Specialist mage, Necros and evil? Options

[Frazurblu]

If you want to play a specialist mage protaganist there is really no bad choice (possible exception: Wild mage) . I notice from the posts that Necromancers get more press than the others. What particular benefits does the Necromancer enjoy over other arcane casters? (I am aware there is an artifact just for him). Also does anyone believe that Necromancers should perhaps have to be Evil?

Also on the subject of Evil are there any plans for a more Evil-friendly path? One which would hopefully bring back the thief or even better the assassin as a more optimal character. I notice that not many posters view Korgan , Viconia or Edwin as interesting NPCs in IA which is in sharp contrast to the vanilla game and most other mods in which they were seen as perhaps the strongest representatives of their respective classes.

[Arkain]

The illusion school is quite weak with IA 5.0 installed. Spells like Simulacrum and Projected Image have been replaced by others. Mislead will go as well in the next version, iirc. So all that's left is Mirror Image, Blur and Improved Invisibility/Shadow Door. Mirror Image is actually quite useful, blur less so. To effectively use II/SD against a spellcaster enemy (which is a very good idea since they are unable to target your spellcaster when he is under those spells' effects) you have to combine it with SI:Divination. The problem about this idea is that you have to be quite high level to make it work, or else the enemies will simply cast Remove Magic and remove all your buffs.

This post has been edited by Arkain: Mar 6 2008, 09:54 PM