New Wanna be battle Mage

New Players
1

Hi I’m new to anvil.

My friends and I are looking to start next season and had some questions about weather or not I understand artisan right.

When I was first assigning xp I decided on magician, battle Mage, one extra manna and 3 extra spells. This would give me 6 manna and 3 useful spells.

But if I went for artisan instead of the spells and manna I could get somthing like a rod of imperial mastery giving me all the spells?! Then robes that gave me +2 manna and somthing like a belt that gives me and extra hit point.

I understand these items will be temporary. But is this extra power worth forever playing catch up. Getting the reasorces to make a new staff when the starting one runs out in 9 months? Is this me trying too hard? Am I missing anything that I should know?

Any advise would be greatly aprietated.

Edit: my mistake has been pointed out. I recon I’ll avoid artisan for my first time round.

Any general battle Mage or first timer tips would still be greatly received.

2

You won’t be able to start the game with a staff of imperial mastery, as it is too expensive.

As a new artisan you would start with

  • 3 seasons left on a zero resource cost item
  • 2 seasons left on a less than 10 resource cost item
  • 1 season left on a less than 20 resource cost item

The staff of Imperial mastery costs 7*8 = 56 resources

Unless you have a rich benefactor or a large group of friends willing to throw their stuff into you getting this staff, it will take you many seasons of trading and saving to make your first staff for yourself.

However, the main power of an artisan is in making items for others and charging them for the work done. They provide the money or resources, you either buy the resources needed (pocketing whatever extra there is based on you making good deals) or simply hand them in to make the item during your downtime.

I personally rank artisan as better than spells and mana, because it gives you far more versatility, but in the short term, you are likely to be worse at doing things than someone who spent their skill points on direct skills.

3

Someone’s been watching Tabeltop Weekly then :wink:

As MicasStorm points out, the Staff of Imperial Mastery is a very expensive item. Unless you have a group behind you, or some other way of earning serious cash, it could take years of saving up to be able to make one.

As a battlemage myself I would advise taking 1 extra spell (Shatter or Repel for offence, Heal or Mend if you want to play defence) and 1 extra mana to start with. Learn how to use that spell in combat and then slowly start expanding your repertoire.

Magic items should be used to enhance abilities, not replace them entirely. Otherwise if and when you lose them you’re stuck.

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4

Yea I have been. It’s what got my mates and I hooked.

And I knew I must have been missing somthing.

It would seem going for extra spells and manna is the way to go.

Does one rank of manna and 3 spells seem like a good idea. Virsitility and less spam seems better in my head. Although I have not expernced what battles are like so I could be misguided.

Also while I have people here. Does anyone know a good place to buy Mage armour. Seems harder to find that your average metal stuff. Are there key words I could be searching?

5

The reason it is suggested that you get the spells slowly and carefully is so you don’t end up with a spell (like Trot has done) that you don’t like or want to use. Sure, you can one day have all the spells, but if you try each one out in turn, you can figure out what is best.

For instance, if you start with repel, you might find that you like it so much that you never use venom or paralyse.

6

Mage armour is usually made of leather or a plastic-like substance. Your best bet is to look at traders who will be at the event, and see what they do:

https://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Traders

7

For spells, its also worth looking at Paralyze. Its a really useful spell for singling some one out.
Are you thinking Staff, Sword and Rod, Rod and Board?

8

My initial thinking was going with a staff.

Am I Right in thinking that you can damage people by hitting them with it. So no need to also carry a sword (unless I wanted hero skills)

And initially I was gunna take repell as it’s only 1 manna seems useful in many situations. Paralyse and also either heal or empower so Becase aparently it’s expected in dawn.

9

Yes you do 1 damage by hitting someone with a staff, and would need 2 hands to manage it really so a sword not needed, unless you want it as a back up weapon in case a monster shatters your staff.

10

For mage armour I wear a shoulder guard, bracers and a hero belt, all made by Darkblade

Shoulders:
http://www.darkbladeuk.co.uk/leather-larp-armour/leather-larp-shoulder-armour

Bracers:
http://www.darkbladeuk.co.uk/leather-larp-armour/leather-larp-arm-armour

Hero belts:
http://www.darkbladeuk.co.uk/larp-costume/larp-belts

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11

Don’t think that anything is “expected” of you in any nation, yes empower is nice to have but don’t feel you need to. If you’re in Dawn then I would go full battle-mage to start with and then you can add some ritual magic and join a coven later rather than being an artisan.

There are a bunch of very cool and useful spells like Crimson Ward of Summer Stars, Crumbling Flesh and Withering Limbs, Call Down Lightning’s Wrath, Shared Mastery of the Magician’s Guild and Illuminate the Higher Mind which are very handy for Battle Mages. So see what covens are around and offer to pick up a mastered ritual alongside one that’s useful to you :slight_smile:.

Mage Armour wise, a classic look is a Hero Belt, a Circlet and say some Leather bracers with some runes painted on them.

For a secondary spell I will always sing the praises of Restore Limb over Heal, as being dropped and being unable to move while retreating or in other situations will get you and your mates killed every time.

But picking up a Mazzarine Spindle or Acolyte’s Mercy isn’t that expensive and is a handy way of giving yourself an extra spell while saving the tasty tasty XP.

My personal favourite mage armour is Sunfire Pectoral but to be honest they’re all good if you can get your hands on them :slight_smile:.

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12

At what point does a belt become a hero belt? Is there a hard and fast definition? Or is it just the general feel. Does it have to have a large circular piece on the front? Or do the double layer thick belts also count?

And people talking about painting runes. Can I do that myself? Does acrylic paint work? Or do I need spetialist stuff?

13

Big belt ideally with space on the front to paint some runes is the classic look.

And I’ve used this kind of leather paint successfully: https://angelusdirect.com/collections/paint

14

Wow I didn’t expect everyone to be this nice and his helpful. Thanks so much everyone. If people have anything else tips and tricks wise then please do keep them coming

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15

Yup, we’re a helpful bunch here.

A note re Artisan: I takes either a lot of friends or a good amount of trading to get the stuff you need to make the stuff you want. This can be a lot of fun, or a hassle, depending on what you want to be doing.

But as you noted, it’s very difficult to START as an Artisan Battlemage.

Having one guy in the group with Artisan and a couple of shiny recipies that they can make is a good idea, as is thinking a little about personal resources for your group.

As a battlemage, you could run pretty well with nothing, but a Mana Site will give you a nice little stash of Crystal Mana every event, to use in emergencies or in rituals.

16

Welcome aboard! I played a Dawnish battlemage for the first time at the July event. (not my first ever event though)

With regards to the artisan thing: it might be possible and finding a way to make it work could provide you with an interesting game. If there are a handful of you who coordinate your known items and resources (mines/forests), you could find yourself able to keep yourselves in a cycle of making each other good equipment and trading the surpluses.

I quite like the look of the cheap staves that give you two castings of an offensive spell per day - eg Enfeebling Echo, and a Warmage’s Belt to keep me on my feet. It wouldn’t take much coordination to work out a group that could keep everyone in both items on a permanent basis, and still have resources/items to trade away.

I considered it myself but decided I’d probably have more fun not being an artisan but taking extra mana and spells. The Heal and Empower suggestion comes right from the War witch section, and it is why I chose to start with those spells. I didn’t get anywhere near as much use out of Empower as I had expected, but I am keeping it and will just make it more known that I have it next time I go into battle! I agree with Mark about Restore Limb, I really missed not having it, so I boguht it with XP.

For weapons: I went onto the battlefield with a staff and a short rod. (imagine the magician’s equivalent of a short sword). It’s weird to carry weapons around Anvil with you all the time, but a short sword or rod is practical. My staff is stab-safe, six feet long and was my primary way of dealing damage, especially from the second rank over the shoulder of or between Dawnish knights. This also meant I could see who was taking a beating and escort them back a few paces behind the line to heal them and get them back in the fight. Carry a bag with bottles of water too and you’ll make a lot of friends!

One cool thing you can do with a sword as a mage is to cast Empower on yourself then use it to deliver a CLEAVE. It’s a bit awkward to do and I’ve never done it succesfully. Easier if you are fighting with a rod in one hand and a sword in the other, but you need the Ambidexterity skill for that.

Mage armour: It is very hard to find off the peg. The best way to do it I have found is to look for lighter armour items and either have them customised or do the customisation yourself. Other people who are better at crafting than me have made their own entirely from scratch.

I had some customised pieces made by Darkblade. You can see I have dark blue leather engraved with astronomantic symbols representing my favourite constellations to do magic with! Strictly I don’t need the gorget/pauldron piece for full covereage but I wanted it anyway.

Mage armour living room
Mage armour living room720×960 78 KB

If you want to make your own, you can paint with acrylic paints on fabric, it works remarkably well. Before I decided to splash out on the heavy leather mage armour above, I was going to make some with some cheap padded bracers, greaves and gorget and painting on appropriate symbols. This is a tutorial on painting banners for LARP, the same technique works for painting runes, heraldry, etc.

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17

I was at a high combat player event last weekend and have over half the spells, the ones I actually used were:

Heal. A LOT. About 10 - 20? There was a Chamber of Delights so mana refresh happened on a regular basis.
Restore limb - About 5?
Mend - about 3 times?
Purify - about 3 again, once on a weakness I cast (see below)
Paralyse - once, when it was that, someone else stops healing someone, or fight something nasty on my own.
Weakness - once to break a curse.
Voice for the Dead - once in a failed attempt to prod some plot.

I didn’t actually use repel even once.

I don’t have empower, venom, shatter or entangle but didn’t wish I did. I used to have empower but swapped it out when the rules changed (I liked being shatter battery).

In summary, I find healing and fixing way more useful than offensive.

18

I’ve heard the term stab safe thrown around a lot. From what I have gathered it means a big squashy bit on the end. So you can stab people. But none of the staffs I’ve been looking at have been advertised as stab safe.

If I get a normal staff am I gunna get yelled at by a ref if I lightly poke someone to deliver a spell? Am I gunna be useless in the back line if I can’t stab. Or being 6 feet tall, would a more swishing motion be allowed/ useful.

19

Stab safe weapons, as you’ve guessed, have a big squishy end often made of softer upholstery foam or similar. In Empire, only spears/polearms/staves are allowed to be used for thrusts, and only if they are considered by a weapons checker to be constructed in a stab safe manner. I think it unlikely that a referee will interrupt you mid fight to check if your weapon is stab safe, unless a player you’ve hit complains to them that they think you are thrusting with a non-stab safe weapon or just been hitting too hard without pulling your blows (which is completely reasonable for them to do if someone is doing those things). So, if your weapon ISN’T stab safe you shouldn’t ever thrust with it, even for a ‘light poke’. You can’t predict how people you are hitting or people around you are going to move in a battle, so what you think is gonna be a light poke could suddenly turn into a jab if your target lurches forward or you get accidentally pushed. I’ve fought in the second rank with a 6ft staff before that wasn’t stab safe, and at slightly under 6ft I was managing to get hits in without needing to thrust. If you want a stab safe staff so you can thrust if you need/want to, ask the weapons maker directly if their stock is stab safe, and if not some of them may be open to doing a commission for you.

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20

Examples of what to look for http://www.irregularprops.com/staffs-and-polearms.html can be found here.

You are looking for things with big heads, there are some around on the field, ask some of the traders to bring some down.

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