Wild Mages

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I need some clarification here. I think I understand the wild surge table. I think I understand how Chaos Shield works. The problem I'm having is with NRD. As I understand it, it allows you to cast any spell in your spellbook, regardless of whether you have it memorized or whether you're a high enough level to cast it. In theory, you can cast a time stop as a level 7 wild mage.

Here's what I don't get though - it seems like a very time consuming process to use NRD. First you have to cast Chaos Shield, then you cast NRD, and then you cast the spell. So even if everything goes correctly it's a three round process? I don't have that kind of time in the middle of a fight.

 

Well you don't technically have to cast Chaos Shield (and you can cast it before battle anyway) and the way Nahal's works keeps it from taking more time than the spell itself. You cast Nahal's and then you immediately select the spell you wish to cast and you begin casting that spell. Or you try at least. Now whether you cast that spell or turn yourself into a squirrel, you never quite can tell.

 

Oh? How long does Chaos Shield last? Several rounds at least? Or is it like a spell sequencer or contingency that once it's cast, it can be used when the situation arises?

 

It's not like a contingency. It has a duration but I don't quite remember how long since it's been a while since I've played a Wild Mage. It lasts a decent time though. Plenty enough for any battle I can think of.

 

I posted this in a thread some months ago. You can skip to the paragraph you're interested in. It details the wild mage's abilities, including NRD.

http://www.sorcerers.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/10/4438.html#000003

 

Ziad's post looks to be right on except for one part I'm not sure about. You said Chaos Shield adds 25 to the roll and Improved Chaos Shield adds 35. I thought Chaos Shield only added 15 and Improved added 25. I might be wrong, but that's what I remember. Can anyone clarify?

 

I just checked my ToB manual, and you are absolutely correct: it's 15 for Chaos Shield and 25 for the Improved version. No idea where I came up with these numbers. I'll fix the original post now.

Many thanks for pointing this out.

 

Just helping out. Overall, an excellent post on the Wild Mage.

 

Maybe you played the wild sorcerer too much, Ziad ? They get +33 bonus on many occasions includes "casting lv +5" as you mentioned

Oh yeah, you can cast NRD right after Chaos shield, no delay. Huge advantage untill you got Improved Alacrity, it is

 

Chaos shield will seem kind of short when you start. But as you level up and get into Improved Chaos Shield it will last quite a while. It's just like buffing after a certain point. You know you want to use NRD so you cast Chaos shield and it'll last you the whole battle usually. After a certain point at high level you don't necessarily need it but every little bit helps to keep you getting the good stuff.

But NRD only takes casting it and the length of time it takes you to choose a spell really. Then poof you get a strange affect. Just try not to drop cows on your own head.

 

What is wild sorcerer and where can I get one?

I want it if it is a mod!

One can never have enough mods eh?

 

It's a class added in Throne of Bhaal, the expansion pack. No ToB, no Wild Mage.

 

Ah I KNOW Wild Mage, I have ToB, I wondered what is 'Wild SORCERER?'. I am not that newbie!

 

@Silverstar - I think the only way you can get a wild sorcerer is to use shadow keeper. I've never done it before but I think the process is as follows:

Make a wild mage, and then use SK to change his class to a sorcerer. Then make a sorcerer, and copy the text of the sorcerer abilities, and add it to the text of the wild mage abilities (using SK again of course). Poof! Wild sorceror! Note that I think there are some significant problems with doing this though. I seem to remember thread where people were commenting that they weren't getting the new spell choices like they should at every level, and ended up having to use SK at every level up. Note that the idea behind a wild sorcerer is kind of pointless, as a sorcerer doesn't have a spell book, so NRD is just picking another spell that you're already able to cast. Other than avoiding the need to rest, you're not really gaining anything. With a wild mage, you are capable of casting spells that you are of insufficient level to cast otherwise.

OK, I think I have a better understanding of this stuff. I guess my next question would be is it necessary to have Chaos Shield up at virtually all times, or just when you anticipate casting NRD? The only benefit seems to be to get better wild surges. As such, if you KNOW you're going to get a wild surge, then you may as well make the most of it, but with just a 5% chance of a wild surge happening with a regular spell, is it better to take your chances? From what's being said, CS lasts about as long as a typical battle. That doesn't seem to be long enough to have it on continuously. Of course, it's a catch-22. It's at low levels that you're like to get the bad effects, and it's similarly at low levels where you can't cast ICS, and may not even have CS up at all times. At high levels, you can take your chances more, as you're more likely to get a good result anyway, but that's when you can raise the total signifcantly.

One more question - is it totally random? I understand that you're odds improve as you level up, but is it technically possibly to get a really good surge from a level 1 wild mage who doesn't have CS? Conversely, is it possible to get a bad surge with a high level mage? I understand you can't get a really bad one, because if you're level 20 you would add 20 to the roll, eliminating all the really nasty stuff at the bottom of the table, but there are still some not so great surges higher up the table.

 

Aldeth, I did mention a bonus +33 to the wild surge roll, didn't I ? You can't do that via Shadowkeeper

It's from the Arts of weaving mod. Pretty overpowered :
- 2 extra spell slots per lv (the manual says ONE, but from a sorcerer standard)
- casting lv varies +-5
- new special skill : unravel. Looks like a teleport field, everyone must save vs spell or be affected by wild magic, that means you can turn everyone around to wild mage, wild cleric, wild druid, wild fighter, ect... This spell ignores magic resistance, and gets save penalty later as you lv up.
- new HLA: tangle. Same effect as unravel, but only one target. You can pick it more than one time like critical strike.
- new lv8 spell : chaos armor. +33 on surge roll.
- new quest spell : Weaver's wicked dweomer. Same as NRD, but only 33% erupting a wild surge, also get +33 on roll if that happened.


Disavantages ? Bleh, -2 save vs breath weapon, slight fatigue penalty, and a small chance of magic blacklash. The biggest drawback is that they cannot scribe scrolls, pretty ruin the idea of a wildmage, as Aldeth said ._~

 

Ahh I had the mod but never installed it. Maybe I can try it if it is fun.

 

Let me rephrase what I said. The Improved Chaos Shield can last some time. So can Chaos shield once you get up there. and it's best to use if you know your going to do something to yourself. Sometimes they are good just to use just in case in an important battle. It will last you a couple of small skirmishes or so. But When you go into fighting say normal Sendai on Core. You should be able to fight her or other decent battles without worry of it failing you. So it does have some duration on it. I stop seeing the minor skirmishes as typical battles after a point because a lot of them just get to be annoyances. But something that is an actual battle it won't fail you.

You can still have really bad things happen to you at higher level. It's just that fewer of them exist higher up the chart. Being level 20 it's still a good idea to use it when you know your going to cause a wild surge to get those good affects. You can still get bad ones at this point. Because Level 20 and no Chaos Shield or Improved Chaos shield is the same as being level 10 and using it. Which you can still get some very gnarly things to happen to you. Some of the good affects are even double edged. Like Tensors Transforming your entire party in a battle that you need a fair ammount of magic in to dispell things and fight magic with magic.

But you can do tricks like double and quadruple castings at level 1 and level 41. What it does from my understanding is rolls a percentile. Then it adds Chaos shield or it's improved form. The exception is that if you do it on purpose with NRD You get to influence the roll with your level, and Chaos Shield or improved Chaos Shield. You'll be doing it on purpose more often than not and when you do it on purpose it's better to influence the roll by say 35 or 45 than it is by 20.

Anyway. by the time you get improved Chaos shield. You should only need say 2 or 3 memorized. And it's of a level that you get a fair ammount of slots. If your like me you'll probably keep a couple of Chaos shield memorized too. But at high level I basically took out most everything but NRD in my first level spells. At low level I needed something a little more reliable.

 

How do you know when you're going to get a wild surge? I used to think it was every time you cast a spell, but I created a Wild Mage in Tutu last night who's cast about six spells so far (I'm still right at the beginning), and she only got a wild surge once.

 

You have a 5% chance of getting a surge any time you cast a spell and you are guaranteed a surge upon casting NRD.

 

Apparently you can put multiple chaos shields in a sequencer/trigger or chain contingency and the effects will stack together. Even a lowly minor sequencer can fire off two regular chaos shields concurrently.