[Dedas]

Some other tips for your close combat mages:

*Reinvigoration is extremely valuable. High fatigue will soon kill even the best protected mage.
Some drawbacks of high fatigue:
Lowered attack (not always an issue for close combat spells)
Lowered defense (you don't want this!)
Much higher chance for a critical hit leading to halved protection, leading to more damage, leading to afflictions and even death.

*Never enter combat with high fatigue.
For example:
Don't cast too many buff spells as this can actually work against you. A nice balance is best. There are some spells and items that let you regain fatigue in combat that can help to counter this problem.

*Armor is good but not if it raises your spell casting encumbrance (different from regular encumbrance) too much. That could lead to a quick fatigue death.

*Check the temperature of the province you are attacking. A +2 in encumbrance may not be much for regular close combat, but this could quickly add up when casting spells. A fatigue 10 spell could suddenly turn into fatigue 15 (with regular encumbrance) meaning less defense and possibility of critical hits on your mage.

*A rule of thumb is to try and stay below 15 fatigue as long as possible as this means that no critical hits can be made. So don't enter close combat with more... or try to stay below 30 at least ("only" -2 in the DRN for critical hits). More on this can be found in the manual.