Spell Casters

[radagast]

I was wondering if anyone thinks spellcasters are still worth the effort building with summons nerfed, spells nerfed and the poor old shield mage being pretty much obsolete.

In the event last night (which i thank everyone for organising  ) I got a maynards staff as a prize and wondered whether sorcerers/wizards are still worth building as i dont see that many any more (probably more wizards than sorcerers these days!

Also if using a magic staff for fighting does it count as a quarterstaff? e.g. if i took improved crit quarter staff does it tranfer to magic staff?

[ollebroc]

There are many great casters out there. There's a few that can solo many places. 

The magic staff(no focusing) is not considered a quarterstaff, however the Black Staff spell will work on magic staves.   

[locmer]

I made a high level gondor wizard way back and I can say I had alot of fun playing it.
Leveling that character wasn't too difficult and ones it reached 40 it could really support a party in raids like MM or even Barad Dur.
Think of a mass haste cast by a lvl 35 wizard or Mindblank or any of those nice spells to strengthen a group.
Also Interposing hands are quite usefull.
And then the old Horrids still come in handy in certain area's to clean up the road ahead.
I see them mainly as a utility build. If you go wizard you can easily adjust to certain situation by changing spells.

I'm making a mordor variant atm, but have focused him around the abjuration school to see if the new updates on spells from this school are if anything usefull to have.
Buy a volume from the cheap merchant who sells the ressurection chains.
There are alot of updates summarized in there. Maybe something will catch yer eyes 

Good luck building that uber wizard!

[radagast]

Thanks for the replies .. most informative 

I used to have the standard sorcerer/pm build but since the wipe I havent really bothered with spell casters but i will give your suggestions a try 

[Abimael]

Many, many, MANY spells have been changed, and all for the better

For example, an evocation specialized Mage gets an awesome Great Thunderclap that forces your enemy to roll 3 saves for almost 18 seconds disabling and an uber Meteor Swarm that can easily reach I think +250 damage with 30+ clvls.

Also, Enchantment + Necromancy + Conjurarion speced wizards... now, just read Essays in Magic that you can buy on noob vender at each city and you'll see what I mean.

Mages are now VERY powerful, just know how to use them ;)

[Endlessorrow]

I have soloed many areas with my sorc. some usualy done by party like ossgiliath old palace. and some usualy done by dragons or shifters like Theodens hall and serpent bosses. Most of my good gear has come via soloing with my sorc. and 1 on 1 pvp He is very tough  absolutly striping every buff with a lvl 35 Mordor disj is handy

[Terrorble]

I hope the abjuration focus benefits help.  I want to develop that aspect a bit further still.

Meteor swarm could potentially do 20d6 fire/ 20d6 bludge + 4d6 bludge iirc with all the evocation focus feats for a level 40 pure wiz or sorc.  Builds without improved evasion really get hammered by it.

The most significant changes have to do with the AoE spells.  I raided MM with my wizard with 60AC, 240hp (not PM) and my dragon and managed to clear most of the bridge between 3-4 tries.  Those AoE spells are very good against NPCs who can't maneuver out of them.

Circle of death is uniquely handy in that death magic immunity does not stop it.  It can do some huge damage in some cases.  Harder NPCs make their save often, but not always.