Originally Posted by Samoht [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Gnome, Brell, max out STR to start

You're welcome.

Why brell and str?

Just easy to get int gear now?

[Samoht]

Brell to not start KoS in the hole.

STR because some of the most easily obtainable ToV gear weighs a ton, and it doesn't matter how many weight redux bags you summon since those don't affect the gear you're wearing.

[sajbert]

What are you gonna do in the hole before ur KOS anyway?

[Crede]

Originally Posted by sajbert [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What are you gonna do in the hole before ur KOS anyway?

Nice for easy forming of docks groups to level your alts.