What can magic healers do?

Arlien · 4 October 2020 15:08

Hi all! I’m a new player, obviously, with plenty of questions. The game is incredibly deep and interesting and so there’s definitely stuff I’m struggling with.

I made a character with the idea of being a fast response, magical healer. I specced into magic, giving myself three extra spells (heal, purify and restore limb), plus two extra mana. I also grabbed a mana site, cos I figured more mana is good, right?

Anyway, my question is, is this any good? Is this loadout going to be useful and effective on the battlefield?

Also, I know that money is a driving force for a lot of the world, and I’m not sure how a magical based healer would go about financing their own way. I obviously can’t charge the dying soldiers I’m saving, they’re putting their lives on the line for the Empire! So, how does a healing mage make money nowadays? I was thinking I’d have to grab a business or farm as a personal resource, but if there’s another way, let me know!

This post is a real ramble at this point, but what do healers do in their spare time? I understand there’s a medical tent of sorts, but if I haven’t specced into surgical skills at all, would I even be needed?

(I’m in nation Wintermark if that helps, and I plan on going into the event with a collection of friends who are also pretty new)

Thank you! Sorry for the rambles, though.

Noserenda · 4 October 2020 15:41

Oh ho healers getting compensated is a whole damn thing, veering towards IC opinion but the Imperial Religion is set up that people should not expect something for nothing but folks do anyway because humans

Magic healing is great for emergency use, its the fastest healing but you do pay for it past your initial mana. Id suggest selling your mana or trading it for mana potions as you get more mana for your money that way and mana is very much in demand for other things

The Hospital is a thing but it leans a lot more towards physiks and herb healing though im certain they wouldnt kick you out or anything!

Arlien · 4 October 2020 15:44

Okay, so if I want to make money I’ll have to find another way aha.

That does raise some questions I have about how mana works. Do we start with an amount of mana that regenerates? I couldn’t find anywhere on the wiki about how the system works but I may have missed it.

Geoffrey_Willoughby · 4 October 2020 16:12

Firstly, welcome along, to the game and these forums

My current character is a similar build to what you laid out:

It is quite effective on the battlefield. You’ll need to learn what your spells do, and perhaps practise a little as to how you do them (I have a song/chant that I use and memorised). With Extra Mana 1 you have 6 mana, which means you can get 6 fighters from 0 to full hits in 30 seconds… unless you use some mana for the other spells, or used Swift Casts a bit, or… well, see point 4. And yes, you can use crystal mana for that, but that gets expensive quickly.
If you are trying to finance yourself, your Crystal Mana is the most expensive resource on the field for a reason. As well as for spells, it’s needed for the large magical rituals (to the tune of 150 Crystal mana several times a day…), so there’s quite a demand for it. Shop around, sell it high, and keep back 2 or 3 nuggets for yourself, for those emergency castings of spells. As for getting money out of folk you’ve healed, well, see point 4
What healers do in their spare time is either (a) stuff towards being a better healer:
Getting stuff from others (see point 4). There’s an enchantment: House of Chimes, which allows the regeneration of personal mana. This means that you could feasibly spend it all in the morning, stop in Chimes for a meditation and tea, and then cast spells to help out on the Imperial Hospital for a while. Who will always be happy to entertain more healers of whatever stripe, whatever their capabilities. Do not start swapping tales of 'orrible traumatic wounds, you’ll be there all night…

(b) other stuff related to the setting. This leads into my usual piece of advice to new players, which is to have something to do in-game not connected with your skills.

My first character collected heraldry, and learnt every symbol people wear on the field
My second was bucking for the position of Admiral, tried to know every ship captain on the field, and organise them into mass raids. Oh, and argue for the virtue of Prosperity in Dawn.
My third has the hobby of “small children”, and also sells baked goods up and down the field.

All of them collected and recited stories and songs.

Heck, you can start by just asking “where are you from? What’s that like? What happened last year?”, and if you aren’t careful you’ll end up as the Ambassador to somewhere

More than fighters and battlemages and priests, the healers fight as part of a group. Maybe a Hall (in Wintermark), maybe a larger battlefield formation, maybe just accompanying their nation. You have to be part of a group (even a group of one), and everyone always wants to have another healer along.

From that, support and assistance and resources can be requested.
Eg, my character, this last year:
“I will need these potions to help with mana efficiency”
“For healing the House and allies in battle? Here’s the cash.”
“And these potions to distribute for emergencies…”
“Talk to X, get them to make some, tell them I said so. Anything else?”
“I’d like some Twilight Pauldrons in the future…”
“We’ll start saving up, you find an artisan, we’ll supply the funds…”

(Mageblood potions, Elixir Vitae, and Twilight Pauldrons for +mana)

Healers tend to end up with many friends. Everyone remembers that time you ran up to them and saved their life with 30 seconds of magic. You may not have much cash, but with a dozen healed warriors eager to buy you drinks and dinner and the like, and a group to supply your larger needs… what were you after the cash for?

Happy to answer extra questions

Edit: on mana

You start, with the mage skill, with 4 mana a day. With Extra Mana, that’s up to 6 a day. It doesn’t go very far, but in my answer above I touched on a few ways to spell it out/replenish it. You spend it at the rate of 1 per spell, sometimes 2. You can cast many spells as a Swift Cast version (Heal and Purify are different if Swift Cast), for 2 mana. Crystal Mana can be used for a spell up to 2 mana cost.
So you can cast Heal for 1 personal mana
Swift Heal for 2 personal mana
Heal for 1 Crystal Mana (bit of a waste)
Swift Heal for 1 Crystal Mana.

Keeping back a few crystal mana from the marketplace for emergency usage is therefore big and clever…

One by one their comrades vanished through the shimmering portal, back to Anvil. The howling of the Druj from the woods behind grew louder: they’d found their butchered patrol far too quickly. Edric walked steadily backwards, scanning the woods for movement, shield up with arrows already feathering it.
There! figures in the underbrush moving closer!
“Time to go Edric!” the tired voice of Aestan came from behind him. He darted a glance back; 20 foot to the portal, and only their exhausted healer remaining. Edric nodded and turned to dash back, and as he took his first stride, an arrow sped from the bracken to lodge in back of his leg.
He fell, and there was a howl of triumph from behind, and the stamping of orcish boots dashing for him. Edric looked up at Aestan, gritting his teeth against the pain, which prevented him screaming something along the lines of “Go! Save yourself!” Aestan had used all his power earlier, the orcs were closer by the instant and…
Aestan darted forwards and to one knee, his rune-carved stave jabbing into Edrics shoulder, a glowing nugget within his other hand. “By your oaths and mine, I bind your body whole this day!”
A surge of needling heat ran through Edrics body and he surged to his feet and ahead, Aestan scattered a handful of black dust as he spun and darted through the portal, the howls of the orcs behind him far too close, as he fell through, and back to Anvil. Thanks to Aestan, who always kept a Crystal Mana back for an emergency Swift Cast…

Arrows do Impale: does nothing to the shield, does 1 damage if it hits heavy armour, does 1 damage and incapacitates the location if it hits anything else. So to the (unarmoured) back of the leg, it can easily be a killer
Swift Restore Limb: 2 personal mana or 1 Crystal mana, only takes about 3 seconds vocal instead of 30. Restores the location but not the hit point.
And if you lose a leg, you can’t use it. No limping, no kneeling, no hopping… crawling, maybe.

Arlien · 4 October 2020 16:21

The mention of the Twilight Pauldrons has given me more questions aha.

I just read through some of the artisan rules, but it seems to be incredibly confusing. What’s the difference between each tier of production? Do the items last forever? How many items can artisans make? (I only ask this many artisan qs because one of our group wants to be one)

So, if I did buy the Twighlight Pauldrons and an Altruist’s Recompense (because I love the idea of self-healing) would they last forever or break eventually?

Thank you!

Geoffrey_Willoughby · 4 October 2020 16:48

(sorry, got carried away adding story as example above)

Ah, the Artisan Rules… they’re not easy

The difference between each tier of production is usually the amount of materials needed to make them. Free stuff also takes longer. So the highest tier stuff, at 40+ materials to make… still takes a month to make, same as the 7 material gear…

They do not last forever. They last a year (in-game), and come with a ribbon saying when they expire (eg: just before Event 4, 2019).

To make a magic item that lasts indefinately (known as an Artifact) requires Illium, a special magical material, in the same quantities as all the other materials (IE, to make an Artifact 40 material item would take 40 Illium). Illium is probably the most expensive thing on the field, due to a lack of supply (no player and very few nations get an Illium mine as a resource). Artifacts are Rare, there are likely less than a dozen of them on the field.

Happy to discuss Artisan at length, but there are several other threads on the subject in the New Player section

Emmanovi · 5 October 2020 06:15

As a magician, you can enter the Hall of Worlds (protip: do this on the Friday before you’ve spent any personal mana, then it doesn’t cost you any further mana for the rest of the event) and participate in Conclave, the gathering of magical minds!

There’s even a new Order all about magical healing - the Silver Chalice - which sounds like it might be right up your alley!

Jim · 5 October 2020 12:00

Actually you get 8 mana, as you get 2 personal per pick of the Extra Mana skill. Geoff you have more mana than you think! .

One thing you might want to consider is swapping Purify out for Chirugeon. If you have 3 spells, all your active skills are competing for your limited mana. When you’re out of mana, you have nothing more to do except “2 Hits and a melee weapon”. If you take Chirugeon, you can restore 1 hit to anyone who is bleeding out. Even if you’re out of mana. It means so long as there are casualties, you get fun.

You might also consider swapping your second pick of Extra Mana out for Battlemage as it doubles your HP. Mage armour is essentially a headband, big belt and bracers or shoulderpads. Which means self healing is much more efficient for a battlemage as you’ll heal 3 points per spell not 1. Which means it saves you mana on having to heal yourself.

In terms of not running out of mana to cast, there’s a potion called Mageblood. It gives you 2 personal mana back, and is therefore much better than a mana crystal if you have the time to spend on a 30s heal. You can trade your mana for money, or maybe directly for those potions.

MrK · 17 October 2020 14:02

Just on the subject of one of your earlier questions about cash flow, it’s worth noting that money isn’t necessarily all that important to the heroes at Anvil.

To be clear, it can be important, and to some people it’s extremely important. But it doesn’t have to be. There are no upkeep costs on your resources, you don’t have to pay to get things repaired and food costs are a “real life” issue rather than an IC problem.

The money that characters get in their packs is their “spending money” all the representatives at Anvil are important people in their own right and have significant resources compared to the average citizen. Many players get by on the basic allowance, spending coin either on a few extra mana/potions or complete luxuries like cakes and alcohol.

Obviously if you want to set out to make money then you can, and if you want some fancy magic items then you’ll need to trade for the resources required to make them, but it’s entirely possible to play through multiple events ignoring your IC finances completely.

If you decide that you do need money, then as Geoff has already pointed out Mana is like Gold, it never goes out of fashion. There will always be traders willing to give you coin or resources in exchange for any mana crystals you don’t need.