Playing as a Spellcaster

[Tahlathvan]

Hey all I was just wondering how a person could be a successful spellcaster in FRC. My main point of reasoning is that you can only rest for four hours game time (40 minutes) so how would you cast a lot of your spells. I know you can always purchase scrolls and wands but that means being a sorceror or wizard is expensive. Is there a way to gain you spells back without resting? Maybe some spellcasters can shed some light on this topic.

[Munroe]

You gain all of your spells back when you rest, and you can rest every four in-game hours. Each in-game hour is ten minutes so you can rest every forty minutes. Most of the time, characters will not need to rest this close together (except on some long adventures). Spellcasters should rely on other members of their party for aid during times when they cannot rest yet. If the 40 minutes between rests is a substantial problem, consider spending less time hunting. Time passes quickly in roleplay.

[DM the Usurper]

also remember that they are still effective in a party at least using a ranged weapon. Not every encounter needs to use spells to win. Like ol Kenny Rogers used to say..."ya gotta know when to hold em...know when to fold em...know when to walk away...when the dealings done"
yeah I don't know if that holds any relavance..but it was fun to sing along huh?

[Keetena]

You'll notice FRC is harder than many servers - but it is very balanced - it is not easy to anyone the time to rest - melee characters use many healing or potions as well, and gold isn't so easy - but you can have a lot of fun - just remenber in FRC we favor groups of PCS - soloing can be extremely difficult as you see, acting with a group have far more chances of success and by certain no one will wish stop to rest as soon as half of spells are gone

[soulfien]

I know what you're asking.... The problem lies with your spells not lasting the 4 game hours at low levels.

Solution? Find a party. It's probably the only way a low level spellcaster will be able to make it in FRC

[♥Zach♥]

What I personaly do is pick up a heavy crossbow and put some good distance between me and the monster then use spells, if that fails. Often running is the best tactic ;D lol

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

I would also recommend not playing a spellslinging evoker, as after about 2 monsters you will run out of spells. Perhaps focusing more on buffs (maybe even summons) would give you a bit more time between having to rest. But i have never played a mage on FRC so i wouldnt really know.

[soulfien]

Well at 1 round per level, summon spells hurt too at those low levels.

Find a party or make sure what you're fighting is really weak

[DM Richard (Retired)]

Spells like sleep that make groups of creatures easy to kill are handy when things start to get overwhelming.

A rod of frost is cheap (and they are also found often) and they can give you 25-50 killing attacks at low levels.

Your familiar is your best friend keep him alive and he will do a pretty good job of keeping you alive. (see 1st point again)

Spells that make you able to fight better can increase the length of time you last before you need to rest.

A spell I rarely see used that is awesome at low levels is the 0th level spell Daze. That can buy your familiar a couple of rounds to finish off a bad guy.

And lastly don't forget the part of the song Usurper left off... "know when to run".

[gathera]

At low levels particular for a sorcerer I found that summonings and your familiar was the best means to succeed. Being a good shot does not hurt either. Yes the summoning do not last all that long but likely they will persist for a few areas. So while one blue doom (scintillating sphere) will clear one area... mostly. The summoned dire wolf Will last for a few more combats. I found the same principle in effect for sleep versus the badger summoning. Sleep wins the day ... once. The Badger lasts enough for a few encounters. Also with both defending you, that leaves you free to do other things. The challenge (as I see it) will likely be at more the mid levels when the summonings and your familiar are quickly dispatched by the creatures you face. At this point the transition to "blowed up real good" spell casting seems to begin, at least in my experience.
At very low level even in a pinch at higher levels the wands of frost are great. They are inexpensive to purchase and often part of the treasure.

[Keetena]

Good tips DM Richard and Gathera

*should had thought in these before let Elorowin Moonflower suffer

[Thrym]

Dunno if it helps much, but here's how Zae survived the low levels: (Zae's a wizard, though most of it should work for a sorc as well.... but I dunno, I never play sorcerers )

Level 1/2:
This might be the hardest, but doesn't have to. Depends mostly on your familiar I'd say. Zae had Daebra (Hellhound), and therefore not much trouble. Most other familiars should work well as well, as most of them have DR 5/+1, wich renders them allmost immune to non critical hits by most lowlevel monsters. Spells I had prepared at that time were light, mage armor and protection from evil for me and Daebra, and perhaps a ray of cold or something. Buffing your familiar is in my opinion the best you can do at level one (without a party, that is). The DR 5/+1 allows him to harm all monsters with DR in the low level dungeons as well, so you don't really need magic weapon unless you have one of the familiars that have no DR (I don't know which one that are though). Another thing one should consider when choosing its familiar (save from the RP point of view) is that a familiar with only one natural attack is far better than one with two or three, as all weapon enchantments (Magic Weapon, Greater Magic Weapon, Flameweapon etc.) will only affect one of them, and the familiar seems to randomly use one of them.

Level 3/4:
Here came the first power boost for me. Extend Spell is a very, very useful feat on a server with shortened summon monster duration. An extended summon monster I is really worth that level 2 slot. Another spell you should pick up is flameweapon. Giving your familiar 1d4+3 fire damage for 3 mins is good. If you are a wizard and have money left over, it is also a good idea to write scrolls of it. They cost 150 gold and 6 xp, but in exchange for having to spent money, they have a casterlevel of 17, which means they'll give 1d4+10 damage for 17 minutes.

Level 5/6:
Level three spells ... well, I barely used them at the low levels. Spent my level 3 slots to prepare extended level 2 spells mostly. The boar is very nice, far stronger than the badger and at level 5 it lasts long enough with extend spell to clean out most of the kobold caves. Another spell I found very useful at this level was an extended ghostly visage, this turns one immune to the attacks of most low level monsters, and even to the spells of their shamans. With my level 6 feat, I had an unusual choice with Zae, but none I'd regret (though I don't really recommend it as well ). Combat Expertise gives a wizard +5 AC for basically nothing. You won't hit anything with your staff anyways, so you can as well boost your AC a bit while in melee. Zae could reach 28 AC (10 base +4dex +4magearmor +3shield +2barkskin +5expertise) at level six, and for dealing damage he had his summons with him after all, so the fact he could deal basically none himself did not really matter.

Level 7/8:
From this level on, you should have no problems anymore. Extended summon monster III is really nice, deals good damage, has a nice AC and losts really long now. Polymorph allows you to boost your AC to the stratosphere (Zae had 34-36 as an umberhulk with combat expertise). Improved invisibility gives you 50% concealment, and stoneskin ensures that you and your summons will survive hits. One should also know that stoneskin has the nice side effect that it allows your/your summons natural weapons to break through DR X/+5 as long as it lasts.

After level 9, you should not really have trouble anymore. Neutral Wizzies can use lesser planar binding instead of summon spells (note that the Red Slaad can pick locks... extremely handy!), evil wizards can use animate dead, and good wizards ... should better stay with extended summoning till they get that horribly broken archon at level 11.

Okay... hope there are one or two useful tips for the aspiring wizard player in there.

Shazzar

[soulfien]

another tip- the antuique shop in Isinhold sells wands of missiles for 2,300-2,700 gold. Cast at lvl 9, this baby is maxed out- 5 missiles per charge. Buy it and keep it for emergencies.

Also, grab that extend spell feat! It'll open the door for more powerful spellcasting!

[Grozer]

I'd have to agree at low levels the real key is your familar, protective oriented and summon spells. I also have to say I dont believe it is that hard to play a mage here, even with the rest limitations provided you use the right strategy. I have a wizard I play sometimes and to be honest when I do use him to kill stuff, I seldom use up all my offensive spells. I generally save them for the tougher battles.

Lastly while picking a familar for combat reasons or using them as a meatshield is not really the best RP, I think there are ways to approach this in character.

[marklar]

i play a lvl 8 wizard here from time to time probly only took me about 3 months to get that high of a lvl, and i really didn't find the server to be that hard for mages. i'd say just move slow with a familiar by your side always even when you get to be the higher lvls summons are good to have aswell if you get those spells. you'll find that at the low lvls it's hard with the spells not lasting long but they enemies are easy so it's fairly even but once you get to lvl 4+ your spells will start to last till you can rest when your spells run out. you'll find there aren't too many spell casters here so groups are dying for them especially if you can make it to the higher lvls where you'd be the most powerfull unit of the group.