Whats all this hype with Harm.

Yes, drinking potions cost AP to. That averages in a decrease in damage. But Lightning already does 30% more damage than Harm, and thats assuming enemies save every second time and equal resistances to both H. and L. Which, according to the linked thread above, isnt the case. Enemies have less resistance to electricity, and save less than a half times. Which pushes L. again. GrimmHatter, for some reason you assume that the Spell2 user will waste 20% of his mana and not drink a potion to continue casting spell2, which he will not ofc.


Further, mastering Black Magic is a really bad move in my opinion. The only spell we want there is Harm and since AP cost is fixed and does not depend from Fatigue cost(which is kinda strange), we only save 3-4?(assuming 3) mana per (Harm)cast. Which halves the cost yes, but what it _really_ means is one less 70mana potion in 70/3=23 casts, which translates in 1 extra harm per 23 casts. 24 master harms vs 23 normal harms. Important? I think not. (4% more damage)

Mastering Force brings Lightning down to 12-13(assuming 12). Thats 13 mana saved per cast of Lightning, 25mana saved per cast of Disintegrate, and 3 per cast of ForceShield.
We get(rounded)
3 vs 4 Disintegrates (25% more enemies killed)
6 vs 7 lightings ( 17% more damage)
ForceShield has not only cast, but also duration cost reduced, but im too lazy to calculate that already.

Lategame Harm is totally overshadowed by Lightning. (edited: ok, should be, since im not that far yet.) Earlygame Harm, well yes, assuming MA100, how is that early game. Assuming good money access, how is that early game. And perhaps master. But thats not early game either. AND you have to invest heavily into DEX, to be able to harmspam in the first place. Neglecting other spells, stats and skills(buffs, healing, followers, dialogs etc).

P.S. Grinding on respawns, stealing/selling stuff, and then taking it on lvl3 mobs isnt exaclty Harm problem is it.

 

Pickpocket Ristezze for unlimited cash

 

Yes, thats what i mean. "Exploiting", to a degree, the game will ofc make game balance go completely mad. Harm is not broken, Ristezze's ATM is.

 

The pickpocket feature is there for a reason. Ristezze isnt bugged. Like all the other vendors, he receives more coins if you advance time a day or two

 

Even late game lightning bolt with Force mastery can become rather tedious on the fatigue, even with fatigue slowers. With black nec mastery + fatigue slower you'll be spending 1 fatigue each casting. You won't even go through a single arcane staff at that rate in most dungeons. Harm comes to shining during those times you can't rest. Outside of such environments however Force has the benefits I think. More benefits from mastery with short term high punch with time between encounters to rest and restore fatigue. Though Force seems to be way too dependent on MA. At low levels spells such as Force Shield never added anything significant to my defense, and Jolt takes 2-3 castings just to kill an ailing wolf.

 

The Force Shield didn't really add anything for you? On my dwarf mage (who for whatever reason always crit failed any melee attack from inside that bubble) it raised his def from 12 to 40. And that was with 5% TA at level 1. Using latest UAP.

 

I may be thinking about when I tried the dwarf mage with the Magick Allergy background for the ironman contest.
Nope. Just tried with the same dwarf+magick allergy, with tech aptitude at 22 and Force Shield took me from 6 to 32 AC. I just remembered dead wrong.