How fun is a Wild Mage?

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I know that their magic is sometimes random effects but how often?
How fun is a Wild Mage?

 

The Wild Mage can be the strongest or the weakest kit in the game. It all depends on the results you get. If you like to play safe though it plays pretty much like a regular mage plus a few positive/negative hiccups every once in a while. Mostly positives at higher levels. It gets more castings of higher level spells per day than any other mage (even beating sorcerers if you only count high level spells) thanks to Nahal's Reckless Dweomer.

It can be incredibly fun to play but it's definitely not a good kit for people who want a safe game (which means as little reloads as possible). What makes the kit unique is the Nahal's Reckless Dweomer spell which allows you to cast any other spell in your spellbook, often with unpredictable results.

 

I think they are more fun than the other classes.

The class is worth at least a cow.


Paracelsi is right about them basically functioning like a mage. If you're worried about stability you also have the rest of your party as a back up.

 

It's a cross between a mage and a stockbroker. There's profit to be reaped, but the risk can be great. Every normal spell has a 5% chance of a wild surge, and that can be a good or bad thing. Usually bad, since the spell you were counting on was not cast. Even though it's 50-50 that the surge will be 'beneficial', it remains to be seen whether the benefit is of any practical use in your situation.

Nahal's Reckless dweomer basically activates a wild surge. Most of the time anyway. As you can see in the surge table, rolling 100 would allow the spell to cast normally. In the case of NRD, the mage adds his own level to the dice roll. So, a level 12 mage has a 13% chance to actually cast the spell successfully. Yay.
Reading that table, I'm sure wild mages seem like a lot of fun. But I'd reload if surges occur like "The caster's gender changes " or "All the party's gold is destroyed". I really hope that you get some kind of in-game message of the effect, otherwise it might be a nasty discovery *after* you saved. I do wonder if the surge "All doors in area of effect open." can open locks that are impossible to unlock...

There are mod spells available for wild mages, that add things like 'chaos shield', which protect you from bad surges, by the way.

 

"A cross between a mage and stockbroker."

Wow. That's probably the most awesome way of putting it.

But yeah, can be frustrating and awesome in so many ways.
(I'm a regular when it comes to playing this class.)

Casts a spell to help your buddies in a fight; Opens Gate.
The thing that comes out of it butchers everyone.

And if you add the Wilde Mage Additions Mod....it'll be even more awesome.

 

Give me a Magic Missile for my lvl1 spells, thank you very much. I'll pass on the Recklessness.

 

I'm partial to Chromatic Orb myself.

 

I edited Jaheira to be a Fighter/Avenger, so I leave Chromatic Orbs in her capable hands. Still, Magic Missile shouldn't be underestimated as a reliable source of damage with no saving throw. I'm sporting overpowered mod weapons myself, so when I do resort to magic, it's usually something tough with high saving throws. 5 successful missile hits beats a lvl12 Chromatic Orb. Why? I have main character, Imoen, Edwin, and edited Viconia to simultaneously cast MM at any enemy, for 20 hits (spell resistance can seriously frustrate, though). If they were casting Orbs, it might result in 4 measly hits and 4 successful saves. But Jaheira is there to see if there's a weak saving throw to be exploited

 

WILD SURGE: COW FTW!