Gems, fatigue and increasing magic levels

[Reay]

I thought you start losing hp after 200 fatigue? But the mage had 30hp so it would not have died. I guess the AI just tries to minimize the hp loss/unconsciousness?

Otherwise if thejeff is correct then the only way I could cast Returning is to lift my mage's astral level to 2. If Returning costs 2 gems to cast, can I use another 2 gems to increase my level by 1 and reduce fatigue? If I can not then I would still have the same problem with the AI not casting due to fear of death. This does not sound right..

I think what happens is that your astral level 2 mage will only cast Returning if it has at least 3 gems so it could reduce fatigue to 100. When the mage is astral level 1 it can only increase the level to 2 and not reduce fatigue and thus will not cast it.

Oh well time for experimentation.