Archmages mod

[Nerfix]

Hello! This is a ridiculously simple mod which alters the magic paths of about all so-called "rainbow mages". The mages now have at least two diffrent start paths (the two Archmages have three). This should let the player give them a wider arcane spectra without sacrifing great amounts of design points. The mages stay as brittle as they were before modding.


Newest version: 1.1

- Great Seer of the Deeps is now Ethereal.
- UW Archmage costs 40 design points
- AG Archmage costs now 45 design points
- Skratti has 1 Water 1 Blood to start with
- Great Sage Astral -> Fire
- Added #clearmagic switches to prevent overlapping with other mods

[Endoperez]

The Great Sage has Air 1, Astral 1. I think the Astral should be changed to Fire, to make him have more in common with the human form of Red Dragon pretender. Air should be left because it is used to make Owl Quills.

The addition of paths has unbalanced some choices. Mainly, some mages started with no magic and got two paths, while others got just one. And you forgot Skratti.

[Nerfix]

Damn, I had a feeling I forgot something. Oh well, Skratti is getting his fix.

Don't the ones who got 1 pic in the vanilla game have some abilities that make up for their price?

[Endoperez]

Crone: 1S1N, four misc slots, 25 points
Freak Lord: 1N1B, 3 misc slots, defense 20, trample, map move 3, 40 points
Great Sage: 1A1S, research bonus, 35 points
Arch Mage: 1F1A1S, defense 17, good map/battle movement, 30 points
Arch Mage (underwater): 1A1W1S, def 19, aquatic, 3 misc slots, 0 points
Great Enchantress: 1E1S, gem generation, 55 points
Master Druid: 1E1N, poison immunity, Vine creature bonus, Stealth, 55 points
Frost Father: 1A1W, cold immunity & chill aura, 55 points
Serpent King: 1D1N, poison immunity, second form, 45 points
Master Alchemist, 1F1E, alchemy bonus, 50 points
Great Warlock: 1S1B, 19 hitpoints, 55 points
Great Seer of the Deeps: 1W1S, amphibian, 55 points
Arch Druid: 1A1N, stealth, recuperation, fast move, 55 points
***** Queen: 1N1B, regeneration, 25 hits but prec 5 in wolf form, 40 points
Arch Seraph: 1A1W, flying, cold immunity, 65 points
Smoking Mirror: 1F1D1B, 14 hp and second shape, 70 points


It is more balanced than I thought. The fact that the 0-pick mages get more out of the change seems to balance things rather than unbalance things. There is still the problem of some abilities being more powerful than others for the same price (Great Sage is better than Arch Mage for 5 points, 1 pearl/turn is better than cold immunity&aura etc) but because they start with different magics, one might actually use different ones for different purposes. There isn't a real difference before level 4s, though.

I would still give the above-ground archmage cost of 45, as only official 3-pick rainbow is 70 points and has second form but has new pick cost of 20 points.

And Atlantis has no reason to take the Great Seer of the Deeps instead of the underwater Archmage, as the latter has one misc slot more (can go above water with 2 mist slots left for items other than Amulet of the Fish), gets one more pick, and is 55 points cheaper. Maybe the Seer could be ethereal? It wouldn't protect against magic, and taking him to battle tritons would be risky, but he would probably survive against other indies.

[Nerfix]

Maybe I should give the UW Archmage a price?

[Endoperez]

The underwater Archmage is just outright better than Great Seer of the Deeps. You would have to make the Archmage more expensive than the Seer, and then depending on if you want Air or not one is always better than the other. You have to make them different somehow if you want them both to be usable.