Raising Magery Skill
Skill	Remarks
0 to 32	Buy it in the mage shop! Say 'Merchant teach magery' to a mage in there. It will only cost 300 gold and be well worth it! :)
32 to 41	Lvl 3/Lvl 4 Mixture, with more focus on Lvl 3.
42 to 54	Any Lvl 4 spell. Emphasis on Recall, Greater Heal, Lightning, and Fire Field. This is probably the easiest step because Recall and Greater Heal are used quite often for teleportation and healing purposes. Lightning is a good attack spell in the harpy room, and Fire Field is great for building resist/killing creatures as long as other players aren't around.
55 to 64	Any Lvl 5 spell. Emphasis on Summon Creature, Incognito, Blade Spirit, and Magic Reflect. Summon creature and incognito are great spells not only because they can be used for training, but because they are "fun" spells. It's nice showing off your powers in town by summoning creatures or by fooling your friends by incognito and asking them silly questions. Blade Spirits are great creature killers as long as there are no other players around. Noto PK's love to walk up to your blade spirits, get hit by them, and then attack you. Magic Reflect is a great spell to have on a macro (F7 for me) so you can quickly cast it if a PK attacks you.
65 to 71	Any Lvl 6 spell. Emphasis on Energy Bolt, Invisibility, Explosion, and Mark. E-bolt and Invisibility are great spells and don't require many reagents. Explosion is also a nice attack spell. Great for when you're tackling an earth elemental in Shame. Mark is great because now you can make your own recall runes. Mark everywhere. I carry 4 recall runes on me and have about 20 in the bank! :) Mark to all your favorite places in town so you don't have walk there (mine are the bank, all alchemist/magery shops, general store, and an inn).
72 to 82	Any Lvl 7 spell. Emphasis on Flamestrike, Gate Travel, and Polymorph. Flamestrike works great on bone knights or any other monster. Gate Travel is GREAT because it builds skill like crazy. Instead of recalling everywhere, gate there instead. Also Gate Travel can be used to escort NPCs and that way make some money to pay for your magery study. Polymorph is a really fun spell, but I wouldn't suggest casting it around people in town. Noto PK's might get to you! :) If they do, I would suggest running and waiting for at least two minutes. If the polymorph wears off within those two minutes you will be blue to everyone except to your attacker. To him you will be grey until the combat flagging wears off.
83 to 90	Flamestrike is really the best option here. It is very cost-effective getting you into the low 90's.
90 to 100	Any Lvl 8 spell. Emphasis on all summon spells. Go to the middle of town and show off your powers. Tell those that are trying to cast Lvl 5 Summon Creature not to give up, and at one point in time you were just as they were. Now you're starting to get a feel of what it means to be a mage.

The Do's and Don'ts of Being a Mage There are few things that a mage must never do, and there are some things that a mage must do. Reagents: How much to carry. If you are going magery building in a cave/dungeon, I would not suggest carrying more than 60 of each reagent on you. Sure, if you carry more, but what if you die? You'll lose quite a bit. If you are not going magery building and just hunting for gold/other skills, carry anywhere from 30-40 of each reagent. Thieves: How to Prevent Disarmament Mages are sitting ducks to thieves. The thief is seemingly minding his/her own business, and then BOOM! He/she runs up to you and steals all your black pearl. Now you're stuck not able to Recall out, Energy Vortex, or Energy Bolt him/her. You could try to use Flamestrike or Explosion, but the thief will just run off screen and then run back and steal more reagents off of you. The way to prevent this is to divide your reagents up into multiple piles. Instead of having 1 pile of 30 black pearls, have 5 piles of 6 black pearls. Even if he/she manages to steal some of them off of you, you'll still have plenty of reagents to blow his/her head (and any other body part) off. Another good tactic is to store your reagents in a box an cast Magic Lock on it. Although the box is locked, you can still use the reagent that are in it. Insta-Res: NEVER EVER DO THIS It is a common misbelief that if you have just died, are lost, and are carrying a lot of reagents on you, it's "okay" to insta-res. NEVER DO THIS! If I was carrying 500 of each reagent and I died, I would NOT insta-res. It will cut more out of your magery than you would be able to gain from what you lost. Most likely you will never be carrying more than a 100 of each reagent (and you should never carry over 60 of each anyway). Just because you're lost doesn't mean you can't find your way back. Retrace your steps. If you find a river, follow it. They often lead to towns. House Buying: Should I Sacrifice Skill for a House? The answer is yes. I would suggest slowly saving up for a small house. Houses are great safe havens not only to store all your valuables but great for working up your magery without having to worry about thieves or PKs. If you are going to cast spells in your house, it is safe to carry ALL your reagents with you. However, don't go and save all your money for a huge house. Slowly save up money. The Bone Knight room in Deceit is a great place for money. Flamestrike the evil creatures there and grab the plate/money they drop. They carry such great items that by the time you are overweight from carrying it all, you will have made more money than you have spent. Spend enough money to purchase all the reagents that you used up and throw the rest into your bank for your house fund. I've made 22k a day down in the Bone Knight room. I spent two weeks there� let's just say I got a ton of skill off of it and I own a very big and luxurious house :) PKs Dead Ahead! When you see a PK, you can do one of three things: Recall out as fast as you can. Fight the PK. Run a bit, hide, and hope the PK forgets about you and attacks someone else. If you are a good spellcaster and there is only 1 PK, I would suggest #2. If you are not a good spellcaster or there are a group of PKs, do #1. Only do #3 if you don't have any mana left. Wait until you have 11 mana and then RECALL OUT! If you are a high-level master mage or grandmaster mage, I would suggest taking then on unless there are more than 2 PKs. So How does a Good Mage Fight in Battle? There are two different methods to killing people. They are: Energy Bolt Method. The first step is to determine if they are a mage or if they are a warrior by looking at their hand. If they are carrying a weapon in it, they are a warrior. If not, they are a mage. If the latter is the case, cast Magic Reflect first, followed by Magic Arrow (the Magic Arrow will nullify their Magic Reflect). Do the same to warriors except cast Protection on yourself instead of Magic Reflect. Then you should begin the Corp Por-ing. Do it until they die. If they live and you only have 11 or less mana left, quickly whip out your weapon of choice and fight them. If worst comes to worst, recall out. This method only works in one-on-one battles. Energy Vortex. This spell makes the mage absolutely deadly. No need for anything else. Simply Energy Vortex the square right next them and watch them drop. This is only for mages who are near GM level. If there is another PK near, EV him/her too. You probably won't have the mana for it though, and should probably whip out an attack weapon. This method works best in one-on-one and one-on-two battles. Note that an Energy Vortex will target the person with the highest Intelligence. Do not cast it too close to yourself. What Should I Aim for Skill-wise? Being a good mage does not mean having ONLY Magery and Resisting Spells. A good mage is well rounded and is prepared to fight in a physical battle lest more enemies set upon him/her and thy mana run low. These are the skills that you should aim for:

Recommended Skills for Combat Mages
Strength	70 to 80
Dexterity	60 to 70
Intelligence	75 to 100
Magery	100
Resist Spells	100
Evaluate Intelligence	100
Meditation	100
Wrestling	100
Sword/Mace/Fence/Archery	100
Tactics	100

The Close As a mage, it is my duty to enlighten others so that they may make the pilgrimage to the path of Honesty and Power. The point of knowledge is to avoid repetition and to allow people to choose what path they wish to take in life. Your path has been completed and you will (with time) ascend to your grandmaster title! It's been a hard journey, and you still have some way to go, but the worst has past and the only thing left is glory. Your enemies will tremble before your awesome power. People will admire your majestic aura that surrounds you. Congratulations! You are a mage, controller of elements, master of all that surrounds you. Sacrifice has paid off in ways that were unimaginable until now. So, how does it feel to have the best character in the whole of Britannia? - Eliot Karpi, Napa Valley

 

The Pure Mage, by Shakkar; Edited by Xena Dragon

The Pure Mage This article has two parts: To develop a mage character, which has lots of crass numbers and statistics, and to BE a mage, which has nothing to do with numbers and has far more to do with a mindset. I am not speaking of the ubiquitous tank mage or paladin. Every pvp'er and most non pvp'ers have at least one of these characters; combining combat skills with magery and other utility skills to make an all around killing machine. Being a mage is in part about forcibly limiting your character to give him fewer options in combat since the current game mechanics support multiple grandmaster in several combat skills. Development. The three ingredients to developing a mage are time, gold, dedication, and gold. You have two options for getting the gold part, the time is up to you and you either have the dedication or you don't. You can either include trade skills to your mage, which does not truly make sense except in some fairly convoluted character histories, or you can get your gold from an outside source. There are two trade skills that are mage-like to earn gold; alchemy and inscription. However, your chances of making much money at either of these are too limited until you achieve a high skill, and with inscription your magery must also be high for you to make any scrolls but the lower circles. This leaves the more mundane trades. Many mages choose tailoring since there is no extra resource gathering skill, such as mining or lumberjacking. However, tailoring yeilds quite a bit of dexterity, limiting either your mage's strength or mana, or both. Your other option involves getting your wealth from an outside source, either from a previously made character, a tradesmen character (commonly calleda mule but could be a fully realized character in his own right), a guild, or by becoming an apprentice to a more experienced mage with the wealth and inclination to help. At any rate, hopefully you've started with 50 magery, saving a fair amount of cost to get your character that far. Resist, alchemy, or inscription are all good alternatives for a second skill, as the alchemy and inscription can become your income generating trade skill once you get them higher. Of course tailoring is another option if you wish to make all your income with the one character, and healing is another option for certain character types. As for developing the skill, cost wise choose those spells with the lower reagent cost. I have seen no difference in advancement from alternating spells versus using one or two. Of course if you do all your advancement from adventuring then you will be using many spells, not all of which will help in raising your skill. But at least part of the time I expect you will be practicing spells for the sake of practice, while putting yourself in minimal or no danger. As a rule of thumb, practice at a certain circle until you get to the skill at 15 higher than it's circle, for example practice 4ths until at least 55. Going to the higher circle sooner is possible but the number of failures seems to be less productive than waiting. An exception here is when you finally reach casting the 7th circle, I do not recommend using 8ths except when you need to until about 90-92 though, the difficulty is skewed at the top. Spells of choice: at 4th, recall and fire field. Unless you took resist as a starting skill, firefields are the best method of raising resist until about 50. Recalling places gets youthere and increases magery until the mid 50's. Paralyze, incognito, andsummon creature are good 5ths to practice with. Energy bolt, invisibility, and reveal are less expensive spells in the 6th, though I recommend marking as many runes as you want to have places to go, and for anyone else you wish to. Mark those runes while 6th circle still advances your skill. Use gate travel instead of recall when practicing the 7th circle. Escorting can start making you money at that point as well. For eighth circle resurrect all you can, summon elementals to spar at the tower or in a safe place. When adventuring, you are going to be often in a support role unless you give in to tankdom. Wrestling is the only skill that prevents spell disruption at present, so having it high is not a totally bad thing. Also be sure to save some skill points for Meditation. Healing those in the line of fire, the occaisional energy bolt to finish off a monster, gating the party, is much of the mages role in a party. Solo the present role of a mage is to kill one monster, hide or recall, regain mana, repeat. Lifestyle We mainly draw our image of a mage from fantasy, both games and literature. The traditional mage is weak, wears no armor, but wields powerful magic for utility, attack, and defense. He often is a solitary figure, holed up in a tower inventing and honing his magic. There are many subtypes of mage in literature, and available in UO to play. Battle mages thrive on adventure, braving dungeons and fierce creatures. I'm sure you've seen many if you have been in Britannia for any time at all. Scholar mages are more inclined to study, research, and teaching. Their efforts are often in finding the exact effects of spells, and in trying to mold new forms of magic or new magical skills for implementation. There are several such mages at the Mage towers, and are among those more likely to take on apprentices. Some take on a more clerical role, using magic and/or healing skill for helping others. Others take on a more ranger-like role, prefering the forest and nature. Before the urban blight this was a really nice option, and some still follow this path. Beyond which type of mageyou become, BEING a mage is more. The mage is what separates the world from being a mere medieval setting. Magic is what brings the world into the realm of fantasy and the fantastic. Who else creates food out of thin air, travels across the world in an instant, can summon energies to slay monsters and foes or use it to gain defensive advantages and heal? The Mage is someone dedicated to this art. Merely having the high title does not make someone a mage, only someone with the skill of magery. The Mage lives with magic on his fingertips. He first thinks of magical ways to accomplish a task before thinking of his own two feet or muscles. Humility is not often a virtue associated with the mage, though some types of mage can indeed be humble. Some mages (far too many) take that lack of humility and sense of power and turn to evil. The number of people fulfilling the role of the evil mage that must be destroyed is too many for any fantasy world to swallow, particularly when so many of them use language that just makes you want to get away from them. There is no modern 20th century equivalent of the mage, so "roleplaying" one who speaks in gangsta or dood-speak is not truly possible. I'm not saying you need to learn the proper use of thee and thou, plain old proper english is more than sufficient. The Mage has a high level of intelligence, and should be played that way. Proving your ignorance with poor speaking habits and inane sayings such as "Vendor buy bank guards" only shows you are lazy and uncaring about the folks around you. Take the time to make a speech macro, if you use one, for calling guards, and do not include it in buying, selling, or greeting. Using speech in macros for spells is fine, and can be done well (though 100 tilde's is not speech, only an exploit) but please try to make them fit into Britannia (The next person who uses "Beam me up Scotty" in a recall macro will be cleaning my vomit off his shoes). Remember mages exist in fantasy alone, and use only references from fantasy in these speech macros, or at least nothing that smacks of the modern world. Why do I make such assumptions of roleplaying when speaking of the mage? Well, if you do not wish to play the role of a mage, then why not throw on the plate armor, grab a viking sword or heavy crossbow, and be like the other 90% of people you see fighting? I do not mean to say that a mage can wear no armor, though the plate clad mage is far overdone. Robes do cover a multitude of sins with lighter armor, but if you use the Meditation skill you will likely disdain even that. The idea of a mage that I present is of someone special, who does not follow the crowd and the skill du'jour. He is happy to be such and does not complain about not having that viking sword. Playing a mage can be one of the most rewarding and interesting things you can do, but it has to be in you to do it. Hopefully this will help. - Shakkar, First Mage of the Mage Tower (Great Lakes)