[Blitz]

My choice as the best mage is the Fortune Teller. At one time I thought these guys sucked, but boy was I wrong. While not as magicly versatile as the Master of the Way, the FT is surprisingly powerful. She comes in four Versions. All of them are good communion slaves and mind deulers, and can use arcane probing to search for astral sites. They can forge the excellent level 1 astral items. Additionally, the four can do a lot of things with their random pick. The double astral ones can cast Paralyse and Mind Burn. They can forge a starshine Skullcap and access the excellent level 3 Astral Line. The Death/Astral mages can search with Dark Knowledge. Nether Darts is a powerful combat spell. The Nature/Astral Versions can use healing light and forge wine skins. And the Blood/Astral mages are the ultimate Communion OR sabbath slave and excellent blood hunters, as their event-predicting abilities are at their strongest when spread all over the map.

The Seraph is a much better combat mage, but nowhere near as versatile. The Master of the Way is a better forger, but can't match the battlefield astral power of the Fortune Tellers. Siethkonas are better researchers and are versitile on the battlefield, but can't blood hunt and don't come in 2 astral Versions.

Taking everything into consideration, I think the Fortune Teller is the clear choice as the best cheap national mage in the game.