Mages that you would like to see in the game

[Dragonsoul101]

A sound mage lol sound is a powerful medium lol

[Sailor Vulcan]

I think maybe combining elements should be more of an alchemist's job. I think for an elementalist, their strength should be adaptablity, switching between different tactics quickly and effectively. Here's my idea: while all four elements can be used for attacks, they also have different kinds of effects: water heals creatures and erodes armor, air is used to push things around or do things like allowing a creature to jump really high or temporarily run faster, earth is used for defending oneself from attacks and certain effects, and fire is all about all-out attacking.

That's what i think the elementalist should be about. As for the alchemist, he or she should be all about his special potions and experiments. The alchemist should have a deep understanding about what things are fundamentally made of. So that probably means training in arcane, like the wizard, but unlike the wizard the alchemist would be focused less on preventing his opponent's spells as changing their objects to his/her advantage, which would sometimes include destroying or inhibiting those objects in some way. The alchemist would be able to change the alchemical composition of an opponent's nonliving creatures in order to take control of and/or destroy them, reverse engineer some of their conjurations, i.e. making their mana flowers direct their extra channeling at him/her rather than their original caster, change the kinds of attacks that a creature is weak or resistant to, or even engineer an explosion, etc.

Of course knowing what your own objects are made of is important too. Building off of what Drealin said earlier, I'm thinking the bucket over the door trick could be used for a lot more than poison and such. It could be used as a way to give the alchemist's own creatures buffs and special effects and the like. Perhaps even effects that could change the alchemical composition of enemy objects upon contact. Also, I think there should be different chemicals that are more or less poisonous to different kinds of creatures. What's hazardous to a human mage might not be so much to a living metal creature, or a lava-dripping demon. I think that the whole poison thing sounds great for the alchemist, though. However, I think poison should be based on alchemical weaknesses. A creature would be poisoned when it consumes, is injected with or sometimes touches a chemical completely incompatible with its body. So if an alchemist throws a bag of water vapor into a zone where a fire creature is and the fire creature steps on the bag and breaks it, that creature as well as any other fire creatures in that zone would be poisoned, since water is anathema to them. That sort of thing.

[Texan85]

I think maybe combining elements should be more of an alchemist's job. I think for an elementalist, their strength should be adaptablity, switching between different tactics quickly and effectively. Here's my idea: while all four elements can be used for attacks, they also have different kinds of effects: water heals creatures and erodes armor, air is used to push things around or do things like allowing a creature to jump really high or temporarily run faster, earth is used for defending oneself from attacks and certain effects, and fire is all about all-out attacking.

That's what i think the elementalist should be about. As for the alchemist, he or she should be all about his special potions and experiments. The alchemist should have a deep understanding about what things are fundamentally made of. So that probably means training in arcane, like the wizard, but unlike the wizard the alchemist would be focused less on preventing his opponent's spells as changing their objects to his/her advantage, which would sometimes include destroying or inhibiting those objects in some way. The alchemist would be able to change the alchemical composition of an opponent's nonliving creatures in order to take control of and/or destroy them, reverse engineer some of their conjurations, i.e. making their mana flowers direct their extra channeling at him/her rather than their original caster, change the kinds of attacks that a creature is weak or resistant to, or even engineer an explosion, etc.

Of course knowing what your own objects are made of is important too. Building off of what Drealin said earlier, I'm thinking the bucket over the door trick could be used for a lot more than poison and such. It could be used as a way to give the alchemist's own creatures buffs and special effects and the like. Perhaps even effects that could change the alchemical composition of enemy objects upon contact. Also, I think there should be different chemicals that are more or less poisonous to different kinds of creatures. What's hazardous to a human mage might not be so much to a living metal creature, or a lava-dripping demon. I think that the whole poison thing sounds great for the alchemist, though. However, I think poison should be based on alchemical weaknesses. A creature would be poisoned when it consumes, is injected with or sometimes touches a chemical completely incompatible with its body. So if an alchemist throws a bag of water vapor into a zone where a fire creature is and the fire creature steps on the bag and breaks it, that creature as well as any other fire creatures in that zone would be poisoned, since water is anathema to them. That sort of thing.

An alchemist Mage would be turning lead into gold in his free time. And would have potions and like humunculus like creatures, and would be transforming one thing into another. Like in full metal alchemist.

And for an ele, adding extra effects would probably cause some serious balance issues. But a giant thunderstorm incantation would be awesome.

[Sailor Vulcan]

I disagree with you. The elementalist that I'm imagining would be more likely to trade the power that comes from investing in just one element to the adaptability of being able to switch between them quickly and effectively. So that elementalist would not be able to take advantage of a ton of really powerful elemental attacks. I'm thinking this type of elementalist would have few to no powerful elemental attacks.

The elementalist you're describing on the other hand,  is going to be the ultimate master over the (nonliving) forces of nature, making small volcanos erupt and creating thunderstorms that cover part of the arena, or seismic attacks more powerful than the one in the Earthquake incantation, and that power needs to come at quite a price. For that type of Elementalist, I'm thinking that his/her primary strategy would be an all out solo assault early in the game, using elemental wand, an incantation to give him/her extra ranged attacks, and the incantation Charge, preferably two of them, so that if the solo assault fails, he or she can run away and switch into a backup strategy--I'm thinking since he or she would be low on mana, that elementalist should try to switch to more of a solo attrition strategy, giving the opponent a burn condition and gradually trying to build up his/her own armor/defenses/damage removal as much as possible in the hopes of outlasting the enemy. A flaming damage barrier would probably be useful here.

[Texan85]

After gw2, anything like a switching attunement kind of gameplay would be very cumbersome, and likely make it adverse to play because it would need to be at the core of the play style and with most claims that, like in chess, one wrong move could cause lead to an issue.

[jjcrpntr]

I just got this game and thus far I love it, then again my wife is terrible so I've won all three games.

I think either the "elementalist" that people have mentioned or a "Geomancer" would be fun. As people have said they would be able to use all the base elements (fire, water, earth, air) and Nature. Anything else would be triple. Would obviously need to add stuff to those elements for enchantments, gear and such.  But it could be a heavy attack/cc based mage (roots, frozen in place and such)

[reddawn]

You can find clues as to what Arcane wonder plans to release by looking at the subtypes listed for most cards at the top right. Some of the ones I find interesting are: Poison, psychic, illusion, transform, vampiric, lycantrope, dwarf, rune, golem and control. Its likely that there will be mages and other cards that give various bonuses to these subtypes.

Theres a few Psychic spells and effects already, actually, with Pacifism and Sleep being among the most useful, in my view. 

The Psylok's attack is Psychic too, though probably for the worse rather than the better. They would have been an ok way to harass Iron Golems as the Forcemaster, but IGs are immune to Psychic, so the Psylok's attack has no effect. 

But yeah, overall, there are very few of these kinds of spells.

On topic...

Here's my idea for a mage:


Class name: Splicer

Training: Arcane and Nature schools (non-creature spellbook costs are tripled).

Abilities:

Conjure Chimera: When a friendly Primordial creature enters the arena, you may make it your Chimera.  If you do, place your Chimera marker on it, then search your spellbook for another Primordial creature card, pay mana equal to its level +1 and put it in your discard pile.  The Chimera gains all attacks and traits of the discarded Primordial creature card.

Caustic Aftermath: When your Chimera is destroyed, roll an unavoidable 4 dice ranged Acid attack on each creature in the zone in which was destroyed.


So, kind of like a mad scientist type of mage.  Experiments with Primordial creatures, but they explode because he or she is doing something that is not natural, and thus destabilizes the magical stuffness in the creatures. 

I love me some magical stuffness.

[wolf88]

All the Mages so far have been strictly humanoid. I want a four armed Mage!

[Texan85]

I think the "make x creature your pet" mechanic is old and should be kept to a minimum.

[nitrodavid]

I don't really think 4ele+nature will need the massive 3x for all other spell cost. mainly because there is currently very little synergy with the elements and nature. for example all elemental cost creatures are non living so they can't use any nature spell abilities. as it is that mage will use nature creatures with nature buffs and just have access to your choice of attack spell element.

 I would guess that all ele cost creatures are non living (unless they have multi cost like lof)

 so this mage can be treated like a stronger wizard (nature is stronger then arcane) so it will need 1 kind if 3x cost but not all other. perhaps dark or war

[reddawn]

I think the "make x creature your pet" mechanic is old and should be kept to a minimum.

I would agree if Holy Avenger, Bloodreaper, and Pet didn't all play differently.  I don't see anything wrong with a formula that provides different play experiences if you insert different variables.

[Sailor Vulcan]

I think I'm seeing a paralell with the arcane school.

Magic is to Science...

As Wizards are to Physicists
As Alchemists are to Chemists
As Sympaths are to Social Psychologists.

I really want to see a mage using sympathetic magic. As I imagine it, Sympaths would have a deep understanding of the relationships between beings and things of all kinds, and they would be able to use those relationships, for good or for evil. Assuming my playstyle hypothesis I posted earlier is correct, I'm guessing the Sympath would be probably use a denial (defensive combo) strategy.

[jjcrpntr]

I don't really think 4ele+nature will need the massive 3x for all other spell cost. mainly because there is currently very little synergy with the elements and nature. for example all elemental cost creatures are non living so they can't use any nature spell abilities. as it is that mage will use nature creatures with nature buffs and just have access to your choice of attack spell element.

 I would guess that all ele cost creatures are non living (unless they have multi cost like lof)

 so this mage can be treated like a stronger wizard (nature is stronger then arcane) so it will need 1 kind if 3x cost but not all other. perhaps dark or war

True, I guess I was just thinking thematically as a geomancer type mage if he was forced to use only elemental type spells it would be unique.

[calisk]

had an idea for a mage and wanted to right some of it down here to give an idea of what I had in mind.

master of teleportation and shadow manipulation, intended to be a hit and run champ, where he will move up and strike fast, then get away quickly. he could be played like an assassin, or a some form of control/mob mage.

void walker
hp - 28
armor- 0
channeling -9
spell book - 120

training - arcane and dark, non-arcane attack spells cost tripple.

abilities     
     - quick action spell for 2 mana this character can teleport himself or another creature he controls up to 1 space away. range 0-1

     - fast and piercing +3

     - shadow syphon - for every shadow type spell this mage has in play he gains melee +1 up too melee +4. whenever a shadow spell deals damagae this mage heals 1 damage.(( this is intended to mean shadow type conjurations and creatures ))
       
attack - melee quick 1 attack dice


some equipment ideas I had for him

equipment ----
      
night blades - dual blades( both hands)
2 attack dice, quick, 7+ enemy is considered hindered,10+ weak+hindered
2 attack dice, full round, double strike, 7+ weak. 



void shroud - cloak
when this character takes a move action he teleports.

negation amulet - any opposing spell that targets your mage costs 1 more mana to cast.

ring of shadows - shadow spells cost 1 less to cast. enchantments gain this bonus when they are revealed

ring of minor invisibility - once per round as a quick action this mage may pay 4 mana and can become invisible to a single target creature until end of the round. range 0

helmet of darkness - shadow creatures in the same zone as you have intercept.

shadows cloth - armor - this mage gains a defence 7+ melee dodge infinite. if the mage fails to dodge an attack he loses this dodge until the end of the round.


and I'll post a single idea I had for a champ he could use as his signature style of champ.

shadow stalker - cost 13

   type - shadow
   level arcane - 2 dark -1
   
   armor - 1
   health - 7
   
   attack - 4 dice piercing 1, 7+weak
   
   abilities
   light+1 non-living, incorpreal, teleport, fast


for attack spells he would use use arcane/dark spells and manipulate shadows to attack the opponent.


anyway just my take on how I would do it I suppose

[calisk]

another Idea I had was monk

Monk
hp - 32
armor- 1
channeling -9
spell book - 120

training - war and mind, non-monk equipment costs triple.

abilities -

       inner ki- as a quick action spell the monk may heal 2 dice worth of damage, and add 1 ki counter to the monk.

       trained body- the monk is immune to poison effects, he may remove a ki counter as a quick action to heal a status effect by paying the removal cost.

attack -

 ki strike - quick attack 2 dice 8+ stun.


attack card ability - combo when you cast this card you may play another card with combo( alternately you could balance it with limiting it to the same name). out of the spell book by paying it's cost + the cards level+1. more or less extendable for attack cards

example combo attack spell.

tiger strike - cost 4
level - war -1

combo, monk: ki+1
attack - 3 dice piercing+1   effect : 7+bleed



I picture him using combo cards to add ki counters to himself while attacking, and finisher cards to use those ki counters to do massive blows.